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diff --git a/34616.txt b/34616.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..643e42b --- /dev/null +++ b/34616.txt @@ -0,0 +1,11586 @@ +The Project Gutenberg EBook of Barren Honour: A Novel, by George A. Lawrence + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: Barren Honour: A Novel + +Author: George A. Lawrence + +Release Date: December 10, 2010 [EBook #34616] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ASCII + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK BARREN HONOUR: A NOVEL *** + + + + +Produced by David Garcia, Mary Meehan and the Online +Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net (This +file was produced from images generously made available +by The Kentuckiana Digital Library) + + + + + + + + + + BARREN HONOUR: + + A NOVEL. + + BY GEORGE A. LAWRENCE + + BY THE AUTHOR OF "GUY LIVINGSTON," "THE SWORD AND GOWN," &c., &c. + + + NEW YORK: + DICK & FITZGERALD, PUBLISHERS. + No. 18 ANN STREET. + + + + +CHAPTER I. + +NEW AND OLD. + + +A very central place is Newmanham, both by local and commercial +position--a big, black, busy town, waxing bigger and blacker and busier +day by day. For more than a century that Queen of Trade has worn her +iron crown right worthily; her pulse beats, now, sonorously with the +clang of a myriad of steam-hammers; her veins swell almost to bursting +with the ceaseless currents of molten metals; and her breath goes up to +heaven, heavy and vaporous with the blasts of many furnaces. + +Whenever I pass that way, as a born Briton, an unit of a great +mercantile nation, I feel or suppose myself to feel, a certain amount of +pride and satisfaction in witnessing so many evidences of my country's +wealth and prosperity; they are very palpable indeed, those evidences, +and not one of the senses will be inclined to dispute their existence. +If I chance to have an exiled Neapolitan prince, or a deposed +grand-duke, or any other potentate in difficulties, staying with me +(which, of course, happens constantly), I make a point of beguiling the +illustrious foreigner into the dingy labyrinth of Newmanham, from which +he escapes not till he has done justice to every one of its marvels. +Nevertheless, as an individual whose only relations with commerce +consist in always wanting to buy more things than one can possibly +afford, and in never, by any chance, having anything to sell, except now +and then a horse or two, more or less "screwed," or a parcel of ideas, +more or less trivial--as such an one, I say, I am free to confess, that +my first and abiding emotion, after being ten minutes in that great +emporium, is a desolate sense of having no earthly business there, and +of being very much in everybody's way--a sentiment which the natives +seem perfectly to fathom and coincide with. + +It is not that they make themselves in any wise disagreeable, or cast +you forth with contumely from their hive. The operative element does not +greet the stranger with the "'eave of a arf-brick," after the genial +custom of the mining districts; neither is he put to confusion by a +broad stare, breaking up into a broader grin, as sometimes occurs in our +polite sea-port towns. A quick careless glance, as if the gazer had no +time even for curiosity, is the worst ordeal you will have to encounter +in passing a group of the inhabitants, whether at work, or by a rare +chance, resting from their labours. There are "roughs" to be found there +more dangerous, they say, than in most places: but these do not show +much in daylight or frequented thoroughfares. They have their own +haunts, and when the sun arises they lie down in their dens. In deed, +the upper Ten Thousand--the great manufacturers and iron-founders or +their representatives--will treat you with no small kindness, +especially if you have letters of introduction: they will show you over +their vast works and endless factories, adapting their conversation +always to your limited capacity, becoming affably explanatory or blandly +statistical, as the occasion demands, only indulging in a mild and +discreet triumph, as they point out some unutterably hideous combination +of steel and iron peculiar to their own establishment, which produces +results as unexpected as a conjuring trick. Even so have we seen Mr. +Ambrose Arcturus, the stout and intrepid voyager, beguile a Sabbath +afternoon in exhibiting to a friend's child--to the officer of the day +from the contiguous barracks--to a fair country cousin--or some other +equally innocent and inquisitive creature--the treasures of the +Zoological Society, not a few of which are the captives of his own bow +and spear; lingering, perhaps fondly, for a moment, opposite a gigantic +bivalve or mollusca which he is reported to have vanquished in single +combat. + +But, in spite of all this hospitality, the consciousness of being in a +false position, of taking up people's time where time is money--in fact, +of being rather a nuisance than otherwise--cannot easily be shaken off: +the eye grows weary with seeking a resting-place where everything +illustrates perpetual motion, and the brain dizzy with the everlasting +tremor and whir of wheels. It is a positive relief when we find +ourselves starting on one of the lines that radiate from Newmanham to +every point of the compass, like the feelers of a cuttle-fish, always +dragging in "raw material" to the voracious centre: it is an absolute +luxury, an hour afterwards, to sweep on through the great grazing +grounds again, and to see forty acres of sound, undulating pasture +stretching away up to the black "bullfinch" that cuts the skyline. + +You may easily guess what the political tone of such a borough must be: +Liberalism of the most enlightened description flourishes there +unchecked and unrivalled; for no Conservative candidate has yet been +found so self-sacrificing as to solicit the suffrages of Newmanham. Were +such an one to present himself, it is scarcely probable that the free +and independent electors would content themselves with such playful +missiles as graveolent eggs or decomposed cabbage-stalks: they would be +more likely to revive, for his especial benefit, that almost obsolete +_argumentum a lapide_ which has silenced, if it did not convince, many +obstinate enthusiasts--who, nevertheless, were not far from the truth, +after all. In no other town of England are Mr. Bright's harangues +received with such favour and sincere sympathy. When the santon-fit is +on that meek Man of Peace, and carries him away in a flood of furious +diatribe against "those who sit in high places and grind the faces of +the poor," it is curious to remark how willingly and completely his +audience surrender themselves to the influence of the hour. You may see +the ground-swell of passion swaying and surging through the mass of +operatives that pack the body of the hall, till every gaunt grimed face +becomes picturesque in its savage energy: you have only to look round to +be aware that education, and property, and outward respectability, are +no safeguards against the contagion: it is spreading fast now through +that phalanx of decent broad-clothed burghers on the platform, +and--listen--their voices chime in with ominous alacrity in the cheer +that rewards a peroration that in old days would have brought the +speaker to the pillory. + +That same cheer, once heard, is not easily forgotten: there is not the +faintest echo of anything joyous, or kindly, or hopeful, in its accent; +one feels that it issues from the depths of hearts that are more than +dissatisfied--through lips parched with a fiery longing and thirst for +something never yet attained. For what? God help them! _they_ could not +tell you--if they dared. Go to an agricultural dinner (farmers are the +most discontented race alive, you know), mark the tumult among the +yeomen when the health of the county favorite has been given, or rather +intimated, for they knew what the speaker would say, and before he could +finish, the storm of great, healthy voices broke in. Those two +acclamations differ from each other more strikingly than does the full +round shout of a Highland regiment "doubling" to charge, from the +hoarse, cracked "hour-ra" of a squadron of Don Cossacks. + +With these dispositions, you may conceive that, albeit Newmanham rather +covets land as an investment (they make very fair and not unkindly +seigneur, those _Novi homines_), she cherishes little love or respect +for the landed interest, its representatives, and traditions. Yet, when +a brother magnate from Tarenton or New Byrsa comes to visit one of these +mighty burghers, to what object of interest does the host invariably +first direct the attention of his honored guest? Deferring to another +day the inspection of his own factory, and of all other town wonders, he +orders round the gorgeous barouche, with the high-stepping greys, +overlaid with as much precious metal as the Beautiful Gate, and takes +the stranger fifteen miles away, to view the demesne which, through the +vicissitudes of six centuries, has been the abiding-place of the +Vavasours of Dene. + +The house is not so ancient, nor does it stand on the site of the old +Castle. All that would burn of _that_ crumbled down in a whirlwind of +flame, one black winter's night during the Wars of the Roses. There had +long been a feud between the Vavasours and a neighboring family nearly +as powerful and overbearing. Sir Hugh Mauleverer was a shrewd, provident +man, and cool even in his desperation. When he saw signs of the tide +turning against Lancaster, he determined to settle one score, at least, +before he went to the wall. So, on New-Year's eve, when the drinking was +deep, and they kept careless watch at Dene Castle, the Lancastrians came +down in force, and made their way almost into the banqueting hall +unopposed. Then there was a struggle--short, but very sharp. The +retainers of the Vavasour, though taken by surprise, were all fully +armed, and, partly from fidelity, partly because they feared their stern +master more than any power of heaven or hell, partly because they had no +other chance, fought like mad wild cats. However, three to one are heavy +odds. All his four sons had gone down before him, and not a dozen men +were left at his back, when Simon Vavasour struck his last blow. It was +a good, honest, bitter blow, well meant and well delivered, for it went +through steel and bone so deep into Hugh Mauleverer's brain that his +slayer could not draw out the blade; the grey old wolf never stirred a +finger after that to help himself, and never uttered a sound, except one +low, savage laugh as they hewed him in pieces on his own hearth-stone. +When the slaughter was over, the sack, of course, began, but the young +Mauleverer, though heated by the fight, and somewhat discomposed by his +father's death, could not forget the courtesy and charity on which he +rather prided himself. So, when every living thing that had down on its +lip was put out of pain, he would not suffer the women and children to +be outraged or tortured, magnanimously dismissing them to wander where +they would into the wild weather, with the flames of Dene Castle to +light them on their way. Most of them perished before daybreak; but one +child, a grandson of the baron's, was saved at the price of its mother's +life. She stripped herself of nearly her last garment to cover the heir +of her house, and kissed him once as she gave him to the strongest of +the women to carry, and then lay down wearily in the snow-drift to die. + +When Walter Vavasour came to manhood, the House of York was firm on the +throne, and another manor or two rewarded his family for what it had +suffered in their cause. He commenced building on the site of the +present mansion; but it was reserved for his grandson (who married one +of the greatest heiresses at the court of Henry VIII.) to complete the +stately edifice as it now stands, at the cost of all his wife's fortune, +and a good part of his own. + +There are more dangerous follies than a building mania; and perhaps it +would have been well for Fulke Vavasour if he had ruined himself more +utterly in its indulgence. Poverty might have kept him out of worse +scrapes. If he resembled his portrait, his personal beauty must have +been very remarkable, though of a character more often found in Southern +Europe than in England. The Saxon and Norman races rarely produce those +long, dark, languid eyes, and smooth, pale cheeks, contrasted with +scarlet lips, and black masses of silky hair. Fair form and face were +fatal endowments in those hot-blooded days, when lovers set no bounds to +their ambition, and _une caprice de grande dame_ would have its way in +spite of--or by means of--poison, cord, and steel. All sorts of vague +rumors were current as to the real cause which brought the last Lord +Vavasour to the scaffold. The truth can never be known; for, on the same +night that he was arrested, a cavalier (whom no one recognized) came to +the Dene; he showed the Baron's signet ring, and required to be left +alone in his private chamber. The day was breaking when the stranger +rode away; and an hour afterwards a pursuivant was in possession of the +house, making, as is the fashion of his kind, minute perquisitions, when +there was nothing left to search for. Doubtless all clue to the mystery +was destroyed or removed before he came. But it may well be, that, if +Fulke Vavasour was innocent of the plot for which he died, he was not +guiltless of a darker one, with which statecraft had nothing to do. It +is certain that his widow--a most excellent and pious young woman, one +of the earliest Protestant converts, and a great friend of The +Bishops--made little moan over the husband whom she had long wearied +with her fondness; she never indeed mentioned his name, except from +necessity, and then with a groan of reprobation. They endure neglect +like angels, and cruelty like martyrs; but what _devote_ ever forgot or +forgave an infidelity? + +Let it be understood, that I quote this fact of the widow's scant regret +just for what it is worth--a piece of presumptive evidence bearing upon +a particular case, and in no wise illustrating a general principle. I am +not prepared to allow, that a fair gauge of any deceased person's moral +worth is invariably the depth or duration of the affliction manifested +by his nearest and dearest. + +The barony of course became extinct with the attainted traitor; but the +broad lands remained; for the Tiger, in a fit of ultra-leonine +generosity, not only disdained himself to fatten on his victim, but even +kept off the jackals. Perhaps, the contracting heart of the unhappy +jealous old tyrant was touched by some dim recollection of early +chivalrous days, when he took no royal road to win the favor of woman or +fortune, but met his rivals frankly and fairly, and either beat them on +their merits, or yielded the prize. + +The sins of the unlucky reprobate were not visited on his children. The +estate gradually shook off the burden he had laid upon it, and during +the four succeeding generations the prosperity of the Vavasours rather +waxed than waned. Like the rest of the Cavaliers, they had to bear their +share of trouble about the time of the Commonwealth; but they were too +powerful to be forgotten when the king came to his own again. Indeed, +there was a good deal of vitality about the family, though individually +its members came curiously often to violent or untimely ends; and the +domain had descended in unbroken male succession to its present owner +with scarcely diminished acreage. Yet, from a period far beyond the +memory of man, there had been no stint or stay in the lavish expense and +stately hospitality which had always been maintained at Dene. Twice in +the last hundred years the offer had been made of reversing the +attainder, and reviving the ancient barony, and each time, from whim or +some wiser motive, rejected. No minister had yet been found cool enough +to proffer a baronetcy to those princes of the Squire-archy. + +It is not worth while describing the house minutely. It was a huge, +irregular mass of building, in the Tudor style, with rather an unusual +amount of ornamental stonework; well placed near the centre of a very +extensive park, and on the verge of an abrupt declivity. The most +remarkable features in it were the great hall--fifty feet square, going +right up to the vaulted roof, and girdled by two tiers of +elaborately-carved galleries in black oak--and the garden-front. The +architect had availed himself right well of the advantages of the +ground, which (as I have said) sloped steeply down, almost from the +windows; so that you looked out upon a succession of terraces--each +framed in its setting of curiously-wrought balustrades--connected by +broad flights of steps leading down to a quaint stone bridge spanning a +clear, shallow stream. Beyond this lay the Plaisance, with its +smooth-shaven grass, studded with islets of evergreens, and endless +winding walks through shady shrubberies, issuing from which, after +crossing a deep sunk-fence, you found yourself again among the great +oaks and elms of the deer-park. If there had been no other attraction at +Dene, the trees would have been worth going miles to see; indeed, the +stanch adherents of the Vavasours always brought the timber forward, as +a complete and crushing refutation of any blasphemer who should presume +to hint that the family ever had been, or could be, embarrassed. The +stables were of comparatively modern date, and quite perfect in their +way; they harmonized with the style of the main building, though this +was not of much importance, for the belt of firs around them was so +dense, that a stranger was only made aware of their existence by a +slender spire of delicate stonework shooting over the tree-tops, the +pinnacle of a fountain in the centre of the court. The best point of +view was from the farther end of the Plaisance. + +Looking back from thence, you saw a picture hardly to be matched even +amongst the "stately homes of England," and to which the Continent could +show no parallel, if you traversed it from Madrid to Moscow. The grand +old house, rising, grey and solemn, over the long sloping estrade of +bright flowers, reminded one of some aged Eastern king reclining on his +divan of purple, and silver, and pearl. No wonder that Dene was a +favorite resort of the _haute bourgeoisie_ of Newmanham on Mondays, when +the public was admitted to the gardens, the state apartments, and the +picture gallery; indeed, on any other day it was easy to gain admission +if the Squire was at home, for Hubert Vavasour, from his youth upwards, +had always been incapable of refusing anybody anything in reason. If "my +lady" happened to be mistress of the position, success was not quite +such a certainty. + +I think we have done our duty by the mansion; it is almost time to say +something about its inmates. + + + + +CHAPTER II. + +MEA CULPA. + + +There were all sorts of rooms at Dene, ranging through all degrees of +luxury, from magnificence down to comfort. To the last class certainly +belonged especial apartment, which, from time immemorial, had been +called "the Squire's own." For many generations this had represented the +withdrawing-room, the council chamber, the study, and the divan of the +easy-going potentates who had ruled the destinies of the House of +Vavasour; if their authority over the rest of the mansion was sometimes +disputed, _here_ at least they reigned supreme. There was easy access +from without, by a door opening on a narrow winding walk that led +through thick shrubberies into the stables, so that the Squires were +enabled to welcome in their sanctum, unobserved, such modest and +retiring comrades as, from the state of their apparel or of their +nerves, did not feel equal to the terrors of the grand entrance. Hither +also they were wont to resort, as a sure refuge, whenever they chanced +to be worsted in any domestic skirmish: though tradition preserves the +names of several imperious and powerful Chatelaines, and chronicles +their prowess, not one appears to have forced or even assailed these +entrenchments. It almost seemed as if provision had been made against a +sudden surprise; for, at the extremity of the passage leading to the +main part of the building, were two innocent-looking green-baized doors, +with great weights, so cunningly adjusted, that one, if not both of +them, was sure to escape from weak or unwary hands, and to close with an +awful thunderous bang, that went rolling along the vaulted stone roof, +till even a Dutch garrison would have been roused from its slumbers. +Very, very rarely had the rustle of feminine garments been heard within +these sacred precincts; hardly ever, indeed, since the times of wild +Philip Vavasour--"The Red Squire"--who, if all tales are true, +entertained singularly limited notions as to his own marital duties, and +enormously extensive ones as to _les droits de seigneurie_. + +It was a large, square, low-browed room, lined on two sides with presses +and book-cases of black walnut wood, that, from their appearance, might +have been placed there when it was built. The furniture all matched +these, though evidently of quite recent date; the chairs, at least, +being constructed to meet every requirement of modern laziness or +lassitude. An immense mantelpiece of carved white marble, slightly +discolored by wood-smoke, rose nearly to the vaulted ceiling, in the +centre of which were the crest and arms of the family, wrought in +porphyry. There were two windows, large enough to let in ample light, in +spite of heavy stone mullions and armorial shields on every other +pane--the south one looking to the garden-front, the west into a quiet, +old-fashioned bowling-green, enclosed by yew hedges thick and even as an +ancient rampart, and trained at the corners into the shape of pillars +crowned with vases. Not a feature of the place seems to have been +altered since the times when some stout elderly Cavalier may have smoked +a digestive pipe in that centre arbour; or later, when some gallant of +Queen Anne's court may have doffed delicately his velvet coat, laying +it, like an offering, at Sacharissa's feet, ere he proceeded to win her +father's favour by losing any number of games. + +A pleasant room at all hours, it is unusually picturesque at the moment +we speak of, from the effects of many-colored light and shade. A hot +August day is fast drawing to its close; the sun is so level that it +only just clears the yews sufficiently to throw into strong relief, +against a dark background, the _torso_ of a sitting figure which is well +worth a second glance. + +You look upon a man past middle age, large-limbed, vast-chested, and +evidently of commanding stature, with proportions not yet too massive +for activity; indeed, his bearing may well have gained in dignity what +it has lost in grace. The face is still more remarkable. Searching +through the numberless portraits that line the picture-gallery, you will +hardly find a dozen where the personal beauty for which the Vavasours +have long been proverbial is more strikingly exemplified than in their +present representative. There are lines of silver--not unfrequent--in +the abundant chestnut hair and bushy whiskers; but fifty-four years have +not traced ten wrinkles on the high white forehead, nor filled the +outline of the well-cut aquiline features, nor altered the clearness of +the healthy, bright complexion, nor dimmed the pleasant light of the +large frank blue eyes. There is a fault, certainly--the want of +decision, about the mouth and all the lower part of the face; but even +this you are not disposed to cavil much at, after hearing once or twice +Hubert Vavasour's ready, ringing laugh, and watching his kindly smile. +His manner had that rare blending of gentle courtesy with honest +cordiality, that the rudest stoic finds irresistibly attractive: you +never could trace in it the faintest shade of condescension, or +aggravating affability. Presiding at his own table, talking to a tenant +at the cover-side, discussing the last opera with the fair Duchess of +Darlington, or smoking the peaceful midnight cigar with an old comrade, +the Squire of Dene seemed to be, and really was, equally happy, natural, +and _at home_. + +At this particular moment the expression of his pleasant face was +unusually grave, and there was a cloud on his open brow, not of anger or +vexation, but decidedly betokening perplexity. He was evidently +pondering deeply over words that had just been addressed to him by the +only other occupant of the "study." + +The latter was a tall man, slightly and gracefully built, apparently +about thirty; his pale, quiet face had no remarkable points of beauty, +except very brilliant dark eyes, looking larger and brighter from the +half-circles under them, and a mouth which was simply perfect. You could +not glance at him, however, without being reminded of all those stories +of unfortunate patricians, foiled in their endeavours to escape because +they _could_ not look like the coal-heaver, or rag-merchant, or clerk, +whose clothes they wore. If the whim had possessed Sir Alan Wyverne to +array himself, for the nonce, in the loudest and worst-assorted colors +that ever lent additional vulgarity to the person of a Manchester +"tiger," it is probable that the travestie would have been too palpable +to be amusing; he would still have looked precisely as he did now and +ever--from the crown of his small head to the sole of his slender +foot--"thoroughbred all through." + +The intelligence which seemed to have involved the Squire in doubt and +disquietude was just this. Five minutes ago he had looked upon Wyverne +only as his favourite nephew; he had scarcely had time to get accustomed +to him in the new light of a possible son-in-law; for the substance of +Alan's brief confession was, that in the course of their afternoon's +ride he had wooed and (provisionally) won his fair cousin Helen. + +Now, when the head of a family has five or six marriageable females to +dispose of, forming a beautiful sliding-scale, from 'thirty off' +downwards, his feelings, on hearing that one is to be taken off his +hands, are generally those of unmixed exhilaration. Under such +circumstances, the most prudent of "parents" is apt to look rather +hopefully than captiously into the chances of the future _menage_: he is +fain to cry out, like the "heavy father," "take her, you rascal, and +make her happy!" and indeed acts up to every part of the stage +direction, with the trifling exception of omitting the hand over the +bulky note-case, or the "property" purse of gold. But it is rather a +different affair when the damsel in question is an only daughter, fair +to look upon, and just in her nineteenth summer. _Then_ it will be seen, +how a man of average intellect can approve himself at need, keenly +calculating in foresight, unassailable in arguments, and grandiloquent +on the duties of paternity. His stern sagacity tramples on the roses +with which our romance would surround Love in a Cottage. It is no use +trying to put castles in Spain into settlements, when even Irish estates +are narrowly scrutinized. Perhaps we never were very sanguine about our +expectancies, but till this instant we never regarded them with such +utter depression and humility of spirit. Our cheery host of +yesternight--he who was so convivially determined on that "other bottle +before we join the ladies"--has vanished suddenly. In his stead there +sits one filling his arm-chair as though it were a judgment seat, and +freezing our guilty hearts with his awful eye. Our hopes are blighted so +rapidly, that before the hour is out not one poor leaf is left of the +garland that late bloomed so freshly. We have only one aim and object in +life now--to flee from that dread presence as quickly as we may, albeit +in worse plight than that of Sceva's sons. How sorry we are that we +spoke! + +But Hubert Vavasour's voice was not angry nor even cold. If there was +the faintest accent of reproach there, it surely was unintentional; but +in its gravity was something of sadness. + +"Alan, would it not have been better to have spoken first to me?" + +His own conscience, more than that simple question or the tone in which +it was uttered, made Wyverne's cheek flush as he answered it. + +"Dear Uncle Hubert, I own it was a grave fault. I am so sorry for not +having told you the secret first, that I hardly know how to ask even +_you_ to forgive me. But will you believe that there was no _malice +propense_? I swear that when I went out this afternoon, I had no more +idea of betraying myself to Helen than I had of proposing to any +Princess-Royal. I am sure I have no more right to aspire to one than the +other. But we were riding fast and carelessly through Holme Wood; a +branch caught Helen's _sombrero_, and held it fast. I went back for +it--we could not pull up for a second or two. When I joined her again, +she was trying to put in order some rebellious tresses which had escaped +from their net; the light shot down through the leaves on the dark +ripples of hair; there was the most delicious flush you can fancy on her +cheek, and her lips and eyes were laughing--so merrily! I don't believe +that the luck of painters ever let them dream of any thing half so +lovely. I suppose I've seen as many fair faces as most men of my age, +and I ought to be able to keep my head (if not my heart) by this time. +Well--_it went_, on the instant. I had no more self-control or +forethought than a schoolboy in his first love. Before I was aware, I +had said words that I ought never to have spoken, but which are very, +very hard to unsay. Don't ask me what she answered. I should have been +still unworthy of those words if, since my manhood begun, I had never +done one ill deed, never thrown one chance away. Uncle Hubert, you can't +blame me as much as I despise myself. The idea of a man's having got +through a good fortune and the best years of his life, without having +learnt--when to hold his tongue." + +The clouds had been clearing fast on Vavasour's face while the other was +speaking, and the sun broke out, suddenly, in a kind, pleasant smile. +Probably more than one feeling was busy within him then, which it would +have been hard to separate or analyse. The father's heart swelled with +pride and love as he heard of this last crowning triumph of a beauty, +that, from childhood upwards, he had held to be peerless. Indeed, he was +absurdly fond of Helen, and had spoiled her so consistently, that no one +could understand why the _demoiselle_ (who certainly _had_ a will of her +own) was not more imperious and wayward. Besides this, the Squire's +strong natural sense of humour was gratified. It amused him unspeakably +to see his calm, impassible nephew for once so embarrassed as actually +to have been betrayed into blushing. More than all, gay memories of his +own youth and manhood came trooping up fast, some faint and distant, +some so near and brightly-coloured, that they almost seemed +tangible--vanishing and reappearing capriciously, as one fair vision +chased another from light into shade, like elves holding revel under a +midsummer moon. + +True, the days of his gipsyhood were past and gone; but the spirit of +the Zingaro had tarried with Vavasour longer than with most men, if +indeed it was even yet extinct. He could not help owning that, if the +same temptation had assailed himself at the same age, he would have +yielded quite as easily as Wyverne had done that day, with perhaps +rather less of prudent scruple, and with more utter contempt of +consequences. Though he had seldom given grounds to Lady Mildred for +grave accusation, or even suspicion, gayer gallant never breathed since +Sir Gawaine died. A chivalrous delicacy and high sense of honour had +borne him (and others) scathless through many fiery trials; yet--not so +long ago--hearts had quivered at the sound of his musical voice, like +reeds shaken by the wind. Few men had achieved more conquests with less +loss to victor and vanquished; for he was satisfied with the surrender +of a beleaguered city without giving it up to pillage. Flesh is weak, we +know; it would be rash to assert, that in his hot youth, Hubert Vavasour +had never regretted a lost opportunity; but perhaps he did not sleep +less soundly now, because of all the lost souls who, on either side of +the grave, live in torment, not one could lay its ruin at his door. Two +or three reputations slightly compromised are surely not an immoderate +allowance for a _viveur_ of five-and thirty years' standing, and need +scarcely entail indulgence in poppies or mandragora. I think it speaks +well for the presiding judge if, when a young offender is brought up +before the Council of the Elders, those ancient memories stand forth as +witnesses for the defence. + +So the Squire's tone was cheery and hearty as ever, when he replied to +Alan's rather unsatisfactory explanation, and there was a laugh in his +eyes. + +"It must have been a terrible temptation, for the mere recollection of +it makes you poetical. That period about 'the sunlight on the rippled +hair' would have done credit to a laureate in love. Seriously, my dear +boy, I'm not angry with you; and I don't feel inclined to blame you +much. I only meant that if you had spoken first to me, you would have +heard one or two things not pleasant to hear, which _must_ be told you +now, and which had better have been said earlier." + +"Uncle Hubert," Wyverne said, gently, "don't worry yourself with going +through all the objections which make the affair impracticable. I know +them so well. It is easy to give up hopes that one never had any right +to cherish. Of course it is clear what you and Aunt Mildred ought to +say. See, I accept your decision beforehand. I promise you that I won't +murmur at it, even to myself, and I shall not like any one of you a bit +the worse. It was written that Ellen should be my first serious love, +and my last too, I fancy. _Kismet_--it is my fate; but that is no reason +why _hers_ should be bound up with it." + +The ruffle of brief emotion had passed away from his quiet face, and it +had settled into its wonted calmness; though at that instant the +happiness of two lives was swaying in the balance, it betrayed no +disquietude by the shadow of a sign. + +Hubert Vavasour rose and laid his hand upon the speaker's shoulder. +There was nothing of mirth left now in the expression of his features; +all their grand outline was softened in a solemn tenderness, and his +strong voice was low and tremulous as a woman's. + +"I have not deserved to be so misunderstood, and--by you, Alan, you are +my only sister's son, and I have loved you all your life long like my +own. You were too young when your mother died to remember how I mourned +her. You never knew either that, when I said good bye to her, after the +last Sacrament, I promised her, as plainly as I could speak for tears, +that I would always stand fast by you and Gracie. I wish other promises +were as easy to keep faithfully. Do you suppose that my interest in you +ceased with my guardianship, though my right of interference did? In +spite of everything that has happened, there is no man living to whom I +would give Helen so readily as to yourself. I am not going to trifle +with you. As far as my consent to your marriage can help you, you have +it freely; God's blessing go with it. Now--will you listen patiently +while I tell you of difficulties in the way?" + +If a life dearer than his own had depended on Alan Wyverne's saying +anything intelligible at that moment, he could not have saved it by the +utterance of one word; but there was eloquence enough in the long white +fingers, which closed round his uncle's with the gripe of a giant. + +The Squire sate down again, leaning his forehead on his hand that shook +ever so little, keeping his face, so, half shaded. He was a bad +dissembler, and the effort to speak cheerfully was painfully apparent. + +"Alan, have you any idea how the account stands between the +world--taking it as a commercial world--and the Vavasours of Dene? I +don't see how you should have; for, besides your aunt, your cousin Max, +and myself, not half a dozen people, I believe and hope, know the real +state of affairs. There is no bankruptcy court for us, or I should have +been in it years ago. There were very, very heavy incumbrances on the +property when I came into it, and--see,--I dare not look you in the +face--they are nearly doubled now. I can give no account of my +stewardship; but I suppose play is about the only extravagance I have +not indulged in; and 'my lady'--mind I don't blame her--is not a much +better economist. I wonder our family has lasted so long. It has never +produced a clever _financier_, I need hardly say; but, more than that, +not one Vavasour for the last seven generations has had the common sense +or courage to look his difficulties in the face, and retrench +accordingly. Unluckily, rolling debts are not like rolling stones; they +_do_ increase in volume, diabolically. Well, it's no use beating about +the bush or making half confessions. Here is the truth in six words: a +quarter of a million would hardly clear us. They said I gave up the +hounds because I had got too heavy to ride up to them; perhaps you will +guess if _that_ was the real reason. It was more as a sop to keep my +conscience quiet than anything else though; for L3,000 a year saved only +keeps a little interest down, and leaves the principal as big and black +as ever. When Max came of age, it was absolutely necessary to make some +arrangement. We cut off the entail of all property, sold some outlying +farms, and replaced the old mortgages by new ones on rather better +terms. But--we raised more money. Max owed seven or eight thousand, and +I wanted nearly as much to go on with. He behaved very well about it, +only binding me down by one stipulation--that I should cut no timber; +for it was suggested then that L30,000 worth might be felled and +scarcely missed. He had a fancy, that whether Dene stayed with us or +passed away to others, it should keep its green wreath unshorn. It looks +as if there were some sympathetic link between our fortunes and our +forests--we have cherished and spared them so for centuries: if any +White Lady (like her of Avenel) watches over our house, I am very sure +she is a Dryad. Alan, the worst is still to tell." + +He paused for a minute or so, clearing his throat once or twice +nervously, all to no purpose, for when he spoke again his voice was +strangely husky and uncertain. + +"You don't know much of Newmanham? the greatest iron-founder. There is +one Schmidt, a German Jew, whose father was naturalized. They say he is +worth half a million. When a man of the people has made money up to that +mark, he is always mad to invest in land. Only six months ago, I found +out that Schmidt had bought up every shilling of mortgage on this +property, and--and--by G--d, I believe he means to foreclose." + +The Squire stopped again, and then broke out into a harsh unnatural +laugh. + +"The patriarch knows where to pitch his tent, doesn't he, Alan? His +spies have searched out the length and breadth of the land already, and +I dare say he knows as much about the woods now as I do. His lines will +fall in pleasant places when he has cast out the Hittite. Dene would be +no bad spot to found a family in. Twenty quarterings ought to leave +savour enough about the grey walls to drown somewhat of the Newmanham +_fumier_. Leah has been prolific, they tell me. The picture gallery will +be a nice place for the little Isrealites to disport themselves in in +bad weather, and the Crusaders and Cavaliers will look down benevolently +on 'the young Caucasians all at play.' Perhaps he will offer something +handsome to be allowed to take our name. Faith, he may have it! I don't +see why we should keep that to ourselves when all the rest is gone." + +The bitter laugh ended in something like a sob, and the lofty head sank +down lower still. Looking on Wyverne's colourless face, you would not +have guessed that its pallor could deepen so intensely as it did when +any strong emotion possessed him. During the last five minutes it had +grown whiter by several shades. + +"It is punishment enough for all my faults and follies," he said, "to be +forced to listen to such words as these, and to feel myself utterly +helpless and useless. Uncle Hubert, I remember, when every one thought +my ruin was complete, you came the first to offer help, and you never +dreamt of taking interest by making me listen to advice or reproaches. +Now I hear of _your_ troubles for the first time, and I find that I have +come in, seasonably to add another grave embarrassment. What a luxury +benevolence must be, when it meets with such a prompt return. If you +knew how I hate myself!" + +The elasticity of Vavasour's gallant spirit had quite shaken off by this +time the momentary depression of which he was already heartily ashamed. +He threw back his stately head with a gesture full of haughty grace, as +if about to confront a palpable enemy or physical danger, and his voice +rang out again, bold and musical and clear. + +"Don't speak so despondingly, Alan. My weakness has infected you, I +suppose? I don't wonder at it. I am not often so cowardly; indeed it is +the first time I have broken down so, and I think it will be long before +I disgrace myself so again. Yes, you would help me if you could, just as +I would help you. I know you, boy, and the race you come of. _Bon sang +ne peut mentir._ Whatever happens, I shall never repent having given you +Helen. But I want you to see your line clearly; it isn't all open +country before you. Listen. I am certain 'my lady' has some projects in +her head. She thinks her daughter fair enough to be made the pillar and +prop of our family edifice. (Poor child! that slender neck would break +under half such a burden.) Now, if either of the young ones is to be +turned into an Atlas, surely Max ought to take the part. But he is too +proud, or too indolent, or too fond of his comforts, to give himself any +trouble in the matter. Faith, I like him the better for it. I think I +would rather see the old house go to ruin respectably than propped by +Manchester money-bags. _Que diable!_ Each one to his taste. I don't +imagine that your aunt's visions have assumed shape or substance yet. +The coming son-in-law and his millions are still in cloud-land, where I +hope for all our sakes they will remain. For my own part, if Croesus +were to woo and win Helen to-morrow, I don't see how it would help us +much; besides, it is quite probable that he would have gone away +rejected. If you had never spoken, you cannot suppose that I would have +seen her sacrificed. Still I warn you that her ladyship has some ideas +of the sort floating on her diplomatic brain, so you must not be +disappointed if her consent and concurrence are not quite so heartily +given as mine." + +"I have a great respect for Aunt Mildred's sagacity," Wyverne answered +gravely; "whatever policy she might adopt I am sure would be founded on +sound principles, and carried out wisely and well. It is very rash to +run counter to any plan of hers, even if it be in embryo; I doubt if one +ought even to hope for success. My dear uncle, every word you say makes +me feel more keenly how wrongly I acted this unlucky afternoon." + +The Squire held out his hand again; the strong, honest grasp tingled +through every fibre of the other's frame, bringing hope and +encouragement with it, like a draught of some rare cordial. + +"Alan, I have heard of many rash and wild deeds of yours, never of one +that made you unworthy of your blood or mine. It would be rather too +good if _I_ were to cast mere extravagance in your teeth. I wont hear +any more evil auguries or self-reproaches. My word is passed, and I +shall not take it back again till you or Helen ask me to do so. We will +talk more of your prospects another time. As long as I live you will do +well enough; afterwards--we shall see. Thank God, she is the only child +I have to provide for. Don't be downhearted, boy! The Vavasours of Dene +are a tough, tenacious race, and die hard, if all tales are true; we are +not _aux abois_ yet. 'Vast are the resources of futurity,' as some great +and good man observed; perhaps we shall pull through, after all. At any +rate, we will not be tormented before our time. The thing which is most +on my mind at this moment is--who is to tell this afternoon's work to +'my lady?'" + +The Squire's bright blue eyes were glittering with suppressed humour as +he said the last words, merrily, as if he had never heard of such things +as troubles or mortgages. Alan could not help smiling at his uncle's +evident eagerness to be spared the responsibility of ambassador. + +"I fancy the worst is known to my poor aunt an hour ago. Helen went +straight to the _boudoir_ when we came in; she wished to tell everything +herself, and immediately. It is the best way. Poor child! I hope she has +had half the success that I have met with; one cannot count on such good +fortune, though." + +Vavasour's face was radiant with satisfaction, it was an unspeakable +relief to him to hear that the official communication had been made. + +"What a brave girl that is!" he said, with profound admiration; "she has +ten times her father's courage. Alan, confess now, you didn't try to be +first--_there_? Well let us pray for light winds, for we may have to +tack more than once before we fetch the haven where we would be. But as +the sailors say, 'we can't tell what the weather will be till we get +outside,' so--_vogue la galere_! Hark! there goes the dinner-gong; go +and dress directly; of all days in the year this is the last on which to +keep her ladyship waiting." + + + + +CHAPTER III. + +A "MOTHER OF ENGLAND." + + +If the Squire's study was the most comfortable room in the Dene, the +prettiest, and to a refined taste the most attractive, without +contradiction, was "my lady's chamber." It was of moderate size, on the +first floor, at an angle of the building; two deep oriels to the south +and east caught every available gleam of sunshine in winter, while in +summer time many cunning devices within and without kept heat and glare +at bay. The walls were hung with dark purple silk, each panel set in a +frame of polished oak; bright borderings and bouquets of flowers +inwoven, prevented the effect from being sombre; the damask of the +furniture, as well as the velvet of the _portieres_ and curtains (these +last almost hidden now in clouds of muslin and lace), matched the +hangings exactly. There was as much of buhl and marqueterie and mosaic +in the room as it could _well_ hold--no more; no appearance of crowding +or redundance of ornament. On each of the panels was one picture, of the +smallest cabinet size, and on three of the tables lay cases of +miniatures, priceless from their extreme rarity or intrinsic beauty; and +all sorts of costly trifles, jewelled, enamelled, and chased, were +scattered about with a studied artistic carelessness. The delicate +_mignardise_ pervading every object around you was very agreeable at +first, and finished by producing the oppressive, unhealthy effect of an +atmosphere overladen with rare perfumes. Such an impression of unreality +was left, that you fancied all the pretty vision would vanish, like a +scene of fairy-land, at the intrusion of any rude, unauthorized mortal, +such as some "mighty hunter," bearing traces of field and flood from cap +to spur. That the hallowed precincts had never been profaned by so +incongruous an apparition since Lady Mildred Vavasour began to reign, it +is unnecessary to say. Her husband came there very seldom; her son, +rather often, when he was at home. With these two exceptions, the +threshold had remained for years inviolate by masculine footstep, as +that of the Taurian Artemis. Few even of her own sex had the _entree_; +and of these only three or four ventured to penetrate there uninvited. +It was a privilege more difficult to obtain than the gold key of the +_petits appartemens_ at Trianon. + +The whole tone and aspect of the _boudoir_ was marvellously in keeping +with the exterior of its mistress. She occupied it on that August +evening, alone, if we might except a Maltese lion-dog, sleeping in lazy +beatitude, half buried in a purple velvet cushion, like a small +snow-ball. It may be as well to say, at once, that this latter +personage, though a very important one in his own sphere, gifted with +remarkable intelligence, and capable of strong attachments, has nothing +on earth to do with the story. + +It would be difficult as well as uncourteous to guess at Lady Mildred +Vavasour's precise age; her dark hair has lost perhaps somewhat of its +luxuriance, but little of its glossy sheen; her pale cheek--tinged with +a faint colour (either by nature or art) exactly in the right place--and +white brow, are still polished and smooth as Carrara marble; and her +small, slight, delicate figure, with which the tiniest of hands and feet +harmonize so perfectly, retains its graceful roundness of outline. + +Why is it that, after one brief glance--giving the lady credit for all +these advantages--we feel sure that she has advanced already far into +the maturity of womanhood? Perhaps, when the mind has been restless and +the thoughts busy for a certain number of years, those years _will_ not +be dissembled, and, however carefully the exterior may have been +conserved, traces of toil, sensible, if not visible, remain. There is no +short cut to Political Science any more than to Pure Mathematics; not +without labour and anxiety, which must tell hereafter, can their crowns +be won; and Foresight, though certainly the more useful faculty of the +two, is sometimes more wearing than Memory. + +Now, in her own line, Lady Mildred Vavasour stood unrivalled; she was +the very Talleyrand of domestic diplomacy. I do not mean to infer that +she was pre-eminent among those Machiavels in miniature, who glide into +supremacy over their own families imperceptibly, and maintain their +position by apparent non-resistance, commanding always, while they seem +to obey. In her own case such cleverness would have been wasted. She no +more dreamt of interfering with any of the Squire's tastes or pursuits +than he did with hers; and was perfectly content with complete freedom +of action, sure of having every whim gratified. Indeed, up to the +present time, her talents had been employed in singularly disinterested +ways. Very, very seldom had she acted with her own advantage, or that of +any one closely connected with her, in view. The position of the +Vavasours was such as never to tempt them to look for aggrandizement; +the Squire represented his county, as a matter of course, but there was +not a particle of ambition in his nature; and her son had always +steadily refused to allow his mother's talents or influence to be +exercised on his behalf. But she had a vast circle of acquaintance, both +male and female, and when any one of these was in a difficulty, he or +she constantly resorted to Lady Mildred, sure of her counsel, if not of +her co-operation. She gave one or both, not in the least because she was +good-natured, but because she liked it. She liked to hold in her little +white hand the threads of a dozen at once of those innocent plots and +conspiracies, which are carried on so satisfactorily beneath the smooth, +smiling surface of this pleasant world of ours. Granting that the means +were trivial, and the end unworthy--it was almost grand to see how her +cool calculation, fertile invention, and dauntless courage, rose up to +battle with difficulty or danger. She loved a complicated affair, and +went into it heart and soul; no one could say how many cases that had +been given up as hopeless, she had carried through auspiciously, with an +exceptional good fortune. With mere politics she meddled very seldom +(though she never sought for a place or promotion for one of her own +favourites, or an adopted _protege_, without obtaining it), but in her +own circle there scarcely was a marriage made or marred, of which the +result might not have been traced to the secret police of Lady Mildred's +_boudoir_. If she had a _specialite_, it was the knack of utterly +crushing and abolishing--in a pleasant, noiseless way--a dangerous +Detrimental. The victim scarcely ever suspected from what quarter the +arrow came, but often entertained, in after days, a great respect and +regard for the fatal Atalante. + +Yes, the work had told even on that calm, well-regulated nature: Lady +Mildred's smile was still perilously fascinating; but a certain covert +subtlety, when you looked closer, half neutralized its power; and the +bright, dark eyes were now and then disagreeably searching and keen. At +such times you could only marvel at the manifest contradiction; with all +the outward and visible signs of youth about her, she looked unnaturally +older than her age. + +In all probability, at no one period of her life had she been more +attractive than at the present moment. There was extant a miniature +taken before she was twenty, and the resemblance of that portrait to the +living original was very striking. One charm she certainly never could +have possessed--_La beaute du Diable_. + +Now we are on the subject, I wish some one would explain this paradox or +misnomer. Do we take it in a passive sense, and suppose, that if any +emotion of love could fall on "the blasted heart"--like water on molten +iron--it would be stirred by that especial type of loveliness--seen now +so seldom, but remembered so well? It may well be so. _Voe miseris!_ +Every other phase of mortal and immortal beauty has ten thousand +representatives in Gehenna, save only _this_. Surely few lost spirits +carry the stamp of innocence on their brows, even so far as the broad +gate with the dreary legend over its door: "Leave hope behind you." Seen +very seldom--only when across the great Gulf, the souls in torment catch +a glimpse of angelic features melting in intense, unavailing pity; but, +perchance, well remembered, for where should freshness and innocence be +found, if not in the faces of the Cherubim? And his punishment would be +incomplete if it were given to the Prince of Hell to forget sights and +sounds familiar to the Son of the Morning. + +It is worth while to realize how dwarfed, and trivial, and childish, +appears all tales of human ruin and shame and sorrow, by the side of the +weird primeval tragedy. Well: the brute creation sympathizes with _us_ +in our pain; but who are we, that we should presume to pity a fallen +archangel? Truly, pious and right-minded men have done so, in all +simplicity and sincerity. The story of the Perthshire minister is always +quoted among the _Traits of Scotch Humour_; but I am sure the amiable +zealot intended nothing irreverent, and saw nothing grotesque in his +prayer. He had exhausted, you know, his memory and imagination in +interceding not only for his own species and the lower orders of +animals, but for "every green thing upon the earth," beside. He paused +at last and took breath; then he went on--rather diffidently, as if +conscious of treading on perilous ground, but in an accent plaintively +persuasive-- + +"An' noo, ma freends, let us praigh for the De'il; naebody praighs for +the puir De'il!" + +That is not a bad digression--taking it as a digression--from the +boudoir of a _petite maitresse_ to the bottomless pit. Whatever +connexion may ultimately be established between the two, I am aware that +it is neither usual nor justifiable to place them in such close +proximity. + +But here I make my first and last act of contrition for all such +divagations, in season and out of season, past, present, and to come. +Reader of mine! you have always the resource (which I would were +available in society) of banishing your interlocutor when he bores you, +by skipping the paragraph, or throwing the book aside. I may not hope to +instruct you; it is quite enough if your interest and yourself are kept +awake. Whether this object would be promoted by writing "to order," is +more than doubtful. If one's movements are naturally awkward and slow, +they will scarcely gain in grace with the fetters on. Let us not force +our talent, such as it is. Few qualities are more useful or estimable +than that grave pertinacity of purpose which never loses sight for a +moment of the end it has had in view all along. But then, one must +_have_ a purpose to start with; and up to the present point, this volume +is guiltless of any such element of success. It is in the nature of some +to be desultory; and there are heretics who think that the prizes of +Life--let alone those of authorship--would hardly be worth the winning, +if one were bound down under heavy penalties to go on straight to the +goal, never turning aside for refreshment by the way. + +_Peccavimus, et peccabimus._ If this literary ship must be shattered on +rocks ahead, we will, at least, make no obeisance to the powers that +have ordained the wreck. O younger son of Telamon! you have spoken well, +if not wisely. The wrath of adverse gods is mighty, and hath prevailed; +but let us die as we have lived--impenitent and self-reliant, without +benefit of Athene. + +It is nearly time, though, to go back to Lady Mildred. She is still +sitting where we left--I am ashamed to say how long ago--in the same +attitude of indolent grace; a very refreshing picture to look upon after +such a sultry day, the ideal of repose and comfortable coolness. No +mortal eye had ever seen "my lady's" cheek unbecomingly flushed, or her +lips blue with cold; it must be confessed that she seldom threw a +chance away in taking care of herself, and had a wholesome dread of the +caprices of our English atmosphere. She had been amusing herself for the +last two hours with one of the paper-covered _novelettes_ which flow in +a stream (happily) perennial from that modest fountain head in the +Burlington Arcade, mollifying our insular manners, and not permitting us +to be brutified. The labour of perusing even this unremittingly, seemed +to be too much for the fair student, for ever and anon the volume would +sink down on her lap, and she would pause for several minutes, musing on +its philosophy--or on graver things--with half-closed eyes. + +While she was indulging in one of these reveries or semi-siestas, a +quick, elastic step came down the long corridor. Lady Mildred could not +have been dozing (nobody ever does allow that they have been +sleeping--out of their beds), for she recognised the footfall instantly, +though it brushed the deep-piled carpet so lightly as to have been to +most ears inaudible: simultaneously with the timid knock that seemed to +linger on the panel, her clear quiet voice said-- + +"Come in, my Helen!" + +In these prosaic days of Realism, when Oreads and Undines, and other +daughters of the elements, have become somewhat coy and unattainable, it +would be hard to conjure up a fairer vision than that which now stood +hesitating on the threshold. I will try to give you a faint idea of +Helen Vavasour as she appeared then, in the spring-tide of her +marvellous loveliness. + +She had inherited the magnificent stature for which her family had for +centuries been remarkable, united to the excessive refinement of contour +and delicacy of feature which had made "the Dene Beauties" +world-renowned. Her figure, though very slight, betrayed no signs of +fragility, and you guessed that the development that three more years +must bring would make it quite faultless. Her hair was darker than her +mother's by many shades--equally fine and silky, but thrice as +luxuriant; its intense black was relieved by a sheen of deep glossy +blue, such as Loxias may have worshipped in the tresses of the +violet-haired daughter of Pitane. Her complexion is much fairer than is +often found where all the other points are so decidedly a brunette's; +dazzling from its transparent purity, it was never brilliant, except +when some passing emotion deepened the subdued shade of delicate, tender +pink into the fuller rose-tint that lines a rare Indian shell. So with +her eyes--long, large, and velvet-soft, they stole upon you at first +with a languid, dreamy fascination; but you never realized their hidden +treasures till amusement, or love, or anger made them glitter like the +Southern Cross. It was one of those faces bearing even in childhood the +impress of pride and decision, over which half a century may pass +without rendering one line in them harsher or harder. + +If you have ever taken up a plain photograph, untouched by the +miniature-painter, of the form and features (for the moment) deemed +fairest of all, you will sympathise with my utter dissatisfaction in +reviewing this abortive attempt at portraiture. The stereoscope brings +out a certain similitude; but what a cold, colourless parody on glorious +reality! That very fixedness of expression--in the original so +perpetually varied--makes it an insult to our incarnate idol. + +Long and attentive study, for her own or her friends' benefit, had +taught Lady Mildred to read very fluently the language of the eyes; the +glance of the Expert withdrew their secret from Helen's, during those +few seconds while she stood hesitating in the doorway; and a shy, +conscious happiness glowing round her like a soft halo, made surmise +certainty. + +O laughter-loving daughter of Dione! your divinity is trampled in the +dust, and none worship now at the shrines of Aphrodite, Astarte, or +Ashtaroth; but one feels tempted at times to turn Pagan again, were it +only to believe in your presence and power. Other, and younger, and +fairer faces have borne tokens of having met you in the wood, since your +breath left a freshness and radiance on the swart features of the false +sea-rover, that carried Dido's heart by storm. + +Yes, Lady Mildred guessed the truth at once, and all her self control +was needed to repress a sigh of vexation and impatience, which very +nearly escaped her; it bore her through, though, triumphantly. Nothing +could be more placable and propitious than her smile; nothing more +playfully than her gesture, as she beckoned Helen to her side:-- + +"My darling! what has happened in your ride to agitate you so? I can see +you are not much hurt. Come and make confession instantly." + +This was apparently the young lady's intention, for she had evidently +come straight to the boudoir after dismounting; she was still in her +riding-dress, and had only taken off her Spanish hat. While her mother +was speaking she came near with the swift, springy step which made her +inimitable, and knelt down by the low couch, half-concealing her glowing +face and sparkling eyes. + +If there is any written manual adapted to such rifle-practice, (I mean +where a young woman has to fire off at her parent a piece of +intelligence particularly important or startling), I fancy, here, it +would run thus--"At the word 'three,' sink down at once on the right +knee, six inches to the right and twelve inches to the rear of the left +heel, and square with the foot, which is to be under the body and +upright"--the great difference being, that the fair recruit is "_not_ to +fix the eye steadfastly on an object in front." + +So far, certainly, Helen acted up to the formula provided for her case; +but she had not been much drilled, and was indeed singularly exempt from +most of the little weaknesses, conventionalisms, and _minauderies_ which +are, justly or unjustly, attributed to modern damosels. Natures like +hers affect, as a rule, no more diffidence than they feel, and are +seldom unnecessarily demonstrative, however small and select their +audience and however dramatic the piece they are playing. So, after a +few minutes' silence, she looked up and said, quite quietly and simply-- + +"Mamma, Alan asked me this afternoon to marry him; and--I love him +dearly." + +The two voices were strangely alike in their accent and inflexions; but +the girl's voice, even when, as now, somewhat tremulous and uncertain, +was mellower in its rich cadences, fuller and rounder in its music. + +Lady Mildred clasped her daughter's waist, and bent down to kiss her, +repeatedly, with passionate tenderness. When the close embrace was +ended, she lingered yet for a few seconds with her cheek pillowed on +Helen's forehead; during those seconds her features were set, and her +lips tense and rigid; that brief interval of self-indulgence lasted just +so long as it would have taken her to utter the words--"It shall never +be." + +Now, mark; the daughter was kneeling at her mother's feet, as she might +have knelt to say the first prayer of infancy; she had just told the +secret which involved her life's hope of happiness--whether wrongly or +rightly founded it matters not; the mother sate there, with a firm, cool +resolve at her heart to crush the hope and frustrate the purpose; and +yet she kissed her child without shivering or shrinking. To our rough +common sense it would seem, that caress more cruel in its falsehood, +more base in its deliberate treachery, never was bestowed since that one +over which angels wept and devils shouted for joy--the kiss given in the +Garden of Gethsemane. + +But who are we, that we should criticize the policy of a Mother of +England, cavil at her concessions to expediency, or question the +rectitude of her intentions? They are white-hot Protestants, many of +them, but none the less do they cherish and act upon the good old Jesuit +maxim--"The end justifies the means." Unluckily, sometimes even _their_ +sagacity and foresight are baffled in guessing what the end of all will +be. You have read _Aspen Court_, of course? Do you remember Cyprian +Heywood's definition of a parable?--"A falsehood in illustration of +truth." "My lady" affected this convenient figure of speech a good deal; +her first words now were decidedly parabolical. + +"My dearest child, you have quite taken my breath away. I cannot tell +yet whether I am sorry or glad to hear this. It comes so very suddenly!" + +"Ah, mamma, say at least that you are not angry--with Alan," the soft +voice pleaded. + +Lady Mildred did not think it necessary to remain long astounded, being +always averse to unnecessary expenditure of time or trouble. So she +answered, after drawing one or two deep, agitated breaths (wonderfully +well done), with intense gentleness of manner and tone-- + +"How could I be angry, darling? Next to Max, and yourself, and your +father, I think I love Alan better than anything in the world. He has +been rash and wild, of course; but I believe he is quite good and steady +now. I am sure he will try and make you happy. Every one will exclaim +against your imprudence, and mine; but we will not look forward +despondently. Only you must not be impatient; you _must_ wait and hope. +You don't know as well as I do what difficulties are in the way. Perhaps +I ought to have foreseen what was likely to happen, when you and Alan +were thrown so much together as you have been lately; but I never +dreamt--" she stopped, compressing her lips, as if annoyed that a truth, +for once, was escaping them. "Well--never mind; confess, Helen, you did +not fear that _I_ should oppose your wishes? You know my first object in +life is to see you happy; and I have not often contradicted you, have I, +since you were old enough to have a will of your own?" + +I fancy that most damsels, under similar circumstances, would have been +of Miss Vavasour's opinion--"That there never was such a darling +mother." She did not express it very intelligibly, though; and, indeed, +it must be confessed, that the conversation from this point was of a +somewhat incoherent and irrational nature. Feminine example is +miraculously contagious; if the fountain of tears is once unlocked, the +gentle influence of the Naiad will be sure to descend on every womanly +bosom within the circle of its spray. I do not mean to imply that upon +the present occasion there was any profuse weeping; but they got into a +sort of _caressive_ and altogether childish frame of mind--a condition +very unusual with either mother or daughter. It may be questioned, if +the sympathetic weakness displayed by Lady Mildred was altogether +assumed. The most accomplished actresses have sometimes so identified +themselves with their parts, as to ignore audience and foot-lights, and +become natural in real emotion. Five minutes, however, were more than +enough to restore one of the parties to her own calm, calculating self. +Another yet fonder caress told Helen, as plainly as words could have +done, that the audience was ended: as soon as she was alone, Lady +Mildred fell back into her old quiet, musing attitude. But the French +novel was not taken up again; its late reader had a plot, if not a +romance, of her own, to interest her now. Whether the thoughts that +chased one another so rapidly through that busy brain were kindly or +angry, whether the glimpses of the future were gloomy or hopeful--the +smooth, white brow and steady lips betrayed, neither by frown nor smile. + + + + +CHAPTER IV. + +A WAIF FROM A WRECK. + + +"Look into a man's Past, if you would understand his Present, or guess +at his Future." So spake some sage, name unknown, but probably +intermediate in date between the Great King and Mr. M. F. Tupper. The +rule is not implicitly to be relied on, but perhaps there is as much of +truth in it as in most apophthegms of proverbial philosophy. + +So it may save some time and trouble hereafter, if we sketch briefly now +some of Alan Wyverne's antecedents; for he is to be the chief character +in this story, which has no _hero_, properly so-called, nor heroine +either. + +The main facts are very soon told: his twenty-first birthday saw him in +possession of a perfectly unencumbered estate of L12,000 a year, and all +the accumulations that two paragon guardians had toiled to amass during +an unusually long minority; his twenty-eighth dawned on a comparative +pauper. + +The last score of centuries have taught us many things; amongst others, +to go down hill with a certain caution and timidity, if not with +sobriety. We never hear now of those great disasters to which the very +vastness of their proportions lent a false grandeur; where a colossal +fortune foundered suddenly, leaving on the world's surface a vortex of +turbulence and terror, such as surrounds the spot where a three-decker +has gone down. The Regent and his _roues_ were wild in their generation, +but they never quite attained the antique magnificence of recklessness. +The expenses of a contested county election fifty years back, would have +shown poorly by the AEdile's balance-sheet, A. C. 65, when Caesar laughed +to see his last _sestertium_ vanish in the brilliancy of the Circensian +Games. What modern general would carry L20,000 of debt as lightly as he +did half-a-million, when he went out to battle with the Lusitanian? If +we even hear nowadays of a like liability, it is probably in connexion +with a great commercial "smash," involving curious disclosures as to the +capabilities of stamped paper, and the extent of public credulity; but +the interest of such rarely spreads west of Temple-bar. Truth to +say--however moving the tale may be to the unfortunates ruined by the +delinquent, there is little romance to be extracted out of mercantile +atrocities. + +Nevertheless, if you only give him time, and don't hurry him beyond his +stride, a dwarf will "go to the dogs" just as easily and surely as a +giant. After our _mesquine_ fashion, that journey is performed so +constantly, that only some peculiarities in Alan's case make it worth +noting at all. + +Few men have trodden the road to ruin with such a perfectly smooth and +even pace; there was no rush or hurry about it from beginning to end; +nothing like a crash to attract notice or scandal. He was known to bet +high and play deep; but no one spoke of him at the clubs as having lost +an extraordinary stake on any one night, nor did the chroniclers of the +Turf ever allude to him amongst those "hit hard" on any single event. +_One_ destructive element never showed itself throughout his career. It +must have been gratifying to those much-abused Hetaerae to reflect (do +they ever reflect at all?) that none could charge any one of the +sisterhood with having aided in Wyverne's downfall. Reckless and +extravagant as the son of Clinias, he escaped--at least Timandra. More +than one scruple, probably, helped him to maintain a continence which +soon became so well-known, that the most persevering of feminine fowlers +never thought of laying her snares in his way. Something might be +ascribed to principles learnt at his dead mother's knee, which all the +contagion of Bohemia failed quite to efface--something to a chivalrous +reverence for the sex, which withheld him from deliberately abetting in +its open degradation--something to the pride of race, with which he was +thoroughly imbued. He loved his ancient name too dearly, to see it +dragged through the dust past the statue of Achilles, at the +chariot-wheels of the fairest Phryne of them all. For once--hearing a +story of human folly and frailty, you asked, "_Dove la donna?_" and +waited in vain for a reply. + +If the Sirens failed to seduce Wyverne, that was about the only peril or +temptation from which he escaped scathless. Profuse hospitality all the +year round in London, Leicestershire, and at his home in the north, cost +something: a string of ten horses in training (besides yearlings and +untried two-year-olds), which only won when their owner had backed +something else heavily, cost more: backing other men's bills _currente +calamo_, receiving no substantial considerations for so doing, cost most +of all. Alan's bold, careless handwriting was as well known in a certain +branch of commerce as the official signature on the Bank of England's +notes. There was joy in Israel when they saw his autograph: Ezekiel and +Solomon--most cautious of their tribe (those crack bill-discounters are +always lineally descended, it would seem, from some prophet or +king)--smacked their bulbous lips in satisfaction as they clutched the +paper bearing his endorsement: their keen eyes looked three months +forward into futurity, and saw the spoil of the Egyptian secure. Alan's +own resources, though rapidly diminishing, always sufficed his own +wants: but he never tired of paying these disinterested liabilities as +long as his friends could furnish him with any decent excuse for his +doing so: if the defaulter failed in making out even a shadow of a case, +Wyverne still paid, but never consorted with him afterwards. Then the +dark side of his character came out. Generous and kind-hearted to a +fault, he was at times obstinate to relentlessness: slow to take offence +or to suspect intentional injury, he was yet slower in forgiving or +forgetting either: he did not trouble himself to detect the falsehood at +the bottom of any tale of distress, but against imposture carried with a +high hand he set his face as it were a millstone. + +Hercules St. Levant (of the Chilian Cuirassiers) would tell you--if he +could be brought to speak coherently on the subject--that he dates his +ruin from the day when he miscalculated the extent of Sir Alan Wyverne's +long-suffering or laziness. Surely some of us can remember that +wonderful Copper Captain--the round, ringing tones tempting you with a +point over the proper odds--the scarfs and waistcoats blinding in their +gorgeousness, so "loud" that you _heard_ them coming all the way up from +the distance post--the supernatural whiskers, whose sable volutes shaded +his broad shoulders like the leaves of a talipat-palm? Hercules was very +successful at first: he must have started with a nominal capital, but he +had plenty of courage, some judgment, and more luck; so, by dint of +industry, and now and then picking up crumbs from the table of those by +whom the "good things" of the turf are shared, he contrived to ruffle it +for awhile with the best of them. Men of mark and high estate would meet +and hold communion with him--as they have done with deeper and darker +villains--on the neutral ground at "The Corner," without caring to +inquire too closely what Cacique had signed his commission, or on what +foughten-fields the rainbow of his ribbons was won. With common prudence +he might have held his own till now. But St. Levant was a buccaneer to +the backbone: he spent his winnings as lavishly as any one of the young +patricians whom he delighted to honour and imitate; and took his ease in +the sunshine, scorning to make the slightest provision for the season of +the rains. It came at last, in an Epsom Summer Meeting. The adverse +Fates had it all their own way there: several of the Captain's +certainties were overturned, and several promising "plants" were +withered in their bud. It was the fourth "day of rebuke and blasphemy," +and still the battle went hard against the Peruvian plunger. The Oaks +dealt him the _coup de grace_: it was won by an extreme outsider. +Hercules saw the number go up, and staggered out of the enclosure like a +drunken man, with hardly breath enough left to hiss out a curse between +his white lips. "Hecuba" was one of six that Wyverne had taken with him +against the field for an even thousand: her name had never been +mentioned in the betting at the time, and Alan only selected her because +he chanced to know her owner and breeder well. + +St. Levant was ruined horse-and-foot, without power or hope of +redemption: that one bet would have pulled him through. Some pleasanter +engagement had kept Wyverne away from The Corner on the "comparing day," +and with his usual carelessness he had even omitted to send his book +down by other hands: Hercules saw a last desperate chance, and grasped +at it, as drowning men will do. He appeared at the settling with his +well-known betting book (gorgeous, like all his other belongings, in +green morocco and gold,) but Hecuba's name was replaced by the second +favourite's. He chanced to have in his possession a fac-simile of the +original volume, and had copied out, in the interim, every bet it +contained, with this one trifling alteration. The matter came before the +authorities, of course. The discussion that ensued, though stormy (on +one side) was very short and decisive: the swindler's foamy +asseverations were shivered, like spray, on the granite of the other's +calm, contemptuous firmness. The judges did not hesitate long in +pronouncing against St. Levant their sentence of perpetual banishment. +All his piteous petitions addressed to Wyverne in after days to induce +the latter to obtain a mitigation of his punishment, remained absolutely +unanswered. There still survives--a pale, blurred shadow of his former +self--as it were, the _wraith_ of the Great Captain. We see occasionally +a hirsute head rising above the sea of villanous figures and faces that +seethe and surge against the rails of the enclosure: we catch glimpses +of a meteoric waistcoat flashing through the surrounding seediness; and +we hear a voice, thunderous as that of the elder Ajax, dominating the +din of the meaner _melee_; but there is no reversal of his doom. The +poor lost spirit must ramp and roar among the "welshers" of the outer +darkness, for the paradise of the Ring is closed to him for evermore. + +Everybody--including the two or three friends who might hope to ride his +horses--was sorry for Wyverne when a heavy fall over timber laid him up, +quite early in the season, with a broken arm and collar-bone. The only +pity was, that the fortunate accident should not have happened three +years earlier. The indoor resources of a country-town, where all one's +associates hunt five days a-week at least, are limited. One morning Alan +felt so bored, that the whim seized him to look into his affairs, and +ascertain how he stood with the world: so he went for his solicitor (as +much for the sake of having some one to talk to as anything else), and +went in at business with great patience and determination. The men who +sat with him on the second evening after the lawyer's arrival, thought +Wyverne looking paler and graver than usual, but he listened to their +account of the run with apparently undiminished interest, and +sympathized with his friends' mishaps or successes as cordially as ever. +Only once his lips shook a little as he answered in the negative a +question--"If he felt in much pain?" Yet that morning had been a sore +trial both of brain and nerve. It is not a pleasant time, when you have +to call for the reckoning of ten thousand follies and faults, and to pay +it too--when the bitter _quart d'heure de Rabelais_ is prolonged through +days. + +Though they arrived then at a tolerably accurate idea of the state of +Alan's finances, it took months to complete the final arrangements. When +everything in town and country that could well be sold had been disposed +of, Wyverne was left with a life-income of just as many hundreds a-year +as he had started with thousands. But all his personal debts, and +liabilities incurred for others, were paid in full. The only absolute +luxuries that he retained (with the exception of all the presents that +he had ever received) were the two best hunters in his stud, and his +gray Arab, "Maimouna." That residue might have been nearly doubled, if +Alan would have consented to dismantle the Abbey. But he could not help +looking upon its antique furniture and fittings in the light of +heirlooms. He had added little to them when he came into his +inheritance: he took nothing away when he lost it. So the great, grave +mansion still retained its old-fashioned and somewhat faded +magnificence; and few changes, so far, were to be seen there, except +that the grass grew long on the lawns, and the flowers wandered over the +parterres at their own sweet will, and instead of thick reeks of +unctuous smoke, only a thin blue line stole out modestly from two or +three chimneys now and then in the shooting season. The game was still +kept up, and the farmers watched it as jealously and zealously as if +they had been keepers in their landlord's pay. + +The sternest Stoic alive could scarcely have fallen into his new +position more naturally, or adapted himself to its requirements more +gracefully, than did that gay, careless Epicurean. If he had any +regrets for the irrevocable Past, he kept them to himself, and never +wearied his friends for their sympathy or compassion; he accused no one +with reference to his ruin; I doubt if he even blamed himself very +severely. There was no more of recklessness in his conduct, than there +was of despondency in his demeanour; but he comported himself exactly as +you would expect to see a man do, of good birth and breeding, and +average steadiness, born to a modest competency. His experience, brief +as it was, might have taught him to be somewhat sceptical as to the +virtues of our human nature, more especially having regard to such +trifles as truth and honesty; but no amount of punishment will beat +wisdom or knowledge into a confirmed dunce or idler. His constitutional +indolence may have had something to say to it; but to the last hour of +his life Alan Wyverne never learnt to be suspicious, or sullen, or +cynical. + +To be sure, the world in this case broke through an established rule, +and behaved better to him when he was at the bottom of the wheel than it +had ever done at the culminating point of his fortunes. There seemed to +be a general impression that he had been very badly treated by some +"person or persons unknown," and it became the fashion to compassionate +Wyverne (in his absence) exceedingly. People who in former days met and +parted from him quite indifferently, found out suddenly that they had +always been very fond of him, and contended as to who should attract him +to their house in the hunting or shooting season. The Marquis of +Montserrat, for instance, roused himself from where he lay, surrounded +by every delight of a Mussulman's paradise, in his summer palace by the +Bosphorus, to send a sort of _firmun_, giving Alan powers of life and +death over the keepers and coverts of all his territory marching with +the lands of Wyverne Abbey; an instance of good-nature which was the +more remarkable, inasmuch as the great Absentee not only carries +laziness and selfishness to a pitch of sublimity, but has of late +registered a vow against befriending any one under any circumstances +whatever. This last and rather superfluous hardening process was brought +about in this wise. + +Some years ago there appeared suddenly in the firmament of fashion a +little star; no one knew whence it came--though it was supposed to have +risen in the East; and when, after twinkling brightly for a brief space, +it shot down into utter darkness, no one cared to ask whither it went. +Mr. Richardson had advanced just so far in intimacy with the magnates of +the land that they began to call him "Tom" (his Christian name was +Walter), when the crash came, and he subsided into nothingness. He lived +upon that recollection, and little else, for the remainder of his days. +Yet one chance was given him. Wandering about the Continent, he met the +Marquis of Montserrat. The mighty golden Crater and the poor shattered +Amphora had once floated side by side, for a league or two, down the +same stream. After a _tete-a-tete_ dinner (the _cotelettes a la +Pompadour_ were a success), old recollections, or his own Clos Vougeot, +made the peer's heart warm, and he bethought himself how he might serve +the unlucky pauper. At last he said, + +"Tom, there is a regular establishment at Grandmanoir, and there always +will be in my time, though I never mean to see it again. Go and live +there; you'll be more comfortable than in lodgings, and save rent and +firing besides. Make yourself quite at home; slay the venison; eat the +fruit of the vine, and drink the juice thereof (the cellar ought to be +well filled); and grow as fat as Jeshurun, if you like. I only insist on +one thing. Whether matters are going on well or ill in the house or out +of it--don't bother _me_ about them. I don't want to hear a word on the +subject. Is it settled so?" + +You may fancy Tom Richardson's profuse thanks and his great joy and +gladness at finding himself chatelain of Grandmanoir. The _valetaille_ +treated him at first with no small kindness (he was a meek little man, +averse to giving unnecessary trouble), and for some months all went +merrily. But before a year had passed there began to dawn on the +stranger's mind suspicions, which soon changed into certainties. There +existed at Grandmanoir the most comprehensive and consistent system of +robbery that could well be conceived. It would have been harder to find +one honest menial there than ten saints in a City of the Plain. +Everybody was in it, from the agent and house-steward, who plundered _en +prince_, down to the scullion (fat, but _not_ foolish), who peculated +_en paysanne_. There was commercial blood in Tom Richardson's veins, and +the sight of these enormous misdeeds vexed his righteous soul +exceedingly. One day he could withhold himself no longer, but sat down +in a fury and wrote, + +"My dear lord,--In spite of your prohibition, I feel it my duty," &c. + +And so went through all the disagreeable details regularly. The reply +came by return of post, though not exactly in the shape that he +expected. The steward came in with scant ceremony, an evil smile on his +face (he probably guessed at the truth), charged with his lord's +commands that the visitor should quit Grandmanoir before sunset and +never return there. Thus rudely was broken the last of poor Tom's golden +dreams. The Great Marquis, when the circumstances were alluded to, never +could be brought to see any harshness in his own conduct, but spoke of +his _protege's_ rather plaintively as "an instance of human ingratitude +that he was really not prepared for." He did not give the species many +chances of surprising him in _that_ way again. + +If the chiefs of his tribe were ready to comfort and cherish the +disabled "brave," now that he could no longer put on paint and plume, +and go forth with them on the "war-trail," be sure that the matrons and +maidens were yet more active and demonstrative in sympathy. There must +be extraordinarily bad features in the case of distress that fails to +secure feminine compassion; except in a matrimonial point of view, our +sisters rarely consider a man deteriorated because he is ruined. Though +he was a general favourite in his set, Wyverne possessed many more real +friends of the other sex than of his own. If there is anything in +reciprocity, it was only fair that it should be so. Alan's reverence and +affection for Womanhood in the abstract were so intense and sincere, as +to be almost independent of individual attributes. His companion for the +moment might be the homeliest, humblest, least attractive female you can +conceive; but with the first word his tone and manner would change and +soften in a way that she could not but perceive, even if she did not +appreciate it. Most of them _did_ appreciate it, though, and this was +the secret of his invariable and proverbial success. Wyverne could like +a woman honestly, and let her know it, without a thought of love, and +could always render courtesy where admiration, or even respect, +unfortunately, were out of the question. However good the sport might be +in other ways, he considered the day comparatively lost in which the +feminine element was wanting. While his comrades were resting for an +hour before dinner--dead beat with seven hours' hard stalking in the +corries of Benmac-Dhui--Alan would be found loitering about the door of +the chief keeper's bothy, carrying on, under extreme difficulties of +dialect, a flirtation on first principles with his orange-haired +daughter. He seemed to derive some refreshment from the process, though +the absence of a beard, and the (occasional) presence of a petticoat, +were about the only distinctive characteristics of her sex that the +robust Oread could boast of. When the season was at the flood, he would +spend hours of an afternoon in the quiet twilight of a boudoir in +Mayfair, by the side of an invalid's sofa. Sooth to say, that room held +no ordinary attractions. Lady Rutherglen had been a famous beauty in the +Waterloo year; and though long illness had somewhat sharpened her +delicate features, she still retained the low sweet voice and winning +manner which had made wild work with the heart of the Great Czar (the +imperial wooing was utterly wasted, for the witty, wayward Countess +could guard her honour as well as the stupidest of Pamelas); there was +hardly a wrinkle on the little white hand, and the lovely silver hair +looked softer and silkier now than it had ever done in its golden prime. + +Sad and strange shapes of sin and sorrow cross our path sometimes, as we +walk home from club or ball through the early morning. Saddest, perhaps, +and strangest of all, is the spectacle of one of God's creatures, +unsexed and deformed by passion and fiery liquor, struggling in blind +undiscriminating rage, and shrieking out defiance alike of friends and +foes. The Menad ceased to be romantic when the Great Pan died. Erigone +may be magnificent on canvas, but even Beranger failed in making her +attractive on paper: in flesh and blood she is simply repellent. Public +sympathy would side rather with Pentheus nowadays than with his cruelly +convivial mother; and we hold the disguise of drink to be the least +becoming of all Myrrha's masquerades. Such a sight affected Wyverne with +a disgust and pain that few men could have fully appreciated; but he +rarely would pass by without an attempt at mediation. They say that his +kind, gentle voice was almost magical in its soothing power. The +exasperated guardian of the night would relax the roughness of his +grasp; and the "strayed reveller" would subside from shrill fury into +murmurs placable and plaintive, yielding, in spite of the devil that +possessed her, to the charm of his cordial compassion and invincible +courtesy. + +All things considered, womankind had rather a better reason for petting +Alan than could be given for most of their whims. When his resources +were almost unlimited, he was always so perfectly regardless of time and +trouble and cost in endeavouring to gratify even their unexpressed +wishes, that it was no wonder if, when the positions were reversed, he +began to reap his reward, and found out that he had laid up treasure +against the time of need. + +I have said more than enough to give you some insight into a character +in which the elements of hardness and ductility, passionate impulse and +consummate coolness, recklessness and self-control, were strangely +mingled, like the gold, brass, iron, and clay in the frame of the giant +Image that stood beside the prophet in his trance, on the banks of "the +great river Hiddekel." + +With all his faults and failings, Hubert Vavasour would have chosen him +out of broad England for a son-in-law. Lady Mildred thought that such a +bridal dress would become her daughter worse than a winding-sheet. + +Which of the two was right? Probably neither. There is little wisdom in +extremes. + + + + +CHAPTER V. + +THE GIFTS OF A GREEK. + + +When Helen came into the cedar drawing-room (the place of assembly +before dinner) she found her father alone. His face was rather +thoughtful and grave, but it brightened as she came quickly to his side, +and nothing but intense love and tenderness remained, when she rested +her clasped hands on his shoulder, and looked up at him with a deepened +rose colour on her cheek, and a question in her great, earnest eyes. If +she had dreaded the meeting, all fear would have vanished even before +the strong, true arm circled her waist, and the kind, honest voice that +had never yet lied to man or woman murmured "God bless you, my own +darling!" Helen felt happier and safer then than when she rose from +receiving her mother's more elaborate caress and benediction. + +Nothing, surely, can be more natural or justifiable under such +circumstances than a paternal embrace; therefore there was no particular +reason for those two starting apart, with rather a guilty and +conscience-stricken expression of countenance, when the door opened, and +Lady Mildred glided in with the even noiseless step and languid grace +that all her friends knew so well, and some admired so much. The +appearance of things did not greatly please her, neither did it trouble +her much. She had a high opinion of her own resources, and a very poor +one of the talents against which she meant to contend; so she regarded +the signs of coalition before her with the same contemptuous +indifference that a minister (with a safe majority) would display, when +the opposition threatens a division, or that a consummate +billiard-player would feel, when his antagonist (to whom he gives ten +points under the proper odds) makes a grand but unproductive fluke. + +As a rule, unless her adversary was extraordinarily skilful or vicious, +that accomplished duellist preferred _taking_ his fire; so on this +occasion Hubert Vavasour had to speak first. He came to time gallantly, +though rather nervously. + +"You have heard what these foolish children have been doing and saying +this afternoon, mamma? I suppose they ought to be scolded or sent to bed +supperless, or otherwise chastised; but I cannot play the stern father, +and you don't look much like Mother Hubbard. _We_ were foolish and +childish once, Mildred; surely you remember?" + +If his own life or fortunes had been at stake, there would not have been +half such pitiful pleading in his eyes and his tone. + +Lady Mildred's memory was unusually retentive, but it did not accuse her +of any such weakness. Her imagination must have been tasked before she +could have pleaded guilty; nevertheless she called up a little conscious +look with admirable success, and smiled with infinite sweetness. Perhaps +there was the faintest sarcastic inflexion in the first few words of her +reply, but it needed a sharper ear to detect it than either her husband +or daughter owned. + +"Dear Hubert, you are growing romantic yourself again, or you would +scarcely call Alan a child. If he is one he is very wise for his years. +But on the principle of love levelling everything, I suppose all ages +are the same when people forget to be prudent. Of course it was a great +surprise to me. I can hardly realize it yet; but--has not Helen told +you? I _do_ approve more than I ought to do, and I hope and pray that +good may come of it to both of them. I love Alan nearly as well as I do +my own Helen, and she and you know how dearly that is." + +She wound her arm round her daughter's waist as she spoke, and drew her +close till the two soft cheeks met. It was the prettiest _pose_ you +can fancy--nothing theatrical or affected about it--enough of +tender _abandon_ to satisfy the most fastidious critic of +attitudes--beautifully maternal without being "gushingly" demonstrative; +but not a hair in "my lady's" careful braids was ruffled, nor a fold in +her perfect dress disarranged. The embrace was still in progress, when +the door opened again and Alan Wyverne joined them, only preceding by a +few seconds the announcement of dinner. It is just possible that the +caress might have ended more abruptly, if one ear in the cedar +drawing-room had not been quick enough to distinguish his footsteps from +that of the Chief Butler--a portly man, with a grand and goodly +presence, in his gait sedate and solemn--who ever bore himself with the +decent dignity befitting one long in authority, conscious of virtue, and +weighing seventeen stone. + +Nevertheless Lady Mildred's knowledge of her nephew's character made her +aware that it would not answer to try with him the line of strategy +which might succeed with her husband and daughter. It was very unlikely +that he would be taken in by the feint of unconditional surrender. Alan +had not devoted himself to the society of womankind for so many years +without acquiring a certain insight into their charming wiles. It was +very easy to persuade, but wonderfully difficult to delude him. She did +not like him the worse for that; indeed she only spoke the truth when +she said he was one of her chief favourites. Under any other +circumstances she would have grudged neither time nor trouble to serve +him, either by gratifying his wishes or advancing his fortunes, and +perhaps really regretted the stern political necessity which made it an +imperative duty to foil him if possible. Her game now was the +temporising one--to treat, but under protest. She looked up once in +Alan's face as she leant on his arm on their way to the dining-room. +That glance was meant to combine affection with a slight tinge of +reproach, but a gleam of covert amusement in her eyes almost spoilt the +intended effect. Lady Mildred had a strong sense of humour, and, after +the first vexation was over, she could not help laughing at her own +carelessness and want of prevision. The fact was, she believed Wyverne +capable of any amount of flirtation with any creature wearing a kirtle; +but, with regard to serious matrimonial intentions, she had held him +safe as if he had been vowed to celibacy; in default of a better, she +would have allowed him on an emergency to play chaperon to Helen. Lo, +the sheep-dog not only proved faithless to his trust, but was trying to +make off with the flower of the flock, leaving its mistress to +sing--with the "lass of the Cowdenknowes"-- + + Ere he had taken the lamb he did, + I had lieve he had taken them a'. + +They were rather a quiet quartette at dinner. Helen was by no means +sentimental, nor did she think it the least necessary to be nervous, +even under the peculiar circumstances; her colour, perhaps, deepened +occasionally by a shade or two, without any obvious reason, and the long +shadowing lashes swept down over her eyes more frequently than usual, as +if desirous of veiling their extraordinary brilliancy; beyond these, +there were no outward and visible signs of perturbation, past or +present; her accomplice's face was a study for its perfect innocence and +calmness. Nevertheless, neither was quite equal to the effort of +discussing utterly uninteresting subjects quite unconcernedly; both had +a good deal to think of, and _one_ had a good deal to prepare for. +Hubert Vavasour was cheerful and happy enough, apparently, but he only +talked by fits and starts; so that it devolved on "my lady" to defray +the expenses of the conversation. She performed her part with infinite +tact and delicacy; it was only the fact of her so rarely taking any +trouble of the sort in a strictly domestic circle (she thought it quite +enough, there, to submit to be amused), that caused the effort to be +observable. + +It would be just as easy to make a dam-head of sand water-tight, as to +prevent the knowledge of an event very interesting to one of its members +percolating through a large household within a few hours after it has +happened. You may not see the precise spot where the water soaks +through, and you may never discover the precise channel by which the +intelligence is circulating; but there is the fact, and a very provoking +one too, sometimes. It is unnecessary to say that the probable +engagement of the cousins formed the prominent subject of discussion +that night in the steward's room, though of the circumstances of the +_fiancailles_ everybody was profoundly ignorant. Of course, Allan could +not be closeted with his uncle, and Helen with her mother, immediately +after returning from a _tete-a-tete_ ride, without the domestics drawing +their own conclusions--to say nothing of the traces of emotion which, +perhaps, even that haughty demoiselle failed to dissemble from the +quick-witted Pauline. + +The Chief Butler (before alluded to) during a quarter of a century's +servitude in the family had acquired, besides a comfortable competence +and considerable corpulence, a certain astrological talent with regard +to the signs of the times showing themselves within his limited horizon. +He was faithful, too, after his fashion; but--loving his master +much--honoured his mistress more, and was ever especially careful to +ascertain how the wind blew from _that_ quarter. He was wont to preside +over his little parliament like Zeus over the Olympian conclave; +hearkening to, encouraging, and, if need were, controlling the opinions +of the minor deities; on such occasions his words were few, but full of +weight and wisdom. He waited now till, after long discussion, the +majority decided that, "it would be a very nice match, and suitable +everyways" (a feminine voice remarking "What did it matter about +fortune? Sir Alan was good enough for a duchess"); then, slowly and +solemnly, said the portly Thunderer: + + [Greek: os ephath', hoi d' ara pantes aken egenonto siope + Mython agassamenoi mala gar krateros agoreusen.] + +"It may be a match, and it mayn't be a match. I've nothing to say +against Sir Allan, and I wish him well; but there'll be some curious +games up, or I'm mistaken. I doubt my lady ain't altogether pleased +about it--she was so uncommon pleasant at dinner!" + +According to one proverb, "No man is a hero to his own valet;" another +tells us, "Bystanders see most of the game." Combining these two, we may +guess how it is that the deepest politicians of private life do not +always succeed in blinding the eyes of their own domestics, however +great an interest they may have in doing so. Perhaps a rash and quite +unfounded contempt for the auricular and mental capacities of a most +intelligent class may sometimes help to throw them off their guard; +though the proudest _lionne_ of our democratic day would hardly care to +emulate the cynicism of that exalted dame (she was nearly allied to the +Great Monarch) who, when discovered in her bath receiving her chocolate +from the hands of a gigantic lacquey, replied to her friend's +remonstrances--"Et tu appelles _ca_ un homme?" + +The Squire of Dene was not so clear-sighted as his major-domo: indeed, +that pleasant habit of contemplating things in general through roseate +medium is apt to lead one into errors with regard to objects distant or +near. He thought the aspect of affairs decidedly favourable; so, when +they were alone again, he looked across the table at Wyverne with a +smile full of hope and intelligence--draining at the same time his first +beaker of claret with a gusto not entirely to be ascribed to the flavour +of the rare '34. + +"I drink to our castle in Spain," he said; "it seems to me the first +stone has been laid auspiciously." + +The other filled a bumper very slowly and drained it deliberately, +before he replied. Surely it was more that curious presentiment of some +counterbalancing evil in the dim background, which so often accompanies +great and unexpected happiness, than any intuitive knowledge of the real +state of things, which prompted the half-sigh--not smothered so soon but +that Vavasour's ear caught it 'flying.' + +"It is almost too good to be true, Uncle Hubert. I'm modest about my own +merits; and I think I know pretty well by this time how much luck I +ought to expect. Would it not be wrong to reckon on winning such a prize +as that, without some trouble, and toil, and anxiety? I confess I don't +like these very 'gay' mornings; the clouds are strangely apt to gather +before noon, and one often gets drenched before sunset." + +During the short interval that had elapsed since the first confidence +was made, the Squire had signed in his own mind a treaty with his +nephew, offensive and defensive; he had identified himself so thoroughly +with the latter's interests, that it provoked him a good deal now to +meet with something like despondency; he had counted on an exhilaration +at least equal to his own. + +"Your poetical vein fails you, Alan; you are scarcely so happy in your +similes as you were three hours ago. That's rather a threadbare one, and +certainly not worth of the occasion; it isn't true, either, as you would +find if your habits were more matutinal. I don't think you know much +about your own merits, or about 'my lady's' intentions; perhaps you do +injustice to both. But--simply to gratify you--we will suppose the +worst; suppose that she is hostile, and only hiding her game. Well, I +believe there is such a thing as paternal authority, though mine has +been in abeyance ever since Max was born: I think I should be equal to +exercising it if we came to extremities. When all one's other +possessions are encumbered, there would be a certain satisfaction in +disposing of a daughter. I'm not aware that any one holds a mortgage on +Helen." + +Now Hubert Vavasour spoke in perfect sincerity and singleness of heart, +when he thus purposed to assert a suzerainty quite as unreal as the +kingdom of Jerusalem or the bishopric of Westminster. His chances of +success in such a reactionary movement would have been about equal to +those of a modern French proprietor who, at the marriage of one of his +tenants, should attempt to revive those curious seignorial rights, used +or abused four centuries ago by Giles de Retz and his compeers. Alan +could not but admire the audacity of the resolve; but his sense of the +absurd was touched when he reflected on the utter impossibility of its +accomplishment. Perhaps this last feeling helped to dispel the gloom +which had gathered on his face; at any rate, his smile was gay enough +now to satisfy his sanguine confederate. + +"I should like to know the man, Uncle Hubert," he said, "who would +persist in being suspicious or misanthropical after talking to you for +ten minutes. _I_ am not such a natural curiosity. 'Sufficient for the +day is the evil thereof:' that's the only sound and remunerative +philosophy, after all. There has been nothing but good in this day; so I +don't know what ungracious or ungrateful devil possessed me: but you +have fairly exorcised him. Let us do as our fathers did--burn our +galleys, advance our gonfalon, and cry--'_Dex nous aide!_'" + +"That's more like the old form," Vavasour replied; "say no more about it +now. The claret stands with you; don't linger over it to-night, I fancy +we are waited for." + +Wyverne's first glance on entering the drawing-room searched for his +cousin; he was rather relieved than otherwise at not finding her there; +he felt that the difficulties of the next half hour were best +encountered alone. Lady Mildred was reclining on her usual sofa; close +to it, and just within easy ear-shot of the cushion supporting her head, +was placed a very low and luxurious arm-chair. "My lady" was ever +considerate as to the personal comfort of her victims, and took especial +care that they should not be galled by the ropes that bound them to the +stake; acting, I suppose, on the same benevolent principle which prompts +the Spaniard to deny nothing to those who must die by the garotte on the +morrow. + +The proximity was ominous, and far too significant to be unintentional. +The instant Alan saw that chair, he guessed for what use it was +destined, not without a slight apprehensive thrill. Just so may some +forlorn Scottish damsel of the last century, whose flaxen locks snood +might never braid again, have shivered in the cold white penance-sheet, +recognizing the awful Stool on which she was to "dree her doom." +Nevertheless, he accepted the position very gallantly and gracefully, +sinking down easily into the _causeuse_ and nestling comfortably into +its cushions, without any affectation of eagerness or betrayal of +reluctance. As he took up Lady Mildred's little soft hand and kissed it, +his natural caressing manner was tempered by a shade of old-fashioned +courtesy; and even that calm _intrigante_ for the moment was not exempt +from the influence of a dangerous fascination. Do not, however, do her +the injustice to suppose that she once relented in her set purpose, or +faltered one whit in its execution. + +It would savour somewhat of repetition, and simply bore you, if all the +conversation that ensued were given in detail. "My lady's" line was +perfect frankness and candour. She alluded pleasantly to the great +matrimonial fortunes that she had projected for Helen, and +confessed--pleasantly, too--her conviction that the alliance now +contemplated was perfectly imprudent, and in a worldly point of view +altogether undesirable; she dilated rather more at length on the +affection for Alan, indulgence to Helen, &c. &c., which induced the +parents to overlook all such objections, and to give their conditional +consent; but even on this point she was not oratorical or prosy. +Nevertheless her hearer was quite aware that there was some more serious +obstacle kept in the background; all these preliminary observations were +so many shots to try the distance; the battery did not take him by +surprise when it opened in earnest. + +"Alan, I know it must bore you, now that Helen has come down stairs, to +be obliged to listen to _Madame Mere_; it is very good of you not to +show it: be patient a little longer. I must make you look at one side of +the question that has escaped you, so far, I think; it is so important +to the happiness of both of you that you should see your way clearly. I +am not much afraid of your getting into difficulties again, your lesson +has been sharp enough to cure you of extravagance; but there are +embarrassments worse than any financial ones, which are only tiresome +and annoying, after all. My dear nephew--has it occurred to you yet, +that in changing your _vie de garcon_, you will have to economize in +more ways than one, and wear some chains, though they may be light and +silken?" + +"I've hardly had time to realize the position, Aunt Mildred," Wyverne +answered, "but I am conscious of a perfect flower-show of good +resolutions, budding and blossoming already. While I was dressing, I was +considering how I could best get rid of my hunters, and I have almost +decided where to place them." + +"You are too eager in beginning self-denial," Lady Mildred said; +"perhaps it will not be necessary to part with your horses _this_ +season. But you must settle your future establishment with Helen and +your uncle. _I_ was thinking of some other favourite pursuits of +yours--of handsomer and more dangerous creatures than Red Lancer--though +I suppose he is a picture of a horse, and it always makes me shiver to +see him rear. Yon may be angry with me, and call me prudish or +puritanical if you like; but I _must_ say it. Alan--do you know that I +consider you the most confirmed and incorrigible flirt of my +acquaintance?" + +To apply to the speaker either of the two epithets she deprecated would +have been simply impossible. Her bright eyes sparkled with a malicious +amusement and gay triumph, as she marked the effect of her words in the +quaint look of contrition mingled with perplexity which overspread +Wyverne's face--usually so imperturbable. For once in his life, he felt +fairly at a loss for a reply. Those general accusations are remarkably +hard to meet, even when one is conscious of innocence; but woe to the +respondent, if the faintest shadow of self-conviction hangs over his +guilty head! The adverse advocate sees the weak point in a moment, and +bears down on his victim with the full flood of indignant eloquence, +exulting in a verdict already secured. + +On this occasion, however, Lady Mildred did not seem inclined to press +her advantage; she interrupted Alan's attempt at a disclaimer, before +his embarrassment could become painful. + +"Don't look so dreadfully penitent: you make me laugh when I am quite +determined to be grave. I did not mean to impute to you any dark +criminality. Up to the present time, perhaps, that general devotion has +been rather useful in keeping you out of serious scrapes: you certainly +have been singularly fortunate in that way--or wonderfully discreet. +Besides, I don't mean to lecture you: it is a peculiarity in Helen's +character, not in yours, that makes me give you this warning. I suppose +you have guessed that she is capable of strong attachments; but you have +no idea how exacting she is of undivided love in return. She has only +had friendships (and very few of these) to deal with so far: but I +remember her fretting for days, because her favourite governess would +not give up corresponding with some school friend whom Helen had never +seen, but had magnified into a rival. It is no use disguising the truth +from you, when I cannot disguise it from myself, much as I love my pet. +_You_ would not like her to be faultless? Helen is not captious or +suspicious; but she is absurdly jealous, sometimes. I cannot conceive +how she learnt to be so: she certainly did not inherit the weakness +from her father or me. I believe she would begin to hate a dog or a +horse, if you made it too great a favourite; and words or looks of +yours--perhaps quite innocent and meaningless--might make her more +miserable than I can bear to think of. Dear Alan, it tires me more to +sermonize, than it bores you to be forced to listen; but what would you +have? If a mother has any duties at all, it must be one of them to speak +when danger threatens her own child and another whom she loves almost as +dearly." + +A peculiarity of "my lady's" _parables_ was, that not only were they +always plausible and probable, but they generally contained an element +of truth and a slight foundation of fact: it made the deception more +dangerous, because more difficult to detect. Really scientific coiners +do not grudge a certain expense of pure silver to mix with the base +metal: it adds so much sharpness to the outline and clearness to the +ring. + +So, though Alan had never till this moment heard of that defect in his +fair cousin's character, he was by no means inclined to disbelieve +entirely in its existence now; simply because he knew his aunt too well +to suppose that she would venture upon an utter fiction which would +refute itself in a very short time. Most men would be somewhat +disquieted by the revelation of a phase in their _fiancee's_ disposition +which is likely to interfere materially with domestic comfort and peace: +but it troubled Wyverne wonderfully little. Whatever her mother might +say or insinuate, he could not believe that the proud, beautiful eyes +would ever condescend to show signs of unworthy or vulgar passions. He +knew that Helen was too frank and impetuous to keep a suspicion +concealed for half-an-hour; and he felt that he could rely on himself +for not giving her serious cause of uneasiness. It was rather a +conviction that he was losing ground every moment, slowly but surely, as +his adversary's game developed itself, that made his face very grave as +he answered, though he was calm and self-possessed again as ever-- + +"You don't expect me to be so conceited as to allow all you implicate, +Aunt Mildred? Still, I fear I cannot deny that I have found many of your +sex very charming, and that I have not always refrained from confiding +the fact to the parties most interested in hearing it. (I rather pride +myself on that circumlocution!) But, you know, I was never bound over to +keep the peace till now. I think I can give fair securities, though not +very substantial ones. Remember, I pledge all my hopes of happiness--of +happiness greater than I ever dreamt would fall in my way. I don't think +I should risk them lightly. I cannot tell _when_ I began to love Helen; +but I know that for months past the temptation has been growing stronger +which vanquished me to-day: for months past it has made me proud to +compare her with all the women I have ever admired (you say, Aunt +Mildred, their name is legion), and to feel that no one could stand the +comparison for an instant. _That_ ought to be a safeguard, surely, +against other enchantments? I can hardly fancy Helen playing Zara; yet, +if the whim should seize her, I think it would be easy to prove to her +that the part did not suit her at all. It is not my way to be prodigal +of professions; but I am certain of one thing; there is no imaginable +friendship or acquaintance--past, present, or to come--that I would not +give up to spare that child ten minutes' unhappiness; and I should not +call it a sacrifice. You are right to be distrustful when so much is at +stake; but, on my faith and honour, _I_ have no fears." + +The clear dark eyes were fastened on Lady Mildred's inscrutable face +very earnestly, as if beseeching that at least truth might be answered +by truth. The trained glance of that great diplomatist did not care to +meet the challenge; it must needs have quailed. I would not affirm that +a momentary compunction did not assail her just then, while she did +justice, in thought, to the kind, generous nature of the man she had +determined to betray. It behoves the historian to be impartial, and not +to attribute an ideal perfection even to his pet politician. The Prince +of Benevento himself might be pardoned for indulging in a brief +self-reproach, after maligning his own daughter and lying to her +accepted lover, within the same half-hour. When Lady Mildred spoke +again, her voice, always low and musical, was unusually gentle and +subdued. + +"I am not so unkind or unjust as you seem to think, Alan. I do believe +thoroughly in your sincerity now, and I am sure you will try your very +utmost at all times to make Helen happy. I don't mean to say that it +will be necessary to set a watch on your lips, and measure out the +common attentions of civilized life by the phrase: the constraint would +be too absurdly evident, if _you_ were to become formal. Nor can I +suggest, at this moment, any one acquaintance that it would be better +you should sacrifice: your own good sense will tell you when and where +to be careful and guarded. But I do wish that both you and Helen should +try how far you are suited to each other, before you take the one step +in life which cannot be recalled. Remember how very young she is. You +cannot call me unreasonable if I ask one year's delay before we fix the +day for your marriage?" + +It came at last--that cunning thrust under the guard, impossible to +evade, difficult to parry, which the fair gladiator had been meditating +from the very outset of her graceful sword-play: all the feints of +"breaking ground" had no end or object but this. At those last words +Wyverne set his lips slightly, and drew himself together with the +involuntary movement which is--_not_ shrinking, just as a fencer might +do touched sharply in mid chest by his opponent's foil. Twelve +months--not a long delay, surely--scarcely more than would be required +to complete the settlements, _trousseaux_, and other preliminaries for +some matches that we wot of, especially if a great house is to be swept +and garnished, before the bride is brought home. Alan might have thought +about some such preparations years ago; now--he only thought that, +whatever forces Lady Mildred might have in reserve would all be +marshalled in their place before half the probationary year had passed. + +But her position was perfectly safe and unassailable. When a prospective +mother-in-law consents to ignore a suitor's social and financial +disadvantages, he cannot well quarrel with her for endeavouring to make +sure that the damsel's affections are not morally misplaced: of course +her domestic prospects ought to be bright, in proportion as her worldly +ones are gloomy. The aspirant may have a private surmise, amounting +almost to a certainty, that he is being unfairly dealt with. He may +murmur to himself that, if he had been a marquis or a millionaire, the +maternal scruples would have been mute; but it would show sad lack of +wisdom to express such feelings aloud. If the case were to come on for +trial, no judge or jury in England would give the plaintiff a verdict. +He would not only lose his cause, but get "committed for contempt of +court," and incur all sorts of vague pains and penalties, besides being +held up as a phenomenon of ingratitude, and a warning to his fellows for +the remainder of his natural life. Most men who come to grief under such +circumstances will find their position disagreeable enough, even without +the perpetual punishment of the pillory. + +Yes, reason, if not right, was on "my lady's" side; and she was +perfectly aware of her advantage; for her eyes met Wyverne's steadily +enough now as she waited for his reply. + +The latter had reckoned so fully on meeting with opposition somewhere in +this quarter, that it is doubtful if he was exactly disappointed at the +turn the conversation had lately taken; though perhaps, as a matter of +taste, he would have preferred more overt antagonism and obstacles more +tangible to grapple with. At any rate, there was not a trace of +sullenness or vexation in his manner when he spoke. + +"I should have thought it unreasonable if you had made my probation as +long as Jacob's, Aunt Mildred; simply because the span of life is +greatly contracted since the patriarchal times, and everything ought to +go by comparison. It would not so much matter to Helen; for, as you +say, she _is_ very young: she will only be in the prime of her beauty +when my hair is grey. But I confess, I should like to reap the reward of +patience before I pass middle-age. Men seem to appreciate so few things +_then_, that I doubt if one would even enjoy domestic happiness +thoroughly. No; I don't think you at all exacting or over-cautious; and +I will bide my time with a tranquillity that shall be edifying. I never +found a year very long yet, and I shall have so much to do and to think +of during the present one that I shall have no time to be discontented." + +Lady Mildred smiled on the speaker sweetly and gratefully, but the keen, +anxious, _business-like_ look still lingered in her eyes. + +"Thank you so very much, dear Alan," she whispered, "you have behaved +perfectly throughout, just as I expected you would" (she spoke the +truth, there). "You will promise me, then, that the day of your marriage +shall not be actually fixed till the year has past? You know your uncle +is rather impetuous, and not very prudent; I should not wonder if he +were to try to precipitate matters, and that would involve discussions. +Now I never could bear discussions, even when my nerves were stronger +than they are; I think they grow worse every day. If _you_ promise, I +shall have nothing of this sort to fear. You will not refuse me this, +because it looks like a selfish request?" + +I have the pleasure of knowing very slightly a Companion of the Order of +Valour, who carried the colours of his regiment at the Alma--it was his +"baptism of fire." At the most critical moment of the day, when the +troops were struggling desperately up "the terrible hill side," somewhat +disordered by the vineyards and broken ground; when the Guards were +reeling and staggering under the deadly hail that beat right in their +faces; the man I speak of turned to the comrade nearest to him and +remarked: + +"Do you suppose they _always_ shoot as fast as this, Charley? I dare say +it's the correct thing, though." + +They say his manner was as listless and unconcerned as usual, with just +a shade of diffidence and doubt, as if he had been consulting a +diplomatic friend on some point of etiquette at a foreign court. I have +the happiness of knowing very well an officer in the sister service who +has received a medal scarcely less glorious, for rescuing a sailor from +drowning in the Indian Sea. They had had a continuance of bad weather, +and worse was coming up all round; great lead-coloured billows weltered +and heaved under the lee--foam-wreaths breaking here and there, to show +where the strong ship had cloven a path through the sullen surges; there +was the chance, too, of encountering one of two sharks which had been +haunting them for days; but I have heard that on Cis Hazelwood's face +when he went over the bulwarks, there was the same expression of cheery +confidence as it might have worn when he was diving for eggs at The +Weirs. + +Now it is fair to presume, that both these men were endowed with courage +and coolness to an exceptional degree; but I very much doubt if, in +perfect exemption from moral and physical fear, and in contempt for +danger either in this world or the next (if the said peril stood in her +path), Lady Mildred might not have matched the pair. When the Vavasours +were travelling in Wales, soon after their marriage, something broke as +they were descending a long steep hill, and the horses bolted; it was a +very close question between life and death, till they were stopped by a +couple of quarrymen just at the spot where the road turned sharp to the +left over a high narrow archway; no carriage going that pace could have +weathered that corner, and the fall was thirty feet clear. The poor +Welshmen certainly earned their rich reward, for they both went down, +and were much bruised in the struggle, and one got up with a broken +collar-bone. When the horses first broke away, "my lady" deigned to lay +aside the book she was reading, but showed no other sign of interest in +the proceedings, far less of discomposure. The Squire was once asked +"how his wife behaved after it was all over?" (that is generally +considered the most trying time). "She looked," was the answer, +"precisely as if she had expected the episode all along; as if it had +formed part of the programme of our wedding tour that the horses should +bolt on that particular hill, and be stopped at that very critical spot +by those identical quarrymen. It struck me that she praised and +compassionated the poor fellow that was hurt, exactly as one might an +acrobat who had met with an accident while performing for our +amusement." + +You may judge from this fact, whether "my lady's" nerves were as weak +and sensitive as she was pleased to represent them. But with all her +wile and wariness, she was a thorough woman at heart; and, as such, was +not disposed to let a chance slip of turning to account the apparent +bodily fragility which dissembled a very good constitution. Seldom, +indeed, does maid or matron allow any small capital of the sort to lie +long idle or profitless. Throughout all ages, despots have been found, +anxious to drape their acts of oppression with a veil of reason and +legality just dense enough for decency. In the present case, Lady +Mildred brought forward a convenient and colourable pretext for a fresh +exaction; she was rather indifferent as to its being received with +implicit credit, for she knew that Alan was too kindly and courteous to +contradict her. + +As it happened, Wyverne was not deceived for a moment; but as the really +important points of the hollow treaty were already decided, he did not +think it worth while to hesitate over minor details. + +"You shall have all you ask without reservation," he said, "and 'thereto +I plight my troth.'" + +So they locked hands there--faith and falsehood--truth and +treachery--the one, harbouring no thought that was not honest and +tender; the other, consistent to the last in her dark, pitiless +scheming. Yet the woman's fingers were most cordial in their pressure, +and they never shrank or trembled. + +It is pleasant to read of the retribution that descended on Brian de +Bois-Guilbert, or Sir Aldinger; but poetical justice does not always +assert itself so conveniently as in the lists at Templestowe. I wonder +how often in the ordeal of battle, honour has gone down before +dishonour, to the mocking echo of the herald's cry--"God defend the +right!" + +Lady Mildred lay back on her sofa with a long sigh of weariness which +was not altogether feigned. + +"I will not keep you another instant," she whispered. "Go to Helen, and +be as happy as you like; you have earned that reward." + +Miss Vavasour had been sitting all this while close to her father's +side. The chair she had chosen was so low that her head could rest +against his hand as it lay on the arm of the vast _fauteuil_. They had +been very quiet, those two, while the conference was proceeding, +scarcely venturing to glance twice or thrice furtively in the direction +of the dread divan; but their whispered confidences were pleasant +enough, if one might judge from Helen's beautiful blushes and the +Squire's musical laugh breaking in at intervals, discreetly modulated +and subdued. Both gazed anxiously in Alan's face as he drew near, trying +to augur from its expression how he had sped. It told no tales; for his +brow was smooth and his smile serene, as if there were no such things in +this world of ours as doubt, or distrust, or despondency. If he could +not hope to clear away all troublesome thorns from the path of the fair +girl who had promised that day to trust him, he could at least spare her +the pains of anticipation; for her sake as well as his own he was +determined to make the most of every hour of sunshine. Without going +into particulars then, he succeeded in leaving an impression that Lady +Mildred had shown herself more favourable to their wishes than could +have been hoped for. Helen went to rest on that eventful night, when +childhood ended and her womanhood began, in a flutter of happiness which +lasted through her dreams. + +"While we live let us live." How is this agreeable maxim to be carried +out, if we are always looking forward into the Dark? There is little +wisdom in the desperate philosophy which teaches men "to eat and drink +for to-morrow they die;" but surely there is reason in taking, while we +may, such moderate refreshment as may brace us for the perils and +labours that the dawning may bring. Do you suppose that Teucer's galleys +clove less swiftly through the Egean because their crews had feasted +high in Salamis on the eve of exile? I fancy those grim old sea-dogs at +their last home revels--cutting deeper into the mighty chines, and +dipping their grizzled beards into the black wine with a keener zest, +while the cheery voice, clear and sonorous as if its owner had never +known defeat or disaster, rings out + + ----O fortes pejoraque passi + Mecum saepe viri, nunc vino pellite curas: + Cras ingens iterabimus aequor. + +The torches flare and swirl in the wind that is rising gustily; there is +a dull sullen booming outside familiar to the wanderers, for they have +heard it ere this when every sinew was strained to keep them clear of +breakers on their lee; they were met by dark lowering faces when they +sailed in through the harbor-mouth; the populace--taught to call them +traitors by the savage old childless king--is now raving for their +blood. What matters it all? They catch their leader's eye as he stands +up in the midst, erect and dauntless, with the great gold crater in his +gripe, and they laugh out loud in defiance; remembering storms they have +weathered and foes they have tamed, and perils compared to which these +are but child's play. Would their prospects have looked better if they +had sat down, with folded hands and covered heads, to complain of +mortals and immortals, and miserably to make their moan? Truly I think +not. Now--when they cast off their moorings to-morrow--in despite of +envious Pallas, we need not fear to wish the exiles "good speed." + + + + +CHAPTER VI. + +GOLDEN DREAMS. + + +First Love! + +Do not they look and sound just as fresh as ever--those two pretty +words? And yet, they have been harder worked than the tritest of +school-copies, by successive generations of romancists in prose and +rhyme, from Anacreon and Sappho down to that more modern and practical +enthusiast, who, in a simile that must come home to every maid and +matron in Belgravia (about five P.M. daily), exclaims, "A first love is +like the first cup of tea--all others like the second." The heresy was +worse than Antinomian that would cavil at feelings allowed by common +consent to be divinely delicious. Take warning by Tantalus; beware of +misbehaviour at the celestial table; when nectar and ambrosia are set +before you, accept them gratefully, without discussing too curiously +their flavour. Perhaps it is best so; perhaps the children's plan is +wisest--"Open your mouth and shut your eyes." + +Why is it then that, at this moment, I feel inclined to be hyper +critical and disparaging? Truly, there is no accounting for moods, any +more than for tastes; the claret last night was undeniable, and the +morning weather (for a wonder) is perfect; there is not a shadow of an +excuse for evil tempers. Can it be that the pet theme has really been +over-rated; and will it turn out that, after all, there's something +quite as sweet in life as Love's young dream? + +See--we have given the _sacerrima verba_ every chance: they stand in a +line by themselves, at the head of the chapter, producing a striking and +rather pictorial effect. Pictorial--I wish the word had not been +written, for association brings back the feeling with which we have +looked on some late acquisitions to our National Gallery, procured at +nearly their weight in gold. "A good thing in its way, but--hardly worth +the money." It would be very difficult, I suppose, to convince our +sisters that it is advantageous for man or woman to go through a certain +amount of mild preparatory training, before either is brought out for +the last grand match against Time. Shall we suggest to Amoret the bride +that Fidelio's affections, since they first gushed out from the remote +fountain-head, have rippled and murmured--not unmusically--through a +dozen _lovelets_ at least, caressing on the way several fragrant +water-lilies and delicate lady-ferns, before they poured a full +undivided volume into the one deep channel, through which (let us hope) +they will flow on peacefully for evermore? And then, shall we hint that +she ought rather to rejoice thereat than chafe or complain? It were +boldly--it were rashly done. However respectable our antecedents--if we +could bring testimonials to character signed by ten responsible +housewives (which I very much doubt if Sir Galahad himself could have +obtained)--the lady would infallibly inscribe our name, foremost, on the +Black List of those dangerous and detrimental acquaintances who were the +bane of the Beloved's life, before she came--another Pucelle--to the +rescue; thenceforward we should certainly "have our tea in a mug," +whenever these fair hands had to pour it. + +Yet, Madonna, if you would deign to look at the subject dispassionately, +you could scarcely help perceiving that the very guilelessness and +simplicity which make a First Love so charming and romantic, detract +somewhat from its actual value. It is a very pleasant and charitable +frame of mind, which "hopeth all things and believeth all things;" but +it involves a certain deficiency in discrimination and, I think, in +appreciative power. The Object may possibly be superlative in beauty, +goodness, or talent; but what is our opinion worth, if we have had no +practical experience of the other two degrees? Unless the paired doves +take flight at once to some uncolonized island in the Pacific, + + And there securely build, and there + Securely hatch their young-- + +each must stand comparison, in aftertime, with other birds, tame and +wild, whose plumage glistens with every gorgeous variety of colour, +whose notes sink and swell through all the scales of harmony. Then it is +the old story over and over again. Madame Ste. Colombe does not care so +much for modest merit, and considers meekness rather a tame and insipid +virtue, since the keen black eyes of haughty, handsome Count Aquila told +her a flattering tale; sober drab and fawn no longer seem a becoming +apparel since Prince Percinet (the Duchess's favourite lory) dazzled her +with his Court suit of crimson and gold. Her innocent consort never +dreams, of course, of repining; but he confesses to an intimate friend +that cooing _does_ sometimes sound rather monotonous: he heard a few +days ago, for the first time, Lady Philomelle sing. Surely it were +better to endure loneliness a little longer--ay, even till "black turns +grey"--than to discover that we are unworthily or unsuitably matched, +when to change our mate would be a double sin. There are matrimonial +mistakes enough, Heaven knows, made as it is; but, if every one were to +marry their first love, a decade of Judges more untiring than Sir +Cresswell would be insufficient to settle the differences of aspirants +to dis-union. + +This is the "wrong side of the stuff," of course; it would be easy to +quote thousands of opposite instances--of the Anderson type--where no +shadow of discontent has clouded a long life of happiness. Still, the +danger remains: you can no more ignore it than you can any other +disagreeable fact, or public nuisance; but it will probably be lessened +if one or both of the contracting parties have had practical experience +enough to enable them to know their own minds once for all. The wise old +Stagyrite, after discussing different sorts of courage, places high that +of [Greek: Empeiria]: shall we not, too, honour and value most the Love +which has been matured and educated by a course of preliminary and +lighter experiments? + +If we have wandered far, through many gardens--finding in each flowers +fragrant and beautiful, but never a one worthy to be placed in our +breast--do we love her less, when we choose her at last--our own +Provence Rose? Was it not well that we should review and admire other +fair pictures wrought by the Great Artist, before we bought what we +hold to be His masterpiece, at the price of all our life's treasure? Had +we not acquired some cunning of the lapidary, by studying the properties +of less precious gems, could we value your pure perfections aright, O +Margarita, pearl of pearls? + +(In spite of that last sentimental sentence, which, I swear, was +elaborated solely as a peace-offering to Them, I feel a comfortable +conviction of having left the prejudices of every feminine reader in +precisely the same state as I found them when we broached the subject.) + +If you disagree entirely with these premises, you will hardly allow that +Miss Vavasour's frame of mind was either correct or justifiable on this +same August morning. It would be difficult to conceive any human being +more thoroughly and perfectly happy. Yet it was not the bliss of +ignorance, nor even of unconscious innocence. In some things demoiselle +was rather advanced for her years: she could form opinions of her own, +for instance, and hold to them, pretty decidedly. Some of our +maiden-recruits contrive to acquire a tolerable knowledge of their +regiment and its proceedings before they actually join: they have +probably several friends who have passed their drill; and these are by +no means loth to communicate any intelligence likely to instruct or +amuse the aspirant. So, though Helen had not yet been presented, few of +the _historiettes_ of the last two seasons (fitted for ears polite and +virginal) had failed to reach her, directly or circuitously. In more +than one of these Alan Wyverne's name had figured prominently. Lady +Mildred had not spoken unfairly or untruly when she characterized her +daughter's temperament as somewhat jealous and exacting; but the +jealousy was not retrospective. Helen decided, very wisely, to bury the +past, with its possible peccadilloes, and to accept her present position +frankly, without one _arriere pensee_. + +It seemed rather a pleasant position, too, as she sate in the deep, +cushioned recess of one of the oriel windows of the picture-gallery; the +play of light through the painted panes falling fitfully on the grand +masses of her glossy hair, and lending a brighter flush to her fair +cheek than even happiness could give it; her clasped hands resting on +her cousin's shoulder, as he half reclined on the black-bear skin at her +feet--(Alan was decidedly Oriental in his choice of postures)--her head +bent forward and low, so as to lose not one of many murmured words. +Would it have been better if a suspicion had crossed her mind, just +then, that the voice she listened to was indebted possibly to long +practice in similar scenes for the dangerous melody of its monotone? I +think not; there is no falser principle than judging from results. + +The line of demarcation between the cousin and the lover is proverbially +faint, so much so, indeed, as sometimes to become quite imaginary. There +is one advantage about this, certainly; the transition into the +affianced state is not so abrupt as to make either of the parties feel +awkward or shy; while on the other hand, their transports are probably +more moderate and rational. In the present case there was not much +danger of extravagance in this way. Wyverne, as a rule, was the +personification of tranquillity, and Helen--though impulsive and quick +tempered enough herself--held demonstrative damsels in very great scorn. +Still it would be difficult, if not impossible, to transcribe their +conversation that morning, up to a certain point. + +Fortunately, one is not expected to do anything of the kind. Where the +story is meant to be melo-dramatic, it is necessary sometimes to give a +good strong scene of passion and temptation, in which either guilt or +innocence triumphs tremendously; but the male writers of the present day +seem pretty well agreed that it is best to leave _domestic_ love +passages (where everything is said and done under parental sanction) +quite alone. An odd authoress or so does now and then attempt to give us +a sort of expurgated edition, which is about as much like the reality as +the midnight sun glimmering faintly over the North Cape resembles that +which blazes over Sahara. You will observe, that even those dauntless +and unscrupulous French _romanciers_ of the physiological school rather +shirk these scenes. + +Perhaps occasionally a curious melancholy feeling mingles with this our +masculine reserve. It may be that Mnemosyne (she can be stern enough, at +times, you know) stands on the threshold of the half-open door and warns +us back with uplifted finger; it may be that of all in the book, we +should have to draw hardest on our imagination for this particular +chapter. In either case it would not be a very attractive one to have to +begin. There is something dreary in sitting down to an elaborate +description of luxuries or riches that have passed away from us long +ago, or which have hitherto eluded us altogether. I am not inclined to +laugh much at Mr. Scrivener's enthusiasm (he writes the "high-life" +tales for the _Dustpan_ and other penny periodicals) when he dilates on +the splendours of Lady Hermegild's boudoir, hung with mauve velvet and +silver, or on the glories of the Duke of Devorgoil's banquet, where +everything is served on the purest gold profusely embossed with +diamonds. He lingers over the details with an extraordinary gusto, and +goes into minutiae which (if they were not grossly incorrect) would imply +an intimate personal acquaintance with the scenes he describes. Now, Mr. +Scrivener's father is a very meritorious grocer, in the Tottenham +Court-road, and the most aristocratic assembly Jack ever attended was a +party at Hackney, where (unfortunately for his prudence) he met his +pretty little wife. But I know that he composes these gorgeous chapters +in a close stifling room, not much bigger or better furnished than that +of Hogarth's poet, with the same wail of sickly children in his ears +(the walls are like paper in those suburban lodgings) and with the +notice lying on the mantelpiece that the acceptance comes due on Monday, +which he must mortgage his brains to meet. I think the incongruity is +too sad to be absurd. + +Do you see the parallel? Velvet and gold are comfortable and costly, but +they are not the most precious trifles that a man may lose or win; bills +are very stubborn inconveniences but there are debts yet harder to meet, +on which we pay heavier usury. + +Whether that pair in the picture-gallery made themselves in anywise +ridiculous, either by word or deed, in the course of the morning, is a +question between themselves and their consciences; for the only +witnesses were the members of their ancestry on the walls, who looked +down on the proceedings with the polite indifference of well-bred people +who have seen a good deal of that sort of business in their time, and +have found out that "this, too, is vanity." At the moment when we +intrude on the _tete-a-tete_, its component parts were in a very +decorous and rational condition; in fact they had resolved themselves +into a sort of committee of supply, and were discussing the financial +affairs of the future. It was delightful to observe the perfect gravity +and good faith with which they approached the subject; though it would +have been difficult to decide which of the two was most hopelessly and +absolutely ignorant of all matters pertaining to domestic economy. +Wyverne was especially great on the point of retrenchment, as far as his +own personal expenses were concerned. + +"You have no idea how much I shall save by giving up hunting," he was +saying; "I don't care nearly so much for it as I did, so it is hardly a +sacrifice" (he really _thought_ he was speaking the truth); "my present +stud is too small to be of much use, and I hate being mounted. So that's +settled. I shall have no difficulty in getting rid of my horses; Vesey +will give me four hundred for Red Lancer any day; and Cuirassier ought +to fetch three. Only fancy, Helen, what one will be able to do with +seven hundred sovereigns! You must have a brougham to yourself, even if +we stay at the great house in town, and it will be useful in the +country, for I suppose people will want us to dine with them sometimes. +We must have our saddle-horses of course--Maimouna carries you +beautifully already--I shall never let you give up riding, if only for +the memory of yesterday afternoon; and that will be all, besides the +ponies that Uncle Hubert gave you on your last birthday." + +"But, dear Alan," his cousin objected, "it seems to me, all those horses +will cost more to keep than your hunters do now; for, you know, you +always stay somewhere throughout the season, where they get board and +lodging." + +"Don't entangle yourself in calculations, child," Wyverne answered; "you +haven't an idea how expensive hunting from other people's houses is; +sending on, costs a fortune. I should like you to see my accounts for +last season" (he said this with intense gravity, just as if he had kept +them regularly); "I am certain I shall save two hundred a year at the +lowest computation. Yes, we can do it easily. I saw Harry Conway the +other day (he married that pretty Kate Carlyon two years ago); he began +telling me of his rectory in Herefordshire, what a lovely garden his +wife had, and how all the country admired the Welsh ponies she drove. +Now, I know their income does not touch six hundred pounds. We can +double that, at all events, O cousin, cautious beyond your years!" + +The part of Dame Prudence was in reality so entirely foreign to Miss +Vavasour's nature and habits, that it amused her very much to play it, +so she still tried to look solemn, but the laugh would not be dissembled +in her eyes. + +"An Abbey is a more expensive residence than a rectory, _M. le +Financier_, even if the Lady Abbess should not be enthusiastic about +flower-gardens. Have you formed any plans as to our life in the North? I +mean to make Mrs. Grant teach me housekeeping; and I shall be so severe +about the weekly bills! I can fancy the butchers and bakers trembling +when they bring up their little red books to be settled." + +"Certainly, _il faut vivre_; I quite admit the necessity of that. I have +no doubt we shall do wonderfully well. I shall slay a good number of +creatures, finned, furred, and feathered, and one does not get tired of +game easily. We must not have any one to stay with us, except in the +shooting-season; though I believe the chief cost of guests is the claret +they drink; fortunately there is a Red Sea of that in the cellars. And +now, my Helen, prepare to open your great eyes very extensively; I mean +to annihilate your scruples with my last idea in economy. When the +present stock is exhausted (it's not large) the supply of champagne at +the Abbey will be cut off until I come into another inheritance." + +He enunciated the words rather sententiously and solemnly, evidently +feeling the confidence and self-satisfaction that might be pardonable in +a Chancellor of the Exchequer who has thought of a new and productive +tax that cannot possibly hurt or offend anybody, or in a calculator who +has elaborated a scheme for materially reducing the national debt. This +time Miss Vavasour's musical laugh was not repressed. + +"Don't go any further, Alan; Prudence owns herself vanquished by that +last tremendous retrenchment. I begin to think we shall manage +perfectly; perhaps there is no danger of absolute penury. Whenever I +find the larder is empty, and that there are no means of filling it, I +shall bring in the Spur in the Dish with my own hands; you were born +near enough the Border to know, then, that you and your lances must go +out on the foray." + +"That's right," Wyverne said; "they say nothing stimulates one to +exertion like appreciation, and I've got an exertion before me this +morning, in the shape of letter-writing, that I don't much fancy. It's a +question of Bernard Haldane. (I can never call him and your father +'uncle' in the same breath, but he did marry my aunt, you know.) He must +be absurdly rich by this time; and when I did not in the least want it, +I believe I was to have been his heir. So I might still have been, they +tell me, if I had been utterly and irretrievably ruined, and had come to +him in the form of the pauper. But he never forgave the poor little +salvage out of the wreck which made me independent of his bounty. Very +odd old man, that, and intensely disagreeable, I own; but still I wish, +now, you two had met. I do believe you would have melted the +misanthrope, and a very trifling thaw in that quarter would be of +material advantage to us just at this juncture." + +Miss Vavasour's haughty lip curled perceptibly; her face did not care to +conceal some aversion and disdain. + +"I should certainly spare myself the annoyance of writing that letter, +if I were you, Alan. I don't think mendicancy would suit you at any +time, and it is rather early to begin the trade. _I_ should hardly +succeed better, even if I had the chance of trying. If I have any +fascinations, I think I will keep them for some other subjects than odd, +disagreeable, old men." + +Wyverne was not in the least inclined to chafe at her tone; in truth, +admiration left no place for anger; it would have been hard to quarrel +with her, she looked so handsome in her scorn. He knew, too, that her +pride was only half selfish, and that she would have dreaded humiliation +for his sake, more than for her own. So he smiled quite pleasantly, as +he answered, + +"O Queen, let your imperial mind be set at rest. Your bond-servant had +no intention of making obeisance to any other tyrant. Do I look like one +of 'the petitioners who will ever pray?' (He certainly did _not_ at that +moment.) I only meant to convey a piece of simple intelligence, which +perhaps Mr. Haldane is entitled to in courtesy, and leave him to think +and act as he would. But I told you I disliked doing even this; and I +hesitated till I consulted your mother on the point after breakfast. She +decided at once that I ought to do so. I own her look, as she said it, +would have puzzled me, if I had not given up long ago trying to decipher +'my lady's' countenance. I imagine she expects not much will result. I'm +sure _I_ don't. But if Plutus were only to part with a poor thousand, it +would help me to furnish two or three rooms prettily at the Abbey for +you and your friends. My pet, you will look like Nell in the Curiosity +Shop, in that dismal grey house, with its faded old-fashioned +furniture." + +Helen was accusing herself already of having been unjust and unkind. Her +conscience smote her yet more keenly as her cousin spoke these last +words. When she laid her hand on his mouth to stop him, it was half +meant as a caress. Wyverne pressed the lithe white fingers against his +lips, and made them linger there not unwillingly; but his mood, usually +so equable and gay, had become strangely variable since yesterday. The +dark hour came on suddenly now. His face seemed to gather anything but +light from the bright loveliness on which he gazed. Helen's hand was +dropped almost abruptly, and he went on muttering low to himself, as if +unconscious of her presence. + +"Esau was wiser than I. He _sold_ his birthright at all events: I gave +mine away. God help us! Instead of these miserable shifts and +subterfuges, I ought at this moment to be talking about the fresh +setting of my mother's diamonds. I wonder who wore them at the last +drawing-room! I took my own ruin too lightly. I suppose that is why it +stands out so black and dismal, when I have brought another down to +share it. Ah me! If the struggle and the remorse begin so early, what +will the end be?" + +She broke in quickly, her fingers trembling as she twined them in his, +and her cheeks glowing with her passionate earnestness. + +"Alan, how can you speak so? Do you want to make me feel more selfish +than I do already? I might have known what it would come to when you +proposed selling Red Lancer, and I ought to have resisted then. You +would sacrifice all your own pursuits and pleasures to me and my +fancies, and you take nothing in return except"--(the word-music could +scarcely be heard here)--"except--my my dear love. See, _I_ do not fear +or doubt for one instant. Am I to teach you courage--you that I have +always heard quoted for daring since I was a little child?" + +We have read in the _Magic Ring_ how the draught mixed by Gerda, the +sorceress, for Arinbiorn, before the great sea-king went forth to fight, +doubled the strength of his arm and the sway of his battle-axe. Glamour +more potent yet may be drawn from brilliant dark eyes, whose imperial +light is softened, not subdued, by tears that are destined never to +fall. A tamer spirit than Wyverne's would have leapt up, ready for any +contest, under the influence of Helen's glance, when she finished +speaking. Very scanty are the relics that abide with us of the old-time +chivalry; but our dames and demoiselles still play their part as +gallantly and gracefully as ever. Even "Sir Guy of the Dolorous Blast," +when bound to the battle, will scarcely lack a maiden to brace on his +armour. + +Alan rose to his feet and leant over his cousin where she sate. He +forgot to be ashamed of his own weakness; he felt so proud of his +beautiful prize, as he wound his arm round her delicate waist and drew +her close to his side, till the little head nestled on his shoulder and +his lips touched her ear as they whispered, + +"My own brave darling! you shall never have to revive me again. The dead +past may bury its dead; my last moan is made; henceforward will we not +hope, even against hope." + +In spite of his newly-born confidence, he scarcely repressed a start and +a shiver, as, looking up during the happy silence that ensued, he seemed +to be answered by the earnest melancholy eyes of the last Baron +Vavasour. + +There are certain pictures, you know, whose gaze always follows you, +however often you may change your position. This portrait was one of +such. It ought to have been excepted from the other ancestors, when we +spoke of the unconcern with which they regarded the proceedings of their +descendants. It was a very remarkable face, as I have said before, and +by far the most peculiar feature in it were those same eyes. +Notwithstanding their soft beauty, there was something dark and +dangerous about them, as if the devil that lurked in their languid +depths _would_ look out sometimes. They were just the eyes from which an +Italian would dread the _jetta-tura_, seeming to threaten not only evil +to others, but misfortune to their owner. In Fulke Vavasour's life +certainly both promises were amply fulfilled. If those scornful lips +could have spoken now, one might have guessed at the import of the +words. + +"No change since my time. Those old commonplaces about faith and hope +and love are not worn out yet; but it amuses me to hear them again now +and then--not too often. I could repeat them glibly enough myself once, +and perhaps I believed in them a little. I am wiser now, and so will you +be, _beau cousin_, before you have done. I had my romance, of course. +You know how that was cut short one cold morning on Tower-hill; but you +_don't_ know where yours will end." + +Some ideas like these shot across Wyverne's mind, but he had no time to +give them form or distinctness, even if he had wished to indulge in such +absurdity, for one of the doors of the gallery opened just then, and +though the drawing aside of the heavy _portiere_ gave them a moment's +grace, the cousins had scarcely time to resume an erect and decorous +posture before their _tete-a-tete_ was ended. + + + + +CHAPTER VII. + +MATED, NOT MATCHED. + + +The new-comer was an elderly man, in a clerical dress. His figure, +originally massive and powerful, had thickened and filled out of late +years till little of fair proportion or activity remained. In his walk +and general bearing there was the same lassitude and want of energy +which spoilt his face. The features could never have been regularly +handsome; they were too weakly moulded for _any_ style of beauty; but +their natural expression was evidently meant to be kindly and genial. +This, too, had changed. There was a nervous, worried look about him, as +of a man exposed to many vexations and annoyances. It was not grave +enough to suggest any great sorrow. Geoffry Knowles's story is very soon +told. He was three or four years the Squire's senior; but they had been +great friends at college. Few of their old set were left when Geoffry +went up to keep his "master's term;" so, unluckily, he was a good deal +thrown on his own resources. His evil genius lured him one day to a +certain water-party, where he met Laura Harding, the handsome, flashy +daughter of an Oxford attorney in large and very sharp practice, who +speedily entangled him irretrievably. If Hubert Vavasour had been in the +way, it might have been prevented. His thoroughbred instincts would have +revolted from the intense vulgarity of the whole family, and the great +influence he possessed over his friend's facile mind would all have been +exerted to free the latter from a connexion which could only prove +disastrous and unhappy. Geoffry Knowles himself, the most indolent and +unobservant of men, saw from the first that the fair Laura's _entourage_ +was most objectionable; and certain incongruities (to use a mild term) +in the lady's own demeanour and dialect struck him now and then +painfully, as they would have done any other man well-bred and +well-born. But, though conscious of going down hill, he was too idle to +try to struggle back again; and when the moment for the final plunge +came, he took it resignedly, if not contentedly, expecting no +countenance from any of his friends, as he had not sought their counsel. +Perhaps, after all, retractation would have been worse than vain. The +wily lawyer might have said with the Sultan, + + Dwells in my court-yard a falcon unhooded, + And what he once clutches he never lets go. + +Though Knowles was of an impoverished family and rather an extravagant +turn, Mr. Harding knew he had powerful friends, first and foremost of +whom was the Squire of Dene; so far he judged rightly. Hubert Vavasour +not only disliked "hitting a man when he was down," but never would let +him lie there without trying to help him up. So, in spite of the +connexion which he thoroughly disapproved, as soon as the rectory of +Dene fell vacant, he did not hesitate to offer it to his ancient +comrade: it was one of those great family livings that are almost as +valuable as a fat priory or abbey might have been; and thenceforth its +rector wanted no comforts that affluence could supply. When this event +occurred the Squire had been married about three years: he took the step +without consulting his wife, or in all probability Lady Mildred would +have interfered to some purpose. It was part of her creed never to waste +either lamentations or reproaches on what was irrevocable; so she +accepted the fact quite composedly, determining to judge for herself as +to the feasibility of associating with the new-comer, and to act +accordingly. + +Neither the Squire's nor the rector's wife ever forgot the first evening +they met. Truth to say, "my lady" had prepared herself for a certain +amount of vulgarity; but the reality so far transcended her +expectations, that the shock was actually too much for her. She could +not repress a slight shiver and shrinking sometimes, as Mrs. Knowles's +shrill, highly-pitched voice rattled in her ears, and her trained +features did not always conceal wonder and aversion at certain words and +gestures that grated horribly on her delicate sensibilities. The other's +sharp eyes detected every one of these unflattering signs, and she never +forgot them: though long years had passed and a reckoning-day had never +come, the debt still remained, written out as legibly in her memory as +Foscaro's in Loredano's tablets. That evening, when the visitors had +taken their departure, the fair hostess leaned back wearily on her sofa +and beckoned her husband to her side. When he came she laid her hand on +his arm and looked up into his eyes rather plaintively, but not in the +least reproachfully. + +"Dear Hubert!" she said, "I fancy Mr. Knowles very much, and I hope he +will come here whenever he likes. He may bring his wife four times a +year (when you have some of those constituency dinners, you know); but, +at any other time or place, I absolutely decline to entertain that +fearful woman again!" + +There was not a shade of anger, or even disdain, on the placid face, +but he must have been a bolder man than Vavasour who would have argued +the point with her then. Hubert knew that the fiat just issued by those +beautiful lips, ever so little set, was irrevocable. + +"She _is_ an awful infliction!" he assented, gravely; "I can't call you +unjust, dear Mildred. Indeed, I almost regret having brought her so near +you. I must manage it with Geoffry as best I can; I should not like to +lose his society. Poor fellow! I was very wroth when I first heard of +his derogation--but I can do nothing but pity him now. If she affected +us so disagreeably this evening, think what it must be to have to live +with her all the year round! It is no use saying, 'He's used to it.' +There are some nuisances one never gets indifferent to." + +Lady Mildred shrugged her round white shoulders slightly, as though to +intimate that Mr. Knowles's domestic Nemesis was essentially _his_ +concern; and so the matter ended. + +It was not long before that worried, nervous expression, to which I have +alluded, became the habitual one of poor Geoffry's face. He never spoke +of his troubles, even to Hubert Vavasour; but they must have been heavy, +and almost incessant. His wife had captured him simply as a measure of +expediency: she would have married him just as readily if he had been +elderly and repulsive when she first saw him; she very soon got tired of +keeping up affectionate appearances; indeed, that farce scarcely +outlasted the honeymoon. The last phantasm of romance had ceased to +haunt the dreary fireside, years and years ago. Laura's sharp tongue and +acid face were enough to scare away a legion of such sensitive elves. As +soon as she found that their income was far more than sufficient for +their wants she took severely to parsimony, and "screwed" to an extent +scarcely credible. There never breathed a more liberal and openhanded +man than Geoffry Knowles--it must have been a poor satisfaction to him +to know that about thirty pounds per annum were saved by economy in beer +alone, and that his servants'-hall was a byword throughout the county. +The wives of the squirearchy had been very kind and civil to her at +first, and were not all inclined to follow the lead of the _grande dame_ +at Dene; but they couldn't stand her long, and one by one they fell off +to a ceremonious distance, doing out their visits and invitations by +measure and rule. This did not improve the lady's temper, which was +exacting and suspicious to a degree: she never would allow that she ever +lost a friend or failed to make one by her own fault; though she had a +pleasant habit of abusing people savagely to their nearest neighbours, +so that it was about ten to one that every syllable came round to them. +They had one child--a son--who might have been some comfort to the +Rector if his mother would have let him alone: but she asserted her +exclusive right to the child even before he was christened, insisting on +calling him by her own family's name--"Harding"--(some one said, "it was +to commemorate an incomplete victory over the aspirates"); and +maintained her ascendency over his mind by the simple process of abusing +her husband to and before the boy, as soon as he was old enough to +understand anything; it is needless to say there was always more +distrust than sympathy between father and son. + +So, you see, Geoffry Knowles had a good deal to fight against, and very +little to fall back upon. His one consolation was, his neighbourhood to +Dene: he clung fast to this, and would not let it go, in spite of +incessant sarcasms levelled at his meanness of spirit for "always +hanging about a house where his wife was not thought good enough to be +invited:"--(she never missed one of those quarterly dinners, though). It +was inexpressibly refreshing to get out of hearing of the shrill +dissonant voice--ever querulous when not wrathful, and to share + + The delight of happy laughter, + The delight of low replies, + +which one could always count on finding at Dene when its mistress or her +daughters were to the fore. Those visits had the same effect on the +unlucky rector, in calming and bracing his nerves, as change of air will +work on an invalid who moves up from the close dank valley to the fresh +mountain-side, where the breeze sweeps straight from the sea over crag, +and heather, and tarn. Lady Mildred liked him--perhaps pitied him a +little--in her own cool way, and the Squire was always glad to see him; +so he came and went pretty much as he chose, till it would have been +hard to say to which family he really most belonged. Helen was very fond +of him; it would have been strange had it been otherwise, for he had +petted her ever since he held her in his arms at the font, and, indeed, +had lavished on her all the father-love of a kindly nature, which he was +debarred from giving to his own child. As her loveliness ripened from +bud to blossom under their eyes, no one could have said which was the +proudest of their darling--the Rector or the Squire. + +It rather spoils the romance of the thing--but, truth to say, there were +other and much more material links in the chain that bound Geoffry +Knowles so closely to Dene. He had always been of a convivial turn, and, +from youth upwards, not averse or indifferent to the enjoyment of old +wine and fat venison: of late years he had become ultra-canonical in his +devotion to good cheer. I do not mean to imply that he drank hard or +carried _gourmandise_ to excess; but certainly not one of Vavasour's +guests, whose name was legion, savoured more keenly the precious +vintages that never ceased to flow from his cellars, or the +master-strokes of the great artist who deigned to superintend the +preparation of his banquets. Was it a despicable weakness? At all +events, it was not an uncommon one. The world has not grown weary of +trying that somewhat sensual anodyne, since Ulysses and his comrades +revelled on the island-shore till the going down of the sun-- + + [Greek: dainymenoi krea t' aspeta kai methy hedy] + +a few hours after he crept out of the Cyclops' cave, leaving the bones +of six of his best and bravest behind; many bond-slaves since Sindbad, +as the jocund juice rose to their brain, have forgotten for awhile that +they carried a burden more hideous and heavy than the horrible Old Man +of the Sea. + +I have lingered much longer than I intended over the antecedents of the +Rector; but as one or two members of his family play rather an important +part in the story afterwards, there is some excuse for the interruption. + +When Mr. Knowles entered the picture-gallery, he was evidently unaware +that it held other occupants; he had advanced half way up its length, +before Miss Vavasour's gay dress, looking brighter in the strong +sunlight, caught his eye; even then he had to resort to his glasses +before he could make out who sat in the deep embrasure. + +"This is a new whim, Helen," he said, as he turned towards them; "I +never found you here in the morning before. Can you tell me where the +Squire is? I want--" + +He stopped abruptly, for he was near enough now for the fair face to +tell its tale, and, short-sighted as he was, the rector saw the state of +things instantly. A few steps--very different from his usual slow, +deliberate pace--brought him into the oriel; he stooped and kissed Helen +on her forehead, and then griped Wyverne's hand hard, his lips moved +twice before he could say, unsteadily and huskily, "I am so very, very +glad!" + +It was a simple and hearty congratulation enough, but it was the first +that the fair _fiancee_ had had to encounter, and it threw her into +considerable confusion, coming thus brusquely. To speak the truth, she +"arose and fled away swiftly on her feet," covering her retreat with +some indistinct murmur about going to find the Squire, and left her ally +to bear the brunt of the battle alone. The Rector was not in the least +vexed at her flight; he knew his pet too well to think that she could be +ungracious; he only looked after her with a smile of pride and fondness +as she glided away and disappeared through the curtained door, and then +turned again to Alan. + +"I have always dreamt of this," he said; "but so few of my good dreams +come true that I scarcely hoped there would be an exception here. I am +certain you will take all care of her; and how happy she will make you! +And how long has this been going on? You have kept your secret well, I +own, but I am so blind that it is very easy to keep me in the dark." + +There was a faint accent of melancholy, and a half reproach in the last +few words, which did not escape Wyverne's quick ear. + +"My dear Rector, don't be unjust. What do you mean by suspecting us of +keeping secrets from _you_? You won't give one time to tell you. We were +all perfectly sober and sane till yesterday afternoon, when I lost my +head riding in the Home Wood; and everybody has been following my lead +ever since, for I ought to be crushed on the spot instead of encouraged. +You see I'm like other maniacs; they always know their companions are +mad, and tell you so--don't they?" + +"Imprudent, perhaps, but not insane," the other said, heartily; "and is +'my lady' as bad as the rest of you?" + +"Well, not exactly; for, though she refused nothing, she was wise enough +to stipulate that the time of our marriage should not be fixed until a +year had passed. I believe Aunt Mildred likes me, but I don't think her +partiality quite blinds her to my disadvantages." + +It would have been hard to decide from Wyverne's face, whether he spoke +in earnest or irony; but there was no mistaking the expression of the +Rector's; disappointment was written there very legibly. + +"You could hardly expect unreserved consent _there_," he said; "but it +is a long delay before anything is actually fixed--too long. Alan, trust +me. You don't mind my speaking frankly? Helen comes out next season, you +know; and even if your engagement is announced, nothing will prevent +half the 'eligibles' in London going wild about her. It will be +fearfully tantalizing to 'my lady's' ambition, and I doubt if her good +faith will last out the year. If that once fails, you will have a hard +battle to fight and a dangerous one; none can say what a day may bring +forth, and few of Lady Mildred's are wasted when she has determined to +carry anything through. Surely you tried to shorten the probation-time?" + +Wyverne bit his lip, frowning slightly. + +"My triumph is great, I own, but really I don't require to be reminded +that I am mortal. Of course there are risks and perils without end, but +I have counted them already, Rector; don't trouble yourself to go +through the list again. No, I did _not_ remonstrate or resist, simply +because I think it wiser to husband one's strength than to waste it. I +might say to you as Oliver said to Sir Henry Lee--'Wearest thou so white +a beard, and knowest thou not that to refuse surrendering an +indefensible post, by the martial law deserves hanging?' My position at +the moment was not quite so strong, numerically, as the Knight of +Ditchley's, for he had _two_ 'weak women' in his garrison, and, I fancy, +I had only one brave girl. We can count on the Squire's good will to any +extent, but he would be the merest reed to lean upon if matters went +wrong. It is much the best plan to trust till you are forced to +distrust; for it saves trouble, and comes to about the same thing in the +end; pondering over your moves don't help you much when your adversary +could give you a bishop or a castle. So for the present I believe in +Aunt Mildred _coute qui coute_. You are right though--there will be a +fair crop of rivals next spring; but I am vain enough to think that, +with such a long start, I may hold my own past the post." + +Alan threw back his head rather haughtily, as he spoke these last words, +and once again encountered the eyes of Fulke Vavasour. He turned quickly +to his companion, before the latter could reply. + +"An ominous neighbourhood to make love in, is it not? especially +considering the resemblance. You have remarked it?" + +Geoffry Knowles started visibly, and his countenance fell more than it +had yet done. + +"I wish you had not asked me. Yes, I have seen it coming out stronger +every month for the last year; it was never there before. I have always +avoided looking at that picture since I was forced to confess that the +family likeness to Helen is far stronger than in her own brother's +portrait that hangs there. If the Squire had only some excuse for +putting it away! Such coincidences are common enough, of course, but I +wish to God the features of the worst of her race had not been +reproduced in our darling." + +"Not the worst, I think," Wyverne answered, decidedly, "though he was +wild and reckless enough in all conscience. It's an odd thing to say, +but I've liked him better since I heard how and why he sold himself to +Satan. I dare say you don't know that version of the story. Percie +Ferrars, who is always hunting out strange family legends, told it me +the other day. He found it in some book relating to the black art, +written about fifty years after the Baron's death. It seems that he had +always been meddling with magic, but he never actually came to terms +with the fiend till the night of his arrest. He signed and sealed the +contract within an hour after he entered his cell, on the condition that +certain papers then at the Dene should be in his hands before the dawn; +so he saved a woman's honour from being dragged through the mire of a +public trial, and perhaps a delicate neck from the scaffold. This is how +the horseman came along at midnight, bearing the Baron's signet-ring, +when the arrest was not two hours old; and this is why the pursuivant, +who started before the prisoner was in the Tower, and never drew bridle +on the way except to change his horses, found nothing but empty drawers +and rifled caskets, with a mark here and there, they say, as if hot +coals had been dropped on them. The author brings the case forward in a +very matter-of-fact way, to show for what a miserably small +consideration men will sometimes barter their souls, for he observes +that Vavasour could not even obtain for himself safety of life or limb. +Perhaps he did not try; he came of the wrong sort to stand chaffering +over a bargain when he was in no position to make terms. I don't mean to +deny that Fulke was very guilty; I don't mean to assert that a man has +any right to sell his soul at all; but I am not prepared to admit the +absurd smallness of the value received. The Baron himself, it appears, +revealed the infernal contract to one man, his cousin and dearest +friend. When the confidant, rather horror-stricken, asked 'if he did not +repent?' he only answered--'What is done is well done'--and +thenceforward would answer no question, declining to the last the +consolations of religion or the visits of a priest. But every one knows, +that at his trial and on Tower-hill he bore himself as coolly and +bravely as if he had been a martyred bishop. Let him rest in peace if he +may! If he erred, he suffered. For the sake of that last wild deed, +unselfish at least, I will cast no stone on his grave." + +His quiet features lighted up, and his eyes gleamed, just as they would +do if he were reading some grand passage in prose or rhyme that chanced +to move him strongly. No enthusiasm answered him from the other's face. +The Rector evidently could not sympathize. + +"It's a dark story," he said, "whichever way you look at it, and your +version does not make me dislike that picture the less. But I'm not a +fair judge. If I ever had any romance, it has been knocked out of me +years ago. I won't argue the point. I'm only sorry that our talk has got +into such a melancholy groove. It is my fault entirely. First I spoil +your _tete-a-tete_ by blundering in here, where I had no earthly +business, and then I spoil your anticipations with my stupid doubts and +forebodings. Just like me, isn't it?" + +Wyverne's gay laugh broke in before the Rector's penitence could go +further. + +"Not at all like you," he answered cheerily; "and don't flatter yourself +that either prophecy or warning will have the slightest effect. +Ecclesiastes himself would fail if he tried to preach prudence to _us_ +just now. I told you we had all gone out of our sober minds up here. For +my part I don't care how long the Carnival lasts. We must keep the +feasts in their order, of course; but, by St. Benedict, we will not +anticipate Lent by an hour." + +Geoffry Knowles looked wistfully into the speaker's frank, fearless +eyes, till his own brow began to clear, and a hearty, genuine admiration +shone out in his face. + +"I do envy that hopeful geniality of yours, more than I can say, Alan. I +have a dim recollection of having been able to 'take things easy,' once +upon a time; but the talent slipped away from me, somehow, just when it +would have served me best. It was acquired, not natural, with me, I +suppose. I doubt if I could translate without blundering, now--_Dum +spiro, spero_. I am glad, after all, that I caught you first, and got +rid of my 'blue' fit before I saw the Squire. He would not have taken it +so well, perhaps, as you have done." + +"I don't know about that," Alan said; "Uncle Hubert is pretty confident, +and you would most likely have been carried away helplessly by the +stream; he put _me_ to shame last night, I can tell you. You'll find him +in his room by this time; and I can't stay here any longer. I've letters +to write, and I mean to have Helen in the saddle directly after +luncheon. I must make the best use of my chances now, for, unless the +gods would + + Annihilate both Time and Space + To make two lovers happy, + +(as the man in the play wanted them to do), and cut out the shooting +season from the calendar, there would be no chance of keeping Dene clear +of guests. They will be coming by troops in less than a fortnight. There +is no such thing as a comfortable _causerie_, with keen eyes and quick +ears all around you. _Ay de mi!_ one will have to intrigue for +interviews as if we were in Seville. I shouldn't wonder if we were +driven to act the garden-scene in the _Barbiere_ some night. Even if I +wanted to monopolize Helen, then (which I don't, for it's the worst +possible taste), I know 'my lady' would not stand it. Well, thank you +for all you have said--yes, _all_. I shall see you at luncheon?" + +From the Squire's radiant face, when he came in with the Rector, it +might be presumed that the latter comported himself during their +interview entirely to his friend's satisfaction. + +It was no vain boast of Wyverne's when he said that neither omen nor +foreboding would affect his spirits materially that afternoon. Few +people ever enjoyed a ride more thoroughly than the cousins did their +very protracted one. They would not have made a bad picture, if any one +could have sketched them during its slow progress. Alan on the Erl-King, +a magnificent brown hunter of Vavasour's; Helen on the grey Arab, +Maimouna, whom she mounted that day for the fourth time. The one so +erect and knightly in his bearing; the other so admirably lithe and +graceful--both so palpably _at home_ in the saddle; even as they lounged +carelessly along through the broad green glades, apparently lost to +everything but their own low, earnest converse, at the first glance one +could have recognised the seat and hand of the artist. + +If one _must_ be locomotive, when alone with the ladye of our love (not +a desirable necessity, some will say), I doubt if we can be better than +on horseback. A low pony-carriage, with a _very_ steady animal in the +shafts, has its advantages; but I never yet saw the man who could +accommodate himself and his limbs to one of these vehicles without +looking absurdly out of his place; his bulk seems to increase by some +extraordinary process as soon as he has taken his seat, till ten stone +loom as large as fourteen would do under ordinary circumstances. The +incongruity cannot always escape one's fair companion, and, if her sense +of the ridiculous is once moved, our romance is ruined for the day: +perhaps the best plan, on turning into a conveniently secluded road +(always supposing that "moving on" is obligatory), would be, to get out +and walk by her side, leaving the dame or demoiselle unrestricted scope +for the expansion of her feelings and--her drapery. On the whole, I +think one is most at ease _en chevauchant_. But then both steeds must be +of a pleasant and sociable disposition--not pulling and tearing at the +reins, till they work themselves and their riders into a white heat, +whenever a level length of greensward tempts one irresistibly to a +stretching gallop; nor starting perversely aside at the very moment +when, in the earnestness of discourse, your hand rests unconsciously (?) +on your companion's pommel; but doing their five miles an hour steadily, +with the long, even, springy gait that so few half-breeds ever attain +to,--alive, in fact, to the delicacy of the position and to their own +responsibilities as sensible beasts of burden. Maimouna was a model in +this respect: she could be fiery enough at times, and dangerous if her +temper was roused; but she comported herself that afternoon with a +courtesy and consideration for others worthy of the royal race from +which she sprang-- + + Who could trace her lineage higher + Than the Bourbon can aspire, + Than the Ghibelline or Guelf, + Or O'Brien's blood itself. + +It was pretty to see her, champing the bit and tossing her small proud +head playfully, or curving her full, rounded neck to court the caress of +Helen's gauntlet; with something more than instinct looking all the +while out of her great bright stag's-eyes, as if she understood +everything that was going on and approved it thoroughly: indeed, she +seemed not indisposed to get up a little mild flirtation on her own +account, for ever and anon she would rub her soft cheek against the +Erl-King's puissant shoulder, and withdraw it suddenly as he turned his +head with a coy, _mutine_ grace, till even that stately steed unbent +somewhat of his dignity, and condescended, after a superb and +sultanesque fashion, to respond to her cajoleries. + +Altogether they made, as I have said, a very attractive picture, +suggestive of the gay days when knights and paladins rode in the sweet +summer-weather through the forest-tracks of Lyonnesse and Brittany, each +with his fair _paramour_ at his side, ready and willing to do battle for +her beauty to the death. Wyverne's proportions were far too slight and +slender to have filled the mighty harness of Gareth or Geraint; but +Helen might well have sat for Iseult in her girlhood before the breath +of sin passed over the smooth brow--before the lovely proud face was +trained to dissemble--before King Mark's unwilling bride drank the fatal +philtre and subtler poison yet from her convoy's eyes, as they sailed +together over the Irish Sea. + +Yes--no doubt + + It was merry in good greenwood, + When mavis and merle were singing; + +when silvered bridles and silvery laughs rang out with a low, fitful +music: when the dark dells, whenever a sunbeam shot through, grew light +with shimmer of gold and jewels, or with sheen of minever and brocade; +when ever and anon a bugle sounded--discreetly distant--not to recall +the lost or the laggards, but just to remind them that they were +supposed to be hunting the deer. Pity that almost all these romances +ended so drearily! We might learn a lesson, if we would; but we "hear +and do not fear." The modern knight's riding suit is russet or +grey--perhaps, at the richest, of sable velvet; a scarlet neck-ribbon or +the plumes of a tropical bird are the most gorgeous elements in his +companion's amazonian apparel; but I fear the tone of their dress is +about the only thing which is really sobered and subdued. People will go +on lingering till they lose their party, and looking till they lose +their hearts, and whispering till they lose their heads, to the end of +time; though all these years have not abated one iota of the retribution +allotted those who "love not wisely but too well;" though many miserable +men, since Tristram, have dwined away under a wound that would never +heal, tended by a wife that they could never like, thirsting for the +caress of "white hands beyond the sea," and for a whisper that they +heard--never, or only in the death-pang; though many sinners, since +Launcelot, have grovelled in vain remorse on the gravestone of their +last love or their first and firmest friend. + +Certainly, none of these considerations could trouble the cousins' +pleasant ride; for every word that passed between them was perfectly +innocent and authorized; they had, so to speak, been "blessed by the +priest" before they started. When Helen came down (rather late) to +dinner, her face was so changed and radiant with happiness that it made +"my lady's" for the rest of the evening unusually pensive and grave. +Some such ideas shot across her as were in the cruel step-mother's mind, +when she stopped those who bore out the seeming corpse to its burial, +saying-- + + Drap the het lead on her breast, + And drap it on her chin; + For mickle will a maiden do, + To her true love to win. + + + + + +CHAPTER VIII. + +CROESUS COMETH. + + +We have been comfortable in our country-houses for centuries. Even in +those rough-and-ready days--when the hall was strewn with rushes, and +the blue wood-smoke hung over the heads of the banqueters like a canopy, +and the great tawny hounds couched at their master's feet, gnawing the +bones as they fell from the bare oak tables, and the maids of Merry +England recruited their roses with steaks and ale in the early +morning--I believe the Anglo-Saxon squire had a right to be proud of his +social privileges, and to contrast them favourably with the +short-comings of his Continental neighbours. But it looks as if we had +only begun of late years thoroughly to appreciate those advantages; +now--there is hardly a tale or a novel written, which does not sound a +note or two of triumph on the subject. In truth, it is hardly possible +to praise too highly this part of our social system. Nevertheless, in a +few of these favoured mansions, there springs up something bitter from +the midst of the fountain of delights which, to the minds of many of us, +poisons the perfection of hospitality. Sometimes the officer in command +is rather too exact and exacting about his morning-parade, insisting +upon his company being "all present and correct" within a certain time +after the warning gong has sounded. Punctuality is an immense virtue, of +course; but our frail and peccant nature will not endure even virtues to +be forced upon it against the grain, without grumbling; and there are +men--sluggish if you will, but not wholly reprobate--who think that no +amount of good shooting or good cookery can compensate for the +discomfort of having to battle with a butler for the seisin of their +grill, or being forced to keep a footman at fork's length, while they +hurry over a succulent "bloater" should they wish to break their fast at +a heterodox and unsanctified hour. There is some sense in the objection, +after all. If you want to enforce regularity with Spartan sternness, it +is better to be consistent, and not tantalize one with contrasts, but +recur to the old black-broth and barley-bread form; choose your system +and stick to it: it never can answer to mix up Doric simplicity with +Ionian luxury. + +So few things were done by line and measure at Dene, that it would have +been strange if breakfast had formed the solitary exception to the rule +of--_Fais ce que voudras_. The general hour was perhaps "a liberal ten;" +but if any guest chanced to be seized with a fit of laziness, he could +indulge his indolent genius without fear of having to fast in expiation. +At whatever hour he might appear, a separate breakfast equipage awaited +him, with the letters of that post laid out thereon, decently and in +order, and the servants seemed only too glad to anticipate his appetite. + +The Squire himself was tolerably early in his habits, and kept his times +of starting very well in the shooting or hunting season: he would never +wait beyond a reasonable time for any one--making no distinction of +persons--but would start with those who were ready, leaving the laggards +to follow when they would. There was a want of principle, perhaps, about +the whole arrangement, but it answered admirably; even those who were +left behind on such occasions never dreamt of being discontented or +discomfited; indeed, it was not a very heavy penance to be condemned to +spend a home-day at Dene with the feminine part of its garrison. There +were few houses that people were so glad to come to, and so sorry to +leave. + +Wyverne was very capricious and uncertain as to the hours of his +appearance, except when any sport by flood or field was in prospect: he +was never a second behind time then. If the day chanced to be very +tempting, it was even betting that he would be found sauntering about +some terrace that caught the fresh morning sun, before the dew was off +the flowers; but it would have been dangerous to lay odds about it; +taking the average of the year, the balance was decidedly in favour of +indolence. + +When he came down on the sixth morning from that on which this story +began, the Squire and Helen were lingering over their breakfast nearly +finished, that Alan might not have to eat his in solitude. Nobody ever +thought of apologizing for being late at Dene; so, after the pleasant +morning-greetings were over, Wyverne sat down to his repast with his +usual air of tranquil, appreciative enjoyment; he did not seem in any +particular hurry to grapple with the pile of letters that lay beside his +plate. + +Have you ever observed the pretty flutter that pervades all the +womanhood present when the post-bag is brought in--how eyes, bright +enough already, begin to sparkle yet more vividly with impatient +anticipation, and how little tremulous hands are stretched out to grasp +as much of the contents as their owners can possibly claim? We of the +sterner sex take the thing much more coolly--of course because we are so +much graver and better and wiser than _they_ are: when a man "plunges" +at his letters, you may be quite sure he has a heavy book on an +approaching race, or is a partner in some thriving concern, commercial +or amatory; in such a contingency the speculator is naturally anxious to +know if his venture is likely to prove remunerative. Where no such +_irritamenta malorum_ (or _bonorum_, in exceptional cases) exist, we are +apt to accept what the post brings us with resignation rather than with +gratitude, reflecting moodily, that all those documents must not only be +read through, but answered--at what expense of time, money, or +imagination, it is impossible at present to say. + +Some years ago I heard of a female Phoenix--wise and fair, too, beyond +her fellows--who actually wrote to a very intimate friend ten +consecutive letters, each containing, besides more confidential and +interesting matter, all sorts of news and scandal, with the recording +angel's comments annexed. They were model epistles, I believe--witty, +but not _too_ wicked; frank, without being too demonstrative; and to not +one of the brilliant decade did the writer _expect an answer_. That was +understood from first to last, for circumstances made silence, on one +side, imperative. I hope her correspondent appreciated that rare +creature, then: I am very sure he did, the other day, when he sat down +to his writing-table with a weary sigh and the remark--that "of all fond +things vainly imagined, a second post was the most condemnable." If +charity covers a multitude of sins, surely such repeated acts of +unselfish benevolence ought to cloak most of that poor Rose's little +faults and failings. Speaking quite disinterestedly (for I scarcely knew +her by sight), I think she deserves a statue--as a marvel of the +Post-office--better than Rowland Hill: if I were bound to take a +pilgrimage, I would pass by the shrine of Saint Ursula, and go a +thousand miles beyond it, to the green Styrian hills where She withered +and died--the only woman on record who could persist, for three whole +months, in amusing a silent correspondent without proximate hope of +recompense. + +Wyverne's letters were not very numerous that morning, nor did they +appear to interest him much; for he took up one after the other, at +intervals, and after just glancing at the contents put them aside, +without interrupting a pleasant desultory conversation with his +companions. At last only two remained unread. + +The envelope of one was of thick blue-wove paper; the direction was in a +large, strong, upright hand; the seal square, and solemnly +accurate--such a seal as no man dare use unless he were in a position to +set the world at defiance. If you or I, _amigo_, were to risk it, +however numerous and unblemished our quarterings, we should lay +ourselves open to all the penalties attendant on _lese-majeste_: the +very crest was a menace--a mailed arm, with a mace in its gripe. If any +possessor of that truculent coat-of-arms had put it on the outside of a +love-letter, all passionate pleading must have been neutralized; the +nymph to whom it was addressed would have fled away, swiftly as Arethusa +of light-footed memory, or a "homeless hare." + +The other letter was of a widely different type; it bore no seal, but a +scarlet monogram so elaborately involved as to be nearly illegible; +after careful study of its intricacies, with a certain amount of luck, +you might have made out the initials N. R. L. There was a _mignardise_ +about the whole thing quite in keeping with the handwriting--slender, +sloping, and essentially feminine; at the same time there was a good +deal of _character_ about it; without much practice in graphiology, one +guessed at once that those lines had been traced by fingers long, lithe, +and lissome--fingers that either in love or hate would close round +yours--pliant and tenacious as the coils of a Java serpent--fingers apt +at weaving webs to entangle men's senses and souls. + +Alan took these letters up in the order in which we have named them. The +first was evidently very brief; as he read it, an odd smile came on his +lip, not altogether of amusement, but rather bitter and constrained; +just such a smile as one might put on to mask a momentary discomfiture, +if, in a contest of polite repartee, one had received a home thrust, +without seeing exactly how to _riposter_. The other envelope contained +two full note-sheets, one of which (of course) was crossed. Wyverne just +glanced at the first page and the last few lines, and then, putting it +back into its cover, laid it down with the rest; it was quite natural +that he should thus defer the perusal, for, however well he might have +known the handwriting, ten minutes of undivided attention could scarcely +have carried him through it. A very close observer might have detected +just then a slight darkening and contraction of his brows; but the +change lasted not five seconds, and then his face became pleasant and +tranquil as ever. + +"Well, that is over, or nearly so," he said, drawing rather a long +breath. "Did anybody ever see such a day for riding? I feel the Tartar +humour on me, Helen--do you sympathize? If so, we'll let our +correspondence take thought for the things of itself--_I_ don't intend +to put pen to paper to-day--and go forth on a real pilgrimage, trusting +to fate for luncheon. There's not an atom too much sun, and the breeze +might have been made to order." + +Perhaps the movement of Alan's arm, which pushed two or three of his +letters off the table, was quite involuntary; and perhaps quite +unintentionally, when he picked them up, he placed the _last_ undermost: +but the eyes of Lynceus were not keener-sighted than those dark languid +orbs, held by many to be the crowning glory of Helen Vavasour's beauty. +Neither the change in her cousin's face, nor one detail of the apparent +accident escaped her; and it is possible that she drew from them her own +conclusions. Probably they were not very serious ones, and perhaps his +careless tone contributed to reassure her; at any rate, nothing could be +brighter than her face as she answered-- + +"I should enjoy it, of all things, Alan. On a day like this I believe +Maimouna would tire before I should. I never knew what it was to feel +_rested_ while riding fast, till I mounted her. Don't be jealous if she +begins to know me better than you; you never heard of my visits to the +stable, under old Donald's escort, on purpose to pet her. You may order +the horses as soon as you please. I must see mamma before we start; but +would you like to bet that I am not ready first?" + +Alan's reply was on his lips, when the door opened softly, and, gliding +in with her usual quiet grace, Lady Mildred joined the party. It was +rare indeed that the mistress of Dene favoured the world with her +presence before noon. At intervals, upon state occasions, she +condescended to preside at breakfast; but, as a rule, took her chocolate +and its accessories in her own apartments, and got through the business +of her day in solitude. Her letters were always impounded, as soon as +the letter bag was opened, by her own maid--a placid, resolute person--a +sort of cheap edition of her mistress--who had held her place for many +years, and was supposed to know more of the secrets of the boudoir than +any creature alive. Women of Lady Mildred's calibre rarely change their +confidential servants. + +"My lady" was seemingly in a charming humour that morning; she greeted +every one most affectionately, and listened to the plan of the long ride +with a gentle approval, and even some show of interest. But all the +three felt certain that she had good reason for her early appearance. +They were not kept long in suspense. + +"I had a letter from Max, this morning," Lady Mildred remarked. "Helen, +dear, he says all sorts of kind things about you and Alan, but he +reserves most of his congratulations, as he hopes to see you so soon. +You know he has been shooting with Lord Clydesdale, in Perthshire, +Hubert? Before this news came, he had asked him and Bertie Grenvil to +come here for the early part of September; but if you don't wish the +engagement to stand, you have only to let him know at once." + +His astute helpmate could hardly refrain from smiling at the queer +embarrassed expression of the Squire's frank face--she read his feelings +so well! Indeed poor Hubert was the worst dissembler alive. He looked +wistfully at his two confederates, but there was small chance of succour +from that quarter. Helen's glance met her mother's for a second, and she +bit her scarlet lip once, but remained perfectly silent. Alan was +brushing away a stray crumb or two from the velvet sleeve of his +riding-coat, with a provoking air of absolute unconcern. Vavasour was so +intensely hospitable, that he would just as soon have thought of +stabbing a guest in his sleep, as of grudging him entertainment, besides +there was no earthly reason why either of the names just mentioned +should be distasteful to him, or to any one else present; if he felt any +real objection, it was more like a presentiment impossible to put into +words. Nevertheless there was an unusual gravity in his voice, as he +replied-- + +"Rather an unnecessary question of Max's, dear Mildred. He ought to +know, by this time, that his friends are quite as welcome here as my +own. As it happens, we have ample room for those two guns during the +_early_ (the word was marked) part of September. So many anxious parents +will be contending for the possession of Clydesdale, that he will +scarcely waste his golden time here beyond a fortnight. Few men are +fonder of being persecuted with the attentions of your sex than that +very eligible Earl. I believe he thinks it is no use being _the parti_ +of England if you don't reap its advantages, before as well as after +marriage. I dare say Bertie will stay longer; the mothers, at all +events, don't hunt him. I hope he will, for there's no pleasanter boy in +a house, and his detrimentalism won't hurt us here. Will you write at +once and say that we shall be charmed to see them all?" + +Those last words were spoken with rather an unnatural distinctness; it +seemed as though it cost the Squire an effort to utter them, and he left +the room almost immediately, muttering something about "people waiting +for him in his study." After a few minutes more of insignificant +conversation not worth recording, the cousins, too, went out to get +ready for their ride. Lady Mildred stayed her hand for a moment--she +was crumbling bread into cream, carefully, for the Maltese dog's +luncheon--and looked after them with a pensive expression on her face, +in which mingled a shade of pity. Just so much compassion may have +softened, long ago, the rigid features of some abbess on her tribunal, +when after pronouncing the fatal _Vade in pace_, she saw an unhappy nun +led out between the executioners, to expiate her broken vows. + +Whatever might be Miss Vavasour's failings, dilatoriness in dressing was +certainly not one of them; she would have won her wager that morning; +and yet it would have puzzled the severest critic to have found a fault +of omission or commission in her costume as she stood in the recess of +one of the windows of the great hall, waiting for the horses and her +cousin. He joined her almost immediately, though, and Helen's eyes +sparkled more brilliantly, as she remarked a letter in his hand. + +"I always quote you and Pauline," Wyverne said, "when people keep their +horses at the door for an hour by Shrewsbury clock; but you have outdone +yourselves to-day. You deserve a small recompense--_la voila_. It must +be a satisfaction to a minor prophetess to find her prediction perfectly +realized. My beautiful Sybil! I don't grudge you your triumph, +especially as I did not contradict you on the point. The oldest and +ugliest of the sisterhood never made a better guess at truth. Read +_that_. I shall give 'my lady' the sense of it; but I don't think I +shall show it her." + +It was Bernard Haldane's answer, and it ran thus: + + My dear Alan,--I thank you for your letter, because I am sure + it was courteously meant, and, I believe, disinterestedly too; + though, as you are my nearest male relation, it might naturally + be expected that I should do or promise something on an + occasion like this. I wish you to understand plainly, and once + for all, that, in the event of your intended marriage taking + place, you need anticipate no assistance whatever from me, + present or future, before or after my death. I think it best to + enter into no explanations and to give no reasons, but simply + to state the fact of my having so determined. I have given up + congratulating people about anything; but, were it otherwise, I + should reserve such formalities for some more auspicious + occasion. Neither am I often astonished; but I had the honour + of knowing Lady Mildred Vavasour slightly many years ago, and I + own to being somewhat surprised at _her_ sanctioning so + romantically imprudent an engagement. I will not inflict any + sermon upon you; it is only to their heirs that old men have a + right to preach. It is unlikely that we shall meet or + correspond often again. After what I have written, it seems + absurd to say, "I wish you well." Nevertheless--it is so. + + Believe me, + + Very faithfully yours, + + BERNARD HALDANE. + +There was disappointment certainly on the beautiful face, but it sprung +from a very different cause from that to which Wyverne naturally +assigned it. Helen had expected the perusal of a more delicate +handwriting. The quaint cynical letter did not interest her much under +the circumstances; however she read it through, and as she gave it back, +there was a smile on her proud lip partaking as much of amusement as of +disdain. + +"Let us give credit where credit is due," she said. "I believe it cost +Mr. Haldane some pains to compose that answer, short as it is. If you +ever speak to him about it, will you say that we considered it very +terse and straightforward, and rather epigrammatic? Don't show it to +mamma, though. I wonder when she knew Mr. Haldane? Is it not odd that +she never alluded to it when his name has been mentioned? Ah, there are +the horses at last. Alan, do you see Maimouna arching that beautiful +neck of hers? I am certain she is thinking of me. I defy the crossest of +uncles to spoil _my_ ride to-day. Will he yours?" + +Every shade of bitterness had passed away, and the sunniest side of +Helen's nature--wayward and wilful at times, but always frank and honest +and affectionate--showed itself before she finished speaking. + +Reader of mine, whether young or old--suppose yourself, I beseech you, +to be standing, with none to witness your weakness, by the side of the +Oriana of the hour; let the loveliest of dark eyes be gazing into yours, +full of provocative promise, till their dangerous magnetism thrills +through brain and nerve and vein, and then--tax your imagination or your +memory for Alan Wyverne's answer. You will write it out better than I, +and it will be a charity to the printer; for, were it correctly set +down, it would be so curiously _broken up_ as to puzzle the cleverest +compositor of them all. + +Alan and his cousin enjoyed their ride thoroughly, without one _arriere +pensee_. Thus far there was not a shadow of suspicion on one side, not +the faintest consciousness of intentional concealment on the other; +nevertheless, there was already one subject on which they could not +speak quite openly and freely. It was early, too early, to begin even a +half reserve. When such a sign appears in the "pure aether" so soon after +the dawning of love, however light and small and white the cloudlet may +be, the weatherwise foretell a misty noon and a stormy sunset. + + + + +CHAPTER IX. + +THE LONG ODDS ARE LAID. + + +A man must be very peculiarly constituted--indeed, there must be +something wrong about his organization--if he does not entertain a +certain partiality for his female cousins, even to the third and fourth +generation. But the same remark by no means applies to the brothers of +those attractive kinswomen. Your male cousin either stands first and +foremost on the list of your friends, or you are absolutely uninterested +in his existence. There _are_ instances of family feuds, of course, but +these, nowadays, are comparatively rare. The intercourse between Alan +Wyverne and Max Vavasour had never gone deeper than common careless +courtesy. It was not to be wondered at. Both were in the best society, +but they lived in different sets, meeting often, but seldom coming in +actual contact. Just so, they say, the regular passengers by the +parallel lines of rail converging at London-bridge recognise familiar +faces daily as they speed along side by side, though each may remain to +the other "nameless, nameless evermore." Besides this, the tastes of the +cousins were as dissimilar as their characters; for the mere fact of two +men being extravagant by no means establishes a real sympathy between +them. + +Alan's favourite pursuits you know already. Max was lady Mildred +reproduced, with the exception of her great talents, which he had not +fully inherited; but he had the same cool calculating brain, with whose +combinations the well-disciplined heart never interfered. This, added to +a perfect unscrupulousness of thought and action, many diplomatists +besides Vavasour have found to be a very fair substitute for unerring +prescience and profound sagacity. Both morally and physically he was +wonderfully indolent, and, doing most things well, rarely attempted +anything involving the slightest exertion. His shooting was remarkably +good; but two or three hours of a battue about the time of the best +_bouquets_, or a couple of turnip-fields swarming with birds, round +which the stubbles had been driven for miles, were about the extent of +his patience or endurance. As for going out for a real wild day after +partridges, or walking a quaking bog after snipe, or waiting for ducks +at "flight time," he would just as soon have thought of climbing the +Schreckhorn. He rode gracefully, and his hand on a horse was perfection; +but he had not hunted since he was eighteen, and his hacks, all +thoroughbreds with good action, were safe and quiet enough to carry a +Premier. He especially affected watching other men start for cover on +one of those raw drizzling mornings which sometimes turn out well for +hunting, but in every other point of view are absolutely detestable. It +was quite a picture to see him return to his breakfast, and dally over +it with a leisurely enjoyment, and settle himself afterwards into the +easiest of lounging chairs, close to the library fire, with a pile of +French novels within reach of his hand. Occasionally, during the course +of the morning, he would lay aside his book, to make some such +reflective remark as-- + +"Pours still, doesn't it? About this time Vesey's reins must be +thoroughly soaked and slippery. I wonder how he likes riding that +pulling mare of his. And I should think Count Casca has more mist on his +spectacles than he quite fancies. It's a very strongly enclosed country, +I believe, and the ditches are proverbially deep. He must have 'left all +to his vife' before this." + +And then he would resume his reading, with a shrug of his shoulders, +intimating as plainly as words could speak, intense self-congratulation, +and contempt for those who were out in the weather. Yet it was not nerve +in which Max was deficient. Twice already--he was scarcely +twenty-six--his life had been in mortal peril; once at Florence, where +he had got into a bad gambling quarrel, and again in a fearful railway +accident in England. On both occasions he had shown a cool, careless +courage, worthy of the boldest of the valiant men-at-arms whose +large-limbed effigies lined the galleries at Dene. In thews and stature +and outward seeming he was but a degenerate descendant of that stalwart +race, for he was scarcely taller than his sister, and had inherited his +mother's smooth dark complexion and delicate proportions. That same +indolence, it must be owned, told both ways, and went far to neutralize, +for evil as well as for good, the effect of the calculating powers +referred to. He had a certain obstinacy of will, and was troubled with a +few inconvenient scruples, but wanted initiative energy to entangle +himself or others in any of those serious scrapes which are not to be +settled by money. So far, Max Vavasour's page in the _Chronique +Scandaleuse_ was a blank. + +The heir of Dene and his friends arrived so late, that they had barely +time to dress for dinner. No private conference took place, apparently, +between the mother and son that evening; but the latter joined the +others very late in the smoking-room. It is scarcely to be presumed that +the doffing of _la grande tenue_ and the donning of an elaborately +embroidered suit of purple velvet, would consume forty-five minutes; so +that half an hour remained unaccounted for, during which interval +probably the boudoir was witness to a few important confidences. + +Max was rather fond of his sister, after his own fashion, and never +vexed or crossed her if he could help it; so when they spoke of her +engagement on the following morning, he not only forbore to reproach her +with its imprudence, but expressed himself hopefully and kindly enough +to satisfy Helen's modest expectations. She knew her brother too well to +anticipate expansiveness or enthusiasm from _that_ quarter. To Alan he +was, naturally, much less cordial in his congratulations; indeed, it was +only by courtesy that they could be called congratulations at all. Max +had a soft, quiet way of saying unpleasant things--truths or the +reverse--that some people rather liked, and others utterly abhorred. On +the present occasion he did not scruple to confess frankly his opinion +as to the undesirability of the match, to which the other listened with +at least equal composure. + +"I wish I had not gone to Scotland," Vavasour went on, reflectively. "I +do believe I could have stopped it, if I had only been on the spot, or +forewarned. I needn't say, I have no prejudices against you +personally--nobody _has_ any such weaknesses nowadays"--(how very old +the young face looked as he said it); "but it's a simple question of +political expediency. I may be very fond of Switzerland or Belgium; but, +as an ally, I should much prefer France or Russia. The Squire has told +you, of course? Things are going hard with us just now. I doubt if the +smash can be staved off much longer. A _very_ great match might just +have stood between us and ruin; and Helen would have had the chance of +it, I am certain. _You_ know that, as well as any one. There is +something peculiar about her style of beauty. I am not infatuated about +her because she is my sister; but I swear, there was not a woman in +London fit to be compared with her last season, and I don't know that I +ever saw one--except, perhaps, Nina Lenox in her best days. By the body +of Bacchus! we might have had our choice of all the eligibles in +England!" + +"Including Clydesdale, for instance,"--Wyverne remarked. + +There was a smile on his lip, but no mirth in his eyes, which fastened +on his cousin's with a piercing earnestness hard to encounter. Not a +muscle of Max's face moved, his pale cheek never flushed for an instant, +and he returned the other's glance quite as steadily. + +"Including Clydesdale,"--he answered, in his grave, gentle tones. "Of +course, that would have been the very connexion one would have liked. I +should have tried to make up the match, if you had not unfortunately +come in the way, and I should do so still if anything were to happen to +you. Don't suppose I am going to have you poisoned, or that I shall +shoot you by accident, or machinate against you in any way whatever; but +life is very uncertain; and--my dear Alan--you do ride remarkably hard." + +Wyverne laughed merrily, without the slightest affectation or +bitterness. Perhaps he had never liked his companion better than at that +moment. + +"By heaven, Max," he said--contemplating the philosopher not without +admiration--"you're about the coolest hand I know. I don't believe +there's another man alive, who would speculate on the advantages +contingent on his cousin's breaking his neck, to the face of the said +unlucky relation. I've hardly the heart to disappoint you, but--I don't +think I shall hunt much this season. I suppose you wouldn't allow +Clydesdale to buy Red Lancer, if Vesey does not take him? Ah! I thought +not. Seriously--I admit all your objections--and more; but I exhausted +my penitence with 'my lady' and the Squire, who appreciated it better +than you would do. What would you have? All are not born to be martyrs. +I quite allow that I ought never to have tried to win Helen; but I'm not +self-denying enough to give her up. I shall keep her, if I can." + +"Of course you will," the other replied, resignedly. "Well, I have said +my say, and now things must take their course. _I_ am passive. I hope +the event may be better than the prospect; but I shall give myself no +trouble till the crash comes--nor then, if I can help it. _You_ seem to +get on rather better since you were ruined. By the bye, there's no +chance, I suppose, of that old ruffian, Haldane's, dying and relenting? +My lady told me about his letter--at least, as much as you chose to tell +her." + +Wyverne shook his head, but had not time to answer, for at that moment +they joined the rest of the shooting-party, who were at luncheon. Max +had only come out just in time to have this talk with his cousin; but he +remained with them for a couple of hours in the afternoon, seemed in +capital spirits, and never shot better in his life. + +I will try to sketch the scene, in the cedar drawing-room at Dene, on +the fourth evening after the arrival of fresh guests. They are the only +addition, so far, to the family party, though more are expected +incontinently. + +Helen Vavasour is at the piano, and close to her side, on a low chair, +placed so that his head almost touches her shoulder, sits Alan Wyverne. +He has behaved perfectly to-day, never attempting to monopolize his +_fiancee_, not even securing a place near her when she came out to meet +the shooting-party at luncheon; apparently he thinks he has a right to +indemnify himself for a brief space now. It is rather a brilliant piece +she is playing, but not so difficult as to interfere with a murmured +conversation, evidently very pleasant and interesting to both parties. +The Squire and the Rector are playing their everlasting piquet, which +has been going on for nearly a score of years, and is still undecided. +It is a very good match, and both are fair players, though each is +disposed privately to undervalue his adversary's science, characterizing +him as "the best card-holder in Europe." The great difference is that +Vavasour looks at a bad hand with a cheerful unconcern, whereas Geoffry +Knowles knits his brow, and bites his lip, when luck is running against +him, and has never learnt to dissemble his discontent or discomfiture. +Lady Mildred is reclining on her own peculiar sofa, and, on a stool +close to her elbow, lounges Bertie Grenvil--better known as "The Cherub" +in half the fast coteries of London, and throughout the Household +Brigade. + +It is a very fair face to look upon, shaded by masses of soft, sunny +silken hair, and lighted up by large, eloquent eyes of the darkest blue. +It would be almost faultless, were it not for the extreme effeminacy, +which the delicately trained moustache fails to redeem. He is one of "my +lady's" prime favourites; she has assisted him ere this with her +countenance and counsel, when such help was sorely needed; for it is a +wild, wicked little creature--reckless and enterprising as Richelieu in +his pagehood--always gambling and love-making, in places where he has no +earthly business to risk his money or his heart. With those smooth +pink-and-white cheeks, and plaintive manner, and innocent ways of his, +The Cherub has done more mischief already than a dozen years of +perpetual penance could atone for. At this moment he is confiding to "my +lady" the hopes and fears of his last _passion malheureuse_, suppressing +carefully the name of the object--a very superfluous precaution, for +Lady Mildred has guessed it long ago, and can afford to be +amused--innocently. She knows, what Bertie does not wot of, that his +pursuit will be absolutely _theoretical_ and fruitless. + +Very near them, lounges Max Vavasour. He looks up, ever and anon, from +that eternal _novelette_, and as his eye meets his mother's, a quick +glance of intelligence passes between them. It is more than probable +that he has been, told off for "interior and picket duty" this evening, +but the time for action has not yet come. + +Only two of the party remain to be noticed. They are sitting together, +rather remote from the rest, and somewhat in the shadow. We will take +the younger man first, though his appearance is not exactly attractive. + +His features, naturally coarse and exaggerated, bear evident traces of +self-indulgence, if not of intemperance; that cruel sensual mouth would +spoil a better face, and the effect of an unpleasantly sanguine +complexion is rather heightened than relieved by crisp, strong reddish +hair, coming low down on the heavy forehead, and framing the pendulous +cheeks; his big, ungainly frame is far too full and fleshy for his +years; one solitary sign of "race" shows itself in his hands, somewhat +large, but perfectly shaped. Yet, if the possessor of all these personal +disadvantages were to enter any London drawing-room side by side with +Bertie Grenvil, and it were a question of being warmly welcomed, the +odds would be heavily against the Guardsman. I wish an "alarum and +flourish of trumpets" were available to accompany the announcement of so +august a name. That is no other than Raoul, tenth Earl of Clydesdale, +Viscount Artornish, lord of a dozen minor baronies, and Premier _Parti_ +of England. + +His income varies by tens of thousands, according to the price of divers +minerals, but never falls short of the colossal. He owns broad lands and +manors in nearly every county north of the Tyne; and, when he came of +age four years ago, the border-side blazed with as many bale-fires, as +ever were lighted in old days to give warning that the lances of +Liddesdale were out on the foray. Ever since he left college, the +match-makers of Great Britain have been hard on his trail; and his +movements, as chronicled in the _Post_, are watched with a keener +interest than attaches to the "progress" of any royal personage. He is +so _terribly_ wealthy that even the great city financiers speak of his +resources with a certain awe; for, independently of his vast income, +there are vague reports of accumulations, varying from a quarter to half +a million. His father died when the present Earl was in his cradle. + +There is nothing very remarkable, outwardly, about the other man. +Harding Knowles has rather a disappointing face: you feel that it ought +to have been handsome, and yet that is about the last epithet you would +apply to it. The features individually are good, and there is plenty of +intellect about them, though the forehead is narrow; but the general +expression is disagreeable--something between the cunning and the +captious. There is a want of repose, just now, about his whole +demeanour--a sort of fidgety consciousness of not being in his right +place; he is always changing his position restlessly, and his hands are +never still for a moment. He had been Clydesdale's "coach" at Oxford for +two or three terms, and had acquired a certain hold on the latter's +favour, chiefly by the exercise of a brusque, rough flattery, which the +Earl chose to mistake for sincerity and plain speaking. + +No parasite can be perfect, unless he knows when to talk and when to +hold his tongue. Knowles had mastered that part of the science, +thoroughly. On the present occasion he saw that the silent humour +possessed his patron, and was careful not to interrupt the lordly +meditations; only throwing in now and then a casual observation +requiring no particular answer. No one dreams of deep drinking nowadays +in general society; but the Earl has evidently taken quite as much +claret as was good for him--enough to make him obstinate and savage. +That pair at the piano seem to fascinate him strangely. He keeps +watching every movement of Wyverne's lips, and every change in Helen's +colour, as if he would guess the import of their low earnest words. A +far deeper feeling than mere curiosity is evidently at work. It is well +that the half-closed fingers shade his eyes just now, for they are not +good to meet--hot and blood-shot, with a fierce longing and wrathful +envy. Not an iota of all this escaped Harding Knowles; but he allowed +the bad brutal nature to seethe on sullenly, till he deemed it was time +to work the safety-valve. + +"A pretty picture," he said at last, with rather a contemptuous glance +in the direction of the lovers--Clydesdale ground out a bitter blasphemy +between his teeth; but the other went on as if he had heard +nothing--"Yes, a very pretty picture; and Sir Alan Wyverne deserves +credit for his audacity. But I can't help feeling provoked, at such a +rare creature being so perfectly thrown away. If ever there was a woman +who was born to live in state, she sits there; and they will have to be +pensioners of the Squire's, if they want anything beyond necessaries. +It's a thousand pities." + +"You mean she might have made a better match?" the other asked: he felt +he must say something, but he seemed to speak unwillingly, and his +voice, always harsh and guttural, sounded thicker and hoarser than +usual. + +"Yes, I am sure she might have made a better match: I _think_ she might +have made--the best in England." + +Knowles spoke very slowly and deliberately, almost pausing between each +of the last words. His keen steady gaze fastened on Clydesdale, till the +Earl's fierce blue eyes sank under the scrutiny, and the flush on his +cheek deepened to crimson. + +"What the d--l's the use of talking about that now?" he grumbled out, +"now that it's all over and settled?" + +"Settled, but not all over. I'm not fond of betting as a rule; but I +should like to take long odds--_very_ long odds, mind, for Wyverne's +dangerous when he is in earnest--that the engagement never comes off." + +Lord Clydesdale paused quite a minute in reflection. There was a wicked +crafty significance in the other's look that he could not misunderstand. + +"I don't know what you call long odds," he said at last, "but I'll lay +_you_ five thousand to fifty that it is not broken off within the year." + + +There are men, not peculiarly irascible or punctilious, who would have +resented those words and the tone in which they were spoken as a direct +personal insult; but Knowles was not sensitive when it was a question of +his own advantage or advancement, and had sucked in avarice with his +mother's milk. + +"I'll book that bet," he answered, coolly. "I take all chances in. Sir +Alan might die, you know, before the year is out; or Miss Vavasour might +come to her senses." + +So he wrote it down carefully on his ivory tablets, affixing the date +and his initials. They both knew it--he was signing a bond, just as +effectually as if it had been engrossed on parchment and regularly +witnessed and sealed. But neither cared to look the other in the face +now. In the basest natures there lingers often some faint useless +remnant of shame. I fancy that Marcus rather shrank from meeting his +patron's glance, when he went out from the Decemvir's presence to lay +hands on Virginius's daughter. + +While this conversation was going on, Max Vavasour had roused himself +from his easy chair, and strolled over towards the piano. It is probable +that he had got his orders from "my lady's" eloquent eye. As he came +near, Wyverne drew back slightly, with a scarcely perceptible movement +of impatience, and Helen stopped playing. They both guessed that her +brother had not disturbed himself without a purpose. + +"It's a great shame to interrupt you, Alan," Max said; "but one has +certain duties towards one's guests, I believe; and you might help me +very much, if you would be good-natured. You see, all this isn't much +fun for Clydesdale; and I want to keep him in good humour, if I +can--never mind why. He's mad after _ecarte_ just now, and he has heard +that you are a celebrity at it. He asked me to-day if I thought you +would mind playing with him? I would engage him myself with pleasure; +but it would be no sport to either party. He knows, just as well as you +do, how infamously I play." + +Wyverne very seldom refused a reasonable request, and he was in no mood +to be churlish. + +"What must be, must be," he replied, with a sigh of resignation. "If the +Great Earl is to be amused, and no other martyr is available, thy +servant is ready, though not willing. I thought I had lost enough in my +time at that game. It is hard to have to lose, now, such a pleasant seat +as this. Tell him I'll come directly. I suppose he don't want to gamble? +He has two to one the best of it, though, when he has made me stir from +here. Helen, perhaps you would not mind singing just one or two songs? I +am Spartan in my tastes so far: I like to be marshalled to my death with +sweet music." + +So the two sat down, at the _ecarte_ table. Clydesdale betrayed an +eagerness quite disproportionate to the occasion when Max Vavasour +summoned him to the encounter. He suggested that the stakes should be a +"pony" on the best of eleven games: to this Alan demurred. + +"I have given up gambling now," he said; "but, even when I played for +money, I never did so with women in the room. A pony is a nominal stake +with you, of course: with me, it is different. You may have ten on, if +you like. I only play one rubber." + +The other assented without another word, and the battle began. The Earl +was far from a contemptible adversary; but he was palpably over-matched. +Wyverne had held his own before this with the best and boldest of half +the capitals in Europe. He played carelessly at first, for his thoughts +were evidently elsewhere; but got interested as the game went on, and +developed all the science he possessed: it carried him through one or +two critical points against invariably indifferent cards. At last they +were five games all, and were commencing "_la belle_." Max, Harding +Knowles, and Bertie Grenvil (who never could keep away from a +card-table, unless some extraordinary potent counter-excitement were +present) had been watching the match from the beginning; the last having +invested 11--10 on Wyverne--taken by Clydesdale eagerly. The cards ran +evenly enough. By dint of sheer good play Alan scored three to his +opponent's two. As he was taking up his hand in the next deal, Miss +Vavasour came up softly behind him, and leant her arm on the high carved +back of his chair. She felt sure that her cousin would win, and wanted +to share even in that trivial triumph. I wonder how often in this world +women have unconsciously baulked the very success they were most anxious +to secure? Alan held the king and the odd trick certain; but, if his +life had depended on the issue, he could not have helped looking up into +the glorious dark eyes to thank them for their sympathy. At that moment +his adversary played first, and Wyverne followed suit, without marking. +It was one of those fatal _coups_ that Fortune never forgives. The next +deal Clydesdale turned up the king, and won the _vole_ easily. + +Even Max Vavasour, who knew him well, and had seen him play for +infinitely larger stakes, was astonished at the excitement that the Earl +displayed; he dashed down the winning card with an energy which shook +the table, and actually glared at his opponent with a savage air of +exultation, utterly absurd and incomprehensible under the circumstances. + +Alan leant back in his chair, regarding the victor's flushed cheek and +quivering lips with an amused smile, not wholly devoid of sarcasm. + +"On my honour, I envy you, Clydesdale," he said quietly; "there's an +immense amount of pleasure before you. Only conceive the luxury of being +able to gratify such a passion for play as yours must be, without danger +of ruin! I never was so interested about anything in my life as you were +about that last hand; and bad cards for ten years, at heavy stakes, +would only get rid of some of your superfluous thousands." + +The exultation faded from the Earl's face, and it began to lower +sullenly. He felt that he had made himself ridiculous, and hated Wyverne +intensely for having made it more apparent. + +"You don't seem to understand that we were playing for love," he +muttered. "I had heard so much of your play, that I wanted to measure +myself against it, and I was anxious to win. It appears that the great +guns miss fire sometimes, like the rest of us." + +"Of course they do," Wyverne answered, cheerfully. "Not that I am the +least better than the average. But we are all impostors from first to +last." + +The party broke up for the night almost immediately afterwards. Alan +laughed to scorn all his fair cousin's penitential fears about "her +having interrupted him just at the wrong moment." It is doubtful if he +ever felt any self-reproach for his carelessness, till Bertie Grenvil +looked up plaintively in his face, as the two were wending their way to +the smoking-room. + +"Alan, I _did_ believe in your _ecarte_," he said. + +There was not much in the words, but the Cherub uttered them with the +air of a man to whom so wonderfully few things are left to believe in, +that the defalcation of one of those objects of faith is a very serious +matter indeed. + +Yet Wyverne was wrong, and did his adversary in some sort injustice, +when he supposed that the spirit of the gambler accounted altogether for +the latter's eagerness and excitement. Other and different feelings were +working in Lord Clydesdale's heart when he sat down to play. One of +those vague superstitious presentiments that men are ashamed to confess +to their dearest friends shot across him at the moment. He had said +within himself--"It is my luck against his, not only now, but hereafter. +If I win at this game, I shall beat him at others--at _all_." So you +see, in the Earl's imagination, much more was at issue than the nominal +stakes; and there was a double meaning in his words--"We were playing +_for love_." + + + + +CHAPTER X. + + "A shiny night, + In the season of the year." + + +It was the third evening after that one recorded in the last chapter; +the party at Dene remained the same, though a large reinforcement was +expected on the morrow. Only the younger Vavasour was absent; he had +gone out to dine and sleep at the house of a country magnate, with whom +a Russian friend of Max's was staying. Lady Mildred and her daughter had +just left the drawing-room--it was close upon midnight--Wyverne followed +them into the hall to provide them with their tapers, and had not yet +succeeded in lighting Helen's--there never was such an obstinate piece +of wax, or such an awkward [Greek: pyrphoros.] It is possible he would +have lingered yet longer over the operation, and some pleasant last +words, but he suddenly caught sight of the chief butler standing in the +deep doorway that led towards the offices. The emergency must have been +very tremendous to induce that model of discretion to intrude himself on +any colloquy whatever; he evidently did not intend to do so now; but an +extraordinary intelligence and significance on the grave precise face, +usually possessed by a polite vacuity, made Alan conclude his +"good-nights" rather abruptly; he guessed that he was wanted. + +"What is it, Hales?" he said, as soon as he came within speaking +distance. + +The butler's voice was mysteriously subdued as he replied-- + +"My master wishes to see you in his study immediately, if you please, +Sir Alan. Mr. Somers is with him." + +The said Somers was born and bred in Norfolk, but had been head keeper +at Dene for fifteen years--a brave, honest, simple-minded man, rather +blunt and unceremonious with his superiors, and apt to be surly with his +equals and subordinates; but not ill-conditioned or bad hearted _au +fond_; a really sincere and well-meaning Christian, too, though he would +swear awfully at times. He had only one aim and object in life--the +rearing and preservation of game; we should be lucky, some of us, if we +carried out our single idea as thoroughly well. + +The Squire was looking rather grave and anxious, as his nephew entered. + +"Tell Sir Alan at once what you have been telling me, Somers," he said. +"There is no time to lose, if we mean to act." + +The keeper's hard, dark face, grew more ominous and threatening, as he +muttered--"Acting! I should hope there's no doubt about _that_: there +never was such a chance." And then in his own curt, quaint way, he gave +Wyverne the sum of his intelligence. + +It appeared that the neighbourhood had been infested lately by a +formidable poaching gang, chiefly organized and directed by a certain +"Lanky Jem;" their head quarters were at Newmanham, and they had divided +their patronage pretty equally, so far, over all the manors in a circle +of miles round. They had done a good deal of harm already; for they +first appeared in the egging season, and had netted a large number of +partridges and hares, even before the first of September, since which +day they had been out somewhere every night. Of course it was most +important to arrest their depredations before they could get at the +pheasants. The gang had been seen more than once at their work; but +their numbers were too formidable--they mustered quite a score--for a +small party to buckle with; and to track them home was impossible; they +had carts always near, artfully concealed, with really good trotters in +the shafts; so, when they had secured as much as they could carry, they +were able to ensure their retreat, and dispose of their booty. In +Newmanham they took the precaution of changing their quarters +perpetually, which made it more difficult to catch them "red-handed." + +That very day, however, one of the lot, partly from revenge, partly on +the certainty of a rich reward, had turned traitor. Somers was in +possession of exact information as to time and place: about _catching_ +the poachers that night there was no doubt whatever--_holding_ them was +another question; for "Lanky Jem" had made no secret of his intention to +show fight if driven into a corner; indeed it was supposed that he would +not be averse to having a brush, under favourable circumstances, with +his natural enemies, the guardians of the game. + +"They terms him Lanky Jem," the head-keeper explained; "'cause he comes +from Lankyshire. He's a orkard customer in a row, they say, wery +wenturesome and wery wenomous; he's taught his gang what they calls the +'rough-and-tumble game;' all's fair in that style they says, and if they +gets you down, you may reckon on having their heel in your mouth before +you can holler. I don't think that chap would have split, only he had +words with Jem; he knocked two of his teeth out, and roughed him +dreadful, by the looks on him. You'll see our man with the rest on 'em +to-night, Sir Alan, and don't you go to hit him; he'll have a spotted +hankercher half over his face, and won't be blacked like the others, +that's how you'll know him. I've taken the liberty already of letting +Sir Gilbert's folks know; we shall muster a score or thereabouts, and I +don't see no fear about matching 'em. The moon won't be down these two +hours, and they won't begin much afore that. They'll come back through +Haldon-lane, and I thought of lining it, Sir Alan, and nipping down on +'em there, if it's agreeable to you; the banks are nicely steep, and +they won't get out of _that_ trap in a hurry." + +The Squire could not help smiling at the quiet way in which the old +keeper took his nephew's presence and personal aid for granted. + +"You have not asked Sir Alan if he means to go out with you," he +remarked. + +"I should think not," Wyverne interposed. "Somers knows me too well to +waste words in that way. What a piece of luck, to be sure! Haldon-lane +is the very place for an ambush; if we manage well we ought to bag the +whole batch of them. You shall be general, Somers--I see your baton's +all ready--I'll do my best as second in command. I think I ought to let +the other men know, Uncle Hubert? I shall be ready in ten minutes, and +so will they, I'll answer for them. If you've anything to do before we +start, you had better see about it at once, Somers. We'll all meet in +the servants' hall in a quarter of an hour." + +The keeper indulged in a short, grim laugh of satisfaction and approval. + +"I like to hear you talk, Sir Alan," he said; "you always comes to the +point and means business. Everything's ready when you are; but we +needn't start for a good half hour yet. My men are stanch enough, I +reckon; but it's no good keeping 'em too long, sitting in the cold." + +The Squire laid his hand kindly on his nephew's shoulder, and stood for +a second or two looking into his face, with a hearty affection and +pride. + +"I can't tell you how glad I am you are here, Alan. Even if Max had been +at home, I think I would have asked you to go out to-night. I am too old +for this sort of thing now; but somebody must be there that I can trust +thoroughly. There will be wild work before morning, I fear, and coolness +may be needed as much as courage. There has been no bloodshed, for the +game, in my time, that the village-doctor could not stanch; and it would +grieve me bitterly--_you_ can guess why--if any one were dangerously +hurt now. We have had no fray so serious as this promises to be. You +will take care, Alan, will you not? I am very anxious about it; I half +wish I were going out myself." + +"I'll take every care, Uncle Hubert," the other answered, cheerily. "But +I don't the least apprehend any grave accident; it isn't likely they +will have guns with them, as they are out netting, and don't dream of +being waylaid. I must go and tell the others, and get ready. I shall see +you before we start, and when we come back, perhaps, with our +prisoners." + +It was very characteristic of those two, that Vavasour never hesitated +to expose his nephew to peril, nor of excusing himself for not going out +to share it; while Wyverne accepted the position perfectly, simply, and +naturally. It was evidently a plain question of expediency; the idea +that it was possible to shrink from mere personal danger never crossed +either of their minds. + +Lord Clydesdale and Bertie Grenvil decided at once on joining the +expedition; though it must be confessed that the alacrity displayed by +the former hardly amounted to enthusiasm: it had rather the appearance +of making the best of a disagreeable necessity. + +Alan had nearly finished his brief preparations when there came a low +knock at his door; when he opened it Lady Mildred's maid was on the +threshold. "'My lady' wished to speak to him particularly: she was in +her boudoir, and would not detain him a moment." + +There Wyverne found her. It struck him that her cheek was a shade paler +than usual, but the effect of contrast, produced by her _peignoir_ of +deep purple and her dark hair braided close round her small head, may +have helped to deceive him. There was an accent of annoyance in her +voice as she said-- + +"Alan, what is this I hear about your going out with the keepers? How +can you be so rash? What on earth are those people paid for if it is not +to take poachers? Surely they know their own business best, and can do +it alone." + +"Not on an occasion like this, Aunt Mildred: heads as well as hands are +useful sometimes. Even as Venice used to send out a pacific civilian to +watch the conduct of their generals, so am I deputed to-night to control +the ardour of the faithful Somers and his merry-men all. I hope to do +myself credit as a moderator." + +"I wish you would be serious for once. Even if _you_ must go out, which +I am certain there is no necessity for, there can be no reason for those +other two accompanying you. Of course, I don't suppose there is danger +of life; but it is quite dreadful to think of that poor delicate Bertie +_aux prises_ with some drunken ruffian; and if Lord Clydesdale were to +meet even with a slight hurt or disfigurement, I am sure he would detest +Dene for ever and ever. Alan, do try what you can do to stop it." + +He laughed within himself as he muttered, under his breath, "_Enfin, je +te vois arriver_;" but his manner was quite easy and unsuspicious as he +answered her-- + +"I'm not much afraid for the Cherub; he can take good care of himself +anywhere. You all pet him so much that you do injustice to his pluck. +You never seem to remember that he is a soldier. He may have to guard +his head in sharp earnest one of these days. But you are quite right +about Clydesdale. I had much rather he stayed behind; but I fear it +would be useless to try to dissuade him now. Aunt Mildred, you don't +quite understand these things. He _must_ go. But you may sleep in peace. +Not a hair of that august head shall be harmed if I can help it. You +have read your _Maid of Perth_? Well, your unworthy nephew and other +retainers of the house will do duty as a body-guard, like Torquil and +his eight sons. The word for the night is, _Bas air son Eachin_. I only +hope the parallel won't quite be carried out. All the nine fell, you +remember, and then--the young chief ran away. I must not stay another +second. Dear Aunt Mildred, give us your good wishes. You may be easy, if +you will only trust to me." + +He kissed her hand before she was aware, and was gone before she could +reply. When Alan came into the servants' hall, he found the whole party +mustered, with the exception of the Earl, who joined them almost +immediately. The latter had evidently bestowed some pains on his +equipment. He wore rather an elaborate cap, with a black cock's feather +in the band, white breeches, and boots coming above the knee; but the +most remarkable feature was a broad belt of untanned leather, girding +the shooting-coat of black velvet. From this was suspended a formidable +revolver, balanced by a veritable _couteau-de-chasse_. + +Wyverne scanned him from head to foot with a cool critical eye, and then +took Clydesdale aside a little from the rest. + +"It's a picturesque 'get up,'" he said; "a little too much in the style +of the bold smuggler, but that's a matter of taste. May I ask what you +intend to do with these?" + +He touched the weapons with the point of his finger. + +"Do with them? Use them, of course," the earl replied, flushing angrily. +"I made my fellow load the revolver afresh, while I was dressing. +There's no fear of its missing fire." + +The other laughed outright. + +"Did you mean to let all those barrels off, and then go in and finish +the wounded with that terrible hanger? I give you credit for the idea; +but, my dear Clydesdale, we are not in Russia or the Tyrol, unluckily. A +man's life is held of some account here, you know, and there's a d--l of +a row if you massacre even a poacher. You must be content with the +primeval club. See, there's a dozen to choose from. The Squire allows no +other weapons. Ask him, if you like. Here he comes." + +Vavasour, when appealed to, spoke so decisively on the subject, that the +Earl had no option but to yield. He did so, chafing savagely, for he was +unused to the faintest contradiction, and registered in his sullen heart +another grievance against Alan Wyverne. After a few words of caution and +encouragement, addressed by the Squire to the whole party, they started. +He griped his nephew's hand hard as the latter went out, and whispered +one word--"Remember." + +When they had gone a few hundred yards from the house, Wyverne fell back +to the rear of the column and took Grenvil by the arm. + +"Look here, Bertie," he said, gravely. "I'm rather sorry I didn't go out +alone on this business. We shall meet a roughish lot in an hour's time. +Now, don't be rash and run your head against danger unnecessarily. I +shall not be able to look after you; I've got a bigger baby in charge +to-night. I should hate myself for ever if your beauty was spoiled." + +The Cherub laughed carelessly and confidently. The burliest Paladin that +ever wore a beard was not more utterly fearless than he. He could use +those little hands of his (he was in the habit of exchanging gloves with +his favourite partners) as neatly and as prettily as he did everything +else, and in sooth was no contemptible antagonist for a lightweight. + +"Don't bother yourself about me, Alan," he answered. "I'll look after my +face, you may rely on it. I've been very diligent in my practice lately, +and if I get hold of an extraordinarily small poacher, perhaps I may +astonish him with what the Pet calls--the 'London Particular.'" + +They met Sir Gilbert Nevil's men by the way, and when they reached the +place of ambush, numbered twenty-two stalwart fighting men. The spot was +admirably adapted for the purpose; a narrow deep lane passed just there +through the crest of a small hill, and the brushwood on the steep banks +was sufficient to hide a larger party. The rest nestled down there as +comfortably as they could, while Alan and the head-keeper climbed the +ridge to look out over the champaign lying beneath them. They had not +long to wait before two lights appeared on the plain below, moving +quickly within a foot or so of the ground, and every now and then +becoming stationary. They were lanterns fastened round the necks of the +steady pointers quartering the stubbles. + +The keeper gave vent to a suppressed groan, ending in a growl. + +"There they are, d--n 'em," he muttered. "The very beat I meant you to +take to-morrow, Sir Alan. They won't be long in filling that ere blasted +bag of theirs. I see five coveys on that forty-acre bit this arternoon. +We'll take our change out of 'em before we sleep, or my name ain't Ben +Somers." + +Wyverne shook his head warningly. + +"Your blood's hotter than mine, I do believe," he said, "though you are +old enough to be my father. But mind, there is to be no unnecessary +violence to-night. I've passed my word to the Squire, and you ought to +help me to keep it. If they show fight, it's another matter, and they +may take the consequences." + +"I'll pound it, they fight," the other grumbled; "it comes more nateral +to Jem than running, 'specially as he'll find hisself in a middlin' +tight trap. We may get back to cover, sir; they'll not be long now; I +reckon they'll finish in that stubble close agin' the lane." + +So they rejoined their companions. The ambush was thus disposed. Eight +men, including Somers, Wyverne, and Lord Clydesdale, took post, four on +either bank, at a certain spot; six others, similarly divided, were left +about forty yards in the rear--Bertie Grenvil was with this lot--the +others concealed themselves at short intervals along the vacant space; +the signal was not to be given till the poachers had got well into the +space between the two main bodies; that in advance was rather the +strongest, as it was expected the marauders would try to force their way +into the high road, where carts were sure to be awaiting them. So, +without a movement of tongue or finger, they were to bide their time. + +Unless one is gifted with exceptional nerves, that time of suspense +before action is very trying. To compare great things with small, I +heard one of the best and bravest of all who went up to the Redan, +confess, the other day, that he never felt so uncomfortable as during +those long minutes when the men stood in their ranks waiting for the +last orders, and that it was an unspeakable relief when the word was +given for the stormers to advance. + +Lord Clydesdale evidently liked his position less and less every moment. +"Cursedly cold, isn't it?" he muttered, at last, and in truth his teeth +were chattering audibly. + +"Pocket-pistols are not interdicted, if other fire-arms are," Wyverne +whispered, good-humouredly. "Take a pull at mine, and wrap my plaid +round you; I really don't want it, I'm better clothed for this work than +you are, I fancy; I've been at it before." + +The Earl took the plaid, and half drained the flask without a word of +thanks; he was still brooding sulkily over the rebuff he fancied he had +met with before starting; besides this, the world had spoilt him so +long, that self-sacrifice on the part of his fellow-men for the +convenience of Lord Clydesdale, seemed to him the most natural condition +of things imaginable; he accepted such tributes affably or morosely, +according to his humour, but invariably as his proper due. + +Alan interpreted his companion's feelings pretty correctly, and smiled +contemptuously to himself in the darkness. + +"You amiable aristocrat!" he muttered between his teeth; "if it were not +for vexing Aunt Mildred, and for my promise to her, would I _not_ let +you look out for yourself this cold morning? I wonder if a thoroughly +good thrashing would improve your temper; it were a good deed to allow +the experiment to be tried. I do believe the most inveterate ruffian we +shall meet, has more natural courtesy than has fallen to your share." + +But the momentary bitterness soon passed away. Alan--as is the wont of +his kind--never felt so benevolent towards mankind in general as when +the moment of danger approached, which was to bring him into conflict +with certain units of the species. Surely that perfect physical +fearlessness is an enviable, if not a very ennobling qualification; it +enables you to charge a big fence or a big adversary, with comparative +comfort to yourself; in neither case, unfortunately, will it ensure you +against a bad fall; but unless quite disabled, you rise up and go on +again, as cheerfully as Antaeus, and are at all events spared any pains +of anticipation. An interval of silence which seemed very long, ensued. +Suddenly Wyverne laid a firm, steady grasp on Lord Clydesdale's arm. + +"Take off that plaid," he said, in the lowest and quietest of whispers; +"you'll be warm enough in five minutes. They are in the next stubble +now." + +The ear of the practised deer-stalker, accustomed to listen for the +rattle of a hoof far up the corries, had already caught certain faint +sounds imperceptible to his companions. Somers heard them, though, +nearly as soon; they could just see him through the black darkness, +stretching his brawny limbs, and twisting round his wrist the thong of +his bludgeon. + +The fall of footsteps came nearer and nearer, more and more distinct, as +the poachers crossed the low fence one by one, and got on to the harder +ground; they were evidently very numerous. They did not come on in +detached straggling parties, but appeared to wait till all were in the +lane, and then advanced in something like a regular column, in the +centre of which four men carried, in two nets made for the purpose, the +night's spoil; as this entirely consisted of birds, the weight was +overwhelming, though the result had been extraordinarily successful. + +"Get on, two of ye, as soon as we top the hill," a deep, hoarse voice +said, from the midst of the poachers; "and mind you see all clear." + +The slightest touch of Wyverne's arm, and the discreetest chuckle, +testified to Somers' intense appreciation of the impending "sell." The +gang advanced with their habitually stealthy tread, but evidently quite +unsuspiciously, till they were hemmed in by the divisions of the ambush. +Then a whistle sounded shrill and ominous as Black Roderick's signal, +and a dozen port-fires blazed out at once, casting a weird, lurid glare +over the crowd of rugged blackened faces, working with various emotions +of wonder, rage, and fear. + +In the pause that ensued, while the assailed were still under the +influence of the first surprise, and the assailants were waiting for +orders, Wyverne's voice was heard, not raised by one inflection above +its usual tone, and yet the most distant ear caught every syllable. + +"Will you surrender at once? It is the best thing you can do." + +The same voice answered which had spoken before--hoarse and thick with +passion. + +"Surrender be d--d! Here's the chance we've been wanting ever so long. +Stick together, lads, and be smart with those bludgeons: there's enow of +us to cut the ---- keepers to rags." + +Alan spoke again; and the curt, stern, incisive accents clove the still +night-air like points of steel. + +"Stand fast in the front: close up there in the rear. It is our own +fault if a man gets through: we'll have all--or none." + +He had only time for a hurried whisper--"Somers, whatever happens, look +after Lord Clydesdale;" for Bertie and his men came on with a rush and a +cheer. The port-fires were cast down and trampled out instantly, and +so--darkly and sullenly--the _melee_ began. It was likely to be an equal +one; the poachers had the disadvantage of the surprise and the attack +being against them, but they were slightly superior in numbers, and +their bludgeons were of a more murderous character than those carried by +the keepers, shod with iron for the most part, and heavily leaded. For a +minute or two the struggle went on in silence, only broken by the dull +sound of heavy blows, by hard, quick breathings, and by an occasional +curse or groan. Lord Clydesdale had drawn slightly aside, and so, +avoiding the first rush of the poachers, remained for awhile inactive. +Suddenly, as ill-luck would have it, he found himself face to face with +the most formidable of all the gang. "Lanky Jem" had forced his way to +the front, partly because safety lay in that direction, partly because +he fancied that there fought "the foemen worthiest of his steel;" he had +his wits perfectly about him, and was viciously determined to do as much +damage as possible, whether he escaped or no. He saw the figure standing +apart from the rest, taking no part in the conflict, and instantly +guessed that he had to do with a personage of some condition and +importance: keepers are rarely contemplative or non-combatants at such a +moment. + +"Here's one of them ---- swells!" he growled. "Come on, d--n ye! I'll +have _your_ blood, if I swing for it." + +Clydesdale was not exactly a coward; if any ordinary _social_ danger had +presented itself, he would scarcely have quailed before it. For +instance, I believe he would have faced a pistol at fifteen paces with +average composure. But it so happened (he had not been at a public +school) that in all his life he had never seen a blow stricken in anger. +The aspect of his present adversary fairly appalled him. Independently +of the poacher's huge proportions and evidently great strength, there +was a cool, concentrated cruelty about the bull-dog face--the white +range of grinded teeth showing in relief against the blackness of his +sooty disguise--which made him a really terrible foe. The Earl looked +helplessly round, as though seeking for succour; but all his party +seemed to have already as much as they could do. He saw the grim giant +preparing for a spring, and all presence of mind utterly deserted him; +he drew hastily back without lifting his hands to defend himself; his +heel caught in a projecting root, and he fell supine, with a loud, +piteous cry. "Lanky Jem" was actually disconcerted by such absolute +non-resistance; but the brutal instinct soon reasserted itself, and he +was rushing in to maim and mangle the fallen man, after his own savage +fashion, when a fresh adversary stood in his path, bestriding Clydesdale +where he lay. + +Wyverne had been engaged with a big foundry-man, who chanced to come +across him first; but even in the fierce grapple, where pluck and +activity could scarcely hold their own against weight and brute +strength, he had found time to glance repeatedly over his shoulder. He +saw the Earl fall, and extricating himself from his opponent's gripe +with an effort that sent the latter reeling back, he sprang lightly +aside, just in time to intercept the Lancashire man from his prey. But +the odds were fearfully against him now; for his original adversary had +recovered himself, and made in quickly to help his comrade. Both struck +at Alan savagely at the same instant. He caught one blow on his club, +but was obliged to parry the other with his left arm: the head was +saved, but the limb dropped to his side powerless. He ground his teeth +hard, and threw all the strength that was left him into one bitter blow; +it lighted on the temple of the man who had disabled him, and dropped +him like a log in his tracks. But, before Wyverne could recover himself, +the terrible Lancashire bludgeon came home on his brows, crushing in the +low, stiff crown of his hat like paper, and beating him down, sick and +dizzy, to his knee. He lifted his club mechanically, but it hardly broke +the full sway of another murderous stroke, which stretched him on his +face senseless. It looked as if he had remembered his promise to the +last; for he fell right over Clydesdale, effectually shielding the +latter with his own body. + +Alan's life and this story had well nigh ended there and then. Such an +abrupt termination might possibly have been to _his_ advantage as well +as to yours, reader of mine. But it was not so to be. Just as Jem was +bracing his great muscles for one cool, finishing stroke on the back of +Wyverne's unprotected skull, a lithe active form lighted on his +shoulders, and slender, nervous fingers clutched his throat till they +seemed to bury themselves in the flesh; and as he fell backward, gasping +and half-strangled, a voice, suppressed and vicious as a serpent's hiss, +muttered in his ear three words in an unknown tongue--"_Basta, basta, +carissimo_!" + +The poacher's vast strength, however, soon enabled him to shake off his +last assailant, and he was rising to his feet, more dangerous than ever, +when a tremendous blow descended right across his face, gashing the +forehead and crushing the bones of the nose in one fearful wound. The +miserable wretch sank down--all his limbs collapsing--without a groan or +a struggle, and lay there half drowned in blood. + +The old head keeper stooped for a moment to examine his ghastly +handiwork, and then, lifting his head, remarked with a low fierce +laugh-- + +"I gives you credit for that move, Master Bertie, it wur wery neatly +done." + +The poachers had been getting the worst of it all through; they were so +hemmed in in the narrow way that their numbers helped them but little; +indeed, some in the centre of the crowd never struck a blow. Their +leader's fall decided the fray at once; some voice cried out--"Don't hit +us any more; we gives in;" and they threw down their bludgeons, as +though by preconcerted signal. + +So ended the most successful raid that had been heard of in that country +for years; they talk of it still. Out of twenty-six men, only three +escaped, and one of these was the informer. Neither was any one mortally +or even dangerously hurt, though there were some hideous wounds on both +sides; but, if you bar gunpowder, it takes a good deal to kill outright +a real tough "shires-man." Even "Lanky Jem" recovered after a while from +Somers' swashing blow, though they were obliged to carry him back to +Dene. The permanent disfigurement which ensued, made his repulsive +countenance rather more picturesque in its ugliness, so that it was an +improvement after all. He quitted those parts, though, as soon as he got +out of gaol, and never returned. + +Of all the wounded, perhaps Wyverne was the most seriously hurt; but, +though his senses came back slowly, he was able to stagger home, leaning +heavily on Bertie Grenvil's shoulder. You must imagine the satisfaction +with which the Squire welcomed the conquerors and their captives. + + Unwounded from the dreadful close, + But breathless all, the Earl arose. + +Even his overweening self-esteem could not prevent Clydesdale's feeling +nervous and uncomfortable. He was conscious of having betrayed a very +discreditable pusillanimity; and he could not guess how many might be in +the secret of his discomfiture. There was nothing in the mere fact of +his coming out of the fray scathless, for Grenvil had not a scratch or a +bruise; but it struck him as rather odd, that nobody asked "if he were +hurt in any way." He was so perturbed in spirit, as hardly to be able to +display a decent amount of solicitude about Wyverne's injuries, or to +sympathize, with a good grace, in the triumph of the rest of the party. +There was one man, at all events, that he could never look in the face +again, without an unpleasant feeling of inferiority and obligation. Poor +Alan! He meant well; but he did not make a very good night's work of it, +after all. He got one or two hard blows, and changed Clydesdale's +previous dislike into a permanent and inveterate hate. Virtue is always +its own reward, you know. + +Perhaps the Earl's _largesse_ to every one concerned in the capture +would not have been so extravagantly liberal, if he had guessed how +thoroughly the old keeper appreciated the real state of affairs. When +Somers alluded to the subject--which he did once a month for the rest of +his natural life--he generally concluded in these words: + +"It wur the prettiest managed thing ever I see; but we wery near got +muddled at one time, all along of that there helpless Lord." + + + + +CHAPTER XI. + +DIAMONDS THAT CUT DIAMONDS. + + +Helen Vavasour came of a race whose women, if tradition speaks truth, +could always look, at need, on battle or broil without blenching; but it +is probable she would hardly have slept so soundly that night, had she +guessed at what was going on under the stars. She heard nothing of the +preparations; the bustle was confined to those remote regions where a +Servile War might have been carried on without the patricians wotting of +it; the furlongs of passage and corridor in the vast old manoir +swallowed up all ordinary sounds. Pauline would of course have +enlightened her mistress, but Wyverne chanced to "head" her before she +could "make her point." The quick-witted Parisian saw that he meant what +he said, when he begged her not to open her lips on the subject, and +kept silence through the night, though it was pain and grief to her. +That sentimental _soubrette_ kept for Alan the largest share of a simple +hero-worship, and she lay awake for hours listening and quaking, and +interceding perpetually with her favourite Saint for the safeguard of +her favourite Paladin. Judge if she indemnified herself for her +reticence, when she woke Miss Vavasour on the following morning! She had +got a perfect Romance of the Forest ready, wherein Wyverne's exploits +transcended those of Sir Bevis, and the physical proportions of his foes +cast those of Colbrand or Ascapart into the shade. + +Making all allowances for her handmaiden's vivid imagination, Helen came +down to breakfast in a great turmoil of curiosity and anxiety. She had +to wait for authentic particulars, till she got fevered with impatience. +The Squire, quite determined on doing _his_ share of the business +thoroughly, had followed the prisoners, already, to the neighbouring +town, where they were to answer their misdeeds before himself and other +magistrates. Helen had no reason to believe that her mother was better +informed than herself, and "my lady's" morning meditations were not +likely to be disturbed; no one else had shown any sign of life so far. +At last, Bertie Grenvil lounged into the breakfast-room. His appearance +was somewhat reassuring; there was not a trace of conflict or even of +weariness on the fair face; indeed, the Cherub was so used to turn night +into day, that late hours and sleeplessness were rather his normal +state. His answers to Helen's string of eager questions were rather +unsatisfactory; much in the style of old Caspar's reminiscences about +Blenheim: + + "Why that I cannot tell," quoth he: + "But 'twas a famous victory." + +Perhaps there was no real reserve or affectation about it; one's waking +recollections of a midnight fray are apt to be strangely distorted and +vague. + +"I've seen Alan, this morning," Bertie remarked at length casually. +"He's wonderfully well, all things considered, and means to show at +luncheon; but I fear they've spoiled his shooting for some time; he +won't be able to use that left arm for a fortnight." + +Miss Vavasour's cheek lost its colour instantly, and her hand shook so +that it could hardly set down the cup it held. + +"You don't mean that Alan is seriously hurt?" she said. "And they never +told me. I have never even sent to ask after him. It is too cruel." She +rose quickly, and rang the bell, before Grenvil could anticipate her. + +"What an idiot I am!" Bertie interjected, actually flushing with a real +self-reproach. "I thought you had heard that Alan had met with two or +three hard blows, or I would not have mentioned it so abruptly. Don't be +frightened; on my honour, they are nothing worse than bruises; he will +tell you so himself in an hour's time." + +Helen forced a smile, and recovered her composure immediately. But she +did not seem comfortable till she had sent Pauline to bring a report of +her cousin's state from his own lips. The _soubrette_ had been kept in +equal ignorance with her mistress as to Wyverne's hurts, and when she +came back to repeat his cheerful message, her voice was trembling, and +her bright dark eyes were dim with tears. + +The whole party--with the exception of the Squire--met at luncheon; for +Max Vavasour returned in the course of the morning. The latter +congratulated everybody very pleasantly on the success of the night's +expedition; and, it is possible, congratulated himself quite as +sincerely on having been out of the way; at all events, he affected no +regret at having missed his share of peril and glory. Alan Wyverne came +in the last. With the aid of a scientific valet, he had contrived to +dissemble very successfully the traces of the fray; the dark thick hair +swept lower than usual over his brows, and almost concealed the spot +where the first blow had fallen; the second had left no visible mark. He +seemed in the best possible spirits, and his gay, pleasant laugh came as +readily as ever, without an appearance of being forced or constrained; +but his face was very pale, and his left arm hung helplessly in its +sling. + +The worst of Lord Clydesdale's enemies--already he had made not a +few--might have been satisfied at the state of the Earl's feelings, as +he sat there, brooding sullenly over the recollection of his own +discomfiture, and watching the _empressment_ which everybody seemed +determined to manifest towards his unconscious rival. Miss Vavasour, as +we have before said, was never "gushing" or demonstrative; but she +considered it the most natural thing in the world that her cousin should +be petted and tended under the circumstances. So she sat by his side, +anticipating and ministering to his wants with the tact and tenderness +that only a woman--and a loving one--can display, utterly ignoring the +savage blue eyes that kept glaring at her from beneath their bushy +brows. Clydesdale muttered curse after curse under his breath, and +drained glass after glass of the strong brown sherry that stood close to +his hand; the rich liquor seemed to be absorbed with no better effect +than a genial rain produces falling on a quicksand. + +It was rather remarkable that no one seemed disposed to question _him_ +much about last night's adventure. Possibly, Lady Mildred knew something +of the truth--though not all--and had taken Max into confidence; for her +maid might have been seen in close colloquy with one of the keepers, +early in the morning; and it is probable that model of austere and +dignified propriety would not so far have derogated without good cause. +However this might be, her manner towards Alan Wyverne was kind and +affectionate to a degree; when she spoke to Lord Clydesdale, a very +close observer might have detected a certain coldness in the perfect +courtesy. "My lady" was only a woman, after all; and the instincts of +her sex, though tamed and trained, would assert themselves sometimes. +She looked at the Earl as he sat there swelling with sulky +self-importance; ruddy, certainly--perhaps unpleasantly so--but not "of +a cheerful countenance;" then she looked across at Wyverne, just as a +bright, grateful smile lighted up all his wan face, and thanked Helen +for some trifling act of kindness. The contrast was too much for Lady +Mildred; for once, the cold diplomatist yielded to a real frank impulse +and forgot her cunning. When she rose with the others, she crossed over +to where Alan sat, and leant over him, on pretence of settling his +sling, till her lips touched his hair. Even Helen, who was so near, did +not catch the whisper-- + +"Ah, so many thanks! Who can help loving you--always braver and better +than your word?" + +Neither ever alluded to the events of that night again, but they +understood each other perfectly; and to the end of his days, Wyverne +considered his services over-paid. In truth, it was no mean triumph to +have made "my lady," for more than a hundred seconds, thoroughly honest +and sincere. + +That day brought a large influx of fresh guests to Dene; but only four +deserve special mention, and perhaps these might be reduced to three. + +Grace Beauclerc was Alan's only sister. There was a strong likeness +between them, not only in features, but in character. She had the same +quiet thoroughbred face, that no one ever called beautiful, but every +one felt was intensely loveable; the same slender, graceful proportions; +the same soft, winning manner; the same power of attraction and +retaining the affection of men and women. The resemblance extended still +further--to their fortunes. Grace had not ruined herself, +certainly--with the exception of a few fair speculators of whose daring +The Corner and Capel Court are conscious, they generally leave that +luxury to _us_--but she had gone as near the wind as possible, by +contracting the most imprudent of alliances. How the Beauclercs lived, +was a mystery to their nearest and dearest friends. The crash had not +come at Wyverne Abbey when the marriage took place, and Alan had then +settled L400 a year on his sister; but this, added to the interest of +her own small fortune, and the pay of a clerk of nine years' standing in +the Foreign Office, hardly carried their income beyond the hundreds. A +cipher had represented Algernon Beauclerc's own personal assets long +before he married. Yet they lived apparently in great comfort, went out +everywhere, gave occasionally the nicest entertainments, at home, on a +very tiny scale, that you can conceive; and, it was said, were +wonderfully little in debt. It was a great social problem, in its way, +and one of those that it is not worth while puzzling oneself to solve. +But though Grace's husband had been very extravagant, and was still far +from self-denying, he was weak neither in mind nor principle; he loved +his wife and his children, after his fashion, far too well to involve +himself in any serious scrape; and contrived to utilize his amusements +to a remarkable degree. He was passionately fond of whist, and had +attained an exceptional intelligence in that fascinating game. His plan +was to set aside a certain sum each year to risk on its chances: the +profits went to the account of _menus plaisirs_, in which Grace had more +than her share; if the card-purse was emptied, nothing would induce him +to play again till the time arrived for replenishing it. Algy Beauclerc +hardly knew how to be angry, even with an incorrigibly careless or +stupid partner, and the world in general found it impossible to quarrel +with him. In appearance, he was a curious contrast to his wife--broad +and burly, with a bluff, jovial face, half shrouded in a forest of +blonde beard, and large, light, laughing eyes. Prince Percinet and +Graciosa never got on better together than did that apparently +ill-matched couple. The set in which they lived, though neither vicious +nor reckless, was decidedly fast; looking at Grace's quiet, rather +pensive face, one could not help fancying that she must have felt +sometimes uncomfortably out of her element; but she had a singular power +of adapting herself to circumstances, without being deteriorated +thereby. Presiding over one of those post-operatic _reunions_, where +cigars, and even cigarettes, were not interdicted--or playing with her +children, as she would do for hours of a morning--she always seemed +perfectly and placidly happy. + +Of a very different stamp were the other pair that remain to be noticed. +Not only her intimate friends, and the men with whom she had flirted +more or less seriously--they would have made a fair second-battalion to +any regiment--but the whole of London opened wondering eyes when +handsome, daring Maud Dacres married Mr. Brabazon, a pillar of the Stock +Exchange, five-and-twenty years her senior, after an acquaintance of +seven weeks, begun at Boulogne, where--for reasons cogent, though +temporary--her father was then residing. It was not that she was more +unlikely than another to make a money-match; but every one was surprised +at her selecting that particular millionaire. + +Richard Brabazon was not only glaringly under-bred in form, feature, +mind, and manner, but he was popularly considered one of the most +"aggravating" men alive. He had a knack of hitting upon the topic most +disagreeable to his interlocutor or to the company in general, and of +introducing the same at the most inappropriate moment, always in a +smooth, plausible way, which made it more irritating. Even when he +wished to be extraordinary civil, there was an evident affability and +condescension about him that very few could stand. His slow, measured, +mincing way of speaking--pronouncing _a's_ like _e's_--affected one's +ear like the hum of a mosquito; and his plump, smug, smooth-shaven face +was intensely provocative, inspiring people, otherwise calm and pacific, +with a rabid desire to leap up and smite him on the cheek. This laudable +and very general propensity had never yet been gratified; for Richard +Brabazon was far too cunning ever to give a chance away. Many men would +have given large monies for an opportunity of taking overt offence, but +they waited still in vain. + +It was a marvel how his wife--high-spirited and quick-tempered to a +fault--contrived to live with him, without occasionally betraying +annoyance or aversion. It is probable that several bitter duels had in +fact taken place; but the antagonists kept their own secret; and it was +a perfect neutrality now, though an armed one. The principle of +non-interference was thoroughly established, and the contiguous powers +did not even take the trouble to watch each other's frontier. Sometimes +the spirit of aggravation would tempt Brabazon to launch a taunt or a +sarcasm in the direction of his wife or her friends; but it was +generally met by an imperial and absolute indifference--at rare +intervals, by a retort, not the less biting because it was so very +quietly put in. He _would_ do it, though he knew he should get the worst +of it, just as Thersites could not refrain from his gibe, though his +shoulders were shaking already in anticipation of the practical retort +of Ajax or Odysseus. + +Lady Mildred was good-natured enough never to cross the plans or +pleasures of her friends unless they interfered with hers; indeed, she +would further them as far as was consistent with her own credit and +convenience; but even in her benevolence some malice was mingled. She +was rather glad to give Grenvil an opportunity of following out his +love-dream, especially as she felt certain no harm would come of it; +but, in mentioning to him the expected guests, she had purposely omitted +the Brabazons. + +Bertie had been indulging in an ante-prandial siesta, and only came down +the great staircase as the others were filing past in to dinner; he was +in time to see Maud Brabazon sweep by, more insolently beautiful, he +thought, than ever. She just deigned to acknowledge his presence with +the slightest bend of her delicate neck, and the sauciest of smiles. +That wily Cherub could feign innocence right well when it served his +wicked ends; but only one visible sign _really_ remained to testify that +he had once been guileless--perhaps it was a mere accident of +complexion--he had not forgotten how to change colour. Lady Mildred +watched the meeting. She saw Bertie's cheek flush--brightly as a girl's +might do who hears the first love-whisper--and then grow pale almost to +the lips. "My lady" laughed under her breath, in calm appreciative +approbation, just as some scientific patron of the Arena may have +laughed, when the net of the Retiarius glided over the shoulders of the +doomed Secutor. + +Any one interested in such psychological studies--and, to some people, a +really well-managed flirtation is a very interesting and instructive +spectacle--would have been much amused that evening watching the +"passages" of Bertie's love. It was rather a one-sided affair, after +all; for the Cherub was so hard hit as to forget his cunning of fence, +and timidity for once was not in the least assumed. The lady was +thoroughly at her ease, as women ever are who play that perilous game +with their head instead of their heart. + +Maud Brabazon was just on the shady side of thirty; but such a pleasant +shade it was! The sunniest year in the lives of her many rivals looked +dull and tame by comparison. She was rather below the middle height, and +rather fuller in her proportions than was consistent with perfection of +form; but no one was ever heard to hint that her figure could have been +improved upon. Large bright brown eyes were matched by soft abundant +hair of a darker shade; a slightly aquiline nose, a delicately chiselled +_mutine_ mouth, and the ripest of peach-complexions, made up a picture +that every one found fascinating, many fatally so. + +She was a very queen of coquetry, understanding and practising every one +of its refinements. You always saw the most attractive elements of any +company converging to the spot where she sat, like straws drawn in by an +eddy. Where was the secret of her power? Men who had been led captive at +her chariot-wheels asked themselves that question in after days, when +freedom was partially regained, and got puzzled over it, as one does +over the incidents of a very vivid dream. It was a fair face, certainly, +but there were others more brilliant in their beauty, more winning in +their loveliness. Her frank boldness of speech dazzled you at first with +its natural, careless _verve_--she kept for special occasions the tender +confidential tones that lingered in your ears through many sleepless +night-watches--but several of her beaten rivals had really thrice her +wit and cleverness, and, as conversationalists, could have distanced her +easily. Maud Brabazon seemed to diffuse round her an atmosphere of +temptation. Cold-blooded men, of austere morals and rigid propriety, +felt irresistibly impelled to make love to her on the shortest +acquaintance, not wildly or passionately, but in an airy, light-minded +fashion, which left no remorse, hardly a regret, behind. It was strange +that she had never yet got entangled in any of the toils she wove so +deftly, for the bitterest of friends or foes had never dared to impute +to her any darker crime than consummate coquetry. One who knew her well +when the subject was being discussed, thus expressed himself in the +figurative language of the turf, of which he was a stanch supporter: + +"Yes, she can win, when she's in front all the way. Wait till you see +her collared; _they've never made her gallop yet_." + +Thereby intimating his opinion that the Subduer was still in the future, +by whom Maud's peace of mind was to be imperilled. + +All things considered, it seemed likely that poetical justice was going +to assert itself in the shape of merited retaliation impending over the +Cherub's graceless head; a state of things so perfectly satisfactory +that we may as well leave them there for the present. + +Pressing affairs called Lord Clydesdale away from Dene on the following +day. He had probably reasons of his own for cutting his visit short +rather abruptly. He thought that whatever interests he might have at +stake would be advanced fully as well in his absence, for the present. +Somehow or another, before he went, Max Vavasour was made aware of the +wager with Harding Knowles. On the occasion of a great robbery-- + + When the knowing ones, for once, stand in + With some dark flyer meant at last to win-- + +and the owners of one or two dangerous horses are put on, a "monkey to +nothing," I believe they go through the form of registering it as a bet; +so we may as well dignify the Earl's compact by that convenient name. It +is more than likely that Clydesdale made the confession himself. He had +little delicacy in such matters when he knew his man; and no Oriental +despot could be more insolent in his cynicism. If he had thought he +could do so safely, he would have offered money to her nearest relation, +to serve him in his pursuit of any woman he might fancy, without the +faintest scruple or shame. + +However the revelation was made, Max Vavasour never betrayed to Knowles +his consciousness of the confederacy by word or sign; but he would look +at the latter occasionally with a very peculiar expression in his cold +dark eyes. There was something of curiosity in that look, more of +dislike and contempt. The wily schemer would accept readily the aid of +any instrument, however repulsive, that would serve his purpose; but +they never were stifled for one moment--the instincts of patrician +pride. Harding was no favourite of Lady Mildred's; and her manner +towards him could not be said to be cordial now; but there certainly was +a shade more of courtesy and attention. She suggested now and then that +his name should be added to the dinner-list, which she had never done +before; and honoured him at times with a fair share of her evening's +conversation. There was nothing strange in this. Knowles was evidently a +rising man; and "my lady" made a point of being at least civil to such +people, though she would just as soon have thought of asking a real +Gorilla to her house, as any living celebrity--soldier, priest, lawyer, +or literate--simply because he chanced to be the lion of the day. + + + + +CHAPTER XII. + +RUMOURS OF WARS. + + +Harding Knowles had never been a hard-working man. Very little more +reading would have turned a good Second in classics into an easy First, +and this was so well known at Oxford that he might have had as many +pupils as he liked during the year that he resided there after taking +his degree. He would only take two or three--"just to have something to +do in the morning," he said; and these were all of the Clydesdale +stamp--men whose connexion was worth a good deal, while their +preparation cost no sort of head-work or anxiety. He had been called to +the bar since then, but had never pretended to follow up the +profession. There was not a trace of business about his chambers in the +Temple; no face of clerk or client ever looked out at the chrysanthemums +through those pleasant windows, the sills of which were framed and +buried in flowers. He could write a clever article, or a sharp sarcastic +critique, when the fit seized him, and made a hundred or so every year +thus in an easy desultory way: the Rector's allowance was liberal, so +that Harding had more than enough to satisfy all his tastes, which were +by no means extravagant; in fact, he saved money. But he was avaricious +to the heart's core, and could be painstaking and patient enough when +the stake was really worth his while to win. He did not tarry long at +Dene after Clydesdale's departure--long enough, though, to have another +incentive to exertion in the latter's cause. Personal pique was added +now to the mere greed of gain. The merest trifle brought this about, and +you would hardly understand it without appreciating some anomalies in +Knowles's character. + +There never was a more thorough-going democrat. From his birth his +sympathies and instincts had all taken the same direction, and these had +been strengthened and embittered by his mother's evil training. He +disliked the patrician order intensely; but their society seemed to have +a strange fascination for him, judging from the pertinacity he displayed +in endeavouring to gain and confirm a footing there. He would intrigue +for certain invitations in the season as eagerly as a French deputy +seeking the red ribbon of honour. Yet he was always uncomfortable when +his point was gained, and he found himself half way up the much-desired +staircase. The mistress of the mansion greeted him probably with the +self-same smile that she vouchsafed to nine-tenths of the five hundred +guests who crowded her rooms; but Knowles would torment himself with the +fancy that there was something compassionate or satirical in the fair +dame's look, as if she penetrated a truth, of which he was himself +conscious--that he had no business to be there. He felt that, if he got +a fair start, he could talk better than the majority of the men around +him; but he felt, too, that he had no chance against the most listless +or languid of them all. They were on their own ground, and the intruder +did not care to match himself against them there; his position was far +too constrained, his footing too insecure. How he hated them, for the +indolent _nonchalance_ and serene indifference that he would have given +five years of life to be able to assume! A wolfish ferocity would rise +within him as he watched a beardless Coldstreamer dropping his words +slowly, as if each were worth money and not lightly to be parted with, +into the delicate ear of a haughty beauty from whom Knowles scarcely +dared to hope for a recognising bow. The innocent object of his wrath +was probably only sacrificing himself to the necessities of the +position, while his thoughts reverted with a tender longing to the +smoking room of his club, or anticipated the succulent chop that Pratt's +was bound to provide for him before the dawning. + +In all other respects, Harding was as little sensitive as the most +obstinate of pachyderms. He did not know what shame meant, and an +implied insult that would have roused another savagely would scarcely +attract his notice. You have seen one instance of this already. But he +was nervously and morbidly alive to the minutest point affecting his +position in society. After assisting at one of those assemblies of the +_haute volee_, he would review in his memory every incident of the +evening, and would be miserable for weeks afterwards if he thought he +had made himself ridiculous by any awkwardness of manner or any +incongruity of word or deed. If the choice had been forced upon him, he +would have committed a forgery any day, sooner than a _gaucherie_. + +I suppose everybody is sensitive somewhere, and it is only a question +whether the shaft hits a joint in the harness, and so some go on for +years, or for ever, without a scratch or a wound. Sometimes the weak +point is found out very oddly and unexpectedly. + +There is now living a man whom, till very lately, his friends used to +quote as the ideal of impassibility. Even in his youthful days, when he +was "galloper" occasionally to General Levin, war-worn veterans used to +marvel at and envy the sublime serenity with which he would receive a +point-blank volley of objurgation, double-shotted with the hoarse +expletives for which that irascible commander is world-renowned. I have +seen him myself exposed to the "chaff" of real artists in that line. He +only smiled in complacent security, when "the archers bent their bows +and made them ready," and sat amidst the banter and the satire, unmoved +as is Ailsa Craig by the whistle of the sea-bird's wings. It was +popularly supposed that no sorrow or shame which can befall humanity +would seriously disturb his equanimity, till in an evil hour he plunged +into print. It was a modest little book, relating to a Great War, in +which he had borne no ignoble part; so mild in its comment and so meek +in its suggestions, that the critics might have spared it from very +pity. But unluckily he fell early into the hands of one of the most +truculent of the tribe, and all the others followed suit, so that poor +Courtenay had rather a rough time of it. They questioned his facts and +denied his inferences, accusing him of ignorance and partiality in about +equal degrees, and, what was harder still to bear, they anatomized his +little jokes gravely, and made a mock at his pathetic passages, +stigmatizing the first as "flippancy," the last as "fine writing." Ever +since that time, _le Beau Sabreur_ has been subject to fits of +unutterable gloom and despondency. Only last summer, we were dining with +him at the "Bellona." The banquet was faultless, and the guests in the +best possible form, so that the prospects of the evening were convivial +in the extreme. It chanced that there was One present who had also +written a book or two, and had also been evil entreated by the +reviewers. A peculiarly savage onslaught had just appeared in a weekly +paper, imputing to the author in question every species of literary +profligacy, from atheism down to deliberate immorality. The man who sat +next to him opened fire on the subject. It so happens that this much +maligned individual--as a rule, quite the reverse of good-tempered--is +stolidly impervious to critical praise or blame. This indifference is +just as much a constitutional accident, of course, like exemption from +nausea at sea, but one would think _he_ must find it convenient at +times. He joined in the laugh now quite naturally, and only tried to +turn the subject, because its effect on our host was evident. His kind, +handsome face became overcast with a moody melancholy. The allusion to +his friend's castigation brought back too vividly the recollection of +his own. The cruel stripes were scarcely healed yet, and the flesh +_would_ quiver at the remote sound of the scourge. + +Courtenay's fellow-sufferer would fain have cheered him. The first flask +of "Dry" had just been opened (it was _una de multis, face nuptiali +digna_--a wine, in truth, worthy to be consumed at the marriage-feasts +of great and good men), he took the brimming beaker in his hand, before +the bright beads died out of the glorious amber, and spoke thus, +sententiously-- + +"Oh, my friend, let us not despond overmuch; rather let us imitate +Socrates, the cheery sage, when he drained his last goblet. Do me right. +Lo! I drink to the judge who hath condemned us--[Greek: Touto to kalo +Kritia]." + +Courtenay did drink--to do him justice, he will always do _that_--but +his smile was the saddest thing I ever saw; and it was three good hours +before his spirits recovered their tone, or his great golden moustaches, +which were drooping sympathetically their martial curl. + +If you realize Harding Knowles's excessive sensitiveness on certain +points, you will understand how Alan Wyverne fell under his ban. + +The cousins were starting for their afternoon's ride. Knowles had +lunched at Dene, but was not to accompany them. He chanced to be +standing on the steps when the horses came up, and Miss Vavasour came +out alone. Something detained Alan in the hall for a minute, and when he +appeared, Harding was in the act of assisting Helen to mount. Now that +"mounting" is the simplest of all gymnastics, if you know how to do it, +and if there exists between you and the fair Amazon a certain sympathy +and good understanding; in default of these elements of concord, it is +probable that the whole thing may come to grief. Harding was so +nervously anxious to acquit himself creditably, that it was not likely +he would succeed. He "lifted" at the wrong moment, and too violently, +not calculating on the elasticity of the demoiselle's spring, even +though she was taken unawares. Nothing but great activity and presence +of mind on Helen's part saved a dangerous fall. She said not one word as +she settled herself anew in the saddle; but the culprit caught one +glance from the depths of the brilliant eyes which stopped short his +stammered apology. It was not exactly angry--worse a thousand times than +that; but it stung him like the cut of a whip, and his cheek would flush +when he thought of it years afterwards. + +While Knowles was still in his confusion, he felt a light touch on his +shoulder, and, turning, found Wyverne standing there. Nothing chafed +Alan more than an exhibition of awkwardness such as he had just +witnessed; besides this, he had never liked Harding, and was not +inclined to make excuses for him now. The pleasantness had quite +vanished from his face; and when he spoke, almost in a whisper, his lip +was curling haughtily and his brows were bent. + +"_Fiat experimentum in corpore vili_," he said. "Your classical reading +might have taught you that much, at all events. You want practice in +mounting, decidedly; but I beg that you will select for your next lesson +a fitter subject than Miss Vavasour." + +Knowles was ready enough of retort as a rule; but this time, before he +could collect himself sufficiently to find an answer, Wyverne was in the +saddle, + + And lightly they rode away. + +The animosity was not equally allotted, for Alan engrossed far the +bitterest share of it; but thenceforward both the cousins might fear the +very worst from an enemy capable of much stratagem, recoiling from no +baseness, whose hatred, if it were only for the coldness of its +malignity, might not safely be defied. + +For some days after Knowles's departure, everything went on pleasantly +at Dene; and nothing occurred worthy of note, unless it were a slight +passage-of-arms between Bertie Grenvil and Mr. Brabazon. The latter was +so rarely taken at fault, that it deserves to be recorded. + +The financier was perfectly aware of the flirtation in progress between +his wife and the Cherub; but he never disquieted himself about such +trifles; and it was simply his "aggravating" instinct which impelled him +one day, after dinner, to select the topic which he guessed would be +most disagreeable to both. A certain Guardsman had just come to great +grief in money matters, and had been forced to betake himself in haste +to some continental Adullam. He was a favourite cousin of Maud's, a +great friend of Grenvil's, and in the same battalion. It was supposed +that the Cherub was to a certain extent involved in his comrade's +embarrassments, having backed the latter almost to the extent of his own +small credit. On the present occasion, Mr. Brabazon was good enough to +volunteer a detailed account of the unlucky spendthrift's difficulties, +which he professed to have received in a letter that morning, adding his +own strictures and comments thereon. No one interrupted him, though Lady +Mildred had the tact to give the departing signal before he had quite +finished. Mr. Brabazon felt that he had the best of the position, and +determined to follow up his triumph. When the men were left alone, his +plump, smooth face became more superciliously sanctimonious, till he +looked like Tartufe intensified. + +"There is one subject I would not allude to," he said, "till _they_ had +left us. I have heard it hinted that Captain Pulteney's ruin was +hastened by his disgraceful profligacy. It is said that he lavished +thousands on a notorious person living under his name in a villa in St. +John's Wood. Mr. Grenvil perhaps knows if my information is correct?" + +Brabazon wished his words unsaid as Bertie's bright eyes fastened on his +face, glittering with malicious mirth. + +"Yes; I know something about it," he replied; "but I don't see that I'm +called upon to reveal poor Dick's domestic secrets to uninterested +parties. You don't hold any of his paper, I suppose? No--you're too +prudent for that. Not quite prudent enough, though. I wouldn't say too +much about St. John's Wood, if I were you. You've heard the proverb +about 'glass houses?' I believe there's a conservatory attached to that +very nice villa in Mastic Road, to which you have the _entree_ at all +hours. Have you got the latch-key in your pocket?" + +If Richard Brabazon valued himself on one possession more than another, +it was his immaculate respectability: in fact, an ostentatious piety was +part of his stock-in-trade. For once, he was fairly disconcerted. His +face grew white, and actually convulsed with rage and fear as he +stammered out, quite forgetting his careful elocution-- + +"I don't pretend to understand you; but I see you wish to insult me." + +"Wrong again, and twice over," the other answered, coolly. "I never +insulted anybody since I was born. And you will understand me perfectly, +if you will take the trouble to remember a very warm midnight last +spring, when the cabman could not give you change for a sovereign and +you had to send him out his fare. You were in such a hurry to go in, +that you never saw the humblest of your servants, about fifteen yards +off, lighting his cigar. I don't wonder at your impetuosity. I got a +good look at the _soubrette_ when she came out with the change; +and, if the mistress is as pretty as the maid, your taste is +unimpeachable--whatever your morals may be." + +The great drops gathered on Brabazon's forehead as he sat glaring +speechlessly at his tormentor, who at that moment appeared intent on the +selection of some olives, all the while humming audibly to himself, "The +Young May Moon." + +"It is an atrocious calumny," he gasped out, "or a horrible mistake. I +wish to believe it is the last." + +"You wish _us_ to believe, you mean," the other retorted. "But I won't +'accept the composition,' (that's the correct expression, isn't it?) +There was no mistake about it. I saw you that night, just as plainly as +I did the morning before, going into Exeter Hall to talk about +converting the Pongo Islanders--only you were in your brougham _then_. +Quite right too. Never take your own carriage out on the war-trail: it +only makes scandal, and costs you a night-horse. I always tried to beat +so much economy into poor Dick Pulteney. If he would have listened to +me, he might have lasted a month or two longer. I assure you I watched +the whole thing with great interest. One doesn't see a _financier en +bonne fortune_ every day; and the habits of all animals are worth +observing at certain seasons. A Frenchman wrote such a pretty treatise +the other day about the 'Loves of the Moles!'" + +Many men would have derived much refreshment from the spectacle +presented just then by their ancient enemy. You cannot fancy a more +pitiable picture of helpless exasperation, nor more complete abasement. +Even with his usual crafty reserve, he would scarcely have held his own +against the cool insolence of his opponent--thoroughly confident of his +facts, and mercilessly determined to use them to the uttermost. If the +Squire had been present, the skirmish would not have lasted so long; but +he was presiding at a great agricultural dinner miles away. Max +Vavasour, who sat in his father's place, was not disposed to interrupt +any performance which amused him. Neither he nor any other man present +felt the faintest sympathy with, or compassion for, the victim. Brabazon +appreciated his position acutely. He was only reaping as he had sown; +but some of those same crops are not pleasant to gather or garner. He +rose suddenly, and muttering something about "not staying another +instant to be insulted," made a precipitate retreat, leaving not a shred +of dignity behind. Max Vavasour did rouse himself to say a few pacifying +words of deprecation, but they did not arrest the fugitive, nor did the +speaker seem to expect they would do so. + +When the door closed, Wyverne looked at Bertie with an expression which +was meant to be reproachful, but became, involuntarily, admiring. + +"What a quiet, cruel little creature it is," he said. "Fancy his keeping +that secret so long, and bringing it out so viciously just at the right +time. Is it not a crowning mercy, though, that the Squire's +'agricultural' came off to-night? He would have stopped sport for once +in his life. I wonder whether Brabazon is a 'bull' or a 'bear' on +'Change? Whichever he is, he was baited thoroughly well here; and, I +think, deserved all the punishment he got. Cherub, I shall look upon you +with more respect henceforth, having seen you appear as the Bold +Avenger." + +They soon began to talk of other things. A reputation fostered by years +of caution, outward self-restraint, and conventional observances, had +just been slain before their eyes; but those careless spirits made +little moan over the dead, and seemed to think the obsequies not worth a +funeral oration. Having once accepted his position, Brabazon, to do him +justice, made the best of it. He made no attempt at retaliation, as he +might easily have done, by removing himself and his belongings abruptly +from Dene; indeed, during the remainder of a protracted visit there, he +comported himself in a manner void of offence to man or woman. The +Squire, who knew him well, remarked the change, and congratulated +himself and others thereupon; but they never told him of the somewhat +summary process by which the result had been achieved. It was simple +enough, after all. Some horses will never run kindly till you take your +whip up to them in earnest. + +Though Sir Alan Wyverne had no property left worth speaking of, he still +had "affairs" of one sort or another to attend to, from time to time, +and of late it had become still more necessary that these be kept in +order. Before very long, he too was obliged to go up to town on +business. He was only to be absent three or four days; but he seemed +strangely reluctant to leave Dene. In good truth, there was not the +slightest reason for any gloomy presentiment; but Helen remembered in +after years, that during the last hours they spent together then, her +cousin made none of those gay allusions to their future that he was so +fond of indulging in; and that though his words and manner were kind and +loving as ever, there was something sad and subdued in their tenderness. +So far as Alan knew, it was a simple case of business which called him +away; more than once afterwards he thought it would have been better if +he had died that night, with the music of Helen's whisper in his ears, +the print of her ripe scarlet lips on his cheek, the pressure of her +lithe twining fingers still lingering round his own. + +Many men, before and since, have thought the same. It is, perhaps, the +most reasonable of all the repinings that are more futile than the +vainest of regrets. Two lifetimes would not unravel some tangles of +sorrow and sin, that are cut asunder, quite simply, by one sheer sudden +stroke of Azraeel's sword. Be sure, the purpose of God's awful messenger +is often benevolent, though his aspect is seldom benign. The legend of +ancient days bears a sad significance still. His arm is "swift to smite +and never to spare;" black as night is the plumage of his vast shadowy +wings; his lineaments are somewhat stern in their severe serenity; but +in all the hierarchy of Heaven--the Rabbins say--is found no more +perfect beauty than in the face of the Angel of Death. + + + + +CHAPTER XIII. + +THE FIRST SHELL. + + +So Wyverne went on his way--not rejoicing; and Helen would have been +left "sighing her lane," if she had been at all given to that romantic +pastime. But they were not a sentimental pair; and did not even think it +necessary to bind themselves under an oath to correspond by every +possible post--a compact which is far more agreeably feasible in theory +than in practice. However, a long letter from Alan made his cousin very +happy on the third day after his departure. It was a perfect epistle in +its way--at least, it thoroughly satisfied the fair recipient; to be +sure, it was her first experience in that line. Two lines evidently +written after the rest--said that his return must be deferred +four-and-twenty hours. Helen did not hear again from her cousin; but on +the morning of the day on which he was expected, the post brought two +strange letters to Dene which changed the aspect of things materially. +One was addressed to Lady Mildred, the other to her daughter. Both were +written in the same delicate feminine hand, and the contents of both +were essentially the same, though they varied slightly in phrase. "My +lady's" communication may serve as a sample: + +"When Alan Wyverne returns, it might be well to ask him three simple +questions:--What was the business that detained him in town? Who was his +companion for two hours yesterday in the Botanical Gardens (which they +had entirely to themselves)? Where he spent the whole of this afternoon? +I would give the answers myself, but I know him well, and I am sure he +will not refuse to satisfy your natural curiosity. As my name will never +be known, I need not disguise my motive in writing thus. I care not +serving you, or saving your daughter; I simply wish to serve my own +revenge. I loved him dearly, once, or I should not hate him so heartily +now. If Alan Wyverne chooses to betray so soon the girl to whom he has +plighted faith, I do not see why _one_ of his old loves should engross +_all_ the treachery." + +Helen's letter was to the same purport, but at greater length, and more +considerately and gently expressed, as though some compassion was +mingled in the writer's bitterness. + +I should very much like to know the _fiancee_ who would receive such a +communication as this with perfect equanimity--supposing, of course, +that her heart went with the promise of her hand. Miss Vavasour believed +in her cousin to a great extent, and her nature was too frank and +generous to foster suspicion; but she was not such a paragon of +trustfulness. She was thoroughly miserable during the whole of the day. +There was very little comfort to be got out of her mother (it was +decided that the subject should not be mentioned, at present, to the +Squire); "my lady" said very little, but evidently thought that matters +looked dark. When she said--"Don't let us make ourselves unhappy till +you have spoken to Alan; I am certain he can explain everything"--it was +irritatingly apparent that she really took quite an opposite view of the +probabilities, and was only trying to pacify Helen's first excitement, +as a nurse might humour the fancies of a fever-patient. Nevertheless, +the _demoiselle_ bore up bravely; not one of the party at Dene guessed +that anything had occurred to ruffle her; and there were sharp eyes of +all colours amongst them. + +Mrs. Fernley was there--the most seductive of "grass-widows"--whose +husband had held for years some great post high up in the Himalayas, +only giving sign of his existence by the regular transmission of large +monies, wherewith to sustain the splendour of his consort's +establishment. There, too, was Agatha Drummond--whose name it is treason +to introduce thus episodically, for she deserves a story to herself, and +has nothing whatever to do with the present one--a beauty of the grand +old Frankish type, with rich fair hair, haughty aquiline features, +clear, bold blue eyes, and long elastic limbs--such as one's fancy +assigns to those who shared the bed of Merovingian kings. She passed the +most of her waking hours in riding, waltzing, or flirting; seldom or +ever read anything, and talked, notwithstanding, passingly well; but for +daring, energy, and power of supporting fatigue in her three favourite +pursuits, you might have backed her safely against any woman of her age +in England. Both were very fond of Helen, and would have sympathized +with her sincerely had they seen cause; but their glances were not the +less keenly inquisitive; and, under the circumstances, she deserved some +credit for keeping her griefs so entirely to herself. + +I have heard grave, reverend men, with consciences probably as clear and +correct as their banking books, confess that they never returned home, +after a brief absence during which no letters had been forwarded, +without a certain vague apprehension, which did not entirely subside +till they had met their family and glanced over their correspondence. I +will not affirm that some feeling of the sort did not cross Wyverne's +mind as he drove up the long dark avenue to Dene. He arrived so late +that almost every one had gone up to dress, so he was not surprised at +not finding Helen downstairs; it is possible that he was slightly +disappointed at not encountering her somewhere--by chance of course--in +gallery or corridor. When they met, just before dinner, Alan did fancy +that there was something constrained in his cousin's welcome, and +unusually grave in his aunt's greeting; but he had no suspicion that +anything was seriously amiss, till Helen whispered, as she passed him on +leaving the dining-room--"Come to the library as soon as you can. I am +going there now." You may guess if he kept her waiting long. + +Miss Vavasour was sitting in an arm-chair near the fire; her head was +bent low, leaning on her hand; even in the uncertain light you might see +the slender fingers working and trembling; there was a listless +despondency in her whole bearing, so different from its usual proud +elasticity, that a sharp conviction of something having gone fearfully +wrong, shot through Wyverne's heart, like the thrust of a dagger. His +lips had not touched even her forehead, yet, but he did not now attempt +a caress; he only laid his hand gently on her shoulder--so light a touch +need not have made her shiver--and whispered-- + +"What has vexed you, my own?" + +For all answer, she gave him the letter, that she held ready. + +He read it through by the light of the shaded lamp that stood near. +Helen watched his face all the while with a fearful, feverish anxiety; +it betrayed not the faintest shade of confusion or shame, but it grew +very grave and sad, and, at last, darkened, almost sternly. When he came +to the end he was still silent, and seemed to muse for a few seconds. +But she could bear suspense no longer. Yet there was no anger in the +sweet voice, it was only plaintive and pleading-- + +"Ah, Alan, do speak to me. Won't you say it is all untrue?" + +Wyverne roused himself from his reverie instantly; he drew nearer to his +cousin's side, and took her little trembling hand in his own, looking +down into her face--lovelier than ever in its pale, troubled +beauty--with an intense love and pity in his eyes. + +"The blow was cruelly meant, and craftily dealt," he said, "but they +shall not part us yet, if you are brave enough to believe me thoroughly +and implicitly, this once. I will never ask you to do so again. Yes, the +facts are true--don't draw your hand back--I would not hold it another +second if I could not say the inferences are as false as the Father of +lies could make them. A dozen words answer all the questions. I was with +Nina Lenox, in the Gardens; and yesterday afternoon I staid in town on +_her_ business, not on my own. There is the truth. The lie is--the +insinuation that I had any other interest at stake than serving a rash +unhappy woman in her hard need. That unfortunate is doomed to be fatal, +it seems, even to her friends--she has right few left now to ruin. +Darling, try to believe that neither she nor the world have ever had the +right to call _me_ by any other name." + +Mrs. Rawson Lenox was one of the celebrities of that time. Her face and +figure carried all before them, when she first came out; and even in the +first season they set her up as a sort of standard of beauty with which +others could only be compared in degrees of inferiority. She married +early and very unhappily. Her husband was a coarse, rough-tempered man, +and tried from the first to tyrannize over his wayward impetuous +wife--who had been spoilt from childhood upwards--just as he was wont to +do over the tenants of his broad acres, and his countless dependents. Of +course it did not answer. Years had passed since then, each one giving +more excuse to Nina Lenox for her wild ways and reckless disregard of +the proprieties; but--not excuse enough. Men fell in love with her +perpetually; but they did not come scathless out of the fire, like the +admirers of Maud Brabazon. The taint and smirch of the furnace-blast +remained; well if there were not angry scars, too, rankling and refusing +to be healed. Mothers and mothers-in-law shook their heads ominously at +the mention of Nina's name; the first, tracing the ruin of their +son--moral or financial--the last, the domestic discomfort of her +daughter, to those fatal lansquenet-parties and still more perilous +morning _tete-a-tetes_. + +Was it not hard to believe that a man, still short of his prime, and +notoriously epicurean in his philosophy, could be in the secret of the +sorceress without having drunk of her cup? That he could serve her as a +friend, in sincerity and innocence, without ever having descended to be +her accomplice? Yet this amount of faith or credulity--call it which you +will--Wyverne did not scruple to ask from Helen, then. + +It may not be denied that her heart seemed to contract, for an instant, +painfully, when her lover's lips pronounced so familiarly that terrible +name. But it shook off distrust before it could fasten there. She rose +up, with her hand in Alan's, and nestled close to his breast, and looked +up earnestly and lovingly into his eyes. + +"My own--my own still," she murmured, "I do believe you thoroughly, now, +even if you tell me not another word. But do be kind and prudent, and +don't try me again soon, it is so very hard to bear." + +"If I had only guessed--" + +That sentence was never finished, for reasons good and sufficient; such +delicious impediments to speech are unfortunately rather rare. The kiss +of forgiveness was sweeter in its lingering fondness, than that which +sealed the affiancement under the oak-trees of the Home Wood. + +"Sit here, child," Wyverne said, at last. "You shall hear all now." + +He sank down on a cushion at her feet, and so made his confession. Not a +disagreeable penance, either, when absolution is secured beforehand, and +a delicate hand wanders at times, with caressing encouragement, over the +penitent's brow and hair. + +It is quite unnecessary to give the explanation at length. Mrs. +Lenox had involved herself in all sorts of scrapes, of which +money-embarrassments were the least serious. Things had come to a +dangerous crisis. She had been foolish enough to borrow money of a man +whose character ought to have deterred her, and then to offend him +mortally. The creditor was base enough to threaten to use the weapons he +possessed, in the shape of letters and other documents, compromising +Nina fearfully. She heard that Wyverne was in town, and wrote to him to +help her in her great distress. She preferred trusting him, to others on +whom she had a real claim, because she knew him thoroughly; and if there +was no love-link between them, neither was there any remorse or +reproach. She was heart-sick of intrigue, for the moment, and would try +what a kind honest friend could do. It was true. Their intimacy had been +always innocent. These things are not to be accounted for; perhaps Alan +never cared to offer sacrifice at an altar on which incense from all +kingdoms of the earth was burned. Mr. Lenox's temper had become of late +so brutally savage, that Nina felt actual physical fear at the idea of +his hearing of her embarrassments. This was the reason why she had met +Wyverne clandestinely in the Botanical Gardens. Her husband was absent +the whole of the next day; so that she had received him at home. It was +a difficult and delicate business; but Alan carried it through. He got +the money first--not a very large sum--found out the creditor with some +trouble, and satisfied him, gaining possession of every dangerous +document. It was a stormy interview at first; but Wyverne was not easily +withstood when thoroughly in earnest; and his quiet, contemptuous +firmness fairly broke the other down. You may fancy Nina's gratitude: +indeed, up to a certain point, Alan had congratulated himself on having +wrought a work of mercy and charity without damage to any one. You have +seen how he was undeceived. He did not dissemble from Helen his +self-reproach at having been foolish enough to meddle in the matter at +all. + +"Some one must be sacrificed at such times," he said; "but, my darling, +it were better that all the _intrigantes_ in London should go to the +wall, than that you should have an hour's disquiet. Trust me, I'll see +to this for the future. I am sure Mrs. Lenox would not be a nice friend +for you; and it is better to cut off the connexion before you can be +brought in contact. One can afford to be frank when one has done a +person a real service. I'll write her a few lines--you can correct them, +if you like--to say that this affair has been made the subject of +anonymous letters; and that I cannot, for _your_ sake, risk more +misconstruction; so that our acquaintance must be of the slightest +henceforward." + +So peace was happily restored. We need not go into a minute description +of the "rejoicings" that ensued. One thought only puzzled and troubled +Alan exceedingly. + +"I can't conceive who can have written that letter," he said, "or got it +written. The hand of course proves nothing, nor the motive implied, +which is simply not worth noticing. It is just as likely the work of a +man's malevolence as of a woman's. Helen, I own frankly I would rather +it were the first than the last. But I thought I had not made an enemy +persevering enough to watch all my movements, or cruel enough to deal +that blow in the dark." + +It was evident that the shock to his genial system of belief in the +world in general affected him far more than the foiled intent of +personal injury. + +When Lady Mildred saw her daughter's face, as the latter re-entered the +drawing-room alone, she guessed at once the issue of the conference, and +knew that it would be useless now to cavil at an explanation which must +have been absolutely satisfactory. She was not in the least +disappointed; indeed, the most she had expected from this first shock to +Helen's confidence was a slight loosening of the foundations. From the +first moment of reading the anonymous letter, she detected fraud and +misrepresentation; and argued that the Truth would this time prevail. +So, when Alan had audience of her in her boudoir late that evening, he +found no difficulty in making his cause good. "My lady" did just refer +to something she had said on a former occasion, and quite coincided in +Wyverne's idea, that this was one of the dangerous acquaintances that it +was imperative for him to give up: indeed, she was very explicit and +decided on this point. Otherwise, she was everything that was kind and +conciliatory; and really said less about the imprudence in meddling with +such an affair at all, than could have been expected from the most +indulgent of aunts or mothers. Just before he left the boudoir, Alan +read the letter through that "my lady" had given him--he had scarcely +glanced at it before. When he gave it back his face had perceptibly +lightened, though his lip was curling scornfully. + +"I'm so glad you showed me that pleasant letter, Aunt Mildred," he said. +"My mind is quite easy now as to the sex of the informer. No woman, I +dare swear, to whom I ever spoke words of more than common courtesy +could have written such words as those. Perhaps I may find out his name +some day, and thank him for the trouble he has taken." + +Lady Mildred did not feel exactly comfortable just then. She would have +preferred the whole transaction being now left in as much obscurity as +possible. She knew how determined and obstinate the speaker could be +when he had real cause to be unforgiving. She knew that he was capable +of exacting the reckoning to the uttermost farthing, though the +settlement was ever so long delayed. On the whole, however, she was +satisfied with the aspect of affairs as they remained. She had good +reason to be so. Doubt and distrust may scorn to vanish; but they +generally leave behind them a slow, subtle, poisonous influence, that +the purest and strongest faith may not defy. Of all diseases, those are +the most dangerous, which linger in the system when the cure is +pronounced to be perfect. + +I knew a man well who passed through the Crimean war untouched by steel +or shot, though he was ever in the front of the battle. Even the +terrible trench-work did not seem to affect him. He would come in, wet +but not weary, sleep in his damp tent contentedly, and rise up in his +might rejoicing. When, quite at the end of the war, he was attacked by +the fever, no one felt any serious alarm. We supposed that Kenneth +McAlpine could shake off any ordinary sickness as easily as Sampson did +the Philistine's gyves. In truth, he did appear to recover very +speedily; and, when he returned to England, seemed in his usual health +again. But soon he began to waste and pine away without any symptoms of +active disease. None of the doctors could reach the seat of the evil, or +even define its cause. It took some time to sap that colossal strength +fairly away; but month by month the doom came out more plainly on his +face, and the end has come at last. Poor Kenneth's grave will be as +green as the rest of them, next spring, when the grass begins to grow. + +Standing by the sepulchre of Faith, or Love, or Hope--if we dared look +back--we might find it hard to remember when and where the first seeds +of decay were sown, though we do not forget one pang of the last +miserable days that preceded the sharp death-agony. + + + + +CHAPTER XIV. + +THE LETTERS OF BELLEROPHON. + + +Wyverne's valedictory note to Mrs. Lenox, though kindly and courteous, +was brief and decisive enough to satisfy Helen perfectly. The answer +came in due course; there was no anger or even vexation in its tone, but +rather a sad humility--not at all what might have been expected from the +proud, passionate, reckless _lionne_, who kept her sauciest smile for +her bitterest foe, and scarcely ever indulged the dearest of her friends +with a sigh. A perpetual warfare was waged between that beautiful Free +Companion and all regular powers; though often worsted and forced, for +the moment, to give ground, she had never yet lost heart or shown sign +of submission; the poor little Amazonian target was sorely dinted, and +its gay blazonry nearly effaced, but the dauntless motto was still +legible as ever--_L'Empire c'est la guerre_. + +So for awhile there was peace at Dene, and yet, not perfect peace. Miss +Vavasour's state of mind was by no means satisfactory; though it seemed, +at the time, to recover perfectly from the sharp shock, it really never +regained its healthy elastic tone. Miserable misgivings, that could +hardly be called suspicions, would haunt her, though she tried hard not +to listen to their irritating whispers, and always hated herself +bitterly afterwards for her weakness. She thought how unwise it would be +to show herself jealous or exacting, yet she could hardly bear Alan to +be out of her sight, and when he was away, had no rest, even in her +dreams. Her unknown correspondent, in a nice cynical letter, +congratulated Helen on her good-nature and long-suffering, and hinted +that Mrs. Lenox had been heard to express her entire approval of Alan's +choice--"it would be very inconvenient, if there were bounds to the +future Lady Wyverne's credulity." She did not dare to confess to her +cousin that she had read such a letter through, and so only took her +mother into the secret. Lady Mildred testified a proper indignation at +the spitefulness and baseness of the writer, but showed plainly enough +that her own mind was by no means easy on the subject. All that day, and +all that week, Miss Vavasour's temper was more than uncertain, and +though no actual tempest broke, there was electricity enough in the +atmosphere to have furnished a dozen storms. "My Lady" had always +indulged her daughter, but she took to humouring and petting her now, +almost ostentatiously; the compassionate motive was so very evident, +that instead of soothing the high-spirited demoiselle, it chafed her, at +times, inexpressibly. + +The change did not escape Alan Wyverne. He felt a desolate conviction +that things were going wrong every way, but he was perfectly helpless, +simply because there was nothing tangible to grapple with; he did not +wish to call up evil spirits, merely to have the satisfaction of laying +them. Helen's penitence after any display of waywardness or wickedness +of temper was so charming, and the amends she contrived to make so very +delicious, that her cousin found it the easiest thing imaginable to +forgive; indeed, he would not have disliked that occasional petulance, +if he had not guessed at the hidden cause. The only one of the party who +failed to realize that anything had gone amiss, was the Squire; and +perhaps even his gay genial nature would scarcely have enabled him to +close his eyes to the altered state of things, if he had watched them +narrowly; but, having once given his adhesion frankly and freely, he +troubled himself little more about the course of the love-affair, +relying upon Alan's falling back on him as a reserve, if there occurred +serious difficulty or obstacle. The troubles threatening his house, were +quite enough to engross poor Hubert's attention just then. + +A few weeks after the events recorded in that last chapter, Wyverne came +down late, as was his wont. His letters were in their usual place on the +breakfast table: on the top of the pile lay one, face downwards, showing +with exasperating distinctness the fatal scarlet monogram. + +Seldom in the course of his life had Alan been so intensely provoked. He +felt angry with Nina Lenox for her folly and pertinacity--angry with the +person unknown, whose stupidity or malice had put the dangerous document +so obtrusively forward--angry, just a very little, with Helen, for +betraying, by her heightened colour and nervous manner, that she had +already detected the obnoxious letter--angrier than all with "my lady," +whose bright quiet eyes seemed to rest on him _judicially_, not caring +to dissemble her suspicion of his guilt. It is always unwise, of course, +to act on impulse, and of all impulses anger is supposed to be the most +irrational. Such folly was the more inexcusable in Wyverne, because his +power of self-command was quite exceptional; it only enabled him, now, +to preserve a perfect outward composure; he acted just as stupidly and +_viciously_ as if he had given way to a burst of passion. In the first +five seconds he had fully determined to burn that letter, unread--a most +sage resolve, certainly--the only pity was, that he could not bring +himself to execute his purpose there and then, or at all events confide +his intention to the parties most interested therein. But you must +understand that Alan--with all his chivalrous devotion to +womankind--held orthodox notions (so _we_ should say) as to the limits +of their powers, and by no means favoured any undue usurpation of the +Old Dominion; he held, for instance, that the contents of the post-bag, +unless voluntarily confided, should be kept as sacred from feminine +curiosity as the secrets of the Rosicrucians. In the present case, he +could hardly blame Helen for betraying consciousness of a fact that had +been, so to speak, "flashed" before her eyes; but he felt somehow as if +she ought to have ignored it. He would not make the smallest concession. +I have told you, how obstinate and unrelenting the frank, kindly nature +could at times become: the shadow of a great disaster was closing round +him fast, and his heart was hardened now, even as the heart was hardened +of that unhappy King, predestined to be a world's wonder, whom the +torments of nine plagues only confirmed in his fell purpose--"not to let +Israel go." + +He pushed all the letters aside with an impatient movement of his arm, +and thrust them into the pocket of his shooting-jacket before he left +the table, without opening one of them. All through breakfast he +persisted in talking carelessly on indifferent subjects, in spite of the +evident discomfort and nervousness of his cousin, and the reticence of +"my lady;" eventually he had to fall back on the Squire, who, ignorant +of this fresh cause of discord as he had been of the former one, was +open to any fair offer in the way of conversation. + +An hour or so later, as Wyverne was going down to his uncle's room (they +were to shoot some small outlying covers) he met Helen in the +picture-gallery. + +"I suppose you are aware that a letter came for me this morning from +Mrs. Lenox?" he said. + +There was no particular reason why Miss Vavasour should feel guilty, and +blush painfully, nevertheless she did both, as she answered him. + +"Yes, Alan, I could not help seeing it, you know, and--" + +He interrupted her, somewhat impatiently. + +"Of course you could not help it, child. You were bound to remark it, +where it lay. I suppose it was so fore-ordained by Fate, or some more +commonplace power. I know it worried you; but, indeed, it vexed me quite +as much. I have no idea what she wrote about, for I burnt the letter, +half an hour ago, without breaking the seal." + +Helen did not answer at once, and when she looked up, for the first time +in their lives her cousin read uncertainty in her eyes. His own face +grew dark and stern. + +"Ah, Helen, it cannot have come to this, yet--that you doubt me when I +state a simple fact." + +Her cheek had paled within the last few seconds, but it crimsoned now +for very shame. + +"No, no, Alan," she said impetuously, "I don't doubt you. I never do, +when I am myself; but sometimes I feel so changed--so wicked----" + +Wyverne would not let her go on; but the kiss which closed her lips +carried scarcely more of caress than did his voice, as he answered what +she meant to say. + +"My own, I guess it all. It is a hard battle when such as you and I have +to fight against principalities and powers. I fear we are not cool and +crafty enough to hold our own. God knows how it will all end--and when. +The sooner, perhaps the better for you. But if they would only let _you_ +alone, darling! It has been my fault from the first, and I ought to have +all the trouble and pain. But indeed, now, I have done my best. I burnt +the letter unread, and I have written six lines to tell Mrs. Lenox so. +Now, we won't speak of it any more just now. There can be no repetition +of _this_ annoyance, at all events. Will you tell Aunt Mildred what I +have done? _I_ had better not enter into the subject with her, that's +certain." + +Wyverne's perfect sincerity carried all before it, for the moment; when +he left her, Helen felt happier than she had done for days. Even had it +been otherwise, of course she would have made the best of it to her +mother. It is the woman's way, you know--at least till, with middle age, +wisdom has waxed and passionate affection has waned--if in anywise +maltreated by her lover, she will make her moan loudly enough to _him_, +but she will tax her little ingenuity to the utmost, to palliate that +same offence to her nearest and dearest friend. + +It was well that Helen's spirits were high, when she went to her +audience in the boudoir; certes she reaped small encouragement there. +Lady Mildred was by no means disposed to be enthusiastic or unreserved +in her trustfulness, and, indeed, hinted her doubts and fears and +general disapprobation, much more plainly than she had hitherto done. +She believed Alan _now_, of course, but she could not help thinking that +the relations between him and Mrs. Lenox must have been far more +intimate than she had had any idea of. It would have been much more +satisfactory if he could have opened the letter and shown it to Helen. +So he had written to say what he had done? That was right, at all +events. (What made "my lady" smile so meaningly just then?) But every +day made her more fearful about the future. + +"I ought to have been firmer at first, darling," she murmured. + +The look of self-reproach was a study, and the penitential sigh rightly +executed to a breath. + +"It is not that I doubt Alan's meaning fairly; indeed, I believe he does +his best; but when a man has lived that wild life, old connexions are +very difficult to shake off; sometimes it is years before he is quite +free. You don't understand these things; but I do, my Helen, and I know +how you would suffer. You are not cold-blooded enough to be patient or +prudent. Even now, see how unhappy you have been at times lately. I was +very weak and very wrong." + +It is not worth while recording Helen's indignant disclaimer and eager +profession of faith, especially as neither in anywise disturbed or +affected the person to whom they were addressed. "My lady" kissed the +fair enthusiast, with intense fondness, but not in the least +sympathetically or impulsively, and went on with her scruples and +regrets and future intentions as if no interruption had occurred. There +ensued a certain amount of desultory discussion, warm only on one side, +it is needless to say. Lady Mildred did not actually bring maternal +authority to the front, but she was _very_ firm. At last it came to +this. "My lady" was understood to have taken up a fresh position, and +now to disapprove actively; but she consented to take no offensive step, +nor even to mention the changed state of her feelings to the Squire or +Alan Wyverne, till some fresh infraction of the existing treaty should +justify her in doing so. Then, the crisis was to be sharp and decisive. +This was all Helen could gain after much pleading, and perhaps it was as +much as could be expected. The Absent, who are always in the wrong, +don't often come off so well. + +The instant her daughter left her, Lady Mildred rang for her own maid, +and said a dozen words to the attentive Abigail; though they were alone +in the boudoir, she whispered them. All outward-bound letters at Dene +were placed in a certain box, which was kept locked till they were +transferred to the post-bag. The confidential _cameriste_ carried on her +watch-chain several keys, one of which fitted the letter-box with +curious exactness. It was not often used; but in the dusk of the evening +a small slight figure with a footfall soft and light as the velvet tread +of a cheetah, might have been seen (if she had not chosen her time so +well) flitting through the great hall, and tarrying for a few seconds in +that special corner. + +That day there were two letters burnt at Dene, both with their seals +unbroken. + +Though all was not bitter in her recollections of the last twenty-four +hours--those few minutes in the picture-gallery told heavily on the +right side--Miss Vavasour's state of mind, when she woke on the +following morning, was none of the pleasantest or calmest. Her mother's +overt opposition did not dismay or discourage her much; for, after the +grateful excitement of the first interview had passed away, she had +entertained in spite of herself certain misgivings as to the duration, +if not the genuineness of "my lady's" favour, or even neutrality. But +the demoiselle could not deny to herself--though she had denied it to +her mother--that the latter had spoken truly with regard to her own +present unhappiness, and wisely as to the perils of the future. Helen's +heart, brave as it was, sank within her as she thought of what it would +be if she were destined to experience for years the wearing alternations +of hope and fear, pleasure and pain, that had been her portion only for +a few weeks. She did believe in her cousin's good faith _almost_ +implicitly (there was a qualification now), but she did not feel sure +that he would always resist temptations; and even with her slight +knowledge of the world, she guessed that such might beset his path +dangerously often. New enemies to her peace might arise any day; and +Nina Lenox's pertinacity showed plainly enough how loth Alan's old +friends were to let him go free. Could _she_ wonder at their wishing to +keep him at all risks, so as at least to hear the sound of his voice +sometimes--she, who could never listen to it when softened to a whisper, +without a shiver and a tingle in her veins? + +"Nina!" + +As she uttered that word aloud, and fancied how he might have spoken it, +and might speak it again, black drops of bitterness welled up in the +girl's heart, poisoning all its frank and generous nature; she set her +little white teeth hard, and clenched her slender fingers involuntarily, +with a wicked vengeful passion. If wishes could kill, I fear Nina Lenox +would have been found next morning dead and cold. Helen had seen her +fancied rival once--at the great archery-meeting of the Midland +shires--and even her inexperience had appreciated the fascinations of +that dark dangerous beauty. She remembered, right well, how one man +after another drew near the low seat on which Mrs. Lenox leant back, +almost reclining, and how the lady never deigned to disturb her queenly +languor by an unnecessary look or word, till one of her especial friends +came up: she remembered how the pale statuesque face brightened and +softened then: how the rosy lips bestirred themselves to murmur quick +and low; and how from under the long heavy eyelashes glances stole out, +that Helen felt were eloquent, though she could not quite read their +meaning. She remembered watching all this, standing close by, and how +the thought had crossed her heart, How pleasant it must be to hold such +power. + +Do you suppose that, because Miss Vavasour did perhaps more than justice +to the charms of the woman she had lately learned to hate, she was +unconscious of her own, or modestly disposed to undervalue them? It was +not so. Helen was perfectly aware that she herself was rarely lovely and +unusually fascinating. If she had been cool enough to reason +dispassionately, she would probably have acknowledged that the +comparison might safely be defied. Both flowers were passing fair; but +on the one lingered still the dewy bloom and scented freshness of the +morning; the other, though delicate in hue and full of fragrance still, +bore tokens on her petals, crisped here and there and slightly faded, of +storm-showers and a fiery noon; nor, at her best could she ever have +matched her rival in brilliancy of beauty. + +But, supposing that Miss Vavasour had over-estimated herself and +under-estimated her enemy to such a point as to imagine any comparison +absurd, do you imagine it would have lightened one whit her trouble, or +softened her bitterness of heart? I think not. + +Feminine jealousy is not to be judged by the standard of ordinary +ethics; you must measure it by the "Lesbian rule," if at all, and will +probably, even so, be wrong in your result. Not only is the field more +vast, its phases more varied, but it differs surely in many essentials +from the same passion in our sex. Don't be alarmed; I have no intention +of writing an essay on so tremendous a subject. The pen of Libyan steel, +that the old chroniclers talk about, would be worn down before it was +exhausted. Take one distinction as an example. I suppose it is because +we have more of conceit, pure and simple; but when we once thoroughly +establish the fact, that the man preferred before us is really and truly +our inferior in every way, it helps materially to soften the +disappointment. Comfortable self-complacency disposes us to be +charitable, compassionate, and forgiving; we try (not unsuccessfully) to +think, that the bad taste displayed by the Object is rather her +misfortune than her fault; nor do we nourish enduring malice even to him +who bears away the bride. Remember the story of Sir Gawaine. When the +huge black-browed carle would have reft from him his dame by force, he +bound himself to do battle to the death; but when the lady had once made +her choice, the Knight of the Golden Tongue thought no more of strife, +but rode on his way, resigned if not rejoicing. With our sisters it is +not so. Let a woman realize ever so completely the inferiority of her +rival,--moral, physical, and social--it will not remove one of her +suspicious fears, nor dull the sting of discomfiture when it comes, nor +teach forgetfulness of the bitter injury in after days. + +When wild Kate Goring created universal scandal and some surprise by +eloping with that hirsute riding-master, Cecil Hamersley was intensely +disgusted at first, but did not nurse his griefs nor his wrath long; +when the unlucky couple came to the grief which was inevitable, Kate's +jilted lover pitied them from the bottom of his great honest heart, and +seemed to think it the most natural thing in the world, that he should +help them to the utmost of his power. It was entirely through Cecil, +that Mr. Martingale was enabled to start in the horse-dealing business, +which he has conducted with average honesty and fair success ever since. + +Take a converse example. Ivor Montressor, for the last year or more, has +been laying his homage at the feet of Lady Blanche Pendragon, and it has +been accepted, not ungraciously; at the end of last season, it was +understood that it was nearly a settled thing. But the wooer has not +displayed intense eagerness since in pressing on the preliminaries. +There is a certain Annie Fern, whose duty it is to braid the somewhat +scanty gold of Lady Blanche's tresses--the most captivating little witch +imaginable, with the most provoking of smiles, that contrasts charmingly +with her long, pensive, dark-grey Lancashire eyes. She is prettier a +thousand-fold, and pleasanter, and really better educated, than the +tall, frigid, indolent descendant of King Uther, whom she has the honour +to serve; but that is no excuse, of course, for Ivor's infatuation. A +dreadful whisper has got abroad, of late, that he admires the maid above +the mistress. Lady Blanche is supposed to be not unconscious of all +this; but, if she guessed it, she would not deign to notice it in any +way, or even to discharge her fatally attractive handmaid. Let us hope +that the vagrant knight will be recalled to a sense of his duty, and, +remembering that he is a suitor nearly accepted, "act as such." However +it may turn out, let us hope, for Annie's sake (she has been absolutely +innocent of intriguing throughout), that it will never happen to her "to +be brought low even to the ground, and her honour laid in the dust;"--in +such a case, I know _who_ will be the first to set the heel of her +slender brodequin on the poor child's neck, and keep it there, too. + +No; that conscious superiority does not help them at all. As it is now, +so it was in the ancient days. Did it much avail Calypso, that in her +realm there was wealth of earth's fairest fruits and flowers, while in +Ithaca it was barren all--that ages passed over her own divine beauty, +leaving no furrow on her brow, no line of silver in her hair, while with +every year the colour faded from the cheek, and the fire dried out of +the eyes of her mortal rival--if her guest still persisted in repining? +Be sure she never felt more wretched and hapless than when, wreathing +her swan's neck haughtily, she spoke those words of scorn: + + [Greek: Ou men then keines ge chereion euchomai einai, + Ou demas, oude phyen, epei ou pos oude eoiken + Onetas athanatesi demas kai eidos erizein.] + +O gentle Goddess! would your kindly heart have been most pained or +pleased, if you could have guessed how ample was the final retribution? +You never knew how often--wearied by petty public broils, worried by +Penelope's shrill shrewish tongue, overborne by the staid platitudes of +the prim, respectable Telemachus--your ancient lover strode over bleak +rocks and gusty sand-hills, till his feet were dipped in the seething +foam, and he stood straining his eyes seaward, and drinking in the wind +that he fancied blew from Ogygia--the island to which no prow of mortal +ever found the backward track. You never knew how often his thoughts +rushed back, with a desperate longing and vain regret, to the great +cave shrouded by the vine heavy with clusters of eternal grapes, deep in +the greenwood where the wild birds loved to roost, girdled by the +meadows thick with violets--where cedar and frankincense burned brightly +on the hearth, making the air heavy with fragrance--where the wine, that +whoso drank became immortal, mantled ever in unstinted goblets--where +you bent over your golden shuttle, singing a low sweet song--where your +dark divine eyes never wearied in their welcome. + +I have always thought that, of all men alive or dead, of all characters +in fact or fiction, Odysseus, in his declining years, must have been the +most intensely bored. But then, you know, though passing wise in his +generation, he was wholly a pagan and half a barbarian. Far be it from +me to insinuate, that any Christian and civilized Wanderer, when once +reinstated in his domestic comforts, ever wastes a regret on a lost love +beyond the sea. + + + + +CHAPTER XV. + +PAVIA. + + +It is said, that when a man is struck blind by lightning, he never +forgets afterwards the minutest object on which his eyes rested when the +searing flash shot across them. Even so, when the crash of the great +misfortune is over, and we wake from dull, heavy insensibility to find +the light gone out of our life for ever, we remember with unnatural +distinctness the most trivial incidents of the last hours of sunshine; +we actually seem to see them over again sometimes, as we grope our way, +hopelessly and helplessly, through the darkness that will endure till it +is changed into night; for it may be, that from our spirit's eyes the +blinding veil will never be lifted, till they unclose in the dawn of the +Resurrection. + +Both the cousins had good cause to treasure in their memories every word +and gesture that passed between them on one particular evening; for it +was the last--the very last--of pure, unalloyed happiness that either of +them ever knew. Years afterwards, Wyverne could have told you to a shade +the colour of the ribbons on Helen's dress, the fashion of the bracelets +on each of her wrists, the scent of the flowers she wore. She, too, +remembered right well his attitude when they parted; she could have set +her foot on the very square of marble on which his was planted; she +could recall the exact intonation of his gentle voice, as he bade her +farewell on the lowest step of the great staircase, for he was to start +very early the next morning. She remembered, too, how that night she +lingered before a tall pier-glass, passing her hands indolently through +her magnificent hair, while the light fell capriciously on the dark +shining masses, rejoicing in the contemplation of her surpassing +loveliness; she remembered how she smiled at her image in saucy triumph, +as the thought rose in her heart--that Nina Lenox's mirror held no +picture like this. + +Ah, Helen, better it were the glass had been broken then; it may show +you, in after years, a face disdainful of its own marvellous beauty, or +tranquil in its superb indifference, according to your varying mood; but +a happy one--never any more. + +The Squire had to go to town for a few days, and Alan, who had also +business there, accompanied him. They were to be back for +Christmas-day--the last in that week. Wyverne got through his affairs +quicker than he had anticipated, so he determined to return a day +sooner, without waiting for his uncle. His evil Genius was close to his +shoulder even here; for, if Hubert Vavasour had been present, it is just +possible, though not probable, that things might have gone differently. + +Alan started by an early train, so that he arrived at Dene soon after +midday. Perhaps it was fancy, but he thought that the face of the Chief +Butler wore rather a curious and troubled expression; if it were +possible for that sublimely vacuous countenance to betray any human +emotion, something like a compassionate interest seemed to ruffle its +serenity. The letters of expected visitors were always placed on a +particular table in the great hall. Again--on the top of the pile +waiting for Alan, lay one in the well-known handwriting of Nina Lenox. +This time it was placed naturally, with the seal downwards. + +The first, the very first imprecation that had ever crossed Wyverne's +lips in connexion with womankind, passed them audibly, when his eye +lighted on the fatal envelope. He knew right well that it held the +death-warrant of his love; but even now the curse was not levelled at +the authoress of his trouble, but at his own evil fortune. As he took up +the letters, he asked, half mechanically, where his aunt and cousin +were. The answer was ominous: + +"My lady was exceedingly unwell, and confined to her room. Miss Vavasour +was somewhere in the Pleasance, but she wished to be sent for as soon as +Sir Alan arrived." He had written the night before, to say he was +coming. + +Wyverne walked on into the library without another word. For the moment +he felt stupid and helpless, like a man just waking after an overdose of +narcotics. He sat down, and began turning the letter over and over as if +he were trying to guess at its contents. From its thickness it was +evidently a long one--two or three note-sheets at least. A very few +minutes, however, brought back his self-composure entirely, and he knew +what he had to do. It was clear the letter could not be burnt unopened, +this time. He drew his breath hard once, and set his teeth savagely; +then he tore the envelope and began to read deliberately. + +Alan once said, when he happened to be discussing feminine ethics--"I +can conceive women affecting one with any amount of pain or pleasure; +but I don't think anything they could do would ever _surprise_ me." Rash +words those--perhaps they deserved confutation; at any rate the speaker +was thoroughly astounded now. He knew that no look or syllable had ever +passed between himself and Nina Lenox that could be tortured into +serious love-making; yet this letter of hers was precisely such as might +have been written by a passionate, sinful woman, to the man for whom she +had sacrificed enough to make her desertion almost a second crime. There +was nothing of romance in it--nothing that the most indulgent judge +could construe into Platonic affection--it was miserably _practical_ +from end to end. No woman alive, reading such words addressed to her +husband or her lover, could have doubted, for a second, what his +relations with the writer had been, even if they were ended now. +Griselda herself would have risen in revolt. It is needless to give even +the heads of that delectable epistle. Mrs. Lenox acknowledged that she +wrote in despite of Alan's repeated prohibition; but--_c'etait plus fort +qu'elle_, and all the rest of it. One point she especially insisted on. +However _he_ might scorn her, surely he would not give _others_ the +right to do so? He would burn the letter, she knew he would, without +speaking of it, far less showing it to any human being; she suffered +enough, without having her miserable weakness betrayed for the amusement +of Miss Vavasour. + +Every line that Alan read increased his bewilderment. Was it possible +that dissipation, and trouble, and intrigue had told at last on the busy +brain, so that it had utterly given way? Such things had been; there was +certainly something strange and unnatural in the character of the +writing, sometimes hurried till the words ran into each other, sometimes +laboured and constrained as if penned by a hand that hesitated and +faltered. He knew that Nina was rash beyond rashness, and would indulge +her sudden caprices at any cost, without reckoning the sin or even the +shame, but he could not believe in such a wild _velleite_ as this. + +"She must be mad." + +Wyverne spoke those words aloud; they were answered by a sigh, or +rather a quick catching of the breath, close to his shoulder; he started +to his feet, and stood face to face with Helen Vavasour, who had entered +unobserved while he sat in his deep reverie. + +Helen was still in her walking-dress; a fall of lace slightly shaded her +brow and cheeks, but it could not dissemble the bright feverish flush +that made the white pallor of all the lower part of the face more +painfully apparent; the pupils of her great eyes were contracted, and +they glittered with the strange _serpentine_ light which is one of the +evidences of poison by belladonna; but neither cheeks nor eyes bore +trace of a tear. She had schooled herself to speak quite deliberately +and calmly; the effect was apparent, not only in the careful +accentuation of each syllable, but in her voice--neither harsh nor +hollow, yet utterly changed. + +"Mad, Alan? Yes, we have all been mad. It is time that this should come +to an end. You think, so, too, I am sure." + +Wyverne had known, from the first moment that he saw the letter, how it +would fare with him; but the bitter irritation which had hardened his +heart on a former occasion was not there now; he could not even be angry +with those who had brought him to this pass; all other feelings were +swallowed up in an intense, half-unselfish sorrow. + +"Dear child, it _is_ more than time that you should be set free from me +and my miserable fortunes. We will drift away, alone, henceforth, as we +ought always to have done. It was simply a sin, ever to have risked +dragging you down with the wreck; it must founder soon. Ah, remember, I +said so once, and you--never mind that--I'll make what amends I can; but +I have done fearful harm already. Three months more of this, would wear +you out in mind and body; even now they will tell in your life like +years. We most part now. Darling, try to forget, and to forgive, +too--for you have much to forgive." + +He stopped for a moment, but went on quickly, answering the wild, +haggard question of her startled eyes; she had understood those last +words wrongly. + +"No--not that;" he struck the letter he still held, impatiently, with a +finger of the other hand. "I told you once, I would never ask you to +believe me again as you did then. I don't ask you to act as if you +believed, now. But, Helen, you will know one day before we die, whether +I have been sinned against or sinning in this thing; I feel sure of it, +or--I should doubt the justice of God." + +The soft, sad voice quite broke down the calmness it had cost Helen so +much to assume; she could not listen longer, and broke in with all her +own impetuosity-- + +"Ah, Alan! don't ask it; it is not right of you. You know I _must_ +believe whatever you tell me, and I dare not--do you hear--I dare not, +now. It is too late. I have promised--" and she stopped, shivering. + +Wyverne's look was keen and searching; but it was not at _her_ that his +brows were bent. He took the little trembling hand in his own, and tried +to quiet the leaping pulses, and his tones were more soothing than ever. + +"I know it all, darling; I know how bravely you have tried to keep your +faith with me; I shall thank you for it to my life's end, not the less +because neither you nor I were strong enough to fight against fate, +and--Aunt Mildred. I cannot blame her: if I could, _you_ should not hear +me. She was right to make you promise before you came here. It was +unconditionally, of course?" + +The girl's cheek flushed painfully. + +"There was a condition," she murmured under her breath; "but I hardly +dare. Yes; I dare say anything--to you. Mamma sent for me when that +letter came, or I should never have heard of it. She did not say how +_she_ knew. You cannot think how determined she is. I _was_ angry at +first; but when I saw how hard she was, I was frightened; and, Alan, +indeed, indeed I did all I could to soften her. At last she said that +she would not insist on my giving you up, if--if you would show me that +letter. Ah, Alan--what have _I_ done?" + +He had dropped her hand before she ended, and stood looking at her with +an expression that she had never dreamt could dwell in his +eyes--repellant to the last degree, too cold and contemptuous for anger. +It softened, though, in a second or two at the sight of Helen's +distress. + +"Did you doubt what my answer would be? I am very sure your mother never +doubted: she knew me better." + +No answer; but she bowed her beautiful head till it could rest on his +arm; a stormy sob or two made her slender frame quiver down to the feet; +and then, with a rush like that of Undine's unlocked well, the pent-up +tears came. The passion-gust soon passed away; and her cousin kept +silence till Helen was calm again; then he spoke very gently and +gravely. + +"Do forgive me; I did not mean to be harsh. You only gave your message, +I know; but it was like a stab to hear your lips utter it. Child, look +up at me, and listen. I need not tell you I am speaking God's truth--you +feel it. You know what I have done to stop these accursed letters. I +believe the writer to be mad; but that will not help us. I think I would +stand by and see her burned at the stake, as better women have been +before her, if by that sacrifice I could keep your love. But--if I knew, +that by this one act I could make you my very own, so that nothing but +the grave could part us--I would not show you a line of her letter. It +may be, that there are higher duties which justify the betrayal of an +unhappy woman, when her very confidence is a sin. I dare say I am wrong +in my notions of honour, as well as in other things; but, such as they +are, I'll stand by them to the death, and--to what I think must be +harder to bear than death. I don't hesitate, because I have no choice. I +know that I am casting, this moment, my life's happiness away: +Helen--see--my hand does not tremble." + +He tossed the letter as he spoke into the wood fire blazing beside them; +it dropped between two red logs, and, just flashing up for a second, +mingled with the heap of ashes. + +Now, Wyverne's conduct will appear to many absurdly Quixotic, and some +will think it deserves a harsher name than folly. I decline to argue +either point. It seems to me--when one states fairly at the beginning of +a story, "that it has no Hero"--the writer is by no means called upon to +identify himself with the sentiments of his principal character, much +less to defend them. I have not intended to hold up Alan Wyverne either +as a model or a warning. He stands there for what he is worth--a man not +particularly wise or virtuous or immaculate, but frank and affectionate +by nature, with firmness enough to enable him to act consistently +according to the light given him. Whether that light was a false one or +no, is a question that each particular reader may settle _a son gre_. +Purely on the grounds of probability, I would suggest that others have +sacrificed quite as much for scruples quite as visionary. Putting aside +the legions of lives that have been thrown away on doubtful points of +social professional honour, have not staid and grave men submitted to +the extremes of penury, peril, and persecution, because they would not +give up some favourite theory involving no question of moral right or +wrong? The _Peine forte et dure_ could scarcely have been an agreeable +process; yet a Jesuit chose to endure it, and died under the iron press, +rather than plead before what he held to be an incompetent tribunal. You +constantly say of such cases, "One can't help respecting the man, to a +certain extent." Now, I don't ask you to respect Alan Wyverne: it is +enough, if you admit that his folly was not without parallels. + +Among those who could blame or despise him, Helen Vavasour was not +numbered: she never felt more proud of her lover than at that moment +when his own act had parted them irrevocably. She was not of the +"weeping willow" order, you know; the tears still hanging on her +eyelashes were the first she had shed since childhood in serious sorrow. +Quick and impetuous enough in temper, she was so unaccustomed to indulge +any violent demonstration of feeling, that she felt somewhat ashamed of +having yielded to it now. But the brief outbreak did her good; it +lightened her brain and brought back elasticity to her nerves. There is +nothing like a storm for clearing the atmosphere. Nevertheless, the +haughty, bold spirit was for the moment thoroughly beaten down. There +was something in her accent piteous beyond the power of words to +describe, as she whispered half to herself, + +"Yes, we must part; but it is too, too hard." + +"Hardest of all," he said, "to part on a pretext like this. There is +either madness or magic, or black treachery against me, I swear. Some +day we shall know. But, darling, sooner or later it must have come. I +have felt that for weeks past, though I tried hard to delude myself. I +must say good-bye to Dene in an hour. When shall I see the dear old +house again? I am so sorry for Uncle Hubert, too. If he had been +here--no, perhaps it is best so--there would have been more wounded, and +we could never have won the day." + +"Don't go yet; ah, not yet"--the sweet voice pleaded--all its dangerous +melody had stolen back to it now, and lithe fingers twined themselves +round Alan's, as though they would never set him free. + +But Wyverne was aware that the self-control which had carried him +through so far, was nearly exhausted. He had to think for _both_, you +see; and it was the more trying, because the part of Moderator was so +utterly new to him; nevertheless, he played it honestly and bravely. + +"I dare not stay. I _must_ see Uncle Hubert before I sleep; and it is +only barely possible, if I leave Dene in half an hour. Listen, my Helen: +I am not saying good-bye to _you_, though I say it to our past. I lose +my wife; but I do not intend to lose my cousin. I will see you again as +soon as I can do so safely. A great black wall is built up now, between +the future, and all that we two have said and done: I will never try to +pass it again by thought or word. You will forget all this. Hush, dear. +You think it impossible at this moment, but _I_ know better. You will +play a grand part in the world one of these days, and perhaps you may +want a friend--a real friend. Then you shall think of me. I will help +you with heart and hand as long as life lasts; and I will do so in all +truth and honour--as I hope to meet my dead mother, and Gracie, and you, +in heaven." + +She did not answer in words. The interview lasted about a hundred +seconds longer, but I do not feel called upon to chronicle the last +details. Writers, as well as narrators, have a right to certain +reserves. + +Alan Wyverne was away from Dene before the half hour was out; but he +left a sealed note behind him for his aunt. "My lady" was waiting the +issue somewhat anxiously; it is needless to say, her health was the +merest pretext. She read the note through, calmly enough; but, when she +opened her escritoire to lock it up safely, her hands shook like +aspen-leaves, and she drank off eagerly the strongest dose of "red +lavender" that had passed her lips for many a day. + +Does not that decisive interview seem absurdly abrupt and brief? It is +true that I have purposely omitted many insignificant words and +gestures; but if all these had been chronicled, it would still have been +disappointingly matter-of-fact and meagre. + +Nevertheless--believe it--to build up a life's happiness is a work of +time and labour, aided by great good fortune: to ruin and shatter it +utterly is a question of a short half hour, even where no ill luck +intervenes. It took months of toil to build the good ship Hesperus, +though her timbers were seasoned and ready to hand; it took hours of +trouble to launch her when thoroughly equipped for sea; but it took only +a few minutes of wave-and-wind-play, to shiver her into splinters, when +her keel crushed down on the reef of Norman's Woe. + + + + +CHAPTER XVI. + +MISANTHROPOS. + + +On the morning after the most disastrous of all his bad nights at +hazard, Charles Fox was found by a friend who called, in fear and +trembling, to offer assistance or condolence, lying on his sofa in lazy +luxury, deep in an eclogue of Virgil. The magnificent indifference was +probably not assumed, for there was little tinsel about that large +honest nature, and he was not the man to indulge in private theatricals. +Since I read that anecdote, I have always wondered that the successes +achieved by the great Opposition leader were not more lasting and +complete. Among the triumphs of mind over matter, that power of +thoroughly abstracting the thoughts from recent grief or trouble, seems +to stand first and foremost. Such sublime stoicism implies a strength of +character and of will, that separates its possessor at once from his +fellows: sooner or later, He must rule, and they must obey. + +Alan Wyverne was not so rarely gifted. The bustle of the heavy journey +from Dene to the railroad, and the uncertainty about catching the train, +helped him at first; but when all that was over, and he was fairly on +his way to town, he was forced to _think_, whether he would or no. +Anything was better than brooding over the past; he tried desperately to +force his thoughts into the immediate future--to imagine what he should +say to his uncle, and how the Squire would take the heavy tidings. The +effort was worse than vain. The strong stream laughed at the puny +attempts to stem it, sweeping all such obstacles away, as it rushed down +its appointed channel. All the plans he had talked over with Helen, even +to the smallest details of their proposed domestic economy, came back +one by one; he remembered every word of their last playful argument, +when he tried to persuade her that certain luxuries for her boudoir at +Wyverne Abbey were necessities not to be dispensed with; he remembered +how they had speculated as to the disposal of the money, if his solitary +bet on the next Derby, 1000 to 10 about a rising favourite--should by +any chance come off right; how they had weighed gravely the advantages +of three months of winter in Italy against the pleasures of an +adventurous expedition whose turning-point should be the Lebanon. What +did it matter now who won or lost? Was it only yesterday that he had an +interest in all these things? Yesterday--between him and that word there +seemed already a gulf of years. Yesterday, he had felt so proud in +anticipating the triumphs of his beautiful bride; now, he could only +think of her certain success with a heavy sinking of the heart, or a hot +fierce jealousy; for she was all his own treasure then; one night had +made her the world's again. That miserable journey scarcely lasted four +hours; but when it ended, Wyverne was as much morally changed as he +might have been, physically, by a long wasting sickness. + +Does it seem strange that a man, who up to this time had met all +reverses with a careless gaiety that was almost provoking, should go +down so helplessly now before a blow that would scarcely stagger many of +our acquaintance? A great deal, in such cases, depends on the +antecedents. Human nature, however elastic and enduring, will only stand +a certain amount of "beating." When Captain Lyndon is in good luck and +good funds, he accepts the loss of a hundred or two with dignified +equanimity, if not with chirping cheerfulness; but supposing the bad +night comes at the end of a long evil "vein"--when financial prospects +are gloomier than the yellow fog outside--when the face of his banker is +set against him, as it were a millstone--when that reckless soldier + + Would liever mell with the fiends of hell, + Than with Craig's Court and its band. + +O, my friend! I marvel not that a muttered imprecation shot out from +under your moustache, last night, when the Queen of Hearts showed her +comely face--your adversaries having the deal, at three. + +Now Alan Wyverne had been playing for his last stake, so far as he knew: +he had put it down with some diffidence and hesitation, and it had +followed the rest into the gulf, leaving him without a chance of winning +back his losses. Under the circumstances some depression, surely, was +not wholly despicable. Remember, he was not so young as he had been: +though still on the better side of middle age, he had in many ways +anticipated his prime, and had not much left to look forward to. + + Qu'on est bien dans un grenier + Quand on a vingt ans! + +So sings Beranger, well, if not wisely. But--add another score of years +or so--what will the lodger say of his quarters? Those seven flights of +stairs are dark and steep; the bread is hard and tasteless; the wine +painfully sour and thin; the fuel runs short, and it is bitter cold, for +Lisette is no longer there to hang her cloak over the crazy casement, +laughing at the whistle of the baffled wind. + +Wyverne saw his uncle that night. The Squire was equally provoked and +grieved; the intelligence took him completely by surprise, for he had +never guessed that anything was going wrong; he would not allow at first +that the engagement was irrevocably broken off, and wished to try what +he could do to re-cement it; but Alan was so hopelessly firm on the +point that Hubert was forced to yield. He believed in his nephew +implicitly, and acquitted him of blame from first to last; but he was +completely puzzled by Mrs. Lenox's strange conduct; he only dropped the +subject when he saw how evidently it pained Alan to pursue it. + +"I shall not write, even to reproach her," the latter said. "I am too +heart-sick of her and her caprices. I suppose she will explain herself +if we ever meet, and I have patience to listen." + +When they parted, the Squire clasped Wyverne's hand hard, looking +wistfully into his face. + +"I--I did my best, boy," he said, huskily. + +The old genial light came back for an instant, only an instant, into the +other's weary eyes, and he returned the gripe right cordially. + +"Do you think I don't know that?" he answered; "or that I shall ever +forget it? We all did our best; but Aunt Mildred has her way, after all. +Take care of Helen; she will need it. And if you would write soon to +tell me the truth about her, it would be so very kind." + +The next morning Alan started for the North, alone. If the +Christmas-tide was dreary at Wyverne Abbey, it was not a "merry" one at +Dene. The Squire did not seek to disguise his discontent, though he said +little on the subject of the broken engagement, either to his wife or +Helen. There was a gloomy reserve in his manner towards the former, that +showed that he more than suspected her of unfair play; to the latter he +was unusually gentle and considerate. Miss Vavasour bore up bravely. No +one looking at the girl's pale proud face would have dreamt of the dull, +heavy pain coiled round her heart, like the serpent round Don Roderic in +the tomb. She accepted her father's caresses gratefully, and her +mother's with placid indifference. No words of recrimination had passed +between these two; but there is an instinct of distrust as well as of +love or fear; the last few days had slain sympathy outright, and even +the tough sensibility of the cool diplomatist was not always unmoved as +she realized the utter estrangement. So even "my lady," though the game +was won, did not feel in vein for the festivities of the season. Her +conscience had long ceased to trouble her, when it was a question of +expediency; she compassionated the sorrows of her misguided daughter +about as much as a great surgeon does the sufferings of a patient who +has just passed under his knife; but she was not quite philosopher +enough, wholly to disbelieve in Retribution. Her dreams of a brilliant +future for Helen were sometimes disturbed by a vision of sad earnest +eyes, pleading only that truth might be met by truth--she had answered +their appeal so well! + +It was an odd sort of life that Wyverne led at the Abbey. He took to +shooting over his broad manors, with a dogged determination that +rejoiced the hearts of his keepers and tenants and every one interested +in the preservation of his game. He went out always early in the +morning, and never returned till darkness set in; then he slept for a +couple of hours, dined late, and sat smoking and musing far into the +night. But it did him good in every way: the strong exercise and the +keen north-country air stirred up the iron in his blood, and braced his +nerves as well as his sinews. I believe that permanent melancholy +implies a morbid condition, not only of the mind but the body. I +believe--be it understood this is only a theory, so far--that a man will +not _mope_ in the Queen's Bench, though he may hate himself +occasionally, and find the position irksome, if he sticks to cold water +and rackets. The genial hopefulness which had resisted so many rude +shocks, was dead in Alan for ever and aye; but it was not in his nature +to become sullen and saturnine; he rejoiced simply and sincerely when +his uncle's letter brought good news of Helen; he was not selfish enough +to quarrel with his lost love because her wreath was not always +ostentatiously twined of the willow. Some men are never satisfied unless +they leave more than half the misery behind them. + +Wyverne had been at the Abbey about a month, when he got a letter which +surprised him not a little. Mr. Haldane wrote, to beg his nephew to +visit him, for a single night, and pressed it on the ground that his +health was failing. + +Castle Dacre was situated far up in the hills, thirty miles or so from +the Abbey. They had nicknamed it "Castle Dangerous" through the +country-side, for the roads all round it were so infamous as to be +sometimes impassable. Very few, of late years, had found it worth their +while to encounter such perils. It was a huge dreary pile--a tall grey +keep in the centre, dating back to the time of the Danes: round this +long low ranges of more modern buildings were grouped, all in the same +pale gaunt granite. The trees clustering about the castle in clumps, and +thickly studded over the bleak park, hardly took away from the bare +desolate effect; some of them were vast in the trunk and broad in the +top, but it seemed as if the bitter north wind had checked their growth, +though it could not waste their strength. You shivered involuntarily +when you looked at the house from the outside; the contrast was the more +striking when you entered. The whole of the interior was almost +oppressively light and warm; great fires blazed in huge grates in the +most unexpected corners, and bright lamps burned in the remotest nooks +of passage, and hall, and corridor. A Belgravian establishment might +have been maintained for a whole season at the cost of the coals and oil +consumed in Dacre Castle; but such was the whim of its eccentric and +autocratic master. + +Alan Wyverne arrived very late, and did not see his uncle till they met +at dinner. Mr. Haldane must always have been small and slight of frame; +he was thin, now, to emaciation; there was not a particle of colour in +the face or the delicate hands; the articulations in the last were so +strongly marked as almost to spoil the perfection of their shape. His +features might have been handsome once, and not disagreeable in their +expression, but evil tempers and physical suffering had left ruinous +traces there; the thin lips had forgotten how to smile, though they were +meaning enough when they curled sardonically; he had a curious way of +perpetually drawing himself together, as if struck with a sudden chill. + +He was just the sort of man you would have set down as a great judge of +pictures and collector of curiosities. So it was. The whole house was +overflowing with the choicest productions of nature and art, gathered +from every quarter of the known world. A long gallery was completely +filled with the rarest specimens of china that the last three centuries +could display. Some of our connoisseurs would have sold their souls for +the plundering of that one chamber. + +The dinner was simply perfection. You might have feasted for a whole +season at half the best houses in London, and have missed the artistic +effects which awaited you in that lonely castle of the far North. The +wines of every sort were things to dream of. Mr. Haldane drank nothing +but Burgundy. Even Alan Wyverne, accustomed as he was to witness deep +wassail, felt wonder approaching to fear, as he saw his host drain glass +after glass of the strong rich liquor without betraying a sign of its +influence, either by the faintest flush on his thin parchment cheek, or +a change of inflection in his low monotonous voice. It seemed as if he +were trying to infuse some warmth into his veins, in defiance of a curse +laid upon him--to remain frozen and statuelike forever. + +While dinner lasted, the conversation went languishing on, never coming +to a full stop, but never in the least animated. It was evident that the +thoughts of both often wandered far away from the subject they were +talking of. At last they drew their great arm-chairs up to the fire, one +on each side of the horse-shoe table, with a perfect barricade of glass +between them in the shape of decanters and claret-jugs. For the first +ten minutes after they were left alone the host kept silence, leaning +forward and spreading his hands over the fierce fire; they were so thin +and white that the light seemed to pass through them as it does through +transparent china. He raised his head suddenly and glanced aside at his +companion, who was evidently musing, with an expression half +inquisitive, half satirical, in his keen grey eyes. + +"So everything is at an end between you and Helen Vavasour. I am very +glad of it, and not the least surprised." + +It is never pleasant to have one's reveries abruptly broken; the nerves +are _agaces_, if nothing worse. Besides this, both words and manner +grated on Alan's sensibilities disagreeably. He did not fancy those thin +cynical lips pronouncing that name with such scant ceremony; so his tone +was anything but conciliatory. + +"Thank you. I don't seem to care much about being congratulated, or +condoled with, either; and I cannot conceive what interest the subject +can have for you. You ignored it pretty decisively some months ago. +Perhaps you will be good enough to do so now." + +The look on his face, that had been simply listless before, grew hard +and defiant while he was speaking. If Bernard Haldane was inclined to +take offence, he certainly controlled his temper wonderfully. He filled +a great glass to the brim with Chambertin, held it for a minute against +the blaze, letting the light filter through the gorgeous purple, and +drained it slowly before he replied-- + +"I am not surprised at your engagement being broken off, because I know +right well with whom you had to deal. I am glad, because I have always +taken an interest in you, Alan. You don't believe it; but it is true +nevertheless; and I do so still. I would sooner see a man I cared for +dead, than married to Mildred Vavasour's daughter." + +Wyverne's anger ceased, as soon as he saw that the old man had some +reason, real or fancied, for his strange conduct; but he spoke coldly +still. + +"Strong words, sir. I suppose you have strong provocation to justify +them?" + +Bernard Haldane drew a folded letter from his breast-pocket, and put it +into the other's hand, silently. The paper was yellow with age, the ink +faint and faded; but Alan knew the handwriting instantly. His +astonishment deepened as he read on. Was it possible that his cool, +calculating, diplomatic aunt could have penned such words as +these--words in which passion seemed to live and vibrate still, untamed +by passage through thirty years? + +Mr. Haldane drained two glasses in rapid succession while the letter was +reading. There was no thickness or hesitation in his voice when he spoke +again, but it was hard and hoarse, as if his throat were dust-dry in +spite of all the Burgundy. + +"That is her last letter--the last of forty or more. I have them all +still, and I think I know them all by heart. You may laugh out if you +like; I shall not be angry. She wrote once more--not a letter, only a +note--to break all off, without a word of remorse for herself or pity +for me. A fresh fancy or a better match came across her, so she turned +me adrift like a dog she was tired of. She would have given me a dog's +death, too, if she could, I dare say; for, till she was married, she +never felt safe. Do you wonder now, or blame me, for what I have said +and done or _not_ done?" + +Six weeks ago such a story as this would have won hearty sympathy from +Alan Wyverne; but he had suffered too lately himself, to be moved by a +tale of wrong thirty years old. He could not forget Bernard Haldane's +answer to his own letter, and the idea would haunt him that in some way +or other it had materially affected his matrimonial prospects. + +"I neither wonder nor blame," he said, wearily. "If any one is right in +visiting the sins of the mothers on the children, I suppose you were. +Certainly, 'my lady' has a good deal to answer for. I understand her +look now, when I mentioned your name. Yes, I _do_ wonder at one thing. I +don't understand why you married my father's sister." + +The old man glanced darkly at the speaker from under his strong grey +eyebrows. + +"I hope my poor wife never knew the lie I uttered at the altar; or, if +she did, that she forgave me before she died. But God knew it, and +punished it. Alan--you are my nearest heir." + +After those significant words there was silence for some minutes, only +broken by a faint tinkle and gurgle, as the host filled his glass +repeatedly, and his guest followed the example in more moderate fashion. +At last Mr. Haldane spoke again. + +"Alan, I wonder what would be your line, if you came into this +inheritance? Do you know, it is larger than the one you threw away?" + +A few weeks ago, when Wyverne's fortunes were bound up with Helen +Vavasour's, such a speech as that would have sent a hot thrill of hope +through all his being: he heard it now with an indifference which was +not in the least assumed. + +"It would be a hazardous experiment," he answered, carelessly. "They say +there is a great pleasure in hoarding, when you have more money than you +know what to do with. I never tried it; perhaps I should take to avarice +for a change. But I might take to playing again: it's just as likely as +not; and then everything would go, if my present luck lasted--the +pictures and the gems, and the china, and the mosaics. It would be a +thousand pities, too; I don't believe there's such another collection in +England." + +Bernard Haldane seemed determined, that night, not to be provoked by +anything that his nephew could do or say. He was so accustomed to be +surrounded by helpless dependents, bowing themselves without +remonstrance or resistance before his tyrannical temper, that he had got +weary of obsequiousness. Alan's haughty _nonchalance_, though it +evidently proceeded from dislike or displeasure, rather refreshed the +old cynic than otherwise. + +"You are honest at all events," he muttered; "it's no use trying to +bribe you into forgetting injuries; if you _will_ bear malice,--there's +an end of it. We won't speak of inheritances: they put unpleasant +thoughts into a man's head, whose health is breaking faster every day." + +Once more a shiver ran through the speaker's emaciated frame, as it +cowered and shrunk together; and once more the thin white hands spread +themselves eagerly to the blaze. After a pause he rose, evidently to go, +and there was something actually approaching to cordiality in his +manner. + +"It is hardly fair to ask you to stay on in this dreary place; but it +would please me very much if you would spare me a few days. They tell me +the covers are full of game, and you can have a hundred beaters at half +an hour's notice. You will be nearly as much alone here as at the Abbey, +for I never appear till dinner-time, and I go to bed very early, as you +see. The Burgundy is a good sleeping-draught, but it must be humoured. +You will stay over to-morrow, at least? I am glad of that. Perhaps you +would like to see the keeper? Give any orders you please, not only +about this, but about anything you may fancy: I _can_ answer for their +being promptly obeyed. Good-night." + +His step, as he left the room, was slow and feeble; but not the +slightest uncertainty or unsteadiness of gait gave token of the deep +incessant draughts of fiery liquor that would long ago have dizzied any +ordinary brain. Every family of ancient name, besides its statesmen and +soldiers, preserves the moist memory of some bacchanalian Titan, whose +exploits are inscribed on bowl, or tankard, or beaker. We may not doubt +that there were giants in those days; but the prowess of the mightiest +of all those stalwart squires would have been hardly tried, if he had +"drunk fair" that night with the little, wan, withered hypochondriac. + + + + +CHAPTER XVII. + +A WISE MAN IN THE EAST. + + +Day succeeded day, and Alan Wyverne still lingered at Dacre Castle. He +could hardly have told you what kept him there. The shooting certainly +was a great attraction, for, though the season closed in the first week +of his stay, there were snipe and wild-fowl enough to have found work +for half a dozen guns; but it was not the only one. The truth was, that +a sort of liking had sprung up between the cynical host and his quiet +guest. No amount of deep drinking could warm Bernard Haldane into an +approach to conviviality; but his morose, moody temper decidedly +softened during the few hours that he spent each evening in Alan's +society. There was no sympathy perhaps, strictly speaking, between these +two, but there was a certain affinity of suffering. The same soft white +hand had stricken them both sorely, though one wound was yet green, and +the other had been rankling more than a score of years. After that first +night, neither made the faintest allusion to the subject; but ever and +anon, when they were talking about pictures or other things in which +both took an interest, the conversation would drop suddenly, and a +silence would ensue as if by mutual consent; then, each felt conscious +that his companion's thoughts were wandering in the same direction as +his own, and with equal bitterness. After a few minutes you might have +seen each break from his reverie, with the same half angry impatience, +as if despising himself for the weakness of such idle musing, knowing +all the while that the return of the dreaming-fit was as much a +certainty and a question of hours as the rising of the morrow's sun. + +Wyverne's visit would probably have been still further prolonged, if an +invitation had not come one morning, suiting his present humour so +exactly, that he accepted it without a moment's hesitation. An old +comrade of Alan's was on the point of starting in his yacht for a roving +cruise round the shores of Greece and Syria, with an intention of +penetrating as far as the hunting-grounds that lie westward of the lower +spurs of the Caucasus: indeed, there was a charming indefiniteness about +the whole thing; the limits of their wanderings and the time of their +return were to depend entirely on circumstances and the fancy of the +travellers. Raymond Graham had heard of his friend's late +disappointment, though he made no allusion to it in his letter, only +enlarging on the sporting prospects of the expedition and the +attractions of a very pleasant party. He thought it would be just the +proposal to tempt Wyverne, and he guessed right. + +None of the new-fashioned remedies beat some of the old ones, after all. +Change of climate and change of scene enable the sufferer to make a +stand against sickness of body or mind just as effectually as they did +four thousand years ago. + +Hot blinding tears stream down Dido's stricken face as she steals on +board her galley in the harbour of Tyre; for nights she will not close +her heavy eyes, lest a dead man should stand by her couch pointing to +the gash of Pygmalion's dagger; the boldest of her true friends and leal +vassals dares not trouble with a word of comfort that great hopeless +sorrow. But see--the headlands of Cyprus are yet blue in the leeward +distance, and the rich blood has begun to colour the pale cheek again; +when the dark lashes lift, men see that the divine light is not quenched +in the glorious eyes; nay, the sweet lips do not dissemble a faint, sad +smile as she hears Bitias boasting loud of the bride he will win before +sundown. Of a truth, I think the fair Queen's dreams will cease to be +spectre-haunted, before her prow touches ground in the sands of +Bagradas. + +They are more definite now as to the seasons of donning and doffing +their weeds, and will not set their tresses free a day too soon; but, O +Benedict, my friend, are you sanguine enough to believe that so long a +voyage would be needed, to replace despairing grief by decorous woe, in +the desolate bosom of your widow, or mine? + +Remember, we have been speaking of creatures, many of whom must find a +certain pleasure in a mild languid melancholy. "They would not, if they +could, be gay." Wyverne's temperament, though it contained womanlike +elements of gentleness and tenderness, was essentially masculine. He +was, indeed, stouter of heart and stronger in will than most of the +rough-and-ready Stryver sort, who cannot argue without blustering or +advise without bullying; who, neither in love nor war, ever lay aside +the speaking-trumpet. The battle of life had gone hard against him of +late; but he did not therefore conclude that there was nothing left +worth living for. The example just then before his eyes was not without +a significant warning. Alan felt that absence from England would suit +him best for awhile; but he had no idea of banishing himself +indefinitely. The proposed expedition would have tempted him at any +period of his life, and he looked forward to it now with a real interest +and an honest determination to make the best of everything. + +Bernard Haldane did not attempt to alter his nephew's purpose; indeed, +he approved of it thoroughly; but he sat much later than usual on the +last evening, and seemed loth to say good-bye. + +"If I am alive when you return, you will come here, I hope," he said at +last. "If I am gone, I am sure you will, for good reasons. Your +programme promises well--so well that it would be a pity not to carry it +out thoroughly. Don't let money stop you. Where you have to deal with +semi-barbarians, it's often a mere question between silver and steel; +the first saves an infinity of trouble, and, I think, it's the most +moral argument of the two. So take my advice, and bribe Sheikhs and +chiefs to any extent. I have written to-day to my bankers, to give you +unlimited credit there. Now, don't annoy me by making objections. You +know perfectly well that _I_ sacrifice nothing. If I did, my generosity +would still begin very late--too late, I fear. It would be the falsest +delicacy if you were to refuse; for, though we have been almost +strangers hitherto, through my fault, Alan--you _are_ my nephew, after +all." + +He laid his hand gently, almost timidly, on Wyverne's as he finished +speaking, and the thin white fingers quivered with his nervous +eagerness, though they remained always deadly cold. + +It must be a very mortifying and humiliating time when an old man, who +has started in life with exceptional advantages of intellect and +fortune, is compelled to admit the probability of the whole thing having +been a mistake from first to last; unless there is some grievous sin to +be acknowledged and repented of, I think it would be more satisfactory +to go blundering on unconsciously to the end. To such a frame of mind +Mr. Haldane had been coming gradually for days past. He quite realized +the fact that, in default of a son, he would have chosen Wyverne out of +all England as the heir to his broad lands and great possessions. He +knew enough of Alan's character to feel sure that no more than common +kindness in earlier days would have been needed to win his affection and +keep it; but he had held him at arm's length with the rest till it was +too late to do anything better than change dislike into indifference. +For thirty years he had sat alone, "nursing his wrath to keep it warm," +fancying that he could make the many suffer for the crime of one. He had +succeeded perhaps in discomfitting a few miserable dependents, and in +disappointing or disgusting a few relatives and friends; but he had +never ruffled a rose-leaf in the couch of the fair "enemy who did him +that dishonour." Who had been the real sufferer, after all? The unhappy +misanthrope almost gnashed his teeth as he answered the question, and +acknowledged the childish impotence of his rancour. If he had only had +the courage at first, to look his wrongs and griefs fairly in the face, +they might have been easily kept at bay; it was too late to strive for +the mastery when they had become a part of his morbid being. He saw all +this clearly enough now. The old, old story--theory perfected, when to +work it out is physically impossible--the alchemist just grasping the +Great Arcanum, without a stiver left to buy powder for the crucible or +coal for the furnace. + +Nevertheless, that inveterate habit of looking at things _au noir_ +rather misled Bernard Haldane as to the state of Wyverne's feelings. It +would be too much to say that he had begun to conceive a real affection +for his uncle; but he was not insensible to the change in the latter's +demeanour. He felt that the old man was trying, after his fashion, to +make some amends for the past, and rather reproached himself for not +having met such advances more cordially. Day by day the wall built up +between them had been crumbling, and this last act of generosity made +the breach quite practicable. An orthodox hero would, of course, have +taken the "pale and haughty" line, and have rejected the golden +olive-branch, preferring sublime independence to late obligation. Alan +was much more practical and prosaic in his ideas; he accepted without +hesitation, and did not scruple to express his gratitude warmly, though +not demonstratively. It is needless to say that he did not intend to +work the _carte blanche_ unreasonably hard. So those two parted, in all +amity. Bernard Haldane knew that he would be alone again on the morrow, +and that in all probability he saw his nephew's face for the last time; +but he drank less and slept better, that night, than he had done for +years. + +Wyverne wrote to tell Hubert Vavasour of his plans as soon as they were +fixed. He got a very characteristic answer, full of kind wishes and +prophecies of great success to the expedition. In truth the Squire +rather envied any one who at that juncture could get well clear of +England, home, and beauty. He spoke cheerfully about Helen, but his +hopes for her seemed about the brightest of his domestic prospects. +Evidently he thought that the crash could not be much longer averted, +and that the close of the current year would find wrack and ruin at +Dene. None the less, from the bottom of his honest heart, he wished his +nephew good-speed. + +A fortnight later, strong, healthy excitement tingled in Alan's veins, +as he stood on a wet sloping deck, his arm coiled through the +weather-rigging, and looked ahead, through spray driving thick and +blindly, over a turmoil of black foam-flecked water, betting with +himself as to when the next sea would come tumbling in-board. The +_Goshawk_ was a stout schooner, measuring two hundred liberal tons; +there was no handier or honester craft in all the Royal squadron; but +she had to do all she knew that afternoon, fighting her way foot by foot +and tack by tack against a boisterous south-wester, with Cape Finisterre +frowning on her lee. We have not to follow in the track of the +outward-bound; our business is, now, with the girls they left behind +them. + + + + +CHAPTER XVIII. + +A STAR IN THE WEST. + + +The season opened early, and promised brilliantly. There was an +unusually good entry of "maidens;" but among these one held easily, from +the first, an undisputed pre-eminence. They would have made a favourite +even of a _protegee_ of Lady Mildred Vavasour's; you may guess what +_prestige_ attached to her only daughter. In truth, the demoiselle could +have won upon her merits; before that first drawing-room when, it was +said, Royal eyes lighted upon her kindly and admiringly, the triumph was +secured. Such a success had not been achieved within the memory of the +oldest inhabitant of White's. Hardly any one had heard of her brief +engagement, and those who did know, only looked upon it as a childish, +_cousinly_ folly, entailing no serious consequences. Certainly, there +was nothing in Helen's demeanour suggestive of regret or repining. Most +people would have laughed incredulously, if they had been told that the +superb head, which carried itself so imperially, had ever been bowed +down hopelessly and helplessly, or that the lustre of the glorious eyes +had ever been drowned in miserably unavailing tears. She seemed +generally in good spirits, but they were not equable; her humour was +cruelly capricious, and it was impossible to calculate upon her temper; +she would be dangerously captivating one evening, and, the next morning, +absolutely inaccessible. They very soon found out that she would +sometimes be moved to serious anger on absurdly slight pretexts, +or--none at all. + +To speak the truth, Miss Vavasour was by no means insensible to the +admiration she commanded, and appreciated homage thoroughly. It was very +pleasant to keep the best men in town _en faction_ near the Statue, +looking eagerly for her appearance in Rotten-row; and to know, at a +ball, that her rivals were waiting with blank tablets, till her own was +filled up to the cotillon. She was strictly impartial at first, and the +sharpest eyes could not detect the shadow of a preference; she made it a +rule not to indulge the best of her partners with more than his one +regular turn. There was surprise, if not scandal, throughout Babylon, +when Bertie Grenvil engrossed her almost entirely on a certain evening. +The Cherub was not disposed to undervalue his advantages of any sort: so +he never confided to the world that he had received in the morning a +long letter from Alan Wyverne, and had discussed it with Helen, line by +line. + +Almost all our old acquaintances are in town. Max Vavasour has returned +from Northern Italy, where some mysterious attraction had detained him +since last November, and signalizes himself by an exemplary attention to +his domestic duties; he sacrifices readily all the early part of his +evenings whenever "my lady" requires his attendance, and breaks his +morning sleep, without a murmur, to chaperon his sister in her rides. +Such virtue deserves to be rewarded; and it is possible that Max sees +the glitter of a rich compensation not far off in futurity. There is +Maud Brabazon, you see--more perilously provocative than ever; her +coquetry seems to have blossomed with the spring flowers; she is still +disporting herself mischievously with Bertie Grenvil's facile +affections, who has not gained a foot of ground since we left them at +Dene. The Cherub begins to acknowledge that he is getting very much the +worst of it; but finds, apparently, a certain satisfaction in the +maltreatment, and submits to cruelty and caprice with an uncomplaining +docility worthy of a better fate and a better cause. Harding Knowles, +too, has opened the campaign with unusual prodigality and splendour; he +rides the neatest of hacks, is profusely hospitable in luncheons at his +chambers and suburban dinners, and speaks--always with bated breath and +in the strictest _tete-a-tete_--familiarly of "Clydesdale." He is to be +seen at all Lady Mildred's parties, who treats him with marked +consideration; but he keeps clear of her daughter, for the recollection +of that discomfiture at Dene still rankles bitterly. + +Before long, diffidence and despondency showed themselves in the circle +of Miss Vavasour's assiduous admirers; the Detrimentals drew back in +fear and trembling, and even the best of the Eligibles stood aloof, for +a season, watching how things would go. The Great Earl had come to the +front, evidently in serious earnest. + +Such reserve is, surely, most just and natural. Shall we be ruder than +the lower animals, who by their example teach us a proper respect of +persons? + +See--a company of beautiful bright-eyed antelopes are drinking at their +favourite pool, deep in the green heart of the jungle; the leopards have +tracked them, and steal nearer and nearer, till a few seconds more will +bring the prey within clutch of their spring; suddenly the ravenous +beasts cease to trail themselves forward, crouching lower and lower till +their muzzles seem buried in the ground; there they lie, rigid and +motionless, showing no sign of life, even by a quiver of the listening +ear; the sounds close by are significant enough to _them_, though the +poor little antelopes hear nothing--a soft, heavy footfall--a deep +breath drawn long and savagely--a smothered rustle, as though some huge +body were forcing stealthy passage through the tangled jungle-grass: the +leopards know, right well, that the King of the Forest is at hand, and +famished as they are, will not betray their presence even by a growl, +till their Seigneur shall have chosen his victim and satiated his +appetite. Could the most patient and discreet of courtiers or parasites +act more decorously? + +The simile is not altogether inapposite, I fancy, nor very new either; +nevertheless, O fairest reader! I _do_ pray you to pardon the truculence +of that carnivorous comparison. + +Clydesdale did not seek to dissemble his admiration; indeed, he seemed +desirous to _afficher_ it as much as possible, for he knew that it was +the surest way of keeping the ground clear, and that was precisely what +he wanted. If it had been possible he would have liked, when he was +calling in Guelph-crescent, to have left some visible token of his +presence outside, to warn off the vulgar and profane, even as the +Scythian chiefs used to plant their spear at the door of the tent +wherein dwelt the favourite of the hour. From the moment that he heard, +with a fierce throb of exultation, of the breaking off of Helen's +engagement, the Earl had made up his resolve, and never doubted as to +the event. Alan's departure made him still more confident; he felt that +the last barrier had been taken away: he had nothing to do now but to +sit still and win. He was doggedly obstinate in his attentions, yet by +no means demonstrative; he seldom tried to secure more than two of Miss +Vavasour's waltzes in an evening, but these were the only ones in which +he deigned to exhibit himself; when she was dancing with any one else, +he would stand watching her swift graceful movements, with a critical +complacency on his broad sensual face, that was enough to aggravate even +an indifferent spectator--the conscious pride of proprietorship was so +very evident. With just that same expression, the chief of a great +stable watches the Oaks favourite as she sweeps past him, leading the +string of two-year-olds--so easily--with her long sweeping stride. Lord +Clydesdale was always sparing of his conversational treasures, if he +possessed any; nor did he lavish them even on the woman whom he +delighted to honour. His eyes ought to have been more expressive, for +they had a good deal of duty to do; his pertinacious gaze scarcely left +Helen's face when he was in her presence, and he seemed to consider this +homage quite sufficiently expressive, without translating it verbally. +Riding by her rein in Rotten-row, lounging in Lady Mildred's +drawing-room for hours of an afternoon--the moody suitor was always the +same silent, sulky, self-satisfied statue of Plutus. If the real truth +had been known, I believe he would have preferred doing all the wooing +by proxy. + +No amount of coldness on Miss Vavasour's part would have checked the +Earl in his obstinate determination to win her; but it must be confessed +that he did not meet with much discouragement. + +If a purely conventional marriage had been proposed to Helen, some +months ago, she would probably have rejected it with much indignation +and scorn; but things were altered now. Women, as well as men, turn +readily to ambition--never so readily as when love has just been +thwarted--and the demoiselle, though proud as Lucifer, was not too proud +to be ambitious. The little she had seen of her admirer had not +impressed her very favourably; but no active dislike was working the +other way. She knew how eagerly matrons and maidens had striven and +schemed to attain the Clydesdale coronet--it was, in truth, better worth +wearing than some Grand Ducal crowns--there was a certain triumph in the +consciousness that she had only to stretch out her little hand to place +it on her brows. + +"There's nothing like competition," they say; the maxim holds good in +other things beside commerce and Civil Service examinations. I believe +that there is hardly any folly, short of sin--let us be generous, and +make that possible exception--to which a woman may not be tempted, if +she is once thoroughly imbued with the spirit of rivalry. There is no +end to the absurdities that they will commit, when this emulous devil +possesses them. I have seen a most excellent young person, ordinarily a +model of demure propriety, attempt to vault over high timber, and come +thereat to grief absolutely unutterable, sooner than be beaten by a +companion better versed in gymnastics, who had just performed the feat +safely and gracefully, amidst general applause. I have known a fair +dame--maturer, it is true, in attractions than in years--utterly ignore +her habitual prudence, and compromise herself gravely by waltzing thrice +almost consecutively with the same partner, simply because she alone +could induce that languid hussar to break an antiterpsichorean pledge +which he had entered into for no earthly reason but laziness; yet, on +her purity of principle and honesty of intention, I would peril the +residue of my life--or, what is more to the purpose--of my patrimony. + +The Apple may be crude or withered, and scarcely worth the plucking; but +if the fatal legend be once visible on its rind, you will see divine +eyes glitter with something more than eagerness; and even chaste, cold +Pallas may not repress a jealous pang, when the prize is laid in +Aphrodite's rosy palm. + +If it had been a question of keeping faith with Alan Wyverne, Miss +Vavasour would not have wasted one thought or one regret on the present +triumph or the splendid future; but knowing that they were separated for +ever and ever, she was inclined to try if "the pomps and vanities of +this wicked world" could not make some amends for what she had lost. She +would not suppose it possible that a new affection could ever replace +the passionate love that had been crushed and thwarted, but which would +not die. There was her great mistake. It is in our early years that we +ought to be patient; but we never recognize this till we are old: we +hope while we are young, but we will not wait. So Helen accepted +Clydesdale's saturnine devotion, on the whole rather graciously; her +haughty, wayward temper, which would break out at times, rather +attracted than repelled him. + +It soon began to be noised abroad that the Great Fish was firmly hooked, +if not landed. Certain astute chaperons acknowledged, with a sigh, that +it was time to desist from a futile pursuit, and to seek humbler and +more available victims. Dudley Delamere, the Earl's heir presumptive, +who had nourished wild hopes of succession, on the strength of his +cousin's notorious habits of self-indulgence, came down to the Foreign +Office, two mornings running, with whiskers uncurled, thereby intimating +prostration and despair as plainly as if he had rent his perfect +garments, or scattered ashes on his comely head. + +"I won't fight any longer," he said, plaintively; "the luck's too dead +against me. Throw up the sponge; the Begum has won it fairly." + +Those profligates were wont thus irreverently to designate a certain +elderly Indian widow--very stout, good humoured, and dark complexioned, +with rather more thousands in the funds than she had years on her +head--who, for the last two seasons, had manifested an unrequited +attachment to the ungrateful but not unconscious Delamere. It must have +been the attraction of contraries that made her bow down so helplessly +before that slim, golden-haired Irresistible. He rather avoided her than +otherwise; made a merit of coming to her artistic dinners, and treated +her, when they met, with cruelly cold courtesy; but the impassioned +Eurasian still kept hoping and worshipping on; pursuing the reluctant +Adonis with pertinacious blandishments, with broad benevolent smiles +that terrified him inexpressibly, and with glances out of her great +black eyes that sent a shiver through his sensitive organization. +Patient fidelity was rewarded at last. When Dudley had once made up his +mind to the dire necessity, he accepted the position in a manly and +Christian-like spirit, and sacrificed himself for the benefit of his +country and his creditors, with a calm, chivalrous bravery worthy of +Regulus or--Smith O'Brien. They say it is a very comfortable _menage_, +on the whole; certainly, the Begum's smiles are more oppressively +radiant than ever, and I should think she has gained about two stone in +weight, since the day that crowned her constancy as it deserved. + +Nevertheless, though Lord Clydesdale's attentions were so marked, and +his intentions so evident, the season ended without his coming to the +point of a formal proposal. It would be rather hard to define his +reasons for the delay. Possibly, holding the game in his hand, he chose +to dally over his triumph, and play it out to the last card. Possibly, +too, when a man's bachelor-life comprises every element of comfort and +luxury, he lingers with a fond reluctance over its close. Besides this, +the Earl appreciated the advantages of his position thoroughly; it +pleased him to be the centre-point at which the machinations of mothers +and the fascinations of marriageable virgins were levelled; he had +observed of late--not without regret--a manifest slackening in these +assiduities, and, vain as he was, he felt that it would be rather unsafe +to rely on his personal attractions for securing such pleasant homage, +after his future was once decided irrevocably. Absolutely unalloyed +selfishness will make even the dullest of intellects calculating and +crafty. But Clydesdale did not vacillate in his set purpose for an +instant. His last words, both to Lady Mildred and her daughter, before +he left town for Scotland, were perfectly significant and satisfactory. + +"My lady" had shown herself throughout worthy of her fame as a +consummate tactician. The cunning mediciner was always at hand to give +aid if aid was required, but she was far too wise to interfere with +Nature when it was working favourably. She guessed aright as to the +state of her daughter's feelings; she could understand how bitter +memories were perpetually conflicting with ambitious hopes in the poor +child's troubled breast; but she knew that a certain order and harmony +must inevitably succeed, ere long, the chaos and discord; so she waited +for the event in quiet confidence, without irritating Helen by +consolation, or advice, or surmises. With Clydesdale, Lady Mildred was +equally cautious and reserved; she was always charmed to receive him, of +course, and ready to accept his attendance; but her bitterest enemy +could not have accused her of betraying any undue eagerness to attract +or monopolize it. The accomplished dissembler could afford to despise +affectation; when the Earl's marked attentions showed that he was +thoroughly in earnest, she did not pretend unconsciousness, but accepted +them with a composed courtesy, as if such homage was only her daughter's +due. She bore herself somewhat like a monarch of olden days, receiving +the fealty of a mighty vassal--evidently gratified by the tribute, yet +by no means overpowered by the honour. She did not attempt to conceal +her approval, but she would not derogate from her position one step; she +was ready to conciliate, not to concede. The suitor soon understood that +his position did not entitle him to follow his own fashion of wooing, or +to dictate his own terms; he could not claim a single privilege that had +not been granted from time immemorial to such as were worthy to aspire +to a Vavasour of Dene. Do not suppose that "my lady's" demeanour ever +expressed this too plainly; dignified stiffness or majestic +condescension were utterly out of her line; her manner never lost the +gentle caressing languor which made it so charming. The tacit way in +which the understanding was established showed the perfection of the +art. The engine would not have been complete, if soft quilted velvet had +not masked the steel springs so thoroughly. + +Lady Mildred was not in the least vexed or disappointed when Clydesdale +left town without bringing matters actually to a crisis. She knew right +well it was the simplest question of time. When the Earl spoke, rather +eagerly, about meeting the Vavasours again very soon, she only replied +"that she hoped they might do so; but that her own summer arrangements +were scarcely fixed yet. They would be at Dene in the autumn, certainly, +and would be very happy to see him, if he could spare them a week in the +shooting season." + +Her coolness quite disconcerted Clydesdale; he bit his lip, and looked +for a moment as if he were going to be angry; but he checked himself in +time, only giving "my lady" a look before he went, that, if she had been +at all disquieted, would have set her mind effectually at rest. + +It is rather an humiliating confession to make about one's Prima +Donna--but, I am afraid, Helen was really more disconcerted than her +mother at the abeyance in which affairs just then remained. It is not +certain if she had made up her mind to accept Lord Clydesdale at once; +but it _is_ certain that she would have liked to have had the option of +refusing him. In truth there were other disagreeable incidents, besides +a passing mortification of vanity. Miss Vavasour's marvellous beauty had +not in anywise palled upon public admiration; men gathered round her, +wherever she appeared, just as eagerly as at the beginning of the +season, and the candidates for inscription on her card were numerous and +emulous as ever; but there was a marked reserve and reticence in their +homage. When a damsel is once resigned, by general consent, to a high +and puissant seignior, even though no contract shall have been signed, a +certain wall of observance is built up around her, that few care +seriously to transgress, except those incorrigible reprobates who make a +mock at all social and conventional obligations, and never see a fence +without wanting to "lark" over it. Perhaps it _is_ rather aggravating, +to be obliged to conform to all the constraints of affiancement, without +having so far reaped its solid advantages. + +I am perfectly aware that poor Helen's market-value as a heroine will +have gone down about fifty per cent. in this chapter. But what would you +have? The ancient answer to the question--"What does Woman most care +for?" holds good still. We can solve the riddle, now, without the +Fairy's help, affirming boldly that is--Power. + + + + +CHAPTER XIX. + +HOW WOLVES AND FOXES DIE. + + +One of our characters need trouble us no more. The summer passed, and +autumn came on quickly; but Bernard Haldane never saw the leaves change. +Life had been flickering within him, fitfully, for some time past; it +went out suddenly at last: the mortal sickness did not endure through +forty-eight hours. He betrayed no fear or impatience when he heard that +his end was approaching rapidly; only muttering under his breath--"There +is time enough for all I have to do." He paid no sort of attention to +the remonstrances of the physician, but caused himself to be carried at +once into his library where he remained locked in for nearly two hours, +with a servant whom he could trust thoroughly. Paper after paper was +examined and burned--a packet of yellow faded letters, first of all; and +Mr. Haldane retained throughout a perfect intelligence and +self-possession. He leant back in his chair when all was done, and +closed his eyes with a sigh of satisfaction, but roused himself from the +stupor that was creeping over him, to write, with great difficulty, a +few lines to Alan Wyverne; the signature was scarcely legible, and as he +was trying to direct the envelope, his head fell forward heavily on the +table. When they got him back to his room, he was almost too weak to +speak, though he rallied somewhat after taking strong restoratives. + +The rector of the parish--a meek, single-minded, conscientious +man--thought it his duty to offer what comfort and succour he could, +though he feared the case was nearly desperate. What doubts, and +misgivings, and repinings entered into the system of Bernard Haldane's +dark cynical philosophy, God only can tell; he never tried to make a +proselyte. As regards any communion with the Church, or outward +observance of her ceremonies, he might have been the veriest of +infidels; but he had never shown himself her overt antagonist. He +listened now to all that the priest had to say, quite patiently and +courteously, but with an indifference painfully evident. When asked "if +he repented?" he answered, "Yes, of many things." Then came the +question, "Are you in peace and charity with all the world?" No word of +reply passed the firm white lips, but they curled with a terribly bitter +smile; and the skeleton hand that lay on the coverlet was clenched, as +though the long filbert-nails would pierce its palm. + +The good rector felt utterly disheartened; he had not nerve enough to +cope with that intractable penitent; it would have been a sinful mockery +to speak of Sacrament, then; so he did the best he could--praying long +and fervently, even against hope, for the troubled soul that was so near +its rest. The sick man lay quite still, watching the movements of the +priest, at first with mere curiosity, soon with a growing interest; at +last it seemed as if his eyes would fain have thanked the kindly +intercessor; but they waxed dimmer every moment, till the heavy lids +closed slowly and wearily, not to be lifted again. + +The physician standing by bent down his ear to the lips that still kept +moving. He caught one word--"Mildred"--and some other syllables +absolutely unintelligible. The frown on the brow and the contraction of +the features, just then, surely did not come from pain. So--murmuring a +farewell, that savoured, I fear, rather of ban than blessing--died +Bernard Haldane--more tranquilly and serenely than saints and martyrs +have died, who bore uncomplainingly all the burden and heat, and shrank +from no self-sacrifice that could benefit their kind. + +The bitter face changed and softened strangely, they say, before the +corpse was cold, till it settled into intense sadness, and ten years +seemed taken from the dead man's age. That grave, pensive expression +perhaps was a natural one, before the keen morbid sensibility was so +cruelly warped and withered. It may be that he _did_ repent heartily at +last, though he could not forgive; thinking of the poverty all round him +that he had never stretched a hand to help, of the honest affection that +he may have barred out when he shut himself up in his arid misanthropy. +If he did once thoroughly realize this, and his utter impotence to make +any amends, be sure the latest pang of his life was the sharpest of all. +That is the worst of all philosophy--Epicurean or Stoic, seductive or +repellant; it _will_ often fail just at the critical time of trial. The +tough, self-reliant character, that meets misfortune savagely and +defiantly like a personal foe, holds its own well for a while; but, if +there be not Faith enough to teach humble, hopeful endurance, I think it +fares best in the end with the hearts that are only--broken. + +Mr. Haldane's will was very brief, though perfectly explicit and formal. +Every one who had ever suffered from his temper or caprices found +themselves over-paid beyond their wildest expectations. These legacies +accepted, he left all that he possessed, without fetter or condition, to +his nephew. + +There was great exultation among the many who knew and loved Alan +Wyverne well, when they heard of his goodly heritage. Bertie Grenvil, on +guard at the Palace on the Sunday when the news came to town, called his +intimates around him to rejoice over the "pieces of silver" that his +friend had found, and presided at a repast such as Brillat-Savarin might +have ordered if he had served in the Household Brigade. Algy Beauclerc +lost heavily at the club that night, for he was tied, after the +Mezentian fashion, to a partner who never played the right card even by +accident; but he laughed a great honest laugh, and told the incorrigible +sinner, when the penance was over, that "he would make a very fair +player in time, if he would only sit still and take pains." The Squire +appeared at dinner radiant and triumphant, as if there were no such +thing as mortgages or Jews on this side of eternity. Lady Mildred looked +delighted and vaguely sympathetic, as if she would like to congratulate +_some one_ on the spot, but did not quite see her way. Helen Vavasour's +cheek flushed for an instant and then grew very pale; her lip trembled +painfully, as she whispered to herself, "Too late--ah me! too late!" + +The _Goshawk_ was lying off Beyrout when "the good news from home" came +out. Wyverne received them with a placidity approaching to indifference, +which exasperated his companions intensely; but he left the party +immediately, and returned alone by the next steamer. When he landed in +England, he went straight to Castle Dacre. The first paper that he +opened was Bernard Haldane's letter. It ran thus: + + "My dear Alan,--I wish I could have seen you once more, though + I have little to say besides farewell. Think as kindly of me as + you can; but don't try to persuade yourself, or others, that + you are sorry I am gone. I leave no chief mourner. If a dog + howls here to-night, it will be because the moon is full. It is + but common justice that we should reap as we have sown; + nevertheless, these last hours are rather dreary. I have left + everything undone that I ought to have done for thirty years + and more, but I have tried to make amends--at least to you. You + are young enough to enjoy this second inheritance thoroughly, + and wiser than when you lost your own. I will not attach to my + bequest even the shadow of an implied condition; yet I pray you + to keep the old house and its contents together as long as you + can. You said yourself it would be a pity to part them. I would + leave you my blessing if I dared; but it would be a sorry jest, + and might turn out badly. I do wish you all the good luck that + can be found in this mismanaged world. I wish it--even if you + persuade her mother to allow Helen Vavasour to shape your + altered fortunes. I am too tired to write more. It has been a + long, rough journey, and I ought to sleep soundly. Good night. + + "Yours, in all kindness, + + "BERNARD HALDANE." + +It would be absurd to say that Wyverne felt deep sorrow for his uncle's +death; but an intense pity welled up in his honest heart as he read that +strange letter, and fancied the lonely old man tasking the last of his +strength to trace the weak wavering lines; in truth, the characters +seemed still more hazy and indistinct, when he laid the paper down. + +By my faith--it is somewhat early in the day to become funereal. Let us +pass over two or three months and change the _venue_ entirely. + +It is a soft grey December morning, with a good steady breeze, cool but +not chilly. The Grace-Dieu hounds are about to draw Rylstone Gorse for +the first time this season. It is a favourite fixture, and no +wonder--sufficiently central to let the best men in of two neighbouring +packs, yet sufficiently remote from town and rail to keep the profane +and uninitiate away. There is a brook, too, in the bottom, over which +the fox is sure to go; not very wide, but deep enough to hold a +regiment, which always weeds the field charmingly. The meet is in a big +pasture hard by: while the ten minutes' law allotted by immemorial +courtesy to distant comers is expiring, it may be worth while to mark a +few of the "notables." + +There, leaning over the low carriage-door, and doing the honours of the +meet to Lady Mildred, stands the Duke of Camelot. There is nothing of +_morgue_ or reserve in the character or demeanour of that mighty noble, +but his manner is, in spite of himself, somewhat superb and stately. +Wherever he appears, there is diffused around an ambrosial atmosphere +savouring of the _ancien regime_. Nature never meant him for a warrior +or statesman. His mission through life has been to _poser_ before the +world, unconsciously, as a perfect type of his order; you see it in +every movement of the long taper limbs, in the carriage of the patrician +head, in the peculiar sweep and curl of the ample grey whisker, in every +line of the clear-cut prominent features, in the smile which--intended +to be genial and benevolent--is simply condescending and benign. What +his mental capacities may be, it is impossible to say; he has never +tried them. But in his own country he hath great honour; the peasantry +believe him to be omniscient and omnipotent, if not omnipresent. Were +the fancy to seize him to rebel against the powers that be, I fancy the +stalwart yeomen would muster strong round the ancient banner, in +defiance of the claims of Stuart or Guelph. Nevertheless, the Duke is, +on the whole, a very good-natured and convivial potentate; when no +state-party is in question, he loves to gather round him pleasant people +who suit each other and suit him, without regard to their pride of place +or order of precedence. He brings, in one way or another, more than +twenty guests to the meet to-day, including, besides the family from +Dene, the Brabazons and Lord Clydesdale. + +The Master had just fallen to the rear, after a brief conference with +the huntsman. He sits there, you see, with a listless indifference on +his dark handsome face, as if henceforth he had no earthly interest in +the proceedings; but in reality he is watching everything and everybody +with keen, inevitable eyes. Lord Roncesvaux is a cold, stern man, born +with tact and talent enough to have made him great in his generation, if +he had not devoted both exclusively, together with half his fortune, to +the one favourite pursuit. He speaks seldom in society--never in the +senate; but if a thrusting rired gets a step too forward at the gorse, +or presses on his hounds to-day, you will hear that well shaped mouth +open very much to the purpose. + +A little to the left, with a clear space round him, is Clydesdale, +looking hot and savage, even this early hour. The horse would be quiet +enough if the rider would only let his mouth alone; but the Earl has a +knack of bullying his dependents, equine as well as human; so +"Santiago's" temper is getting fast exasperated, and his broad brown +chest is already flecked with foam. + +Do you mark that lithe erect figure, on the wicked-looking bay mare, +moving from one group to another in the foreground? Everybody seems glad +to see him, and he has a jest or a smile ready for each successive +greeting. That is Major Cosmo Considine, who began life as a Guardsman, +and has served since in a more Irregular corps than he now chooses to +remember. The habitual expression of the face is gay and pleasant +enough, but sometimes the features look strangely haggard and worn, as +if the past was trying to tell its tale; and the thin lips, under cover +of the huge blonde moustache, will set, as though in anger or pain. +Redoubtable in battle--dangerous, they say, in a boudoir--he is +especially hard to beat when hounds are running straight and fast; no +matter how big the fencing may be, if it is a real good thing, +Satanella's lean eager head will be seen creeping to the front; and once +there, like her master on certain other occasions, "she is not to be +denied." + +Major Considine married a wife, wealthy and fair, some three years ago, +and has ever since been purposing, gravely but vaguely, to become steady +and respectable. The pious intentions have not been carried out with +uniform success. The weak mind of his unhappy spouse is supposed to +oscillate almost daily between furious jealousy and helpless adoration; +but the silver tongue of the incorrigible Bohemian is still seductive as +when, in spite of relatives' advice and warning, it won him his bride; +about twenty minutes' persuasion always reduces her to the dreamy, +devotional phase, in which she remains till the next offence awakes her. +To do Cosmo justice, his aberrations are much more harmless than the +world gives him credit for; nor does he often seek now to illustrate his +theories practically. + +There is Nick Gunstone, the great stock-breeder and steeple-chaser, +expatiating to a knot of true believers on the merits of a long, low, +raking five-year-old, with whom he expects to pull off a good thing +before next April. The young one looks wild and scared and fretful, and +evidently knows little of his business yet; but his rider has nerve +enough for both, and a hand as light as a woman's, though his muscles +are like steel. When the hounds are well away you will see the pair +sailing along in front, quite at their ease: a "crumpler" or so is a +moral certainty; but Nick Gunstone is all wire and whalebone, and seems +to rebound harmlessly from the earth, if he hits it ever so hard; he +believes religiously that "nothing steadies a young one like a heavy +fall," on which principle he generally sends them at the strongest part +of the fence, and the stiffest bit of timber. He is in rather a bad +humour to-day, for objections have just been made and sustained to his +receiving the aristocratic "allowance" in future; and Mr. Gunstone's +sensitive soul chafes indignantly at the injustice--of course on account +of the diminution of his dignity, not in the least because of the +addition to his weight! + +The Amazonian division muster in great force, displaying every variety +of head-gear, coquettish and business-like. There is one of the +number--far in the background, with a solitary attendant--that even a +stranger would single out instantly, but with an instinctive feeling +that his glance ought not to rest there long. To be sure, her horse is +well worth looking at; for if shape and "manners" go for anything, Don +Juan must be a very cheap three hundred guineas' worth. But the rider's +appearance is still more remarkable. It would be rather difficult to +define exactly why. There is nothing particularly eccentric or "fast" in +her demeanour, or so far as one can judge while she is in repose; her +equipment and appointments, though faultless in every respect, are +perfectly quiet and unobtrusive; only a very stern critic would remark +that the miraculous habit fits her superb bust a shade _too_ well. You +see a frank fearless face, at times perhaps a trifle too mutinously +defiant; a broad, brent, white forehead; clear, bold blue eyes, flashing +often in merriment, seldom in anger; and thick coils of soft gold-brown +hair, braided tightly under the compact riding-hat. It is not exactly a +pretty picture, though its piquancy might be attractive to such as +admire that peculiar style. + +The solitary horseman who never leaves her side is Mr. Lacy, the +professional artist, who has reduced riding over fences to a science. In +consideration of large monies, perfect mounts, and unlimited claret and +cigars, he consents to act as mentor and pioneer to the reckless _Reine +des Ribaudes_: the office is no sinecure, and the wages are +conscientiously earned. There is a look of grave anxiety on his pale +intellectual face to-day, such as may well become a brave man who +estimates aright the importance and perils of a task set before him, and +prepares to encounter them without reluctance or fear. Of a truth, in a +country like this, where, as a stranger, she rides "for her own hand," +and means going, it is no child's-play to _chaperon_ Pelagia. + +One other personage remains to be noticed--I venture to hope you are not +tired of him yet--Alan Wyverne; looking thinner and browner than when we +saw him last, but in very fair plight notwithstanding, who had just come +down into the Shires, with a larger stud than he ever owned in the old +days. He had no idea of the Vavasours being in the neighbourhood, or +perhaps even Rylstone Gorse would not have tempted him to ride the score +of miles that lay between the fixture and his hunting quarters. He has +got over the meeting with his uncle most successfully; how cordial it +was, on both sides, you may easily imagine. But he has so many friends +to greet, and congratulations to answer, that he has not found time, +yet, to approach the carriage in which Lady Mildred is reclining. Alan +has nothing in his stable, so far, that he likes so well as his ancient +favourite; he rides him first-horse to-day. In truth, Red Lancer is a +very model of a fast weight-carrier; you cannot say whether blood or +bone predominates in the superb shape and clean powerful limbs, and all +his admirers allow "that he is looking fitter than ever." He is apt to +indulge in certain violent eccentricities in the first five minutes +after he is mounted, but he has settled down now, and bears himself with +a quiet, stately dignity; nevertheless, there is a resolute look about +his head, implying obstinacy to be ruled only by a stronger will. + +The ten-minutes' law has more than expired, and, at an imperceptible +signal from the Master, the pack moves on slowly towards the gorse. We +will not wait to witness the certain find, but get forward a mile or +two, to a point that the fox is almost sure to pass; being invisible we +can do no harm, even if we do cross his line. + +Did you ever see a more truculent fence than that on your right, which +stretches along continuously for twelve hundred yards or more, on the +Rylstone side of the road on which we are standing? The double rails, +both sloping outwards, are much higher and wider apart than usual, and +the charge of a squadron would hardly break the new tough oak timber; to +go in and out is impossible, for there is a deep ditch in the middle +fringed by meagre, stunted quick-set; and on the landing side there is +actually another trench, vast enough to swallow up horse and rider, if +by any chance they got so far. The only outlet is through double gates, +with a bridge of treacherous planks between them. There was malice +prepense in the mind that contrived that fearful barrier. The owner of +the farm is a morose hard-fisted Scotch presbyterian, who regards all +sport as a snare and device of the Evil One, and acts according to his +narrow light, viciously. When he came into the country a year ago, he +was afraid to warn the hounds off his land, but went to a considerable +expense to stop them, as he thought, quite as effectually. The pleasant +innovation of wiring the fences was unknown in those days (soon, I +suppose, they will strew calthrops along the headlands, and conceal +spring-guns cunningly, to explode if you hit the binders); but David +Macausland did his worst after the fashion of the period; and so sat +down behind his entrenchments with the grim satisfaction of a consummate +engineer, waiting for the enemy to come on. + +You know the occupants of that low phaeton that sweeps round the corner +so smoothly and rapidly, pulling up within a hundred yards of us? Miss +Vavasour's ponies are too fiery to be trusted in a crowd, so she has +listened to Maud Brabazon's suggestion that they should take their +chance of seeing something of the run, instead of going to the +meet--yielding the more readily because her own fancy, to-day, inclines +to comparative solitude. There they are, left entirely to their own +devices, with only a staid elderly groom to keep them out of mischief. + +The fair adventuresses have not to wait; before they have been posted +five minutes, a symphony and crash of hound-music comes cheerily down +the wind, and a dark speck, developing itself into shape and colour as +it approaches, steals swiftly down the fifty acre pasture. Fortunately +they are not forward enough to do any harm; even the restless ponies +stand still, as if by instinct, while a big dog-fox crosses the road, +quite unconscious of the bright eyes that are following him; he whisks +the white tag of his brush knowingly, just as he clears the fence, +evidently thinking it will prove a "stopper," at least to his human +foes. Two minutes more, and the pack sweeps compactly over the crest of +the rising ground; a little in the rear, on either flank, come the real +front-rankers--the ambitious spirits who, wherever they go, will assert +their pride of place; the very flower of science and courage; the best +and boldest of England's _Hippodamastae_. Do you think the whole world +could show you such another sight as this? + +There is Cosmo Considine, sending Satanella along as if he had another +spare neck at home, in case of accidents, and as if she had ten +companions in the stable (instead of a brace) to replace her if she +comes to grief. There is Lord Roncesvaux, riding as jealous as any of +them, though he would scorn to confess such a weakness; there is a +fierce light now in his broad black eyes, though the listlessness has +scarcely left his face. There is Nick Gunstone, holding his own +gallantly, discreet enough to give "the swells" a widish berth. And +there, in the van of the battle, flutters the bright-blue habit, and +gleams the soft golden hair. + +"How very fortunate!" Helen Vavasour cried. "We are just in the right +place; they must cross the road, and we shall see all the fencing." + +Mrs. Brabazon was more experienced than her companion, and, indeed, had +been no mean performer over a country in her day. She shook her pretty +head negatively, as she answered-- + +"I am afraid not, dear, unless there is an unusual amount of chivalry +out to-day. I have been looking at that place, and I believe it is +simply impracticable. They must get round it somehow, and the hounds +will leave them here." + +The old groom, standing at the ponies' heads, touched his hat, in assent +and approval. + +"You're quite right, my lady," he said. "There's no man in these parts +as would try that fence; no more there didn't ought to. It's hard on a +thirty-foot fly, let alone the drop; and it's a broken neck or back if +you falls short, or hits a rail." + +The _impasse_ is evidently well known, and the leaders of the field +appear to be very much of the speaker's opinion; for instead of +following the hounds down the middle of the pasture, they began to +diverge on either side, the huntsman setting the example. Will Darrell +takes fences as they come, very cheerfully, in an ordinary way; but a +great general has no business to risk his life like a reckless +subaltern; and the idea of being laid up with a broken limb so early in +the season is simply intolerable. With Lord Roncesvaux's servants duty +stands first of all; they know that no credit won by mere hard riding +would excuse a fault of rashness, or soften the implacable Master's +anger. Cosmo Considine acknowledges the necessity of a compromise, +growling out an imprecation in some strange outlandish tongue; and +Pelagia's pilot, after a hurried word exchanged with the Major, for whom +he has a great respect and esteem, follows him to the right, utterly +disregarding the remonstrances of his impetuous charge. Even Nick +Gunstone thinks that this will be rather too strong an illustration of +his favourite theory, and reserves the young one's steadying lesson for +a more convenient season. + +A few sceptics determine to judge for themselves, and ride right down to +the fence; but one glance satisfies them, and they gallop along it in +both directions, rather losing ground by their obstinacy than otherwise. +Amongst these is Lord Clydesdale. Perhaps the Earl is aware of the +proximity of the pony-carriage; at any rate, he thinks it necessary to +make a demonstration; so he takes a short circuit, and pretends to +charge the fence, with much bluster and flurry. Santiago behaves with a +charity and courtesy very amiable, considering the provocation he has +undergone, and tries to save his master's honour by taking on himself +the odium of a decisive refusal. But the sham is too glaring to deceive +the veriest novice; Maud Brabazon's smile is marvellously meaning, and +Miss Vavasour's curling lip does not dissemble its scorn. + +Half a minute later, Maud happened to be looking in an opposite +direction; an exclamation from the groom, and a low cry, almost like a +moan, from her companion, made her turn quickly. Helen had dropped the +reins; her hands were clasped tightly, as they lay on the bearskin-rug, +and her great eyes gleamed bright, and wild with eagerness and terror; +they were riveted on a solitary horseman, who came down at the fence +straight and fast. + +Alan Wyverne had been baulked at the brook by some one's crossing him, +and the pace was so tremendous that even Red Lancer's turn of speed had +not yet quite enabled him to make up lost ground. It so happened, that +he had ridden along that double on his way to the meet, and though he +fully appreciated the peril, he had then decided that it was just within +his favourite's powers, and consequently ought to be tried. + +Truly, at that moment, the pair would have made a superb picture. Alan +was sitting quite still, rather far back in the saddle; his hands level +and low on the withers, with hold enough on Red Lancer's mouth to stop a +swerve, but giving the head free and fair play; his lips slightly +compressed, but not a sign of trepidation or doubt on his quiet face. +The brave old horse was, in his way, quite as admirable; like his +master, he had determined to get as far over the fence as pluck and +sinew would send them; so on he came, with his small ears pointing +forward dagger-wise, momently increasing his speed, but measuring every +stride, and judging his distance, so as to take off at the proper spot +to a line. + +They were within thirty yards of the rails now, and still Helen Vavasour +gazed on--steadfast and statuelike--without a quiver of lip or a droop +of eyelash. Maud Brabazon's nerves were better than most women's, but +they failed her then. She felt a wild desire to spring up and wave Alan +back; but a cold faint shudder came over her, and she could only close +her eyes in helpless terror. + +There came a rush of hoofs sounding on elastic turf--a fierce snort as +Red Lancer rose to the spring--and then a dull smothered crash, as of a +huge body's falling. + +Maud felt her companion sink back by her side, trembling violently: then +she heard a hoarse exclamation from the groom of wonderment and +applause; then Wyverne's clear voice speaking to his horse +encouragingly, and then--she opened her eyes just in time to see the +further road-fence taken in the neatest possible style. + +There had been no fall after all. Red Lancer's hind hoofs broke away the +outer bank of the ditch, and he "knuckled" fearfully on landing; but a +strong practised hand recovered him just in time to save his credit and +his knees. + +Negotiations were entered into soon afterwards with Mr. Macausland, and +powerful arguments brought to bear upon his cupidity; the austere +Presbyterian compromised with the unrighteous Mammon, so far as to +suppress the obnoxious middle ditch and render the fence barely +practicable. But they point out the spot still, as a proof of the space +that a perfect hunter can cover, with the aid of high courage and strong +hind-quarters, if he is ridden straight and fairly. The elderly groom, +who is saturnine and sceptical by nature, prone to undervalue and +discredit the exploits of others, when one of his fellows speaks of a +big leap, always quells and quenches the narrator utterly, by playing +his trump-card of the great Rylstone double. + +It is almost an invariable rule--if a man by exceptional luck or pluck +"sets" the field the hounds are sure to throw up their heads within a +couple of furlongs. Fortune, as if tired of persecuting Alan Wyverne, +gives him a rare turn to-day. + +There was a scent, such as one meets about twice in a season. The field, +spread out like a fan, begins to converge again, and the front rank are +riding like men possessed to make up their lost ground. All in +vain--nothing without wings would catch the "flying bitches" now, as +they stream over the broad pastures without check or stay, drinking in +the hot trail through wide up-turned nostrils, mute as death in their +savage thirst for blood. It was a trivial triumph, no doubt, hardly +worthy of a highly rational being; but the hunting instinct is one of +the strongest in our imperfect nature, after all; I believe that it +falls to the lot of very few to enjoy such intense, simple happiness as +Wyverne experienced for about eighteen minutes, as he swept on, alone, +on the flank of the racing pack, rejoicing in Red Lancer's unfaltering +strength. Such a tremendous burst must necessarily be brief. As Alan +crashes through the rail of a great "oxer," an excited agriculturist +screams: "He's close afore you." Close--the hounds know that better than +you can tell them. Look how the veterans are straining to the front. +Suddenly, as they stream along a thick bullfinch, old Bonnibelle wheels +short round and glides through the fence like a ghost; her comrades +follow as best they may; there is a snap--a crash of tongues--and a +savage worry. Alan Wyverne, too, turns in his tracks; and driving Red +Lancer madly through the blackthorn, clears himself from the falling +horse, just in time to rush in to the rescue, and--with the aid of a +friendly carter, who uses whip and voice lustily--to save from sharp +wrangling teeth rather a mutilated trophy. + +Now, is not that worth living for? Wyverne could answer the question +very satisfactorily, as he loosens Red Lancer's girth and turns his head +to the wind, pulling his small ears, and stroking his lofty crest +caressingly. Nearly five minutes have passed, and the hounds are +beginning to wander about in a desultory, half-satisfied way, as is +their wont after a kill, before Lord Roncesvaux, and the huntsman, and +three or four more celebrities, put in a discomfited appearance. + +It speaks ill for our chivalry that we should have left the +pony-carriage to itself all this time; but that "cracker" over the grass +was too strong a temptation; we were bound to see the end of it. + +Mrs. Brabazon was the first to speak, breathing quick and nervously. + +"Oh, Helen, was not that magnificent? But were you ever so frightened?" + +The wild look had passed out of the girl's eyes, yet they were still +strangely dreamy and vague. + +"It was very fearful," she said; "but I ought not to have been +frightened. There is no one like _him_--no one half so cool and brave. I +have known that for so many years!" + +Maud's keen glance rested on the speaker's face for a second or two. +What she read there did not seem greatly to please her. + +"I think we had better be turning homewards," she said, gravely; "I feel +tired already, and I am sure we shall see nothing more to-day." + +From Miss Vavasour's flushing cheek, and the impatient way in which she +gathered up the reins and turned her ponies, it was easy to guess that +she did not wish her thoughts to be too closely scanned just then. But +before they had driven three hundred yards, she was musing again. At +last her lips moved involuntarily. Maud Brabazon's quick ear caught a +low, piteous whisper--"I don't think he even saw me"--and then a weary, +helpless sigh. In just such a sigh may have been breathed the dying +despair of that unhappy Scottish maiden, who pined so long for the +coming of her lover from beyond the sea, and whose worn-out heart broke +when he rode in under the archway without marking the wave of her +kerchief, or looking up at her window. + +It was a very silent drive homewards. One of those two had good right to +be pensive. Last night, Lord Clydesdale, utterly vanquished and +intoxicated by her beauty, spoke out, right plainly. The day of grace +that Helen claimed for reflection is half gone already, and the +irrevocable answer mast be given to-morrow. + +Shall we say--as they said in olden times to criminals called upon to +plead--"So God send you good deliverance?" Truly it was a kindly, +courteous formula enough; but I fancy it carried little meaning to the +minds of the judge or jury, and little comfort to the heavy heart of the +attainted traitor. + +Throughout the country side that night men seemed unable to talk long +about anything, without recurring to the morning's run and the feat +which had made it so singularly remarkable. Even Clydesdale did not +venture to dissent or show discontent when Wyverne's nerve and judgment +were praised up to the skies; he only swelled sulkily, and indulged +under his breath in a whole string of his favourite curses, registering +another involuntary offence against the name he hated so bitterly. Red +Lancer came in for his full share of the glory; they discussed his +points and perfections one by one, till you might have drawn his +portrait without ever having seen him. He was as famous now, as that +mighty war-horse of whom the quaint old ballad sings-- + + So grete he was, of back so brode, + So wight and warily he trode, + On earth was not his peer; + Ne horse in land that was so tall; + The knight him cleped "Lancivall," + But lords at board and grooms in stall + Cleped him--"Grand Destrere." + +In the servants'-hall at Beaupre Lodge, the witness of the feat thus +expressed himself, an honest admiration lighting up for once his hard, +rough-hewn face-- + +"It's very lucky I ain't a young 'oman of fortun" (signs of unanimous +adhesion from his audience, especially from the feminine division). "Ah, +you may laugh. If I was, I'd follow Sir Alan right over the world, +without his asking of me, if it was only for the pleasure of blacking +his boots." + +After this, who will say that "derring-do" is not still held in honour, +or that hero-worship has vanished out of the land? + + + + +CHAPTER XX. + +QUAM DEUS VULT PERDERE. + + +The noon of night is past, and Helen Vavasour is alone in her chamber, +without a thought of sleep. In truth, the damsel is exceeding fair to +look upon--though it is a picture over which we dare not linger--as she +leans back, half reclining, on the low couch near the hearth; a loose +dressing-robe of blue cashmere faced with quilted white satin, draping +her figure gracefully, without concealing its grand outlines: her +slender feet, in dainty velvet slippers broidered with seed-pearl, +crossed with an unstudied coquetry that displays the arched instep +ravishingly; a torrent of shining dark hair falling over neck and +shoulder; a thin line of pearly teeth showing through the scarlet lips +that are slightly parted; the light of burning embers reflected in her +deep eyes, that seem trying to read the secrets of the Future in the red +recesses and the fitful flames. + +She had been musing thus for many minutes, when a quick step came across +the corridor; there was a gentle tap at the door, and it opened to admit +Mrs. Brabazon. + +"I thought I should find you up," she said. "I'm strangely wakeful +to-night, Helen, and very much disposed to talk. Do you mind my staying +here till you or I feel more sleepy?" + +Miss Vavasour assented eagerly; indeed, she was rather glad of an excuse +for breaking off her "maiden meditation;" so she established her visitor +in the most luxurious chair she could find, not without a caress of +welcome. + +Nevertheless, in spite of their conversational inclinations, neither +seemed in a particular hurry to make a start; and, for some minutes, +there was rather an embarrassed silence. At length Mrs. Brabazon looked +up and spoke suddenly. + +"Helen, what answer do you mean to give to the Great Earl to-morrow? +Don't open your eyes wonderingly; I drew my own conclusions from what I +saw last night. Besides, Lady Mildred is perfectly well informed; though +she has not said a word to you, she has spoken to me about it, and asked +me to help the good cause with my counsel and advice, if I could find +time and occasion. Shall I begin?" + +She spoke lightly; but the grave anxiety on her face belied her tone. +Miss Vavasour's thoughts had been devoted so exclusively to one subject, +that its abrupt introduction now did not startle her at all. Her smile +was cold and somewhat disdainful, as she replied-- + +"Thank you, very much. But it is hardly worth while to go through all +the advantages of the alliance; I have had a full and complete catalogue +of them already. They chose Max for an ambassador, and I assure you he +discharged his duties quite conscientiously, and did not spare me a +single detail; he was nearly eloquent sometimes; and I never saw him so +near enthusiasm as when he described the Clydesdale diamonds. He made me +understand too, very plainly, that the fortunes of our family depended a +good deal upon me. Did you know that we are absolutely ruined, and have +hardly a right, now, to call Dene ours?" + +Ah, woe and dishonour! Is it Helen's voice that is speaking? Have twelve +months changed the frank, impulsive girl into a calculating, worldly +woman, a pupil that her own mother might be proud of? For all the +emotion or interest she betrays, she might be a princess, wooed by +proxy, to be the bride of a king whom she has never seen. + +Some such thoughts as these rushed across Maud Brabazon's mind, as she +listened; great fear and pity rose up in her kind heart, till her eyes +could scarcely refrain from tears. + +"I had heard something of this," she said, sadly; "though I did not know +things were so desperate. There are a hundred arguments that would urge +you to say--Yes, and only two or three to make you say--No. It is +absolutely the most brilliant match in England. You will have the most +perfect establishment that ever was dreamt of, and we shall all envy you +intensely; it has been contemplated for you, and you have expected the +proposal yourself for months; I know all that. Yesterday--I should not +have thought it probable you could hesitate; to-day--I do beg and pray +you to pause. I think you will be in great danger if you marry the Earl. +Have you deceived yourself into believing that you love him?" + +"I don't deceive myself; and I have never deceived him. He is ready and +willing to take what I can give, and expects no more, I am certain. I do +not love Lord Clydesdale; and I am not even sure that we shall suit each +other. But he is anxious to make the trial, and I--am content. I know +that I shall try honestly to do my duty as his wife, if he will let me. +That is all. Time works wonders, they say; it may do something for us +both." + +Still the same slow, distinct utterance; the same formal, constrained +manner; as if she were repeating a lesson thoroughly learnt by rote. +Maud Brabazon was only confirmed in her purpose to persevere to the +uttermost in her warning. + +"I have no right to advise," she said; "and moral preaching comes with +an ill grace, I dare say, from my foolish lips. But indeed--indeed--I +only speak because I like you sincerely, and I would save you if I +could. One may deceive oneself about the past, as well as the future. +Are you sure that you can forget? Are you sure that an old love has not +the mastery still? Helen, if I were your mother I would not trust you." + +The girl's cheek flushed brightly--less in confusion than in anger. + +"You need have no false delicacy, Maud. If you mean that I shall never +love any one as I have loved Alan, if you mean that I still care for him +more than for any living creature, you are quite right. But it is all +over between us, for ever and ever. We shall always be cousins +henceforth--no more; he said so himself. If a word could make us all we +once were, I don't think I would speak it; I am sure _he_ never would. +But, my dear, it does surprise me beyond everything, to hear _you_ +arguing on the romantic side. You never could have worshipped Mr. +Brabazon, before or after marriage; and yet you amuse yourself better +than any one I know." + +Miss Vavasour's quick temper--always impatient of contradiction--was in +the ascendant just then, or she would scarcely have uttered that last +taunt. She bitterly repented it when she saw the other cower under the +blow, bowing her head into her clasped hands, humbly and sorrowfully. + +When Maud looked up, not one of the many who had admired and loved her +radiant face would have recognised it in its pale resolve. + +"You only spoke the truth, Helen. Don't be penitent; but listen as +patiently as you can. At least, my example shall not encourage you in +running into danger. I will tell you a secret that I meant to carry to +my grave. You incur a greater risk than ever I did; see, how it has +fared with me. It is quite true that I did not love my husband when I +accepted him; but I had never known even a serious fancy for any one +else. I imagined I was hardened enough to be safe in making a +conventional marriage. And so--so it went on well enough for some years; +but my falsehood was punished at last. They say, it is sharp pain when +frozen blood begins to circulate; ah, Helen--trust me--it is worse +still, when one's heart wakes up. I cannot tell you how it came about +with me. He never tried to make me flirt, like the rest of them; but +when he spoke to me, his voice always changed and softened. He never +tried to monopolize me, but wherever I went, he was sure to be; and, +some nights, when I was more wild and mischievous than usual, I could +see wonder and pity in his great melancholy eyes: they began to haunt +me, those eyes; and I began to miss him and feel disappointed and +lonely, if an evening passed without our meeting. But I never betrayed +myself, till one night Geoffrey told me, suddenly, that he was to sail +in four days for the coast of Africa. I could not help trembling all +over, and I knew that my face was growing white and cold; I looked up in +his--just for one second--and I read his secret, and confessed mine. He +had mercy on my weakness--God rewarded him for it!--he only asked for a +flower that I wore, when I would have given him my life or my soul; for +I was wicked and mad, that night. It was so like him: I know he would +never tempt me: he would save me from going wrong if it cost him his +heart's blood. Fevers and horrors of all sorts beset them on that coast: +I might read Geoffrey's death in the next _Gazette_, and yet--his lips +have not touched my hand. You say I amuse myself. Do you know, that I +must have light, and society, and excitement, or I should go mad? I dare +not sit at home and think for an hour. I have to feed my miserable +vanity, to keep my conscience quiet. I am pure in act and deed, and no +one can whisper away my honour; but in thought I am viler than many +outcasts--treacherous, and sinning every day, not only against my +marriage vow, but against _him_. I often wish I were dead, but I am not +fit to die." + +She had fallen forward as she spoke, and lay prone with her head buried +in Helen's lap--a wreck of womanhood in her abasement and self-contempt. +The wind, that had been rising gustily for hours past, swelled into fury +just then, driving the sleet against the casements like showers of +small-shot, and howling savagely through the cedars as though in mockery +of the stricken heart's wail. Maud Brabazon shivered and lifted up her +wild scared face-- + +"Do you hear _that_?" said she, "I never sleep when a gale is blowing. +The other night Bertie Grenvil was pleading his very best; I answered at +random, and I daresay I laughed nervously; he fancied it was because his +words had confused me. I was only thinking--what the weather might be on +the Western coast, for a gust like that last was sweeping by. Ah, Helen, +darling! do listen and be warned in time; if you don't see your danger, +pause and reflect, if only for my sake. Have I made my miserable +confession in vain." + +Miss Vavasour's expression was set and steadfast as ever, though tears +swam in her eyes; she leant down and clasped her soft white arms round +Maud Brabazon's neck, and pressed a pitiful tender kiss on the poor +humbled head. + +"Not in vain, dearest!" she whispered; "I shall always love and trust +you henceforth, because I know you thoroughly. But I cannot go back. It +is too late now, even if I would. I hope I shall be able to do my duty; +at least I need not fear the peril of ever loving again. I must accept +Lord Clydesdale to-morrow." + +Maud drew quickly out of the close embrace, and threw herself back, +burying her face in her hands once more; when she uncovered it, it was +possessed by nothing but a blank white despair. + +"The punishment is coming!" she said; "I can do harm enough, but I can +do no good, if I try ever so hard--that is clear. I will help you always +to the uttermost of my power; but we will never speak of this again." + +She rose directly afterwards, and after the exchange of a long +caress--somewhat mechanical on one side--quitted the room with a vague +uncertain step. So Helen's very last chance was cast away, and she was +left to the enjoyment of her prospects and her dreams. + +The decisive interview came off on the following morning. There was not +a pretence of romance throughout. Lord Clydesdale manifested a proper +amount of eagerness and _empressement_; Helen was perfectly cool and +imperial; nevertheless, the suitor seemed more than satisfied. The +negotiation was laid in due form before the Squire and Lady Mildred in +the course of the day. To do the Earl justice, he had never been +niggardly or captious in finance, and his liberality now was almost +ostentatiously magnificent. By some means or other he had been made +perfectly aware of the state of affairs at Dene. Besides superb +proposals of dower and pin-money, he offered to advance, at absurdly +moderate interest, enough to clear off all the encumbrances on the +Vavasour property; and the whole of the sum was to be settled on younger +children--in default of these, to be solely at Helen's disposal. + +The poor Squire, though not taken by surprise, was fairly overwhelmed. +The temptation of comparatively freeing the dear old house and domain +would have proved nearly irresistible even to a stronger mind and will; +still, he felt far from comfortable. He did try to salve his unquiet +conscience by requiring an interview with his daughter, and seeking +therein to arrive at the real state of her heart. It was an honest offer +of self-sacrifice, but really a very safe one. Helen did not betray the +faintest regret or constraint; so Hubert Vavasour resigned himself, not +unwillingly, to the timely rescue. I have not patience to linger over +Lady Mildred's intense undemonstrative triumph. + +It was settled that the marriage should take place early in the spring. +All the preliminaries went on swiftly and smoothly, as golden wheels +will run when thoroughly adjusted and oiled. Miss Vavasour behaved +admirably; she accepted numberless congratulations, gratefully and +gracefully; in the intercourse with her _fiance_ she evinced no prudery +or undue reserve, but nevertheless contrived to repress the Earl's +enthusiasm within very endurable limits. + +Only one scene occurred, before the wedding, which is worth recording; +it is rather a characteristic one. Perhaps you have forgotten that, in +the second chapter of this eventful history, there was mentioned the +name of one Schmidt, a mighty iron founder of Newmanham, who had bought +up all the mortgages on Dene? His intention had been evident from the +first; and just about the time of the last affiancement, his lawyers +gave notice that he meant to call in the money or foreclose without +mercy. + +Now the Squire, though he naturally exulted, as a Gentile and a landed +proprietor, in the discomfiture of the Hebrew capitalist, would have +allowed things to be arranged quietly, in the regular professional way. +But this, Lord Clydesdale, when consulted on the subject, would by no +means suffer. He begged that the meeting of the lawyers might take place +at Dene; and that, if it were possible, Ephraim Schmidt should be +induced to attend in person: the paying off of the mortgages was not to +be previously hinted at in any way. The whims of great men must be +sometimes humoured, even by the law; and this was not such a very +unreasonable one after all. + +"I wouldn't miss seeing the Jew's face if it cost another thousand!" the +Earl said, with a fierce laugh; so that it was settled that he was to be +present at the interview. + +Mr. Schmidt and his solicitor arrived punctually at the appointed hour; +there was no fear of the former's absenting himself on so important an +occasion. "Nothing like looking after things yourself" was one of his +favourite maxims, enforced with a wink of intense sagacity. He was +absolutely ignorant of legal formalities, but not the less convinced +that such could not be properly carried out without his own +superintendence. + +The financier's appearance was quite a study. He had for some time past +affected rather a rural style of attire, and his costume now was the +Newmanham ideal of a flourishing country squire. He chose with +ostentatious humility, the most modest of his equipages to take him to +Dene; but he mounted it like a triumphal car. Truly there was great joy +in Israel on that eventful morning, for all his family knew the errand +on which their sire and lord was bent, and exulted, as is their wont, +unctuously. + +Ephraim Schmidt was a short bulky man, somewhat under fifty; his heavy, +sensual features betrayed at once his origin and the habits of +high-living to which he was notoriously prone. His companion was a +striking contrast. There was rather a foreign look about Morris +Davidson's keen handsome face, and those intensely brilliant black eyes +are scarcely naturalized on this side of the Channel--but the Semitic +stamp was barely perceptible. His manner was very quiet and courteous, +but never cringing, nor was there anything obsequious about his ready +smile. He was choice in his raiment, but it was always subdued in its +tone, and he wore no jewels beyond a signet key-ring, and one pearl of +great price at his neck. He was the type of a class that has been +developed only within the last half century--the _petit-maitre_ order of +legalists--whose demeanour, like that of the Louis Quinze Abbes, is a +perpetual contradiction of their staid profession, but who nevertheless +know their business thoroughly, and follow it up with unscrupulous +obstinacy. When Mr. Davidson senior died (who had long been Ephraim +Schmidt's confidential solicitor), men marvelled that the cautious +capitalist could entrust his affairs to such young and inexperienced +hands; in truth he had at first many doubts and misgivings, but these +soon vanished as he began to appreciate Morris's cool, pitiless nature, +and iron nerves. The wolf-cub's coat was sleek and soft enough, and he +never showed his teeth unnecessarily; but his fangs were sharper, and +his gripe more fatally tenacious, than even his gaunt old sire's. + +So, through the clear frosty morning, the two Jews drove jocundly along, +beguiling the way with pleasant anticipations of the business before +them. The lawyer had heard of Lord Clydesdale's engagement to Miss +Vavasour, and thought it just possible that under the circumstances some +compromise might be attempted. But to this view of the case his patron +would in nowise incline, and he discreetly forbore to press it. They +passed through the double towers flanking the huge iron-gates; and the +broad undulating park stretched out before them, clumps of lofty timber +studding the smooth turf, while grey turrets and pinnacles just showed +in the distance through the leafless trees. The Hebrew's heart swelled, +almost painfully, with pride and joy. He had been wandering for many a +year--not unhappily or unprofitably, it is true--through the commercial +Desert, and now, he looked upon the fair Land of Promise, only waiting +for him to arise and take possession, when he had once cast out the +Amorite. When they drove up to the great portico, he was actually +perspiring with satisfaction, in spite of the cold. He grasped his +companion's arm, and whispered, hoarsely-- + +"Mind, Morris, they'll ask for time: but we won't give them a day!--not +a day." + +The chief butler received the visitors in the hall, and ushered them +himself to the library. Ephraim Schmidt, in the midst of his unholy +triumph, could not help being impressed by the grave dignity of that +august functionary. He began to think if it would not be possible, by +proffer of large monies, to tempt him to desert his master's fallen +fortunes, and to abide in the house that he became so well. A pleasant, +idle dream! Solomon made the Afreets and Genii his slaves; but, if the +Great King had been revived in the plenitude of his power, he would +never have tempted that seneschal to serve him, while a Gentile survived +on the land. + +The family solicitor of the Vavasours was sitting before a table +overspread with bulky papers, with his clerk close by his side. He was +thin, and white-haired, with a round withered face, pleasant withal, +like a succulent Ribstone pippin; his manner was very gentle, and almost +timid, but no lawyer alive could boast that he had ever got the best of +a negotiation in which Mr. Faulkner was concerned. He greeted the +capitalist very courteously, and Mr. Davidson very coldly, for,--he had +seen _him_ before. There was one other occupant of the library--a tall +man, lounging in the embrasure of a distant window, who never turned his +head when the new-comers entered: it seemed as though the bleak winter +landscape outside had superior attractions. Ephraim Schmidt hardly +noticed him; but Davidson felt a disagreeable thrill of apprehension as +he recognised the figure of Lord Clydesdale. It is needless to enumerate +the verifications and comparisons of many voluminous documents that had +perforce to be gone through. The mortgagee got very impatient before +they were ended. + +"Yes, yes," he kept repeating, nervously, "it is all correct; but come +to the point--to the point." + +Mr. Faulkner was perfectly imperturbable, neither hurrying himself in +the least, nor making any unnecessary delay. + +"I believe everything is quite correct," he said, at last. "Now, Mr. +Davidson, may I ask you what your client's intentions are? Is there any +possibility of a compromise?" + +"I fear, none whatever," was the quiet answer. "We have given ample +notice, and the equity of redemption cannot be extended. My client is +anxious to invest in land, and we could hardly find a more eligible +opening than foreclosure here would afford us." + +"Exactly so," the old lawyer retorted. "I only asked the question, +because I was instructed to come to an explicit understanding. It does +not much matter; for--we are prepared to pay off every farthing." + +The small thin hand seemed weighty and puissant as an athlete's, as he +laid it on a steel-bound coffer beside him, with a significant gesture +of security too tranquil to be defiant. + +Cool and crafty as he was, Davidson was fairly taken unawares. He +recoiled in blank amazement. Ephraim Schmidt started from his chair like +a maniac, his eyes protruding wildly, and his face purple-black with +rage. + +"Pay off everything?" he shrieked. "I don't believe it: it's a lie--a +swindle. Not have Dene? I'll have it in spite of you all!" The churned +foam flew from his bulbous lips, as from the jaws of a baited boar. + +The silent spectator in the window turned round, then, and stood +contemplating the group, not striving to repress a harsh, scornful +laugh. That filled up the measure of the unhappy Israelite's frenzy. He +made a sort of blind plunge forward, shaking off the warning fingers +with which Davidson sought to detain him. + +"D--n you, let me go," he howled out. "Who is that man? What does he do +here? I _will_ know." + +The person addressed strode on slowly till he came close to the speaker, +and looked him in the face, still with the same cruel laugh on his own. + +"I'll answer you," he said. "I was christened Raoul Delamere, but they +call me Lord Clydesdale now; and I hope to marry Mr. Vavasour's only +daughter. I am here--because I am infidel enough to enjoy seeing a Jew +taken on the hip. I wouldn't have missed this--to clear off the biggest +of your mortgages. So you fancied you were going to reign at Dene? Not +if you had had another hundred thousand at your back. If we only have +warning, the old blood can hold its own, and beat the best of you yet. +Mr. Faulkner, don't you think you had better pay him, and let him go?" + +The change of tone in those last words, from brutal disdain to studied +courtesy, was the very climax of insult. It was an unworthy triumph, no +doubt, but a very complete one. The Earl remained as much master of the +position as ever was Front de Boeuf. The Jew was utterly annihilated. +To have come there with the power of life and death in his hand, and now +to be treated as an ordinary tradesman presenting a Christmas bill! He +staggered back step by step, and sunk into a chair, dropping his head, +and groaning heavily. Davidson had recovered himself by this time. The +elder lawyer only sat silent, and scandalized, lifting his eyebrows in +mute testimony against such unprofessional proceedings. + +"We can hardly conclude such important business to-day," Morris said. +"My client's excitement is a sufficient excuse. We know your intentions +now, Mr. Faulkner, and there is ample time to settle everything. I will +call upon you at any time or place you like to name." + +So, after a few more words, it was settled. + +Ephraim Schmidt went out, like a man in a dream, from the house that he +had hoped to call his own; only moaning under his breath, like a +vanquished Shylock--"Let us go home, let us go home." The chief butler +(who had been aware of the state of affairs throughout) dealt him the +last blow in the hall, by inquiring with exquisite courtesy, "If he +would take any luncheon before he went?" The miserable Hebrew quivered +all over, as a victim at the stake might shrink under the last ingenuity +of torture. Truly, the meanest of the many debtors who had sued him in +vain for mercy, need not have envied the usurer then. + +O dark-eyed Miriam, and auburn-haired Deborah! lay aside your golden +harps, or other instruments of music that your soul delights in: no song +of gladness shall be raised in your tents to-night; it is for the +daughters of the uncircumcised to triumph. + +When the Squire heard an account of the morning's proceedings, he by no +means shared in Clydesdale's satisfaction, and rather failed to +appreciate the point of the jest. Hubert's thoroughbred instincts +revolted against the idea of even a Jew usurer's having been grossly +insulted under his roof, when the man only came to ask for his own; +besides this, he understood the feeling that had been at work in the +Earl's breast, and despised him accordingly. The difference in social +position was too overwhelming to make the match a fair one; but in other +respects the antagonists were about on a par. It was just this--a phase +of purse-pride vanquished by another and a more potential one. Such a +victory brings little honour. The transformed rod of the Lawgiver +swallowed up the meaner serpents; but it was only a venomous reptile, +after all. + +Wyverne felt neither wrath nor despair when the news of Helen's +engagement came; he had quite made up his mind that she would marry +soon; but he was sad and pensive. He did not change his opinions easily, +and he had formed a very strong one about Clydesdale's character: he +thought the Earl was as little likely as any man alive to rule a +high-spirited mate wisely and well. Nevertheless, Alan indited an +epistle that even Lady Mildred could not help admiring: it was guarded, +but not in the least formal or constrained; kind and sincerely +affectionate, without a tinge of reproach, or a single allusion that +could give pain. He saw "my lady" twice, Helen once, before the latter's +marriage, and was equally successful with his verbal congratulations. Of +course the interviews were not _tete-a-tetes_: all parties concerned +took good care of that. Wyverne and his aunt displayed admirable tact +and _sangfroid_; but the demoiselle cast both into the shade: her manner +was far more natural, and her composure less studied. Truly, the +training of the _Grande Dame_ progressed rapidly, and the results +promised to be fearfully complete. + +Alan did intimate an intention of being present at the wedding; but I +fear he was scarcely ingenuous there. At all events, urgent private +affairs took him abroad two days before the ceremony, no one knew +exactly where; and it was three weeks before he appeared on the surface +of society again. + +_Io, Hymenoee!_ Scatter flowers, or other missile oblations, +profusely, you nubile virgins. O choir of appointed youths! Roll out, I +beseech you, the Epithalamium roundly: let not the fault be imputed to +you, if it sounds like a requiem. + +So, we bid farewell to Helen Vavasour's maiden history--not without +heaviness of heart. Henceforth it befits us to stand aside, with doffed +beaver and bated breath, as the Countess of Clydesdale passes by. + + + + +CHAPTER XXI. + +MAGNA EST VERITAS. + + +Fifteen or sixteen months are come and gone, and the faces of people and +things are but little changed. Yes, one of our dramatic personages is a +good deal altered for the worse--Alan Wyverne. He became sadder and +wiser in this wise. + +I forgot to tell you that the delicate state of Mrs. Rawdon Lenox's +health, and of her affairs, had made a lengthened Continental tour very +desirable. She remained abroad nearly two years, and did not return to +England till the summer immediately following the Clydesdale marriage. +It was late in the autumn when she and Alan met. If the latter had been +forewarned of the _rencontre_, it is probable he would have avoided it +by declining the invitation to Guestholme Priory; but when he found +himself actually under the same roof with the "Dark Ladye" (so some +friend or enemy had re-christened her), he felt a certain satisfaction +in the idea of clearing up a mystery that had never ceased to perplex +and torment him. Their first greeting was rather cold and constrained on +both sides; but things could not remain on this footing long. Nina had +no fancy for an armed neutrality with an ancient ally, and always +brought the question of war or peace to an issue with the least possible +delay. + +When Alan came into the drawing-room after dinner, Mrs. Lenox's look was +a sufficient summons, even without the significant movement of the fan, +which she managed like a Madrilena. He sat down by her side, his pulse +quickening a little with expectation; but curiosity was the sole +excitement. For awhile they talked about their travels and other +indifferent subjects. The lady got tired of that child's-play first, and +broke ground boldly. + +"I suppose the interdict is taken off now?" she said. "Will you believe, +that I am really sorry that there is no longer a cause for your avoiding +me? Will you believe, that no one regretted it, and felt for you more +than I did, when I heard your engagement was broken off? Do tell me, +that neither I nor my unfortunate affairs had anything to do with it. I +have been worrying myself ever since with the fancy that your great +kindness to me may have cost you very dear." + +Wyverne was gifted with coolness and self-control quite exceptional, but +both as nearly as possible broke down at that moment. He certainly +deserved infinite credit for answering, after a minute's silence, so +calmly, + +"Then it would be a satisfaction to you to know this? Have you any +doubts on the subject?" + +"Well, I suppose I ought not to have any," Nina said, frankly. "The +engagement lasted for months after those wretched anonymous things were +written, and I am sure I did all I could to set matters straight. My +letter was everything that is meek and quiet and proper, was it not? And +it was honest truth, too, every word of it." + +"Your letter? Yes, of course--the letter you wrote in answer to mine; +but the other--the other?" + +He spoke absently and almost at random, like a man half awake. + +"What on earth are you talking about?" Mrs. Lenox said, with manifest +impatience. "What other letter? Did you suppose me capable of writing +one other line beside that necessary reply? What have you suspected? I +_will_ know. Alan, I believed you more generous. Yon have a right to +think lightly of me, and to say hard things, but not--not to insult me +so cruelly." + +There were tears in the low, tremulous voice, but none in the deep dark +eyes that had dilated at first wonderingly, and were now so sad in their +passionate reproach that Wyverne did not dare to meet them. He knew that +Nina was capable of much that was wild and wicked, but that very +recklessness made dissimulation with her simply impossible. If she had +been pure and cold as St. Agnes, Alan would not have felt more certain +of the truth and sincerity of her meaning and words. The fraud, that he +had vaguely suspected at the time, stood out black and distinct enough +now. He hated himself so intensely that for the moment all other +feelings were swallowed up in self-contempt--even to the craving for +vengeance on the conspirators who had juggled him, which ever afterwards +haunted him like an evil spirit. Wyverne had always cherished, you know, +a simple, generous faith in the dignity of womanhood; if his chivalry +had carried him one step further--if, in despite of the evidence of his +senses, he had refused to believe in womanhood's utter debasement--it +would have been perhaps the very folly of romance; but he might have +defied the forger. He took the wisest course now, by telling Nina the +whole truth, as briefly and considerately as possible. + +"You see, I did you fearful wrong," he said. "Though I have paid for it +heavily already, and shall suffer to my life's end, that is no reason +why you should forgive me. I don't even ask you to do so." + +Mrs. Lenox was, indeed, bitterly incensed. A perfectly immaculate matron +might have laughed such a conspiracy against her fair fame to scorn: +Nina could not afford to be maligned unjustly. Nevertheless all her +indignation was levelled at the unknown framer of the fraud; not a whit +rested on Alan. She had been used to see people commit themselves in +every conceivable way, and make the wildest sacrifices, for her sake; +but she had learned to appreciate these follies at their proper worth. +Strong selfish desire and the hope of an evil reward was at the bottom +of them all. Truly, when a man ruins himself simply to gratify his +ruling passion, the lover deserves little more credit than the gambler. +But the present case was widely different. She had not a shadow of a +claim on Alan's service or forbearance. + +Though he seemed to see no merit in a single act of duty, she knew right +well what it had cost him to destroy the supposed evidence of her shame; +and now, instead of expecting thanks, he was reproaching himself for +having misjudged her while believing his own eyes. As she thought on +these things, Nina's hard battered heart grew fresh and young again. Not +a single unholy element mingled in the tenderness of her gratitude; but, +if time and place had not forbidden, she would scarcely have confined +her demonstrations to a covert pressure of Wyverne's hand. + +"Forgive you?" she said, piteously. "It drives me wild to hear you speak +so. I would give up every friend I have in the world to keep _you_. The +best of them would not have done half as much for me. And we can never +be friends--really. My unhappy name has dragged you down like a +millstone; don't attempt to deceive yourself; you must hate the sound of +it now and always. Ah, do try to believe me. I would submit to any pain, +or penance, or shame, and not think it hard measure, if I could only +give you back what you have lost through me." + +In despite of his exasperation, the sweet voice fell soothingly on +Alan's ear. A man need not greatly glorify himself for having simply +acted up to his notions of right and honour; nevertheless, appreciation +in the proper quarter must be gratifying to all except the _very_ +superior natures. Many are left among us still who "do good by stealth," +but the habit of "blushing to find it known" is antiquated to a degree. + +So, as he listened, Wyverne's mood softened; and he began quite +naturally to play the part of consoler, trying to prove to Nina that she +had been an innocent instrument throughout, and that if the +conspirators had been foiled in this instance, they would surely have +found some other engine to work out the same result. + +"But it was such base, cruel treachery," she said, trembling with +passion. "Will you not try to trace it, for my sake if not for your own? +You must have some suspicions. If I were a man, and could act and move +freely, I should never sleep soundly till I was revenged." + +Wyverne answered very slowly, and, as he spoke, his face hardened and +darkened till it might have been carved in granite. + +"You may spare the spur; there is no fear of my sleeping over it. I'm +not made of wax or snow, to be moulded like this into a puppet for their +profit or pleasure, and I owe you a vengeance besides. Yes, I have +suspicions; I'll make them certainties, if I live. Your never having got +my note, telling you of my burning the first of the two letters, gives +me a clue. They may double as they like, they won't escape, if I once +fairly strike the trail. Now, we will never speak of this again till--I +give you _the name_." + +The change of Alan's character dated from that night; most of his +friends noticed it before long. He was never morose or sullen, but +always moody, and absent, and pre-occupied; without exactly avoiding +society, he found himself alone, unwontedly often, and solitude did him +far more harm than good. To speak the truth, his credit as a pleasant +companion began sensibly to decline. A Fixed Idea, even if it be as rosy +as Hope, interferes sadly with a man's social merits; if it chance to be +sombre or menacing in hue, the influence is simply fatal to +conviviality. + +But autumn and winter passed, and it was spring again, before Wyverne +could set his foot on more solid ground than vague surmises. He felt +certain that Lady Mildred had countenanced, if not directed, the +plot--the note having miscarried from Dene was strong evidence--but he +was equally sure that her delicate hands were clear of the soil of +actual fraud. Who had been the working instrument? For a moment his +thoughts turned to Max Vavasour, but he soon rejected this idea, +remembering that the latter was not in England that Christmas-tide; +besides which, he could not fancy his cousin superintending the +practical details of a vulgar forgery; he would far sooner have +suspected Clydesdale, but there was not the faintest reason, so far, to +connect the Earl with foul play. So he went groping on, for months, in +the twilight, without advancing a step, growing more gloomy and +discontented every day. It was a curious chance that put him on the +right scent at last. + +An Inn of Court is not exactly the spot one would select for setting a +"trap to catch a sunbeam;" a wholesome amount of light and air is about +as much as one can expect to find in such places; heavy, grave decorum +pervades them, very fittingly; but it may be doubted if any quarter of a +populous city, respectable in its outward seeming, has a right to be so +depressingly dull and dingy, as is the Inn of Gray; the spiders of all +sorts, who lurk thereabouts, had best not keep the flies long in their +webs, or the victims would scarce be worth devouring. + +Some such thoughts as these were in Wyverne's mind as he wandered +through the grim quadrangle, one cold evening towards the end of March, +looking for "Humphrey and Gliddon's" chambers. The firm had an evil +name; men said, that if it was difficult to find out their den, it was +twice as hard to escape from it without loss of plumage. Alan's temper +had certainly changed for the worse, but his good-nature stood by him +still; so, when a comrade wrote from the country, to beg him to act as +proxy in a delicate money transaction with the aforesaid attorneys, he +assented very willingly, and was rather glad to have something to employ +his afternoon. He had just come up from his hunting quarters, where the +dry, dusty ground rode like asphalte, and scent was a recollection of +the far past. + +After some trouble he lighted on the right staircase. Raw and murky as +the outer atmosphere might be, it was pure aether compared to that of the +low-browed office into which the visitor first entered; at any hour or +season of the year, you could fancy that room maintaining a good, +steady, condensed dusk of its own, in which fog, and smoke, and dust, +had about equal shares. Two clerks sat there, writing busily. The one +nearest the door--a thick-set, sullen man, past middle age--looked up as +Alan came in, and stretching out a grimy hand, said, in a dull, +mechanical voice, + +"Your card, sir, if you please--Sir Alan Wyverne wishes to see Mr. +Humphrey." + +It was evidently the formula of reception in that ominous ante-chamber. + +The other clerk had not lifted his head when the door opened; but he +started violently when he heard the name, so as nearly to upset the +inkstand in which he chanced to be dipping his pen, and turned round +with a sort of terror on his haggard, ruined face. It might have been a +very handsome face once, but the wrinkled, flaccid flesh had fallen away +round the hollow temples and from under the heavy eyes; the complexion +was unhealthy, pale, and sodden; the features pinched and drawn, to +deformity; the lines on the forehead were like trenches, and the +abundant dark hair was, not sprinkled, but streaked and patched, +irregularly, with grey. + +But, at the first glance, Wyverne recognised the face of a very old +friend; he recognised it the more easily because, when he saw it last, +it wore almost the same wild, scared look--on the memorable Derby day +when "Cloanthus" swept past the stand, scarcely extended, the two +leading favourites struggling vainly to reach his quarters. + +All his self-command was needed to enable him to suppress the +exclamation that sprang to his lips; but he rarely made a mistake when +it was a question of tact or delicacy. He followed his conductor into +the next room, silently; it chanced to be vacant at that moment; then +Alan laid his hand on the clerk's shoulder, as he stood with averted +eyes, shaking like an aspen, and said, in tones carefully lowered-- + +"My God! Hugh Crichton--you here?" + +"Hush," the other answered, in a lower whisper still; "that's not my +name now. You wouldn't spoil my last chance, if you could help it? If +you want to see me, wait five minutes after you leave this place, and +I'll come to you in the square." + +"I'll wait, if it's an hour," Wyverne said, and so passed into the inner +room without another word. His business was soon done; even Humphrey and +Gliddon could find no pretext for detaining clients who came with money +in their hand. Alan did not exchange a glance with either of the +occupants of the clerks'-room as he went out; he breathed more freely +when he was in chill March air again. As he walked up and down the +opposite side of the square, which was nearly deserted, his thoughts +were very pitiful and sad. + +Hardly a year passes without the appearance of one or more comets in +society; none of these have sparkled more briefly and brilliantly than +Hugh Crichton. Everybody liked, and many admired him, but the world had +hardly begun to appreciate his rare and versatile talents, when he shot +down into the outer darkness. He had friends who would have helped him +if they could, but all trace of him was lost, and none could say for +certain whether he lived or no. + +Wyverne had not waited many minutes, when a bent, shrunken figure came +creeping slowly, almost stealthily, towards him, keeping well in the +shadow of the buildings. In another moment, Alan was grasping both his +ancient comrade's hands, with a cordial, honest gripe, that might have +put heart and hope into the veriest castaway. + +"Dear old Hugh! how glad I am to light on you again, though you are so +fearfully changed. Why, they said you had died abroad." + +"No such luck," the other answered, with a dreary laugh. "I did go +abroad, and stayed there till I was nearly starved; then I came back. +London's the best hiding place, after all; and if you have hands and +brain, you can always earn enough to buy bread, and spirits, and +tobacco. I've been in this place more than a year; I get a pound a week, +and I think of 'striking' soon for an advance of five shillings. They +won't lose me if they can help it; I save them a clerk, at least; old +Gliddon never asked me another question after he saw me write a dozen +lines. My work is all indoors, that's one comfort; they haven't asked me +to serve a writ yet; my senior--you saw him--the man with a strong cross +of the bull about the head--does all that business, and likes it. But +the firm don't trust me much, and they would be more unpleasant still, +if they knew 'Henry Carstairs' was a false name. No one has much +interest now in hunting me down; it's old friends' faces I've always +been afraid of meeting. But I did think that none of our lot would ever +have set foot in that den, and I had got to fancy myself safe. You +didn't come on your own affairs, Alan, I know. I had an extra grog the +night I heard you had fallen in for Castle Dacre. I rather think I am +glad to see you, after all." + +He jerked out the sentences in a nervous, abrupt way, perpetually +glancing round, as if he were afraid of being watched; he was so +manifestly ill-at-ease that Wyverne had not the heart to keep him there; +besides it was cruelty to expose the emaciated frame, so thinly clad, a +minute longer than was necessary, to the keen evening air. + +"Why, Hugh, of course you're glad to see me," Alan said, forcing himself +to speak cheerily; "the idea of doubting about it! But it's too cold to +stand chattering here. I'm staying at the Clarendon: you'll come at +seven, sharp, won't you? We'll dine in my rooms, quite alone, and have a +long talk about old days, and new ones, too. I'll have thought of +something better for you by that time, than this infernal +quill-driving." + +Hugh Crichton hesitated visibly for a few seconds, and appeared to make +up his mind, with a sudden effort, to something not altogether +agreeable. + +"Thank you: you're very good, Alan. Yes, I'll come, the more because +I've something on my mind that I ought to tell you; but I should never +have had the pluck to look you up, if you had not found me. I hope your +character at the Clarendon can stand a shock; it will be compromised +when they hear such a scare-crow ask for your rooms. I can't stay a +moment longer, but I'll be punctual." + +He crept away with the same weak, stealthy step, and his head seemed +bent down lower than when he came. + +Nevertheless, when, at the appointed hour, the guest sat down opposite +his host, the contrast was not so very striking. The office-drudge was +scarcely recognisable; he seemed to freshen and brighten up wonderfully, +in an atmosphere that had once been congenial. Even so, those bundles of +dried twigs that Eastern travellers bring home, and enthusiasts call +"Roses of Sharon" (such Roses!), expand under the influence of warmth +and moisture, so as to put forth the feeble semblance of a flower. The +black suit was terribly threadbare, and hung loosely round the shrunken +limbs, but it adapted itself to the wearer's form, with the easy, +careless grace for which Hugh Crichton's dress had always been +remarkable; his neck-tie was still artistic in its simplicity, and the +hair swept over his brow with the old classic wave; his demeanour bore +no trace of a sojourn in Alsatia, and a subtle refinement of manner and +gesture clung naturally to the wreck of a gallant gentleman. Some plants +you know--not the meanest nor the least fragrant--flourish more kindly +in the crevices of a ruin than in the richest loam. + +It was a pleasant dinner, on the whole, though not a very lively one; +for Alan had too much tact to force conviviality. Crichton ate +sparingly, but drank deep; he did not gulp down his liquor, though, +greedily, but rather savoured it with a slow enjoyment, suffering his +palate to appreciate every shade of the flavour; the long, satisfied +sigh that he could not repress as he set down empty the first beaker of +dry champagne, spoke volumes. + +They drew up to the fire when the table was cleared, and they were left +alone. Wyverne rose suddenly, and leant over towards his companion with +a velvet cigar-case in his hand, that he had just taken from the +mantelpiece. + +"You must tell me your story for the last few years," he said; "but put +that case in your pocket before you begin. There are some regalias in +it, of the calibre you used to fancy, and--a couple of hundreds, in +notes, to go on with. You dear, silly old Hugh! Don't shake your head +and look scrupulous. Why, I won thrice as much of you at _ecarte_ in the +week before that miserable Derby, and you never asked for your revenge. +You should have it now if either you or I were in cue for play. +Seriously--I want you to feel at ease before you begin to talk; I want +you to feel that your troubles are over, and that you never need go near +that awful _guet-a-pens_ again. I've got a permanent arrangement in my +head, that will suit you, I hope, and set you right for ever and a day. +Hugh, you know if our positions were reversed, I should ask you for help +just as frankly as I expect you will take it from me." + +Crichton shivered all over, worse than he had done out in the cold March +evening. + +"Put the case down," he said hoarsely. "It will be time enough to talk +about that and your good intentions half-an-hour hence. I'll tell you +what I have been doing, if you care to hear." + +Now, though the story interested Wyverne sincerely, it would be simple +cruelty to inflict it on you; with very slight variations, it might have +applied to half the _viveurs_ that have been ruined during the last +hundred years. Still, not many men could have listened unmoved to such a +tale, issuing from the mouth of an ancient friend. When he had come to a +certain point in his story, the speaker paused abruptly. + +"Poor Hugh!" Alan said. "How you must have suffered. Take breath now; +I'm certain your throat wants moistening, and the claret has been +waiting on you this quarter of an hour. It's my turn to speak; I'm +impatient to tell you my plan. The agent at Castle Dacre is so +wonderfully old and rheumatic, that it makes one believe in miracles +when he climbs on the back of his pony. I would give anything to have a +decent excuse for pensioning him off. I shall never live there much, and +the property is so large, that it ought to be properly looked after. If +you don't mind taking care of a very dreary old house, there's L800 a +year, and unlimited lights and coals, (they used to burn about ten tons +a week, I believe,) and all the snipe and fowl you like to shoot, +waiting for you. I shall be the obliged party if you'll take it; for it +will ease my conscience, which at present is greatly troubled. The work +is not so hard, and you've head enough for anything." + +Not pleasure or gratitude, but rather vexation and confusion showed +themselves in Crichton's face. + +"Can't you have patience!" he muttered, irritably. "Didn't I ask you to +wait till you had heard all? There's more, and worse, to tell; though I +don't know, yet, how much harm was done." + +He went on to say, that about the time when things were at the worst +with him, he had stumbled upon Harding Knowles; they had been +contemporaries at Oxford, and rather intimate. Harding did not appear to +rejoice much at the encounter; though he must have guessed at the first +glance the strait to which his old acquaintance was reduced, he made no +offer of prompt assistance, but asked for Crichton's address, expressing +vague hopes of being able to do something for him; Hugh gave it with +great reluctance, and only under a solemn promise of secrecy. He did not +the least expect that Knowles would remember him, and was greatly +surprised when the latter called some five or six weeks afterwards. +Harding's tone was much more cordial than it had been at their first +meeting; he seemed really sorry at having failed, so far, in finding +anything that would suit Crichton, and actually pressed him to borrow +L10--or more if it was required--to meet present emergencies. An +instinctive suspicion almost made Hugh refuse the loan; he felt as if he +would rather be indebted to any man alive than to the person who offered +it; but he was so fearfully "hard up" that he had not the courage to +decline. Knowles came again and again, with no ostensible object except +cheering his friend's solitude, and each time was ready to open his +purse. "We must get you something before long, and then you can repay +me," he would say. Crichton availed himself of these offers more than +once, moderately; he began to think that he had done his benefactor +great injustice, and looked for his visits eagerly; indeed, few +_causeurs_, when he chose to exert himself, could talk more pleasantly +than Knowles. + +One evening the conversation turned, apparently by chance, to old +memories of college days. + +"That was the best managed thing we ever brought off," Harding said at +last, "when we made Alick Drummond carry on a regular correspondence +with a foreign lady of the highest rank, who was madly in love with him. +How did we christen the Countess? I forget. But I remember the letters +you wrote for her; the delicate feminine character was the most perfect +thing I ever saw. Have you lost that talent of imitating handwriting? It +must have been a natural gift; I never saw it equalled." + +"Write down a sentence or two," Hugh replied; "I'll show you if I have +lost the knack." + +He copied them out on two similar sheets of paper, and gave the three to +Knowles after confusing them under the table: the latter actually +started, and the admiration that he displayed was quite sincere: the +_fac similes_, indeed, were so miraculously like the original, that it +was next to impossible to distinguish them. + +"I can guess what is coming," Alan whispered softly, seeing the speaker +pause. "Go on straight and quick to the end, for God's love, and keep +nothing back. Don't look at me." + +The white working lips had no need to say more: the other saw the whole +truth directly. He clenched his hand with a savage curse, but Alan's sad +deprecating eyes checked the passionate outbreak of remorse and anger. +Sullenly and reluctantly--like a spirit forced to reveal the secrets of +his prison-house--Hugh Crichton went through all the miserable details. + +Knowles had represented himself as being on such very intimate terms +with Wyverne, as fully to justify him in attempting a practical joke. + +"Alan's the best fellow in the world," he said, airily, "but he believes +that it is impossible to take him in about womankind. There's the finest +possible chance just now, and it can be managed so easily, if you will +only help me." + +Hugh's natural delicacy and sense of honour, dulled and weakened by +drink and degradation, had life enough left to revolt suspiciously. But +the other brought to bear pretexts and arguments, specious enough to +have deluded a stronger intellect and quieted a keener conscience: he +particularly insisted on the point that the lady's character could bear +being compromised, and that the secret would never go beyond Alan and +himself. Hugh had to contend, besides, against a sense of heavy +obligation, and the selfish fear of offending the only friend that was +left to back him. Of course, eventually he consented. The next morning +Harding brought a specimen of the handwriting--a long and perfectly +insignificant note, with the signature torn off--(he was a great +collector of autographs): he was also provided with paper and envelopes, +both marked with a cypher, which he took pains to conceal. Crichton +could not be sure of the initials, but he caught a glimpse of their +colour--a brilliant scarlet. The tone of the fictitious letter, though +the expressions were guardedly vague, seemed strangely earnest for a +mere mystification; certainly an intimate acquaintance was implied +between the writer and the person to whom it was addressed. The copyist +was more than half dissatisfied; he grumbled a good many objections +while employed on his task, and was very glad when it was over. The +signature was simply "N.," an initial which occurred more than once in +the specimen note, so that it was easy to reproduce a very peculiar wavy +flourish. The imitation was a masterpiece, and Knowles was profuse of +thanks and praises. + +He did not allude to the matter more than once during the next few +weeks, and then only to remark, in a careless, casual way, that the plot +was going on swimmingly. This struck Crichton as rather odd; neither the +pleasure of Knowles's society nor the comparative luxuries which liberal +advances supplied, could keep him from feeling very uncomfortable at +times. One morning, late in December, a note came, begging him to dine +with Harding that night in the Temple; the writer "was going into the +country almost immediately." + +It was a very succulent repast, and poor Hugh, as was his wont, drank +largely; nevertheless, when, late in the evening, Knowles asked him to +repeat his calligraphic feat, and showed the draft of a letter, it +became evident, even to his clouded brain, that something more than +"merry mischief" was intended; at first he refused flatly and rudely. +Indeed, any rational being, unless very far gone in drink or +self-delusion, must have suspected foul play. Not only was the tone of +the letter passionate to a degree, but it contained allusions of real +grave import; and one name was actually mentioned--Helen Vavasour's. +Knowles was playing his grand _coup_, and necessarily had to risk +something. He was not at all disconcerted at the resistance he +encountered; he had a plausible explanation ready to meet every +objection. "He was going down to Dene the next day, on purpose to enjoy +the _denouement_; it would be such a pity to spoil it now. Miss Vavasour +was a cousin who had known Alan from her infancy; she would appreciate +the trick as well as any one; but, of course, she was never to know of +it. This was the very last time he would ask his friend's help." So the +tempter went on, alternately ridiculing and cajoling Hugh's scruples, +all the while drenching him with strong liquor: at length he prevailed. + +Crichton was one of those men whose hand and eye, often to their own +detriment, will keep steady when their brain is whirling. He executed +his task with a mechanical perfection, though he was scarcely aware of +the meaning of each sentence as he wrote it down. Knowles took +possession of the letter as soon as it was done, and locked it up +carefully. + +The revel became an orgie: the last thing that Hugh remembered +distinctly was--marking a devilish satisfaction on his companion's +crafty face, that made his own blood boil. After that everything was +chaos. He had a vague recollection of having tried to get back the +letter--of high words and a serious quarrel--even of a blow exchanged; +but the impressions were like those left by a painful nightmare. He woke +from a long heavy stupor, such as undrugged liquor could scarcely +produce, and found himself on a door-step in his own street, without a +notion of how he had got there, subject to the attentions of a +benevolent policeman, who would not allow him to enjoy, undisturbed, "a +lodging upon the cold ground." The next day came a curt contemptuous +note from Harding Knowles, to say "that he was glad to have been of some +assistance to an old friend, and that he should never expect repayment +of his advances; but that nothing would induce him to risk a repetition +of the painful scene of last night." They had never met since. Crichton +was constantly haunted with the idea of having been an accessory to some +base villany; and would have communicated his suspicions, long ago, to +Wyverne, if it had not been for the false pride which made him keep +aloof from all ancient acquaintance, as if he had been plague-stricken. + +Alan sat perfectly quiet and silent, till the other had finished, only +betraying emotion by a convulsive twisting of the fingers that shaded +his eyes. All at once he broke out into a harsh bitter laugh. + +"You thought it was a practical joke? So it was--a very practical one, +and right well played out. Do you know what it cost me? The hope and +happiness of my life--that's all. Why, if I were to drain that lying +hound's blood, drop by drop, he would be in my debt still!" + +Then his head sank on his crossed arms, and he began to murmur to +himself--so piteously-- + +"Ah, my Helen! my lost Helen!" + +The beaten-down, degraded look possessed the castaway's face stronger +than ever. + +"Didn't I ask you to wait till I had told you all?" he muttered. "I knew +how it would be; that was why I hesitated to accept your invitation +to-day. Let me go now; I cannot comfort you or help you either. You +meant kindly though, old friend, and I thank you all the same. +Good-bye." + +Alan lifted his head quickly. His eyes were not angry--only +inexpressibly sad. + +"Sit down, Hugh," he said, "and don't be hasty. You might give one a +moment's breathing-time after a blow like that. I haven't spirits enough +for argument, much less for quarrelling. I know well if you had been in +your sober senses, and had thought it would really harm me, no earthly +bribe would have tempted you to pen one line. You can help me very much; +and I will trust you so far from the bottom of my heart; as for +comfort--I must trust to God. I hold to every word of my offers. I am so +very glad I made them before I heard all this; for I can ask you to +serve me now without your suspecting a bribe." + +Length of misery tames stoicism as it crushes better feelings: a spirit +nearly broken yields easily to weakness that would shame hearts +inexperienced in sorrow. The pride of manhood could not check the big +drops that wetted Crichton's hollow cheeks before Wyverne had finished +speaking. + +They talked long and seriously that night. Alan did not trust by halves; +he forced himself to go into every detail that it was necessary the +other should know, though some words and names seemed to burn his lips +in passing. Before they parted their plan was fully arranged. Hugh was +to resign his clerkship at once, so as to devote himself exclusively to +completing the chain of proofs that would criminate at least the main +movers in the plot. Alan clung persistently to the idea that Clydesdale +had a good deal to do with it. + +It is needless to say that the amateur detective worked with all his +heart, and soul, and strength. His temperance was worthy of an +anchorite; and, when he kept his senses about him, Crichton could be as +patient and keen-scented as the most practised of legal bloodhounds. +Before a week was over, he had collected evidence, conclusive and +consecutive enough, to have convinced any Court of Honour, though +perhaps it would not have secured a verdict from those free and +enlightened Britons who will make a point of acquitting any murderer +that does not chance to be caught "red-handed." Truly ours is a noble +Constitution, and Trial by Jury is one of its fairest pillars; but I +have heard a paragon Judge speak blasphemy thereanent. If the Twelve +were allowed the French latitude of finding "extenuating circumstances," +I believe the coolest on the Bench would go distraught, in helpless +wrath and contempt. + +Wyverne knew the shop that Mrs. Lenox patronized for _papeterie_. They +ascertained there that a man answering exactly to the description of +Knowles had called, one day in that autumn, and had asked for a packet +of envelopes and note-paper, stating that he was commissioned to take +them down in the country, and producing one of the lady's cards as a +credential. The stationer particularly remembered it from the fact of +the purchase having been paid for on the spot. Trifling as the amount +was--only a few shillings--it was a curious infraction of Nina's +commercial system, which was, as a rule, consistently Pennsylvanian. +Crichton had certainly contracted no new friendships during his office +servitude, but he had made a few acquaintances at some of the haunts +frequented nightly by revellers of the clerkly guild. He worked one of +these engines of information very effectually. Harding had more than +once given him a cheque to a small amount, which he had got cashed +through one of the subordinates of the bank, whom he had chanced to +fraternize with at the "Cat and Compasses," or some such reputable +hostel. At the expense of much persuasion, and a timely advance to the +official, whose convivial habits were getting him into difficulties, +Hugh was in a position to prove that Knowles had paid into his account, +early in the January following that eventful Christmas, a cheque for +L5000, signed by Lord Clydesdale. The money remained standing to his +credit for some time, but had since been drawn out for investment. The +dates of the composition of the fictitious letters corresponded exactly +with the times at which Alan had received them. + +Altogether, the case seemed tolerably clear, and a net of proof was +drawn round Harding Knowles that it would puzzle even his craft to +escape from. + +I do not enter into the question whether the influences of high +Civilization are sanctifying, or the reverse; but on some grounds, it +surely ought to improve our Christianity, if it were only for the +obstacles standing in the path of certain pagan propensities. One would +think that even an infidel might see the folly of letting the sun go +down on futile wrath. In truth, nowadays, the prosecution of a purely +personal and private vengeance is not alone immoral in itself, but +exceedingly difficult to carry out. You cannot go forth and smite your +enemy under the fifth rib, wheresoever you may meet, after the simple +antique fashion. You must lure him across the Channel before you can +even proceed after the formula of the polite _duello_--supposing always +that the adversary had not infringed the criminal code. + +Alan Wyverne's nature was not sublime enough to admit a thought of +forgiveness, now. Since he held the instruments of retaliation in his +hand, he had never faltered for one moment in his vindictive purpose; +but--how best to complete it--was a problem over which he brooded +gloomily for hours, without touching the solution. + + + + +CHAPTER XXII. + +AN OLD SCORE PAID. + + +It is needless to explain, that on Harding Knowles Wyverne's anger was +chiefly concentrated. Clydesdale came in for his share; but, so far, it +was difficult to establish the extent of the Earl's connection with the +plot. When the Divine warning, "Vengeance is Mine," has once been +ignored, very few men are so cold-blooded, as to exclude entirely from +their plan of retribution, the old simple method of exacting it with +their own right hand. As Alan sat thinking, a vision would rise before +him, dangerously attractive: he saw a waste of sand-hills stretching for +leagues along the coast of France; so remote from road or dwelling, that +a shot would never be heard unless it were by a strange fishing-boat out +at sea; so seldom traversed, that the body of a murdered man might lie +there for days undiscovered, unless the gathering birds told tales; he +saw the form of his enemy standing up in relief against the clear +morning-light, within a dozen paces of the muzzle of his pistol. I fear +it was more the impracticability of the idea than its sinfulness, which +made Alan decide that it ought to be relinquished. Sometimes it needs no +great casuistry to enable even the best-natured of us to give, in our +own minds, a verdict of Justifiable Homicide. But upon calm +consideration, it was about a million to one against Harding's being +induced to risk himself in a duel, which he might guess would be to the +death, where the chances would be heavily against him. As a rule, +forgers don't fight. + +There were great difficulties too, about a public exposure--so great +that Alan never really entertained the idea for a moment. He would just +as soon have thought of publishing a scurrilous libel about those whom +he loved best, as of allowing their names to be paraded for the world's +amusement and criticism. + +While he was still in doubt and perplexity, he chanced to meet one +morning, a famous physician, with whom he was rather intimate, though +he had never employed him professionally. Dr. Eglinton was a general +favourite; many people, besides his patients, liked to hear his full +cheery tones, and to see his quaint pleasant face, with the _fin +sourire_ that pointed his inexhaustible anecdotes; he was the most +inveterate gossip that ever steered quite clear of ill-nature. + +"You're not looking in such rude health as one would suspect at the end +of the hunting season," the Doctor said, "but I suppose there's nothing +in my way this morning. I wish I could say as much for an old friend of +yours, whom I have just left at the Burlington. It's the Rector of Dene. +By the bye, it would be a great charity if you would call on him to-day: +he seems lonely and out of spirits--indeed, the nature of his disease is +depressing. I know he's very fond of you, and you might do him more good +than my physic can. I fear it is a hopeless case--a heart-complaint of +some standing--though the symptoms have only become acute and aggravated +within the last two years. Do you know if he has had any great domestic +troubles or worries of late? He was not communicative, and I did not +dare to press him. Nothing can be so bad for him as anything of the +sort; and any heavy or sudden shock might be instantly fatal." + +It was not only surprise and pain, but sharp self-reproach too, that +made Wyverne turn so pale. Revenge is essentially selfish, even when it +will reason at all; he had actually forgotten his kind old friend's +existence while pondering how to punish his son. He knew right well what +had been the great trouble that had weighed on Gilbert Knowles's heart +for the last two years. The Rector was of course unable to intercede or +avert the catastrophe; but, when he heard of the final rupture of +Helen's engagement, he bowed his head despairingly, and had never raised +it since. I told you how he loved her, and how sincerely he loved Alan. +On their union rested the last of his hopes; when that was crushed, he +felt he should never have strength or spirits enough to nourish another. + +No wonder Wyverne's reply was strangely embarrassed and inconsequent: + +"I don't know--yes--perhaps there may have been some trouble on his +mind. The dear old Rector! I wish I had heard of this before. Of course +I'll go to him; but not to-day--it's impossible to-day. Good-bye: I +shall see you again very soon. I shall want to hear about your patient." + +His manner, usually _pose_ to a degree, was so abrupt just then, that it +set the Doctor musing as he walked away. + +"There's something wrong there," he muttered, half aloud (it was a way +he had); "I wish I knew what it was; he's well worth curing. He's not +half the man he was when he was ruined. None of us are, for that matter: +I suppose there's something bracing in the air of poverty. I did hear +something about a cousinly attachment, but it can't be that: Wyverne is +made of too sterling stuff to pine away because an _amourette_ goes +wrong: besides, he's always with Lady Clydesdale now, they say. What +_don't_ they say, if one had only time to listen," &c., &c. + +The good physician had a little subdued element of cynicism in his +nature, which he only indulged when soliliquizing, or over the one cigar +that professional decorum winked at, when the long day's toil was done. + +"Not to-day." No; Alan felt that it would be impossible to meet the +father, till the interview with the son was over. He went back to his +rooms, and sat there thinking for a full hour. Then he took some papers +from a locked casket, and went straight to the Temple. + +Knowles's servant chanced to be out, so he came himself to open the door +of his chambers. He was prosperous and careful, you know, and could meet +the commercial world boldly, abroad or at home; but the most timorous of +insolvents never felt so disagreeable a thrill at the apparition of the +sternest of creditors, as shot through Harding's nerves when he saw on +the threshold, the calm courteous face, of the man whom he disliked and +feared beyond all living. There was something in that face--though a +careless observer would have detected no ruffle in its serenity--that +stopped the other in his greeting, and in the act of offering his hand. +Not a word passed between the two, till Knowles had followed his visitor +into the innermost of the two sitting-rooms, closing the doors +carefully behind them. Then Wyverne spoke-- + +"An old friend of mine has given me a commission to do. I had better get +through that before coming to my own business. You advanced several sums +to Hugh Crichton at different times, lately; will you be good enough to +say, if that list of them is right?" + +There could not be a more striking proof of how completely Knowles's +nerves were unstrung, than the fact, that he looked at the paper without +having a notion as to the correctness of the items, and without the +faintest interest in the question. He answered quite at random, speaking +quick and confusedly-- + +"Yes, they are quite right; but it doesn't in the least matter. I never +expected--" + +"Pardon me," Alan interrupted, "it doesn't matter very much--_to us_. +Perhaps since you have become a capitalist, you can afford to be +careless of such trifles. Hugh Crichton does not think it a trifle to +owe money to you. Here is the exact sum as far as he can remember it. It +is your own fault if you have cheated yourself. I will not trouble you +for a receipt. I dare say you did not expect to be paid, still less by +my hand. That is settled. Now I will talk about my own affairs." + +Though he spoke so quietly, there was a subtle contempt in his tone, +that made every word fall like a lash. Again and again, Harding tried to +meet the steady look of the cold grave eyes, and failed each time +signally. He tried bluster, thus early in the interview, in sheer +despair. + +"I can't guess at your object, but your manner is not to be mistaken. It +is evident you come here with the deliberate purpose of insulting me. +I'm afraid I must disappoint you, Sir Alan. I decline to enter into your +own affairs at all, and I consider our conversation ended here." + +The other laughed scornfully, and his accent became harder and more +_tranchant_ than ever. + +"Bah!--you lose your head! There are two gross errors in that last +speech. I don't come to insult, because, to insult a person, you must +presume he has some title to self-respect. I utterly deny your right to +such a thing. And you will listen as long as I choose to speak; you may +be sure I shall not use an unnecessary word. I come here to make certain +accusations and to impose certain conditions--or penalties, if you like. +It's not worth while picking expressions." + +Harding sat down, actually gnashing his teeth in impotent rage, leaning +his elbows on his knees, and resting his chin on his clenched hands. + +"Go on, then," he snarled, "and be quick about it." + +"I accuse you," Alan answered, steadily, "of having played the part of +common spy; of having composed, if you did not write, two anonymous +letters to Lady Mildred and her daughter; afterwards, of having maligned +a woman whom you never spoke to, by causing her handwriting to be +forged; of having made a dear friend of mine, a gentleman of birth and +breeding, unwittingly your accomplice, when he was brought so low that +the Tempter himself might have spared him; of having done me, and +perhaps my cousin, a mortal injury, when neither of us had ever hurt you +by word or deed. I accuse you of having done all this for hire, for the +specific sum of L5,000, paid you by Lord Clydesdale within a month after +your villany was consummated. You need not trouble yourself to +contradict one syllable of this, unless you choose to lie for the +pleasure of lying. I have the written proofs here." + +Knowles's head went down lower and lower while Wyverne was speaking; +when he raised his face, it was fantastically convulsed and horribly +livid, like one of those that we see in the illustrations to the +_Inferno_, besetting the path of the travellers through the penal +Circles. He was too anxious to escape from his torture, to protract it +by a single vain denial; but he would not throw one chance of palliation +away. + +"It was not a bribe," he gasped out, "it was a regular bet. Look, I can +show it you." + +He drew his tablets out and tore them open with a shaking hand; and, +after finding the page with great difficulty, pointed it out to Wyverne. + +The latter just glanced at the entry, and cast down the book with +crushing contempt. + +"Five thousand to fifty," he said; "I've been long enough on the turf to +construe those odds. The veriest robber in the ring would not have dared +to show your 'regular bet.' Now, answer me one question--'How far was +Clydesdale cognizant of your plot?'" + +"He has never heard one word of it, up to this moment," the other +answered, eagerly. "I swear it. You may make any inquiries you like. I +_can_ defy you there. But some one else did know of it, and approved it +too; that was----" + +Wyverne's tone changed savagely as he broke in. + +"_Will_ you confine yourself to answering the questions you are asked? I +don't want any confessions volunteered, I attach no real importance to +them, after all; but it grates on one to hear people maligned +unnecessarily. Now, I'll tell you what I mean to do about it. I thought +at first of inducing you to cross the Channel, and giving you a chance +of your life against mine there; but I gave that up, because I knew you +would not come. Then I thought--a brutal, last resource--of beating you +into a cripple, here. I gave that up, because I never could thrash a dog +that lay down at the first cut, writhing and howling; I know so well +that would have been your line. Do you want to say anything?" + +A sudden change in Harding's countenance made Alan pause. You may have +seen how utterly deficient he was both in moral and physical courage; +but the last faint embers of manhood smouldered into sullen flame, under +the accumulation of insult. He had risen to his feet with a dark +devilish malice on his face, and made a step towards a table near him. + +Wyverne's keen gaze read his purpose thoroughly, but never wavered in +its freezing contempt. + +"Ah, that's the drawer where you keep your revolver," he said. "If you +drive a rat into a corner, he will turn sometimes. I don't believe you +would have nerve to shoot; but I mean to run no risks. I came prepared +after I gave up the bastinado. There's something heavier than wood in +this malacca. I'll break your wrist if you attempt to touch the lock. +That's better; sit down again and listen. Then--I thought of bringing +the matter before a committee of every club you belong to, suppressing +all the names but my own. I could have done it; my credit's good for so +much, if I choose to use it. I only gave up that idea three hours ago. +It was when I heard of the Rector's being so seriously ill. The fathers +suffer for the sins of the children often enough; but I have not the +heart to give _yours_ his death-blow. You will appreciate the weakness +thoroughly, I don't doubt. On one condition I shall keep your treachery +a secret from all, except those immediately concerned; that condition +is, that you never show yourself in any company where, by the remotest +chance, you could meet either Lady Clydesdale, Mrs. Lenox, any of the +Dene family, or myself. I'll do my duty to society so far, at all +events. Do you accept or refuse?" + +"I have no choice," the other muttered, hoarsely and sullenly; "you have +me in a vice, you know that." + +"Then it is so understood," Wyverne went on. "You needn't waste your +breath in promising and swearing. You'll keep your quarantine, I feel +sure. If not,----" (it was a very significant pause). "After all, my +forbearance only hangs on your poor father's life, and I fear that is a +slender thread indeed." + +The mention of Gilbert Knowles's name seemed to have no effect whatever +upon his son; he did not even appear grateful for its mute intercession +between him and public shame: but Alan's voice softened insensibly as he +uttered it. When he spoke again, after a minute's silence, his tone was +rather sad than scornful. + +"If you wanted money so much, why, in God's name, did you not come to +me? I would have sold my last chance of a reversion, and have begged or +borrowed from every friend I had, sooner than have let Clydesdale outbid +me. The plunge was taken, when you could once think of such infamy; you +might as well have sold yourself to me. Those miserable thousands must +have been your only motive, for you had no reason, that I know of, to +dislike me." + +For the first time since the interview began, Harding Knowles looked the +speaker straight in the eyes: his face was still white as a corpse's, +but its expression was scarcely human in its intense malignity. + +"You're wrong," he said, between his teeth: "the money wasn't the only +motive. Not dislike you! Curse you!--I've hated you from the first +moment that we met. Do you fancy, I thank you for your forbearance now? +I'd poison you if I could, or murder you where you stand, if I dared. I +hated your languid ways, and your quiet manner, and your soft speech, +and your cool courtesy--hated them all. You never spoke naturally but +once--on the hall-steps of Dene. Do you suppose I have forgotten that, +or the look in your cousin's eyes? I tell you I hated you both. I felt +you despised and laughed at me all the while, and you had no right to do +so--then. It is different--different--now." + +His brain, usually so calculating and crafty, for the moment was utterly +distraught; he could not even command his voice, which rose almost into +a shriek while he was speaking, and in the last words sank abruptly into +a hollow groan. It was a terrible and piteous sight. But you have heard +how implacable at certain seasons Alan Wyverne could be: neither the +agony of the passion, nor the misery of the humiliation, moved his +compassion in the least; he watched the outbreak and the relapse, with a +smile of serene satisfaction that had been strange to his face for some +time past. + +"So you really disliked my manner?" he said, in his own slow, pensive +way. "I remember, years ago, an ancient Duchesse of the Faubourg telling +me it had a savour of the _Vieille Cour_. I was intensely flattered +then, for I was very young. I am not sure that I ought not to be more +gratified now. I think I am. The instincts of hate are truer than those +of love. Mde. de Latreaumont was as kind as a mother to me, and might +have been deceived. I have no more to say. You know the conditions: if +you transgress them by a hair's breadth, you will hear of it--not from +me." + +He left the room without another word. It is doubtful if Knowles heard +that last taunt, or knew that his visitor was gone. He had buried his +face again in his hands; and so, for minutes sat motionless. All at once +he started up, went to the outer "oak," and dropped the bolt which made +his servant's pass-key useless, and then returned to his old seat, still +apparently half stunned and stupefied. + +Do you think the forger and traitor escaped easily? It may be so; but +remember the exaggerated importance that Harding attached to his social +position and advancement. I believe that many, whose earthly ruin has +just been completed, have felt less miserable, and hopeless, and +spirit-broken, than the man who sat there, far into the twilight, +staring at the fire with haggard eyes, that never saw the red coals turn +grey. + +It is true, that when Nina Lenox heard from Alan a _resume_ of the day's +proceedings, she decided at once that the retribution was wholly +inadequate and unsatisfactory. But one need not multiply instances to +prove the truism, if women are exacting in love, they are thrice as +exacting in revenge. I cannot remember where I read the old romaunt of +the knight who came just in time to save his lady from the burning, by +vanquishing her traducer in the lists. The story is commonplace and +trite to a degree. I only remember the one instance that made it +remarkable. The conqueror stood with his foot on the neck of the enemy; +his chivalrous heart melted towards the vanquished, who, after all, had +done his devoir gallantly in an evil cause. He would have suffered him +to rise and live, but he chanced to glance inquiringly towards the pale +woman at the stake, and, says the chronicler, "by the bending of her +brows, and the blink of her eyes, he wist that she bade him--'not +spare!'" So the good knight sighed heavily, and, turning his sword-point +once more to the neck of the fallen man, drove the keen steel through +mail and flesh and bone. + +Ah, my friend! may it never be your lot or mine, to lie prone at the +mercy of a woman whom we have wronged past hope of forgiveness; be sure, +that eyes and brows will speak as plainly as they did a thousand years +agone, and their murderous message will be much the same. + + + + +CHAPTER XXIII. + +DIPLOMACY AT A DISCOUNT. + + +It would be rather difficult to define Wyverne's feelings after his +interview with Knowles. I fear that the utter humiliation of his enemy +failed entirely to satisfy him; but, on the whole, I think he scarcely +regretted not having pushed reprisals to extremities. At least there was +this advantage; he could sit with the Rector now, for hours, and strive +to cheer the poor invalid, with a quiet conscience; he could never have +borne to come to his presence with the deliberate purpose at his heart +of bringing public shame on Gilbert's son. + +At the beginning of the following week, Alan heard that the Squire and +Lady Mildred were in town for a couple of days, on their way home from +Devonshire. He knew the hour at which he was certain to find "my lady" +alone, and timed his visit accordingly. Now, though the family breach +had been closed up long ago, and though Wyverne was with Lady Clydesdale +perpetually, apparently on the most cousinly terms of intimacy, it +somehow happened that he met his aunt very seldom. Still, it was the +most natural thing that he should call, under the circumstances, and "my +lady" was in no wise disconcerted when his name was announced. The +greeting, on both sides, was as affectionate as it had ever been in the +old times; it would have been impossible to say why, from the first, +Lady Mildred felt a nervous presentiment of impending danger, unless it +was--it might have been pure fancy--that Alan's manner did seem +unusually grave. So she was not surprised when he said, + +"Would you mind putting off your drive for half an hour? I will not keep +you longer; but I have one or two things that I wish very much to say to +you." + +"I'll give you the whole afternoon if you wish it, Alan," she said, in +the softest of her silky tones; "it is no great sacrifice; I shall be +glad of an excuse for escaping the cold wind. Will you ring, and tell +them I shall not want the carriage, and that I am not at home to +anybody?" + +So once again--this time without a witness--the trial of fence between +those two began; it was strange, but all the prestige of previous +victories could not make "my lady" feel confident now. + +Alan broke ground boldly, without wasting time in "parades." + +"Aunt Mildred, if some things that I have to refer to should be painful +to you, try and realize what they must be to _me_; you will see then, +that only necessity could make me speak. Do you remember when those +wretched anonymous letters first came to Dene, I told you I would find +out their author and thank him? I did both last week. More than this, I +have seen and spoken with the man who wrote those letters which we all +supposed came from Mrs. Rawdon Lenox. You never had a doubt on the +subject, of course, Aunt Mildred? I thought you would be surprised; you +will be still more so when you hear the forger's name--Harding Knowles." + +"My lady" really did suffer from headaches sometimes--with that busy, +restless brain it was no wonder--and she always had near her the +strongest smelling-salts that could be procured; but she did not know +what fainting meant, so she was absolutely terrified, when the room +seemed to go round, and Wyverne's voice sounded distant and strange, as +if it came through a long speaking-tube; the sensation passed off in a +few seconds, but while it lasted she could only feel, blindly and +helplessly, for the jewelled vinaigrette which lay within a few inches +of her elbow. Wyverne's eyes had never left her face for a moment; he +caught up the bottle quickly and put it, open, into her hand, without a +word. + +"It--it is--nothing," Lady Mildred gasped (the salts must have been +_very_ pungent.) "I have not been well for days; the surprise quite +overcame me. But oh, Alan, are you quite--quite sure? I don't like +Harding Knowles much; but it would be too cruel to accuse him of such +horrors unless you have certain proofs." + +"Make yourself easy on that score," Alan said, with his quiet smile; "no +injustice has been done. I will give you all the proofs you care to see, +directly. While you recover yourself, Aunt Mildred, let me tell you a +short story. Years ago, when we were cruising about the Orkneys, they +showed us a certain cliff that stood up a thousand feet clear out of the +North Sea, and told us what happened there. A father and his son, +sea-fowlers, were hanging on the same rope, the father undermost. +Suddenly they found that the strands were parting one by one, frayed on +a sharp edge of rock. The rope might possibly carry one to the top--not +two. Then quoth the sire, 'Your mother must not starve--cut away, +_below_.' As he said, so was it done, and the parricide got up safely. +Do you see my meaning? You say you don't like Harding Knowles? I can +well believe it; but if you cared for him next to your own children, I +should still quote the stout Orkneyman's words--'cut away, _below_.' +Now, if you will look at these papers, you will see how clear the +evidence is on which I rely." + +There was silence for some minutes, while "my lady" pretended to read +attentively; in real truth, she could not fix her attention to a line. +All her thoughts were concentrated on the one doubt--"How much does he +know?" The suspense became unendurable; it was better to hear the worst +at once. Suddenly she looked up and spoke. + +"Is it possible? Can you believe that Clydesdale was mixed up with such +a plot as this?" + +"No," Wyverne answered, frankly. "I confess I did suspect him at first; +but I don't believe, now, that he was privy to any of the details. I +think, after securing his agent's services, he left him _carte blanche_ +to act as he would. He is quite welcome to that shade of difference in +the dishonour. Well, are those proofs satisfactory? If not, I may tell +you that I saw Harding Knowles four days ago, and that he confesses +everything." + +The peculiar intonation of the last two words made Lady Mildred, once +more, feel faint with fear. She had never encountered such a danger as +this. But her wonderfully trained organ did not fail her, even in her +extreme strait; though tiny drops of dew stood on her pale forehead, +though her heart throbbed suffocatingly, her accent was still measured +and full of subdued music. + +"Did he implicate any one?" + +It was the very desperation of the sword-player, who, finding his +science baffled, comes to close quarters, with shortened blade. Alan did +indulge vindictiveness so far as to pause for a full minute before +answering, regarding his companion all the while intently. But, though +he could be pitiless towards his own sex at times, he never could bear +to see a woman in pain, even if she had injured him mortally; that +minute--a fearfully long one to "my lady"--exhausted his revenge. + +"He _would_ have done so," he replied, "but I stopped him before a name +could pass his lips. I am very glad I did. It don't follow that I should +have believed him. But it is better as it is. Don't you think so, Aunt +Mildred?" + +The revulsion of feeling tried her almost more severely than the +previous apprehension had done. At that moment "my lady" was thoroughly +and naturally grateful. Wyverne saw that she was simply incapable of a +reply just then. He was considerate enough to give her breathing space, +while he went into several details with which you are already +acquainted, and mentioned the conditions he had imposed upon +Knowles--which the latter had subscribed to. + +Lady Mildred listened and approved, mechanically. Her temperament had +been for years so well regulated that unwonted emotion really exhausted +her. Her bright dark eyes looked dull and heavy, and languor, for once, +was not feigned. + +"There is another question," Alan went on; "it is rather an important +one to me, and, I think, my chief reason for coming here to-day was to +ask your opinion, and your help, if you choose to give it. What is to be +done about Helen? You know, when a man has been in Norfolk Island for +several years, and it comes out that some one else has committed the +forgery, they always grant him a free pardon. That is the government +plan; but it don't suit me. Besides, Helen has forgiven me long ago, I +believe, and we are perfectly good friends now. For that very reason I +cannot throw the chance away of clearing myself in her eyes. There are +limits to self-denial and self-sacrifice. Yet it is delicate ground to +approach, especially for me. As far as I am concerned--'let conjugal +love continue;' it would scarcely promote a mutual good understanding, +if Helen were told of the part her lord and master played in the drama, +and of the liberal odds that he laid so early in their acquaintance. Yet +it would be hard to keep his name out of the story altogether: mere +personal dislike would never account for Knowle's elaborate frauds. Aunt +Mildred, I tell you fairly, I am not equal to the diplomatic difficulty; +but I think _you_ are. Shall I leave it in your hands entirely? If you +will only satisfy Helen that I have satisfied _you_--if you will make +her believe implicitly that I have been blameless throughout in thought, +and word, and deed, and that black treachery has been used against us +both--on my honour and faith, I will never enter on the subject, even if +she wished to do so, unless Helen or I were dying. She shall send me one +line only to say--'I believe'--and then, we will bury the sorrow and the +shame as soon as you will. I think none of us will care to move the +gravestone." + +For a moment or two "my lady" was hardly sure if she heard aright. She +knew that it was impossible to over-estimate the danger to which Wyverne +had alluded. Helen's temper had grown more and more wilful and +determined since her marriage; it was hard to say to what rash words or +deeds resentment and remorse might lead her. She knew Alan, too, well; +but she scarcely believed him capable of such a sacrifice as this. And +could he be serious in choosing _her_ as his delegate? She gazed up in +his face, half-expecting to find a covert mockery there; but its +expression was grave, almost to sternness. + +"Do you really mean it?" she faltered. "It is so good, so generous of +you. And will you trust me thoroughly?" + +"Yes, Aunt Mildred, I will trust you--_again_." + +A thousand complaints and revilings would not have carried so keen a +reproach as that which was breathed in those few sad, quiet words. Lady +Mildred shrank as she felt them come home. Involuntarily she looked up +once more: it was a fatal error. She encountered the full light of the +clear, keen eyes--resistless in the power of their single-hearted +chivalrous truth. In another second her head had gone down on Wyverne's +shoulder, as he sat close to her couch, and she was sobbing out +something incoherent about "forgiveness." + +Now, I do not suppose that the annals of intellectual duelling can +chronicle a more complete defeat than this. It is with the greatest pain +and reluctance that I record it. What avails it to be a model +_diplomate_, to sit for half a lifetime at the feet of Machiavel, to +attain impassibility and insensibility--equal to a Faquir's as a +rule--if womanhood, pure and simple, is to assert itself in such an +absurdly sudden and incongruous way? It is pleasant to reflect, that +this human nature of ours is hardly more consistent in evil than in +good. There are doubts if even the arch-cynicism of Talleyrand carried +him through to the very last. I once before ventured to draw a +comparison between him and "my lady"--that was when I _did_ believe in +her. + +Wyverne was intensely surprised, rather puzzled what to do or say, and +decidedly gratified. Though he had suspected her from the first, he had +never nourished any bitter animosity against Lady Mildred. He had a sort +of idea that she was only acting up to her principles--such as they +were--which were very much what popular opinion assigns to the ideal +Jesuit. Quite naturally and easily, he began to soothe her now. + +"Dear Aunt Mildred, I hardly know what I have to forgive" (this was +profoundly true); "but here, in my ignorance, I bestow plenary +absolution. I fear I have worried you, when you were really not well. I +won't tease you with a word more. Mind, I leave everything in your +hands, with perfect confidence." + +Lady Mildred had fallen back on her sofa again, pressing her +handkerchief against her eyes, though no tears were flowing. + +"If I had only known you better--and sooner," she murmured. + +I dare say she meant every word sincerely when she said it; +nevertheless, as a historian, I incline to believe that no insight into +Alan's character would have altered "my lady's" line of policy at any +previous moment. Perhaps some such idea crossed Wyverne's mind, for +there certainly was a slight smile on his lip, as he rose to take an +affectionate farewell. The few parting words are not worth recording. + +Alan was more than discontented, whenever he thought over these things, +calmly and dispassionately, in after days. Twice he had looked his +enemies in the face, and on both occasions had doubtless borne off the +honours of the day; but it was an unsubstantial victory at best, and a +triumph scarcely more profitable than that of the Imperial trifler, who +mustered his legions to battle, and brought back as trophies shells from +the sea-shore. The recollection was not poisonous enough to destroy the +good elements of his character, but it darkened and embittered his +nature, permanently. + +The fact is, when a man has been thoroughly duped and deluded, and has +suffered irreparably from the fraud, it is not easily forgotten, unless +retaliation has been fully commensurate with the injury. I am not +advocating a principle, but simply stating a general fact. With a great +misfortune it is different. We say--"Let us fall into His hand, not into +the hand of man." So, at least, is consolation more easily sought for, +and found. + +Remember Esau--as he was before he sold his birthright--as he is when, +in fear and trembling, Jacob looks upon his face again. That score of +years has changed the cheery, careless hunter of deer into the stern, +resolute leader of robber-tribes--ruling his wild vassals with an iron +sceptre--no longer "seeking for his meat from God," but grasping +plunder, where he may find it, with the strong hand, by dint of bow and +spear--truly, a fitting sire from whose loins twelve Dukes of Edom +should spring--not wholly exempt from kind, generous impulses, as that +meeting between Penuel and Succoth proves--but as little like his former +self, as a devil is like an angel. If the eyes of the blind old +patriarch, who loved his reckless first-born so well, had been opened as +he lay a-dying, he could scarcely have told if "this were his very son +Esau, or no." + + + + +CHAPTER XXIV. + +SEMI-AMBUSTUS EVASIT. + + +Are you curious to know how, all this while, it fared with the Great +Earl and his beautiful bride? If the truth is to be told, I fear the +answer must be unsatisfactory. No one, well acquainted with the +contracting parties, believed that the marriage would be a _very_ happy +one; but they hoped it would turn out as well as the generality of +conventional alliances. It was not so. Alan Wyverne was right enough in +thinking that Clydesdale was most unfitted to the task of managing a +haughty, wilful wife; but even he never supposed that dissension would +arise so quickly, and rankle so constantly. There had been few overt or +actual disputes, but a spirit of bitter antagonism was ever at work, +which sooner or later was certain to have an evil ending. + +It would be unfair in infer that the fault was all on the Earl's side. +It was his manner and demeanour that told most against him: he had been +so accustomed to adulation from both sexes, that he could not understand +why his wife should not accept his dictatorial and overbearing ways, as +patiently as his other dependents: so even his kindnesses were spoilt by +the way in which they were offered, or rather enforced. But--at all +events, in the early days of their married life--he was really anxious +that not a wish or whim of Helen's should remain ungratified, and spared +neither trouble nor money to insure this. + +The fair Countess was certainly not free from blame. She had said to +Maud Brabazon--"I will try honestly to be a good wife, if he will let +me." Now, her most partial friend could hardly assert, that she had +fairly acted up to this good resolve. Perhaps it would have been too +much to expect that she should entertain a high respect or a devoted +affection for her consort; but she might have masked indifference more +considerately, or, at least, have dissembled disdain. Her hasty, +impetuous nature seemed utterly changed; she never by any chance lost +her temper now, at any provocation, especially when such came from her +husband. It would have been much better if she _had_ done so, +occasionally: nothing chafes a character like Clydesdale's so bitterly, +as that imperial _nonchalance_, which seems to waver between contempt +and pity. Besides, her notions of conjugal obedience were rather +peculiar. The Earl was, at first, perpetually interfering with her +arrangements, by suggestions for or against, which sounded unpleasantly +like orders; if these chanced to square with Helen's inclination, or if +the question was simply indifferent to her, she acted upon them, without +claiming any credit for so doing; if otherwise--she disregarded and +disobeyed them with a serene determination, and seemed to think, "having +changed her mind since she saw him," quite a sufficient apology to her +exasperated Seigneur. + +An incident very characteristic of this had, somehow, got abroad. + +Lady Clydesdale was about to accompany her husband to a tremendous +State-dinner, the host being one of the great personages in this realm, +next to royalty--no other than the Duke of Camelot. When she came down, +ready to start, one would have found it impossible to have found a fault +in her toilette. But the Earl chose to consider himself an authority on +feminine attire, and chanced to be in a particularly captious humour +that evening: the ground colour of Helen's dress--a dark Mazarine +blue--did not please him at all, though really nothing could match +better with her _parure_ of sapphires and diamonds. She listened to his +comments and strictures without contradicting them, apparently not +thinking the subject worth discussion: her silent indifference irritated +Clydesdale excessively. At last he said-- + +"Helen, I positively insist on your taking off that dress; there will be +time enough if you go up immediately. Do you hear me?" + +For an instant she seemed to hesitate; then she rose, with an odd smile +on her proud lip--"Yes, there will be time enough," she said, and so +left the room. + +But minutes succeed minutes, till it was evident that the conventional +"grace" must even now be exceeded, and still no re-appearance of Helen. +The Earl could control his feverish impatience no longer, and went up +himself, to hurry her. He opened the door hastily, and fairly started +back, in wrath and astonishment at the sight he saw. + +The Countess was attired very much as Maud Brabazon found her when she +paid the midnight visit that you may remember. Perhaps her dressing-robe +was a shade more gorgeous, but there was no mistaking its character. +There she sat, buried in the depths of a luxurious _causeuse_, her +little feet crossed on the fender (it was early spring and the nights +were cold); all the massy coils of cunningly wrought plaits and tresses +freed from artistic thraldom, a half-cut _novelette_ in her +hand,--altogether, the prettiest picture of indolent comfort, but not +exactly the "form" of a great lady expected at a ducal banquet. + +The furious blood flushed Clydesdale's face to dark crimson. + +"What--what does this mean?" he stammered. His voice was not a pleasant +one at any time, and rage did not mellow its tone. The superb eyes +vouchsafed one careless side-glance, a gleam of scornful amusement +lighting up their languor. + +"The next time you give your orders," she replied, "you had better be +more explicit: you commanded me to take off that blue dress, but you +said nothing about putting on another. Perhaps my second choice might +not have pleased you either. Besides, one is not called upon to dress +twice, even for a State dinner. You can easily make a good excuse for +me: if the Duke is very angry, I will make my peace with him myself. I'm +sure he will not bear malice long." + +Now, putting predilection and prejudice aside, which do you think was +most in the wrong? The Earl was unreasonable and tyrannical, first; but +under the circumstances, I do think he "did well to be angry." He was +_so_ angry--that he was actually afraid to trust himself longer in the +room, and hurried downstairs, growling out some of his choicest +anathemas (not _directed_, it must be owned); as has been hinted before, +Clydesdale kept at least one Recording angel in full employment. The +spectacle of marital wrath did not seem greatly to appal the wilful +Countess. She heard the door of the outer chamber close violently, +without starting at the crash, and settled herself comfortably to her +book again, as if no interruption had occurred. + +About this time the Earl began to be haunted by a certain dim suspicion: +at first it seemed too monstrously absurd to be entertained seriously +for a moment; but soon it grew into form and substance, and became +terribly distinct and life-like--the possibility of his wife's despising +him. When he had once admitted the probability, the mischief was done: +he brooded over the idea with a gloomy pertinacity, till a blind, dull +animosity took the place of love and trust. He swore to himself that, at +whatever cost, he would regain and keep the supremacy: unfortunately he +had never had it yet; and it would have been easier for him to twist a +bar of cold steel with his bare hands, than to mould the will of +Countess Helen. Every day he lost instead of gaining ground, only +embittering the spirit of resistance, and widening a breach which could +never be repaired. As if all this were not enough, before the year was +out, another and darker element of discord rose up in the Earl's moody +heart--though he scarcely confessed it even to himself--a fierce, +irrational jealousy of Alan Wyverne. + +No one who had chanced to witness the parting of the cousins in the +library at Dene, would have allowed the possibility of free unreserved +intimacy, troubled, as it would seem, neither by repining nor misgiving, +being established between them within two years. Though Alan spoke +hopefully at the time, it may be doubted if he believed in his own +words. Yet such contradictions and anomalies happen so often, that we +ought to be tired of wondering. They moved in the same set, both in town +and country, and were necessarily thrown much together. Wyverne soon +managed to persuade himself that there was not the slightest reason why +he should purposely avoid his fascinating cousin. As for Helen, I fear +she did not discuss the question with her conscience at all. So, +gradually and insensibly they fell into the old pleasant confidential +ways--such as used to prevail before that fatal afternoon when Wyverne's +self-control failed him, and he "spake unadvisedly with his lips" under +the oak-boughs of the Holme Wood. + +Perhaps there might have been a certain amount of self-delusion; but I +fancy that for a long time there was not a thought of harm on either +side. As far as Alan was concerned, I do believe that his affection for +Helen was as pure and honest and single-hearted as it is possible for a +sinful man to entertain. + +Nevertheless, the change in the usual demeanour of the cousins, when +they chanced to be together, was too marked to escape observation. Her +best friends could not deny that marriage had altered Lady Clydesdale +very much for the worse: her manner in general society was decidedly +cold, and there was often weariness in her great eyes, when they were +not disdainful or defiant. The first sound of Alan's voice seemed to act +like a spell in bringing the Helen Vavasour of old days, with all the +charming impulses and petulance of her maidenhood. Ever since his +interview with Nina Lenox, Wyverne had been constantly moody and +pre-occupied; but the dark cloud was always lifted before he had been +five minutes in his cousin's presence; the frank, careless gaiety which +once made him such a fascinating companion returned quite naturally, and +he could join in the talk or enter into the project of the hour with as +much interest as ever. It _was_ remarkable, certainly--so much so that +the Earl might perhaps have been justified in not altogether approving +of the state of things, especially as he could not be expected to +appreciate Alan's feelings, simply because a chivalrous and unselfish +affection was something quite beyond his mental grasp. + +Notwithstanding all this, I repeat that his jealousy was irrational. He +was sulky and uneasy in Wyverne's presence, and disliked seeing him with +Helen, not because he actually mistrusted either, but because he hated +the man from the bottom of his heart. He did not believe in the +possibility of his haughty wife's ever straying, even in thought or +word, from the path of duty; but she was the chief of his possessions, +and it exasperated him, that his enemy should derive profit or pleasure +from her society. In despite of an inordinate self-esteem, Clydesdale +could not shake off the disagreeable idea, that, wherever they had met, +so far Alan had got the better of him. He fancied he could detect a calm +contemptuous superiority in the latter's tone (it was purely imaginary), +which irritated him to the last degree. Added to all this--and it was +far the strongest motive of all--was the consciousness of having done +Alan a deadly wrong, in intention, if not in fact. It was true that he +knew nothing of Harding Knowles's treachery. He had carefully abstained +from asking a question, either before or after the result; but he knew +that he had bought an unscrupulous agent, on a tacit understanding that +a full equivalent should be given for the money; and he could guess how +thoroughly the contract had been carried out. In one word, the Earl +wished Wyverne dead, simply because he could not comfortably look him in +the face. Rely on it, that poison-bag lies at the root of many fangs +that bite most sharply. + +Nevertheless, Lord Clydesdale abstained from confiding his antipathies +even to his wife. Deficient as he was in tact, he felt that a battle +would probably ensue, to which all other dissensions would have been +child's play. He had no solid grounds to go upon, and he did not see his +way clearly to a satisfactory result. So, in spite of his frowns and +sulkiness, matters went on smoothly enough up to the time of the +disclosures recorded in the last chapter. + +It is probable that Lady Mildred discharged her embassage faithfully, +albeit discreetly. The subject was never mentioned between them; but +Helen's manner towards her cousin perceptibly softened, though she felt +a strange constraint occasionally that she could hardly have accounted +for. The truth was--if she had indulged in self-examination, at this +conjuncture she ought to have begun to mistrust herself. It was +dangerous to brood over Alan's wrongs now, when it was too late to make +him any substantial amends. + +But the world would not long "let well alone." Before the season was far +advanced, _cancans_ were rife; and Lady Clydesdale's name was more than +lightly spoken of: glances, when levelled at her, became curious and +significant, instead of simply admiring. Of course, the parties most +intimately interested are the last to hear of such things; but Wyverne +did begin to suspect the truth, not so much from any hints or inuendoes, +as from a certain reticence and reserve among his intimates at the clubs +and elsewhere. One evening, Maud Brabazon took heart of grace, and told +him all she had heard, after her own frank fashion. + +Not even during the hours which followed the miserable parting in the +library at Dene, had Alan felt so utterly hopeless and spirit-broken as +he did that night, as he sat alone, thinking over the situation, and +trying with every energy of his honest heart to determine what he ought +to do. Men have grown grey and wrinkled under briefer and lighter pain. +It did seem hard: when he was conscious of innocence of intention--when +he had so lately, at such costly self-sacrifice, abstained from +personally justifying himself in Helen's eyes, sooner than compromise +her husband--when he had just found out that he had been juggled out of +his life's hope through no fault or negligence of his own--he was called +upon to resign the shadow of happiness that was left him still, merely +because the world chose to be scandalous, and not to give him credit for +common honesty. But, after his thoughts had wandered for hours in +darkness and in doubt, the light broke clear. Half-measures were worse +than useless. To remain in England and to maintain a comparative +estrangement--to meet Helen only at appointed times and seasons--to set +a watch upon his lips whenever he chanced to be in her society--was +utterly impracticable. Like other and braver and wiser men, he owned +that he had no alternative--he was bound to fly. Weak and fallible as he +was in many respects, Wyverne's character contained this one element of +greatness--when he had once made up his mind, it was easier to move a +mountain than to change his resolve. + +He never went near Clydesdale House for three days, and in that space +all his arrangements were made, irrevocably. Early in the year Alan had +purchased a magnificent schooner; she was fitting out at Ryde, and +nearly completed; he had purposed to make a summer cruise in the +Mediterranean, it was only turning the _Odalisque_ to a more practical +purpose, now. Two of his friends had organized a hunting expedition on a +large scale, first through the interior of Southern Africa, then to the +Himalayas and the best of the "big game" districts of India. Of course +they were delighted to have Wyverne as a comrade, especially when he +placed his yacht at their service; the _Odalisque_, both in size and +strength, was perfectly equal to any ocean voyage. Their absence from +England was to last at least three years. Alan felt a certain relief +when it was all settled; nevertheless his heart was cold and heavy as +lead, as he walked towards Clydesdale House to break the tidings. He +found Helen alone; indeed, the Earl was out of town for the whole day, +and was not to return till late in the evening. She could not understand +what had kept her cousin away for three days--of course she had wanted +him particularly for all sorts of things--and she was inclined to be +mildly reproachful on the subject. Wyverne listened for a while, though +every word brought a fresh throb of pain, simply because he had not +courage to begin to undeceive her. + +At last he spoke, you may guess how gently and considerately, yet +keeping nothing back, and not disguising the reasons for his departure. +He had felt sure all along, that Helen would be bitterly grieved at his +determination, and would strive to oppose it; but he was not prepared +for the passionate outbreak which ensued. + +The Countess's cheek had changed backwards and forwards, from rose-red +to pale, a dozen times while her cousin was speaking, and on the +beautiful brow there were signs, that a child might have read, of a +coming storm; but she did not interrupt him till he had quite said his +say; then she started to her feet; a sudden movement--swift and lithe, +and graceful as a Bayadere's spring--brought her close to Alan's chair; +she was kneeling at his side, with her slender hands locked round his +arm, gazing up in his face, before he could remonstrate by gesture or +word. + +"You shall not go. I don't care what they say--friends or enemies--you +shall not go. Alan, I will do anything, and suffer anything, and go +anywhere; but I will not lose _you_. With all your courage, will you +fail me when I am ready to brave them? You cannot mean to be so cruel. +Ah, say--say you will stay with me." + +Alas! if her speech was rash, her eyes were rasher still; never, in the +days when to love was no sin, had they spoken half so plainly. + +Wyverne's breath came thick and fast, for his heart contracted +painfully, as if an iron hand had grasped it. It was all over with +self-delusion now; the flimsy web vanished before the fatal eloquence of +that glance, as a gauze veil shrivels before a strong straight jet of +flame. + +Now--though this pen of mine has done scant justice to Helen's +marvellous fascinations--let any man, in the prime of life, endowed with +average passions and not exceptional principle, place himself in Alan's +position, and try to appreciate its peril. Truly, I think, it would be +hard measure, if human nature were called upon twice in a lifetime, to +surmount such a temptation, and survive it. Yet he only hesitated while +that choking sensation lasted. He raised Helen from where she knelt, and +replaced her on the seat she had left, with an exertion of strength, +subdued and gentle, but perfectly irresistible; when he spoke, his voice +sounded unnaturally stern and cold. + +"If I had doubted at all about my absence being right and necessary, I +should not doubt now. Child--you are not fit to be trusted. How dare you +speak, at your age and in your station, of setting society at defiance, +and trampling on conventionalities? You have duties to perform, and a +great name to guard; have you forgotten all this, Countess Helen?" + +On the last words, there was certainly an inflexion of sarcasm. The +bitter pain gnawing at his heart, made him for the moment selfish and +cruel. Perhaps it was as well; the hardness of his tone roused her +pride, so that she could answer with comparative calmness. + +"God help me--I have forgotten nothing--my miserable marriage least of +all. Alan, what is the use of keeping up the deception? We need not lie +to each other, if we are to part so soon. I never pretended to love Lord +Clydesdale; but I think I could have done my duty, if he would have let +me. + +"How can you guess what I have to endure? I may be in fault too; but it +has come to this--it is not indifference or dislike, now, but literally +loathing. Do you know how careful he is, not to wound my self-respect? +Only yesterday, he left in my dressing-room, where I could not help +seeing it, a letter--ah, such a letter--from some _lorette_ whom he +protects. It was a delicate way of showing that he was displeased with +me. And I have dreadful misgivings that I shall become afraid of +him--physically afraid, some day--I am not that yet--and then it will be +all over with me. I feel safe--I can't tell why--when you are near; and +you are going to leave me alone, quite alone." + +Now, to prevent mistakes hereafter, let me say explicitly that I do not +defend Lady Clydesdale's conduct throughout. I don't know that any woman +is justified, on any provocation, in speaking of her husband in such a +strain, to her own brother, much less to her cousin, supposing that a +warmer sentiment than the ties of kindred is manifestly out of the +question. Still, if you like to be lenient, you might remember that a +passionate, wilful character like Helen's requires strong and wise +guidance while it is being formed; certainly her moral training had not +been looked after so carefully as her accomplishments; the mother +considered her duty done when she had selected a competent governess; so +perhaps, after all, the Countess had as much religion and principle, as +could be expected in Lady Mildred Vavasour's daughter. + +It was a proof of the danger of such confidence, that Wyverne's blood +boiled furiously as he listened, and all his good resolves were +swallowed up for the moment in a savage desire to take Clydesdale by the +throat; but with a mighty effort he recovered self-control, before Helen +could follow up her advantage. + +"I did guess something," he said, "though not half the truth. I ought to +preach to you about 'submission,' I suppose, and all the rest; but I +don't know how to do it, and I'm not in the humour to find excuses for +your husband just now. Yet I am more than ever certain that I can do no +good by staying here. I should only make your burden heavier; you will +be safer when I am gone. Of all things you must avoid giving a chance to +the scandalmongers. Child, only be patient and prudent, and we shall see +better days. Remember, I am not going to be absent for ever. Three years +or so will soon pass. We shall all be older and steadier when I come +back, and the world will have forgotten one of us long before that. Say +you will try." + +Dissimulation is sometimes braver than sincerity. Perhaps Alan got large +credit in heaven for the brave effort by which he forced himself to +speak half hopefully, and to put on that sad shadow of a smile. + +In a book of this length, one can only record the salient points of +conversations and situations; your imaginations must fill up the +intervals, reader of mine, if you think it worth the trouble to exercise +it. It is enough to say, that gentle steadfastness of purpose carried +the day, as it generally does, against passionate recklessness, and +Helen perforce became reasonable at last. Though the cousins talked long +and earnestly after this, the rest of the interview would hardly keep +your interest awake. Such farewells, if they are correctly set down, +savour drearily of vain repetitions, and are apt to be strangely +incoherent towards their close. + +"If you are in any great trouble or difficulty, promise me that you will +send for Gracie; she will help you, I know, fearlessly and faithfully, +to the utmost of her power." + +That was almost the very last of Wyverne's injunctions and warnings. If +at the moment of parting his lips met Helen's, instead of only touching +her forehead, as he intended, I hope it was not imputed to him as a +deadly sin; the sharp suffering of those few hours might well plead in +extenuation; and, be sure, He who "judges not after man's judgment," +weighs _everything_ when he poises the scale. + +I never felt inclined to make a "hero" of Alan till now. I begin to +think that he almost deserves the dignity. You must recollect that he +was not an ascetic, nor an eminent Christian, nor even a rigid moralist, +but a man essentially "of the world, worldly." If the Tempter had +selected as his instrument any other woman of equal or inferior +fascinations, I very much doubt if Wyverne's constancy and continence +would have emerged scatheless from the ordeal. But here, it was a +question of honour rather than of virtue. When his second intimacy with +Helen began to be a confirmed fact, he had signed a sort of special +compact with himself, and he found that it would be as foul treachery to +break it, as to make away with money left in his charge, or to forfeit +his plighted word. I do not say that this made his conduct more +admirable; I simply define his motives. + +Alan went down to the North the next day to wind up his home business, +and he never saw Lady Clydesdale alone before he sailed. But he went +forth on his pilgrimage an unhappy, haunted man. Wherever he went those +eyes of Helen followed him, telling their fatal secret over and over +again, driving him wild with alternate reproaches and seductions. He +saw them while crouching among the sand-banks of an African stream +watching for the wallowing of the river-horse; at his post in the jungle +ravine, when rattling stones and crashing bushes gave notice of the +approach of tiger or elk or bear; oftenest of all, when, after a hard +day's hunting, he lay amongst his comrades sound asleep, looking up at +the brilliant southern stars. His one comfort was the thought, "Thank +God, I _could_ ask Gracie to take care of her." + +Alan was expiating the miserable error of fancying that his love was +dead, because he had chosen formally to sign its death-warrant. The +experiment has been tried for cycles of ages--sometimes after a more +practical fashion--and it has failed oftener than it has succeeded. + +Think on that old true story of Herod and his favourite wife. Lo! after +a hundred delays and reprieves the final edict has gone forth; the sharp +axe-edge has fallen on the slender neck of the Lily of Edom; surely the +tortured heart of the unhappy jealous tyrant shall find peace at last. +Is it so? Months and months have passed away; there is high revel in +Hebron, for a great victory has just been won; the blood-red wine of +Sidon flows lavishly, flushing the cheeks and lighting up the eyes of +the "men of war;" and the Great Tetrarch drinks deepest of all, the +cup-bearer can scarcely fill fast enough, though his hand never stints +nor stays. So far, all is well; the lights and the turmoil and the crowd +may keep even spectres aloof; but feasts, like other mortal things, must +end, and Herod staggers off to his chamber alone. Another hour or so, +and there rings through hall and corridor an awful cry, making the rude +Idumean guards start and shiver at their posts--fierce and savage in its +despair, but tremulous with unutterable agony, like the howl of some +terrible wild beast writhing in the death-pang-- + +"Mariamne! Mariamne!" + +Does that sound like peace? The dead beauty asserts her empire once +again; she has her murderer at her mercy now, more pitiably enslaved +than ever. + +Ah, woe is me! We may slay the body, if we have the power, but we may +never baffle the Ghost. + + + + +CHAPTER XXV. + +VER UBI LONGUM TEPIDASQUE PRAEBET JUPITER BRUMAS. + + +AT first it really did appear as if, in expatriating himself for a +season, Wyverne had acted wisely and well. + +The purveyors of scandal, wholesale and retail, were utterly routed and +disconcerted. The romance was a promising one, but it had not had time +to develop itself into form and substance. As things stood, it was +impossible to found any fresh supposition on Alan's prolonged absence, +especially as no one ventured to hint at any quarrel or misunderstanding +to account for his abrupt departure. Some were too angry to conceal +their discomfiture. One veteran gossip, in particular, went about, +saying in an injured, querulous way, that "he wondered what Wyverne did +next. He shouldn't be surprised to hear of his making a pilgrimage to +Mecca, having turned Turk for a change." It was great sport to hear +Bertie Grenvil, at the club, "drawing" the old _cancanier_, condoling +with him gravely, and encouraging him with hopes "of having something +_really_ to talk about before the season was over." Indeed, it seemed by +no means improbable that the Cherub, in person, would furnish the +materials; for, having convinced himself by repeated experiments that +Maud Brabazon either had no heart at all, or that it was absolutely +impregnable, he had taken out lately a sort of roving commission, and +was cruising about all sorts of waters, with the red signal of "no +quarter" hoisted permanently. + +Lord Clydesdale rejoiced intensely, after his saturnine fashion, at +Wyverne's departure. It put him into such good humour that for days he +forgot to be captious or overbearing, and actually made some clumsy +overtures towards a reconciliation with his wife. It must be confessed, +he met with scant encouragement in that quarter. Helen was in no mood to +"forgive and forget" just then. There are women whom you may tyrannize +over one week, and cajole the next, amiable enough to accept both +positions with equanimity; but the haughty Countess was not of these +Griseldas. Her temper was embittered rather than softened by her great +sorrow and loneliness; for the void that Alan had left behind him was +wider and darker than ever she had reckoned on. Of course she tried the +old counter-irritation plan (nine out of ten do), seeking for excitement +wherever it could be found. The result was not particularly +satisfactory, but the habits of dissipation and recklessness +strengthened their hold hourly. She had a legion of caprices, and +indulged them all, without pausing to consider the question of right or +wrong, much less of consequences. Before the season closed, Helen was +virtually enrolled in the fastest of the thoroughbred sets, and might +have disputed her evil pre-eminence with the most famous _lionne_ of the +day. + +Naturally the scandal mongers began to open--first their eyes, and then +their mouths again. Every morning brought some fresh story, generally +founded, at least, in fact, with Lady Clydesdale for its heroine. They +made wild work with her name before long, but so far no one could attach +to it the shame of any one definite _liaison_. A circle of courtiers +followed her wherever she went, but no one of these--jealously as they +watched for the faintest indication of a decided preference--could have +told who stood first in the favour of their wilful, capricious +sovereign. Sometimes one would flatter himself, for a moment, that he +really had gained ground, and made an abiding impression; but, before he +could realize his happiness, the weary, absent look would return to the +beautiful eyes, and the unhappy adorer had only to fall back to the dead +level of his fellows, in wrath and discomfiture. + +No one the least interested in Helen could see how things were going +without serious alarm. Lady Mildred, Max Vavasour, and Maud Brabazon, +each in their turn, attempted remonstrance. The Countess met her +mother's warning apathetically, her brother's contemptuously, her +friend's affectionately--with perfect impartiality disregarding them +all. + +It is more than doubtful if Clydesdale could have done any good by +interfering. He certainly did not try the experiment. From first to last +he never stretched out a finger to arrest his fair wife on her road to +Avernus. He allowed her to go where she would--very often alone--only, +indeed, escorting her when it suited his own plans or purposes. Whether +he was base enough to be actually careless about her temptations, or +whether he resolutely shut his eyes to the possibility of her coming to +harm, it would be hard to say. Nevertheless, from time to time, Helen +had to endure furious outbreaks of his temper; and with each of these, +that strange thrill of physical fear grew stronger and stronger. But +jealousy had nothing whatever to do with rousing the storms, which +usually burst forth on some absurdly frivolous provocation. The fact +was, when the Earl was sulky or wroth, he chose to vent his brutal +humour on the victim nearest to his hand that was likely to feel the +blows most acutely. He saw that such scenes _hurt_ his wife in some way, +though he did not guess at her real feelings; and it pleased him to +think that there was a vulnerable point in her armour of pride and +indifference. He would have rejoiced yet more if he had detected the +effort which it cost her sometimes--not to tremble while she vanquished +his savage eyes with the cold disdain of her own. + +The domestic picture is not pleasant enough to tempt us to linger over +it. Perhaps, after all, it would have been better--it could scarcely +have been worse--if Alan had staid on, and braved it out; but this is +only arguing from consequences. + +For a long time there were no certain tidings of the hunting-party: a +vague report got abroad of an encounter with lions, in which some +Englishman had been terribly hurt, but it was not even known whether it +was Wyverne or one of his companions. So months became years, and Alan's +place in the world was nearly filled up; a few of his old friends, from +time to time, "wondered how he was getting on,"--that was all. Yet he +was not entirely forgotten. Every morning and evening, in her simple +orisons, Grace Beauclerc joined his name to those of her husband and +children; and another woman--you know her well--seldom dared to pray, +because she felt it would be a mockery to kneel with a guilty longing +and repining at her heart. + +It was the fourth winter after Wyverne's departure; the last +intelligence of the party dated from some months back; it reported them +all alive and well, in the northern provinces of India; there were +wonderful accounts of their sport, but no word as to their intention of +returning. + +The Clydesdales were at Naples. Helen's health, which had begun to fail +rapidly of late, was pretext enough for a change of climate; but it is +more than doubtful if her husband would have taken this into +consideration, if other inducements had not drawn him southwards. + +The Earl's home was certainly not a happy one; but even modern society +does not admit domestic discomfort as an excuse for outraging the common +proprieties of life; the most profligate of his companions agreed, that +he might at least have taken the trouble to mask his infidelities more +carefully; they could not understand such utter disregard of the trite +monachal maxim, _Si non caste, caute tamen_. Personally, one would have +thought Lord Clydesdale was not attractive; but a great Seigneur rarely +has far to go when he seeks "consolations:" there are always victims +ready to be sacrificed, no matter how repulsive the Idol may be; for +interest and vanity, and a dozen other _irritamenta malorum_ work still +as potently as ever. It so chanced that the siren of the hour had chosen +South Italy for her winter quarters, so that the Earl's sudden +consideration for his wife was easily accounted for. + +Naples was crowded that year; every country in Europe was nobly +represented there; so that it really was no mean triumph when the +popular voice, without an audible dissentient, assigned the royalty of +beauty to Lady Clydesdale. Rash and wilful in every other respect, it +was not likely that Helen would be prudent about her own health; indeed, +if she would only have taken common precautions, her state was +precarious enough to forbid her mixing in society as usual. + +If you could only have ignored certain dangerous symptoms, you would +have said she was lovelier than when you saw her last; her superb eyes +seemed larger than ever; softer, too, in their languor, more intense in +their brilliancy: the rose-tint on her cheek was fainter, perhaps, but +more exquisitely delicate and transparent now; and her figure had not +lost, so far, one rounded outline of its magnificent mould. + +She had a perfectly fabulous success; before she had been in Naples a +fortnight they raved about her, not only in her own circle, but in all +others beside. It was literally a popular _furore_; the laziest +_lazzarone_ would start from his afternoon sleep to gaze after her with +a muttered oath of admiration when "la bellissima Contessa" drove by. +She had adorers of all sorts of nations, and was worshipped in more +languages than she could speak or understand. + +At last, one man singled himself out from the crowd--like the favourite +"going through his horses"--and, for awhile, seemed to carry on the +running alone. That was the Duca di Gravina. Perhaps Europe could not +have produced a more formidable enemy, when a woman's honour was to be +assailed. The Duke was not thirty yet, and he had won long ago an evil +renown, and deserved it thoroughly. Few could look at his face without +being attracted by its delicate classical beauty; the dark earnest eyes, +trained to counterfeit any emotion--never to betray one--strengthened +the spell, and an indescribable fascination of manner generally +completed it. There was not a vestige of heart or conscience to +interfere with his combinations; to say that he had no principle does +not express the truth at all; the Boar of Capreae himself was no more +coolly cynical and cruel. Nevertheless, these last pleasant attributes +lay far below the surface; and a very fair seductive surface it was. + +The Duke was more thoroughly in earnest now than he had ever been in his +life; and people seemed to think there could be but one result--the most +natural and reasonable one, according to the facile code of Southern +morality. Lord Clydesdale persisted in ignoring the whole affair; and no +one cared to take the trouble of enlightening him against his will. It +looked as if he had exhausted his jealousy and suspicions on Alan +Wyverne, and had none to waste on the rest of the world. One could not +help thinking of the old fable, of the stag who always fed with his +blind eye towards the sea, suspecting danger only from the land-quarter. +It was an ingenious plan enough; but the sea is wide and hunters are +wily; they came in a boat, you remember, and shot the poor horned Monops +to death with many arrows. + +Di Gravina was almost as daring and successful at play as in intrigue; +in both he was well served by a half-intuitive sagacity which suggested +the right moment for risking a grand _coup_. He began to think that such +a crisis was now near at hand. One afternoon Lady Clydesdale and several +more of her set went up to Capo di Monte to lounge about in the gardens +and drink the fresh sea-breeze. The party then broke up into detachments +very soon, and the Duke found it very easy to bring about a comfortably +confidential _tete-a-tete_. Helen was in a dangerous frame of mind that +day. She had gone through a stormy scene with her husband in the +morning, whose temper had broken out as usual without rhyme or reason. +The velvet softness of the Italian's tone and manner contrasted +strangely with the Earl's harsh voice and violent gestures. At first it +simply _rested_ her to sit still and listen; but gradually the +fascination possessed her till her pulse began to quicken, though her +outward languor remained undisturbed. Not a particle of passion, much +less of love, so far, was at work in her heart; but in the desperation +of weariness she felt tempted to try a more practical experiment in the +way of excitement than she had ever yet ventured on. Di Gravina saw his +advantage and pressed it mercilessly. For some minutes the Countess had +ceased to answer him; she sat, with eyes half closed, just the dawning +of a dreamy smile on her beautiful lips, like one who yields not +unwillingly to the subjugation of a mesmerizer's riveted glance and +waving hands. + +At last she looked up suddenly, evidently with her purpose set. How her +lips or her eyes would have answered can never be known, for at that +instant she became aware of the presence of a third person, who had +approached unheard while they were talking so earnestly. + +The new-comer leant against the trunk of a palm-tree, contemplating the +pair with a quaint expression of mingled curiosity and sadness. His face +was sun-burnt to a black bronze, and almost buried in a huge bushy +beard; but the disguise was not complete. Helen sprang to her feet +impulsively as of old, with a low, happy cry, and in another second she +had clasped her hands round Alan Wyverne's arm, with just breath enough +left to gasp out a few fond incoherent syllables of welcome. + +The Italian did not quite comprehend the situation at first; but he saw +instantly that he had lost the game. A smothered blasphemy worthy of the +coarsest _facchino_ (and they swear hard in those parts, remember) +escaped from his delicate, chiselled lips. For a moment his scowling +eyes belied their training, and all the soft beauty vanished from his +face, malign as a baffled devil's. Nevertheless he was his own silky +self again before Helen recovered from her emotion sufficiently to make +her excuses, and to present "her cousin." To do the Duke justice, he +behaved admirably. + +"It is a most happy meeting," he said. "Will the Countess permit the +_stranger_ to offer his felicitations and--to retire? She must have so +much to say to the cousin who has so suddenly returned." + +There was not an inflection of sarcasm in his voice; but he turned once +as he went, and his glance crossed Wyverne's. These two understood each +other thoroughly. + +The pen of the readiest writer would fail in recording the long +incoherent conversation which ensued. Helen had so much to ask and so +much to tell that she never could get through a connected sentence or +allow Alan to finish one. She was so simply and naturally happy that he +had not the heart to check or reprove her. Even Stoicism has its limits +and intervals of weakness, and Alan was a poor philosopher with all his +good intentions "given in." + +Certain members of her party came to reclaim Lady Clydesdale before half +their say was said. (Would they have intervened so soon if the Duca di +Gravina had remained master of the position?) So Alan had to content +himself with accompanying his cousin to her own door. On the whole he +thought it better not to risk meeting the Earl that night; he did not +feel quite cool and collected enough for the encounter. + +Let me remark casually that there was nothing extraordinary in the +opportune apparition. The _Odalisque_ had anchored in the bay late on +the previous night. Wyverne met an old acquaintance immediately on +landing, who told him at once that the Clydesdales were in Naples. He +could not resist the temptation of calling, and the servants directed +him naturally to the place where he was sure to find Helen. Nevertheless +I own that the situation savours of the _coup de theatre_. I don't see +why one should not indulge in a slight touch of melodrama now and then; +but there are men alive who can testify that such an intervention, +coming exactly at the critical moment, is an actually accomplished fact. + +No words can do justice to Lord Clydesdale's intense exasperation, when +he heard that his enemy had returned, sound in life and limb. He could +not for very shame forbid his wife to receive him just yet, but his +whole nature was transformed; the careless, negligent husband became +suddenly a suspicious, tyrannical jailor. Besides this, another foe lay +in wait for Wyverne. The Duca di Gravina made no secret of his +discomfiture or of his lust for revenge. This last enmity came round to +Helen's ears, and she confessed her apprehension frankly to her cousin. +He only laughed carelessly and confidently. + +"I've seen a good deal of the feline tribe in these three years," he +said, "and I begin to understand them. That leopard is too handsome to +be very vicious. Nevertheless, I think it's as well you've given up +_domesticating_ him." + +There was no bravado in his tone: he had only one honest purpose--to +reassure Helen. The event proved the correctness of his judgment. The +Duke had been "out" more than once; but it was only when he was +compelled to pay with his body for some one of his iniquities. He loved +life and its luxuries too well to risk the first without absolute +necessity. Exaggerated reports of Wyverne's prowess in the Far East had +got abroad; and the crafty voluptuary thoroughly appreciated valour's +better part when a formidable foe was to be confronted. + +But the ground under their feet was nothing else than a Solfaterra, and +the volcanic elements could not remain quiet long. Early one morning, +Wyverne got a hurried message from his cousin, asking him to meet her +immediately in the garden of the Villa Reale. As he approached the spot +where she was sitting, he was struck painfully by the listless +exhaustion of her attitude. When she looked up, as he came to her side, +a cold thrill of terror shot through Alan's frame. He saw the truth at +last--a truth that Helen had striven so carefully to conceal, that it +was no wonder her cousin had failed to realize it. Her cheeks were +perfectly colourless, and seemed to have grown all at once strangely +thin and hollow; the dark circles under her eyes made them unnaturally +bright and large, and a wild haggard look possessed and transformed her +face. The signs were terribly plain to read--not of death immediately +imminent, but of slow sure decay. + +Alan's courage and self-control were well nigh exhausted before he had +listened to half of what she had to tell. It appeared that on the +previous evening there had been an outbreak of Lord Clydesdale's temper, +incomparably more violent than any which had yet occurred. For the first +time he had brought Wyverne's name into the quarrel--upbraiding, and +accusing, and threatening his wife by turns, till he worked himself to a +pitch of brutal frenzy that did not quite confine itself to words. He +swore that the intimacy should be broken off at any cost, and signified +his determination to start with Helen for England within forty-eight +hours. This was the last thing she remembered; for just then she +fainted. When she recovered she was alone with her maid, and had not +seen her husband since. + +"Ah, Alan; will you not save me?" she pleaded piteously. "There is no +one else to help me--no one. And I _am_ afraid now--really afraid: I +have good reason. Do you see _this_?" + +She drew back her loose sleeve: on the soft white flesh there was the +livid print of a brutal grasp--marks such as were left on poor Mary of +Scotland's arm by Lindsay's iron glove. + +A groan of horror and wrath burst from Wyverne's white lips, and he +shook from head to foot like a reed. A few minutes of such intense +suffering might atone for more than one venial sin. He knew well enough +what Helen meant as her eyes looked over the bay, and rested with a +feverish longing and eagerness on the spot where the _Odalisque_ lay at +anchor, the tall taper masts cutting the sky line. He knew that he had +only to speak the word, and that she would follow to the world's end. He +knew that her health was failing under tyranny and ill treatment; while +gentle nursing--such as he could tend her with--might still arrest the +Destroyer. He knew how much excuse even society would find in this +special case for the criminals. No wonder that he hesitated, muttering +under his breath-- + +"God help me! It is trying me _too_ hard." + +There was silence only for a few seconds. During that brief space Alan's +brain was whirling, but the images on his mind were clear. He remembered +how he swore to himself to guard Helen from harm or temptation, +faithfully and unselfishly; he thought of the End--possibly very +near--and of the dishonour that would cling to his darling even in her +grave; last of all rose Hubert Vavasour's face, when he should hear that +the man whom he loved as his own son had brought his daughter to shame. +That turned the scale, and it never wavered afterwards. When Wyverne +spoke his voice was firm, though intensely sad. + +"It is too late to wish that the fever or the lion had not spared me. If +I had guessed what my return would cost I would have stayed away till we +both grew old. I did hope that we had grown steadier and wiser, and that +people would have left us alone, and allowed us to be quietly happy. But +I did not go through the pain of parting three years ago, to come back +and ruin all. I stood firm then, and so I will--to the last. You will +never call me cold or cruel; I feel that. You know how I suffer now +while I am speaking; yet I say once more, we are better apart. Dear +child, I am powerless to help you, unless it were in a way that I dare +not think of. But you shall not be left to Clydesdale's tender mercies +defenceless. I'll speak to Randolph to-day. He starts for England +immediately, and he shall not lose sight of you till you reach it. He +knows enough of your husband not to be surprised at being asked to watch +over you. You may trust him as thoroughly as you could trust me. His +heart is as soft as a woman's, and his nerves are steel: I have seen +them tried often and hardly. Write to Dene, and go there straight from +Dover. Clydesdale will have come to his senses before that, and will +scarcely object. Remember, I shall follow by the next steamer, and not +sleep on the road; so that I shall be in England almost before you. Then +we will see what is best to be done. I swear that you shall have rest +and peace at any cost. This worry is killing you. Darling, do bear up +bravely, just for a little while; and be prudent and take care of +yourself. It breaks my heart to see you looking so wan and worn." + +His voice shook, and his lip quivered, and his eyes were very dim. + +Helen's head had sunk lower and lower while her cousin was speaking; she +felt no anger, only utter weariness and despair; she had listened with a +mechanical attention, hardly realizing the meaning of all the words, and +she answered helplessly and vaguely,-- + +"Thank you, dear Alan, I dare say you are right. I am sure you mean to +be kind; and I know you suffer when I suffer. It is foolish to be +frightened when there is no real danger; but I am not strong now, so +there is some excuse. Lord Clydesdale is probably ashamed of himself by +this time, and I shall have nothing to fear for some days--not even +annoyance. Still, if it suits Colonel Randolph to go so soon, I shall be +glad to feel there is one friend near me. You are sure you are coming +straight to England? And you _will_ come to Dene? Even if I am not +there, I hope you will. I must not stay longer than to say good-bye; +perhaps I have been watched and followed already. I don't know why I +ventured here, or sent for you; I knew it could do no good; but I felt +so weak and unhappy. Now--say good-bye, kindly, Alan?" + +Though Wyverne knew it was wrong and unwise to detain her, a vague +presentiment that it might be long before they met again made him linger +before uttering the farewell. While he paused, a heavy foot crunched on +the gravel behind them, and a hoarse, thick voice, close by, muttered +something like a curse. The Earl stood there gazing at the cousins, his +face flushed with passion, and a savage glare in his pale blue eyes. He +essayed to speak with calmness and dignity; but the effort was absurdly +apparent and vain. + +"Lady Clydesdale, I am excessively surprised and displeased at finding +you here, especially after what passed last night. I request that you +will return home instantly. You have more than enough to do in making +your preparations, and there are some necessary visits that you must +pay. We start by to-morrow's steamer, I will follow you in a few +minutes." + +The assumption of marital authority was a miserable failure. Neither of +the supposed delinquents seemed at all awed or discomforted by the +Earl's sudden apparition, or by his set speech. Helen rose to depart, +silently, without vouchsafing a glance to her exasperated lord; Alan +accompanied her a few steps, to whisper a few words of farewell, and to +exchange a long pressure of hands; then he came back and waited quietly +to be spoken to. + +Clydesdale's manner was arrogant and domineering to a degree; but he was +evidently ill at ease; he kept lashing gravel, angrily and nervously, +with his cane, and his eyes wandered everywhere except where they were +likely to encounter Wyverne's. + +"I don't mean to have any discussion," he said; "and I choose to give no +reasons. You will understand that I decidedly disapprove of your +intimacy with Lady Clydesdale; I shall not allow her to meet you, on any +pretence, at any future period; and I beg that you will not attempt to +visit her. I mean to be master of my own house, and of my own wife. You +will take this warning, or--you will take the consequences!" + +For once in his life--he reproached himself bitterly, afterwards, for +the weakness--Alan fairly lost his temper. When he replied, his tone +was, if anything, more galling than the other's, because its insolence +was more subtle and refined. + +"You might have spared threats," he said; "they would scarcely have +answered, even if I had known you less thoroughly than I happen to do. +You may frighten women--especially if they are weak and ill--but men, as +a rule, don't faint. Consequences! What do you mean? I fancy I have +guaged your valour tolerably well; it is superb up to a certain +point--when personal risk comes in. If you had staid on here, perhaps +you _would_ have hired a knife. You might have laid some ruffian five +thousand piastres to fifty, for instance, that I should not be found +dead within a week--those are your favourite odds, I believe--that's +about the extent of what one has to fear from your vengeance. I am not +prepared to say how far a husband's dictation ought to extend, who does +not take the trouble to conceal his intrigues abroad, and treats his +wife brutally at home; and I'm not going to argue the point either. You +certainly have a right to close your doors against me, or any one else. +I shall not attempt to see my cousin while she remains in your house, or +under your authority; her father had better decide how long that ought +to last. I am no more inclined for discussion than you are; neither do I +threaten. I simply give you fair warning. You had better put some +constraint on your temper when your wife has to bear it; she has friends +enough left to call you to an account, and make you pay it too. Max +Vavasour will do his duty, I believe. If he don't--by G--d--I'll do +mine!" + +He turned on his heel with the last word, and walked away very slowly; +but he was out of ear-shot before the Earl could collect himself enough +to speak intelligibly. If he had received a blow between the eyes, +delivered straight from the shoulder by a practised arm, he would hardly +have been more staggered. He had been so accustomed, from childhood, to +deference and adulation, that a direct, unmistakable personal insult, +literally confounded him; for a brief space he felt thoroughly +uncomfortable and humiliated; even his favourite curses came with an +effort, and failed to act as anodynes. But he remembered every word that +passed, and acted accordingly. + +From that day forth, Clydesdale hated both his wife and Wyverne more +bitterly than ever; but he entirely changed his tactics, for the +present. The idea of a public _esclandre_ and separation, did not suit +him at all. His manner towards Helen on their journey homewards, was +kinder and more considerate than it had ever been; he even condescended +to express penitence for his late violence, and went so far as to +promise an amendment. He encouraged her wish to go straight to Dene, +only stipulating that he should accompany her there. The Countess was +neither satisfied nor convinced; but she was weary and wanted rest, and +so acquiesced listlessly and passively. + +On the very first opportunity after his arrival at Dene, the Earl sought +an interview with Lady Mildred. It was easy to make his case good; he +lied, of course, literally; he confessed his failings, with certain +reserves, and professed great contrition; he only insisted on one +point--the necessity of keeping Wyverne at a distance, at least for a +time. "My lady" was equally anxious to avoid any public scandal, and she +was not disposed to look too closely into the facts. Helen did not +choose to make a confidante of her mother, so there was little fear of +her contradicting anything. When Alan reached England and wrote to his +uncle, he found the ground mined under his feet. The Squire believed in +his nephew thoroughly, but he was not strong-minded enough to take any +decidedly offensive step, and under the circumstances, inclined to +temporize. He talked about "faults on both sides," spoke of a +reconciliation being certainly effected, and ended, by begging Alan not +in anywise to interfere with it. + +Wyverne felt sick and hopeless, he knew how much to believe of all this; +but he had only one course open to him now--to avoid meeting the +Clydesdales as carefully as possible. He hardly showed at all in town +that spring, and encountered Helen very seldom, then only for a few +minutes, when there was no opportunity for a confidence, even if either +had had the heart to attempt such a thing. He spent all the summer and +early autumn in Scotland. + +Let me say now--for _your_ comfort--my patient reader, that the End is +very near. + + + + +CHAPTER XXVI. + +IMPLORA PACE. + + +That same year was drawing to its close, in a damp dreary December--one +of those "green Yules" which greedy sextons are supposed to pray for, +and which all the rest of the world utterly abhor. Alan Wyverne was at +the Abbey with Crichton for his only companion, who had come over from +Castle Dacre to join a large shooting-party which was to assemble on the +morrow. He had travelled far that day; and he sat more than half-asleep, +before the huge wood-fire, waiting for dinner, and for Hugh, who had not +finished dressing yet. He was dozing so soundly, that he never heard the +great entrance-bell clang; but he rose to his feet with a start, as Algy +Beauclere came in. From that moment, Wyverne never heard a door open +suddenly, without shuddering. + +There was no mistaking the bearer of evil tidings; he had evidently +ridden far and fast; he was drenched and travel-stained from heel to +head; his bushy beard was sodden and matted with the driving rain; and +his bluff, honest face looked haggard and weary. + +Alan spoke first. + +"Where do you come from? Some one is dying or dead, I know. Who is it?" + +The other answered, as if it cost him an effort to speak, clearing his +throat huskily: + +"I have ridden here from Clydesholme. You must come back with me +directly: Helen is dying. I don't know if I have done right in fetching +you, but I had no heart to refuse her; and Gracie said that I might +come. We must have fresh horses, and strong ones, and some one who knows +the country: I can never find my way back through such a night as this; +the waters were high in two places when I came through, and they are +rising every hour. Don't lose a minute in getting ready." + +Wyverne turned and walked to the bell without a word; he staggered more +than once before he reached it: then he sat down, burying his head in +his hands, and never lifted it till the servant entered. His face, when +he uncovered it, was ghastly pale, and he was shaking all over; but he +gave his orders quite distinctly and calmly. + +"Don't talk now, Algy," he said; "you shall tell me all when we are on +our way. I shall be ready before the horses are. Eat and drink +meanwhile, if you can: you must need it now, and you will need it more +before morning." + +In less than a quarter of an hour Wyverne returned, fully accoutred for +the journey; while he was dressing he had made arrangements with Hugh +Crichton about telegraphing to put off the shooting party: his faculties +seemed clear as ever; he literally forgot nothing. But Beauclere was not +deceived by the unnatural composure. + +"For God's sake, take something to keep your strength up," he said. +"It's a long five and twenty miles, and the road and weather are +fearful. You'll never stand it if you start fasting." + +Alan looked at him vacantly, with a miserable attempt at a smile. + +"I don't think I could eat anything just now," he answered; "and water +suits me best to-night." + +He filled a huge goblet and drained it thirstily; the horses were +announced at that moment. Beauclere remembered afterwards how carefully +his companion looked at girth and bit before they mounted: all his +thoughts and energies were concentrated on one point--how to reach +Clydesholme as soon as possible--he would not risk the chance of an +accident that might delay them for a moment. Two grooms followed them, +to ensure a spare horse in case of a break-down; and so they rode out +into the wild weather on their dismal errand. It was a terrible journey, +and not without danger; the road was so steep and stony in places, that +few men even in broad daylight would have cared to ride over it at that +furious pace; and twice the horses were off their feet in black rushing +water. Strong and tough as he was, Beauclere was almost too exhausted to +keep his saddle before they reached Clydesholme. Nevertheless, he found +breath and time to give his companion all the details it was requisite +he should know. + +It appeared that the Earl had brought his wife to Clydesholme, about a +fortnight back, on the pretext of making preparations for a large party, +which was to assemble there immediately after Christmas. During the +whole of their stay they had been perfectly alone. Her health had been +breaking faster every day; while, from some inexplicable cause, his +temper had grown more consistently tyrannical and savage in proportion +to Helen's increasing weakness and physical inability to make even a +show of resistance. On the previous evening had occurred a terrible +scene of brutal violence. Early the next morning the Earl had ridden +forth, no one knew whither, evidently still in furious wrath. Shortly +afterwards the Countess had been seized with a coughing-fit, which had +ended in the breaking of a large blood-vessel. As soon as she recovered +strength enough to whisper an order, she had sent off an express for +Grace Beauclere, who chanced to be staying within a few miles. She and +her husband came instantly; but it was only to find Helen's state +hopeless. You know the rest. + +Alan listened to all this, but answered never a word; indeed, he +scarcely spoke, except to ask some question about the road, or to give +some order about increasing or moderating their speed. Once Algy heard +him mutter aloud, "If we are only in time!"--and when they had to halt +for some minutes, while a sleepy lodge-keeper was opening the park-gates +of Clydesholme, his ear caught the fierce grinding of Wyverne's teeth. + +The broad front of the mansion was as dark as the night outside, for the +windows of the Countess's apartments looked over the gardens, but +several servants came quickly to answer the summons of the bell. There +was a scared, puzzled look about them all. Beauclere whispered to one of +them, and then turned to Alan with a gleam of satisfaction on his face. + +"We _are_ in time," he said; "thank God for that, at least. Stay here +one minute, till I have seen Gracie." + +Wyverne waited in the huge gloomy hall, with scarcely more consciousness +or volition left than a sleep-walker owns. He allowed a servant to +remove his drenched overcoat, and thanked the man, mechanically; but he +never knew how or when he had taken it off. + +Beauclere soon returned and led the way through several passages into a +long corridor; at the further end of this, light gleamed through a +half-open door. Algy did not attempt to enter, but motioned Alan +silently to go in. + +It was a large, dim room, magnificently furnished after an antique +fashion, and Grace Beauclere was sitting there alone. She looked wan and +worn with grief, and she trembled all over as she locked her arms round +Alan's neck, holding him for a second or two closely embraced, and +whispering a warning in his ear. + +"You must be very quiet and cautious. She has hardly strength enough +left to speak. Call me if you see any great change, I shall be here. The +doctors and nurses are close by; but she would not allow any one to +remain when she guessed you had come. She caught the sound of hoofs +before any of us heard it." + +She pointed to where a heavy curtain concealed an open doorway opposite. +The gesture was not needed. Wyverne knew very well that in the next +chamber Helen lay dying. His brain was clear enough now, and he was +self-possessed, as men are wont to be when they have done with hope, and +have nothing worse to fear than what the next moment will bring. He +walked forward without pausing, and lifted the curtain gently, but with +a steady hand. + +The entrance nearly fronted the huge old-fashioned couch, shadowed by a +canopy and hangings of dark-green velvet, on which the Countess lay. Her +cheeks had scarcely more colour than the snowy linen and lace of the +pillows which supported her, and, till just now, it seemed as though her +heavy eyelids would never be lifted again. But, at the sound of Alan's +footfall, the eyes opened, large and bright, and the face lost the +impress of Death, as it lighted and flushed, momentarily, with the keen +joy of recognition and welcome. + +He was kneeling, with his head bowed down on Helen's hand, that he held +fast, when the first words were spoken. + +"I felt sure you would come," she murmured. "I have been so still, and +patient, and obedient--only that I might live long enough for _this_. I +heard you, when you rode up, through all the wind and the rain. I am so +glad--so glad. I can die easily now. I could never have rested in my +grave if we had not said--'Good-bye.'" + +Wyverne tried twice to speak steadily, but there came only a miserable, +broken moan. + +"Ah! forgive--forgive! God knows, I thought I was right in keeping away. +I did it for the best." + +The thin, transparent fingers of the hand that was free wandered over +his brow, and twined themselves in his drenched hair, with a fond, +delicate caress. + +"I know you did, Alan. _I_ was wrong--I, who would have risked all the +sin and the shame. But I have suffered so much, that I do hope I shall +not be punished any more. See--I can thank you now for standing firm, +and holding _me_ up too. And, dear, I know how good and faithful you +have been from the very beginning. I know about those letters, and all +the truth. I am content--more than content. I have had all your love--is +it not so? You will look at my picture sometimes, and though she was +wilful and wicked, no woman, however good or beautiful, will win you +away from your own dead Helen. Ah! it hurts me to hear you sob. I feel +your tears on my wrist, and they burn--they burn." + +Let us draw the curtain close. Even where sympathy is sure, it is not +lightly to be paraded--"the agony of man unmanned." It was not long +before Wyverne recovered self-control. They spoke no more aloud; but +there were many of those low, broken whispers, half of whose meaning +must be guessed when they are uttered, but which are remembered longer +than the most elaborate sentences that mortal tongue ever declaimed. + +For some minutes Helen's eyes had been closed. Suddenly, though not a +feature was distorted, Alan saw a terrible change sweep over her face, +and rose to call in assistance. It seemed as if she divined his purpose, +and wished to prevent it. The weak clasp tightened, for an instant, +round his fingers, the weary eyelids lifted, enough to give passage to +one last, loving look, and the slow syllables were just barely audible-- + +"This once--only once more." + +He understood her, and, stooping down, laid gently on the poor pale lips +his own--almost as white and cold. Then, for a brief space, there was a +great stillness--a stillness as of Death. An awful sound broke the +silence--a dull, smothered cry, between groan and wail, that haunted the +solitary hearer to her dying day--a cry wrung from the first despair of +a broken-hearted man, who, henceforth, was to be alone for evermore. + +Grace Beauclere shivered in every limb, for she knew that all was over. +But even then she had presence of mind enough to refrain from summoning +any one from without. Helen was past human aid, and Grace knew that she +could not serve her better now than by keeping for awhile curious eyes +and ears away. + +She found Alan standing, with his head resting on his arm that was +coiled round one of the pillars of the canopy. He did not seem aware of +his sister's entrance, and never spoke or stirred as she cast herself +down by the side of the dead, pressing kiss after kiss on the sweet, +quiet face, and weeping passionately. + +How long they remained thus neither could have told. All at once the +door of the outer room opened quickly, and Beauclere lifted the curtain +and stood in the doorway. The first glance told him the truth. He walked +straight up to the foot of the bed, and gazed steadily for a few seconds +on the wreck of marvellous beauty that lay there so still; at last he +muttered between his teeth, + +"It is best--far best--so." + +Then he passed round to where his wife was lying, and wound his arm +round her waist and raised her gently. + +"Darling Gracie, you must rouse yourself. It seems hard, I know, but +this cruel night does not even give time for mourning. We must leave +this instantly. I have ordered the carriage, and, Alan, I have ordered +your horses too. You can find lodging within two miles, but you must not +stay here five minutes longer. It is no place for any of us. Clydesdale +is in the house at this moment." + +For many hours Grace Beauclere's nerves and strength had been sorely +tried but had never given up to this moment. She broke down utterly now, +marking the ghastly change in her brother's face, and the murderous +meaning of his eyes, as he moved slowly and silently towards the door. +She wrenched herself out of her husband's clasp, and threw herself in +Alan's way with a wild cry of terror. + +"Heaven help us! Have we not suffered enough to-night without this last +horror? Alan, you shall never meet while I have sense to prevent it. +Algy, won't you stop him? Don't you see that he is mad?" + +Beauclere strode forward and laid his strong grasp on Wyverne's breast. + +"Yes, you _are_ mad," he said, sternly. "You shall not pass out of this +room, if I can prevent it, to work such bitter wrong against that dead +woman, who loved you only too well. Cannot you see that if you retaliate +on her husband to-night, her name will be dishonoured for ever and ever! +She has suffered enough for you to sacrifice your selfish vengeance. +Alan, listen now; you will thank God on your knees that you did so +hereafter." + +Wyverne gazed in the speaker's face, and as he gazed the devilish fire +died out of his eyes. He passed his hand over his forehead twice or +thrice as if bewildered, and then walked aside to the darkest corner of +the room, leaning his face against the wall; when he turned round again, +it was settled and calm. + +"You are quite right," he said, slowly. "I _was_ mad, and forgot +everything. You need fear nothing now. I only ask you to trust me. I +will see Clydesdale before I go; but I swear I will not speak one angry +word. We will go down directly. Leave me here only three minutes, and I +will follow you." + +They did trust him; they went into the outer room, and never thought of +listening or lifting the curtain. It is an example that we may well +imitate. + +All this while the Earl sat downstairs alone, in such an agony of +remorse and shame that, in spite of his past brutality and tyranny, his +worst enemy might have spared reproach. He knew that Helen's state was +hopeless, though he had not heard yet that the end had come. He thought +of her, as he saw her first, in the radiant bloom of her imperial +beauty. He thought of her, as he saw her last, pale and exhausted and +death-like, after his savage frenzy had vented itself. He _did_ repent +heartily now, and felt as if he would have given ten years of his life +to undo the wrong and make ample amends. And still, the voice that none +of us can stifle for ever kept whispering, "Too late--too late!" + +He was musing thus in miserable anticipation of the next news, when the +door opened slowly, and Wyverne entered, fully equipped for his +departure. + +What passed between these two will never be known. Beauclere, who stood +outside within ear-shot, ready to interfere in case Alan's self-control +should fail, heard absolutely nothing. At first, the Earl's harsh, rough +voice, though subdued below its wont, sounded at intervals; but +Wyverne's deep, sombre monotone seemed to bear it down, and even this +eventually sank so low that not an accent was distinguishable. + +At last, the lock turned softly, and Wyverne came out. He just pressed +Algy's hand in passing, and went straight to the hall-door, where his +horses were waiting. Immediately afterwards the hoofs moved slowly away. + +It was five minutes or more before the carriage was ready. Beauclere had +put his wife in, and was standing in the hall, making his last +preparations, when Clydesdale came up behind him, and took his arm +unawares. + +The Earl's face was convulsed with grief; his eyes were heavy, and his +cheeks seemed seamed with tears; and his voice was broken and low. + +"I hardly dare to ask you to stay to-night," he said; "but if you +would----Only consider the fearful weather, and your wife's health. If +you knew how bitterly I repent! I only heard the truth ten minutes ago." + +Algy Beauclere could preach patience better than he could practise it. +He shook off the detaining hand with a force that made Clydesdale reel, +turning upon him the wrathful blaze of his honest eyes. + +"I hope you _do_ repent," he said, hoarsely. "My wife is not strong, but +she should lie out on the open moor sooner than sleep under that +accursed roof of yours." + +If he had looked back as he went out he might have seen the Earl recoil +helplessly, covering a stricken face with shaking hands. + +Wyverne remained at the village inn, not a mile from the park gates, +just long enough to rest his horses and men, and then rode back to the +Abbey as fast as blood and bone of the best would carry him. His +strained nerves and energies were not relaxed till he got fairly home. +There was a sharp reaction, and he lay for some time in a state of half +stupor; but he was never seriously ill. It was no wonder that mind and +body should be utterly worn out: the dark ride through such wild weather +was trying enough, and he had scarcely tasted food or drink for twenty +hours. Twice within the week there came a special messenger from +Clydesholme; it was to be presumed that the errand was one of peace; +for, eight days after Helen's death, Alan Wyverne stood in his place +among the few friends and relations who travelled so far to see her laid +in her grave. But it was noticed that neither at meeting nor parting did +any word or salutation pass between him and the Earl. Alan arrived only +just in time for the funeral, and left immediately afterwards, without +setting his foot over the threshold of Clydesholme. + +No one saw anything of Wyverne for some weeks. When he reappeared in +society he looked certainly older, but otherwise his manner and bearing +and temper remained much the same as they had been for the last four +years. + +That night left its mark on others besides him. It was long before +Beauclere recovered his genial careless elasticity of spirit; and for +months his wife scarcely slept a night without starting and moaning in +her dreams. Judging from outward appearance, Clydesdale was the person +most strongly and permanently affected by the events just recorded. He +was never the same man again: his temper was still often harsh and +violent, but the arrogant superciliousness, and intense appreciation of +himself and his position, had quite left him. The lesson, whatever it +was, lasted him his life. Very few of the many who were pleased or +profited by the alteration in the Earl's character, guessed at what a +fearful cost the improvement had been made. + +It seemed as if poor Helen had felt for some time before her death that +the end was fast approaching. They found not only her will, which had +been executed when she was last in London, but divers letters, not to be +delivered till after her decease. There was a very large legacy to Grace +Beauclere, and some minor ones to old servants and pensioners. All the +residue of the vast sum at her disposal was bequeathed to her father, +without condition or reserve. Her jewels--with the exception of Lord +Clydesdale's gifts before and after marriage, which reverted to +him--were left to Mrs. Brabazon. There was no letter for Wyverne, and no +mention of his name; but Maud sent him a casket, which had been in her +hands for some time past. It contained three of Alan's letters, a few +trifling relics of their brief engagement, a thick packet in Helen's +handwriting, bearing a comparatively recent date, and a small exquisite +miniature, taken before her beauty had begun to fade. That casket was +the crowning jewel of the testament. + +The void that her death made in society was not easily filled up; but +after awhile the world rolled on, as if she had never been. The Squire +looked broken and grey, and more careworn than when his affairs had been +most desperate. He knew scarcely anything of the terrible truth, but a +vague remorse haunted and bore him down. Lady Mildred's face was +inscrutable as ever, but her smiles grew rarer and more artificial day +by day. Max Vavasour, after the first emotion of sorrow, troubled +himself little about what was past and gone. If he ever realized his +sister's sacrifice, he looked upon it as a great political necessity--to +be deplored, but not to be repented of. Maud Brabazon felt as if she +could never bring herself to wear the jewels that she inherited; but she +got over these scruples in time; and, at the first drawing-room of the +following season, her sapphires and diamonds were generally envied and +admired. + +When I said that in Alan Wyverne there was little outward alteration, I +ought to have limited the assertion. Men would have told you so; but +maids and matrons are sharper-sighted, and their report would have been +very different: _they_ knew how utterly he was changed. Their society +still had an attraction for him; and he was frank, and kind, and gentle +as ever, when a woman was in presence; but a word never escaped his lips +that could be construed into anything warmer than friendship and +courtesy. The most intrepid coquette refrained instinctively from +wasting her _calineries_ and seductions there: she might as well have +sought a lover in a deserted statue-gallery of the Vatican. + +How Alan fared when he was quite alone it would be hard to say. Such +seasons were rare, except at the dead hours of night, when sleep comes +naturally to every constitution, unless some powerful momentary +excitement is at work; for he mixed more in general society than he had +done for years. I doubt if he did not suffer less acutely than when +Helen was alive, and in her husband's power. He was at least free from +the torments of anxiety and apprehension. If in this world of ours we +can defy these two enemies of man's peace, we have gained no mean +victory over Fate. + + + + +CHAPTER XXVII. + +MORITURI TE SALUTANT. + + +It is a clear breezy night, out in the midst of the Atlantic, the mighty +steam-ship _Panama_ ploughs her way through the long, sullen "rollers," +steadily, and calmly, strongly, as if conscious of her trust, and of her +ability to discharge it--the safe carriage of three hundred lives. A few +wakeful passengers still linger on deck; amongst them is Alan Wyverne; +the restless demon, ever at his elbow, has driven him abroad again, to +see what sport may be found on the great Western prairies. + +Suddenly there is a trampling of hurrying feet between decks, and a +sailor rushes up the companion and whispers to the officer of the +watch, who descends with a scared face; in five minutes more a +terrible cry rings from stem to stern, waking the soundest sleeper +aboard--"Fire!--Fire!" + +Can you form any idea of the horror and confusion that ensue, when +hundreds of human creatures wake from perfect security, to find +themselves face to face with death? I think not. No one can realize the +scene, except those few who have witnessed it once, and who see it in +their dreams till they die. No man alive can say for certain if his +nerve will stand such a shock, and the bravest may well be proud, if he +emerges from such an ordeal without betraying shameful weakness. I speak +of a mixed and undisciplined crowd--not of trained soldiers; we have +more than one proof of what _these_ can do and endure. I think, that +those who died at Thermopylae were less worthy of the crown of valour, +than the troopers who formed upon deck and stood steady in their ranks, +till every woman and child was safe in the boats, and till the +_Birkenhead_ went down under their feet. + +Nevertheless, at such emergencies, a few are always found who single +themselves out from the rest, as if determined to prove what daring and +devotion manhood can display at extremity. First and foremost among +these, on this occasion, was Alan Wyverne. He never lost his presence of +mind for an instant. Yet he had accidentally become possessed of a +secret that few on board had any idea of. English powder was at a high +premium in America, just then; and the captain had shipped, at his own +private risk, and against his orders, enough to blow all the fore part +of the vessel to shivers. Alan reached his cabin before the first upward +rush came, and made his preparations deliberately. They were very short +and simple. He opened a certain steel casket and took out a packet and a +miniature, which he secured in his breast; then passing his arm through +the port-hole, he dropped the casket into-the sea; a sharp pang of pain +flitted across his face as he did so, but he never hesitated; that one +fact told plainly enough his opinion of the crisis. Then he buckled +round his waist a broad leather belt, from which, among other +instruments, hung a long sheathed hunting-knife; he put some biscuits +and cakes of portable soup, and a large flask of brandy, into the +pockets of a thick boat-cloak, which he threw over his arm; then, after +casting round a keen hurried glance, as if to assure himself he had +forgotten nothing, he left the cabin, and with some difficulty made his +way on deck. + +It was a ghastly chaos of tumult and terror--a babel of shouts, and +cries, and groans, and orders to which no one gave heed, while over all +arose the roar and hiss of escaping steam, for they had stopped the +engines at the first alarm, and the _Panama_ lay in the trough of the +sea--a huge helpless log; though the weather was by no means rough, the +"rollers" never quite subside out there in mid-ocean. The flames +beginning to burst out of one of the fore hatchways, threw a weird, +fantastic glare on half-dressed, struggling figures, and on white faces +convulsed with eagerness or fear; and all the while the clear autumn +moon looked down serenely indifferent to human suffering; even so, she +looked down on Adam's agony, on the night that followed the Fall. + +Personal terror and the consciousness of guilt, had made the captain +utterly helpless already; but the chief-officer was a cool-headed +Scotchman, a thorough seaman, and as brave as Bayard; he was exerting +himself to the utmost, backed by a few sailors and passengers, to keep +the gangway clear, so as to lower the boats regularly. In spite of their +efforts, the first sank almost as soon as she touched the water, stove +in against the side through the slipping or breaking of a "fall." At +last they did get the launch fairly afloat, and were equally successful +with the two remaining cutters. + +There was manhood and generosity enough in the crowd to allow most of +the women and children to be lowered without interference; but soon it +became terribly evident that fully a third of those on board must be +left behind, from absolute want of boat-room. Then the real, selfish +struggle began, some of the sailors setting the example, and all order +and authority was at an end. As Alan stood in the background, a man came +up behind him and touched his arm, without speaking. It was Jock +Ellison, whose father and grand-father had been keepers before him at +the Abbey; he had accompanied Wyverne through Africa and India; his +constitution and strength seemed climate-proof, no peril disturbed his +cheerful equanimity, and he would have laid down his life to serve his +master any day, as the merest matter of duty. + +It did Alan good to see the handsome, honest, northern face, and the +bright, bold, blue eyes close to his shoulder. He smiled as he spoke. + +"We're in a bad mess, Jock, I fear. Keep near me, whatever happens. +You've always done that so far, and we've always pulled through." + +The stout henchman was slow of speech as he was ready of hand. Before he +could reply, Wyverne's attention was called elsewhere. + +A few steps from where they were standing, a pale, sickly-looking woman +sat alone, leaning against the bulwarks. She felt she was too weak to +force a passage through the crowd, so she had sunk down there, hopeless +and helpless. She kept trying to hush the wailing of her frightened +child, though the big, heavy tears were rolling fast down her own +cheeks, moaning low at intervals, always the same words--"Ah! Willie, +Willie!" It was her husband's name, and the poor creature was thinking +how hard he had been slaving these three years to make a home for her +and "Minnie" out there in the West, and how he had been living on crusts +to save their passage money--only to bring them to _this_. Alan had been +attracted by the pair soon after he came on board, they seemed so very +lonely and defenceless and so wonderfully fond of each other. He had +been kind to them on several occasions, and had made great friends with +"Minnie," a pretty timid, fragile child of five or six years. + +He went up now, and laid his hand gently on the mother's shoulder. + +"Don't lose heart," he said, "but trust to me. You shall meet your +husband yet, please God. You will be almost safe when you are once in a +boat. The sea is not rough, and you are certain to be picked up by some +vessel before many hours are over. The only difficulty is to get to your +place. We'll manage that for you. Don't be frightened if you hear an +angry word or two. I can carry Minnie on one arm easily; let me put the +other round you; and wrap yourself in this boat-cloak--there's enough in +the pockets to feed you for days at a strait, and it will keep you both +warm." + +He hardly noticed her gratitude, but whispered a word or two to Jock +Ellison, and moved steadily towards the gangway with both his charges. +The gigantic Dalesman kept close to his master's shoulder, rather in his +front, cleaving the crowd asunder with his mighty shoulders, utterly +regardless of threat or prayer. Some of the better sort, too, when they +saw the white, delicate woman, and the little child nestling close to +Alan's breast, till her golden hair mingled with his black beard, +yielded room, not unwillingly, muttering--"Let _them_ pass, at all +events: there's time enough yet." So, Wyverne had nearly reached the +gangway, when a haggard, wild-looking man thrust himself violently +forward, evidently determined to be the next to descend. + +"You shall have the next turn," Alan said firmly. "Let these two go +first; you see how helpless they are. They are not strong enough to +fight their own battles." + +The other turned upon him furiously. + +"Who the ---- are you, that give orders here?" he screamed. "I've as much +right to my life as the woman or any of you. I'll have my turn in spite +of you all;" and he began to open a clasp-knife. + +Alan's face grew very dark and stern. + +"I haven't time to argue," he said; "stand clear, or take the +consequences." + +His adversary sprang at him without another word. Wyverne's arms were so +encumbered that he was perfectly defenceless; but just then Jock +Ellison's hand came out of his breast, grasping a ponderous revolver by +the barrel: the steel-bound butt crashed down full on the man's bare +head, and he dropped where he stood, without even staggering. The crowd +drew back instinctively; before they closed in again the mother was safe +in the boat. Even in her agony of terror she found time to kiss Alan's +hand, crying "that God would reward him." In truth he _was_ rewarded, +and that soon. + +It was strange--considering their brief acquaintance--to see how the +poor child clung to her protector, and how loth she was to leave him, +even to follow her mother; it almost needed force to make the thin white +arms unloose their clasp of his neck. Young as she was then, "Minnie" +will be a woman before she forgets the kind grave face that leant over +her, and the soft voice that said, "Good-bye, little one," as Wyverne +let her go. + +He was turning away, when the man that grovelled at his foot began to +stir and moan. + +"It's hard on him, too, poor devil!" some one grumbled in the +background; "his wife is in the boat; she's five months gone with child, +and she'll have to starve if she ever gets to land." + +Wyverne stooped down and lifted up his late adversary as tenderly as he +had supported the woman. + +"Hold up for a minute," he whispered. "You brought the blow on yourself; +but I promised you should have the next turn. Your wife has hardly +missed you yet. And take care of this: it may help you some day." + +He drew a note-case from his pocket as he spoke, and thrust it into the +other's breast: no one attempted to interfere as he put the guiding +ropes round the half insensible body, and passed it carefully over the +ship's side. One determined mind will cow a crowd at most times; and +remember, there were two to the fore, just then. + +"He has _my_ place," Alan said, simply--as if that were the best answer +to any objections or murmurs; and then he made his way back again to the +clear part of the deck, his trusty henchman following him still. + +The dreadful struggle was over at last; the boats, fully freighted, had +pushed off, and lay at a safe distance; those who were left on board +knew that they had only to trust now to their own resources, or to a +miracle, or to the mercy of Providence. There was scarcely any wind, and +what there was blew in a favourable direction, so that little of the +smoke or flame came aft. + +Suddenly Wyverne turned to his companion, who sat near him, apparently +quite cheerful and composed-- + +"You had better look to yourself, Jock. She won't hold together another +quarter of an hour. It's no distance to swim, and they may take you into +a boat still, if you try it. You've as good a right to a place as any +one now the women are gone." + +The Dalesman's broad breast heaved indignantly, and there was a sob in +his voice as he replied. + +"I'll do your bidding to the last, Sir Alan; but you'll never have the +heart to make me leave you. I haven't deserved it." + +Wyverne knew better than to press the point. + +"Shake hands then, old comrade," he said, with a smile on his lip. +"You've served me well enough to have your own way for once. I fancy you +have few heavy sins to repent of, but you had better make your peace +with God quickly; our minutes are numbered." + +Just then a boat ranged up close under the ship's quarter, and a +smothered voice called on Wyverne by name. It was the chief officer's, +who had determined to make this last effort to save him. + +"Let yourself down, Sir Alan, there are ropes enough about, or drop over +the side. We'll take _you_ in; you have well deserved it." + +He never hesitated an instant--he withstood stronger temptations in his +time--but leant over the side and answered, in his own firm, clear +tones, + +"Thanks, a thousand times; but get back out of danger instantly. It is +useless waiting for me; I don't stir. I have given up my place already, +and no power on earth would make me take another man's. If a ship comes +near, we may all be saved yet; if not, we know the worst, and I hope we +know how to meet it." + +When the cutter had pushed off, Wyverne sat down again, burying his face +in his hands, and remained so for some minutes. Suddenly he looked up, +and drew the miniature out of his breast, gazing on it steadfastly and +long, with a love and tenderness that no words can express, and a +happiness so intense that it savoured of triumph. One of the survivors +who chanced to be watching him (unconscious of the catastrophe being so +near) said afterwards that a strange light shone out Alan's face during +those few seconds--a light that came neither from moon nor fire, but as +it were from _within_--a light, perchance, such as saints may, one day, +see on the faces of angels. + +"Helen--darling Helen," he murmured, "I always thought and hoped and +prayed that I had acted rightly; but I never knew it till now." + +He pressed the picture to his lips, and kissed it twice or thrice +fervently. Let us hope that in that impulse there mingled nothing of +sinful passion; for it was the last of Alan Wyverne's life. + +In a moment there came an awful smothered roar--a crash of rending +timbers and riven metal--all the fore-part of the vessel seemed to melt +away, scattered over air and water in a torrent of smoke and flame; the +after-part shook convulsively through every joint and seam, and then, +with one headlong plunge, went down, like a wounded whale "sounding." +Some half-dozen strong swimmers emerged alive from the horrible vortex, +and all these were saved. Brave Jock Ellison, after recovering from the +first stunning shock, never attempted to make for the boats, but swam +hither and thither, till his colossal strength failed him, hoping to +find some trace of his master. But Alan Wyverne never rose again, and +never will--till the sea shall give up her dead. + +And now my tale is told. + +I have attempted to sketch, roughly what befel a man very weak +and erring--who was often sorely tried--who acted ever up to the +light that was given him, at the cost of bitter self-denial and +self-sacrifice--who, nevertheless, in this life, failed to reap the +tithe of his reward. + +Alan Wyverne was strong, up to a certain point; but he had not faith +enough to make him feel always sure that he had done right, in defiance +of appearances; nor principle enough to keep him from repining at +results. He could neither comfort himself nor others, thoroughly. He was +a chivalrous true-hearted man; but a very imperfect Christian. He dared +not openly rebel against the laws of God; but he was too human to +accept, unhesitatingly, the fulfilment of his decrees. Throughout Alan's +life, Honour usurped the place where Religion ought to have reigned +paramount; he shrank from shame when he would perhaps have encountered +sin. + +Just see how complete was the earthly retribution. + +To that one principle--sound enough if it had not been the ruling +one--he sacrificed love, and friendship, and revenge, and life. Yet the +happiest moments that he knew for years, were those when he stood face +to face with a terrible death--a dead woman's picture in his hand. + + +THE END. + + + + +NEW WORKS IN PRESS. + +By the Author of "East Lynne; or, The Earl's Daughter," and "Castle +Wafer." + + MRS. HALIBURTON'S TROUBLES. + GERVASE CASTONEL, or, the Six Grey Powders. + THE RED COURT FARM. + MARY GORING: or, How I Grew to be an Old Maid. + THE DIAMOND BRACELET; or, Going into Exile. + RECOLLECTIONS OF CHARLES STRANGE. + MILDRED ARKELL. + PARK WATER; or, A Race with Time. + THE EARL'S SECRET; or, The Second Wife. + POMEROY ABBEY; or, The Old Keep. + CLARA LAKE'S DREAM. + BLANCHE LEVEL. + THE SHADOW OF ASHLYDYAT. + + + + +BOOKS RECENTLY PUBLISHED. + + THE HEIR TO ASHLEY. By Mrs. Henry Wood + CASTLE WAFER. By Mrs. Henry Wood + BARCHESTER TOWERS. By Anthony Trollope, 2 vols. + EAST LYNNE; or, The Earl's Daughter. By Mrs. Henry Wood + THE WARDEN. By Anthony Trollope + THE DEAD SECRET. By Wilkie Collins, author of "Woman in + White," etc. + HIDE AND SEEK. By Wilkie Collins + AFTER DARK. By Wilkie Collins + CYRILLA. By the author of "Quits," "The Initials," etc. + LADY GLENLYON; or, The Trials of a Flirt. By the author of + "Susan Hopley," "Lilly Dawson," etc. + + + + + + +End of Project Gutenberg's Barren Honour: A Novel, by George A. Lawrence + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK BARREN HONOUR: A NOVEL *** + +***** This file should be named 34616.txt or 34616.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + http://www.gutenberg.org/3/4/6/1/34616/ + +Produced by David Garcia, Mary Meehan and the Online +Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net (This +file was produced from images generously made available +by The Kentuckiana Digital Library) + + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. 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