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diff --git a/36623.txt b/36623.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..ec54aba --- /dev/null +++ b/36623.txt @@ -0,0 +1,13796 @@ +The Project Gutenberg EBook of Dorrien of Cranston, by Bertram Mitford + +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: Dorrien of Cranston + +Author: Bertram Mitford + +Release Date: July 5, 2011 [EBook #36623] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ASCII + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK DORRIEN OF CRANSTON *** + + + + +Produced by Nick Hodson of London, England + + + + +Dorrien of Cranston +By Bertram Mitford +Published by Hurst and Blackett, Limited, London. +This edition dated 1903. +Dorrien of Cranston, by Bertram Mitford. + +________________________________________________________________________ + +________________________________________________________________________ +DORRIEN OF CRANSTON, BY BERTRAM MITFORD. + + + +CHAPTER ONE. + +CONCERNING CERTAIN DORRIENS. + +General Dorrien sits at the breakfast table in the cheerful dining-room +at Cranston Hall, with a frown upon his face and an open letter in his +hand. + +He is a handsome man, with severe, regular features; a man of whom his +dependents would certainly stand in awe, and his family would fear more +than love. There is sternness in the glance of his keen eyes, in the +cut of the closely-trimmed grey moustache and whisker, and in every +movement of the erect military figure. A man of iron will, not to be +turned aside from his own hard and fast rule of right and wrong by any +consideration--what chance had the foibles and follies of youth with one +of this mould? And there he sits, motionless, gazing upon the open +letter, the frown deepening upon his brow. + +The letter bears an American postmark and is from his eldest son, whom +he has not seen for eight years. It is business-like in the terse +brevity of its wording, for it merely, and as a matter of duty, +announces the writer's intended return to England, tidings one would +think that should gladden a father's heart. + +But in this case not so. Roland Dorrien and his father had parted in +bitter anger. Faults on both sides, of course. The former wild, +reckless and imprudent, as youth too strictly and needlessly restrained +is almost sure to prove; the latter merciless and unbending. Resentful +feelings and hot, hasty temper, met by additional severity and cold +scorn--thus they had parted, and save two or three curt communications +on money matters had held no intercourse since. And the son, sharing +largely in the paternal force of will, has made no attempt at apology or +conciliation during his exile; and now he is coming home. + +So the General's reflections are not of a comforting nature. He has not +softened during these years. Never was he known to give way; all must +yield to him. The exile has not done this; therefore Time, rather than +heal the paternal anger, has only consolidated it. + +Roland is not his first-born. There was another, a fine cavalry +soldier, who had already begun to distinguish himself in his father's +profession, and him the General had loved as the apple of his eye. But +one day news of a terrible Alpine fatality arrived at Cranston Hall. An +Englishman and his two guides--both incompetent--had been lost on the +Lauteraar glacier. They were seen by another party not very far behind +them on that dangerous pass suddenly to disappear--and upon these +arriving at the spot, a fresh rift in the brink of a black, bottomless +crevasse showed that the edge had given way beneath the doomed trio who +had approached it regardless of proper precaution. There yawned the +horrible fissure, its glassy blue sides falling perpendicular into +unknown depths, and revealing the barest possible traces of the +catastrophe to the horror-stricken witnesses. The Englishman who had +thus found a nameless grave in the most stupendous of Nature's vaults +was Vernon Dorrien, the General's eldest son, and the light of the old +soldier's life seemed thenceforth to be buried there also. + +Roland was now the heir and would reign in his dead brother's place. +Not of legal right though, for the entail ended with the present Squire, +who had it in his power to will Cranston as he chose. But the General +had his own stern ideas of right. The Dorriens had always held Cranston +from father to son, or, failing male issue, from brother to brother, and +in spite of his aversion to his eldest surviving son the latter would +succeed him in the ancestral domain. Right and justice would not allow +Roland to be disinherited, but that he should fill his dead brother's +place was very unpalatable to General Dorrien. + +And now he sits with the letter in his hand gazing meditatively out upon +the sunlit lawn and the noble elms in the park, and on the wooded +hollows beneath the brown heather-clad uplands; and his soul is filled +with bitterness as he thinks of the man who was to have owned all this +fair domain now lying cold and stiff in his vast and icy tomb. The +cawing of rooks floats in through the half-open window, and the +flower-beds are stirred by a cool, soft breath from yon patch of +amethyst sea just glimpsed through a dip in the downs away there to the +right. + +The window shuts with an angry slam, the result of the sudden opening of +a door. He looks up quickly as a lady enters--an elderly lady with a +strong-minded face. She must have been very handsome in her youth--she +is handsome yet, though her dark hair is only just beginning to turn +grey, and her large eyes are clear and lustrous still; but the firm +moulding of mouth and chin seems to show that her will is nearly, if not +quite, as determined as that of her husband. She takes her place +opposite to him at the table. + +"I have a letter here"--he begins--"from Roland." + +"Yes? And what does he say?" Her tone betrays scant interest in the +subject, and she busies herself with the urn. + +"Very little that he ought to say--very little indeed. Why, madam, you +have taught your children the Fifth Commandment to small purpose." And +he hands her the letter with a bitter smile. + +She takes it frowning, but without a word, for she has long learnt the +futility of trying to stem his taunts or his anger. Her domineering +spirit would long since have reduced most men to submission, but in her +husband she had found her master; and thus for many a year a +cold-hearted peace has reigned between them, but their characters are +too much alike ever to harmonise, and they know it. + +"He does not say he is coming home," she remarks, handing back the +letter--"only to England." + +"And he does not express a shadow of regret for his shameful behaviour +before he went away, or for his treatment of me. And yet he talks about +`his duty to inform me of his return.' His duty!" repeats the General +with bitter sarcasm. + +"You know I told you, at the time, you were too hard on him. Things +might have been worse." + +"Too hard on him! Might have been worse! Eleanor, are you mad? A son +of mine to be threatened with a common breach of promise action by +common low people. I don't see what could be worse." + +"Well, it was only a threat. The boy was imprudent, of course; but +then, he was very young." + +"But old in vice, no doubt. But it was not so much the disgraceful +affair itself that I felt, as that a son of mine should be mixed up with +low, vulgar people." + +"They were not so very low. The father was a professional man--a +surgeon in good practice, and--" + +"And would assess his daughter's affections at 4,000 pounds, and would +exhibit the young _lady_ in open court as a butt for the ribald wit of a +filthy mob, and for the questioning and brow-beating and broad jeers of +a set of profligate barristers. Really, Eleanor, I am at a loss to see +how lowness and vulgarity could descend much further." + +To this conclusive retort she makes no reply. Then tentatively-- + +"But don't you think, Reginald, that he ought to come here now? He +ought to be known in the county, if--if--" + +"If he is one day to take his place here--is not that what you wanted to +say? Well, whether he does so or not depends upon himself. I may +bequeath Cranston as I choose. Most men would cast off a son for a +tenth of the undutiful conduct Roland has shown towards me; but I waive +that. I only desire to be just. Roland will take his place here just +as if he were the inheritor at law. But if ever he disgraces himself +again, not one shilling will he get from me, and Cranston will go to his +brother. So you had better find an early opportunity of warning him." + +It is lamentable to have to record the fact, but her husband's +resentment against his son was not so displeasing to Mrs Dorrien as her +conscience told her should have been the case. For even as all his +affection is buried in the grave of his first-born, so does she dote +upon her youngest. For the exiled Roland she has little love. He is +too strong of will for her; and no more than over his father has she +ever been able to exercise over him that power she delights in. But to +see her idolised Hubert installed at Cranston as its heir--even though +in his brother's place--is a tempting picture to the eyes of this woman, +whose one weakness is love of her idol. To do her justice, conscience +prevails, and she is about to urge even more in defence of the absent +one, when a step is heard on the stairs, and the General exclaims: + +"Hush. No more now. I hear Nellie coming down. Oblige me by not +mentioning this"--tapping the letter--"to her, or to anyone, at +present." + +"Good-morning, papa," cries a fresh, cheerful voice, and the old man's +face softens perceptibly beneath his daughter's kiss. She is a tall, +largely-made girl, but not in the least gawky or ungraceful; and +although her features are too irregular for conventional beauty, yet a +profusion of soft brown hair, blue eyes and the warm flush tingeing a +clear skin, together with a bright, taking expression when she smiles, +combine to render Nellie Dorrien a pretty girl--some think, a very +pretty girl. + +"You're late, child," says the General, not unkindly. "Better sit down +and get your breakfast. I must go and attend to my correspondence"--and +gathering up his letters he goes out. + +"I do think, Nellie," began her mother, as soon as they were left alone, +"I do think you might take the trouble to be down a little sooner. Your +papa is so vexed when everybody is late, and now you are both late, and +he'll be doubly so." + +"But he was not a bit cross, mamma, at least not with me." + +"Not with you! No, perhaps not. But Hubert isn't down yet, and it'll +all fall upon him. However, as you are safe, it doesn't matter about +poor Hubert," added Mrs Dorrien acidly. + +"Really, mamma, I don't think it's quite fair to saddle me with Hubert's +derelictions. Surely he is old enough to take care of himself," gently +objected the girl. + +"Of course. Selfishness is the order of the day in this house, I ought +to have remembered that." + +Nellie gave a little shrug of her shoulders, but made no reply. She was +far from being a selfish girl, but she could not see why everything and +everybody should be made to give way to Hubert and his convenience, as +it had to do wherever her mother's authority or influence reached. For +Mrs Dorrien chose to fancy her youngest son an invalid, on the strength +of which that interesting youth at the age of twenty-two would have +taken first prize at an unlicked cub show--supposing such an institution +to exist. Nellie herself knew this reputed debility to be sheer fudge-- +which knowledge she unconsciously shared with certain convivial and +raffish spirits who were wont to meet more nights a week than was good +for them at the "Cock and Bull and Twisted Cable" in Wandsborough, and +these latter could have accounted for the poor boy's chronic seediness +more to his mother's enlightenment than satisfaction. + +"Hallo, mother. Morning, Nell!" cried the object under discussion, +entering the breakfast-room and sliding languidly into his place. A +sallow, loosely-built, light-haired youth, somewhat deficient in chin, +and with an irritating drawl. + +"At last, Hubert dear. I began to think you must have had a bad night, +and was getting anxious!" said his mother fondly. "How are you this +morning, my boy? You don't look at all well." + +She was right--in one sense. He had had a bad night, the +above-mentioned sporting hostelry containing proportionately less whisky +and soda, not to mention other varieties of tipple more or less +deleterious. The General's hair would have stood straight on end had he +known when and how his youngest-born had arrived home. + +"Oh, I'm all right, mother," growled that guileless youth, "except that +I've got a deuce of a head on. But I say, what was the veteran looking +so mortally black about just now? I met him on the stairs, or rather I +saw him--he didn't see me, thank Heaven--and he was scowling like an +assassin. He had a lot of letters in his fist. By the way"--breaking +off with a start of alarm--"no one has been dunning him about--about me, +don't you know. Eh?" + +"No, no dear," quickly answered his mother. "It was not about you. +Your father is put out over his correspondence, but it is not about you. +That I may say." + +"That's lucky," said Hubert, greatly relieved. "I didn't know who might +have been at him. But, mother, what was it about?" he persisted, his +curiosity awakened in proportion as his fears were lulled. + +"Nothing that you need mind," returned Mrs Dorrien, rising and taking +refuge from further questioning in flight. + +"Nellie," began the young man, as soon as his mother had left the room, +"I wish you knew the Rectory people." + +"So do I. I just met the girls once at the Nevilles' garden party, and +rather liked them. But mamma would sooner cut off her head than have +anything to say to them. But why do you wish it?" + +"Oh, I don't know. The eldest isn't up to much--too cold and stuck up. +As for the young one--Sophie--she's a detestable brat. Tries to snub a +fellow, don't you know. Thinks herself no end clever. But the middle +one--Olive--fact is, she's a monstrously pretty girl." + +"Ahem! And when did you make that discovery?" + +"Why I saw her at the station the other day--and rather took stock of +her; and I tell you, a fellow might make something of her." + +"Or the other way about--she might make something of a fellow," returned +his sister, with a slight curl of the lip. + +"Go it!" exploded the other wrathfully. "Of course it's very funny and +all that. I see what you mean, and the joke's a poor one. I thought +you might be of some use to a fellow; but if you want to play the fool +instead, why there's an end of it." + +"My dear boy, I can't help you in the very least. You know mamma hates +the sight of them, and as for papa he declares that if he had his will +he would try poor Dr Ingelow by drumhead court martial and have him +shot. It's hard lines that we are to be at daggers drawn with people +whom everybody says are awfully nice, just because their opinions are +not ours, I must say." + +"Well, I rather agree with the veteran. All that papistical stuff is +awful bosh, and a parson who goes in for it is no better than a wolf in +sheep's clothing--as old mother Frewen always says. But all the same +that's no reason why we shouldn't know the girls." + +"Why didn't you make acquaintance with the brother at Oxford?" asked +Nellie. + +"Oh, I don't know. Didn't think it worth while then. These freshmen +are generally a bore." + +"Freshmen! Why this is his fourth term." + +"Is it? I didn't know. Hallo--I say--there's the veteran calling you, +outside. Better look sharp, the old man's face is getting apoplectic," +he added teasingly, discerning that the French window was jammed and +wouldn't open, and that the frown was deepening on their father's face +where he stood at the other side of the gravel walk. + +General Dorrien had been comfortably off before he succeeded his elder +brother, with whom he had been on bad terms, and whose death, some five +years previous to the opening of this narrative, took place on the high +seas during the voyage home from South America--a voyage undertaken by +medical advice. The General accepted his new position and its +responsibilities perfectly naturally and easily, and at once set to work +vigorously and with military precision to rectify the numerous +derelictions which had prevailed and thriven under the sway of his +easy-going predecessor. It stood to reason that many suffered by the +change. Consequently the new Squire was not beloved. But if unpopular +with his dependents, by his equals he was received with open arms. He +had been a brilliant soldier in his time, and had served with +distinction in more than one of our wars in the East; the county +therefore felt proud of his fame, being, in fact, not wholly free from +some idea of having itself contributed thereto. Then the late Squire +had been a bachelor, but here was a family who would keep up Cranston as +it should be kept up. There ought to be a law against old bachelors +occupying such a place as Cranston, said the county, in its joy at +seeing a family once more in possession at the Hall, and a family +comprising two eligible sons--one of them a right royal "catch"--and a +daughter who would certainly not be dowerless. So although on further +acquaintance the General was feared rather than liked, yet the county +was very well satisfied. But its feminine side longed for the return of +the eldest son to his ancestral home, with a solicitude that should have +been insidiously flattering to the unconscious wanderer had he been +aware of its existence. + + + +CHAPTER TWO. + +CONCERNING A MAN AND A DOG. + +Before a house in Cambridge Terrace a hansom draws up with that series +of jerks peculiar to its kind, and discharges its freight--a man, a dog +and a portmanteau, and while the first is making enquiries as to the +occupant being within, the second is scampering up and down the footway +as hard as he can pelt, for he has been pent up on shipboard and in +trains for many a weary day, and now such an opportunity of stretching +his legs is in no wise to be neglected. + +"Not in?" the traveller is saying in reply to the servant who opens the +door. "But he isn't out of town?" + +"Oh no, sir. Mr Venn's generally home before this. He may be in any +minute now." + +"All right. I'll wait for him. Here, cabman, lay hold of the other +end," and between them they deposit the portmanteau, a battered and +weatherworn campaigner, safe inside the hall door, and cabby, having +received more than double his fare, retires well satisfied and mumbling +gleefully, "Military gent 'ome from Hingia. Two bob and a 'arf crown +from Euston. Yee-epp?" + +"Just my luck," muses the traveller with vexation in his face, as he +gazes round upon his friend's sitting-room, a typical bachelor den in +all its pipe-and-book-and-stick-bestrewn untidiness. "Just my luck to +come back to this cursed town to find the only man I know and could +reckon on not at home--possibly out for the evening, and not a soul to +speak to in the meanwhile." + +Here a scuffle and a vigorous whine outside the front door cuts short +his ruminations. Quickly he opens it. + +"Roy, you rascal, come in, sir. Humbugging after cats as usual?" This +address, though irate in wording, is affectionate in tone, as the +beautiful animal bounds past the instant the door is open, and draws up +in the absent Venn's room, wagging his bushy tail and looking perfectly +satisfied with himself. His glossy red-brown coat breaks off at the +neck in a white curling ruff which continues down his broad chest, whose +normal snowiness is now grimy with railway travel. The soft brown eyes, +set in dark circles, and the smooth velvety ears, betray his collie +origin, ennobled and broadened as this is by the sturdier proportions +engrafted upon it by the admixture of a larger and sterner race-- +peradventure of the real Newfoundland or Saint Bernard blood. After a +few preliminary sniffs round the room the animal settles himself cosily +on the rug, his soft, upturned eyes fixed affectionately upon his +master. So much for the dog, and what of the man? + +A tall and well-proportioned frame, which shows to advantage in its +travel-worn suit of light tweed. A finely shaped head, carried high and +erect and covered with dark clustering hair. A well-cut profile and +regular features in which is an expression of quick readiness, render +the face a striking and remarkable one, tanned as it is too by exposure +to sun and weather. The eyes are very uncommon, and not at all in +keeping with the dark complexion, being in fact violet blue; and there +is that in their expression which, together with certain lines on the +forehead, would to a physiognomist betray a stormy and unsettled spirit. + +There is impatience in the gesture as he stands stroking his drooping +moustache while gazing out into the rapidly darkening street. Suddenly +Roy, raising his head, emits a threatening growl as a latch-key is +turned in the front door. Then in a couple of strides a +broad-shouldered, cheery looking fellow bursts into the room-- + +"Hallo!" is the startled greeting of the new-comer, pulling up short and +wondering who the deuce was the intruder whose dog lay growling at him +in right threatening fashion from his own hearth. + +"All right, Venn. He won't eat you," is the stranger's reply. "But +don't you know me?" + +"Hanged if I do! No--yes--I do though. Why, Roland Dorrien, where on +earth have you dropped from now?" + +"`The clouds' you were going to say. No. The Rockies--game thing. +Plenty of cloud, literal and metaphorical, besets the way of those whose +lives are cast yonder." + +"By Jingo!" cried the other, passing his hand over his fair, closely +cropped beard. "Why didn't you say you were coming back? And did you +get this splendid chap out West?" + +For Roy, having sniffed the new-comer and pronounced him satisfactory, +was now looking up gravely into that worthy's face and wagging his brush +as if desirous of an introduction. + +"Yes. Traded him from an Indian who was battering him up a good bit +with a rail because he didn't take kindly to dragging a sledge. And +ever since he has stuck to me very much closer than a brother. But +then, you see he's only a dog, not a human, which explains it." + +"Well, you'd better shake down here," said Venn. "That is, if Mrs +Symes has a room. I'll ring and ask." + +Mrs Symes had a room, and the traveller shook down accordingly. + +"I suppose you've been having a rare good time of it out West," began +Venn as later in the evening they sat over their cigars. "Shooting +grizzlies and Indians, and chevying buffaloes, while a poor stockbroking +devil like myself has been tied by the leg to this well-worn spot. Why +it doesn't seem eight years since I saw you off that jolly fine morning +in search of fortune. And you're twice the man you were then. No +wonder I didn't know you at first." + +"It is eight years though, rather over than under. As for having a good +time of it, `Least said, etc.' That is until the good old Squire's +bequest took effect, and then things weren't so bad, because, you see, I +could do what I liked, and I did. I forgot--you haven't heard--how +should you have?" seeing the other look slightly mystified. "Well then, +the old Squire--my father's brother, you know--and I used to be very +thick, which was good and sufficient reason for my not being allowed to +go near him. He died five years ago, as you may or may not know, and I +own to feeling a trifle sold at being as I thought cut off with a +shilling. Well, a year back, I heard that the good old chap had left me +all his personal property to the figure of seven or eight hundred a +year. His will stipulated that I was to be kept in the dark about it +until my thirtieth birthday--a proviso for which I suppose I ought to +feel devoutly grateful, for I was a consummate young ass in those days +I'm afraid. Cranston, of course, was entailed, so he could do nothing +with that. But he did the best he could for me." + +"Lucky dog," said Venn. "And now you'll get Cranston into the bargain." + +"Oh, hold hard, there. My chances of that are about equal to yours. +Cranston _was_ entailed--now it isn't; my affectionate parent was the +last man of that ilk. He can will it as he likes now or make a fresh +entail, and I'm afraid that won't be in my direction." + +"But you and he are surely not at cuts after all these years," said +Venn. "He'll be glad enough to see you again now." + +"He isn't that sort. He's never got over that idiotic affair, or +pretends he hasn't. You know what I mean"--as Venn again looked +inquiringly. "You don't? Well, I don't see why I shouldn't tell you. +There was a girl I used to be very thick with when I was up here +before--didn't mean anything by it of course. I was a thoughtless young +fool, you know, and all that sort of thing. She was pretty and taking, +and I used to see a good deal of her and take her about a good bit. Not +to put too fine a point upon it, we carried on considerably. I always +was inclined to be an ass in that line." + +"Quite so, old chap," laughed Venn, as the other paused in his narrative +and stared dreamily in front of him. "So you were--and so you will be +again. Drive on." + +"Well things went smoothly enough for a while, and at last it struck me +I was going a little too far, and so I began to haul off--found an +excuse for leaving Town and so on. The admission sounds hang-dog I +grant, but then, only remember my means and prospects--the first _nil_-- +ditto the second. To cut the matter short, one day--I was at home at +the time--the General sent for me to his sanctum. Without a word he +handed me a letter to read. It was from a lawyer, acting for the girl's +father, and threatening to sue me for 4,000 pounds damages for breach of +promise. They thought I wasn't worth anything--then at any rate--and so +they'd try it on with my father. By the Lord, Venn old man, I spent a +lively half-hour. How he did let drive. I had disgraced him--disgraced +the family--disgraced everybody--wasn't fit to look a dog in the face or +to be in the same backyard with a self-respecting cat, and so on. Well +now, if he had behaved with ordinary judgment, I was quite ready to +admit having made an ass of myself--an infernal ass if he liked--for I +was disgusted at the preposterous threat and the extortionateness of the +demand. It seemed to ruffle my callow sensibilities, don't you see. +But when he simply volleyed abuse at me and wouldn't listen to a word I +had to say, by Jove! my back got up too and there was a most awful row. +He would disown me on the spot--cut me off with a shilling--unless I +left England and stayed out of it till he gave me permission to return. +I might go where I liked, but I must clear out of the country. Well, I +elected to go out West--and went. You know the rest." + +"Then that's how it was you went out there?" said Venn. "I always +suspected there had been something under it deeper than you let out. +And has he said you might return?" + +"Not he. I didn't ask him. I can do as I like now, and as he'll cut me +off anyhow, it doesn't much matter." + +"When do you go down to Cranston?" + +"Don't think I shall go at all. None of us hit it off somehow, and more +than ever am I better out of it. I think, though, I'll run down to +Wandsborough and have a look round--_incog_, don't you know." + +"Wandsborough, did you say?" exclaimed Venn, astonished. + +"Yes. It's the town adjacent to my hypothetical heritage. Know the +place?" + +"N-no. I never was there myself, but the rector there is an old friend +of mine. Ingelow his name is; I'll give you an introduction to him." + +"Thanks, awfully. But--er--the fact is, I don't get on well with +parsons, and--" + +"Oh, you will with this one. He's an out and out good sort. And +Dorrien, you dog, he has some daughters. They were jolly little romps +when I knew them years ago, and promised to grow up very pretty." + +"Did they? That alters the case. It'll be slow at Wandsborough. On +second thoughts, Venn, I'll take your introduction, and will duly report +if the promise has been kept. But see here. I'm going to prospect +around for a week or two in that section, and I don't want my people to +know I'm there, so I've thought of a wrong name. Put the introduction +in the name of `Rowlands' instead of Dorrien. That's the one I'm going +to take." + +Venn replied that he was hanged if he would. But, ultimately, he did. + + + +CHAPTER THREE. + +"AT FIRST SIGHT!" + +The Church of Saint Peter and the Holy Cross at Wandsborough is full +from end to end for the great service of the forenoon. It is Whitsun +Day and the High Celebration is about to commence. + +A noble building is this old parish church, with its splendid chancel +and columned aisles and long spacious nave. Windows, rich in stained +glass, throw a network of colour upon the subdued and chastened light +within, and a great number of saints and martyrs, in glowing pane and +canopied niche, would seem to afford representation of the whole court, +and company of Heaven, whichever way the eye may turn; and here and +there, glimpsed through a foreground of graceful arches, the red gleam +of a lamp suspended in some side chapel imparts an idea of mystery and +awe to the half-darkened recess where it burns. + +To-day, the chancel is magnificently decorated. The high altar, +ornamented with a profusion of choice flowers and ablaze with many +lights, stands out a prominent and striking object, and visible to +nearly everybody in the building. Large banners, wrought in exquisite +needlework, setting forth the image of saint, or mystery, or some +historical event in the annals of Christianity, are ranged around the +walls. A perfume of incense is in the air, and, as the great bell +ceases tolling, a low sweet melody, gurgling forth from yon illuminated +organ pipes, seems specially designed to attune the minds of the +awaiting multitude to the solemnity which is about to begin. + +The seat nearest the light gilded railing which divides the choir from +the nave is occupied by three graceful and tastefully attired girls. +Two of them are apparently in devout frame of mind enough, but the third +suffers her gaze to wander in a way which, all things considered, is not +as it should be. Not to put too fine a point upon it, she is evidently +given to looking about her. But the sternest of ecclesiastical +martinets would find it difficult to be hard on the owner of that face. +It is a face to be seen and remembered. A perfect oval, its warm +paleness is lit up by the loveliest of hazel eyes, long-lashed, +expressive, lustrous. Delicate features, and the faintest suspicion of +a smile ever lurking about the corners of the sweetest little mouth in +the world, complete the picture--a picture of dark piquante beauty which +is more than winning. So think, for the hundredth time, more than one +in its owner's immediate vicinity. So thinks for the first time one in +particular, who, from the moment he entered, has done little else but +furtively watch that faultless profile, as well as he is able and under +difficulties, for he is nearly in line with the same. Who can she be? +he is wondering. Is it the Rectory pew, and can it be that the owner of +that rare face is one of the rector's daughters? It may as well be +stated that the stranger's surmise is correct. + +And now the congregation rises in a body as a long double file of +surpliced choristers emerges from a side chapel. Then follow the three +officiating clergy in their rich red vestments, attended by acolytes and +taper-bearers in scarlet and lawn; and advancing to the steps of the +high altar, all kneel. The great organ thunders forth like the surging +of many waters, as the first verse of _Veni Creator_ is solemnly +chanted. Then, rising, choristers and priests advance in procession +down the chancel. A thurifer goes first, flinging his censer high in +the air, and the lights, borne one on each side of the great silver +crucifix, gleam redly through a misty cloud. Bright banners move aloft +at intervals above the shining pageant, which is closed by the richly +vested celebrant and his attendants. Quickly the crowded congregation +takes up the grand old plainsong hymn, joining in heartily as the +stately procession wends its way slowly down the nave--a glow of light +and colour--and, making a complete circuit of the spacious building, +re-enters the chancel. The choristers file into their stalls; the +celebrant and his assistants ascend to the altar and incense it in every +part, as amid a great volume of choral harmony the service begins. + +He to whom we have made brief reference watches the ceremonial with some +interest. That he is a stranger is evident, and this, coupled with his +striking appearance, is, we grieve to say, a fact which occupies the +attention of many a fair devotee there present far more than it should, +remembering the time and place. That it engrosses a sufficient share of +that of the young lady in the front seat we grieve still more to be +obliged to chronicle, remembering that she is an occupant of the Rectory +pew. But the stranger does not reciprocate the general attention of +which he is the object, for he has an eye for but one face amid that +assembly of faces. Stay, though; another there attracts his interest to +a tolerably vivid degree, and it is that of no less a personage than the +celebrating priest himself; a strikingly handsome man of lofty stature, +and whose forking grey beard descends, like that of Aaron, even to the +skirts of his embroidered clothing--or nearly so. And in the +countenance of this imposing ecclesiastic he detects a strong family +likeness to the lovely brunette who first attracted his eye. + +The service, magnificent in its artistic adjuncts, and impressive in its +well-ordered ceremonial, proceeds. The stately altar, aglow with lights +and gorgeous draperies; the solemn chant of the celebrant and jubilant +response from choir and organ; the ever-changing postures and +picturesque groupings; clouds of incense and the silvery ringing of +bells at the culmination of the solemnity--all go to make up an imposing +whole. But it is over at last. Choristers, acolytes and priests retire +amid a stirring voluntary from the great organ, and the sunlight, +intercepted and subdued by lancets of stained glass, falls in a hundred +changing gleams upon the now empty chancel. + +The occupants of the Rectory pew linger in their seats, and while the +other two are busy gathering up their books and sunshades preparatory to +a move, the girl whom we have noticed, turning half round, scans the +departing congregation. As she does so she meets the stranger's glance +and there is a meaning in it which renders her slightly confused-- +perhaps a little angry. + +"Now, Olive dear, we'd better go," whispers a remonstrant voice. With a +start and a half blush the girl recollects herself, and the three haste +to follow in the wake of the now thinning crowd, which is streaming out +through the west door. + +"Ah-h! what a relief to be outside again!" exclaimed she who had been +addressed as "Olive," as the three girls wended their way beneath the +tall feathery elms which shaded the churchyard walk. "I declare I +thought it was never going to end." + +"Hush, dear I don't talk like that," answered the eldest of the three, +with a slightly scared look around. "If anyone were to hear you, what +would be said?" + +"That a man's foes are they of his own household," came the reply with a +merry, ringing laugh. "That if our dad must give us such a long and +elaborate function on so heavenly a morning as this, he might at least +let us off a twenty minutes sermon." + +Even more startled looked the remonstrant, as at the moment some +acquaintances passed within earshot. What if they should have heard? + +"It's no use shaking your solemn old head at me, Margaret," went on the +first speaker. "I meant what I said, and I don't care who knows it. +Now we shan't have time for a walk." + +Margaret Ingelow made no reply. She was a fair, good-looking girl of +twenty-five, with a thoughtful, refined face. Her bright young sister's +levity often jarred upon her uncomfortably when exercised upon sacred or +ecclesiastical subjects, for which she herself entertained the +profoundest reverence. Left motherless at an early age, upon her had +devolved the care of the younger children, and this, combined with her +position as head of the household, had endowed the rector's eldest +daughter with a gravity of thought and manner beyond her years. + +"Olive, look! Who is that, I wonder!" exclaimed Sophie, aged seventeen. + +"That" was a masculine figure a little in front on the opposite side of +the street, for they had left the churchyard now. Olive, following her +sister's glance, recognised the stranger who had attracted her notice in +church. + +"Perhaps someone down here for the Whitsun holidays," struck in +Margaret's quiet voice. But for some occult reason the remark was +received by Olive with a little frown. + +"In other words, something between a cheap trippist and a bank clerk," +she said. "No--not exactly." + +"Keep your temper, Olive dear," laughed Sophie maliciously. "We didn't +know the subject was a tender one or we'd have--" + +"Why, what a pace you girls walk at!" cried a cheery voice behind them. +"I thought I should have to return home in my own sweet society." + +"Oh, father, there you are at last," cried Margaret, stopping as the +rector joined them. "We quite thought it would be of no use waiting." + +"That tiresome Mr Barnes always keeps you prosing in the vestry for +half an hour," struck in Sophie. "What an old bore he is! I can't see +the use of churchwardens at all." + +"Our friends at the Radical club do, dear," rejoined her father with a +twinkle in his eyes. "How on earth would they emphasise their arguments +without a goodly number of `churchwardens' to smash?" + +"Now, father, you know I don't mean that kind of churchwarden, so don't +try and be sarcastic," cried Sophie. And the rector burst into a hearty +laugh. + +It is a pleasant sight that quartette wending homewards along the sunny +street already given over to the stillness of a provincial town at the +Sunday dinner hour. The girls in their light, tasteful summer dresses +looking as fresh and cool as roses on which the dew yet lingers, grouped +around the tall upright form of their father, who, with one hand thrust +in easy attitude through the sash of his long flowing cassock, walked +among them looking supremely happy and contented, now and again +bestowing a nod and a pleasant smile in response to the greeting of some +passer-by. + +"Father," said Olive, thrusting her hand through the rector's arm and +nestling up to his side with the most bewitchingly affectionate gesture. +"Do you know you're a dear, sweet old dad, and I'm very proud of you?" + +"And wherefore this sudden honour, darling?" enquired he, gazing down +into her upturned face with a fond smile. He was afraid to own to +himself how he loved this beautiful, wayward second daughter, who +tyrannised over him in all things domestic, to an incredible extent. +For the fact must be recorded that this one was the spoilt child of the +house. + +"You sang the service beautifully to-day--and it was worth something to +hear you," she replied. "And yet you want to make us believe you are +losing your voice--like Mr Medlicott, who can't even monotone on G +without getting flat." + +"My dear little critic, perhaps it is that Medlicott has more to worry +him than I. Though to be sure he is spared such a dreadful little +plague as this," rejoined the rector with his sunny laugh, pressing the +arm, passed through his, to his side. + +"Oh, indeed! Well then, for that let me tell you you gave us too long a +sermon," she retorted. + +"Did I? It was only eighteen minutes." + +"Far too long. Look now. We are done out of our walk all through that. +And just look what a heavenly day it is." + +"Poor little things!" + +Margaret, turning her head, encountered her father's ruefully comic, +mock-penitent glance, and was hardly reassured. She regarded his sacred +office as so great--so tremendous--a thing, that to hear him taken to +task by this giddy child in his discharge of it always grated upon her. +And all accustomed to this kind of talk as she was, yet she felt +uncomfortable under it. For she was pre-eminently one of those who took +life seriously. But the rector and his favourite daughter thoroughly +understood each other. + +"Goodness!" cried Sophie, as a neat brougham drawn by a pair of fine +greys swept past them. "Why if that isn't the Dorriens' carriage." + +"Surely _they_ weren't in church!" said Margaret wonderingly. + +"Hardly, I think," said the rector, with a lurking smile and a flash of +quiet merriment in his dark eyes. "Poor Mrs Dorrien looks upon the +parish church as a very well of iniquity--and myself, the Pope, and a +certain personage who shall be nameless, as an excellently matched +trio." + +"Old pig!" muttered Olive to herself. + +"Why then, it must have been Hubert Dorrien after all," said Sophie. "I +thought it was, but he was too far back to be sure. Every time I looked +round I caught that detestable eyeglass glaring at me." + +"`Every time'--ahem! And pray how many times was that?" said her +father, drily. + +"Oh, there now, I've done it," cried Sophie with a laugh and a blush. +"But it was only once or twice as the procession was coming round, and +that was all behind us, so we couldn't see anything of it unless we did +look back. Will that satisfy you, dad, dear?" + +"Well explained!" said the rector with a hearty laugh. "We must let her +down easily on a great occasion, mustn't we, Margaret?" + +"But all the same that Hubert Dorrien angers me--he looks so conceited +and supercilious always," went on Sophie. "He's a horrid boy?" + +"`Boy!' Why hear her! Why he's five years older than you, Sophie," +laughed her father. + +"Well then he doesn't look it," retorted she. "And he's always tied to +his mother's apron-string." + +"I wonder what Roland, the eldest one, is like," said Margaret; "the one +in America. I wonder he doesn't come home." + +"Perhaps he doesn't get on well at home," suggested Olive. "But I wish +he would come. He's sure to be nice, if only as a change from his +utterly horrid family. And nice people--or at any rate nice men--are +conspicuous here by their absence." + +The rector frowned ever so slightly--for his favourite daughter added to +her other peccadilloes a decided penchant for flirtation. But like a +wise man he said nothing, and by this time they had reached the gates of +their pretty and cheerful-looking home. + + + +CHAPTER FOUR. + +THE RECTOR OF WANDSBOROUGH. + +The Rev William Ingelow, Doctor of Divinity of the University of +Oxford, had, at the time our story opens, held the living of +Wandsborough about fifteen years. + +On the face of the foregoing chapter, it is needless to explain that Dr +Ingelow was a very "advanced" Anglican indeed. He was even too advanced +for the bulk of his clerical brethren of his own way of thinking, who +were wont to shake their heads while declaring confidentially among +themselves that "Ingelow went too far," and was likely to do more harm +than good to "the Cause" by going to such "extremes" and so forth. He +was a regular Romaniser, they declared. Instead of trying to +re-Catholicise the Church on good old Anglican lines, he boldly adopted +Roman ceremonial in every particular. And his teaching--that, too, was +far too outspoken. Invocation, auricular confession, and the like, he +taught too openly. English people were not quite prepared to swallow +pills of this nature without such a coating of silver leaf as would +completely and effectually disguise the salutary medicine within. +Ingelow was an admirable parish priest in every way--but--a Romaniser. +Thus his clerical brethren. + +But the rector only laughed good-naturedly to himself. He candidly +admitted the terrible impeachment--even owning that his sympathies, +liturgical and disciplinary, were entirely with the enactments which +proceeded from the City on the Seven Hills. Liturgical matters in the +Church of England had been handed down to them in a state of +hotch-potch, and the "restoration on good old Anglican lines" theory of +his Ritualist brethren meant every man doing what was right in his own +eyes. There must be some rule in these matters, argued the rector. The +"Roman Use" was the rule of Western Christendom. Moreover it was +teachable, fairly simple, dignified and impressive, he declared. +Therefore he carried it out in its entirety in his fine parish church +and was in every way satisfied with the result. His colleagues would +fain have followed his example, but lacked the courage of their +convictions--Anglican clergymen not uncommonly do. So they continued to +shake their heads and declare oracularly that "Ingelow went too far." + +Wandsborough Church was old, but in extremely good preservation; a few +timely restorations carried out under the _aegis_ of its present +incumbent had consolidated this, and at the time of our story it was one +of the finest parish churches in the land. The beautiful spire boasted +a full peal of bells, whose cheery carillon could be heard for miles +around, and every few hours would ring forth a sacred tune which, +floating melodiously out over the pleasant downs, might on a still night +even reach vessels passing far out at sea. The interior of the building +was metamorphosed in a trice beneath the new rector's reforming hand. +An imposing altar raised on many steps, and decked with tall candles and +shining crucifix and rich draperies, took the place of the old +trestle-board table with its worn-out baize cloth. The old-fashioned +"three-decker" gave way to a fine piece of sculpture and marble, and the +bi-weekly humdrum parson-and-clerk duet found itself disestablished to +make way for a daily chanted office rendered by rows of surpliced and +carefully trained choristers in the carved chancel stalls. The chief +service on Sundays and festivals was literally High Mass, being a +judicious compound of the Book of Common Prayer and translations from +the Missal; and on any day and every day the ringing of handbells and +the gleam of lights at the side altars in the early morning told that +the rector and his assistants were diligent in the execution of their +daily offices. Lamps burned before shrine and saint; the pictured +"Stations of the Cross" decked the walls, and altogether it was perhaps +little to be wondered at that the Doctor's clerical brethren looked +askew, and asserted that "Ingelow went too far." + +Now all this was not carried without considerable opposition. There was +a hubbub, of course. The parish raved about "the restoration of +Popery." The rector smiled and alluded suavely to "a reversion to first +principles." The parish protested--fumed--threatened. A section of it +growled, and stayed away; a larger section growled, but continued to +attend. The bulk of it, however, ceased to growl, for it discovered +that there was, on the whole, nothing so very terrible about all this; +then it entered heartily, and with not a little enthusiasm, into the new +order of things. + +Apart from any intrinsic merit underlying the new system there were many +causes at work, all gravitating towards its general acceptance. The +rector was wealthy, and did a great deal for the town. He was very +popular and very persuasive, and it would be a mere question of time to +carry the greater portion of his flock with him. He was a resolute +man--not obstinate, simply determined--and where principle was involved +he was adamant. Other considerations carried him through. Apart from +his reputation for learning--though this involved a wide and general +knowledge rather than erudition in any particular branch--he was a man +of considerable means, and was open-handed to a fault. The other was +his enormous personal popularity, for he was the most kind-hearted and +genial of men. He had the same sunny smile, the same cheerful greeting, +for those whom he knew to be in opposition to him--for those who went to +chapel, and for those who went nowhere. So he was on all sides voted a +"good fellow," "the right sort," "a charming man," or "a perfect +gentleman," according to the station in life or the sex of his admirers. + +A cheerful disposition, like a Grecian nose, is a natural gift, and not +cultivable at will--all solemn old cant to the contrary notwithstanding. +Given the constitution of an elephant, the physique of a gladiator, the +absence of positive knowledge as to the location of a liver; added to +absolute freedom from all possibility of pecuniary care, and a +thoroughly congenial profession, and it is manifest that if a man is not +cheerfully disposed, he deserves to be hung without delay. But where +the rector of Wandsborough differed from other lucky ones blessed with +these advantages, was that he was perfectly sympathetic towards those +who enjoyed them not, and therein lay the merit of his own cheerfulness. +He thoroughly understood human nature. In his younger days he had been +a great traveller, having devoted several years to nothing but seeing +the world, and deferring to take holy orders until considerably later +than most men who enter the clerical state. And the knowledge thus +gained of men and manners in varying climes had stood him in good stead, +and not least in acting as a counterpoise to a narrow and professional +tendency, almost inseparable from "the cloth" in a greater or less +degree. And this he himself was the first to own. At the time our +story opens, he had turned his sixtieth year; but, on the principle of a +man being no older than he feels, Dr Ingelow was wont to consider +himself still in the prime of life. + +His family relations were of the happiest kind. His children adored +him--the three girls whose acquaintance we have just made, and his only +son Eustace, a fine young fellow of twenty, now in his third term at +Oxford. Left a widower at the birth of h's youngest girl, Dr Ingelow +had come to Wandsborough two years later, and sought solace in his +bereavement in thus throwing himself into an entirely new field of +labour. What was wanting in a mother's care for the younger children +was as nearly as possible supplied by Margaret, the eldest, who was so +helpful, so thoughtful beyond her years, that it had never even entered +her father's head to import any such lame makeshift as an aunt or a +governess into the family circle. Rumour whispered that more than one +of the fair--whether maid or widow--in Wandsborough and its +neighbourhood would gladly have consoled the rector for his earlier +loss, but, if so, much disappointment wae unwittingly scattered by him +among the gentle aspirants; or if any such stray whisper reached his +ears he would laugh good-naturedly to himself over the absurdity of the +idea; for, as things stood, there were few happier homes than +Wandsborough Rectory. + + + +CHAPTER FIVE. + +THE WAG OF A DOG'S TAIL. + +Wandsborough at the period of our story was what might be called an +out-of-the-way place. The nearest railway station was fully three miles +off, and even that only found itself on a branch line. It would be +difficult to account for the existence of the little old town, but that +at one time it rejoiced in manufactures of its own, and did a steady +trade. Then the tide turned. Foreign products ruled the market, to the +exclusion of Wandsborough goods. Factories closed; the stir and bustle +of labour became a thing of the past; and the place was given over to a +sleepy and respectable quietude. + +From the point of view of those who love the latter, Wandsborough was +extremely lucky in its remoteness, being almost unknown to tourist and +holiday maker. Lucky, too, in having so far escaped the speculator's +eye; for though more than a mile from the sea, it was near enough, and +possessed attractions enough, to warrant its transformation into that +foretaste of eternal punishment, a British watering-place--nigger +minstrels, shrimps, donkeys, barrel organs, yahoos, and all. Its +country walks were of the loveliest, whether you climbed the heather- +and gorse-clad uplands, and drinking in the salt breeze, turned to look +back upon the little town, with its red roofs and tall spire, nestling +in a green hollow, while on your other hand, far beneath, danced and +sparkled the summer sea; or whether, turning your steps inland, you +strolled through shady lanes where the ferns and wild geraniums grew +amid fresh cool moss, and little brown wrens hopped warily from frond to +frond beneath the shade of a miniature scaur. Or if seaward bent, what +a wild, picturesque, ever varying coast was there for you to explore! + +Down one of the ways leading thither comes Olive Ingelow. It is a warm +morning, almost too warm to be comfortable anywhere out of the shade, +although the distant steeple is only chiming a quarter to ten; but one +side of the road is overshadowed by tall elms, and beneath these the +girl gracefully walks. She makes a very lovely picture, the lithe +figure in its cool morning dress moving with the elastic step and ease +of youth. A large light straw hat shades the delicate oval face, and +the glance of her dark eyes wanders joyously over sunlit meadows where +lambs are frisking among the buttercups. She carries a two-handled +canvas basket, containing drawing materials, though, should she weary of +reproducing Nature, yet another solace does the canvas basket contain, +for is not that the corner of a novel peeping out? She is going to have +a whole long morning all to herself on the seashore. + +Leaving the road, she steps over a stile and strikes into a field path. +Hot though it is in the open, there is a certain delight in the glowing +warmth upon her cheeks. She wanders from the path and her dainty boots +are powdered with yellow particles from the buttercups which her feet +displace. It is a heavenly morning, she thinks; one to make her feel +lovingly disposed towards all the world--but--oh! and the girl catches +her breath in a spasm of alarm, suddenly remembering that this field is +wont to be the abode of a certain grisly terror to the unwary +pedestrian, in the shape of a remarkably large and vicious bull. A +quick furtive glance round reassures her. The field is empty. But all +the same her heart beats pretty fast until she is safe over the next +stile, and she is conscious of a lingering, if insane, apprehension that +the enemy may peradventure arise out of the earth. + +Then the last field is left behind, and a stony bit of barren ground +grown with patches of gorse dips to a steep, narrow, staircase-like way, +whose rocky walls rise abrupt on either side. Descending this, Olive +finds herself on the beach. + +She is in a small semi-circular cove shut in by perpendicular cliffs. +At quite low tide it is possible to approach or leave it by a narrow +strip of shingle at either end, at other times it is only to be gained +by the way down which she has come. Settling herself comfortably at the +foot of one of the great rocks which lie scattered capriciously about +the beach, Olive pauses to rest and recover herself before beginning to +draw. The sea is like glass, now and then the merest breath rippling +over it in shades of blue and silver and gold. Brown rocks, left bare +by the receding tide, upheave their slippery backs, heavily festooned +with seaweed, and the broad level sands lie wet and glistening in the +sun. Now and then a large gull, stalking along the extreme edge of the +uncovered shore, rises with a scream, and wings its way to the lofty +recesses of the cliff. Yonder three or four sturdy bare-legged urchins +are busily plying their shrimping nets, and gathering in much spoil from +numerous clear pools gleaming amid the green brown rocks. And so still +is the air that their voices and laughter are borne distinctly to +Olive's ears, though mellowed by distance. + +She begins to investigate the contents of her basket. Nothing is left +behind? No--colour-box, block, palettes, brushes--all are there; not +even the water-bottle forgotten. She will just throw off the upper end +of the little bay, and bring in those two great turret-like rocks--whose +bases are covered except at the very lowest of tides--and the rough, +jagged headland, from which they seem to have broken loose and fled to +take up a position of their own out in the midst of the sea. +Comfortably ensconced in her snug position, for half an hour the girl is +very busy. The outline of her sketch is drawn, and she is ruminating on +the laws of perspective previous to the first wash of colour, when lo! +another factor appears on the scene--another living thing within the +silent and secluded cove. It is a dog. + +Careering to and fro over the firm level sands, his snowy chest and ruff +gleaming in the sun, and his silky brush streaming out like a flag, he +keeps looking upward at the cliffs, uttering the while short joyous +barks, as if to say to someone not yet in sight, "Aha--here I am--down +first on this splendid beach. So come down after me as quickly as you +can, for--it _is_ fun?" + +"Oh, what a love of a dog!" cries Olive, dropping her work to watch him. +"Here--come here, you beauty--come and talk to me, and let's have a +look at you!" + +The beautiful creature stops suddenly in the midst of his gambols, +startled at the sound of a human voice where he thought himself quite +alone. Then, wagging his bushy tail, he trots up to where she is +sitting. + +"You love! You perfect picture!" cries the girl ecstatically, throwing +her arms round his snowy ruff and gazing into his soft, laughing brown +eyes. "Where do you come from, and who do you belong to?" She kisses +him in the middle of the forehead, and lays her cheek against his +velvety ear. The dog presses affectionately against her, trying to lick +her face with his hot panting tongue. + +A low, shrill whistle. The unappreciative animal tears himself from her +and stands for a moment gazing inquiringly around. But as he rushes +from her there is a metallic sound, and lo! the little tin vessel +containing her painting water rolls off the rock, upset by a stroke of +his bushy tail, and the contents are swallowed, in a trice, by the +thirsty sand. + +Olive gives a little cry of dismay as she sees her morning's work +brought to a standstill. There is no fresh water anywhere about. She +is gazing ruefully on the empty vessel, when a shadow falls between her +and the sun. Looking up with a start, her glance meets that of +another--not for the first time. Before her stands the stranger who +gazed at her so attentively in the parish church on Sunday. + +"I'm afraid my rascally dog has done serious damage. I don't know how +to apologise sufficiently on his behalf. Pray forgive him--and me--if +you can. Is that absolutely your last drop?" + +"I'm afraid it is. In fact--it is," replies Olive, and her rueful smile +changes to a brighter flash as she looks up at him. "But it was not +altogether his fault--nor yours. I called him." + +"Oh! He is such a clumsy fellow sometimes, and yet he ought to have +learnt manners by now. Here--Roy! Come here, you villain, and see what +you've done. Now--what have you to say for yourself, sir!" + +The dog walks slowly up with a downcast air and a drooping tail, though +the latter is softly agitating in deprecatory wags. He looks very +penitent beneath his master's stern tones, but there is no trace of +cowering. + +"Please don't be angry with him," says Olive. "It really was all my +fault for calling him. But, then, he is such a beauty." + +"There, Roy. Do you hear that--you bad dog? Come here and apologise. +It isn't often you fall in with those who return good for evil. Here-- +give a paw--no, not that one--the other." + +Sitting down in front of Olive, the dog lifts his right paw and gravely +places it in her little hand. + +"Now the other!" cries his master--and he repeats the performance with +the left, looking up into her face with such soft, pleading eyes. + +"There," says Roy's master. "You don't deserve to be treated so +generously, you bad dog. And now"--turning to Olive--"will you let me +try and remedy the mischief? There must be fresh water somewhere about +the cliffs." + +"Oh, I couldn't think of troubling you to that extent. Besides I am not +bound to draw this morning. I have a book here, and would just as soon +read instead." + +But this does not meet the stranger's views at all. He intends to talk +to this girl, now that a fortunate chance has put it in his power to do +so. He can do so while she is drawing--hardly if she reads. So he +answers, but without eagerness: + +"It will be no trouble at all. And I think you ought to draw this +morning, because it is just one of those days which are built for that +purpose. You can read at home, but you can't reproduce this perfect bit +of coast anywhere but here. So I'll start off upon my errand of +reparation before you are angry with me for presuming to lecture you," +and picking up the little canister away he goes. + +Olive laughs softly to herself as she looks after him. He is so cool +and self-possessed, and then his voice, too, is a very pleasing one. +Who can he be? She hopes he will return soon with or without the water, +and not be in a very great hurry to continue his walk. Then she is the +least bit in the world frightened. What would Margaret, for instance, +say if she could see her sitting in this out-of-the-way corner of the +seashore, talking to a man who is a perfect stranger? And how the +tongues of Wandsborough would clack--a phase of exercise, by the way, to +which those unruly members were by no means unaccustomed. Anyhow she +can see at a glance that the man is thoroughbred. If he is making any +stay in Wandsborough, as she is inclined to think is the case, she is +sure to meet him sooner or later, so why not forestall the acquaintance? +If he is not, why then in all probability she will never see him again, +and in either case there is no harm done. She is thus musing, when the +object of her reflections appears at her side, as suddenly as he did +before. + +"I have been successful," he says, setting down the canister very +carefully. "But I am afraid you were waxing impatient." + +"Not at all. I think you have been very quick, and I did hope you would +be able to find me some water, for I feel in the humour for daubing just +now." + +"Good. And now allow me to arrange the necessary articles," and without +waiting for an answer he opens her colour-box and sets her palettes and +brushes in order. + +"An artist," thinks the girl. "Of course that's what he is," and on the +strength of this inspiration she ploughs away nervously with her brush, +though shyness as a rule is not one of those sins which can fairly be +laid to Olive Ingelow's charge. + +"That won't do," presently remarks the stranger, who is leaning lazily +against the rock watching her work. "Excuse me--but you must just round +off this outline a little more--it is too hard and steely--so," as +acting obediently on his directions the drawing begins to assume +life-like shape. + +"I suppose you paint a great deal?" ventures Olive deferentially. Who +knows what R.A. of renown may be criticising her crude attempts! + +"No, I don't." + +"But you used to," she persists. + +"Never wielded a brush in my life." + +"But you seem to know all about it. How in the world could you tell me +to make those alterations if you can't paint yourself?" she asks +quickly, her incredulity giving way to a flash of not unnatural +resentment. + +"Pardon me. I didn't say I couldn't. What I said was that I never +had." + +"Isn't that the same thing?" + +"No, because I could--if I tried." + +"How do you know you could?" + +"Well, since you so mercilessly bring me to bay I am compelled to answer +you with a woman's reason. I know it--because I do." + +They both laugh heartily. + +"And now tell me," goes on the stranger. "What is the name of those two +eccentric towers of rock you are drawing?" + +"They are called The Skegs. There is a story attached to them, and a +ghost." + +"Yes? What sort of a one?" + +"Well, it's rather an eerie affair altogether. Most family ghosts haunt +the family seat. That of the Dorriens seems to prefer the open air. +The story is a very old one. Two Dorriens fell madly in love with the +same girl." + +"Not an uncommon circumstance. And did they fight--or play ecarte for +her?" + +"Neither. One killed the other. It's a long story, and I'm very bad at +telling long stories. I always mix up the people and begin by telling +the end first. But the end of this one is that The Skegs are haunted by +the murderer's ghost, and that it only appears before the death of a +Dorrien. Then a black cloud settles down upon the highest of the two +rocks, and those who see it can distinctly hear the wild baying of a +dog. And it takes the shape of one." + +"A decidedly uncanny, though not original form, for there's no part of +the world without that very phase of apparition," remarks the stranger, +gazing thoughtfully at the two great rock towers. "Has anyone ever seen +this spectre?" + +"Yes. When Captain Dorrien was lost in the Alps three years ago, the +fishing people in Minchkil Bay say it appeared. They believe in it +implicitly. It was seen, too, at just about the time old Squire +Dorrien, the General's brother, died at sea." + +"And do you believe in it?" + +"I don't know. I suppose not. And yet if I were anywhere near the spot +at night I'm sure I should be horribly afraid of seeing it. None of the +fishermen like to go near The Skegs at night, but I suppose we ought to +rise above such beliefs. Even my father won't say he doesn't believe in +it, but he always rather evades the subject, so I don't press it." + +"Quite right. And who are these Dorriens for whom the laws of Nature +condescend to alter their course?" + +"Ah! Now you're laughing at my story. Never mind. They are the +largest landowners hereabouts and their place is Cranston Hall. It lies +in a line with that lofty headland--that's Minchkil Beacon--three miles +from Wandsborough." + +"What sort of people are they?" + +The girl gives a little shrug of her shoulders and makes a distasteful +_moue_. "Not nice. At least nobody likes them much. I don't, though I +don't know them personally. It's a case of instinctive dislike." + +"So you indulge in instinctive likes and dislikes," says the stranger +with a queer smile. "A very feminine trait." + +Then he relapses into silence. It is delightful to him to sit there in +the golden summer morning, watching this beautiful girl with the oval +face and expressive, ever-changing eyes. Roy, extended at full length +on the shingle, is dreaming, his head resting on the skirt of Olive's +dress. Afar off the smoke of a distant steamer streaks the horizon, but +for all else the blue sea is deserted. The shrimping boys have +disappeared round the rocky promontory, and save for the girl, the man, +and the dog, not a living thing moves within the cliff-girt bay. Inch +by inch the sun creeps up to where they sit, which spot in a few moments +will afford shade no longer. + +Then, faintly distant, rings out the chime of a church clock. + +"Three-quarters!" exclaims Olive listening. "I must go. It is a +quarter to one--already." + +The last word slips out unconsciously. The morning has passed very +quickly in the society of this man whom the merest chance has thrown in +her way, and whom she may never see again; as to whose very identity she +is in ignorance. + +"Don't go yet," pleads the stranger. "I suppose the regulation 1:30 is +the time you must be back by--and it won't take three-quarters of an +hour to walk to Wandsborough--if that's your destination." + +"Yes, it is--" She hesitates. He might as well tell her where he is +staying. + +"Well, have pity upon a homeless wanderer, and give him and this lovely +spot another short fifteen minutes." + +Olive yields--but neither talk much. At length she packs up her drawing +things and rises. + +"Not `good-bye' yet," urges her companion. "Our ways lie together for a +little distance. Allow me to escort you that far." + +Without waiting for a reply, he takes up her basket and they slowly +ascend the cliff path. Roy, ever ready for a change, starts out of the +land of dreams and trots briskly before them. + +Olive is rather silent and inclined to give random answers to her +companion's occasional remarks. The fact is, she is a little bit +frightened at her adventure, and her uneasiness increases the nearer +they approach the town. + +Just as they gain the road an equestrian trots by, a young man with a +pale vapid countenance. He slackens his pace as he passes, and sticking +up his eyeglass favours Olive with an admiring stare. Her escort's hand +instinctively clenches. + +"Who is that--cub?" + +"Yes, `cub,' that's just what he is," answers the girl angrily. "It's +Hubert Dorrien." + +"Oh!" + +Her companion keeps a strange silence for the rest of the way, and there +is a slight frown upon his face. + +"Here we are at Wandsborough," he says at length, as they gain the +outskirts of the town. "I ought to have relieved you of my company +before, only there was no means of doing so, as our ways both lay along +the same road. Now, good-bye. I shall remember this morning for a very +long time. This is a small place, and we are sure to meet again. I +shall look forward to the pleasure of improving our acquaintance." + +She flashes upon him a bright little smile, and trips away lightly down +the empty street--thankful that it is empty. Then for the first time it +occurs to her she has been talking to this stranger all the morning as +freely and naturally as if she had known him all her life. + + + +CHAPTER SIX. + +"MR ROWLANDS." + +Roland Dorrien paced slowly up and down the little garden in front of +his lodgings, smoking his after-breakfast cigar, and making up his mind +to the discharge of an unpleasant duty. + +He had been nearly a week at Wandsborough, and was surprised to find how +quickly the days had slipped by. The country was new to him, the +weather delightful, and he thoroughly enjoyed his long rambles, with the +faithful Roy for his sole companion. Venn's letter of introduction had +been duly handed in at the Rectory, but hitherto no notice had been +taken of it, a circumstance which did not trouble him, for he was by no +means tired of his own company. + +The unpleasant duty to which he was making up his mind, was the betaking +of himself to Cranston. It would be a constrained sort of a meeting, +and therefore unpleasant. He had gathered enough during his stay in +Wandsborough to show that his people had not changed for the better. +Well, it had to be got through somehow; but he would not betake himself +thither straight from here. He would run up to Town, and come down as +if for the first time. + +His cogitations were interrupted by the voice of his landlady announcing +in a tone of flurried importance: + +"Dr Ingelow, sir." + +"So sorry I was not able to look in upon you earlier, Mr Rowlands," +began the rector in his bright genial manner. "The fact is, I am +short-handed just now, and busy times are the result. And this must be +my excuse for calling at such an early hour." + +"Not at all--very good of you. Here, Roy--come away, sir--I am afraid +that dog never will learn manners. Go and lie down, sir." For Roy, +without even a preliminary growl, had made friends at once with the +rector. Indeed so demonstrative had been his friendliness that that +excellent priest's cassock bore token of the same, in the acquisition of +many white and brown hairs. + +"Don't send him away--he's taken to me at once--fine fellow?" said the +rector, patting him. "And pray don't throw away your cigar, as I see +you were about to do. I like smoke--too well, my girls tell me. And +how is Venn? Let me see, it must be many years since I saw him. What's +he doing now?" + +"Something in the City--stockbroking, I believe." + +"Is he! His people tried ever so hard to make a parson of him, but he +didn't see it at all--nothing would induce him to become one--and he was +right. Venn is the best of good fellows, but he'd never have done for a +parson. His father sent him to me to try and get him hammered into +Orders, and more than half quarrelled with me because I could take a +horse to the water but couldn't make him drink--ha! ha!" + +"H'm! Queer people, fathers," said Roland with a laugh, in which his +visitor joined right heartily. + +"You think so, do you? Wait till you get to my age, and you'll be still +more of that opinion. At least, if you're not it'll be for no want of +telling." + +They chatted for a few minutes longer, and then the rector rose. + +"I hope you'll come and dine with us some evening," he said in his easy +genial way. "There'll be only ourselves, and we shall be delighted to +see you. Let me see--why not come to-night--that is, if you have +nothing better to do?" + +"Nothing will give me greater pleasure." + +"Very good. Then this evening at seven. Now I must say good-bye, for I +have to rush about all the morning. So glad to make the acquaintance of +a friend of Venn's." + +When the rector had gone, Roland was so preoccupied with recalling the +strong family likeness existing between his companion on the beach and +his departing visitor, that he quite overlooked the fact that the latter +had made no reference whatever to Cranston; rather a strange thing, +under the circumstances. + +"Well, sir, and our rector's a nice pleasant gentleman, isn't he?" +remarked the landlady, while laying the cloth an hour later. + +"He is indeed, Mrs Jenkins. Been here long?" + +"Nigh upon sixteen years. Miss Margaret and Miss Olive were little +then, and Miss Sophie were a baby. They do say as Dr Ingelow was +dreadful cut up when he lost his poor lady." + +"Oh, he's a widower then?" + +"Yes, sir. His lady died shortly before he came here, I've heard tell. +But law bless you, sir, Miss Margaret, she did for all the younger ones +as though she was a grown-up young lady." + +"How many of them are there--daughters, I mean?" + +"Three, sir. You must have seen them in church, in the front seat of +all. Not on the side of the heagle--the other side." + +"Oh!" + +"Yes, and they're that good--although the two younger ones, leastways, +are merry and fond of a bit of mischief. Why when Jenkins broke his +leg"--and the good woman launched out into a dissertation after the +manner of her kind, straying far away from the goodness of the parson's +daughters, which Jenkins' broken leg was hauled in to illustrate--far +away even from that fractured, but once more useful, member itself into +a great cloud of reminiscence, wherein the speaker's uncle's deceased +wife's sister's third cousin once removed and a certain tom-cat endowed +with marvellous properties largely figured. + +Her auditor gave a weary sigh. In the hope of finding out more about +his new acquaintance, he had let the woman's tongue run on, and found, +like the ingenious Oriental who invented a steamboat, that having once +set it going he was unable to stop it. + +Roland ate his luncheon in a brown study. His landlady's gossip had +told him what he wanted to know. The girl by whose side he had sat and +walked yesterday morning--the girl who had so strangely attracted him in +the parish church, was the daughter of his late visitor--and to-night he +was to dine at the Rectory. Things couldn't have turned out better. +Yet all this was in the highest degree absurd. What could it matter to +him who she was--or indeed if he never saw her again! But that morning +on the beach! Bosh! He had not fallen in love with her--not he. He +knew better than that. Yet Roland Dorrien, gloomy of temperament and +entertaining no spark of affection for any living soul, was obliged to +admit to himself that he had thought and was still thinking a good deal +about that oval-faced girl with the dark expressive eyes. + +And here a new idea struck him. That assumed name had been all very +well up to a certain point, but now that he had accepted the rector's +invitation it had an ugly look of entering a man's family circle under +false colours. He wished now he had never adopted it, but then his plan +of staying in Wandsborough _incog_, would have fallen through, and that +he did not wish at all. Well, he would let it alone for the present. +Perhaps during the evening he would find an opportunity of explaining +matters to his host: at any rate to-morrow he would run up to Town for a +day or two, and return to Cranston in ordinary and conventional style. +That would put matters right. + + + +CHAPTER SEVEN. + +"I TOLD YOU WE SHOULD MEET AGAIN." + +When Roland Dorrien was marshalled into the Rectory drawing-room, he +found himself, somewhat to his surprise, its sole occupant. + +A glance around told him that it was a pleasant room to be in. The +elegant furniture, the pictures on the walls, the innumerable +knick-knacks bestowed about, were all in the most perfect taste. There +was that about the room which made it unmistakably clear that its +presiding goddesses were refined and well-bred women. It was a bright +room withal, as well as a tasteful one. Wide French windows opened upon +the garden, and a strong aroma of roses both from without and within +hung heavily upon the air. + +Suddenly Olive came in. With a start of astonishment she stopped short. + +"You!" she exclaimed. + +"My fortunate self," he replied, advancing to meet her. "I told you we +should be sure to meet again, but I little thought how soon." + +"To think of it being you," she went on, her face beaming with merriment +over the fun of the situation, which, the first surprise past, she began +thoroughly to enjoy. "Margaret told us father had asked someone to +dinner, and we thought it was some clerical friend of his." + +"I am afraid you must get over the situation, Miss Olive, and put up +with only me." + +"In that case, seeing that you have the advantage of me, and that +there's no one here to introduce us _en regle_--you might--er--" + +Voices in the hall, and the shutting of doors proclaiming the arrival of +somebody, interrupted her. + +"Well, how are you again, Mr Rowlands?" cried the rector cheerily. +"I'm disgracefully late. This is Mr Turner, one of my colleagues," he +went on, introducing a broad-shouldered young man, shaven of +countenance, and in clerical attire, who had come in with him. + +The conversation at table was brisk and lively, and what especially +struck the guest was the spontaneity and utter absence of constraint +with which the girls chatted away--now keeping up a running fire of +chaff among themselves or with their father, now poking fun at this or +that local character. Then they would parenthesise an explanation for +his benefit, endeavouring to sweep him into the fun: and succeeding--as +though he were no stranger at all. It was delightful, he decided; and +then, oh, horror!--a thought struck him which spoiled all. What if they +were to turn the fire of their wit on to his own family, to start poking +fun at the members of the same, in total ignorance of his own identity? +He must really throw off this infernal pseudonym at the very earliest +opportunity. + +"How do you like Wandsborough, Mr Rowlands?" asked Margaret Ingelow, +when they were seated at table. + +"Oh, it seems a nice little place. One can go about as one likes, +independently of everybody." + +Sophie spluttered at this. + +"Why it's the most gossipy place on earth, Mr Rowlands," she said. + +"I suppose so. Most small places are. But the coast scenery is very +fine." + +"Isn't it? And the beach, too. Have you been to the beach yet?" + +Fortunately Turner was not at that moment talking to Olive, or he would +have met with random replies. She was thinking, "Oh, if Margaret should +ever come to know of yesterday morning!" + +Roland answered in the affirmative and then Turner struck in. + +"By the bye, Mr Rowlands, that must have been you I saw down there +yesterday. I was envying the owner of that splendid dog." + +Olive was on thorns. Her accomplice, however, was equal to the +occasion. Noting her uneasiness, he took up the subject at once, and +the narrative of his acquisition of the faithful Roy soon directed the +conversation to the wilds of the Far West, where the rector himself had +gone through some stirring experiences in his younger days. During the +reminiscences involved, Roland caught a rapid grateful glance from the +bright eyes of his _vis-a-vis_. Then he began to study Turner's face, +whose owner was listening attentively to his host's anecdote, and came +to the conclusion that he did not like it. Moreover he was not sure how +much concealed intent lurked beneath Turner's innocent remark. Turner +was bumptious--most curates were. No, he did not like Turner. Confound +the fellow! what did he mean by looking at and talking to Olive in that +familiar and appropriating way--as if she belonged to him, or soon +would? But if she should, what the deuce was it to him--Roland Dorrien? +Nothing--only these young parsons put on far too much side. Clearly +Turner wanted taking down. + +"I think you were in church on Sunday, were you not, Mr Rowlands?" said +Margaret, dispelling his brown study. + +"Er--Yes. Yes--I was. Very fine ceremony and music too. I never came +across anything of the kind before." + +The approval implied in this answer atoned for its absent-mindedness and +brought a gratified smile to Margaret's face. The speaker had quite won +her heart. + +Then the conversation became general, and there was a vast deal of +laughter and banter, and Roland found himself frequently appealed to, to +act as umpire in some ridiculous point of debate, and in fact treated as +an intimate friend rather than as a stranger who had not been two hours +in their midst, and as he caught the bright, mischievous retort which +Olive threw at him over her shoulder as the girls withdrew, he blessed +the luck which had thrown him by the merest chance into such a +delightful circle. Nor could he help contrasting the probable scene at +Cranston at this moment, and a sort of mental shiver ran through him as +he did so. + +"Circulate the intoxicants, Turner--or, in plainer and more decorous +English, pass the bottle," cried the rector, as the door closed on his +daughters, leaving the men to themselves. "Fill up, Mr Rowlands. And +now I want you to tell me about your travels. I was a good deal in the +States as a young man. When I was out West, the Plains tribes were not +exuberantly friendly. That was even before you were in long clothes, I +fancy, ha! ha! but yet we had two or three grand buffalo hunts with +them. There's a head upstairs in my boy's smoking den--where we'll go +and have a cigar by and by--whose owner I turned over on one of those +occasions. Splendid head, and well set up too." + +Then these two--the old traveller and the younger one--plunged into a +flood of reminiscence in all the delightful _abandon_ of a common and +welcome topic. At last the rector started to his feet. + +"Hallo?" he cried. "This won't do. We mustn't sit too long, or we +shall meet with a warm reception in the other room. As it is we shall, +so let's face our troubles like men." + +His prediction was verified. + +"Father, what a long time you've been!" cried Sophie, as they entered +the drawing-room. + +"How men _can_ sit and gossip!" struck in Olive. "Talk about us poor +women! When a lot of men get together the sky may fall, but they won't +move. What have you been talking about all this time?" + +"Rattlesnakes, buffaloes, scalps--nothing worse," cried her father, +throwing himself into an armchair. "Mr Rowlands and I have been +counting up scalps, and we find he has lifted more hair than your +venerable parent." + +Roland, manoeuvring towards a vacant seat at Olive's side, was disgusted +to find himself forestalled by Turner. + +He felt more nettled than he cared to own to himself. The bumptiousness +of these young parsons was overwhelming. So he took up the thread of +their former conversation with his host and tried to pretend he rather +preferred it to carrying out his original intention. Tried to, but it +was of no use. Yet why should he care because another man sat talking +about nothing in particular to a certain person with whom he had +intended discussing precisely the same interesting topic? Why, because, +dear reader, he was an ass. + +But his innings were to come. A message came for the rector, and its +purport concerned Turner too. Roland, in obedience to a scarcely +perceptible glance from Olive's dark eyes, at once took possession of +the vacant seat. + +"What have you done with that darling of a Roy?" she asked in a low +tone. + +"Left him at home. When I go in he'll nearly eat me. It's worth while +leaving him anywhere, if only to see him go mad with delight when I come +back. But then, you see, he's only a dog, and doesn't know any better." + +"I'm afraid we must defer our cigar together, Mr Rowlands!" cried the +rector, re-entering the room. "I've been called out to a sick bed, and +hardly know when I shall get home. But don't hurry away. Turner, +you're in no hurry, I know. Good-night. We must have another sporting +conversation before long. I've enjoyed a chat over old times +immensely." + +Turner, however, did not remain long after his host's sudden departure, +and Roland, deeming it right to follow his example, also withdrew. But +he strolled down the dark street in a brown study, when suddenly there +rushed at him in the darkness something which nearly upset him outright, +and lo! Roy, who had broken bounds on hearing his master's step, now +came springing upon and against him just in time to save that master +from over-shooting his own door in a fit of absence, and wandering about +half a mile too far. And then there was such a rushing and scampering, +such barks of delight, such leaping and bounding, that it took Roy a +full ten minutes of exertion to work off the gladness wherewith his +affectionate heart was overburdened. But then, you see, he was only a +dog and knew no better. + +It was long, however, before Roy's master flung away his last cigar end, +and looking out into the silent, starry night, wondered what the deuce +he had been thinking about. Affected to wonder, too, how it was that +his thoughts were still hard at work within the bright home circle he +had just left. + + + +CHAPTER EIGHT. + +THE HEIRESS OF ARDLEIGH. + +"I sat, Nellie, the ancient couple are getting quite dissipated in their +old age. What's at the bottom of it?" And Roland Dorrien, lounging at +ease in the stern cushions of the boat, gazed through a great cloud of +smoke at his sister's puzzled face, lazily awaiting her reply. + +"I don't quite see," she began. "How do you mean, dear?" + +"Why, your mother hoped I didn't particularly want to go anywhere this +afternoon, because some people were coming. In fact, a regular garden +fight. Croquet and scandal, and much chatter." + +"Yes, there is. But as you say, they are getting quite lively. Why +it's more than a year since we have had anything of the kind." + +The two were seated in one of the most comfortable and roomy of the +boats, on the ornamental water--whither they had betaken themselves, not +to row about, but to get into a cool place and take it easy and chat to +their hearts' content. The boat's nose was made fast to a stake driven +into the bottom about fifteen yards from the shore and well within the +shade of a great over-arching tree, whose boughs threw a network of +sunlight here and there upon the brown surface. There was scarcely a +breath of air, and at the other end of the lake the coots and moorhens +disported themselves, uttering now and again their loud chirrupy cry, +and little brown water rats glided from their holes beneath the slippery +bank. Roy, whom his master had taken into the boat and treacherously +flung overboard, was careering up and down the bank, looking like a +great woolly bear, every hair in his body shaken out to its fullest +length and standing on end--and barking his surprise and displeasure at +his master's treachery and his own involuntary bath, but feeling worlds +the better for the last, while a couple of swans floated in the centre +of the pond, looking the picture of ruffled and sullen dignity over the +irruption of these disturbing elements into their own especial domain. + +"Well, it's rather a nuisance as far as I am concerned," he went on. +"As it happens I wanted to go into Wandsborough this afternoon--and over +and above that, I hate things of this kind." + +"Roland dear, don't go into Wandsborough to-day. Papa will be mortally +offended if you do. I happen to know that he got up this affair solely +on your account; he thought it would be a good way of introducing you to +all the people here. And there'll be several nice girls." + +"H'm!" + +"Let me see," she continued. "There are the Nevilles, who are coming to +stay: the eldest girl is very pretty and the heiress of Ardleigh Court-- +make a note of that. And the Colonel is such a dear old man. Then +there's Isabel Pagnell, she seems to take wonderfully with the men--and +the Breretons and--" + +"Bother the lot of them?" cried Roland, flinging the end of his cigar +away in a sudden access of irritability. "Roy, don't make that +confounded row, sir. Lie down. D'you hear? And now, Nellie, we shall +have to quit this cool retreat, for there goes gong Number One. Yes, +it's a nuisance; I particularly wanted to go over to Wandsborough +to-day, but, hurrah for boredom instead!" + +No more was said as they paddled back to the landing place and made +their way along the shrubbery path. Did the girl in her heart of hearts +suspect the reason of her brother's anxiety to ride over to the town? +If so, like a wise counsellor she held her peace. + +Roland had transferred himself to Cranston some three days after we saw +him at the Rectory dinner-table--now more than a week ago, and even that +brief period had been sufficient to convince him that in his former +anticipations of the conditions of life there, he was not likely to be +agreeably disappointed. The same constraint pervaded everything, the +same latent antagonism seemed to underlie all intercourse, and in a +hundred and one small ways, the more risky because so trivial, the +general harmony seemed in a state of chronic peril. + +One of his first acts had been to make a call at Wandsborough Rectory to +explain the circumstances of the assumed name. At first his explanation +had been somewhat stiffly received, but it was not in Dr Ingelow to +keep up resentment; moreover, a happy remark to the effect that the +_incognito_ had been the means of beginning what the speaker hoped he +might be allowed to call a valued friendship, which otherwise he might +never have known, completed the turning of the scale, and he was +absolved all round. Yet not quite all round, for Olive, remembering her +free and easy utterances made on the beach that morning, found an early +opportunity of taking him privately to task. + +"I think you might have told _me_ at the time," she had said, "instead +of letting me run on with all sorts of local gossip as you did." + +"Why? Oh, I see. But you didn't abuse us a bit more than we deserve. +I asked you a question and you answered it. And, between ourselves, the +answer didn't surprise me in the very least." + +"That's all very well, but you ought to have stopped me." + +"How hard-hearted you are, when all the others have forgiven me!" + +"Have they? Oh, well, then, for the credit of the family I suppose I +must exercise the same Christian virtue," had said Olive mischievously. +"You may consider yourself forgiven by me too. There." + +"One thing more," he had urged, "is wanted to make that forgiveness +complete. You must continue to mete me out the same treatment as you +did to the stranger, Rowlands; not categorise me as an obnoxious +Dorrien." + +"That will depend entirely upon your future behaviour," she had +returned, with the same mischievous flash. + +The lake was barely five minutes' walk from the house, and as the two-- +the three, rather, for Roy, all the fresher for his ducking, was +trotting along at their side--turned the corner of the garden walk, they +came face to face with their mother and two young ladies, who were +speedily introduced as the Miss Nevilles. + +"We've been in the coolest corner of the county all the morning--on the +water," said Roland, catching his mother's displeased glance at his +sister. "Nellie wanted to go indoors half an hour ago, but I positively +refused to let her land." + +"What a beautiful dog! Is it yours, Mr Dorrien?" said the eldest. + +"Yes. Come here, Roy, and exhibit yourself." Roy obeyed, but +manifested no great effusion in response to the young lady's somewhat +timid caresses. His master decided that Clara Neville was at the moment +thinking more of the fit of her gloves and the pose of her head, than of +the dog or anything else. She was a tall, slight girl, faultlessly +dressed, and in good style altogether; but in spite of the regular +profile and wavy profusion of her golden hair, the face was not +altogether a taking one--an unfriendly critic would have pronounced it a +somewhat cold and ill-tempered one. But then she was the heiress of +Ardleigh Court--whose place in the county ranked little below that of +Cranston, and this would cover far graver shortcomings. Her sister, +Maud, was a quiet, dark-haired little thing, with no pretensions to +looks. Yet there were many who thought that a future lord might be +found for Ardleigh Court much sooner were she the heiress. + +Their father, a jolly, bluff veteran with an ever-ready laugh, was as +complete a representative of one type of old soldier as his friend and +erstwhile companion in arms, Reginald Dorrien, was of another. The +Colonel was the kindest-hearted of men. Cheery, frank and full of life +and humour, he was an immense favourite with the rising generation, and +indeed with everybody. Everybody except his wife and eldest daughter, +by whom--such is the irony of events--the old man's jovial and +kind-hearted character went entirely unappreciated. They chose to +consider it lamentably lacking in dignity. + +"Dorrien," cried Colonel Neville to his host as they sat at luncheon, +"is it true that your fellows have dropped down on that rascal Devine +again?" + +"Yes. Caught him in the act. Two hares, or three--I forget which. He +was taking them out of the hangs when they dropped upon him." + +"Ah! We must make it lively for him at the Sessions the day after +to-morrow. The law ought to empower us to send a regular poacher to +serve in the army. Why, when we were up country on active service some +of our best men were ex-poachers. Why, Dorrien, you yourself remember +poor Wilkins that time we--" + +But the jolly Colonel's reminiscence was cut short by his eldest +daughter, who appealed to him to settle a divergence of opinion between +herself and Nellie. This was a regular tactic of Clara's. Her father +was never to be suffered to launch out in reminiscence. Old men, she +declared, old soldiers especially, with a mania for reminiscence were +always bores. So the exploit of "poor Wilkins, ex-poacher," was +destined to remain unnarrated. + +Of all the more or less inane phases of entertainment devised by society +with a view to doing its duty by its acquaintance, the garden party is +not far from being the most tiresome. The Cranston one bore a striking +family likeness to others of its kind. + +Roland, who hated the whole thing, and wished all the people at the +deuce, and through whose head was buzzing a confused string of names-- +belonging to people to whom he had been introduced--found himself, +before he was aware of it, in a vacant seat next to Clara Neville, and +almost felt grateful to her for being there. She would do to talk to, +as well as anyone else, and he would be spared the trouble of opening up +fresh ground. So an involuntary sigh of relief escaped him, which that +young lady, for all her imperturbable calm, made a careful note of. + +"Don't you play croquet, Mr Dorrien?" she said. + +"I don't. Nothing on earth would induce me to embark in the very +feeblest attempt at amusement ever devised by a stark idiot for the +scourge of civilised man." + +She laughed. "Do you know, between ourselves, I quite share your +opinion. The game is, as you say, terrible boredom. But you have been +a great traveller, have you not?" + +"No. Nothing out of the way. I've knocked about a good deal, but only +where everyone else has." + +"Ah, you must have seen some strange things. And I think every man who +can should travel. Not in the beaten tracks--on the Continent--but in +far wild countries where he is entirely dependent on himself. It must +open up the mind a great deal, and do a world of good." + +"Yes, it has a very salutary and hardening effect; there's no doubt +about that." + +"I suppose now you are home again, you will settle down for good," she +went on. "And this is really a very beautiful spot, is it not? But you +travellers are never happy for long in one place?" she added, turning to +him with a very engaging smile, the more valuable on account of its +rarity. + +"Likely enough it'll be my bounden duty to become moss-grown now," he +answered with a laugh. + +"No, don't move, Roland," said his father, as he rose to give up his +seat. "I'm not going to sit down," and there was a cordiality in his +tone, as well as in the light touch of his hand upon his son's shoulder, +which caused that worthy to marvel greatly. But Roland was glad to be +left in peace, so he sat chatting with Clara Neville, heedless of the +notes of invitation thrown out to him from many pairs of bright eyes, +till at last, feeling bored, he seized upon some pretext to slip away +and have a stroll round the shrubbery with Roy. + +But the first person he encountered on turning into it was Colonel +Neville, who started guiltily, and then burst into a hearty laugh. + +"Aha!" he cried, "another defaulter! Come along, my boy, and we'll have +our smoke together," and he puffed away at his half-smoked cigar. "We +must bind ourselves not to betray each other, unless we are caught +red-handed, as I thought I was just now, by Jove!" And the jolly +Colonel gave vent to another of his ringing laughs, to the jeopardy of +bringing about the very discovery he wished to avoid. + +"Don't let's go towards the lake," laughed Roland. "People are sure to +wander down in that direction. This'll be our best way." + +"But bother it! you've no business to desert the ladies, sir," cried the +Colonel, as they turned into an unfrequented path. "It's all very well +for an old soldier like me, but you've your time to serve. They'll be +raising the hue and cry for you." + +"Let them. Fact is, Colonel, I've been so long outside the civilised +world that I was dying for a smoke up yonder just now. So the fragrant +weed beat lovely woman clean out of the field." + +The old man laughed again. He had taken a great liking to this, as he +thought, unfairly treated son of his old friend. + +"Look here, Roland, my boy," he said, suddenly becoming grave. "I can't +tell you how glad I am to see you here, safe home again. You mustn't +mind my speaking plainly to you--for, although we've never met before, +your father and I fought in the same lines and quarrelled like fury +together, over and over again, before any of you were born or thought +of--so I don't mind what I say to you. Your father's a queer fellow, +but I think he's fond of you in his own way underneath it all, so don't +run more counter to each other than you can help." + +There was such genuine warmth in the other's address that Roland was +touched. He was about to reply, when voices were heard approaching, and +almost immediately a footman hove in sight. + +"Colonel Neville's horse is at the door, sir," he said, and from the +expression of his face no doubt he added to himself, "and a precious +long time he's been waiting." + +"Ha! I'm afraid they've been looking for me far and wide. You must +come over and see us, Roland, as soon as you can. My wife was hoping to +have been here to-day, but she didn't feel up to the attempt. So mind +you come, for we shall all be very glad to see you." + +They had reached the party by now, and many a glance of reawakened +interest was levelled at the younger of the truants, but in the slight +stir attendant on the Colonel's departure he escaped unscolded. + +"Well, Roland," said his father, entering the smoking-room late that +evening. "How did the affair go off to-day? Pretty well?" + +"Oh, I think so. It struck me that all the world looked contented with +itself. And it made its fair share of row, a sure sign that it wasn't +bored, anyhow. Do you mind my lighting up, sir?" + +"No, no. Light away. Why yes, I think the people seemed to enjoy +themselves. By the bye, you were talking a good deal to Clara Neville. +What do you think of her?" And the General stood with his back against +the mantelpiece as though about to wax quite chatty. + +"She seems a sensible sort of girl, on the whole, and can talk +rationally. But she always gives you the idea that she is thinking more +of her dress than of what you are saying to her." + +"Perhaps there is a little of that in her manner, until you get +accustomed to her, that is. But after all, it's a very pardonable +fault; more than made up for by the corresponding virtue of neatness," +replied this veteran martinet, who had been wont to visit with the +severest penalties a single speck on shining boot or pipe-clayed belt +when parading his men. "And she is as you say, a sensible girl--a very +sensible girl--and she will have Ardleigh Court." + +"Indeed?" said Roland, in an uninterested tone. "Are there no sons, +then?" + +"No. Only those two girls. Clara will come in for Ardleigh, as to that +there is no doubt whatever. It is one of the finest places in the +county, and adjoins this. You can just see the village away on the +right as you come here from Wandsborough. Ah, Hubert, and have you come +to do the `chimney' too?" as that hopeful burst unceremoniously into the +room, pulling up short at the unwonted vision there of his father. +"Well, I suppose you two fellows will be able to entertain each other, +so I'll say good-night." + +For a moment Hubert sat in silence. Then he opened the door and looked +out, and returning to his seat gave vent to a low, prolonged whistle of +astonishment. + +"By Jove!" he exclaimed. "What the very deuce is in the wind now, that +the gallant veteran should condescend to honour this classic den with +his high and mighty presence?" + +"Doesn't he ever, then?" + +"Never; never by any chance. And so confoundedly affable as he was, +too. Well, it beats me." + +"Perhaps he's going to turn over a new leaf and develop a vein of +sociability hitherto undiscovered. It's never too late to mend, you +know," said the other nonchalantly. + + + +CHAPTER NINE. + +"YOU HERE!" + +"Before Colonel Neville, Mr Pagnell and the Rev John Croft, Stephen +Devine, a notorious offender, charged with snaring two leverets in a +field on the outskirts of Cranston Manor Farm"--began the reporter for +the local news, scratching away vigorously with his spluttering quill. + +The hall in which Petty Sessions were held at Wandsborough was not by +its imposing dimensions calculated to impress anybody with the majesty +of the law. It was small, low ceiled and badly lighted. Prisoner and +witnesses, constables and magistrates' clerk all seemed jumbled up +together in the cramped space; while their worships themselves were only +separated from the common herd by a long, narrow table. A most +inconvenient room in fact, and times out of number had the Bench +agitated for its enlargement, or better still, for the construction of +another. All in vain. The justices had to go on sitting in the stuffy +den, an infliction sufficient to bring them together in a state of +ill-humour most unpropitious to the culprit. Even their genial and +kind-hearted chairman, Colonel Neville, was wont to wax irritable under +the circumstances--while constitutionally sterner stuff such as Mr +Pagnell or General Dorrien was more than likely to err on the side of +severity. + +"Well, Devine, and what have you got to say for yourself?" said the +chairman. There had been no defence set up; the prisoner had doggedly +pleaded guilty. Indeed he could hardly have done otherwise, seeing that +he had been caught red-handed in the act of taking one of the leverets +out of the "hang," while the other was found upon him. The head-keeper +of Cranston and his subordinate had just been stating to the Bench under +what circumstances they had made their capture; moreover, that the +culprit was an excessively leery bird, who had long dodged the sharp +watch they had kept upon him--and now the justices, having conferred +together, were prepared to pass sentence. + +"Please your warshups," said the prisoner sullenly, "I'd bin out o' work +for nigh three weeks, and rent owin', and nothin' to keep the pot bilin' +at home. And I set the `hangs' for rabbits, your warshups, which isn't +game, an' I thowt as how that bit o' furze were common land, and didn't +belong to nobody. And somehow when the hares got cotched, I took 'em, +cos my gal had just come home, and there weren't nothin' in the house." + +An eager look came into the man's swarthy hang-dog countenance. He was +a heavy, powerfully built fellow of middle height, and his dark +complexion and jet-black hair had gained for him the sobriquet "Gipsy +Steve;" that, and the fact that no one knew where he came from, or +anything about him. Among his own class he was popularly supposed to be +"a man who had committed a murder," for no reason apparently, unless it +were his foreign and uncommon aspect, and a terribly evil look which +would come over his dark features when crossed or roused. + +Again the magistrates conferred together. + +"Gaol's the word," said Mr Pagnell decisively. "No fine this time. +The fellow's an out-and-out knave, and now he's trying to humbug us into +the bargain. Why he's been up numberless times before us for one thing +or another, and twice already for poaching." + +"But he was acquitted the first time, and the second there was a doubt," +expostulated the clerical justice--a kindly-hearted man who, although +his commission of the peace was congenial to a harmless vanity, disliked +punishing his fellow men. "I think we might give him another chance." +So two of the trio being in favour of mercy, stern justice was outvoted. + +"Now look here, Devine," said Colonel Neville, "even if we believed +every word of your story--which you can't expect us to do, considering +that you have already been up twice before us on similar charges--it +would be no excuse, and you know that as well as we do. If you can't +get work here--and it's your own fault if you can't, because you quarrel +with everyone who employs you--the best thing to do is to go to some +other place, where you can. Anyhow, you've broken the law this time and +we can't overlook it, but we are going to give you another chance, +though at first we had fully intended sending you to gaol. You will be +fined ten shillings, that is five shillings for each act of poaching, +and costs; in default a month's hard labour." + +The prisoner's countenance, which had lightened considerably at the +words "another chance," now fell again. + +"Please, Kurnel," he began, "I haven't got five halfpence, let alone +ten--" + +"Well, we can't help that," testily retorted Colonel Neville, who was +feeling the effects of the close, stuffy room. "We have dealt with you +very leniently as it is. Next case, Mr Inspector." + +So Stephen Devine was removed, and a yokel took his place, charged with +cruelty to a horse, then came a couple of disputed paternity cases, the +particulars of which, though highly instructive to the student of the +manners and customs of the lower orders in rural districts, are in no +wise material to this narrative; and so the business of the day +proceeded, until at length the three magnates who had sacrificed +themselves to the cause of justice in Wandsborough were emancipated and +free to return to their respective homes. + +"Upon my word, Neville, you do let those rascals down uncommonly easy," +observed Mr Pagnell to his brother magistrate, as the two rode +homewards. "Poaching is the very thing we ought to stamp out ruthlessly +in these days. Why, that ruffian Devine has simply got off scot free." + +"Poor devil," answered the kind-hearted Colonel, who under the influence +of fresh air and the prospects of no more Sessions for a month, had +quite recovered his good humour. "Poor devil, I believe he's been +trying to keep square since his daughter came back. But he'll have to +do his month, for he'll never be able to pay his fine." + +"Won't he! You'll see that he will, and we shall have him up before us +again next Bench day. The fellow's an irreclaimable scamp. Well, our +ways part here. Good-bye." + +About half way between Cranston and Wandsborough, but in the latter +parish, and in an angle formed by the footpath across the fields with a +deep lane, stands a cottage--one of those picturesque, snug-looking +nests which you shall see in no other country in the world--thatched, +diamond-paned, and a bit of half garden, half orchard in front, and a +background of elder trees and high hawthorn bushes. But, for all its +external picturesqueness, an exploration of the interior of this abode +would reveal a very poverty-stricken state of things. There is a +neglected look about everything, and the rooms, bare of all but a few +worthless sticks of furniture--too worthless even for the bailiffs or +the pawnshop, seem to point eloquently to the sort of person their +occupier would be--shiftless, hang-dog, ne'er-do-well, and not +unfrequently drunken. It is the abode of Stephen Devine, _alias_ Gipsy +Steve, whose acquaintance we have just made. + +At the moment when that worthy learns his fate in the Wandsborough +Sessions room, there stands in the doorway of his abode a girl. Her +dress, appearance, and the rough dusting-cloth in her hand seem to show +that she has paused in the commonplace but laudable occupation of +tidying up, and is there at the door for a breath of fresh air and a +look round; and her coarseness of garb and surroundings notwithstanding, +the girl would assuredly attract from the passer-by no mere casual +glance, for she is of striking and uncommon beauty. Her almost swarthy +complexion ought by all rules to go with jetty locks and dark flashing +eyes, but it does not. The masses of hair crowning her well-carried +head are light brown, just falling short of golden, and harmonise +wonderfully with the smooth tawny skin, and her eyes are large, limpid +and blue. The mouth, too, is not the least beautiful feature--full, red +and sensuous. She is a tall girl, of splendid build and proportions, +and the light, closely-fitting gown displays a figure which would have +commanded a fabulous price in the slave-markets of old, and the easy, +restful, leaning attitude as she stands in the doorway defines the +swelling lines of her finely moulded form. A magnificent animal truly, +and withal a dangerous one. Such is Lizzie Devine, the poacher's +daughter. + +The passer-by referred to above would assuredly pronounce her to be no +ordinary cottage girl, and he would be right. She had not inhabited the +humble abode where we find her more than a fortnight; for she had only +just returned from what the neighbours vaguely termed "foreign parts," +which vagueness neither Lizzie nor her father were disposed to reduce to +definition. Here she was, anyhow, beneath "Gipsy Steve's" +poverty-stricken and highly disreputable roof, and the neighbours looked +at her askance, as in duty bound. For this did Lizzie care not one +rush. Her movements and pursuits were as mysterious as the antecedents +of her father. The gossips hate mystery--therefore, said the gossips, +she must have been after no good. Some thought she had been "a +play-actress," some thought even worse. Some thought one thing, some +another--but Lizzie didn't care what they thought. Neither she nor +Steve mixed with their neighbours--she from choice, he from necessity; +for he was disliked and feared as a quarrelsome and dangerous man. One +thing was certain, whatever occupation Lizzie had been pursuing, she had +returned home with empty pockets, and this ought to have told in her +favour, for the ways of evil are lucrative. + +She stands in the doorway looking out over the sunlit fields, and her +thoughts are chaotic. At first she wearily wonders whether her father +will be discharged with a reprimand, and if not what she can pawn in +order to pay his fine. Then her reflections fly off at a tangent. Away +in the distance, the chimneys of Cranston Hall appear above the trees, +and on these the girl's clear blue eyes are fixed, while she indulges in +a day-dream. Yet she is a hard, practical young party enough, for she +is twenty-four, and has seen a very considerable slice of this habitable +globe. + +Suddenly her frame becomes rigid, and the blood surges to her face, then +falls back, leaving it ashy pale. What has she spied to bring about +this convulsion? Only a man, of course. + +He is advancing along the field path with an easy swinging stride. As +she gazes, a large red and white dog comes tearing over the further +stile and scampers joyously past his master. The girl stands in a state +of strange irresolution, her heart beating like a hammer. He has not +seen her--one step inside and he will have passed by. But her chance of +retreat is gone. While she is doubting, the man passes the gate, and as +he does so looks carelessly up. + +Roland Dorrien is not wont to exhibit wild surprise over anything, but +the start which he gives as his eyes meet those of the girl before him, +proves that his astonishment is genuine. + +"Lizzie!" + +"You don't seem overmuch glad to see me anyhow," says the girl in a hard +tone, her self-possession now quite in hand again. + +"I don't know about `glad.' But what on earth are you doing here, and +where have you dropped from?" And his eye ran over her from head to +foot, taking in her rough, though scrupulously clean, attire. + +"Ha! ha! You may well look astonished. Rather different to when we +last met," she said bitterly. "But come inside and we can talk. Don't +be afraid," seeing him hesitate; "I'm quite alone." + +"Oh, that alters the case materially. You see, I never was one to mince +matters. Therefore I don't mind telling you that this isn't New York, +but a confoundedly gossipy little English provincial place. Moral--One +must be circumspect. And now, Lizzie," he went on, sliding into a big +wooden chair, "tell me all about yourself--and--and how it is you're +trying the _role_ of cottage maiden--and here above all places in the +world." + +"That's soon said. I'm keeping house for father." + +"`For father'? I don't quite see. If it's a fair question, who the +deuce is he?" + +"Stephen Devine--and he's now up before the magistrates for catching +some of your hares. Yours, mind." + +Roland whistled. Surprise followed upon surprise. Surprise one--to +find this girl here at all. Surprise two--that she should turn out to +be the daughter of Stephen Devine, the greatest rascal on the whole +countryside. He had known her under another name. + +"Lizzie, I'll be quite candid with you. The fact is, this unexpected +parent of yours enjoys the reputation of being--well, a `bad lot.' Do +you intend to take up your quarters here with him altogether?" + +"That's as may be. Didn't you know I was here?" + +"Know it? How should I?" + +"I don't believe you did. I'm pretty sharp, you see, and the jump you +gave when you saw me was no make-believe. I've only been here a +fortnight, no longer than you have. I came over in the `Balearic,' the +steamer before yours. It was queer that we should both have returned +home at the same time, wasn't it? And how do you think I'm looking?" + +There was a world of mingled emotions in her tones. Distrust, +resentment, bitterness, and a strong undercurrent of passion. A +stranger would have been puzzled by this daughter of the people, who +talked and looked so far above her station. Her auditor, for his part, +was not a little discomfited. The first surprise over, the situation +held out endless complications. It was one thing for the prodigal in a +far country to pick up a beautiful nobody for his amusement--quite +another for the future Squire of Cranston to return home and find that +inconvenient young person domiciled at his very door, and owning +parentage with a skulking, drunken and poaching rascal, at whom even his +own squalid class looked askew. A unit in the crowd at American +pleasure resorts was one thing; Dorrien of Cranston at home, quite +another. He foresaw grave difficulties. + +"How do I think you are looking? Why, first-rate, of course," he +answered. "Improved, if anything." + +"Thanks. I can't say the same of you. I liked you better yonder in the +States. I'm candid, too, you see. But you're a very great person here, +while I--well never mind. And now I had better tell you. I hadn't the +smallest idea that you belonged here when I came--so don't think I came +on purpose. I don't want to trouble you or get in your way--no--not I. +But I can't quite forget old times." + +The summer air was soft and slumbrous, the place was isolated, and the +stillness of the dreamy forenoon unbroken by the sound of voice or +footstep to tell of the outer world. Roland's strong pulses shook his +frame with overmastering violence, and his temples throbbed as he gazed +on the splendid, sensuous beauty and magnificent outlines of the girl, +standing there talking to him in tones and words that contained three +parts reproach. And she was gifted with an extraordinarily soft and +attractive voice. In a second she was beside him. + +"Darling!" she whispered, winding her arms round him, her words coming +in passionate torrent. "Darling--I could call you that in the old +times, you know. Do you remember those nights at the Adirondacks--the +beautiful lake and the moonlight--and ourselves? I see you remember. +Why not again--here? The cottage is out of the way--scarcely anyone +ever passes even--at night, no one. Father is in trouble. I shall be +alone here--perhaps for weeks. You are your own master, are you not-- +you can come--often, always? It was not so long ago--only a few months. +You can't have grown weary. No one need know--and when it is dark this +way is quite deserted--I don't want to keep you altogether--I don't want +to injure you with anybody. But only one week--one short week if you +wish it. Then I'll go away--right away." + +Her words came in fitful, incoherent gasps, and there was something of +the fierce grip of a wild beast in her tight embrace. Like lightning, a +consciousness of this flashed through the other's fired brain, a +consciousness of his very senses slipping from him. Would he still +yield to the terrible fascination? + +"Two's company, three's a crowd," is a sound proverb, even when the +third is a dog. Roy, who had been lying in the doorway, suddenly sprang +up with a threatening growl, and darted in pursuit of a passer-by, +barking loudly. The incident was sufficient. It was a rude +interruption, but salutary, so thought at least one of the two. + +"This won't do, Lizzie. As I said before, this isn't New York, and one +can't be too careful. Now I had better go, at any rate. Good-bye." + +He spoke hurriedly, and acted on his words before she had time to +remonstrate. It was a lame conclusion to a stirring interview. All the +better--for him, at any rate. + +Left alone, the girl stood rigid as stone. Here was the loadstar of her +vehemently passionate nature. She had spoken truth in disclaiming all +knowledge of Roland Dorrien's whereabouts when she came to Wandsborough. +Pure chance had brought her there. Once there, however, she was not +long in ignorance as to who dwelt at Cranston--and day by day she had +watched that field path as we saw her watching it to-day. Now she was +rewarded. Well, was she? + +Roland, hurrying down the lane to recall Roy, who was attacking the +pedestrian with unwonted savagery, discovered with no little surprise +that the latter was Turner, the curate; and it struck him that his +apologies for Roy's ill-behaviour were received very stiffly. Then it +flashed across him--Roy had rushed out of Devine's cottage--that +domicile contained an exceptionally handsome girl, and Turner was a +parson and presumably knew everybody. Moreover, parsons were always +suspicious fellows, apt to ferret out all kinds of things that didn't +concern them--apt, moreover, to ride the high horse if permitted to do +so. Thus reflecting, Roland cut short his apologies and left Turner, +with a greeting every bit as stiff as his own. + + + +CHAPTER TEN. + +"HOMO SUM." + +It may or may not be the mission of the fiction-writer to point a moral, +in other words to idealise. It assuredly is his function to adorn a +tale; in short, to take the world-stage, and the actors thereon, as he +finds it and them. + +We have said that, in the unexpected reappearance of his former and +fascinating acquaintance, Roland Dorrien foresaw a series of grave +complications; yet, the first shock over, there entered into his +misgivings a widening tinge of satisfaction, and that in spite of the +cautious precepts of which he had just delivered himself. A weaker man +would have started back in alarm at the turn events had taken and might +take--would have persuaded himself that he had made an ass of himself-- +the male British formula, we take it, for owning that he has done that +which he ought not to have done. Not so this one. Whatever he had done +he was prepared to stand by, and not a shadow of misgiving entered his +mind on that account. But there were other reasons which enjoined to +caution. His position, his future prospects, all depended upon how he +should play his cards now. And, too, there was another consideration. + +He was of a strong, passionate temperament, this man, and the hot blood +surged through his veins as he thought of the scene he had just left; +thought of his life not so long previously; thought, too, of the +opportunity thrust in his path, suddenly and unsought--he who had been +trying to persuade himself that the old, wild, reckless times were of +the past. But he was a very fatalist, prone to take things as they +came, not philosophically it must be owned. Adversity left him gloomy +and morose; good fortune, though not elating him, would fill him with a +comfortable, if selfish, sense of satisfaction in that he had it in his +power to indulge himself in any and every inclination; a power which he +suffered not the smallest scruple to hinder him from using. Not very +heroic, it must again be owned. But then Roland Dorrien was no hero, +only a man. + +Given his choice, he had rather Lizzie Devine were now where he saw her +last, and three thousand good miles of Atlantic between them. More than +that, he had _much_ rather such was the case. As it was not, however, +and she was located at his very door, so to speak, well, he must make +the best of the situation. It had a best side, he reflected +sardonically--which was more than could be said of all such situations. +Anyhow, he was not going to put himself out about the matter. A thought +struck him. He might cut the knot of the difficulty by paying Devine's +fine and restoring that estimable rascal to his hearth and home. That +would put temptation beyond his reach at any rate. But Roland Dorrien +was not the man to confer gratuitous benefits upon anybody; let alone +upon one of a class which, in his estimation, knew no such word as +gratitude, and an unscrupulous and ruffianly member of the same, at +that. And who shall say that his reasoning was not in the main sound? +Confer a benefit on a dog, and he remembers it till death; succour a +fellow creature--a human being made in God's image, mark you--and the +soul-endowed object of your benevolence will assuredly turn again and +rend you on sight. Now no one knew this better than Roland, and with a +sneer at himself for having suffered himself to entertain for a moment +any such quixotic notion, he dismissed the subject from his mind. + +Striking the high road leading into Wandsborough, who should he meet +suddenly and face to face, but the rector's second daughter. But she +was not alone. Walking beside her, carrying a basket--in a word, +dancing attendance on her--was the objectionable Turner. + +Many a man under the circumstances would have felt, though he might have +shown no sign of it, some slight embarrassment, the result of the old +cant "guilty conscience" again. Not so this one. He had rather a poor +opinion of the fair sex, and although Olive Ingelow had attracted-- +partially fascinated him, to an extent which no one had ever succeeded +in doing yet, and which he would not own even to himself--for all that, +he could not be otherwise than perfectly at his ease in her presence, +even under such circumstances as these. + +"Well, Miss Olive," he said lightly, as they met. "On charity bent, I +see. Much too fine a day for any such dismal errand." + +"There's such a thing as duty, Mr Dorrien," put in Turner, in a tone +meant to convey a lofty rebuke, but which only struck the other as +divertingly bumptious. "And the parish has to be looked after, and our +people must be visited, one might suppose." + +"Oh--ah, I see--quite so?" asserted Roland, placidly and with a stare, +as if he had just become aware of the curate's presence. "And I am +sure, my dear sir, that no one performs that onerous task more +assiduously and efficiently than yourself." + +The curate bit his lip with suppressed ire. Here was a man whom it was +not safe to snub, whom, in fact, it was not possible to snub. Olive, +meanwhile, struggled hard to conceal her mirth under cover of somewhat +exuberantly caressing Roy. + +"Well, good-bye, Mr Dorrien," she exclaimed, with a bright, mischievous +smile. "Duty calls; and that `dismal errand' must be proceeded with." + +"I never did take to that man," remarked Turner, as they resumed their +way. "I don't care how little I see of him, in fact. The Dorriens are +a bad stock, and sooner or later this one will prove himself no +exception to the rule, mark my words." + +"I don't see why you should be so uncharitable," retorted Olive. "We +all think Mr Dorrien particularly nice. How can he help his family +being detestable?" + +A pertinent question enough, but hardly calculated to soothe the pious +young apostle at her side. Rumour credited Turner with more than a +friendly regard for his chief's second daughter, and for once in a way +Rumour was right. But as to whether the _penchant_ was reciprocated by +its object or no, rumour was divided in opinion, the balance of the said +division being on the negative side. + +"He can't help that perhaps," said Turner shortly. "But the man himself +is objectionable. A scoffer, and I strongly suspect, an out-and-out +infidel." + +"And what if he is?" rejoined Olive warmly. "The narrow-minded and +uncharitable self-sufficiency of some people is enough to make an +infidel of anybody. I vow I hate clergymen!" + +The colour rose to the beautiful dark face as she spoke. Her companion, +dismayed and offended, replied, looking straight in front of him: + +"Not very flattering to your father, Miss Olive." She rewarded him with +a look of withering scorn. "Just the sort of answer I should have +looked for from you. An _infidel_, for instance," with cutting sarcasm, +"would have vastly more gumption than not to know that I credit my +father with being a very rare and noble exception to a most stupid and +narrow-minded set of men. _He_ takes people as he finds them. _He_ +doesn't go out of the way to sneer at them because they don't live in +church, especially when he knows little or nothing about them." + +The curate would have liked to hint at the discovery he had recently +made, or fancied he had made. But he only replied stiffly: + +"If I have offended you I am sorry. But as my company seems unwelcome +just now, I will relieve you of it at once." + +"By all means, Mr Turner. Good-morning," and taking her basket from +him, she passed on her way with a scornful bow, leaving her companion +standing irresolute, very savage and sore at heart, looking and feeling +not a little foolish. + +Meanwhile the object of this tiff, far enough away in the contrary +direction, felt more disgusted than he cared to admit. But for the +presence of that whipper-snapper of a curate, he would have joined +Olive, and in about two minutes would have persuaded her to dismiss her +errand of charity to the winds, substituting therefor a long delightful +ramble on the seashore, or inland among cool shady lanes, or over breezy +upland. And by no means for the first time, either. Now, however, it +was probable that Turner would lose no opportunity of making himself a +nuisance. Parsons, in Roland's opinion, were extensively given that +way, and that Turner had got scent of that other business was extremely +unfortunate. Then at the thought of Turner as last seen, he laughed +sardonically. A transparently "spoony" man looked an ass at best--a +transparently "spoony" cleric showed up as something extraordinary in +the way of an ass--and that Turner was in that identical stage of +asininity was obvious to our well-worn friend "the meanest capacity," +let alone to so shrewd and clear-sighted an individual as Roland +Dorrien. + +Another meeting was in store for him that morning. In Wandsborough High +Street he ran right against his sister and the Miss Nevilles, who +insisted forthwith on carrying him back to Cranston. It was luncheon +time and hot withal--a comfortable seat in the victoria was not to be +sneezed at, so he submitted to capture with the best possible grace. +But the incident reminded him that Wandsborough was a confoundedly small +place, and that unless he meant to disperse all prudence to the winds it +behoves him to be careful. + + + +CHAPTER ELEVEN. + +CONCERNING A MIDNIGHT RAMBLE. + +"Quiet, Roy, old man! Don't lift up that beautiful voice of yours, or +your gallant grandparent will be for abolishing you altogether on the +ground that you disturb his slumbers." It seemed hard to restrain the +affectionate creature's delighted barks over the restoration to his +master and temporary liberty. The dog pranced and squirmed; springing +up at his master, and whining in suppressed glee. Then he would career +up and down the sward, his white ruff gleaming in the moonlight. His +master, however, strolled leisurely on. Leaving the ornamental water on +his left, he turned out of the drive into a narrow secluded path through +the shrubbery, which soon led him into the heart of one of the home +coverts. The pathway lay in gloom overshadowed by black firs; the +moonlight throwing a pale band across it here and there, when a gap +occurred in the trees. Tangled bushes grew on either side right up to +the pedestrian's shoulder, and the air was heavy with a moist +fungus-like odour, exuding from the dewy earth and luxuriant vegetation. + +"Flap-flap." + +Away went a couple of startled cushats from their dark roost in the +firs, followed by a dozen more, the flapping of their wings resounding +like pistol-shots in the stillness of the covert. Then a faint rustle +in the brake, as of a prowling stoat or weasel making off with stealthy +glide. Rabbits scurried off down the path, and Roy, tremulous with +excitement, looked up in his master's face with an appealing whine, +though he knew perfectly well that the least movement towards giving +chase would be sternly checked. Suddenly the stroller stopped, and, as +he gazed straight in front of him, a faint whistle of astonishment +escaped his lips. What did he see? + +Only a light. + +He had reached a point where the ground fell away in front. Some thirty +yards further the covert ended, and beyond lay the open fields. From +where he stood the light was visible, and might be half a mile away. +Seen through the focus of the narrow covert path it twinkled in the +distance, looking like an ordinary candle placed in the latticed window +of a cottage--which, in fact, it was. + +But whatever it was, after gazing at it in astonishment for a few +moments, the stroller turned and began to retrace his steps. As he did +so the moon slowly soared over the tree-tops, flooding the narrow +footpath with light. Suddenly Roy lifted his head, and uttering a +quick, short bark, started off from his master's side, growling +ominously. + +The path, being in moonlight, enhanced the blackness of the undergrowth. +Roland, gazing eagerly in the direction of the cause of his dog's +alarm, could discern nothing in the cavernous gloom. + +"Poachers," he decided uneasily, with a rapid thought of the long odds +against him in the event of his conjecture proving a true one; for only +a large and daring gang of such marauders would venture to raid into the +Cranston home coverts. + +The dog's rage increased. With every hair of his thick coat bristling +and erect, he darted forward into the darkness, baying furiously; and in +a moment the snap-snap of his jaws, together with a continuous and +savage snarling, proclaimed him to be at very close quarters with +something or somebody, who had the greatest difficulty in warding off +his attack. + +"Cawl the dorg off, master," adjured a thick, gruff voice, not untinged +with trepidation. + +With some difficulty Roland complied, and in obedience to his peremptory +mandate to come out and show himself, there stepped into the moonlight a +powerful, thickset ruffian, armed with a cudgel. Mightily astonished, +he recognised in the swarthy and scowling features no less a personage +than Stephen Devine, the poacher, whom if he had thought of at all it +would have been as in Battisford Gaol, doing a month's hard labour, less +about ten days already served. + +"Didn't expect to see me, eh, master?" said the fellow, with a grin, the +other not breaking silence. + +"Right you are--I didn't. And now, may I ask, what the devil are you +doing here?" + +"Thort I was safe in quod, didn't 'ee, young Squire?" rejoined Devine, +advancing a step nearer, with the same evil grin. Roy, who had been +crouching at his master's feet, keeping up a running fire of growls, +sprang up at this move, and with his fangs fixed would have made at the +intruder, but found himself held by main force. + +"Down, Roy! Quiet, sir! I think you'll be safe in that institution +again by this time to-morrow," answered Roland. "Meanwhile, how the +deuce did you get out of it to-day?" + +"Haw-haw! Mr Turner 'e paid my fine and got me out. 'E's a genelman, +'e is. 'E said I ort to be at home, lookin' after my darter." + +"H'm! A fool and his money are soon parted. However, it's a thousand +pities the cash should be so utterly thrown away. Thrown away, because +to-morrow you'll return to your old quarters. For trespassing here, you +understand." + +"Haw-haw! Oh, no, I won't, sir--not I. You'll say nuthin' about +to-night--not you?" + +"No? And why not?" + +"Because," answered the fellow, lowering his voice, but speaking in an +insolent tone--"because I should have such a nice little story to tell +their warshups the beaks, and the laryers, and the parties wot comes to +see poor coves tried. I should be able to tell how young Squire Dorrien +wasn't above steppin' down to my cottage o' nights to keep my gal +company like, while her poor old dad's in trouble. I could tell 'em how +I went to get a breath o' fresh air the night I come out o' quod, and as +how I see young Squire Dorrien a steppin' along in the dark to see my +gal. I could tell as how I follered him until he cotched sight of the +bit of light my gal had stuck in the winder to let him know her old +dad's come home again, and young Squire wouldn't be adsackly welcome +that night--and as how 'stonished he looked when he seed it? Fine gal, +my Lizzie, ain't she, Squire?" + +"Devilish fine girl! Since you ask my opinion, you've got it frankly, +and for what it's worth. And so that's the little story you are going +to amuse the court with, is it?" + +"That's the little story, Squire. No two mistakes about it," retorted +the other, with an impudent leer. "And strike me blind, but it'll be +worth doin' another month for the fun o' seein' the old Squire's face +when I'm a-tellin' of it." + +Roland laughed quietly, contemptuously--and there was something in his +laugh that seemed to undermine the other's self assurance. + +"You may tell your story, Devine--and then--" + +"And then, Squire?" + +"And then--you may go and be damned." The perfect nonchalance of this +reply was disconcerting in the extreme. The growing uneasiness which it +inspired in the poacher found vent in bluster. + +"Blast and blind me!" he snarled. "You don't seem to care over-much. +Yer don't seem to have heard of Gipsy Steve. But there's them here as +has, and there's them elsewhere as has, and to their cost. So mind me, +Master Squire Dorrien, I say, and you'll hear more o' me yet." + +Roland slowly emitted a puff of smoke, and watched it mounting in blue +circles upon the damp night air. Then he answered with sneering +calmness: + +"You were perfectly right in saying I didn't seem to care over-much. I +don't--and for these among other reasons. In the first place, you won't +tell that story, because, if you do, it isn't another month you'll find +yourself in for, but several years. Libel, with a view to blackmailing, +means penal servitude in this country, remember. In the next place, if +you do tell it your daughter will go into the witness-box and deny the +whole thing on oath--for even granted the truth of your discovery, I +needn't remind a man of your 'cuteness that she would rather see you +hung than give a word of evidence likely to damage me." + +He paused for a moment, noting with a sneer the fury depicted in his +listener's convulsed features. + +"Lastly," he went on, "such a tale told by a person of your well-known +respectability, friend Gipsy Steve, wouldn't affect me in the slightest +degree, since nobody would believe a word of it, or at the worst would +pretend not to. By the way, Devine, were you ever in the States?" + +The start, and the sudden lividness of the other's countenance plainly +visible in the moonlight, were answer enough. With a slight smile +Roland went on. + +"Ah, I see you have been there. And that being the case you have an +advantage over those who have not--that of knowing who's got the drop. +I've got the drop on you, friend Stephen Devine, and I mean to keep it. +So you shall be in quod to-morrow, and will have an opportunity of +entertaining the Bench with your little romance next Petty Sessions." + +The poacher was shrewd enough to recognise the force of every one of +Roland's assertions. So he changed his tone to the inevitable one of +the beaten rough. He cringed. + +"Don't be 'ard on a pore feller, Squire. I only wanted to try your +grit--and it's real grit it is. And yer won't 'ave a pore cove up afore +the beaks jest as 'e's out o' quod, will yer, Squire. I won't give you +any more trouble--I swear I won't. Blind me if I do! Say you won't +'ave me run in, Squire!" + +Roland, who could hardly restrain his laughter, eyed the fellow for a +moment contemptuously. + +"Well, Devine, I'll let you down easy this time, but don't let me catch +you loafing round here again. And don't let me hear that you've made +any capital or mischief out of this in any sort of way," he added +significantly. + +"Carn't ye spare a sovereign or two, Squire? I'm mortal 'ard up," +whined the poacher. + +"Not a red cent. Now off you go, left foot foremost. March!" He was +determined the other should never have it in his power to say he had +given him money, were it but the price of a pint. "And no tricks, +friend Gipsy Steve. Clear right away. Why, the dog here would throttle +you in a minute at a word from me--and I'm not sure I hadn't best let +him do it--but he'd be certain to get a knock or two over the job, so +that it's hardly worth while." + +"Good-night, Squire," said Devine sullenly, as he took himself off. + +Roland watched the retreating form of the poacher for about fifty yards, +and turned to resume his way homewards. With Roy by his side he had no +fear of foul play at the hand of the baffled and exasperated ruffian, +and his mind was free to think over the recent encounter. Turner's +motive in releasing Devine was clear, and if the curate turned out to be +worth powder and shot he would be even with him yet. And the poacher's +release was not an unmixed evil--at any rate so it seemed at that +moment; for, with this low rascal's voice still fresh in his ears, he +felt more than ever inclined to break free from the besetting +temptation: as to which it was a case of "needs must"--unless he chose +to retain that execrable blackguard in his pay--a thing that he would +rather hang himself than do. It struck him, however, that during the +short time since his return he had made two enemies, Devine and Turner-- +the last more powerful for evil, being his own social equal, and because +as a parson any mischief he might work would be set down to motives of +Christian duty. + +Once out of sight, the poacher turned round and shook his fist in the +direction of the man who had so thoroughly turned his flank. + +"Wait a bit, master!" he snarled through a volley of curses. "Just wait +a bit, and blast me dead if I don't cut that fine cock's-comb of yours +one of these days. And if I don't, call me a blanked sodger!" + +Whether he did or did not earn that martial appellation will hereinafter +appear. + + + +CHAPTER TWELVE. + +"THE SKEGS." + +"Father, I'm going down to Minchkil Bay to look up some of your ancient +mariners." + +"Are you, dear?" said the rector, glancing up with a pleased smile at +Olive, as she stood in his study door attired for walking, and making +the sweetest possible picture in contrast to the somewhat solemn and +ecclesiastical fittings of the old room. "And are you going alone?" + +"Yes, I am. Margaret says she has more than she can do this afternoon, +and, besides, those dear old fishermen are my speciality, so I intend to +get the credit of keeping them in the way wherein they should go." + +"Ha-ha! The English of which is, that that basket which I see is going +down there full of tobacco and snuff and tea, and coming back empty. +You know the way to their hearts, you little witch," laughed the rector, +in reality pleased that this volatile favourite child of his should of +her own accord undertake a work of benevolence--for anything in the +shape of visiting was not her forte. "But I predict that you'll get a +soaking before you're home again." + +"Now be quiet, you dear old `croaker.' I shall get nothing of the kind, +for the afternoon is turning out quite fine," she answered, leaning over +him with her arm on his shoulder and looking down on his desk. "And now +I'll leave you to your sermon-brewing--but oh!--this'll never do. You +really mustn't write so badly, dad dear, or you'll stick hopelessly, as +you did last Advent--and everyone was making merry over the notion of +the preacher not being able to read his own notes." + +"Out upon you for a profane person who dare to invade my _sanctum +sanctorum_," cried her father gleefully, as leaving a shower of kisses +upon his forehead the girl sped from the room. + +Left to himself the rector unconsciously let fall his pen. + +"God keep my darling--and grant her a happy future," were the words his +thoughts would have taken. But with him we have no concern at present, +so shall leave him to his meditations. + +The little fishing colony in Minchkil Bay lay distant a mile and a half +from Wandsborough. Its main features were roughly built cottages, +sorrily kept potato plots, pigsties, and smells. The place seemed to +have been dropped in a little hollow at the mouth of an attempt at a +river, whose chronic state of "draininess," combined with a whiff of +fish in every stage of staleness, not to say putrefaction, engendered +the savoury atmosphere aforesaid. There was a good beach, of course, +with the regulation complement of weatherbeaten craft, when the latter +were not at sea, that is--eke the regulation nets, corks and other +fishing gear hanging about on poles. On one side, the high ground +beyond which lay the town of Wandsborough; on the other a bare, turfy +slope rose abruptly to the summit of Minchkil Beacon, nearly four +hundred feet in the air, and whose rugged face to seaward consisted of a +succession of almost perpendicular cliffs, broken by many a ledge, where +the gulls had everything their own way. + +The task which Olive had set herself was anything but congenial. +However, she went through with it bravely, and for upwards of an hour +she steeled herself to endure the smokiness of the cabins and the +ancient and fish-like smells, the maunderings of the old crones and the +distracting yells of the babies, without flinching. She had a bright +smile and a cheerful word for all as they grumbled or whined--according +to temperament--that it was "mortal long since she'd bin near them," and +pretended to think it was not one word for herself and six for the +basket she carried, but the other way about. She endured all this right +manfully, and when it came to an end, with a sigh of relief, she tripped +lightly down the beach to revel in the fresh sea air and a sense of duty +done. + +"Well met!" + +She started at the voice--a genuine start. Truth to tell she coloured. + +"This is a piece of luck," went on the speaker. He had been talking +with one of the men, and both being behind a large fishing boat, Olive +had not noticed them. "I had no idea any of your flock pastured here." + +"Yes, they do. But it isn't often I do anything in the way of +shepherding them. That isn't in my line at all. In fact--I--I hate +it." + +The candour of this avowal was delicious. They both burst out laughing. + +"I can more than half believe that," he said. "But then why don't you +delegate the _role_ of Lord High Almoner to someone else? There's +Turner, for instance. It would be just in his line, I should think." + +A queer look, a wicked look, came into the girl's face at the mention of +Turner. + +"He wouldn't undertake it for me. He's angry with me. Mr Dorrien, +don't you hate clergymen?" + +"Truth compels me to state that I'm not partial to them as a rule." + +"Oh, indeed? And why don't you look shocked at my question and say, +`Er--not very flattering to your father, is it?' or something to that +effect? That's how you ought to retort, by every known rule," said +Olive, wickedly demure. + +"And why don't you look shocked at my answer and say, `Er--kindly +remember that you are reflecting on my father'? That's how you ought to +retort, etc, etc." + +"Because," answered Olive, when she had recovered from the laughter into +which his quizzical reply had launched her, "because I know you were +making an exception in his favour as well as you knew I was. So we are +agreed on that head." + +"Quite so. There's nothing like a good understanding to begin with. +And now by way of trying whether it'll continue, let's see if you'll +fall in with my idea. We must go for a sail. How does that idea strike +you?" + +"As perfection," she rejoined, looking up at him with a light laugh. +"Jem Pollock has the lightest boat here, but even that's a shocking +tub." + +It was. By the time they had put a couple of hundred yards between +themselves and the beach Roland was fain to admit the justice of the +stigma. + +"Where are we going to?" asked Olive, as he suddenly turned the boat's +head and coasted along the shore. + +"The Skegs. I've set my heart on exploring that pinnacle of scare, and +was waiting until you could go with me. You were the first to unfold +its dread mysteries, and you shall be the first to aid me in braving +them." + +"Oh! But--I'm just the very least little bit afraid." + +"Naturally." + +"It's fortunate--or unfortunate--you didn't say where you intended +going, or Jem Pollock wouldn't have let us have his boat for love or +money." + +"He wouldn't?" + +"Not he! They're all in mortal terror of the place. To land there +would bring them ill-luck for life. They even think they would hardly +leave the rock alive. A boy was killed there once trying to get at some +sea gulls' nests. They put it down to his temerity in landing there at +all." + +"A set of oafs! Well, _we_ are going to land there--the tide is just +right for it--and I wager long odds we don't come to grief in any sort +of way. Village superstition will receive a salutary check--and I, even +I, shall place your father under a debt to me for my share in exploding +such a pagan relic. Look," he broke off, "there would be a good drop +for a runaway horse or anyone tired of life." + +A bend in the coastline had shut out the fishing village behind them, +for they had come some distance along the shore. The face of the cliff +at this point rose sheer for a couple of hundred feet, where its surface +was broken by a narrow ledge like a mere goat-path. Above this it +slanted upwards to nearly twice that height. + +"It would, indeed," assented Olive. "That rejoices in the name of +Hadden's Slide." + +"Does it? And who was Hadden, and what the mischief possessed him to +try his hand at toboganning on such a spot?" + +Olive laughed. "Nobody knows. It is an old landslip, and it is +supposed that a cottage belonging to one Hadden was carried away with +it. But that is very old tradition." + +"A pity. I had quite thought another spectral wanderer had lighted on +the place for his posthumous disportings, like my ancestor yonder at The +Skegs." + +"Well, he would have a better right, for that is your property." + +"My property!" + +"Yes. It is a part of Cranston," answered Olive, looking surprised. + +"Oh--ah! I see. But you said _my_ property. Now Cranston is not _my_ +property, and very likely never will be." + +This remark was made with a purpose. How would that strike her? he +thought, and he watched her narrowly. But, however it happened to +strike her, she took care that he should be none the wiser. + +"Why do you take me up so sharply?" she expostulated with pretty mock +petulance. "Really I shall become quite afraid of you if you are going +to be so precise. One can't always think for five minutes or so before +making every innocent little remark. Now can one?" + +"Of course not. What's that extraordinary looking fissure there in +front? It seems as if a stroke of lightning had split the whole cliff +from brow to base." + +"That is Smugglers' Ladder. It is well worth seeing. I've only been +there once. We must make up a picnic and go there some day. Are you +fond of picnics, Mr Dorrien?" + +"Passionately--under some circumstances. But can't we get as far this +afternoon?" + +Olive looked dubious. + +"It's a long way. Further than it seems. And father was right. It's +coming on to rain." + +"So it is. Here we are at our destination, though, and we can shelter +under the rock." + +Great drops began to plash on the water, and the cliffs above looked dim +as through a mist. The tallest of The Skegs reared up its lofty turret +overhead, the sea washing over a narrow sloping ledge of rock at its +base with a hollow plash. This was the only landing place. + +The landing was a good deal more difficult than it looked. There was +something of a current swirling round the rock, and the boat, as it got +within the recoil of the waves, danced about in lively fashion. Olive, +a little overawed at finding herself for the first time in this uncanny +place, looked about her in a half-scared, half-subdued manner, as if she +expected to behold the spectral hound start open-mouthed from the waves. +Then enjoyment of the adventure dispelled all other misgiving. + +"Just in time," she remarked gaily, as, her companion having secured the +boat, they gained the desired shelter. A violent downpour followed, +beating down the sea like oil. Not a soul was in sight on the lonely +and desolate beach, and away on the horizon great cloud banks came +rolling. Our two wanderers--three rather, for Roy was not slow to +assert his claim--made the best they could of the limited shelter, +contemplating the rushing deluge a yard in front of them with the utmost +equanimity. + +"May as well make ourselves snug while we can. I shall venture to +smoke." + +"One of your many advantages over us poor women. Well, why do you look +so astonished? Isn't it?" + +"Why do I look astonished?" echoed her companion lazily and between the +puffs as he lighted up. "Oh, only because one seems to have heard that +sentiment before." + +"Well? And then?" + +"And then? Oh--and then--I suppose it astonished me to hear a +threadbare sort of a commonplace proceed from you. That's all." + +Olive tried to feel angry. She could not even look it, however. The +tell-tale laugh rose to her eyes, curved the witching little mouth--then +out it came. + +"Do you know--you are very rude? At least I ought to tell you so--" + +"Another commonplace." + +"Why you deliberately snubbed me?" she went on, taking no notice of the +murmured interruption. "Snubbed me like a brother. Shut me up, in +fact." + +"Cool hands, brothers--stick at nothing. Ought to know. One myself. +But, I say, wasn't it odd how we first ran against each other that +morning--you and I--when you were drawing?" + +Now there was nothing in the foregoing conversation as set down on +cold-blooded and unfeeling paper which all the world and his wife might +not have heard. Nothing in the words, that is. But were that conjugal +impersonality within earshot of these two people coasting along a dismal +and desolate seashore at imminent peril of a wetting through, or +crouched under the rock to avoid it, much gossip might it have +chucklingly evolved, merely from the tone of their voices. For the said +tone had that subtle ring about it which meant that the owners of these +voices were fonder of each other's society than either would admit to +the other--or possibly to him or herself. And it happened that they had +enjoyed a good deal more of that society than was known to anyone +outside the mystic circle of three, that mystic three bound together in +a tacit bond of fellowship--the safer that the third factor in this +sodality was by nature denied the gift of human speech. The summer +weather was delightful. Meadow and down, country landscape and breezy +seashore, were open to all. A chance meeting, such as that of to-day, +developed into a ramble more or less protracted, in the most natural way +in the world. What more natural either, than that such chance should by +some occult and mysterious process have a way of multiplying itself +until matters should have reached such a point that the issue would be +momentous for weal or for woe to one or both of these two? And then to +think that all this should have dated from the too exuberant wag of a +dog's tail. + +"And wasn't it a shame that you should have led me on to talk about your +people--and--and--`kept dark'--isn't that what you call it?" + +"It was rather a sin," he answered languidly. "Good discipline, though. +Won't do the confidence trick again to divert the insinuating +stranger." + +Olive made no reply. She was thinking what pickle she would get into if +her afternoon's pastime should transpire. But there was a strong spice +of the dare-devil in her composition, and life at Wandsborough was apt +to strike her as dull at times. And-- + +And what? + +Never mind what--at present. + +So they sat there and talked, heedless of time, and suddenly a gleam of +sunshine straggled through the curtain of cloud. The rain had ceased, +and behind them, to seaward, the squall, which had now passed, rolled +further and further away. + +"Now I shall go and prospect for the relics of my ghostly ancestor," +said Roland. "If you don't mind waiting, I'll be with you again in a +few minutes." + +"Why? Where are you going?" + +"To ascend this--er--Skeg." + +"But I want to go too. You must not expect to keep all the honour and +glory of this hairbreadth adventure to yourself." + +"You want to go, too! H'm! You'll slip or turn giddy. The way is +infamous." + +Both stood gazing at the wretched slippery path that wound up and around +the great rock. + +"Oh, don't be afraid," she said. "It isn't the first time. I crossed +Hadden's Slide once, and that's far worse than this." + +"You, never having seen this, are of course an authority." + +"Rude again," she laughed. "Now let me have my way." + +Shaking his head dubiously, he allowed her that privilege. But more +than once as they came suddenly upon a great yawning rift where the path +had fallen away, revealing a perfect _abattis_ of jagged rocks beneath, +which, although at no great depth, were sufficiently far down to dash +either of them to pieces like an egg-shell, in the event of a slip, he +began to wish he had never allowed her to come. Olive, however, seemed +to revel in the danger. Her face was flushed with the glow and +excitement of the adventure, and her dark eyes shone and sparkled with +exhilaration. + +They had attained a height of some fifty feet and were stopping to rest. +Roy had been left below, his master having entrusted him with something +to keep watch over. Two email craft were tacking to and fro on the +dull, leaden waters, at some distance off, and a grey-backed gull or two +floated stationary against the wind, which, increasing in threatening +puffs as they rounded a projecting angle of the rock, tended not to +render their perilous foothold any the more secure. + +The sky was again growing overcast, and the melancholy and hollow +moaning of the waves beneath, swishing and swirling round many a +submerged reef, produced a most dismal and depressing effect. Olive, +with the dour legend running in her mind, now longed to get away from +the place. Her companion seemed in no such hurry. + +"This is about as far as we shall manage to go," he remarked, +scrutinising the rock overhead. The ledge on which they stood was +barely a yard in width. Olive, peering over, noted that at that point +the drop was sheer, and looking down upon the pointed reefs with the +milky foam seething through and over them--shuddered. + +"Take care!" he warned, holding her hand to steady her. "Better come +down now, before you begin to feel nervous." He had felt her hand +tremble. + +"Perhaps we had. Hark! What is that?" she broke off in an awed +whisper. + +Even her companion could hardly repress a start of astonishment. +Apparently from within the rock itself came the deep-mouthed voice of a +dog. Olive turned as white as a sheet. The terrible spectre of The +Skegs was her only thought. + +To her surprise the other burst out laughing. + +"Not the ancestor this time," he said. "It's only good old Roy. He's +getting tired of his own company down there, and is remonstrating. +Possibly, too, he has an eye on some stray crustacean which invites +assault, but that he will not desert his post." + +Olive was immensely relieved. The colour came back into her pale cheeks +and she tried to laugh, succeeding a little hysterically, it must be +owned. She had been a good deal scared, and, all things considered, +there was some excuse for her. This lonely rock, banned by popular +superstition, was dread and forbidding enough in itself. Add to this +the gloomy sky and the moaning sea; the rather precarious descent yet +lying before them; and remember that the spectral hound wae believed in +as firmly among the seafaring population as the Deity Himself, and a +great deal more feared; that disaster, more or less grave--and +sometimes, according to that belief, fatal--had overtaken those upon +whose ears the spectral voice had fallen; and it follows that if the +girl was momentarily unnerved by a weird and mysterious howl, which, +owing to some acoustic peculiarity in its formation, seemed to come from +_within_ the haunted rock itself, there was every excuse for her. + +"How ridiculous of me to forget all about Roy!" she said. "But anyhow, +let us go down now." + +"We had better," assented he quietly. A very uncomfortable misgiving +had flashed across his mind. Far away over the sea a black curtain of +cloud was approaching rapidly, its advance marked by a line of troubled +water breaking into white foamy crests. He knew that a violent squall +would be upon them in a few minutes--and if it caught them on that +wretched ledge their position would be horribly dangerous. + +"Let me get past you!" he said in an unconcerned voice. + +"There; now if you should chance to slip I can easily catch you. We had +better get back to Minchkil rather soon, in case the wind rises." + +"Oh dear, I forgot that. It looks dreadfully rough already. I feel +almost afraid to get into the boat again. Couldn't we wait until +Pollock comes to look for us? He is sure to do so when he finds we +don't come back." + +"Not to be thought of. In half an hour the tide will be all over the +landing place. To use a succinct and expressive metaphor, it's a case +of `between the devil and the deep sea.' Careful here!" he enjoined +warningly, holding out his hand to help her over a place where the path +had fallen away, leaving an ugly and formidable gap, up which the waves +were now shooting in clouds of misty spray. + +All would have gone well, but just at the moment of stepping across this +gap, a piercing, unearthly shriek rang out in their very ears, as +something cleft the air with a swirl and a rush almost between their +faces. Olive, already unnerved by her former alarm, uttered a quick +gasp, and an ashen pallor spread over her features. For a fraction of a +moment she stood tottering; then her eyes closed, she swayed heavily +and--a strong arm was flung round her and she was held firmly against +the cliff. + +"Don't look down, Olive. You're quite safe now. Keep perfectly cool +and do exactly as I tell you." + +The prompt, commanding tone was effectual. And even then, in the moment +of her peril, the girl realised that he had called her for the first +time by her Christian name. The convulsive shuddering left her frame, +which relaxed its terror-strained rigidity. Obeying his directions +implicitly, she kept with him step by step, supported by his ready arm, +till they reached the slab of flat rock on which they had landed. +Meanwhile two great gulls, the cause of what was within an inch of being +an awful catastrophe, circled around and around their disturbed eggs, +uttering their harsh and peevish shrieks. Roy, whom they found whining +uneasily, jumped up in delight. Once in the boat, however, he lay +perfectly still. He was not at his ease though, poor fellow, and began +to feel uncomfortable, like a Frenchman crossing the Channel. + +"There, it's even as I told you," said Roland, as having with some +trouble effected a successful embarkation, he rested for a moment on his +oars. "The `landing stage' will be entirely covered in a few minutes. +We were scarcely half an hour on the island, and it was as long as we +could have stayed. It's an abominably dangerous place, all the same, +and I don't wonder the people funk it. The little `Skeg' isn't landable +on at all." + +He had hoisted the sail and they were scudding rapidly before the wind. +Olive, looking back at the great rock towers, shuddered. The sea was +rising momentarily, and long hillocks of dull green water swept on--line +upon line--gathering into knife-like crests to roll and break into surge +upon yonder shore. From seaward came the moan of the rising gale, and +already the faces of the great cliffs were dim and misty. A dire and +blood-curdling suspicion was in her mind. What if it had been the +terrible spectre voice after all--and not poor Roy's honest bay? Her +own narrow escape, immediately afterwards, looked ominously significant. +She heartily wished they were safe home again. + +Splash! Whish! + +The boat careened over, dipping her gunwale. The squall was upon them. +Roland, with one anxious glance to windward, turned all his attention to +the little craft, controlling the tiller with a firm and judicious hand. +White crests leaped around them with an angry hiss, the stunning whirl +of the blast was in their ears, and overhead the mast danced madly +against the wrack-driven sky. Either the gear must carry away or they +must capsize. Great streamers of cloud, like horizontal waterspouts, +darted across the sky, and there was wild exhilaration in the breath of +the salt scud driven before the squall as they stormed along through the +white and seething crests. He had dreaded this squall. Now it was upon +them he enjoyed the fierce excitement of it. Suddenly the boat careened +again, shipping something of a sea. Olive uttered a cry of dismay. + +"Don't be frightened, Olive," he said, throwing an arm round her in +support, for she nearly lost her balance in the furious rocking of the +boat. "Why, I could land you on shore at any point I chose, even if we +did capsize. I should rather enjoy the swim than otherwise, and I +believe you would, too." + +A blush came into the girl's face. She had caught some of his +exhilaration, and gazed fearlessly at the tumbling seas. Her cheeks +were wet with the salt spray, and a soft, dark tress which had escaped +from its fastening kept blowing across her eyes. Very beautifully did +the excitement, dashed with a tinge of apprehension, become her. + +"No--I am not afraid," she answered--"with you." + +These two young people were getting on, you see. + +A whirr overhead--a hurtling rush--and a wild hailstorm swept down upon +the sea, curbing its fury slightly, and rendering the inmates of the +boat very uncomfortable. Poor Roy, whom his master had disposed in such +place as to afford the best ballast, looked simply piteous. He +shivered, and in his wistful, patient eyes there was a mute appealing +look, which his master noticing, could not restrain a laugh at. + +"Never mind, Roy, old chap. You'll be as right as nine-pence directly! +Now for it! Kill or cure!" he cried, bringing round the boat's head a +point and a half. + +A confused whirl, an upheaval as if they had left the water altogether; +and--they were in the comparatively smooth water of Minchkil Bay, and +running comfortably for the little fishing village. A few moments later +and half a score of stalwart hands had hauled them up high and dry on +the beach. + +"All's well that ends well!" cried Roland, helping his companion to +alight. + +"You're in tremenjious luck, sir, that's all I've got to say about it!" +said the owner of the boat dryly. "Never thought you'd have got back +without a bath." + +"Ha-ha! In luck are we, Jem Pollock? Glad to hear you say so, because +according to all the rules of that humbugging old superstition of yours +we ought to have come to mortal grief. We've been exploring The Skegs." + +The man started, and queer looks were exchanged among the group. + +"Did you land there, sir?" he asked uneasily. + +"Land there? I should rather think we did. Climbed nearly to the top +of the rock--as far as we could get. Then ran home at a ripping pace in +a thundering squall and a good deal of a sea. So you see, Pollock, on +your own admission, the spectre of The Skegs is a fraud of the first +water. No ill luck has ensued to us from it--has it now?" + +"I devoutly trust it never may, sir," answered the fisherman in a queer +tone. + +"And by the way, Pollock, that's a first-rate little craft of yours. +She behaved grandly. You should have seen her run just before we +rounded the point yonder. Perhaps she was eager to get away from The +Skegs, ha-ha! Well, good-day, my men. Now drink my health, and +confusion to my ancestral ghost," and leaving a substantial largesse +with them, he turned and joined Olive. + +Was there yet time before they reached home for some foretaste of that +ill luck predicted by the superstitious fishermen? Let us see. They +were in great spirits as they struck across the down, turning now and +again to look back at the storm-lashed sea, and mark how The Skegs were +now almost hidden in clouds of spray as the flying waves leaped high +against their slippery sides. At length, as they reached the last stile +a rumble of approaching wheels was audible on the high road. Now this +stile was in a shaky condition, consequently a piece of the woodwork +gave way as Olive was in the act of crossing. She must have had a nasty +fall, but for the two ready hands prompt to set her securely on her +feet. Just then an open carriage swept round the bend of the road from +the direction of Wandsborough. So rapidly did it whirl past that Roland +had not time to do more than recognise its occupants; yet in that brief +moment he took in everything--the pair of high-stepping bays, the silver +crest on the harness, even the identity of the men on the box. But what +he took in most surely of all was the expression of furious anger +through which his father had regarded him, and the no less hostile look +on the cold impassive face of his mother. + + + +CHAPTER THIRTEEN. + +BREAKERS AHEAD. + +"I sat, Nell," said Hubert Dorrien, coming into the morning-room, where +his sister sat alone. "What the very dickens is wrong now? The +veteran's in an exemplary state of grumps." + +"Well, he isn't particularly amiable this morning; but then he isn't +always, you know," answered Nellie. + +Hubert shook his head moodily. + +"Ah, yes, but there's something in the wind. He's far worse than usual, +and now he and the missis are hobnobbing together in the library. Now, +Nell, be a good girl and tell a fellow what it's all about." + +"But, Hu, I give you my word I haven't an idea. It may be nothing, +after all." + +"Pooh!" exclaimed her brother irascibly. "I believe you do know, +though. You women dearly love beating about the bush and all that sort +of thing," and throwing his leg over the arm of a chair, he flung +himself back, his face a picture of unreasonable peevishness. Nor could +he afford to await with indifference the paternal storm, for Master +Hubert's conscience was a tolerably blemished article, and now he was +speculating with a troubled mind as to which of his peccadilloes might +have come to the paternal knowledge. + +The girl made no reply, as she bent over her work, while her brother sat +uneasily swinging his legs, the apprehensive frown deepening on his +brow. Then they heard the door of the study open and their father's +voice saying: + +"--And send Hubert here; I want to talk to him. If he is out, he had +better come directly he returns." And the door closed as Mrs Dorrien +replied in the affirmative. + +"Oh, Lord!" groaned Hubert. "Well, it's of no use putting off the evil +day. Here goes. Oh, it's nice to have a father! Well, mother, and +what's it all about?" as Mrs Dorrien entered the room. + +"I don't know for certain, dear," she said anxiously. "But I think your +father only wants to talk to you about your allowance." + +A very blank look came into his face. "Couldn't be much worse," he +muttered, and went to meet his fate. + +And soothly, a bad quarter of an hour was in store for him, for it +happened that the General had received certain bills on his account--not +University duns, but long outstanding London debts, and, as to one, a +letter of demand. Cold, sarcastic and incisive was the lecture he +poured forth on the head of the luckless Hubert. He reminded him of +former scrapes of the kind, of the fact that he would have little or +nothing hereafter but what he obtained by his own exertions, and wound +up by recommending him to apply himself to his reading with renewed +determination. + +Hubert, who thought he was getting into smooth water again, began to +promise, but once more his father cut him ruthlessly short. + +"And now, for the third time," he said, "I shall have to get you out of +the embarrassment into which your own folly has plunged you--but I shall +not do so without exacting some guarantee that you will make a good use +of your time in return. Your mother tells me that you and Roland are +invited to spend a fortnight at Ardleigh Court." + +"Oho!" thought Hubert, noting a slight frown which came over his +father's face at the mention of his brother. "Oho!--so Roland's in the +veteran's black books, too! Wonder what about." + +"--This invitation you will decline," went on the hard, condemnatory +voice. "Amusement and work in your case don't agree--and work you must. +Every morning from breakfast time till luncheon during the next six +weeks I shall expect you to be at your books, unless I see special +reason to make an exception. You have done literally no work at all +since your return home this vacation, and it is high time you began. +And for the last time these"--tapping the bills lying upon his +desk--"shall be paid. Are there any more of them outstanding, by the +way?" + +Now why had not Hubert the courage to make a clean breast of it. Here +was an opportunity such as would not occur again. Ah I that slightly +receding chin. + +"Only two or three, for small amounts," he faltered. + +"Very good. Make a list of them here," handing him a piece of paper. + +"--And that is all? Yes? Then I need not detain you here any further-- +except again to impress upon you the necessity of attending to what I +have been saying." + +Hubert went out of his father's presence with hot, seething rage at his +heart. He to be confined to the house every morning like a schoolboy, +with a set task to do. "Gated," in fact--and that by his own father, +and in his home. It was humiliating in the extreme. And there was no +way in which the devil within him could find vent. + +"Well, dear?" said his mother enquiringly, as he burst into the +morning-room, where she had been anxiously awaiting the result of the +interview. "And now I hope things are all right." + +"All right?" echoed Hubert, his countenance ablaze with wrath and +disgust. "All right? No, they're not, they're as wrong as they can be. +Here am I set down to work every morning like a wretched schoolboy. I +swear, it's damnable the way in which he treats me." + +"Oh, Hubert--hush!" cried his mother and sister in one breath, both +horror-stricken. + +"Hush? Oh yes! Aren't we horrified?" he said jeeringly. "Women are so +very easily shocked, I know. Faugh?" and he flung himself from the +room. + +But it was not on his younger son's account that General Dorrien had +come down that morning "in a state of thundercloud," as that graceless +delinquent had facetiously put it; and to let the reader into the real +cause, it will be necessary for him or her to assist in the discussion +which took place previous to the unlucky Hubert being summoned to the +library. + +"I don't really know what to think, much less what to _Bay_ or do," said +the General. "You saw for yourself, Eleanor; you saw them together. +Now, what do you make of it?" + +"Well, I do think it's too bad of Roland, and shows a great want of +proper feeling on his part. After all these years he has been away he +does not give us much of his society. He seems to be quite taken up +with those--people," answered Mrs Dorrien, though, to do her justice, +she answered with some reserve. Her heart was cold towards her eldest +son, and not one spark of love had she for him; all was lavished on the +younger. Yet, she told herself, she hoped she had a conscience. + +"You are right," said the General decisively. "It shows a complete want +of proper feeling. To be hanging about the public roads like that with +the girl! Why, I believe he was about to--pah! It is disgraceful-- +disgusting and disgraceful, absolutely. Who are these Ingelows, by the +way, Eleanor?" + +"Oh, I'm sure I don't know," she answered loftily, as if the bare +suspicion of her knowing anything about them was an imputation to be +resented. "I believe they are well-connected and all that. But that +anything serious should be the outcome of this would be most deplorable, +I should think." + +"It would, indeed. Highly deplorable, and in fact I won't entertain the +idea of anything of the kind. Moreover, if what I hear is true, Roland +spends a very great deal of his time in the society of this girl." + +By which remark it will appear that the town of Wandsborough was in no +way behind its provincial contemporaries in its passion for gossip. + +"He may be only amusing himself. There may be nothing serious in it, +after all," hazarded Mrs Dorrien, her conscience prompting her to try +and urge a plea for the absent one. But she could not have struck upon +a more unlucky chord. + +"Amusing himself! Well, I am surprised at you, Eleanor," cried the +General, firing up. "Amusing himself? And do you remember what came of +it on the last occasion of his similarly `amusing himself'? Disgrace-- +pure and simple. Is that a prospect to contemplate with ordinary +coolness, I ask you?" + +"It strikes me forcibly that this young woman is well able to take care +of herself," was the acid reply. "And I don't see what we--what you can +do in the matter. Roland is different now and, I fear, terribly +difficult to deal with." + +"As to what I can do--well, never mind," answered the General very +grimly. "But it seems to me that Roland has not left off his old ways-- +or, at any rate, is fast returning to them. Why, we shall have another +action for breach of promise threatened before we know where we are; +these professional people are keen upon the main chance, and that +Jesuitical brood above any," he continued, with a sneer. "And what I +now say is that Roland had better be careful--for I will not be +disgraced through him a second time with impunity. He has his own +means, of course, but if he intends to take up his ultimate position in +the county, let him show himself worthy of it." + +Very decisive and stern and uncompromising was the General's tone and +attitude as he concluded this last remark, and his wife, listening, was +conscious of a warring tumult of feelings. Yet she dared not sacrifice +right and justice to the cause of the one ruling passion of her life-- +her love for her younger son. So again she spoke in extenuation. + +"It is a pity. But he will be going to Ardleigh Court next week--and +there's no telling what change in his fancy his stay there may effect." + +This time she touched the right spring. For she knew that her husband +ardently desired a match between his eldest son and Clara Neville--a +match that would bring about the union of the two fine old estates into +one magnificent property. Hence he had "sounded" Roland on the subject, +as we saw earlier in this narrative. + +"There may be something in that," was the mollified reply. "Clara can +be exceedingly engaging when she likes, and I know Neville would be +delighted. He seemed to take a great fancy to Roland." + +"I think he did." + +"And if only Roland would throw himself into his future interest here. +He ought to live here and help to look after things, but he seems to +prefer an idle life, and the society of those Rectory people to that of +his own family," said the General, relapsing again into ire over the +thought. + +"It is most unnatural of him, I must say, to dislike his home as he +does," assented Mrs Dorrien. Yet they forgot, did that worthy couple, +how it would have been difficult indeed for anyone to feel any love for +a home thus constituted. + +"Well, it is useless discussing the matter further at present," was the +decisive rejoinder. "But mark my words. Never--never, I say--while I +can prevent it, shall Roland bring into this house a daughter of that +despicable popish renegade. So he can act as he thinks fit. My mind is +made up." + + + +CHAPTER FOURTEEN. + +"THE BAN OF CRAUNSTON." + +"Well, Miss Ingelow. All alone and wrapped in meditation! Hope I +haven't disturbed the solution of some knotty problem." + +"Oh, no, Mr Dorrien," answered Margaret gaily, turning away from the +window. "I haven't been long back from evensong, and the only problem I +was trying to solve was, what can have become of father. He ought to +have been back by now. And it has set in wet, and he didn't take an +umbrella." + +"He will be sure to borrow one, I should think. But are your sisters +out in the rain, too?" + +"I'm afraid I can't answer for that, they're too far away," said +Margaret, with a laugh. "They went up to London yesterday, to stay with +an aunt of ours." + +"Went up to London? I had no idea of that," echoed Roland, with a +momentary flash of surprise, strongly dashed with disappointment, +crossing his face. "And do they make a long stay?" + +"About a fortnight or three weeks. Ah--there is father!" + +"Upon my word, Dorrien," began the rector, as Roy unceremoniously pushed +past him while entering, "I must again impress upon you the slur you +cast upon my hospitable gates by leaving this chap outside the same. +Now, Roy, old man, make yourself at home." + +"No fear of his not doing that," laughed Roy's master, as the dog +deliberately curled himself up on the softest rug in the room. "But he +was rather wet, so I thought he'd better wait outside." + +"Father, go at once and change your cassock," interrupted Margaret. +"It's wet through." + +"Not a bit of it," replied the rector, stooping to inspect his flowing +skirt. "Brown lent me the very father of all ginghams. He buttonholed +me in his dim, mysterious way, and said he hoped I wouldn't be above, +etc, etc. I told him I should be more than glad to be beneath it, and +accordingly came along the street under full sail and a complete +shelter. Brown is the prince of opportune and considerate vergers. And +now, Dorrien, don't hurry off. Stay and have a chop with us, and cheer +an old man in his loneliness. My two youngest girls are away disporting +themselves in the gay metropolis, so I can promise you a little less +noise than usual. You've got your bicycle, I see, so you're +independent." + +Roland accepted with pleasure. He and the rector were great friends, +and he was quite upon the "dropping in" footing by this time. + +"Right. Margaret, take care of him for half an hour or so, during which +period inexorable duty will keep your humble servant in his study +chair." And the rector left the room, humming a bar or two of the old +plainsong hymn, whose melody lingered in his mind fresh from the dimly +lighted choir at the close of the evening office. + +If disappointment as to the absent was weighing upon Roland's mind, he +was unconsciously exemplifying the axiom as to a compensating element in +all things. It was a few days after The Skegs exploration episode, and +he had been making up his mind to take an opportunity of getting the +rector to tell him the whole story of the legendary Ban, not that he +believed in it himself, or was inclined to, but it would be interesting +to hear the so-called facts. Here was just such an opportunity, as they +would be alone together after dinner. + +"You'll have a wet ride back, Mr Dorrien, I'm afraid," said Margaret, +as they sat down to table. "It's coming down harder than ever." + +"Oh, that's nothing to some of my old privations," he laughed, "except +that the very snugness now will make it all the rougher to turn out." + +And snug it was. The drawn curtains only deadened the constant patter +of the rain upon the windows, and the suggestion of the sort of evening +outside thrown out by the sound, enhanced the sense of comfort and +restfulness within. Under these circumstances, three people, +sufficiently well known to each other to be able to converse without +restraint, are in a position to pass a thoroughly pleasant evening. Yet +to one, at any rate, of these three there was a sense of something +wanting--a vacant place, perhaps, as of somebody absent, whose absence +was really missed. Roy, the irrepressible, with his wonted +off-handedness, was begging impartially from everybody in turn. + +"Bother that post!" exclaimed the rector, as a sharp double knock cut +across the conversation. "A man can't dine in peace without this age of +progress chucking its reprehensible invention into the flavour of his +sirloin. Here we are--a whole stack of hopes and fears"--he went on, +contemplating, with a whimsical expression, the sheaf of letters at that +moment brought in. "First, diocesan--that'll keep. Item--invitation to +preach--ditto, ditto. That's yours, Margaret--and--this is mine--from +Olive. No, it's for me, all for me," he cried gleefully. "Not for you +at all, Margaret, this time. Let's see what she says. Excuse me, +Dorrien--sink ceremony. By the way, I promised you a quiet dinner in +the absence of those two chatterboxes, and one of them sends us two +sheets of clatter by post--ha-ha!" + +It was very pleasant to watch the affectionate delight with which the +old man read through his favourite child's letter. + +"Why, they're only going to stay ten days after all," he cried in +astonishment. "The child isn't generally so eager to get back to her +old dad, after the joys and glories of the metropolis. Here's a message +for you, Dorrien: `Tell Mr Dorrien, I saw a love of a dog the other +day, that almost outshines Roy. Almost--not quite--mind you tell him +_almost_ or he'll never speak to me again.'" + +Roland, who had been inwardly startled at the juxtaposition of ideas, +quickly recovered himself, and made some pleasant remark. Two things +occurred to him. It might be that there was some reason underlying +Olive's anxiety to return speedily, and the message, innocent as it +read, was to remind him that she did not forget him. + +"Dad, Eustace is coming home next week," remarked Margaret, looking up +from a letter she had been reading. + +"Is he? The rascal! it's about time he did. Dorrien, you will have the +dubious pleasure of making the acquaintance of my hopeful at the date +just named. He has been away yachting with a friend, and by this time +doubtless considers himself fully competent to take command of the +Channel Fleet." + +Thus conversation flowed on, and at last Margaret rose. No, she would +not be lonely, she said, in response to an intimation to that effect. +She had more than enough to do to occupy all her time. + +"Draw round the fire, Dorrien--fancy requiring one at this time of +year," said the rector, as the door closed upon his daughter. "Now to +try and unearth some cigars," diving into a chiffonier in the corner. +"Ah! here we are. Light up. Oh, and we'll put the decanters at the +corner here, where we can reach them." + +Roland blew out a long puff of smoke, and lay back in easy content. + +"I wish you'd tell me something, Dr Ingelow," he said. + +"And that?" + +"Why, I want to know the true version of that ridiculous story attached +to our family. You know--the ghost on The Skegs. You are sure to have +it at your fingers' ends." + +"Does not your father know it?" + +"I believe he does, but he promptly shelves the topic if you moot it. +And, you know, he isn't the sort of man to get anything out of that he's +bent on keeping dark." + +"H'm! Well, the original version of the tradition is to be found in +Surinn's `Legends and Myths of Baronial Europe,' a very scarce and bulky +book, which came out between forty and fifty years ago, and the incident +occurred, if I remember rightly, in the middle of the last century. The +narrative is entitled `The Ban of Craunston.' It was a wild and lawless +period in out-of-the-way parts, and this corner of the world came in no +wise behind the spirit of the age, for the coast was the happy hunting +ground of wreckers and smugglers, and the roads of highwaymen and other +freebooters. At that time, one Richard Dorrien was Squire of Cranston. +He was a bachelor, and his younger brother lived at the Hall with him. +The latter, Hubert by name, was an open-hearted, bright-spirited +youngster, immensely popular with both sexes; whereas Richard, the +Squire, seems to have been a gloomy, violent-tempered man, disliked and +feared on all sides. Well, the brothers got on rather well together-- +possibly on account of the total dissimilarity of their characters-- +until the apple of discord was thrown into their midst in the shape of a +young lady who came to take up her abode in Wandsborough, then a +straggling little place, consisting of a score of houses. She was a +foreigner--though of what nationality the chronicle omits to state--of +extraordinary beauty, and lived alone with a _duenna_ of regulation age +and hideosity. It is said that this young woman was a Jacobite +emissary, and it was in that capacity that she and Richard Dorrien +became acquainted, for he was an ardent Jacobite, and over head and ears +involved in the plots of the day. But be this as it may, it was a case +of love at first sight. The churlish and misanthropical Squire became +violently enslaved; unfortunately, however, the lady declined his +addresses. More unfortunately still, she did not decline those of his +brother--quite the reverse. Well, now, this position of affairs could +but have one ending, in a state of society wherein men ran each other +through on far less provocation than would induce you in these days to +knock a fellow down. But there was no open quarrel. On the contrary, +the Squire was so studiously cordial to his brother that the latter was +thrown quite off his guard. Not so one or two of his intimates, who +went so far as to warn him--and nearly got run through for their pains. +Matters went on in this way till the day before Hubert was to wed the +fair unknown. On the afternoon of that day the two brothers put off in +their sailing cutter to tack about the bay. They were alone together, +and seemed on the best of terms. The afternoon closed in squally and +rough, and the boat and its occupants were lost to view in the mist. +Darkness came on, and still the Dorriens did not return. The seafaring +people at Minchkil began to get anxious, and talked of going in search, +but there was a high sea running and every sign of a rising gale; +moreover, they knew that the missing men were nearly as amphibious as +they themselves. Then suddenly there sounded through the night the wild +unearthly howling of a dog. Awed to the heart, it was some time before +the superstitious seafarers could make up their minds to investigate +further. The sound came from the cliff above them to westward, and +thither at last they all proceeded. There, at the very extremity of the +headland which looks down on The Skegs, stood a huge boar-hound, which +they recognised as the Squire's favourite dog, Satan, a savage brute, of +whom the whole neighbourhood stood in terror. The animal stood there on +the brink of the cliff--his neck stretched out over the churning waves +below--throwing out his long-drawn, deep-voiced bay into the misty +darkness. Then the men knew that something had happened. And now mark +this. At the very moment this discovery was made, Richard Dorrien +appeared suddenly before the young foreign lady, dripping and soaked +from head to foot, and told her, without the slightest warning, that her +lover was drowned. She seemed turned to stone. She gazed at him for a +moment with a wild stare, gasped out one word--`Murdered!'--and, still +fixing him with that glassy stare, fell prone to the floor in a swoon. +He never saw her again. + +"A terrible gale raged all that night, and in the morning fragments of +the missing boat were washed ashore. The craft had been splintered +almost to matchwood. It was not till many days afterwards that Hubert +Dorrien's corpse came to light. At first the survivor would hardly +mention the subject, much less give any account of it. Eventually, +however, it leaked out that the boat had been driven upon The Skegs by +the gale, and its occupants, thrown into the water, were forced to swim +for their lives. And now, although nothing can be more reasonable and +probable than this solution of the matter, it was not long before dark +rumours began to get about. Of course, there could be no vestige of +proof either way; for the tragedy out there in the black and +storm-lashed bay was witnessed by no mortal eye. Months went by. The +survivor became more and more morose, shunned everybody, and took to +hard drinking. The cause of all the turmoil left the neighbourhood the +week following on the tragedy. One morning. Cranston was in a state of +alarm. The Squire was missing. Enquiry at length elicited that he had +put out to sea the previous night accompanied only by his huge hound. +Richard Dorrien was never seen again, neither was his dog. The night +was wild and tempestuous, and it was at first thought that his boat had +been swamped. But days and weeks went by, and no trace of wreckage came +to light--and finally all hope was abandoned. + +"Then suddenly an awful state of scare arose among the seafaring +population. Ghostly bayings began to be heard at night on the cliff in +the neighbourhood of The Skegs. They were heard by fishermen in their +boats at sea and by belated wanderers out on the down. Some had even +made out the shape of a large dog resting on the summit of the loftier +of The Skegs. Forthwith, the theory took root that Richard Dorrien had, +beyond doubt, murdered his brother, and in expiation was doomed to haunt +the scene of the tragedy and take the shape of his huge and savage +boar-hound. Those who have any idea to what depths of superstition the +country population was in those days plunged, can easily imagine the +frantic terror which such an apparition would have for the pliers of a +dangerous calling. Why, to this day you can't induce one of the fisher +folk to venture too near The Skegs--let alone land there." + +"But wasn't there a death warning conveyed by the apparition?" asked +Roland. + +"Ah! now we come to the strangest part of the whole story. There got +about soon afterwards a curious prophecy; no one has ever been able to +tell with whom it originated. Perhaps you know it?" + +"I know that this shape is said to appear whenever one of us had lived +long enough, and that it is predicted that we are none of us to die in +our beds, but yet bloodlessly, which is a consolation to any of us who +may be engaged in a scrimmage. But the prediction has been falsified-- +on the last occasion at any rate. My brother Vernon tumbled into a +crevasse, you know, and as the poor chap must have been dashed to pieces +the tradition fails." + +"Well, I don't want to encourage you in any uncomfortable apprehensions, +Dorrien; but what you say does not necessarily follow." + +"Now you mention it, no more it does. And it is undoubtedly a queer +thing that we should all have come to grief by water. I suppose, as a +glacier is frozen water, the last instance holds good. Then there was +my uncle, who died suddenly on deck, and was buried at sea. My +grandfather, again, was drowned while skating, and they say the +tradition carries itself further back still. However, as we seem all +born to be drowned we can none of us be hanged, so there's a bright side +to even that situation. By the way, was the `Ban' to the fore on the +last occasion?" + +"I only know that so it was reported. A shepherd came running in from +Durnley Downs one night, with a white face and chattering teeth, and +vowed he had seen and heard the dog on The Skegs. Two days afterwards +the news of the disaster arrived. But I wouldn't trouble my head about +the affair, if I were you." + +"Not I. Life is a precious deal too prosaic and tangible a concern for +a man to bother himself about local superstitions." + +"Well, I should have imagined that would be your idea, or I would not +have opened my mind upon a gruesome tradition which is supposed to +concern you and yours," was the rector's reply, in a more careless tone +than he had adopted yet. + +One side of the prophecy, however, he withheld from his questioner. +This was, that though every male Dorrien should under it meet with a +bloodless death--presumably by water--the power of the "Ban" would at +last be broken--broken by some terrible and tragic eventuality, +obscurely and ambiguously hinted at. + +"By Jove, Doctor, but you do know how to tell a ghost story," laughed +Roland, when the other had done. "Why, you spun that yarn as if you +believed every word of it yourself." + +"Well? That's the right way to tell any story, isn't it?" said the +rector carelessly. And then, as it was getting late, Roland got up to +leave. + +Later, as he was sending his bicycle through the pouring rain at a pace +which should make short work of the three miles of smooth but hilly road +which lay between the Rectory and Cranston--Roy, a draggled mass of +woolly mud, galloping behind--the incidents of the strange and gruesome +tale seemed to take hold of his mind in the darkness. + +"Looks as if the prediction was going to be fulfilled again in my own +case at the rate this infernal rain's coming down," he said to himself, +half jocosely, half grimly. + + + +CHAPTER FIFTEEN. + +AT ARDLEIGH. + +In due course, Roland availed himself of the invitation to which we +heard his father make reference, and transferred himself and his luggage +to the ancestral home of the Nevilles. + +There the cordiality of his reception surprised and pleased him. The +Colonel was, as we have seen, very well disposed towards the son of his +old friend and comrade-in-arms, and, moreover, was delighted to have a +companion for the smoking-room and the morning lounge; one, too, who was +such a capital listener; for to Roland the old man's stories were all +new, and being good in themselves when not heard too often, the normal +quiet of Ardleigh was apt to be disturbed by much uproarious mirth when +the two got together. As for Clara, she seemed to have quite forgotten +any little unpleasantness which had taken place when they last met, and +had put on her most gracious and agreeable manner for their guest's +benefit; and as she knew how to show to advantage when she chose, and +was exceedingly clever and well informed, Roland found himself beginning +to feel rather ashamed of his former bad opinion of her. Mrs Neville, +who was somewhat of an invalid and of an argumentative--not to say +contradictious--turn, forbore to snub him as she was wont to snub +everything male under the age of fifty. "Young men want continually +putting down, even when they are right"--was her creed, and, truth to +say, she acted up to it most religiously. But in Roland's favour +exception was made; whether it was that he was known to possess "a queer +temper"--his father's own son, in fact--or that there was some ulterior +reason for making his stay a particularly attractive one, his +conversational remarks were allowed to pass unchallenged by his hostess +to an extent which caused the girls to exchange frequent glances of +surprise. Even Roy's presence was not only tolerated, but welcomed, and +the woolly rascal, before he had been twenty-four hours at Ardleigh, ran +in and out as he pleased, according to his usual way of making himself +perfectly at home wherever he went. + +"By the way, how does our reformed black sheep, Steve Devine, get on in +the capacity of a thief set to catch a thief?" asked Roland, as he and +his host were smoking their after-breakfast cigars on the terrace one +morning. + +"All right as yet," replied the latter, who being in want of an +under-keeper, had, on Roland's representations partly, appointed the +ex-poacher to that office a few days after his release from gaol--"in +order to give him a fair chance of starting afresh," as the kind-hearted +old soldier put it. The latter's friends, indeed, shook their heads +over the arrangement, and prophesied that it would lead to no good--but +the Colonel was not to be upset in his benevolent scheme once he had +made up his mind. So Devine found himself installed in a snug berth +with good wages, and if, being in such a fair way to doing well, he did +not do it, why, he would have himself only to thank for it as an +ungrateful rascal. + +Now the ex-poacher knew perfectly well that he owed this piece of luck +largely to Roland's good word for him, for his employer had told him as +much; and this being so, of course, by all the rules of that maudlin and +slobbery optimism which usually characterises human nature in fiction-- +especially cad human nature--he should have become eternally grateful, +and his former hostility straightway have been metamorphosed to lifelong +devotion. But was this the case? + +Not even a little bit. No idea of gratitude ever entered his head. It +was only for his own purposes that the young Squire of Cranston had +helped him, argued this ruffian, with the low suspicious cunning of his +class, but he, Devine, would keep a weather eye open, never fear. + +He was right in a way. Roland had acted to serve his own purposes, but +in a directly opposite sense to that suspected by Gipsy Steve. + +"By the way, Roland," went on the Colonel, "that daughter of his is a +monstrously pretty girl, eh! By Jove, sir, but I don't believe you'd +have bothered your head about them if she'd had a snub nose and a +squint, eh?" + +"No, I shouldn't. Beauty in distress appeals to the susceptibilities of +man, whereas hideosity in similar case does not--unchivalric, even +brutal as the confession may sound. But as the girl is only on a visit +to her father--doesn't live with him--my character may be regarded as +clear." + +"Ha-ha! You dog!" laughed the jolly Colonel. "That reminds me of--" + +But what it reminded him of did not transpire, for at that moment they +were joined by Clara, basket in hand. She was going to gather some +roses, she said. Roland, however much he might or might not have +preferred his cigar and his host's more or less sporting stories, could +do nothing less than offer to help her. Which offer was graciously +accepted. + +"Ha-ha! Roland, she'll make you do all the finger-licking part of the +business," jocosely cried the Colonel after them. + +"By the bye, what was the sequel to that unlucky smash in the +conservatory?" said Clara, as they turned into the garden path. "The +orchid, I mean. Did you get frightfully scolded?" + +This in reference to a casualty which had befallen during the speaker's +stay at Cranston, when again the sweep of Roy's blundering tail had +wrought mischief, breaking a fairly valuable orchid. + +"No--I was let down rather easily. The veteran said it wasn't a very +rare one, and only remarked in his glum way that he supposed dogs would +be happier outside conservatories than in them." + +"Ah! I'm glad of that; I was afraid the General would have been +dreadfully vexed. Can you reach that, Mr Dorrien? There, if I hold +down the bough--so--thanks. Now that other one." + +Her tall, elegant figure showed to advantage in the light morning dress, +as in easy attitude she reached up to hold the refractory bough--Clara +Neville was not one to indulge in unbecoming exertions. Her voice was +low and well modulated, and fell pleasantly upon the ear--around them +blossoming rose-bushes and the fragrant scents of the garden--and in the +background bits of the red-brick Elizabethan house peeped at them +through the trees. In no wise was he insensible to the influences of +the picture and its central figure, the graceful, handsome girl talking +to him in easy, familiar manner and with her most attractive smile; and +then for the first time his father's words, spoken on the evening of the +day he first saw Clara Neville, darted across his mind, "She will have +Ardleigh Court"--and now it also dawned upon him that the words had been +spoken with design. + +Yet how many men would willingly have changed places with him! And, +even as things stood, his father's cherished scheme, for now he felt +instinctively that such it was, would not have come adversely to him-- +if--ah! that little "if!" + +"Oh, Mr Dorrien--there, look, you've splashed me all over by letting go +of that branch too soon," cried Clara, with a little shiver. "And it +has all gone up my sleeve, and it's rather cold. But never mind," she +added with a laugh, "you've come off second best. How you've scratched +yourself!" + +"Oh, it's nothing," he replied hastily, apologising for his remissness +and feeling guilty. The branch which he had let go of was thorny, and +had torn his hand at the same time as it had sprinkled his fair +companion with the rain-drops which hung upon its leaves. + +"I think we've picked enough now, so we can go in. By the way, papa +warned you that you would find the thorns your portion, didn't he?" she +said, with a smile. + +In his present train of thought the phrase struck him as prophetic. He +feared that many thorns would encompass the path by which he was to +reach his desired goal, yet none the less was he determined to reach it. + +"Mr Dorrien," said Maud Neville, at luncheon, "the Fates have ordained +that you shall go to a tennis party with us at the Pagnells' this +afternoon. Now, don't swear--secretly, I mean." + +"Maud!" ejaculated her mother. + +"If you only knew how urgently Isabel entreats us to bring you, Mr +Dorrien," said Clara, "you would be far too much flattered--or ought to +be." + +"Ho-ho! Roland," laughed the Colonel. "No slipping away to smoke a +quiet weed this time, no matter how heavy in hand the entertainment." + +"I don't think it'll be heavy," said Clara. "Isabel generally manages +to get together a lively enough set. Too lively sometimes, for it is a +favourite trick of hers to ask all the people to meet each other who are +most `at dead cuts.'" + +"Very bad taste of her," put in Mrs Neville. "But I don't know what +girls are coming to now-a-days." + +Bankside, the Pagnells' house, was a pretty, old-fashioned box, perched +on the side of a hill and commanding a lovely view of the Wandsborough +valley. A snug, leafy retreat, all shrubbery and flowers and smooth +lawns--it was just the place for open-air festivities. We have already +made the acquaintance of its lord on the magisterial bench, which is as +well, as we shall not see him here. He has a horror of social +gatherings, and leaves all duties of entertaining to his eldest +daughter, Isabel--a tall, handsome girl of five-and-twenty. + +"So here you are at last, Clara," was the latter's greeting, as she came +forward to receive the Ardleigh party. "You disappointing girl! I +particularly asked you to come rather early, and so you wait until the +last moment. How are you, Mr Dorrien? And now--come and have some +tea." + +"You seem to have got together a good many new people, Isabel," said +Clara, as they made their way to the tennis ground. "First of all, who +is that tall young fellow in white flannels over there, laughing as if +he would never stop?" + +"Where? Oh, that. That's Eustace Ingelow. Nice looking boy, isn't he? +Odd you've never met him--and hasn't he grown handsome? I'll introduce +him," and in obedience to her beckoning signal, the subject under +discussion hastened lip and was introduced in due course. Even Clara, +who was not fond of the family, readily admitted that in appearance the +rector's son bore out her friend's eulogium. Tall and well-made, his +sun-browned, handsome face wearing the brightest and merriest of +expressions, and his manner, though perfectly free and unaffected, +devoid of all approach to bumptiousness, the young fellow had been +winning golden opinions from everybody. + +"Ah, Mr Dorrien, I've heard of you," he said, turning his dark eyes +upon this new acquaintance. "Awfully glad to meet you," and a hearty +hand-grip cemented their friendship on the spot. + +"Now, Mr Dorrien, no shirking, if you please," cried Isabel laughingly. +"It has been my sole object in life this afternoon to let no two men +hang together; so come along and be introduced all round, and do your +duty. Can't help it, Clara, must be done," she added, with the faintest +possible significance in her tone as she turned away. + +Roland felt rather savage. He wanted to elicit some information from +Eustace Ingelow, by dint of a few carelessly worded questions, but no +opportunity was vouchsafed him. However, he descried Margaret on the +other side of the lawn, and upon her presently he bore down. + +"--Expecting them home? But they are home, Mr Dorrien," said Margaret +in surprise, answering a question as to her sisters' return. "They came +back yesterday. Olive is rather unwell to-day, and is staying at home. +Have you met my brother?" as the latter passed them, talking to Nellie +Dorrien, to whom he had obtained an introduction. + +"I say, Margaret," said the graceless youth, stopping a moment, "old +mother Frewen seems as sulphurous as ever. Look at her over there, +`testifying.' You ought to have converted her by this time," with a +quizzical glance in the direction of an old lady, who was an "aggrieved +parishioner" of a perfervid type. + +"Don't talk nonsense, Eusty. Someone will hear you." + +"Ha! ha! Let's go and hear her, at a respectful distance, eh, Miss +Dorrien?--it'll be fun," suggested crafty Eustace, with the object of +beguiling Nellie for a walk round the shrubberies--an object in which he +succeeded; and judging from the frequency with which the fair, sweet +face was convulsed with laughter, it seemed that they managed to make +the time pass right merrily. + +"Nellie, your mother has been looking for you everywhere. It's time to +go home," said a cold voice at her elbow, and turning with a little +start of dismay, she found herself face to face with her father, who was +looking very stern and gloomy. + +"Yes, papa. I'm so sorry," and, with a hurried farewell to her +companion, she proceeded to obey the implied injunction, her experience +warning her that there were squalls ahead; while her late escort, +disconsolately anathematising the lord of Cranston as a cantankerous old +ruffian, betook himself once more to the assemblage of his fellows. + +"Who was that boy with whom you spent the afternoon, Nellie?" asked +General Dorrien, in the carriage on the way home. + +"I didn't know I had spent the afternoon with anyone, papa," she +replied, as gently as she could. "But if you mean who was I talking to +when you came up, it was Mr Eustace Ingelow." + +"Was it? A most impertinent boy, I call him," went on her father, with +a very dark look. "Because he meets anyone in society, that seems a +sufficient reason for monopolising them for the rest of the afternoon. +An impudent, pushing, and most forward young cub, to come thrusting +himself upon us, and you to encourage him! Who is he, I should like to +know? We've never seen him before, and, if I can help it, we shall +never see him again." + +Poor Nellie made no reply, beyond a weary little sigh. What had she +done? Why, the duration of their harmless little walk had barely +exceeded half an hour. And in her heart of hearts she owned to herself +that the said half-hour had flown very quickly indeed. + +"I say, dad," cried Eustace Ingelow that evening at the dinner-table. +"I like that man Dorrien. Rather reserved and--er--quiet at first--the +sort of man who wants knowing, eh?" + +"H'm, so that's your opinion, is it?" said the rector, somewhat +attentively. "Now I shouldn't have thought he'd have been at all the +sort of fellow you'd have taken to at first sight, Eustace." + +"Yes, he is," replied the Oxonian decidedly. "He's a man with a lot in +him, I should think. Now that brother of his--the one that's at +Queen's--he's a--a--well, a scrubby sort, but I like this one. Roland, +don't they call him, eh?" + +"It strikes me, from all accounts, that you like his sister a great deal +more," cried Sophie. "Why, Eusty, you disgraceful boy, you know you +flirted outrageously with her all the afternoon." + +"Bosh! What next?" he protested, growing very red. "You girls think a +fellow can't speak to another girl without--er--without--. Besides you +weren't there, and you should never take hearsay evidence, Sophonisba, +my jewel." + +"Never mind her, Eusty," struck in Olive, who had recovered her spirits +simultaneously with the return of her brother full of the doings at the +Pagnells'. "Never mind her--Nellie Dorrien's a dear, sweet girl, and +you might do worse." + +"What do you think of that, dad? Just listen to them, how they badger a +fellow." + +"No--no--I won't come to your rescue," cried the rector, with a hearty +laugh. "You must fight them single-handed. What's the good of going to +Oxford if it doesn't teach you to take care of yourself, and against a +pack of women, too?" + + + +CHAPTER SIXTEEN. + +THE DIE IS CAST. + +"Rather perfect? I should just think it was," cries Olive, gazing +around. "Confess now, you hardened cynic, that in all your wanderings +you never saw anything so perfectly lovely as this." + +"I'll own up readily enough. I never did," is her companion's reply. + +"But--you are not looking at it," turning to find that his glance has +been fixed upon herself while he spoke, and colouring softly at the +discovery. + +"Oh, yes, I am. I repeat, I never saw anything so perfectly lovely as +this. What a distrustful little article it is, to require so much +reassuring!" and his hand, which has been toying with her small fingers, +closes upon them with a fond pressure, as looking straight into her eyes +he repeats her words. + +From their heathery resting-place on the summit of Minchkil Beacon, they +gaze idly upon the glories of the panorama unfolded beneath and around. +The great slopes of the downs are gorgeous with flaming gorse and +crimson heather. A rich summer haze lying over the landscape adds +distance to meadow and woodland, alternating in many an undulating +roll--the latter just perceptibly assuming its first autumnal tints; and +cosy homesteads, nestling among their sheltering trees, look doubly snug +and prosperous as contrasted with their counterparts of the upland +farms, whose corn-ricks and a few stunted firs form the only shade. +Villages, too, and tiny hamlets, dropped about, as it were. Frondesham, +beyond the lofty steeple of Wandsborough Church, which latter rises +above that long, grassy ridge as if refusing to be hidden, and on the +further side of the valley, the hamlets of Cranston and Ardleigh; the +mile and a half of straight, dusty road connecting them looking like a +mere streak of whitewash--and, higher up, Cranston Hall, half hidden in +its noble park. + +And turning to seaward--space. The broad expanse of limitless sea, far +down, four hundred feet beneath--blue and placid as the firmament +overhead. Two or three brown specks--fishing boats lying with listless +sails--are the only signs of life upon its motionless waters. Not even +a gull is on the wing, and the wavelets have forgotten to break on the +shingly beach. The sun drives on his flaming chariot, slowly, slowly +towards the west, and the great cliffs of the bold coastline reflect his +lengthening rays in many a ruddy gleam--Hadden's Slide, and beyond, +Smugglers' Ladder, a black fissure, rending the whole face of the cliff +from brow to base. Then on the other side The Skegs, tranquil, and +forgetting to look grim and dour, as they start sleepily from their +setting of still, blue water--and above them the lofty headland where +looms the grey tower of Durnley Castle--a mouldering ruin. Farther and +farther recedes the outline of the rugged coast, in rocky bay and bold +promontory, with here a strip of shingle, there a line of +seaweed-covered reefs, till it loses itself in a faint confusion of +distant blue. + +It is golden August now--rich, glowing, sensuous, lovely August--when +summer, as if suddenly awaking to a sense of opportunities neglected and +to the consciousness that her days are nearly numbered, would fain crowd +all her accumulated glories into the few yet remaining to her, pouring +out her choicest gifts with a lavish hand, as though anxious that we +should think kindly of her when she is no more, by virtue of her sudden +repentance and amendment at the eleventh hour. + +Should you, while taking your walks abroad some fine summer's day, +chance, unexpectedly, and in a secluded spot, to light upon about six +foot of Young England taking it remarkably easy in a reclining attitude +among the soft and fragrant heather; and should you, moreover, descry +seated in very close juxtaposition to Young England aforesaid, a sweetly +pretty girl, occupied mainly in dividing the shelter of her sunshade +with the male and recumbent head, while listening attentively to words +of wisdom--or the reverse--emanating from the male lips; you would, we +trow, if of a kindly disposition, retire as you came, leaving the +idyllic pair undisturbed. If of a cynical turn you would, we trow, +chuckle, as you went, over one more instance of human fatuity. But +whatever your nature you would decide that affairs between this +particular couple had gone tolerably far. + +Well--and so they had. + +There are, we take it, about three ways which lead to what the +provincial reporter delights to term "the hymeneal altar." The first is +the ordinary "proposal," wherein John is conventionally supposed to sue +humbly for the privilege of maintaining Mary for the term of her natural +life, eke Mary's prospective lineal descendants in any number--not +exceeding seventeen--peradventure with a mother-in-law thrown in, and to +count life as not worth living, in the event of these multifold +advantages--we will not call them liabilities--being denied him. The +second may be termed the extraordinary "proposal," wherein the overtures +are precisely the other way about, barring, it may be, the maintenance +condition and the mother-in-law; and this, by the bye, is not so +uncommon as Mrs Grundy affects to believe. The third differs _in toto_ +from the other two, in that it does not deal with "proposals" at all, +but is the result of evolution--taking rise in a tacit and intangible +understanding, and culminating in an arrangement neither more nor less +definite than any _entente a deux_ can be said ever to be. This way, on +the face of it, is the most risky of the three, but it has its +advantages. + +Whatever its risks, however, just such an understanding exists between +the pair whom we find alone here on the summit of Minchkil Beacon. Roy, +curled up there among the heather and apparently asleep, will take good +care that the intruding steps of any afternoon wayfarer shall not +approach unsignalled--and meanwhile to all purposes these two have the +world to themselves. + +"Am I distrustful?" says Olive softly, in comment on her companion's +last remark. + +"No, you're not," is the vehement reply, "but I am. I thought you were +never coming back, and was very nearly going up to Town myself. Now +look here. I can't let you go again!" + +"But I must go again," she objected demurely, but with a flash of mirth +in her dark eyes. "I shall have to go soon, too." + +"You shan't." His hand closes, on hers, as if the prohibition was to be +put in force at that moment and by physical agency. + +"Diddums teasums then!" says the girl in tones of mock soothing, passing +her little hand over his forehead and hair caressingly. "You know, +dear, I like sometimes to arouse the savage in your composition. It +amuses me, because I can send him back into his shell in a minute. But +it's all very well. You had a very good time of it while I was away. +At Ardleigh, for instance!" + +For all answer he laughs--quietly, almost inarticulately, as a man will +laugh over some proposition manifestly, absurdly preposterous. + +"That's all very well, but I hear the Nevilles are very delightful +people, and--" + +"Broomsticks." + +"--And Clara and Maud, you know, were very sweet to you, and Isabel +Pagnell--" + +"--And Mother Frewen, and Miss Munch and Mrs Bunch. Go on. Run +through the whole list--of broomsticks." + +"And then you used to have snug talks with Margaret over the fire on wet +afternoons, and I don't believe poor little me was missed a bit. +Margaret can be very entertaining when she likes." + +"A broomstick!" + +"Mr Dorrien! That's rude." + +"Excessively. But in evoking the latent barbarian, for whom you just +now expressed--er--a flattering partiality--you have once more provided +yourself with further amusement." + +Her only answer is a merry laugh, and for a few minutes neither speak. +The whirr of a reaping machine--for the early harvest has already +begun--and the sound of reapers' voices is borne up from the valley, +with now and then the barking of a farmhouse dog. The rallying note of +a covey of scattered partridges, the distant cawing of rooks, and the +hum of bees gathering their stores from the cells of the blossoming +heather, all blend into a luxurious harmony, well in keeping with the +still witchery of the waning afternoon. They are outside the world, for +the time being, these two--away in a cloudland of their own, bounded by +the purple heather around and the sapphire sea below, the ordinary +considerations of mere prosaic, everyday life as far removed as the +distant sights and sounds in the valley beneath. Stay, though. One of +them cannot altogether shut out these obtrusive considerations. Roland, +cool and cynical beyond his years, cannot forget that the brightest +picture has its reverse side, and that there will be a morrow to this +cloudless day of radiance and of love. + +He has striven to cherish a vague and desperate hope that something may +occur tending to smooth matters--yet it is hardly likely. That unlucky +stay at Ardleigh--how far back it looked now--seemed somehow to have +committed him to the fulfilment of his father's wish; in the latter's +eyes, that is, for he stood committed in nobody else's. Moreover, as +General Dorrien's hints on the subject grew plainer, so did his +animosity towards the Ingelows increase, and this to such a pitch that +more than once a terrible rupture was imminent, as Roland found himself +compelled to listen to his father's violent and unreasoning tirades. +Still, he managed to conceal his feelings. But every hour confirmed him +in the certainty that the day he decisively announced his intention of +running counter to his father's cherished scheme, that day would see him +disinherited. + +And now a sweet, serious look has come over Olive's face, and it seems +as if the bright, merry-hearted girl had been changed, all in a minute, +into a tender, thoughtful, loving woman, who knew the world and its +sorrows well. + +"Darling?" she exclaims softly. "There is something I want to say to +you, and I don't quite know how to say it; however, I must try. I have +been thinking so much lately whether you are not making a great +mistake--whether I have any right to let you risk your future, whether +it would not have been much better for you had we never met. Wait-- +don't interrupt--let me say all, it's difficult enough, Heaven knows. +Why should you imperil your interests and perhaps be for ever separated +from others you love--and all for me? Why should I bring sorrow upon +you? Roland, darling, think well of what I say. Remember it is not too +late now. The day may come when you will look back upon this sweet-- +this beautiful time"--a quiver in her voice--"with nothing but +bitterness. What then?" + +Has her love for him at its climax given her a sudden and magical +insight into the future? Is the time coming when he will remember her +prophetic words--but their fulfilment, it may be, in a different sense +to that in which they are uttered? + +"What then?" is the vehement reply. "Only this, that--that"--(the +strong, cool-headed man finds himself helplessly stuttering)--"that this +understanding of ours--delicious as it is to have it all to ourselves-- +must become public property to-morrow. You must never be in a position +to say such things to me again." + +"Oh, my darling! I am only thinking of you and your happiness." Then, +with a warm rush of feeling: "Can such a day as this ever come again in +a lifetime? It is very foolish of me, but I have a presentiment that +there is trouble before us, and that even now it would be better for you +had we never met. I want you to do nothing in a hurry. Better to +wait--to go on as we are--than to risk your prospects for me." + +He finds no great difficulty in reassuring her as they sit there in +their golden lotus-dream, with all the glories of earth and air +spreading around them. The busy world lies far beneath; here, silence +and the evensong of birds, and the flood of dazzling sheen on the purple +sea, as the sun dips down nearer and nearer to his liquid bed. Just +then, in silvery chimes, distant yet clear, the bells of Wandsborough +steeple ring out the Angelus. + +Then they descend the heather-clad slope, and make their way through the +dewy, silent fields. And now a great orb of fire touches the farther +edge of the glowing sea, tingeing it blood-red, and the horizon is all +aflame. A passing gleam, as a ray from an enchanted world, strikes +broadly over hill and lea, then fades, leaving the earth in shadow, and +the fragrant breaths of gathering night fall thickly around. There is a +scent as of crushed roses in the air, and the grass is already wet with +dew. The distant bark of a sheep-dog from an upland farm, the lowing of +kine wending their way to the milking yard, the whistle of the reapers +leaving their labour--only these sounds breaking musically now and again +upon this stillness of rural peace. + +So ends the day. But what of the morrow? + + + +CHAPTER SEVENTEEN. + +CHECK! + +"Can I see Mr Dorrien?--Yes, certainly. Show him in here," and the +rector, making a hasty note on the margin of his paper, laid aside his +pen as Roland was shown into the study. + +A nervous man, full of the errand on which he had come, might have felt +his besetting weakness to a painful extent at the prosaic hour of 10 +a.m., here, in this judicial-looking apartment, wherein multitudinous +papers disposed about seemed to speak of the more serious side of life, +while the shelves of heavily-bound volumes lent a somewhat severe air to +the room--and that notwithstanding the real cordiality of his reception; +for it is one thing to be on sufficiently intimate terms with a man to +justify your dropping in upon him informally for a friendly chat, and +quite another to offer yourself as his future son-in-law. But Roland +was not of the nervous order. Even had he been, it is probable that +experiences of _tete-a-tete_ interviews with a far more formidable +personage than Dr Ingelow would have eliminated from this one all its +imaginary misgivings, if only by contrast. So after a commonplace +remark or two he came straight to the point without difficulty. + +Quietly, yet attentively, the rector listened to all his visitor had to +say, and listening, felt no doubt as to the eligibility of the speaker. +Possibly he was not wholly unprepared for the avowal, sooner or later. +Anyhow, he showed little or no surprise. It was his wont to receive +important matters calmly. + +"And so I must give up my little Olive?" he said, with a pleasant smile. +"However, I suppose the certainty of having to part with them some day +or other is one of the disadvantages a man has to labour under if he +owns pretty and attractive daughters. But may I ask, Mr Dorrien, +whether you have informed your family--your father--of the step you +propose to take?" + +Roland stared. He was considerably taken aback by this question, and, +in truth, not a little annoyed. And an unwonted formality about the +other's tone tended somewhat to disconcert him. + +"Well, no--I can't say I have. Naturally, I imagined that you yourself +were the first person to be spoken to on the subject. To be candid with +you, Dr Ingelow, I have knocked about the world long enough to dispense +with the paternal sanction to any undertaking of mine. Moreover, you +may possibly be aware that my family and myself are never on very good +terms--unfortunately, I admit--but still it is so." + +The rector did not at once reply. He was leaning back in his chair, one +hand thoughtfully stroking his beard, while the other toyed listlessly +with one of the buttons of his cassock, and his brows were slightly +contracted. + +"It is unfortunate, Dorrien, because the fact of things being so, rather +tends to complicate the situation," he replied at length, as the +slightest possible movement of impatience, which Roland could not for +the life of him suppress, did not escape his quick perceptions. "For it +happens that I have certain old-fashioned ideas of my own on these +matters. Wait--just hear what I've got to say"--laying his hand on the +other's arm with a kindly, reassuring touch--"and bear with what you +think an old man's unreasonable whims. Now go straight to Cranston and +lay the whole matter before your father. Then come back here and tell +me the result." + +"Am I to understand, then, Dr Ingelow, that you will only grant your +consent subject to the contingency of my father granting his?" said +Roland, in a tone whose bitterness it was impossible to conceal. + +The rector felt puzzled by the directness of this query, but he did not +show it. + +"I haven't asked you to do a very hard or unreasonable thing, Dorrien," +he said, with a quiet smile. "Now do oblige me in this. Can you not +see that I am justified in requiring it? Then we can talk over matters +further." + +Roland felt thoroughly outflanked. He could not tell his father-in-law +elect that his own amiable parent would more readily give his sanction +to an alliance of his house with the Prince of Darkness than with that +of himself--yet he knew perfectly well it was so. Here, indeed, was a +most formidable obstruction in the way; one, moreover, on which he had +never reckoned. He could only agree mechanically to the rector's +proposal, but his heart sank within him as he took his leave. No, he +had not bargained for this. + +All seemed to augur badly for the successful outcome of his errand, for +the General was out, and was not expected back till nearly dinner-time, +he learned on reaching Cranston. But the General returned in such a +state of ill-humour that it was obviously useless to broach the subject +that night. On the morrow--well, it was just possible that some miracle +might interpose on his behalf, but hardly probable. Never did it seem +to him that he could remember a more thoroughly depressing evening than +this one. His father scarcely spoke, and when he did address him it was +in a tone of studied coldness; his mother would now and then make a +captious remark, while Hubert sulkily plied his knife and fork, and made +no attempt at conversation whatever. Heartily glad was he then to find +himself at last in the smoking-room. + +"Hallo! Roland--there you are," cried Hubert, banging the door behind +him, and flinging himself into an armchair. "Now one can breathe +freely, at any rate. The veteran looks sweet to-night, doesn't he?" + +"Yes. What one might call re-entering the glacial period, eh?" + +"Haw! haw! Rather. But 'pon my soul, you ought to thank your stars +night and day that you're out of this infernal house." + +"H'm! Why don't you go abroad, or somewhere, during the `Long'! You've +heaps of time." + +"Don't I wish I may get it! _He_ takes precious good care I don't-- +that's why," rejoined Hubert, wrathful over the memory of his wrongs; +and then he relapsed into silence. The fact was, he began to feel +embarrassed, for he was trying to summon up courage to ask his brother a +favour. He had been leading a life of terrible anxiety for the last few +weeks. A bill was on the point of falling due, and he had not a notion +how it was to be met. Result--another exposure. For what made it worse +was the fact of his having denied further liability when his father had +paid off his debts a couple of months back, and now it would come out +that he had--well, stated what he knew to be contrary to fact. In his +extremity, he thought of Roland, and now the moment struck him in a +propitious light. + +"Keeps you tight, I suppose?" + +"Tight! I should just think he did," replied Hubert, with alacrity. +Surely the conversation was working round towards a favourable opening. + +"Hard luck that. Try one of these weeds." + +"Thanks. And--er--I say, Roland, there's something I rather thought-- +er--you might perhaps do for me. The fact is, you see, I'm in a devil +of a fix just now--don't know which way to turn. And if the veteran +should find it out I'm clean done." + +Roland eyed him rather curiously. + +"Well, what is it? Cash--or petticoat? Those being the two main +sources of man's difficulties." + +"Well, it's a bill." + +"Been flying kites, eh?" + +"Yes," answered Hubert in desperation. Why the deuce was the other so +infernally laconic and quiet over it--why couldn't he show a little +feeling? he thought--and then his heart sank, for he made sure Roland +would put him off with the usual excuse. But the next words reassured +him. + +"H'm! That's better. If it had been the other phase of the root of all +evil, I don't see how I could have helped you to avoid reaping the +traditional whirlwind. But what's the amount?" + +Hubert named it--rather shamefacedly. It was a fair sum, just topping +the three figures. More, a good deal, than Roland had expected, but he +showed no surprise. He had made up his mind to help his brother in +this, though Hubert's deportment towards himself had hitherto been +ill-conditioned enough--and row he speculated idly as to whether the +other would feel any gratitude towards him or hate him all the more. + +Hubert, meanwhile, felt his fears revive during the silence that ensued, +and he thought enviously of all the advantages his brother possessed. +Here he was, free from this wretched home, with a handsome independence +of his own, over and above being the heir to the splendid family place. +Surely he would help him. He lived very quietly, and could not be short +of cash himself. + +"What makes it worse," he went on desperately, "is that I told the +`Relieving Officer' there was nothing else outstanding, when he pulled +me through before, and now he'll find out there was. I don't know how +the deuce I did it--but, you see, this was such a big thing, and he was +so beastly satirical and sneering, that somehow I got in a funk and +shirked it. Hang it all, Roland," he broke off in a kind of irritable +despair, "it's all very well for you, you see. You're independent of +him, and are not driven to do these things; while a poor devil like me-- +oh, well!" + +"My dear fellow, there's not the least necessity for jumping down my +throat, I assure you. I wasn't going to offer an opinion on the matter. +Nor am I going to lecture you--unless, perhaps, you don't mind my +advising you to square this up and have done with it. I'll write you a +cheque when we go upstairs." + +Even while he spoke it flitted across Roland's mind that the time would +probably come when, in a pecuniary sense, his own position would be +insignificant in comparison with that of his younger brother. Would he +have helped him, he wondered, were their positions reversed? But then +Hubert was an extravagant young dog, and would in all likelihood go +through life in a chronic state of "hard-up." + +"By Jove, Roland, it's awfully good of you," he cried, in such a tone of +genuine relief as to draw that queer smile to his brother's face. +"Thanks, awfully. The fact is you've got me out of a deucedly deep +hole--and--er--" + +"How about by-by?" said the other, recovering himself from a stretch and +a mighty yawn. "It's waxing late. Better lay hold of that candle, I've +got one in my room. Come along, and we'll draw the cheque." + +Hubert took the hint to say no more about it, but he went to bed with a +lighter heart than he had done for many a night. He had that cheque +safe in his possession. Wiser thoughts might have prevailed in the +morning--his brother might have thought better of it--might have +discovered that he couldn't spare the cash--what not? He need not have +feared. Whatever his faults, Roland Dorrien was incapable of going back +on his word, and had the amount in question reached the limit of his +worldly possessions, he would still have parted with it. + + + +CHAPTER EIGHTEEN. + +FATHER AND SON. + +"Do you mind coming this way, Roland?" said the General soon after +breakfast the next morning. "Neville writes to say," he went on, +closing the library door behind them, "that they are going to give a +ball on a large scale on Friday--it's Clara's birthday--and is very +anxious for you to go to Ardleigh to-morrow, and stay over it. This is +Wednesday, so I suppose you may count upon nearly a week of it up there, +to which, I daresay, you won't object," he added, with some +significance. + +"Well, I don't much care about it. I might manage the ball, but the +fact is it will be rather inconvenient to go and stay there just now. +Besides, I seem to have only just left." + +The General frowned slightly. + +"I hope you'll think better of it, Roland. You cannot really have +anything to keep you from going, and Neville will take it ill if you +refuse. You and Clara got on very well together when you were staying +there before, didn't you?" + +"Extremely well. Couldn't have got on better," assented Roland. They +were coming to the point, he thought, but he would let his father work +up to it in his own way. Let the adversary show his hand by all means, +his own would be so much the easier to play. + +For a few moments they sat in silence. The General's brows were knit as +he sat thoughtfully balancing a paper-cutter between his fingers. Then +looking up quickly, and speaking with the air of a man who has thought +it out and quite made up his mind, he said: + +"I don't know why we should fence any more with each other, Roland. It +will perhaps be best, as we are alone together, to be plain and +above-board. But, first of all, I may state that I have strong reasons +for wishing you to accept this invitation." + +"Indeed, sir. May I ask what they are?" The General made a movement of +impatience. "Now, can you not guess them, Roland?" + +"I might--I don't say that I couldn't. But guessing is at best +unsatisfactory work, and apt to lead to cross-purposes," said Roland +very quietly. "As you said just now, why should we fence? What is it +you wish me to do?" + +The General gave a slight shake of the head, half deprecatory, half +perplexed. He had not foreseen the extent of the other's quiet +self-possession, and there was a determination underlying his eldest +son's tone which he did not at all like. + +"Well, Roland, just listen to me. You have been back in England some +months now, and, I presume, intend to remain. Does it never occur to +you that one with your position and prospects might employ life better +than by lounging through it aimlessly as you are doing now?" + +"It certainly has occurred to me. Though in the matter of position, I +do not feel particularly exalted--and as for prospects, with all +respect, sir, I would remind you that I am without any at present." + +"This is mere fencing," answered his father testily. "By the way, your +talents in that line would be of invaluable service to you at the Bar. +Now, you must be perfectly well aware that your position is one of +considerable importance, seeing that you must one day occupy my place +here." + +"It's very good of you to say so, sir," replied Roland quietly. "But," +he added to himself, "if you don't flatly contradict that statement +before another hour has gone over our heads, why, the age of miracles is +recommencing." + +"Things being so," continued his father, "it is right that you should +recognise your position as my eldest son. Now did you ever contemplate +the contingency of marriage?" + +"I have thought of it--yes." + +"Ah!" and the General's brow cleared perceptibly. "Now, we are not so +badly off about here in the matter of choice; we are fortunate in having +for neighbours some good families--very good families, indeed. But I +think it would be hard to find among them anyone more thoroughly +suitable than Clara Neville. She is exceedingly good-looking, most +accomplished and agreeable, and has plenty of sound common-sense; in +short, any man might be proud of her as a wife." + +"She is, indeed, all you say," assented Roland mercilessly, a sort of +grim humour impelling him to draw his father thoroughly out. + +"Ah! I should always have given you credit for being a man of taste, +Roland," rejoined the General, with more kindness in his tone than he +had used for a long time. "Then, too, she is the daughter of one of my +oldest--I may say my oldest--friends, and she will inherit Ardleigh. +You have seen for yourself what Ardleigh is. It is a splendid property, +and adjoins this. Such an opportunity of combining the two may never-- +will never occur again," he continued, speaking more to himself than to +his son. "And, Roland, only think what a man with such a stake in the +county as Cranston and Ardleigh might do. Why, his influence would be +unbounded. Any career leading to the highest distinction would be open +to him." + +In spite of the knowledge that he himself would be the chief sufferer, +Roland, as he sat listening to his father, could not help feeling a kind +of pity for the disappointment which awaited the latter, when his +ambitious schemes were ruthlessly shattered, as they were destined to be +in a moment. + +"So now you see why I wish you to accept this invitation," went on the +General. "The alliance will be a most suitable one in every way, and +most desirable." + +"But aren't we getting on rather fast?" said Roland, thinking he saw a +straw, and clutching at it instinctively. "What reason have we to +suppose that Clara Neville regards me with any more favour than she does +any other man?" + +"I feel sure of this, Roland: if she doesn't, it'll be your own fault +entirely," was the reply. + +Well, that straw had gone down with him. There was now no alternative-- +he must declare himself. It is just possible that, in one of weaker +calibre, the temptation to procrastinate might have prevailed. The +moment was not a favourable one for making his statement--indeed, it +could hardly be more unfavourable; what would be easier than to put it +off for a day or two? But he entertained no such idea. + +"You saw a great deal of each other, I believe," went on the General, +anxious over his silence. "And you have just told me you got on +excellently well together?" + +"So we did, and I trust we always shall. And I am sorry to be obliged +to spoil your very attractive plans. I have the greatest regard for +Miss Neville, but as for thinking of her as my wife, why, I can't +imagine the possibility of such a thing." + +It was out. The bolt had fallen. For a few moments the two sat facing +each other without a word. At last the General spoke, but his voice +sounded very harsh and constrained. + +"Do you really mean this, Roland, or is it merely the outcome of some +passing fancy of yours? Now, do nothing in a hurry. Take time--think +it well over. I cannot believe that a sensible man like yourself can be +blind to all the immeasurable advantages that the course I recommend +would bring." + +"There is one advantage which has been left out of that course, father," +said Roland in a much softer tone than any he had yet employed. "That +is--Love," and he paused. "Ah! well, I am very sorry to have +disappointed you," he went on, as his father made no reply, "and on that +account, and on that only, I wish it could have been otherwise. It is +unfortunate, very, that you should have put this idea before me just +now, for as a matter of fact this very day I intended to communicate to +you my intention of marrying Olive Ingelow, the second daughter of the +rector of Wandsborough." + +The trumpet had been blown, and that with no uncertain sound. War was +declared. In declining to agree to his father's plan, Roland had +strayed dangerously far from his supports; in revealing his own he had +burnt his boats behind him. + +"So that is your intention, is it?" said his father in icy, cutting +tones, when he had recovered from the effect of the audacity of the +statement. + +"Yes, it is. And I venture to hope, sir, that it may have your +sanction." + +"Do you? But I have not the pleasure of the acquaintance of this +young--lady, with whose relationship you are anxious to honour us," was +the satirical reply. + +"I hope you very soon will have. Then you will see that she is in every +way our equal as to birth, thoroughly well educated, and as +sweet-tempered as she is beautiful. Now, father, you will not go +against me in this," he concluded, his face softening as he thought of +Olive. + +The General had risen from his seat and was pacing the room. + +"My sanction?" he repeated, and it was evident that he was labouring to +repress his strong excitement. "My sanction--that is what you want, is +it? Then know this, Roland. As sure as you sit there you shall never +have it--never. And what's more, unless you give me your word, before +you leave this room, to break off this affair unconditionally, now, at +once and for all, you and I are strangers henceforth--total strangers. +Do you hear?" + +"I do." + +"Don't think that I have been ignorant of your doings all this time. +Don't think that it has not been patent to us all how you preferred the +society of these low adventurers to that of your own family." There was +a look on Roland's face which would have warned most men to stop, but +his father was not one of them. "And as for this--this young person you +have chosen as an instrument for disgracing us, why, you must surely +recollect that both your mother and myself witnessed her disreputable, +immodest behaviour, and that on the public high road--" + +"Just stop, sir--stop. What the devil do you mean by talking like this? +Remember who you are talking about, please." Roland had sprung to his +feet, and stood confronting his father. His face was ghastly white, but +his eyes glowed like two living coals, and his hands were clenched with +the firmness of a vice. "Stop, do you hear? By God, if any other man +had said that--" And he paused, restraining himself with an effort. + +"So, so, sir," cried the General furiously. "So you dare to stand there +and threaten your father! So you dare to talk to me in this tone! You +dare to stand there in your damned strength and talk to a man twice your +age in that strain--I wonder Heaven does not strike you dead as you do +it. But go--get away out of my sight, let me never see you again. One +who can so far forget all sense of duty is no son of mine. Go! Do you +hear--go?" and he pointed towards the door, his hands shaking in a +perfect palsy of rage. + +Roland walked to the door. + +"Yes, I will go," he said, "and that before I forget myself. Good-bye. +I recall anything that may have sounded like a threat. Good-bye." + +"Go--go!" articulated the General, almost voiceless with rage, shaking +his hand at the door. "I'd call down a curse upon you, but it's +needless, for you're sure to come to the gallows some day, and after +that to hell. Go. Be off with you!" The other turned deliberately and +went out. On the stairs he encountered his mother. + +"What is it, Roland? What has happened? You and your father have had a +dreadful quarrel, I'm afraid," she said, her cold nature roused to a +state of unwonted anxiety. "Oh! dear! What is it all about?" + +"Nothing, madam--except that the sweetly affectionate care and the pious +home-training of my younger days is bearing its natural fruit," was his +caustic reply, for he felt a very hell of fierce wrath blazing within. +"And now, let me congratulate you upon having things at last exactly as +you have long wished them to be." + +He passed her. The hall door shut behind him with an angry slam, and +thus Roland Dorrien went out from the presence of his father--never to +look upon him again in this world. + +Mrs Dorrien found her husband sitting in the study in a state of +terrible exhaustion. He was a strong man for his age, but the frightful +passion to which he had given way had seriously shaken him. + +"Has--that--villain--gone?" he asked at length. + +"Roland?--Yes. But wait--don't be in a hurry to talk. Keep quiet for a +little while," she answered sadly. + +"The deep-dyed scoundrel! Eleanor, if you had heard what he said to me +as he stood there! Now listen to me. He is dead to us henceforth, +stone dead. And tell the others--Hubert and Nellie--that if ever they +mention his name in my hearing, or hold any communication with him +whatever, that day they go after him." + +Mrs Dorrien assented sadly. She had got what she knew to be the secret +wish of her heart. Her Hubert--her darling boy--would be Dorrien of +Cranston; for she knew her husband too well to suppose he would ever +relent. But it may be, furthermore, that her hard, cold nature felt a +twinge of regret as she thought of this unloved son and realised that +she would never see him again, and if her conscience cried loudly of +maternal neglect and duties unfulfilled, we may be very sure she stifled +it. + +Yet this sin of omission was destined to bring upon her an awful +retribution. + + + +CHAPTER NINETEEN. + +"AND THUS WE PARTED THERE." + +Roland Dorrien walked from his father's door with quick, angry strides. +Everything had turned out exactly as he had expected, and the halle of +his ancestors would know him no more. Why should he regret it? Within +them he had known nothing but coldness--had met with scant measure of +affection--and now he was leaving them for ever. He passed out through +the park gates with the Dorrien arms engraved upon the stone pillars--a +mailed hand grasping by the neck a writhing serpent, which, with crest +reared and fangs gaping wide and threatening, was in keeping with the +motto underneath, "I strike"--and reached the high road. Even then he +smiled satirically as he reflected that the lodge-keeper's obsequious +curtsey would probably be much less profound were the good woman aware +that it was only Roland Dorrien, the disinherited heir, who walked past, +instead of, as she supposed, her future lord. + +Suddenly he became aware of a scuffle in the park behind him, and, +turning, he beheld the deer look up from their feeding and trot away in +alarmed groups. Then the cause of this appeared--something red and +white, tearing at full speed down the drive. A moment more, and the +object dashed against him, panting, and nearly knocking him down. + +"Why, Roy!" he cried in concern. "Dear old Roy! I had clean forgotten +you. And they were quite capable of having you knocked on the head if +they had known you were there. Perhaps he did try, as it was," he went +on, with a dark look in the direction of the Hall. + +But his reflections on the General were in this case unmerited. What +had happened was this. Roy, who had been incarcerated in a disused +coach-house, finding that his master did not come to emancipate him at +the usual time, had raised his voice in doleful protest, but when his +subtle ears detected the sound of his master's receding footsteps, whose +firm tread could mean nothing else than "gone for good," his piteous +howls increased tenfold, emphasised by a series of frantic plunges +against the large double doors. Now, it happened that Johnston, the +head-gardener, who hated Roy's master with an undying hatred on account +of more than one snubbing which his own impudent presumption had earned +for him, and by an inverse rendering of the proverb, likewise hated Roy, +thought it an excellent opportunity of wreaking his spite on the dog. +So, arming himself with a broomstick, he proceeded to the scene of poor +Roy's restraint. + +"Hold yer rouw, ye beast--wull ye!" said Johnston spitefully, just +opening a crack in the door and raising the stick cunningly. But Roy +was not quite such a fool. He had withdrawn from the door and crouched +away at the back of the room, growling savagely. + +"Aha, ye cowardly beastie," jeered the man. "Iss-ss!" and he poked at +him with the stick. + +Roy wae now walking to and fro, growling, and every time drawing nearer +and nearer to the door, but keeping carefully out of reach of the blows +which the biped brute every now and then aimed at him. Suddenly, with a +terrific snarl, he made a rush. The trap-door let into the large ones +flew open as he flung himself against it, and Johnston, knocked aside by +the unexpected weight, rolled sprawling in the dust, and the dog was +free. Pausing a moment to make his teeth meet in the thigh of his enemy +as he lay, now thoroughly frightened, Roy darted off like an arrow on +the track of his master, and came up with him, as we have seen. + +"My dear old beauty!" said Roland, passing his hand lovingly over the +smooth head, and looking down into the soft, faithful eyes. "You're +worth a regiment of mere human animals! And yet they call you only a +dumb, soulless brute. Well, you won't be sorry to shake the Cranston +dust off your paws, anyhow. Come along!" + +He turned into the footpath across the fields, which saved a mile of +hot, shelterless high road, and his face never relaxed its hard frown as +he went over that terrible interview again. "Well, the old man and I +opened our minds to one another with a refreshing candour, at any rate," +he said, half aloud.--"Hallo!" + +He stood staring blankly, not quite certain whether he was dreaming or +not. For there, as if she had started out of the earth itself, was +Olive--Roy meanwhile leaping around her and thrusting his importunate +nose into her hand, and otherwise claiming his meed of attention. + +Roland paused for a moment, staggered. She was looking very lovely, in +the neatest of cool walking-dresses, and the blood rose softly to the +bewitching face as she met his astonished gaze. She had seen him long +before he had caught sight of her, and half shyly, half mischievously +had noted the effect of the surprise. But overhearing his last +reflection, the glad look changed into one of concern. + +"What has happened, dear?" she began. + +Instead of immediately replying he gave a couple of quick looks around, +and--a few seconds afterwards Olive was readjusting a somewhat displaced +hat, a soft, bright blush suffusing her face. + +"There! I feel better now?" cried he who had treated her so +unceremoniously, speaking with quick vehemence. "What has happened? +Squalls--breakers--high seas--everything. To put it tersely, my +venerable ancestor and I have been exchanging opinions of each other in +terms far more forcible than polite." But Olive looked very grave. + +"Oh, Roland. Was it about--about--I mean anything to do with +ourselves?" + +"H'm! H'm! Well, as to that, it was about things in general. But +don't distress yourself, darling. It was bound to come sooner or later, +and for some time past the South Cone has been hoisted on that +particular coast. And now we have agreed to keep carefully out of each +other's way henceforth." + +"But you'll make it up again, dear. People get in a rage with each +other and quarrel, but it doesn't last for ever. It would be awful if +it did." + +"But this will. Olive, you don't know him, and I'm afraid, darling, you +don't half know me. He would have to sing very abjectly small indeed, +before I could forgive what he said--certainly no consideration of loss +or gain would induce me to do so. So here I stand--as here I came-- +nobody." + +"You are everybody to me, love," she answered bravely and cheerfully. +"All will come right one of these days, and even if not, we cannot do +without each other, whatever we can do without." + +Sunshine after storm: balm to the wounded spirit. It is probable that, +for the time being, all considerations were forgotten, except that they +were alone together. The summer air breathed warm and free around them. +Underfoot the grass, recently mown, was short and turfy, beneath the +shade of the trees couched a few lazy, ruminating sheep, and the drowsy +roll of a mill-wheel, with its accompanying drip-drip of water, was just +audible, but everything was soft and slumbrous in the silent meadows. +They were alone--and he who had just bartered away his splendid +birthright for the love of this girl beside him, felt that he had his +reward. He could hardly believe that not an hour had passed since that +tornado scene of wrathful passion in yonder Hall, which they could just +discern through the trees. + +"But, Olive, how on earth did you put in an appearance here just in the +nick of time?" he asked presently. + +"Pure accident. I had been visiting two bed-ridden crones whom Margaret +had promised to go and see, but couldn't. The path leading home struck +into yours--so--so I couldn't help being behind you and hearing your +wicked words--and they were dreadfully wicked," she answered +mischievously. "But--hark!" + +A male voice was heard approaching, alternately whistling and singing +snatches of a popular song of the day, then a tall, active figure +cleared the stile in front of them and drew up short. + +"Hallo!" + +"Oh, Eusty, you disgraceful defaulter. Is that how you keep your +promises?" cried Olive. "Didn't you vow you would come and meet me, and +now I've had to walk through two fields full of horrid cows all by +myself--and it's no thanks to you that I haven't been frightened to +death." + +"Oh, here--ahem--I say, hold hard!" cried the Oxonian, quizzically +surveying the pair. "All by yourself--eh? Well, it strikes me, young +woman, you've fallen in with a pretty substantial escort." + +"But not until I had passed the cows, you detestable boy," replied she, +with a tinge of colour in her bright, laughing face. + +"I say, Dorrien, she implies that you're nobody," went on her brother, +without heeding her. "Says she had to come along all by herself. Rough +on you, that--eh?" + +Roland laughed, and coming to the rescue turned the scale of "chaff" +against Eustace, who was fain to acknowledge at last that he was in a +minority, and to cry quarter. + +"Hallo, Dorrien, don't sheer off," cried Eustace, as, having reached the +town, a halt suddenly took place. "Tack in and get your eye-teeth into +some cold sirloin, _anglice_--lunch!" + +But the other shook his head. + +"Oh, stow all that," went on the reckless youth in response to some +excuse. "Now, don't let's have any more talk over it, but 'bout ship +and steer for the ecclesiastical hang-out. There are only our two +selves. The reverend Padre won't be in till this afternoon, and the +other girls have gone out to lunch at the Gaskells. Olive, tell him he +must. He'll obey orders from you." + +Roland hesitated. He had frequently dropped in in this informal way, +and now the temptation to sit for an hour at the same table with Olive, +with the prospect of a whole afternoon of her society, was strong. But +he remembered that his negotiations with her father were still pending, +and he had a shrewd idea that the next interview might not go off quite +so pleasantly. Meanwhile, it might strike the rector in the light of a +shabby thing, were he in a sort of way to steal a march upon him in his +absence. So he heroically and steadfastly refused. Had he known what +was to happen within the next twenty-four hours he would probably have +yielded. + +"I'll look round later," he said. "I want to see the rector as soon as +he comes in. That'll do instead, Eustace, won't it?" + +"Hang it! I suppose it must!" was the careless reply. + +And then he bade good-bye to Olive. Only a pressure of the hand, and a +look into each other's eyes--no sweet, clinging embrace. An +unceremonious good-bye, as between people who expect to meet again in +the course of the same day, no murmured word of love and trust and +moving farewell. Yet perhaps it was better so. A little nod and a +bright smile as she turned away, and thus they parted, these two. +Little recked they how and where they would meet again. + +Roland turned away in a very restless, dissatisfied frame of mind. +Everything seemed to be working round unfavourably. The rector might +not return home till late, and meanwhile he was condemned to these hours +of waiting. Though cool enough in an emergency, he was of a nervous +disposition, and uncertainty and inaction in a matter of this kind was +intolerable. Everything assumed an exaggerated aspect. What if the +rector should, after all, refuse his consent? Hitherto he had not +believed Dr Ingelow would offer any serious opposition; now, on turning +things over, it seemed first possible, then only too probable, that he +might. And Olive--he felt pretty certain she would, however +reluctantly, refuse to disregard her father's wishes, once they were +clearly laid down; nor in his heart of hearts would he have desired that +she should, paradoxical as it may seem. Lovers are proverbially +selfish, and it might be that Roland Dorrien was less so than the +general man. He had lived his life very much alone, with the result +that he had thought much, and developed a maturity of judgment +considerably beyond his years. How could he expect this girl to give up +her bright, happy home--how happy he himself had had ample opportunity +of observing--to wound, beyond all healing, those who had surrounded her +life with every tenderness and care, at the bidding of one whom, six +months ago, she had hardly heard of? He knew that he had won her heart +as no man would ever again win it, yet he would despise himself were he +to require such a sacrifice of her. No, the only thing would be to wait +for more favourable times. + +So the afternoon wore on, and his restlessness increased more and more. +He could not read, thinking was worse, and there was no one to talk to. +Well, he would stroll round towards the Rectory again. This time luck +favoured him. As he approached it he caught sight of Dr Ingelow coming +from the opposite direction, and the two met at the gate. + +"Ah, I was half expecting you yesterday," said the rector, as they shook +hands. "But come into the study. There we shan't be disturbed." + +"And I fully intended to have returned yesterday," replied Roland, when +they were seated. "But the fact is, my father didn't get back till +late, and I had no opportunity of speaking to him until this morning." + +"Yes. And--" + +"The result was precisely what I expected. He was utterly unreasonable +and impracticable. In short, Dr Ingelow, I don't see how I can avoid +explaining that he has a violent prejudice against you and yours. That +may have had a great deal to do with it, but he had reasons of his own, +which, as they concern others, I am hardly at liberty to mention. +Anyhow, I could not for a moment think of falling in with his views, and +the result was a regular row." + +"Do you mean that you quarrelled?" asked the rector. + +"If a tolerably brisk interchange of compliments, and a mutual agreement +to keep carefully out of each other's way for the rest of our mutual +lives constitute a quarrel--and I rather think they do--why, then I must +admit we did," was the grim reply, and his face grew dark over the +recollection thus revived. + +"Excuse me, Dorrien--you see I always consider myself to a certain +extent privileged--but I can see at a glance that you're a +quick-tempered man. Now, isn't it just possible that you were rather +hasty?" said the rector, in his kindest manner, bending a searching +glance upon the young man. "I mean," he went on in response to a +decided shake of the head, "you may have forgotten that, however harsh-- +even unjust, as you think--your father may be, you still owe him a +certain amount of respect--of duty. Nothing can get rid of that fact." + +Roland looked up quickly. + +"Duty?" he echoed, with an intensity of bitterness which was not lost +upon the other. "Duty! My dear sir, I can assure you that that very +word formed subject matter for a pretty lively discussion between us, +ending as I have described. However, to drop these wretched family +details, which must be most tedious to you, you see now I have done my +best to meet your wishes, and if I have failed it has been through no +fault of my own--that I can say with a perfectly clear conscience." He +spoke with a suppressed eagerness which had been absent from his speech +in their first interview. Then the last thing he had anticipated was +failure in this quarter; now it was different. + +The rector shook his head deprecatorily. + +"I don't like to hear you take that tone. I fear your view of the +relation between father and son cannot be borne out. The Fifth +Commandment is explicit on the point. But there, this isn't the time +for sermonising, you'll say," he added with a grave, kind smile. "Only, +the idea of a breach of this relationship is, to my mind, one of the +most painful things in the world." + +Roland looked unconvinced. He conjectured rightly that the good +priest's early youth had been fortunate in its natural guardians, and +now his own children adored him, which made all the difference. + +"You will think me bold in stating that the religious side of the +question does not weigh with me in the least--circumstances alter +cases," was his reply. "And at any rate, Dr Ingelow, you will allow +that I have never tried to win your favour by feigning a religion which +I did not feel. However, to confine ourselves to the matter in hand. I +have tried my utmost to satisfy you in what you asked, and have failed. +But as I am perfectly in a position to marry independently of my +father's consent, I trust your answer will be favourable." + +Outwardly calmness itself, the rector was in reality much perplexed. A +terrible family quarrel had taken place, indirectly owing to him and +his--a reflection sufficiently distressing to one of his refinement of +feeling. Then, again, this young man must not be allowed to throw up +his prospects for life in a fit of rash impulse and hot temper. No--at +all costs this must be prevented. + +"We will waive the question of duty," he said. "But is there no chance +of a reconciliation? Surely there is. When you get to my age you will +realise that life is too short for these prolonged feuds; quarrels +between blood relations are of all things the most heart-rending, and +the day may come when you will bitterly regret this one. And then, to +take a lower ground. How can you, in a moment of anger, and all for the +sake of a few hasty words, throw up your really splendid prospects? And +how can I be a party to your doing so. Surely you must see that it is +impossible." + +"There is no chance of any reconciliation," answered Roland +deliberately. "I would hardly forgive one or two of the things he dared +to say, even if he were to go down on his knees and beg me to--and I +think even you would hardly expect him to do that. As for what you are +good enough to call `a few hasty words,' I tell you we exchanged +opinions of each other that would have made your hair stand on end could +you have heard us; nor was that all. In the matter of prospects, I have +always considered my chances of ever possessing Cranston to be so very +vague and shadowy as not seriously worth reckoning in the light of +prospects. And then, look what such `prospects' would involve. Perhaps +twenty years of absolute slavery to the whims and caprices of the +hardest and most unloving of masters. Only think of that! And at fifty +I might find myself in possession, and Heaven knows I should deserve to. +So, in renouncing these most shadowy prospects, this morning, I could +not feel that I was actually undergoing any real loss. But I thought I +had made all this clear to you yesterday--I mean as regarded the +uncertainty of any prospects beyond the actual means in my possession," +he added in an anxious tone. + +"I don't think you understand me, Mr Dorrien," said the rector, rather +stiffly. "I might have hoped you would have known me better than to +suppose that I was reasoning otherwise than disinterestedly in this +matter of your eventually possessing Cranston or not; or that the latter +contingency would detract in my eyes from your eligibility to become my +daughter's husband, you being otherwise in a satisfactory position. +What I did mean to convey was this. You are young now; all your +feelings and aspirations are strong, and warm, and healthful, and you +are capable of self-sacrifice; you dearly love my child. I can see that +readily enough, although you are not one of the effusive order of +lovers," he went on, his tone softening, and a quiet, kindly smile +gleaming in his eyes. "You would make any sacrifice for her--and for +all this I honour you. But, as I said before, you are young. Well. +You give up this inheritance, and you do so cheerfully. Middle age +comes on, and you see what should have been yours in other hands. You +are a stranger in the home of your ancestors--you have the cares and +vexations--ay, and the disappointments of life crowding upon you, while +another enjoys in ease and luxury your noble birthright, which has then +passed away from you for ever. How will you feel then? Will you have +the strength resolutely to bear up against this most mortifying +contrast, to banish the thought of it far from you--or will it +embitter--eventually perhaps crush the remainder of your existence? +This is what I have been thinking of while we have been sitting here. +Now have _you_ thought of it?" + +He laid his hand on the other's arm with an affectionate gesture, and +his dark eyes were full of sympathy as he bent his glance upon the young +man's face, awaiting the answer. + +"I have thought of it, Dr Ingelow," was the quiet reply. "I had +already done so--had weighed the pros and cons most carefully before I +spoke to you yesterday. And--" + +He stopped short. He was nearly giving the rector an inkling of the +other insurmountable obstacle which stood in the way of reconciliation, +and any material advantage it might bring with it, but with a natural +distaste for discussing family matters with an outsider--however +sympathetic--he forebore. Had he not done so, it is possible that the +answer to his wishes might have been different; as it was, Dr Ingelow +would not give up the notion that the quarrel between Roland and his +father, however grave, was yet capable of being healed, and it was not +for him, a Christian priest, irrespective of other considerations, to be +the means of widening the breach. + +"Well now, Dorrien," he went on, after pausing to allow the other to +continue the remark if he wished, "you must see yourself in what an +extremely difficult position I am placed. How can I allow my child to +marry into a family which positively refuses to receive her? I cannot +do so, I fear, with any consideration for our own self-respect. Then, +apart from that, you are man of the world enough to know that nothing +remains private for long, and that this family quarrel of yours will +soon be in everybody's mouth. Now, I ask you, how can I and mine accept +the position of arch-mischief-makers, feud fomenters, schemers--call it +what you will--in which common consent will place us when it becomes +known how you have renounced your brilliant worldly prospects for +Olive's sake? Put yourself into my place for a moment--that may bring +it home to you. No, Dorrien, surely you must see that this is a +position we cannot consent to occupy, and, honoured as we are by your +proposal, I fear we must pain you by declining it--for the present, at +any rate." + +Roland did not answer at once. In the rector's decided tones he felt +that his fate was sealed. There was no getting over this opposition, +and now, day by day, an insurmountable barrier would rise between him +and his love. The room seemed to go round with him--the heavily-bound, +solemn-looking volumes, the carved chairs, the still, white Christ upon +the black cross in the niche, all passed in succession before his eyes. + +"And yet I had thought, Dr Ingelow," he said at last, and his voice was +thick and unsteady, "that you, if any man, would be above mere worldly +considerations, when the life's happiness of two people was in the +balance." + +"My dear boy, don't--pray don't talk in that awfully desponding tone," +said the rector, moved to the heart by the utter dejection set forth +upon the other's countenance. "Now, listen," and going over to him he +placed his hands upon his shoulders, in heart-felt, sympathetic touch. +"Wait a little while, then do your best to make up this lamentable +difference--who knows but what you may succeed far more readily than you +think? Then you shall have my hearty consent." + +"That will be never," came the reply, quiet, but decided. "The thing is +impossible. So I suppose you will tell me that it's a case of resigning +oneself to the will of Providence," he continued in a tone of +indescribable bitterness, and with an approach to a sneer. + +The other made no reply, and for some moments there was silence. There +was not a spark of anger or resentment in the priest's heart at the +implied scoff, and the compassion in his countenance deepened as he +gazed upon the man before him, plunged in the depths of disappointment. +He was no mean judge of character, and he had seen much in Roland +Dorrien to like and admire--yet he felt sure that the course he himself +had adopted in the present instance was the right--in fact, the only +safe one. + +And Roland himself? As he sat there he was going through a mighty +struggle. He had tried fair means and failed, now he would be justified +in employing foul, said the tempter. If he could induce Olive +surreptitiously to link her lot with his, why then, when the step was +irremediable, her father would soon forgive her. The rector was the +very last man to bear rancour, especially towards his favourite child. +He would soon come round, and then how happy they would all be! The end +in this case would amply justify the means, and then--was not all fair +in love and war? No, it was not. Roland Dorrien had a code of honour +of his own. Had Dr Ingelow been such a man as his own father, for +instance, he would have felt abundantly justified in throwing all +scruple to the winds, but now he could not do it. He had sat at this +man's table and been treated by him in every respect as a trusted +friend. His doors had ever been open to him to come and go as he +listed, he had been admitted unreservedly and welcomed in this family +circle at a time when in his own home he was a stranger. Months had +passed in this pleasant, trustful intimacy, and now he felt that he +would rather die than betray the confidence of this kindly, open-hearted +friend, for whom, in spite of what had happened, he felt no whit less of +warm regard. It would be a mean and shabby trick, the very thought of +which he would strive to put far from him. + +"Forgive me," he said at length. "I am an unmannerly brute to talk like +that. A cad, in fact." + +"Roland, my dear boy," answered the rector in his most affectionate +tone, casting all ceremony to the winds. "Believe me, I have already +forgotten it, whatever it was. Now try and face your trouble bravely-- +you are not alone in it, remember. And, Roland, you will not--not +attempt to see Olive alone until--at any rate until I have spoken to +her. You are too honourable for that, I know." + +"I will not. But, Dr Ingelow, I cannot promise to give her up +altogether. It is only fair to tell you that." + +The rector shook his head sadly. + +"I am afraid you must bring yourself to face facts," he replied, as they +clasped hands. "Good-bye. We need not look upon each other as enemies +on account of this, need we?" he added, laying an affectionate, +detaining hand on the other's shoulder. "Good-bye for the present--and, +God bless you!" + + + +CHAPTER TWENTY. + +DARKER STILL. + +"Things are never so bad but that they might be worse," is a clap-trap +disguised beneath the gold leaf of philosophy. When a man's leg has to +come off--without chloroform--it doesn't make the impending "bad quarter +of an hour" a bit less redoubtable to impress upon him the indisputable +fact that he _might_ have had to lose an arm as well. + +When Roland awoke the next morning--he had engaged a room in the +principal inn at Wandsborough--it seemed as if the outlook before him +was about as black as it could be. He had made an enormous sacrifice +for love, and all in vain; the fruition of that love was denied him. +Wrapped in gloomy reflections, he hardly noticed a letter lying beside +his bed. It had come the previous evening, but he had chucked it aside +as not worth bothering about. Now he took it up and carelessly tore it +open. Suddenly an alarming change came over his features, an awful, +rigid, grey look, as if he had been suddenly turned to stone. This is +what he read: + + "My Dear Dorrien-- + + "I am rather afraid that I shall be the first to make known some + confoundedly bad news. In a word the Tynnestop Bank has `gone,' and + the smash is complete. Now the question is, have you got rid of those + shares of yours or not--you know we were talking about it when you + were up here? If not, I'm deuced sorry for you, for I fear there's no + chance--the smash is too thorough, and it's supposed they won't pay + sixpence in the pound. Bang they went! without a symptom of warning, + and everyone's asking how on earth it was managed so quietly. If you + think it'll be any good, run up here and talk things over. + + "Believe me, old fellow,-- + + "Yours, etc, etc, + + "John Venn." + + "P.S.--I'm bitten myself to a small amount--trusteeship--damned fool's + trade. But it's you shareholders who'll be most heavily shot, I'm + afraid. I send a couple of papers with an account of the crash--in + case you haven't seen it." + +Again and again he read through the letter, which had been addressed to +the rector's care, till Venn's large, business-like calligraphy seemed +burnt into his brain; then he tore open the newspapers. The affair was +plain enough. The Bank was an unlimited concern, and every farthing he +had in the world except his last half-yearly dividend was invested in +its shares, and now it had fallen with a crash. Roland Dorrien was a +ruined man. + +A groan escaped his dry, set lips. + +"Good God! Nothing like piling it up," he muttered. "If this isn't a +day full of happiness! Well, this must have happened before yesterday +morning, otherwise I might be induced to believe in the efficacy of +curses, and that my very affectionate parent's influence with the Devil +stands higher than mine; but it came about too early for that to have +anything to do with it." + +He laughed--a horrible, blood-curdling mockery of a laugh--as the +thought crossed his mind that he might have occasion to decide whether, +under all the circumstances, life was really worth living any longer. + +Two hours later, and he is on his way to London. Every familiar +landmark is out of eight, but imagination carries him back. Had he +known what fate held in store for him, was it possible that that stormy +interview might never have taken place? The temptation would have been +great. Yesterday, at that hour, life had looked very fair, very +promising to him, and now, in less than twenty-four hours, he had lost +his inheritance--his love--and his means of existence. + +And now how light seem the first obstructions which lay in his road +yesterday, compared with this last terrible disaster! His renunciation +of his birthright--the rector's opposition--now appear to him as very +trifles. The first he had made up his mind to--the second could in time +have been got over--but now? Love was a luxury he could not afford to +indulge in--even life itself must henceforth be dragged out in labour +and sorrow and desolation, that is, should he ultimately decide that it +is worth dragging on at all on such terms. For now, of course, he must +give up Olive, release her from all in the shape of a promise or +understanding. It might be years and years before he could even keep +himself decently, how then could he in honour hold her bound to him, +condemn her to spend the best and brightest years of her life in weary +waiting; and for what? For a broken, disappointed man, utterly without +prospects and without hopes. Would she grieve for him? At first she +would suffer--suffer acutely, he knew; but her bright, sunny spirits +would carry her through, and she would--well, in time, forget him. And +the unfortunate man almost groaned aloud as he leaned in the corner of +the railway carriage, his eyes strained and distended upon the ceaseless +downpour without, and the sodden landscape lying beneath its lowering +veil of ashen cloud. + +There is as a rule something exasperating about the way in which our +friends take our misfortunes. If we are of a morbidly sensitive +disposition they affect a facial elongation and a tone of dismal +sympathy; if, on the other hand, we are accustomed to present a careless +front to the world, they overwhelm us with a cheerful light-heartedness +which strikes us as brutally callous--as though, indeed, we could look +for anything else in a thoroughly self-seeking world. "Every man for +himself, and devil take the hindermost." Are you in the latter +category? "Awfully sorry, my dear fellow--only wish I could help you-- +but--well, perhaps you will find ranking among His Satanic Majesty's +acquisitions not quite such an uncomfortable berth as you think--and +then, you know, you're sure to get out of it soon--something's sure to +turn up. Well--ta-ta--old chap, sorry I can't wait--" And the world +rolls on. + +Roland was conscious of a latent feeling of resentment as he noted the +comfortable and even light-hearted expression on his friend's face. +"Looks as if the fellow hadn't a care in the world, damn it," was his +mental comment. + +"Hallo, Dorrien! I'm deuced glad to see you, but awfully sorry I can't +give you any cheering news," began the other. "I know you're the sort +of fellow who wouldn't thank me for trying to make things out promising +when they're bad as bad can be--and that's just what I'm afraid they +are. You see, the mischief of it is that it's an unlimited concern." + +"Yes," assented Roland drearily. + +"By the way, I got your line this morning and would have met you at the +train, but I've had an awfully busy day of it. I've been going into +your affair too; you know, I do a lot in the way of share-broking." + +"And it's all up?" + +"It is. You would hardly credit the widespread ruin a smash of this +kind involves. Why, there are people who were rolling in wealth +yesterday, who to-morrow will be destitute beggars. And there's no +foretelling the extent of the calls which will be made on the +shareholders. But I say though, Dorrien, don't be so confoundedly down +in the mouth, man. It's rough on you to lose a snug little income, but +then you've got Cranston to fall back upon. By Jove! I wouldn't mind +changing shoes with you this very day. Why, when you're doing Squire of +Cranston you'll laugh at all this." + +He laughed now--a hollow mockery of a laugh, like a smile forced to the +face of a galvanised corpse. + +"Don't you remember my telling you that Cranston wasn't entailed?" he +said abruptly. + +"Yes, but hang it! it'll come to the same thing in the end. And now +your governor will--" + +"--See me to the devil with all the pleasure in life," was the sneering +reply. "Why, man, we had the most infernal shindy yesterday ever kicked +up between two full-blown lunatics. So now you may perhaps realise the +exceeding roseate hue of my prospects in life." + +Venn gave vent to a whistle and looked grave. + +"Oh, but--he'll come round in time," he began lamely. + +"Deuce a bit. I tell you the brake of my coach has given way and that +successful vehicle is starting down hill now--off to the devil as hard +as it can lick. Even that mythical old humbug, Job, had his afflictions +come upon him by relays; mine came all in one day, as you'd readily see, +if you knew the facts." + + + +CHAPTER TWENTY ONE. + +JOHNSTON AT FAULT. + +Eustace Ingelow sat in the summer-house at the back of the Rectory +garden smoking his after-breakfast pipe, and with him his youngest +sister, Sophie, doing some needlework. + +They were discussing a letter which the former had received from the +absent Roland, also an eventuality concerning Johnston, the Cranston +gardener, and the bite he had received from Roy. + +"Do you think that abominable fellow really intends to bring an action +against him?" the girl was saying. + +"He does. He says he's lamed for life. It's an arrant lie, of course, +on a par with that one about going into the coach-house to fetch a broom +and Roy flying at him. However, he won't get Dorrien's whereabouts out +of me, and I'm rather certain no one else knows it." + +The fact was, that Johnston, seeing a good opportunity, in the mishap +which had befallen him, of being revenged on Roy and his master, and +withal extracting from the latter's pocket considerable compensation, +had complained to his employer in the first instance. But to his +surprise the General curtly and fiercely refused to listen to him, and +the man, seeing that another word on the subject would gravely imperil +his place, and not to be baulked, resolved to bring an action for +damages against the dethroned heir. + +Sophie plied her needle thoughtfully for a few moments. Then she looked +up. + +"Eusty, does Ro--er--Mr Dorrien, say anything about coming back?" + +"N-no. He's sure to be back though, soon. But, I say, you'd better +apply to Olive for information on that score." + +The girl shook her golden head sadly. + +"Eusty, can you keep a secret? Because, if you can--I'll tell you one. +Well then, I think there's something wrong--in the first place, from +odds and ends I've heard out of doors, in the next--er--well--one +needn't look far from home. And dad had a letter from Mr Dorrien this +morning, and how awfully quiet he was all breakfast time?" + +"There was a deuce of a row between Dorrien and his cantankerous old +reprobate of an ancestor--he let out as much as that to me," said +Eustace. "Poor old chap--I hope he'll turn up again soon." + +"So do I," echoed the girl. "We don't see many nice people here--at +least not nice men--and he always was such fun." + +"Rather. Especially when you got him quietly over a weed. The quaint, +dry sentiments of the fellow were enough to make a cat perish with +laughter. Poor old Dorrien! I hope we shall soon have him back as +jolly as ever. Hallo!--By George, there's that rascal Johnston himself. +Seedy looking cad with him--perhaps an attorney." + +They peered through the thick foliage of the arbour, and approaching +from the other end of the gravel walk was the Cranston gardener and his +companion, whom a servant was apparently directing towards their +retreat. + +"By Jove!" chuckled Eustace. "Now for some fun. Tell you what, Sophie. +I'll read them Dorrien's postscript." + +"Better not," objected his more prudent sister. "No, dear, don't. +There'd only be a row, and I'm so frightened of rows." + +"Pooh! I'd chuck the pair of 'em through the hedge." + +"And they'd summon you, and dad would be annoyed, and there'd be no end +of bother. Now, Eusty, be a good boy, won't you, and--" But she had no +time for further remonstrance, for the two men had by this time reached +the arbour, and stood looking sheepish and awkward, as if each expected +the other to begin. + +"Ah! good day, Johnston. Anything I can do for you? But--who's your +friend?" said Eustace with a careless nod. + +"I ask yer pardon, sir, and the young leddy's, for intruding, but I +thought ye might a' heard from Mr Roland. And ye said if ye did ye'd +kindly let me know." This was a fact. Eustace, intending to "draw" the +Scot, had promised him that much. + +"Yes?" + +"And--have ye, sir?" + +"Yes." + +And Eustace, taking out his pouch, proceeded with the utmost coolness to +refill and light his pipe. + +"And, if I might make so bold, sir, what does he say?" asked the man +anxiously. + +"Well, to be candid with you, Johnston, I think you'll get no change out +of him at all. He won't even listen to your idea." + +"Begging your pardon, sir," said the stranger, in response to an +appealing look from his companion--"begging your pardon, sir, but +wouldn't it be much better that Mr Dorrien should come to some +understanding with my friend, here, instead of compelling him to go to +law? Now, wouldn't it?" + +"Begging yours--but I haven't the pleasure of your acquaintance," +replied Eustace, eyeing the speaker with perfect coolness. "Is this +your legal adviser, Johnston?" + +"Eh, no, sir. It's just my cousin, who knows the law as well as most +lawyers, and--" + +"Well, it can't possibly be his business, and I shall decline to discuss +it with him," decisively went on Eustace, who had a dim recollection of +having seen the seedy, ferret-nosed individual before him in the office +of a Battisford attorney, where he occupied a position, half clerk, half +errand-runner. "And for the matter of that, Johnston, it's none of mine +either, and I may as well tell you so. So I'm afraid I can't help you +any further." + +"And ye won't give me his address?" + +"Whose?" + +"Meester Dorrien's." + +"No." + +"But perhaps we can mak' ye," answered Johnston, whose tone was +gradually becoming less respectful and more threatening. + +Eustace turned slightly in his chair--his tall, fine frame the picture +of listless ease, and cool self-possession in every feature of his +handsome face. + +"Eh? I didn't quite catch?" he said suavely, merely lifting an +eye-brow. + +The Cranston gardener, who had obtained his position of awe among the +little community of his colleagues and dependents by mere bluster and +bullying, was an arrant coward at heart, and simply dared not repeat his +remarks. + +"But, my dear sir," began the other insinuatingly, cutting him short in +the middle of a whining speech about poor men being denied their +rights--"my dear sir, don't you see--" + +"I'm afraid not," was the imperturbable reply. "At least I see this-- +that no good will come of discussing the concern any further. But--eh-- +by the way, Johnston, you didn't poke at the dog at all--with a stick, +for instance, did you?" + +The man's face changed colour, and Eustace, who was watching him +narrowly, detected it at once. It was only a random shot, but it had +evidently hit the mark. + +"Ah! well," he went on carelessly, "in any case it doesn't much matter. +And now, I suppose, we have nothing further to discuss. So I'll say +good-day--" + +Both men stood irresolute for a moment. Then they turned to go. + +"Aweel, sir, it's a queer warrld," said Johnston, "and, of course, we +must just help each other. An' if ever I get a chance o' doing you a +good turn I hope I'll do it." + +"That I'm sure you will, Johnston," carelessly assented Eustace, fully +alive to the irony and veiled vow of vengeance in this speech, and +hardly able to contain his mirth, so comic was the expression of baffled +malice which the man strove to conceal. "Well, good-day, again!" + +"Eusty," said his sister, when they were out of earshot. "You'd better +look out. I'm sure that horrid man will have his revenge, somehow." + +"Pooh! A couple of mean-spirited cads. For two pins I'd have chucked +the pair of 'em into the fish-pond. The impudence of the dogs! The +very sight of them evoked in me what old Medlicott defined in his sermon +the other night as `a surging of the worst passions of our fallen human +nature.'" + +All the same he was destined to learn--and that before very long--that +the Scotchman's significant promise might not prove so harmless as he +imagined. + +While Eustace was making merry over his friend's letter, the rector was +cogitating over a very different style of communication, though from the +same source. In it the writer set forth briefly and circumstantially +the completeness of his own ruin, adding, that as a beggar and +penniless, he had now no alternative but to take as final the answer +which the rector had given on the occasion of their last meeting. There +was one thing more--an enclosure directed to Olive, and this the writer +ventured to hope might be handed to her. He had purposely left the +envelope open in case Dr Ingelow should prefer to peruse its contents, +but in any event he trusted it might be delivered, as it was the last +communication that would pass between them. It was characteristic of +the old priest's honourable and generous nature, that his first act was +to fasten down the flap of the envelope then and there. + +Now the letter was curt, stiff and constrained in wording, but its +recipient could "read between the lines." He knew the world thoroughly, +and his insight into that most complex of machinery, the human heart, +was all but exhaustive, and now, as he sat with the open letter before +him, he could gauge with wonderful exactitude the state of mind of its +unfortunate writer. Its very curtness was the outcome of a studied +expression of feeling, as of one who should nerve himself to the numbing +consciousness of sudden and overwhelming ruin. This man had lost all +which made life valuable to him. It had fallen from him, one might say, +in a single day. How would he bear it? + +"Poor fellow--poor fellow! He is ruined, indeed?" broke from the old +priest's lips, as he turned over the whole situation in his mind. "What +will become of him?" + +He thought of the mutual liking that had sprung up between them--of +their many pleasant interchanges of ideas and experiences--their +reminiscences of the Great Wild West, gone over together many a time +during the cheerful evening meal--and how these things had carried him +back to the life and spirit of adventure of his own youth. He thought +of the unfortunate man now plunged in ruin and despair, and the picture +thus conjured up moved and distressed him more than he cared to own. +During the few months of their acquaintance he had accurately read +Roland Dorrien's character, and now felt pretty certain that it was not +of the sort to gain by such a blow as this last. He remembered +remorsefully the dark, reckless face as he had last seen it, full of +impatience, resentment and stormy passions, and knew too well that the +owner of that face was not the man to accept misfortune as a thing to +rise superior to and over-rule to his own ultimate good. No! for him he +feared the worst. + +Then his eye fell once more upon the enclosure. He took it up +thoughtfully. It was not strange that the writer should have sent it to +him first instead of forwarding it direct by post, but the act was +highly creditable to Dorrien's sense of honour. He conveyed a covert +hint, too, in the letter to himself that they would probably never meet +again. It was all terribly sad, and now with characteristic +scrupulosity the rector blamed himself severely for unnecessary +harshness. Yes, he had been hard and unfeeling in that interview. The +poor fellow was now overwhelmed in the bitterness of his ruin, to an +extent which he was too proud to show, and desperate. He was a man of +little or no religion, consequently a man without hope--and thus +thinking, a warm wave of pity swept over the old priest's heart. Could +nothing be done for this lonely, uncared-for wanderer--nothing to raise +him from where he had gone down beneath the rising tide of adverse +fortune? Yes--it could and it should. He would go himself and seek him +out and convey to him that he was not without friends; nor would he +confine himself only to words of sympathy and friendship, but would +think what offer of material aid he could make. Ah! but--would it be +accepted? The man was proud. A man who had deliberately put away such +a position as Roland Dorrien had done would be difficult to deal with. +And for the first time it struck him that he had made far too light of +that affair, and the conviction began to dawn upon him, that come what +might, do reconciliation would ever take place now between General +Dorrien and his son. And what would become of the latter? Again and +again the rector's sensitive conscience smote him. Had he been a little +less decisive in refusing his consent--had he left the other some ground +for hope, it might be the saving of him now--might act as an incentive +to him to rise above his troubles. Yes--he must see what could be done, +and that without loss of time. + +Then, taking the now sealed letter, he went upstairs to find Olive. + +"Something for you, darling," he said in his tenderest tone. + +"Yes, father. What is it? Oh!" + +Her face paled and her hand trembled slightly as she caught sight of the +well-known writing, and there was a terrible air of wistfulness in her +eyes. Ever since the day her father had told her--with all the +consideration and gentleness he could command, as well as with +decision--that he could not consent to anything between Roland Dorrien +and herself, and had so carefully reasoned out the matter that she could +not in her inmost heart accuse him of harshness or injustice--ever since +the day her lover had left the place suddenly and without a word of +explanation, Olive had been as one metamorphosed. Her brightness and +unquenchable flow of spirits had left her; she seldom smiled, never +laughed, and spoke but little. + +Now she gained her room, and having locked herself in tore open the +letter. It consisted of several sheets, closely written, and as she +read on, the girl's eyes were dimmed with tears, and at last she could +go no further--great, choking, heart-broken sobs were all that she was +conscious of. It was a strange letter--there was something solemn and +awe-inspiring about it, for it was written as a man might write when +certain that he has but a few hours to live, and yet every now and then, +it would be traversed by a gleam of humour that was heart-rending, so +obvious was it that this was brought in only when the anguish of the +writer became too unbearable. Yet there was not a trace of self-pity in +the letter from beginning to end. It was all on her account that his +misgivings were set forth. As for himself, well, he took a lot of +killing, and supposed he must endure things as they were--and, for her, +Time might work wonders, and she might live to be happy yet, far happier +than she could ever be if tied to a thoroughly broken and disappointed +man like himself; and so her father's decision was right after all. His +day was done; ruin had come upon him, out of which nothing could save +him, and if she could learn to forget him, all the better for herself, +for henceforth to all who had ever known him he must be as one dead. + +Then it all came back to her in a moment. She had resented his +departure without a word--now she saw how he had been bound in honour +not to speak it. She had felt proud, hurt and angry, while all the time +he had been crushed beneath an accumulation of ruin and the woe that it +involved. How she loved him now--how her heart went out to him in his +adversity as it would never have done in his prosperity--how she longed +and thirsted to be with him in this dark hour of his distress! All +those bright, beautiful summer months passed before her, with their +golden hours of love and sweetness and peace--and now! Those first +furtive glances exchanged in the church, that accidental meeting on the +beach, and the many rambles and long hours together, all rose up to mock +her--and the moment when she had tottered between life and death on the +slippery cliff path--with him. And now he was gone--gone for ever--and +she was left. + + + +CHAPTER TWENTY TWO. + +WHAT WANDSBOROUGH SAID. + +It may seem strange that to a man of Dr Ingelow's standard of principle +and pronounced beliefs, such a cordial intimacy as that which had sprung +up between himself and Roland Dorrien should be possible; still more so, +that apart from the drawbacks we have narrated, and which were purely +mundane, he should be ready to accept him as a son-in-law. Yet he was-- +and without prejudice to his own principles. + +No man living was more thoroughly free from bigotry than the rector of +Wandsborough. Principle was one thing--sitting on the judgment seat, +quite another. So, although he suspected Roland Dorrien's private +opinions to border very closely upon infidelity, yet he did not consider +him a subject for social ostracism on that account. Indeed, had the man +shown a devout disposition in the face of early bringing up and +subsequent associations, he would have looked upon him in the light of a +natural curiosity. Roland was just the sort of man whom the ordinary +Anglican parson would have regarded with lofty disapproval. But then +Dr Ingelow was by no means an ordinary Anglican parson. + +Of course, Wandsborough was not long in finding out that Roland +Dorrien's place in its midst would know him no more, and its curiosity +once awakened, it caught eagerly at the few "straws" floating on the +wind of popular report, and proceeded to piece together many romantic +and preposterous stories therewith. Dark rumours as to that stormy +scene in the study at Cranston Hall began to leak out. Servants have +long tongues and still longer ears, and more than one virtuous domestic +had stood on mental tip-toe, pausing in his or her then occupation, to +listen intently as the sound of angry voices proceeded from the dread +sanctum. Before night, the story had not only permeated Cranston +village, but had been whispered in Wandsborough, and Roland's abrupt +departure the next day seemed a direct challenge to all tongues. + +What a good time of it had Miss Munch and Mrs Bunch _et hoc genus +omne_! Now was the time for unearthing all the little bits of +half-forgotten scandal and tagging them together, and weaving them into +a deliciously parti-coloured whole, amid much head-wagging and "didn't I +tell you how it would be?"--"and it wasn't likely that such a one as +Roland Dorrien would bury himself in a dull place like Wandsborough, and +hardly ever be with his own people, for nothing." First it was rumoured +that the General and his son had had a stand up fight in the former's +study, then that they had thrown all the chairs and tables at each +other. The more oracular declared that nothing short of a duel had +taken place, and least said soonest mended; and thus the ball rolled, +until the bare facts that actually were known or guessed at, became +quite too prosaic for credence. + +But what had it all been about? "Ah! haven't you heard?" And then the +mysterious nods and winks would increase tenfold, and the whispered +communication would be received in various ways according to the +temperament or capacity for humbug of the hearer--but always with a +thirst for more particulars. For instance, why should Mr Dorrien have +interested himself on behalf of that precious rascal, Gipsy Steve? Must +it not have been on Lizzie's account, and, of course, all young men were +desperately wicked, and anyone with half an eye could see through _that_ +brick wall; and so the matter had come to the General's ears. But this +story was very soon improved upon, and presently it was that Gipsy Steve +had sworn to shoot the young Squire unless he did justice to Lizzie--and +it was while Roland was making this announcement to his father, that the +latter had hurled an inkstand at his head, and now he had made himself +scarce, fearing the ex-poacher's vengeance. Others again scouted this +version. Roland Dorrien was not the man to be afraid of anyone--rightly +or wrongly--not he. Besides, Lizzie had no more to do with the concern +than they, the speakers, had. It was Olive Ingelow who was the real +apple of discord. Couldn't anyone see that the two were never apart, +that the young Squire spent most of his evenings at the Rectory, and how +he and the young lady wandered about the lanes together, or sat on the +beach all day long!--and now, it turned out that they had been privately +married, and that the General had sworn he would never recognise it or +set eyes on his son again. + +This rumour, once let loose, ranged at will, and these and a dozen other +stories, each more preposterous than its predecessor, were circulated +throughout Wandsborough, and all the region round about, and gained more +or less of ready credence. Among those by whom they were accepted, +opinions were divided anent the respective conduct of the General and +his son in connection with the affair. Some held that the former was a +domestic tyrant of the very worst order, and that the latter had, at +last, justifiably rebelled--others again extolled the General as a model +parent and a high-principled Christian man, while poor Roland, it was +declared, had always been a depraved reprobate and an irreclaimable +scamp; in short--and whatever had happened now, he had been rightly +served. Then there were not wanting a few who held that between the two +it was six of one and half a dozen of the other--that the Dorriens were +at best an ill-conditioned, quarrelsome lot, and the less one had to do +with them the better. + +At Ardleigh Court the tidings of the Dorrien quarrel were received with +surprise and dismay. The Colonel warmly espoused the cause of the +absent, wherein his wife differed with him wholly. Young men were so +intolerably self-opinionated now-a-days, she declared, that no doubt +General Dorrien had not been unjustified in what he did. However, +having so far vindicated her principles of contradictiousness, she was +fain to admit that Roland seemed far more sensible than most young men +of his age, and she liked what she had seen of him. Whatever Clara may +have thought, she said very little, though on one or two occasions she +had stood up--rather warmly for her--for the exile; and Maud, albeit she +had wrangled a good deal with him during his stay there, was really +sorry for him, though being of a romantic turn she was inclined to feel +very angry with him on her sister's account, her lively imagination +having long since settled all that. + +"A pack of infernal lies?" cried the Colonel with heat, referring to +some of the reports which had come to his ears concerning the absent. +"Pooh! I don't believe a word of them. Dorrien's a quick-tempered +fellow--always was, by Jove! and Roland's a chip of the old block. I +suppose they lost their tempers with each other, and came to high words. +As for all that slander, and bringing girls' names into the concern, +why, it's scandalous." + +"Well, where there's smoke there must be some fire," suggested his wife, +with characteristic originality. + +"Fire be damned, ahem! I beg your pardon," exploded the good-hearted +Colonel. "And I tell you what it is. That libellous old Jezebel-- +what's her name?--Frewen, for instance, will find herself in Court if +she doesn't look out. Libel's a criminal offence, and if she comes +before us, I'll commit her for trial--I will, by Jove, as sure as I'm +Chairman of Petty Sessions!" + +"I think you're rather hard on her," objected Mrs Neville, true to her +colours. "She didn't originate these stories, remember." + +"It's my belief she did!" retorted the Colonel. "She hates the +Ingelows, and would move heaven and earth to injure them--spiteful, +canting old harridan. I think Ingelow mistaken, and his vestments and +candles and popish fal-lal great bosh--but hang it! he's a thoroughly +good fellow in private life, and I'm not going to stand by and see him +worried and his girls' characters taken away by that slanderous old +Gamp, who probably began life in a chandler's shop--and I'll let him +know that I'm not. I'll call on him this very afternoon, by George, I +will?" + +At Cranston, as may be supposed, cheerful times did not prevail. Always +gloomy and constrained, the gloom and constraint deepened tenfold in the +days following upon the rupture. The General's ill-humour was now +chronic, and when he did speak it was usually to make some incisive +remark calculated to render everyone thoroughly ill at ease. Mrs +Dorrien was freezingly acid, and the household saw no one and went +nowhere, and, needless to say, all reference to the erring one was +strictly taboo. Hubert heartily wished the Vacation would be quick and +come to an end, and being considerably bored, and proportionately +irritable, his sister had to bear the brunt of his--among other-- +ill-tempers. As for poor Nellie, she felt the separation terribly. She +had little thought that morning that she had seen the last of Roland, +without even saying goodbye, too. And now she was forbidden even to +write to him. Life was very hard--would better times ever come? + + + +CHAPTER TWENTY THREE. + +DORRIEN OF--NOWHERE. + +A pair of dingy rooms in a dingy London street, communicating with each +other by means of a folding door, which is at present shut. A table, +decidedly unsteady on its pins and bedight in a chequered breakfast +cloth, whereon is a war-worn tea-pot--which article, by the way, knives +and forks, dish-covers and spoons seem to have been made specially to +match--cloudy delf, cruets not guiltless of defunct flies, an uninviting +loaf and a pat of butterine or oleo-margarine, or whatever is the London +lodging-house equivalent for butter, and, perchance, when that cover is +lifted, a brace of leathery fried eggs, undoubtedly not of to-day's or +yesterday's origin, will be disclosed to view. And this appetising +repast, and this glaringly-vulgar and soul-depressing abode must soon be +exchanged for something more nauseous, for something more vulgar and +soul-depressing still, for even this is somewhat beyond Roland's means-- +beyond the miserable pittance he has managed to save from the wreck. +There had been an accumulation of interest on the capital in the fallen +Bank, which in a fortunate moment, somewhat earlier, he had been induced +to invest in a small speculation, and this, together with a little which +still remained out of his last year's dividend, just availed to save him +from immediate destitution. + +He enters, and listlessly draws a chair to the table. There is a smell +of escaped gas in the room, which, mingling with a vaporous whiff from +the kitchen of unmistakable cabbage in process of boiling, nearly upsets +him. Quickly he throws open the window, admitting a rush of air from +the dark, misty street, that makes him shiver; but anything is better +than the abominable atmosphere of the house, and again he draws his +chair in and attempts to breakfast--attempts. Even Roy, who comes in +for most of his master's share, and who has an especial weakness for +bread and butter, feeds with a lack of enthusiasm which shows that he, +too, is not unaffected by the change of circumstances. And why not he +as well as his master? Here, no scamper over breezy downs, no life in +the strong, pure air of the salt sea, no sunshine and green fields, and +at other times no snug, cheerful rooms, where he may make himself +thoroughly at home. His walks are taken in gloomy streets, where he is +continually jostled and trodden on--his beautiful coat would seem to +have been given him expressly for the purpose of collecting pailsful of +metropolitan mud, and he himself is treated as the natural enemy of +mankind. Sticks and stones are slily hurled at him from alleys and +doorways; twice has a desperate attempt been made to steal him, only +failing the second time by great good luck, the fastening of the muzzle +into which his nose had been deftly betrayed, having given way, and he, +taking prompt advantage of the casualty, had nearly bitten off three of +the enemy's fingers, and made good his retreat. Park-keepers eye him +with no benevolent glance when he indulges in a scamper in those elysian +fields of public recreation, and, even there, other dogs resent his +intrusion, and would carry out the canine equivalent for "'eaving 'arf a +brick" far more than they do, were it not that Master Roy, good-tempered +as he naturally is, can make great and effective play with his eye-teeth +when roused--as more than one quarrelsome bull-terrier or black +retriever could testify in pain and sorrow for a fortnight after. + +Roland Dorrien's reflections as he sits in this dismal hole, trying to +imagine that he is breakfasting, are of the very gloomiest. More than a +month has gone by since he learned the worst, and as yet he is without +plans for the future. Of his own free will and by his own act he has +cut himself adrift from all who might have befriended him in his +extremity. No, rather he prefers to sink or swim--probably the former-- +alone. A few days after we last saw him, Venn received a few lines +notifying that he thought it better under the circumstances to take +himself out of everybody's way for a time--most likely he should go +abroad, but anyhow, had settled nothing; and Venn, on receipt thereof, +had repaired post haste to his friend's lodgings, only to find he had +kept his word. He had disappeared, literally, leaving no trace. And +the good-hearted stock-broker had been sorely apprehensive. Men had +been known to do queer things with far less excuse than Dorrien might +show, and his pulse would beat quicker more than once when he came upon +newspaper reports of any of those ghastly "finds" only too common in the +metropolis. And Dr Ingelow, too, who had run up to Town for the +purpose, had enquired so anxiously, and seemed so distressed, that he, +Venn, could give him absolutely no tidings. Dorrien was a queer fellow, +to go and cut all his friends in that way, but then, he was always given +to making the worst of things; however, it was to be hoped that some day +he would turn up again, and things might come right; and so honest Venn, +if he did not altogether dismiss the matter from his thoughts, soon +brought himself to regard it with no great anxiety, and plied his daily +avocations as if nothing had happened. "Every man for himself" is the +world's motto--and _vae victis_! + +And now, within a few streets of him--yet as completely hidden as if on +a solitary rock in the Northern Hebrides--Roland sits, engaged in his +usual occupation--brooding. What is there left that makes this wretched +life worth dragging on any longer? Why should he not end it? Even if +he will prolong it, he must toil hard at some uncongenial drudgery till +the end of his days--harder than the broad-arrow-wearing wretch, +wheeling his barrow in the quarries of Portland. He must sink into a +mere machine,--lose sight of the fact that he had ever known better +things, as completely as if it had been a dream. He must be prepared to +place himself at the beck and call of others--of low, repellant cads, it +might be--in order to earn a scanty wage, to put up with the +bumptiousness, the insolence of some snob in authority, and be thankful +for the privilege of existing. No--never! Better perpetual sleep-- +oblivion--annihilation. Then he would laugh bitterly to himself. Why, +even such a mill-horse lot was barred to him. He was quite useless. +His neglected, pitch-and-toss kind of "dragging-up" had been such as to +fit him for nothing, and here, in the fierce competition for the morsels +that enabled men just to keep body and soul together, where would he be? +Nowhere. He was not of the material to hold his own amongst the +raying, hungry crowd competing for a starvation pittance. At times a +plan would suggest itself as his thoughts turned towards the Western +wilds, where five years of his life had been spent. There, at any rate, +he might be free. There life might be just worth living. He was fond +of shooting--might he not adopt the life of a professional hunter, +supporting himself by the proceeds of his rifle? The rolling plains and +the vast silent forests, the serrated ridges of the distant sierras +crowned with their dazzling snowcaps, the blue sky and the free air of +heaven--surely this would be a good exchange for the gloom and filth and +indescribable desolation of the great, murky city! Twice he had been on +the point of sailing, and both times he had thought better of it--or +worse--at the last moment, and had stayed. An insane, yet +overmastering, impulse made him cling to the land which contained his +heart's shrine, and, although utterly without hope, yet he could not +bring himself to place the ocean between them--not yet. + +And now this morning the dingy room, with its glaring, vulgar adornments +(!), fades from his gaze, as in imagination he is back at Wandsborough. +Every one of those hours, too lightly valued at the time, he has +mentally gone through again and again. Every tone of a certain voice-- +every expression of a certain very sweet and bewitching face, from the +moment he first espied that latter in Wandsborough Church, is present in +his memory now as vividly as though he were actually living through the +bygone time all over again. + +"Please, sir, Missus says can I clear away?" + +The whole picture fades as suddenly as did its reality a few weeks ago, +as in a rich cockney twang the unkempt, down-at-heel slavey prefers the +above request. + +He moves to the window. The outlook is about as inspiriting as that of +a London by-street usually is. A barrel organ, grinding out a popular +melody, as though it were a dirge, heaves in sight and sound; and a gang +of woeful and decrepit bipeds from a neighbouring Union is discharging +its burden upon the ratepayers by shovelling the mud and slush from the +middle of the street in mechanical and dejected fashion. He glances at +the clock, but there is relief rather than consternation in his mind as +he awakens to the lateness of the hour--relief, that he should already +have got through so much of the morning. How many mornings were to be +got through on this side of--what? + +"Come, Roy. Out!" + +The dog jumps up and works himself into something like his usual state +of excitement attendant upon the welcome summons, and they sally forth. +The street is one of those in the vicinity of Hyde Park, and thither +they turn their steps. At any rate it is open--and away tears Roy, +trying perhaps to imagine himself on the turfy slopes about Minchkil +Beacon as he scampers over the grass, scattering the few sooty +disconsolate sheep right and left. Entering near the Marble Arch, +Roland walks straight across, nor pauses till the bridge on the +Serpentine is reached. It is a dull grey day, and the air is steely and +cold. He stands on the bridge, lazily trying to imagine that he is +gazing upon a broad river with its green sloping banks shaded by +feathery elms, away in the heart of the sweet, peaceful country. The +leaves have hardly begun to fall, and save for the muffled din of +traffic, there is little to betoken the proximity of a mighty city. +Then he wanders on, and eventually reaches the Round Pond. + +"That's a fine dog of yours, sir." + +Quickly he looks up at the speaker, a man of about his own age, and who +wears the appearance of most well-to-do English gentlemen with nothing +remarkable about them, and assents. Then the other, who is evidently of +a communicative disposition, launches out into a dissertation upon dogs +in general and dogs in London in particular, and the drawbacks attendant +upon their comfort and well-being in the metropolis; and Roland, nothing +loth, finds himself conversing with something like zest. It is long +since he has exchanged an idea with anybody, and now he finds a certain +amount of diversion in this stranger's talk. Roy, too, seems to take to +him, for he wags his tail and suffers himself to be patted in a way that +is remarkable; for of late, like his master, though with different +reasons, he has taken to viewing all mankind with suspicion. + +"And so he comes from America, does he?" says the stranger again. "Do +you know, I haven't seen a dog I fancied so for a long time, and I've +often seen you and him here before to-day. Now, I hope it's no +offence--and, if it is, I really beg pardon--but you wouldn't feel +disposed to part with him, I suppose?" + +Part with him! Part with Roy--dear, true-hearted Roy, his second self, +the one faithful friend who shared his exile. The idea seemed to sting +him like a lash! Yet, why should it? He need only answer in the +negative, and there wae no harm done. But the question had seemed to +come significantly at this moment, for of late he had been haunted by a +growing conviction that the time for such a parting was not far distant. + +"Oh, no offence, of course," he replied quietly, but there is a troubled +look in his eyes which the other sees and makes a mental note of. "But +I don't want to part with him." + +"Of course. I can quite understand your not relishing the question," +says the stranger good-humouredly. "I hate to be asked to sell a +favourite dog myself. But--at the risk of being importunate--if ever +you should want to sell him, would you mind giving me the first offer? +You shall name your own price. Fact is, I've taken an extraordinary +fancy to him. Here's an address that'll always find me." + +Under the circumstances Roland thinks there is no harm in accepting the +card which the other tenders him, and which bears an address in +Kensington, and the name of his new acquaintance, he learns through the +same agency, is Frank Marsland. But he does not feel bound to +reciprocate the confidence, and after a little more conversation they +part: Roland, to dismiss the matter completely from his mind, as he +makes his way back to his rooms, and the stranger to wonder who the +deuce that good-looking fellow can be who seems to haunt the Round Pond +with that splendid dog, and who always looks, by Jove! as if he had +committed a murder or was about to commit one. + + + +CHAPTER TWENTY FOUR. + +A TRESPASSER. + +"Nellie," said Hubert Dorrien to his sister, as he was hurrying through +an early breakfast on the morning of his departure for Oxford, "do you +ever hear from Roland?" + +"No--why?" said the girl, with a startled glance around. + +"Because--well, do you know anything about the state of his affairs? I +mean, had he any interest in this Tynnestop Bank? I've a sort of hazy +idea he had, don't you see?" + +Nellie turned very pale. + +"Is--is there anything wrong with it?" + +"By jingo!" replied Hubert with a whistle and stare of surprise. +"Ra-ther! Why, it went up the gum--bang--smash. Heaps of fellows +ruined--one that I know. But that was more than a month ago. Surely +you had heard." + +"Never--until this moment. Hubert, I wonder if papa knows. Why, every +shilling Roland had was invested in it." + +"No!" + +"It was, though. Oh Hubert, and now he may be--starving perhaps!" cried +the girl, choking down a sob. "What is to be done? We don't even know +where he is?" + +"By Jove!" muttered Hubert gloomily. "If the veteran knew he might +arrange something, eh? It's hard luck on a fellow to be suddenly +cleaned out." + +He was thinking of that cheque which his brother had sent him on the +very day of his ruin. Comparing notes, Hubert now saw that Roland must +have heard the fatal news immediately after--probably the same day--yet +he had made no attempt to back out of his promise. Hubert Dorrien was +by nature bad all round, shallow, intensely selfish and thoroughly mean; +yet even he felt uncomfortable as he thought of how sorely his brother +might be in need of that very sum he had so generously lent--if not +given--him. And yet to-day he was no more in a position to repay it +than he had been at the time to satisfy the demand to meet which it was +borrowed. But he strove to quiet his conscience. He would repay it +some day; besides, now it was impossible, for no one knew where the +deuce Roland was to be found--in fact, it was his own fault for hiding +himself away from everybody. Yes--that would do. It was Roland's own +fault. And conscience slumbered anon. + +But all further discussion of the wanderer's affairs was arrested by the +entrance of their parents, and immediately the dog-cart drove round to +the door to take Hubert to the station. A cold hand-shake from his +father, and many final injunctions from his mother about avoiding +draughts, sitting back to the engine, etc, all of which were somewhat +impatiently received, and Master Hubert was bowling away at the rate of +ten miles per hour towards Wandsborough Road Station, whence his brother +had departed some weeks earlier, bearing with him a crushing load of +heart-break and unexpected ruin. But no thought of this crossed the +mind of this amiable youth, as he lounged back in a first-class smoking +compartment, puffing at a choice Cabana. If he thought of his +unfortunate brother at all, it was only with an uneasy fear lest he +should ever be reinstated at Cranston, which would make all the +difference in the world to his--Hubert's--prospects. + +Poor Nellie was in a grievous state of woe, and yet she must stifle her +feelings. More than once in the course of breakfast the General coldly +asked her if she was unwell, and her mother, guessing her grief was not +on account of the brother who had just driven away from the door, and +resenting the fact, made one or two amiable comments thereon in her most +withering of tones. But at last the dismal meal came to an end, and she +was free to wander away and indulge her grief when and where she chose. + +Assuredly she had known nothing of this last blow which had fallen upon +her unhappy brother--until this morning. She knew of the awful quarrel +between him and their father, of course, and she guessed that Olive +Ingelow was the subject of dispute--but this last stroke of Fate she had +never even dreamt of. Roland was apt to be close about his private +affaire, and it was only by the merest chance he had mentioned to her +that he intended some day to withdraw from the ill-fated investment, and +that, just before the crash. Probably her father knew, but beyond +themselves no one in the neighbourhood would have any idea that the +rather sensational financial crash could affect her or hers, and as she +seldom took up a newspaper the knowledge of it had escaped her. + +She threw a wrap around her and strolled out of doors. How desolate the +ornamental water looked on this chill, grey, autumn morning! The swans +greeted her approach with a resentful croak, and floated ill-humouredly +away to a reed-sheltered corner. The boats, drawn up high and dry +within their shed, looked forlorn and neglected, and the rustic bench +where she and the absent brother had lounged away many a sunny hour of +sultry morning or drowsy afternoon, was bestrewn with damp, fallen +leaves. All the surroundings combined to strike a cold and desolate +chill to poor Nellie's heart. If only that brother were back again. +She might have made much more of him, and now it was too late. The +result of this dreadful quarrel was a foregone issue. Neither would +ever relent, of that there could be not the smallest doubt. She sank +down upon the rustic seat, and, secure in this secluded spot from all +intrusion, gave way to her grief. + +But it happened that not so far from this spot, though concealed from it +by a thick belt of shrubbery, ran a public road. It further happened, +that on this particular morning, the figure of a tall pedestrian, a gun +under his arm, might have been descried upon this road, clearly bent on +reaching the arena of slaughter, wherever it was, at the rate of four +and a half miles an hour. He was whistling, too, with all the +light-heartedness of a healthy, energetic undergraduate, with whom Black +Care has never yet shaken hands. Suddenly this pedestrian stopped +short, and stood listening intently. A sound as of low sobbing--there +could be no mistake about it. + +"By Jove!" exclaimed Eustace to himself, transfixed with amazement. +"Now what the deuce can this mean? Here goes, anyhow, for clearing it +up!" + +He vaulted over the low paling, advanced a step, and then stood +irresolute. It occurred to him that he might be--probably was-- +intruding, and whatever was the matter it could not possibly be any +business of his. It was a woman's voice, too, and somehow it struck him +as that of a refined and educated one--in fact, a lady. Though not +naturally shy, the Oxonian yet hesitated. He was quick to realise that +his intrusion might prove unwelcome to the last degree. Again he +paused, but now the distressed one, catching sight of him through the +rapidly-thinning foliage, started up in alarm. The knot of the +difficulty was cut. + +"Miss Dorrien, pray pardon my intrusion," he began flurriedly. "The +fact is I--I heard--er--I--I'm awfully grieved that anything should have +happened to distress you. Do believe that?" + +His tones, though stammering, were very feeling. His handsome face was +thoroughly earnest and in his eyes was a tender sympathetic light. The +first shock of his unexpected appearance over, Nellie experienced a +feeling of satisfaction in his presence. + +"You are very kind, Mr Ingelow; but really it is nothing," she answered +confusedly. "But--No, it is nothing." + +"Won't you give me a great pleasure, Miss Dorrien--the possibility of +being able to help you, or, if not that, of being able to sympathise?" +pleaded Eustace, all his former shyness put to flight. What a sweet +girl Nellie Dorrien was! he thought; indeed, it may as well be confessed +that he had thought about her a good deal since their meeting at +Bankside, and also that the chaff with which his sisters had plied him +on the subject, had partaken far more of the nature of the "true word +spoken in jest" than he allowed to appear. And now to find her again, +like this! What susceptible heart aged twenty-two could resist such an +appeal as beauty in distress, especially when strongly predisposed in +favour of said beauty? + +And Nellie? She had met the rector's son but once since that festive +gathering, and then only for a few minutes in a room full of people. +But she had greatly liked him, and her interest in him had not been +decreased by the cutting, virulent remarks in which her father was wont +to indulge from time to time when reminded of the obnoxious youth's +existence. And now, as he suddenly appeared before her in grief, +looking so strong and brave and handsome, and withal so gentle and +sympathetic, she felt quite soothed by his presence. + +"Mr Ingelow, I am in great distress about Roland," she answered, +looking up. "I've only just heard of--of that last cruel blow, which +happened to him." (A sob.) "He is ruined--he may be starving now--and +we don't even know where he is. It is cruel to think of. And no one +but myself cares a straw whether he is alive or dead," she added +bitterly. + +"Don't say that, Miss Dorrien," said Eustace gently, his heart somewhere +in the region of his throat. "Indeed you are mistaken. We all liked +him so much. In fact, my father went up to London to see if--if--we +could be of any use to him, although Venn wrote to say it was quite +useless, as Dorrien seemed to have made up his mind to cut himself +adrift from everybody--in fact, had disappeared, and that it was +impossible to trace him. And it was. But don't be downhearted. We are +sure to hear from him soon." + +"Your father did this?" said Nellie. "How good he is!" + +"He is all that--the dear old `padre.' I don't mean on this account," +explained Eustace. "But he liked your brother very much, as, in fact, +we all did." + +Listening to, and sympathising with, Nellie's trouble, Eustace blessed +the luck which had brought him that way this morning. She looked so +pretty and engaging as, the first feeling of shyness over, she talked to +him as freely as if she had known him all her life. And time went by so +quickly that somehow or other he clean forgot about the tempting day's +rabbit-shooting which awaited him at the goal whither his steps had been +tending, and where two other ardent sportsmen were heartily +anathematising "that lazy beggar, Ingelow, who seemed to think it was +all the same, by George! if they didn't begin to put in the ferrets till +the afternoon." Forgot everything, except that a sweetly pretty girl, +with the most delicious blue eyes and brown wavy hair, was pouring her +grief into his sympathising ear, and that he was pledging himself again +and again to move heaven and earth to find the object of that grief. + +Suddenly a sound of approaching footsteps, Nellie looked up, and turned +as white as a sheet. + +"Go--go!" she cried. "Quick! It's papa." + +"Whoever it is it's too late to go, for he'll have seen me," replied +Eustace quietly, but fearlessly. "But keep perfectly cool, and don't +show any sign of alarm. It isn't your father." + +Nor was it. It was, however, a personage who might, though vicariously, +prove not much less formidable. + +"Good-morning, sir. But it'll be raining presently, I'm thinking!" said +Johnston, the head-gardener, as he walked by the pair. And although his +tone was civil, even good-natured, Eustace was not slow to mark a look +of exultant malice in the Scot's cunning features. His turn had come +now. + +"Oh, Mr Ingelow!" cried Nellie aghast, when the man had gone by. "What +if Johnston were to let out to papa, that--that he had--seen you here?" + +"But he won't. Why should he?" said Eustace gaily. "No fear of that, I +should think. And what a trespasser I am--here, with a gun." All the +same he was very uneasy in his own mind, remembering the fellow's +parting shot in the Rectory garden. + +"I think I had better go in," said Nellie, who was really frightened. +"Good-bye, Mr Ingelow. Thank you very, very much for your kindness +to-day. And you will let me know when you hear anything of poor +Roland." + +"Indeed, I will," answered the young man earnestly, taking both her +hands in his, and pressing them very tightly. "And--Nellie--I shall not +see you again till Christmas. I am going back to Oxford to-morrow. But +you will let me see you then in spite of that awful parent of yours. +Good-bye--my darling?" + +It slipped out. A start. A tell-tale, blushing face--then--a kiss. +But the colour faded from the girl's cheek, which grew white again. + +"Hark! Someone is coming. Please go--Eustace--and--good-bye." + +She was really alarmed, and it would be cruel of him to stay a moment +longer. But his heart was light within him. She had called him +"Eustace," and had spoken affectionately to him. A hasty, murmured +word, and he was gone. + +And as Eustace Ingelow regained the high road, it seemed that five years +had been added to his life since he leaped that low paling into Cranston +Park, barely an hour before. He had gone in there a light-hearted, +thoughtless boy--he returned a man, with a new purpose to engross his +life. + +That evening the rector received a note. He could not repress a start +as his eye fell upon the Dorrien crest and legend stamped on the flap of +the envelope. Had the wanderer decided to return to them at last! A +second glance, however, showed that the letter was not a postal missive, +but had been delivered by hand. Breaking it open, this is what he read: + + "General Dorrien present his compliments to the Rector of Wandsborough + and Mr Eustace Ingelow, and begs to remind the latter gentleman that + no portion of Cranston Park is, in any sense, public property, and + also to draw his attention to more than one notice-board there placed, + which affects the question of trespass. + + "General Dorrien takes the further liberty of remarking that + _gentlemen_, having occasion to communicate with young ladies living + under the care of their parents, would, in his opinion, be acting more + honourably by obtaining lawful sanction prior to such communication, + rather than by meeting clandestinely in secluded corners of the said + parents' private grounds. + + "Cranston Hall. + + "Thursday." + +A flush of anger came over the rector's face as he read this precious +missive, which, though the sender had bare legal right on his side, was +clearly intended as a studied insult. Then he dropped it, as if it were +something loathsome, and quietly busied himself again with the work +which he had in hand. But when the girls had gone to bed he called his +son into his study. + +"Eustace, turn in here and smoke your pipe. It's warmer than in that +belittered den of yours upstairs." + +"All right, dad. I'll just run up and put on a `blazer.'" + +"--There," as he returned in the oldest and most comfortable of loose +jackets. "Now, dad, we'll be able to have our last smoke for a couple +of months or so, in snugness and quietude," he added, laying a hand +affectionately on his father's arm, as he slipped past him, and made for +his favourite easy chair. + +The rector wheeled back his chair, and glanced with fond, trusting pride +at his bright, strong, handsome son. + +"Read that, Eustace," he said, with a slight sigh. "And now, my boy, +tell me all about it." + +The young man's face reddened as he took in the contents of the note, +and he let fall one or two expressions highly uncomplimentary to the +Squire of Cranston. Then he obeyed his father's request to the very +letter. + +The rector listened with clouded brow. There seemed to be a kind of +fatality lying between his house and that of the Dorriens. First Olive, +and now Eustace--both, by the way, his favourite children. He foresaw +endless trouble in the circumstance. But trouble must be faced and +overcome, not shirked--was his creed. If the boy was really in earnest, +why, an early attachment of this kind might not be a bad thing for him; +the more refining influences at work over a young man's life the better. +He knew nothing of Nellie Dorrien, personally, but he had greatly liked +her appearance, and as for the opposition of her family, why, Eustace +was a man and must fight his own battles. It was different in Olive's +case. + +"You are sure you are in earnest about this, Eustace?" he said, when the +young fellow had finished his recital. "But you are very young yet, my +boy, just at the age for receiving impressions, and also for changing +them. What if, later, you were to find out you had been hasty, and had +come to think differently?" + +Needless to say, the answer was conclusive and decided--vehement even. +The rector smiled good-naturedly, as he encouraged his son to talk on +this congenial topic to his heart's content, while he listened. It had +always been his plan to cultivate his children's confidence to the very +utmost, and these evening talks over the social weed between father and +son, when the latter was at home, were of almost nightly occurrence. It +would have been a very strange thing, indeed, that would have impaired +the existing confidence between them. Certainly General Dorrien's +ill-conditioned missive was powerless to do so. + +"I'm afraid you must send him an apology, before you go, Eustace," said +the rector. "You see, strictly speaking, you were trespassing in his +grounds." + +"Well, yes. I suppose I must. I'll apologise to the old curmudgeon for +being in his park, but for nothing else," answered Eustace stoutly. +"And that sneaking rascal, Johnston, he's at the bottom of the mischief. +I could see it in his eye. Good-night, dad. Don't let this affair +worry you at all, whatever you do." + + + +CHAPTER TWENTY FIVE. + +HIS LAST FRIEND. + +Midwinter in the metropolis! + +If you are blessed with a sufficient income, a snug club, a cheerful +abode and a good digestion, there is nothing very terrible in the above. +But, if your shillings are scanty in number, and each one disbursed +with infinite reluctance, if you have been so long in a far country as +to be unknown to, or forgotten by, every living soul, if you are +condemned to pig it in a miserable slum, because needs must when the +devil drives--then, O friend and reader--Heaven help you! + +Midwinter in the metropolis! + +Streets knee-deep in black, slushy, half-melted snow; a pelting, +ceaseless rain falling from the opaque, lowering vapour above, which +makes one doubt the existence of Heaven's blue firmament otherwise than +in dreams; foot passengers with streaming umbrellas and muffled in vast +wraps, jostling each other angrily, as, red-nosed and watery-eyed, they +hurry through the rain and mire; then, as the short afternoon fades into +night, the yellow light of gas lamps and the glare of shop windows +reflects itself slimily on the sloppy pavements, and the breath of the +cab and omnibus horses mingles in a steamy cloud with the prevailing +dank and fog-laden atmosphere. + +On just such a day as this Roland Dorrien sits moodily in his dreary, +comfortless room, looking out into the darkling vista of rain and fog. +A tiny handful of fire flickers in the grate, hardly enough to make +itself felt twelve inches off, and though he is wrapped in a warm, thick +overcoat he shivers from time to time. He is looking very altered from +when we saw him last, three or four months ago, very pale, and haggard, +and hollow-eyed, and a frown is seldom altogether away from his brow; +but his clothes are not shabby, nor does his countenance wear the +neglected and unkempt aspect of a man who had come down so irretrievably +in the world as to be careless of appearances. His dark curling hair is +as neat, but his face is no longer clean-shaven, for he has allowed a +thickly-growing beard to hide it, in addition to the heavy, drooping +moustache. From a vestiary point of view he would seem as prosperous as +in the days when he was known to, and envied by, Wandsborough and its +neighbourhood as the future Squire of Cranston. But as a set-off +against this, he seldom indulges in more than one full meal a day, +sometimes not that. Prevention is better than cure, he thinks, and if +the pangs of hunger assail him, why, a crust of bread will stave it off +for the time being. As a consequence, his system is rapidly falling to +zero, and now he lives in a kind of lethargy which is half a waking +slumber. He goes out and comes in, taking not the slightest notice of +what transpires around him, and of society or acquaintances he has none. +In the intervals between his brooding fits, his pen affords him a +solace, and at times he will sit down and by the hour confide his +reflections to sympathising paper, strange, weird fancies and +reasonings, so startling and _bizarre_ in their wildness, that, but for +the strong, logical sequence running through them, they might be taken +for the ravings of delirium. + +As with food, so with other bodily comforts. Firing costs money, of +which he has but the scantiest store, wherefore he sits and shivers. +Tobacco he has hardly touched since his ruin, for the same reason, and +as for anything alcoholic he has almost forgotten what it was like. +There is method in his madness, and against this temptation he has set a +resolute face. It may be that he will soon find an unknown and nameless +grave, probably he will--indeed, this is a contingency he has quite +brought himself to contemplate with equanimity, but never will he sink +to the level of a raving, drink-sodden beast. Yet another danger, more +imminent still, he somehow overlooks. A little more of this morbid, +brooding life in its frightful loneliness, and the man will go mad. + +But if he himself overlooks the possibility, others do not. He has +changed his lodgings no less than three times in as many months, in +reality, obliged to do so by the fears of his respective landladies, who +didn't like to "'ave a gentleman in the 'ouse as was that queer--no, not +if you was to give them the whole Bank of England. Why, they might be +murdered any night in their beds." So one after another politely hinted +that they would rather have his room than his occupation, and to each +and all poor Roy afforded a ready pretext. + +And it is chiefly, in fact wholly, with Roy that his thoughts are +concerned, as we once more look in upon him this dark, desolate +afternoon. For it has come to this, that any moment, now, he may be +called upon to part with this faithful friend, who has been with him in +his prosperity, as through no inconsiderable portion of his adversity. +Roy is sold. + +Yes, sold, and his purchaser is the man who it will be remembered had +shown great anxiety to possess him on the occasion of meeting with his +master in Kensington Gardens. + +And how comes it that his master has brought himself to part with him? +The answer is simple. Necessity has no law. Hardly able to keep +himself, how shall he be able to keep Roy. The ruined exile foresees +the time when he must yield up the struggle which is not worth +maintaining: what then is to become of this attached and more than human +companion in adversity? And as, in imagination, he sees him the +property of some brute or cad, beaten and starved, and spending his days +chained to a miserable kennel, he makes up his mind to accept Mr +Marsland's offer. At any rate, Roy will be well-treated by his new +master, possibly so well that he may in time come to forget his old one. +Never mind, he must go; but it is with a very heavy heart that Roland +scribbles off a few lines to the address the other man had given him. +He purposely put the price low, he said, as that was only a secondary +consideration, the dog's future comfort and well-being was the chief +thing. If the other was disposed to agree, the sooner he sent for Roy +the better. + +A reply soon came. Mr Marsland was out of town, or would have called +himself; as it was he would send for Roy at a stipulated time. He was +sorry so little had been asked, as he himself would have been glad to +obtain the dog at a far larger figure. In reality, of course, he +understood the state of affairs, but being a good-hearted fellow and a +gentleman he divined that the other would rather be left alone, and +forebore to press the point. + +And so we find the exile sitting here to-day, momentarily expecting the +ring at the bell which shall summon him to deliver up his faithful +companion. The afternoon wears on. It will soon be dark, and now he +hopes that something may occur to delay the sad hour, at any rate until +the next morning. Poor Roy sits unsuspectingly, with his head on his +master's knee, his soft brown eyes watching his master's moody +countenance with a wistful gaze. + +Rat-tat, tat-tat-tat! goes the door knocker. Roy, who has become used +to persons passing in and out, takes no notice beyond a slight cocking +of his ears. A moment more, and the slipshod maid of all work appears, +ushering in-- + +"A gentleman, sir." + +With a sigh Roland looks up at the "gentleman," who might be a stableman +or an under-keeper, but is a decent-looking, civil fellow enough. + +"From Mr Marsland?" + +"Yes, sir. Can I take the dog now, sir?" + +"Yes." + +He goes into the other room, and returns with a chain and collar. Roy, +becoming alive to the import of the situation, backs under the table and +whines piteously. + +"Come here, Roy--come here, sir," says his master, in a voice that he +vainly strives to render firm. "You dear old fellow, you must go, +there's no help for it. Come." + +The dog obeys, and stands crestfallen, with a world of sad reproach in +his soft, pleading eyes, as his master fastens the collar round his +white, silky ruff, and kisses him in the middle of his smooth, glossy +forehead. + +"Now, good-bye, old dog, and don't forget your master too soon," and he +gives the chain to the man, who stands waiting. + +"Thankee, sir--good-evenin', sir. He'll go quiet enough directly, bless +him." + +They had reached the front door, Roy hanging back and tugging vigorously +at his chain. Roland stands looking after them down the street, in +order to see the last of his faithful friend. Suddenly Roy ceases his +struggles and trots along quietly for a few steps. Then he stops short. +A couple of sudden jerks and he is free. He has slipped his head +through the collar and comes running back to his master, and presses +against him, looking up into his face with such a piteous whine. + +"Good God! There's nothing like piling on the agony," mutters Roland +between his set teeth, as he readjusts the collar, drawing the strap +tighter, the dog licking his face all the while. "Here--take him away-- +and--stop, there's half a crown for yourself. And mind you take +devilish good care of the dog if you have anything to do with him." + +Now, the man was an honest countryman, and, unspoiled by any taint of +socialism, he still entertained a hearty respect for his betters, and "a +gentleman down on his luck" was in his eyes an object for reverential +sympathy. He had taken in the bare, mean vulgarity of the room in which +its occupant looked so sadly out of place--and his natural shrewdness +told him that the other would not have parted with the dog save under +the direst stress of circumstances. So he stammered, and looked +nervous, as he tried to refuse the proffered gratuity in a suitable +manner. + +"Thankee kindly, sir. But master, he don't let none of us take anything +from gentlemen, except when they's down for the shootin'," answers the +man, hitting upon the only excuse he could invent. "But it's thank ye +kindly, sir, all the same, and I'll take downright good care of the dog. +Good-evenin', sir." + +The now sole occupant of the room feels desolate and lonely indeed. +There is Roy's pan of water, and the few crumbs remaining from the +dog-biscuits Roy had for his dinner. How silent and intolerable the +room feels without him. His last friend! + +And now a resolve takes root in his mind, a wild and desperate resolve, +and it was partly with this idea that he brought himself to accept a +price for Roy. Even now he had better dismiss it, and accept the +situation, and hasten on towards oblivion. It is not too late. + +Nebuchadnezzar, we read, was transformed into a beast of the field. +There comes a time, or times, in most men's lives when they undergo a +similar metamorphosis. Such a time had come to Roland Dorrien. He was +transformed into--an ass. + +Nature, however, was willing to do her best for him, by upsetting, if +possible, his wise resolve above referred to. When he tried to rise the +following morning, his head was throbbing with an agonising pain, and +his consciousness only permitted him to realise one fact--that to move +from his bed that day would be a stark impossibility. + + + +CHAPTER TWENTY SIX. + +TWO MEETINGS. + +For three days Roland lay in his shabby lodgings, too ill to stir from +his bed; and but for the consciousness that, if he would accomplish his +purpose, he must rouse himself, and determine to rally, the probability +is that he would never have risen from it at all. + +The effort must be made. His vitality, sadly impaired by a long course +of semi-starvation, must be restored by the contrary treatment. He was +not going to die in any such squalid hole as this, among the dirty and +repellant semblances of humanity, who, under the circumstances, +grudgingly ministered to his wants. Not he. He would get up; try +whether the air would set him on his legs again, and if so, would +certainly carry out his plan the very next day. His funds, considerably +replenished by the price of parting with his last, faithful friend, +would enable him to do this, only it must be done at once, and then-- +afterwards! Well, he had a plan. + +Rising with an effort from his bed, Roland proceeded to dress himself, +with infinite difficulty, for he felt wretchedly weak and dazed. Then +at the picture which his distorted and cracked mirror presented him +with, he fairly started. His beard, which he had allowed to grow at +will since his misfortunes, was now plentifully streaked with grey, and +with such alarming suddenness had this come about that he stared at his +reflected face in amazement. Then he remembered with sardonic +bitterness that this circumstance would yet further aid his plans. Who +would recognise him now? + +It was afternoon when he sallied forth. With a pang he missed his +attached companion, and his sense of loneliness seemed enhanced tenfold. +The short winter day was already closing in, and a keen north-easter, +wafting particles of sleet from the black and riftless sky, chilled him +to the bone. Anything, though, rather than remain longer in the +frightful depression of his dingy rooms. + +The dark sky and the winter gloom struck him as an earnest of what life +was to be henceforth. The pinched and sour expression on the +countenance of the British public struggling in the teeth of the biting +north-easter, reflected aptly the attitude of the world towards him who +is irrevocably down. Nothing was above a certain value--not even life, +for may not life itself be held on terms too hard? + +His wanderings had brought him to Charing Cross, and walking a little +way up the Strand he turned into a well-known tavern to dine. Then it +occurred to him that he might as well look out a certain train. + +But the A.B.C. time-table, requisite for this purpose, was not among the +resources of the establishment. + +"Where can I get one, then?" he asked. + +"We can send out for one, sir," said the waiter. + +"Then do." + +Not till an hour had passed was the A.B.C. put into his hands. + +"Why the devil have you been so long about it?" he asked, rendered +irritable by the fatigue and excitement of the day, as he snatched it in +eager haste, and his hands trembled as he turned over the leaves. + +"What the devil are you staring at now?" he cried, looking up and +meeting the glance of the waiter, who was watching him curiously. The +man muttered a word of apology and hastened away. + +At length he found the train he wanted, put a mark against it, and +turned down the corner of the page. Then he fell into a profound +reverie. Suddenly he started up, paid his bill and hurried away. + +"Tom," said the waiter who had attended on him, hailing a colleague. +"See that cove just gone out?" + +"Yes." + +"Should you know him again?" + +"Swear to him anywhere," was the laconic reply. + +"'E's a queer 'un. Look. 'E's left his time-table that he kicked up +such a blessed row about gettin'. Wonder where 'e's a-goin'. Look +'ere, it's turned down and marked." + +At that moment Roland had suddenly come to a standstill in the street, +and like the proverbial Caledonian, was swearing "at large." For it had +dawned upon him that he had forgotten his A.B.C. Should he go back for +it? No; too far. He would get another. + +But little he dreamed what gigantic importance to his weal or woe that +trivial act of forgetfulness would one day assume. + +The cold was cutting, and just now a gust of driving sleet swept down +upon him, and in contrast he became aware of the glaring portico of a +variety theatre just in front. There at any rate he would be warm. +Once within, seated, with something to drink in front of him, and +smoking a cigar--the first for several long months--he gave himself up +to a sheer sense of warmth and physical comfort, which, combined with +the effects of the stimulants, produced a state of dreamy placidity. To +the performance he paid no attention whatever. Turn after turn was the +same, dull, tawdry, idiotic--but each intensely respectable in its +vulgar way. + +Overcome by the stuffiness of the place, he went out for a little while. +On his return the house was in a ferment of excitement. The star +performer of the evening had just been on--and off; an athletic +exhibition apparently, as the attendants were removing a net and tight +rope, among other things; and a popular one, for some belated +hand-clapping was still going on. But for him it had no more interest +than had any of the others, nor did the overheard remarks made by those +in the neighbourhood--to the effect that they wouldn't have missed it +for anything--strike him with any overwhelming sense of loss. Then, as +the performance drew to an end, he made his way into the street. + +The sleet showers had ceased, the wind had gone down, and the night, +clear and fine, was an agreeable contrast to the confined atmosphere and +garish interior of the theatre. Roland, threading the hurrying crowds +homeward-bound from the numerous places of entertainment, felt small +inclination to follow their example. He preferred the open air. +Strolling down Whitehall, unaware of a figure in a long ulster following +at some little distance behind, he reached Westminster Bridge. It +seemed very still and quiet here. The bridge was destitute of +passers-by, and the double crescent of lights twinkled like eyes upon +the dark waters. The tide was at ebb, and the black current swirled +beneath the piers with many a hiss and hollow gurgle, and the solitary +watcher felt chained to the spot by a weird and intangible fascination. +Just then, with sepulchral boom, "Great Tom" began tolling the hour of +midnight. + +The pedestrian turned to retrace his steps. As he did so the figure in +the ulster stopped suddenly, and faced him. The move had been well +timed. Roland gave a great start, and stared in bewildered fashion upon +the face confronting him in the full glare of the lamplight, for he was +looking into the limpid blue eyes of Lizzie Devine. + +"Well!" she said, and there was a flash of white teeth as the full lips +parted into a very attractive smile, which broadened into a little laugh +at the sudden and cold look of disapproval which had frozen up the +expression of the other's face. "That's right, think the worst of me," +she went on. "Only, if you do, you happen to be wrong--though it's +little enough difference it would make to you, I should suppose, even if +you weren't." + +"What on earth are you doing up here, Lizzie?" he said, ignoring the +"feeler." + +"Left Cranston for good, eh?" + +"Don't know. I left soon after you did, so can't give you all the +latest news, I'm afraid." + +"There never is any down there, so that's no loss," he said with +affected carelessness. But not for a moment did it deceive the other, +and a great wave of pitiful tenderness welled up within her heart. She +had all the admiration of her class for "gameness," and now, as she +noted the ravages which ill-fortune and consequent ill-health had +wrought upon the appearance of this man, she needed none to tell her to +what depths of poverty he had dropped. Yet he carried it--for her +benefit at any rate--with the same careless ease as he had done the +enviable circumstances under which they had last met. + +"Why did you go out just before my `turn,' and come back just after?" +she said. "Did you know it was me?" + +"Your `turn'?" he repeated mystified. "Very sorry, but I don't quite +follow." + +"You were in the Abracadabra the whole evening, and the only turn you +missed was mine." + +He began to see. This, then, was Lizzie's line at present, yet how on +earth, under the absurd and Italianised stage-name on the programme, +even if it had attracted his attention at all, could he ever have +dreamed of looking for Lizzie Devine? + +"Why, of course, I had no idea it was you," he said. + +"Well, you see, you needn't have looked so black and suspicious at me. +I'm a first-rate draw there, I can tell you, and that's worth something +a week. And I've got other engagements sticking out that are better +still." + +"I'm delighted to hear it, Lizzie. And--how well you're looking!" + +"That's more than you are," she said quickly, the glow of pride and +pleasure evoked by the compliment from his lips giving way to a helpless +feeling of compunction and concern as she looked at him, the while in a +confused whirl her thoughts were chasing each other round and round. +She had heard enough of Cranston gossip to know what had happened +between General Dorrien and his eldest son, and now the appearance of +the latter, accidentally encountered after all this time, had enabled +her shrewdly to fill up the gap. What could she do? If only she could +help him. She had gone up in the world materially, and was going up +still more--not by reason of her performance, which was only average, +but by her rare physical attractiveness--and was commanding large +salaries. Yet withal, she had kept straight by reason of the memory of +the man talking with her here to-night; but ah! what a wreck he was +compared with his former self, and the reason thereof nobody was more +capable of appreciating. Yet she knew she was as powerless to help him +in the slightest degree as yon ragged tramp "singing" outside the +public-house over the road just before closing time; and that apart from +the certainty that now he only saw her as the daughter of a flagrantly +drunken and disreputable village rowdy. + +"Getting late, isn't it?" he said, misinterpreting her silence. "We +might drop in somewhere and get a `split' or something before closing +time." + +"We'll drop in and get something--yes," she answered decisively, "but +nowhere else than in my own place. You're not too proud, are you-- +remembering old times on the other side? No, you can't be." + +He laughed wearily. "I don't know. I'm not much up to conviviality +these days. I think I'll go and turn in. Fact is I'm beastly tired." + +"Great Scott, but that's a fine girl!" said a voice behind, obviously +not intended to be heard by its object or her escort. "Wonder if she'll +be as disappointing as to the face." + +"They generally are," said another. + +There was that in the tone to make Roland Dorrien start. Three young +men in evening dress and crush hats overtook and passed them, and +simultaneously three heads came round to look at his companion. But one +head remained around a moment longer than the others, and it took in not +only the face of the girl but that of himself, and in it he beheld once +more the face of his brother Hubert. And it needed not the start the +latter gave to show that the recognition was not one-sided. + + + +CHAPTER TWENTY SEVEN. + +INTERIM. + +Christmas had come and gone, and Eustace Ingelow was at home again, but +things were not going well with him, and he was in consequence +proportionately gloomy. Never, since the day he surprised her in the +midst of her grief, had he had the chance of speaking to Nellie Dorrien +alone. Whether by accident or design, she had been invited to visit a +relative at a distance for Christmas. She had left Cranston a few days +before his arrival, and it seemed unlikely that her return would take +place before his departure, and he had failed in his undertaking, for no +trace could he discover of her missing brother. Venn had written +stating that he feared they would see no more of Roland Dorrien until +such time as that worthy chose to disclose his whereabouts. And +Eustace's heart had sunk. If Venn, a London man, could not trace his +friend, what chance had he himself, who could bring neither time nor +experience to bear upon his quest? His failure and misgivings he had +made known to Nellie, who had recognised the force of them. Poor +Eustace, however, was very unhappy. He had been looking forward to the +Christmas vacation with the bright, warm glow of first love fresh at his +heart, and with all the sanguine buoyancy of youth. Things would come +right somehow. But, now that his hopes were so cruelly disappointed, +and that the meetings, all the sweeter if stolen, to which he had been +looking forward, were not to be, the poor fellow hardly knew how to +conceal his despondency. In Olive he found a ready sympathiser, but +hers was a sympathy that was all on one side. Never since the receipt +of that last letter from Roland Dorrien had the girl opened her lips on +the subject of her griefs to any living soul. It was a strange +reticence--yet one that she heroically and rigidly preserved, and now, +though she entered lovingly into poor Eustace's troubles, of her own she +breathed not one word. With such elements of despondency in their midst +it was not to be wondered at that Christmas festivities this year had +seemed to the rector's family to fall somewhat flat. + +At Cranston Hall the chronic atmosphere of gloom and constraint in +nowise tended to a clearance, and Time, so far from allaying General +Dorrien's resentment towards his eldest son, rather tended to heighten +it; as one or two incidents showed. Mr Curtis, the easy-going but +good-hearted vicar of Cranston, happening to be aware of the complete +ruin in which the exiled one had been involved through the bank failure, +took an opportunity of cautiously approaching this vindictive parent on +his behalf, but was met with such an angry rebuff as would have +constituted a mortal insult to a less good-natured man, but which the +easy-tempered vicar had suffered to pass over him unresented. It was +only his duty, he argued to his wife, to try and set things smooth if +possible; if not, well, he had done his best. The exile's other +advocate was Colonel Neville, who had thought Christmas a capital time +for putting in his word, but with like result; and the Colonel falling +far short of the parson in the quality of forbearance, something very +like a quarrel had taken place between the old friends and +companions-in-arms, and a coolness set in between their two houses. + +Alone in this uncongenial home poor Nellie had a bad time of it. Her +father seldom addressed a word to her, or indeed, to anybody--for as his +moroseness increased he would shut himself up in his study for hours or +wander about by himself, going nowhere nor entertaining anybody, and +since he had discovered the meeting between herself and Eustace Ingelow +he had treated her as though very little better than her banished +brother. Between herself and her mother there had never been any +sympathy, and now there seemed to be less than any. One bright spot was +on her horizon--Christmas would come, and she would see Eustace again, +and to that she looked forward as to a forlorn hope. And Christmas had +come, and previously to it she had been sent away, as we have seen, a +procedure which, at any other time and under other circumstances, would +have met with her unbounded approval. But now? + +The only one whose spirits were in nowise impaired was Hubert. Why, +indeed, should they be, seeing that he was now the assured heir to the +broad acres and splendid rent-roll of Cranston? So on the strength of +his prospects he found means of launching out into unlimited +dissipation. He was now leaving Oxford, and had already mapped out for +himself a dazzlingly attractive programme for the enjoyment of "life" +when he should take up his abode in London in a week or two to read for +his "call." Meanwhile, even in Wandsborough, Master Hubert found scope +for some very lively doings, and was only restrained just within the +bounds of prudence by the fear of certain of his high jinks reaching the +paternal ears, which possibility kept him in a state of periodical and +wholesome terror. And there was always the apprehension that +circumstances might combine to restore Roland to his rightful place, +which would mean nothing less than ruin to himself. + +That "no one is all bad" is a favourite cant--but only a cant. In +common with not a few others Hubert Dorrien was "all bad"--emphatically +so. There was not a single redeeming point in his character, not even +the boldness which frequently attends utter want of scruple. The latter +quality he possessed in affluent measure, but ever subordinate to the +stronger passion of fear. His brother had helped him, very much to his +own hindrance, in his dire need, and not only was he dead to all sense +of gratitude, but felt only too glad that circumstances afforded him a +colourable excuse for neglecting to refund the loan now that he wae in a +position to do so. + +And towards that brother he now felt all the bitter hatred, begotten of +fear and a sense of obligation, of which his base and craven nature was +capable, and, as fate would have it, the circumstance detailed in a +former chapter placed an efficient weapon in his hand. Rumour began to +circulate in Wandsborough, and with multifold winks and head-shakings, +and "I told you so," and "What else could you expect?" the many-tongued +assassin commented on the continued absence of Lizzie Devine. All +Wandsborough became aware, or fancied itself so, that the girl was play +acting, or worse, in London, but that whatever she was doing she was not +alone, for had not young Squire Hubert--he had got rapid promotion, you +see--met her, in company with his brother, at some theatre or other? +That was enough. Everybody knew she was never any better than she +should be. A fine girl--yes. A splendidly-handsome girl--yes--but--a +bad 'un, come of a bad stock. And those young Dorriens. A wild set, +and no mistake! Thus the gossips. + +This rumour was quick to reach Gipsy Steve's ears, with the result that +the ex-poacher got furiously drunk, and went about vowing vengeance in +forcible and blood-curdling terms, thereby narrowly escaping summary +dismissal at the hands of Colonel Neville. It was not long, either, in +becoming known to Turner, and that reverend person, coupling it with the +upshot of his earlier observations, could not refrain from making +capital--pious capital of course--out of the knowledge. But +circumspectly as he had originated the rumour and disseminated it +withal, common consent attributed it to Hubert, and men wondered how his +brother could have been such a fool as to trust a fellow who couldn't +keep counsel in a delicate affair of this kind, but went blabbing it all +over the place. Finally, it became known to the General, as Hubert had +all along intended it should. From that moment he felt secure. The +heavens might fall, but never again would Roland set foot in his +father's presence. + + + +CHAPTER TWENTY EIGHT. + +THE BAN. + +"Yes, sir. Our town's bigger nor Wandsbro'--more go-ahead like. It +didn't use to be so, you see, but when them works at Wandsbro' were shut +up, why, then it fell back and we went ahead, sir." + +So spake the loquacious waiter in the coffee-room of the "Silver Fleece +Inn," at Battisford, as he skipped, napkin in hand, round the only +guest, who was dining early, for it was Sunday. A finely-proportioned +man of, apparently, about sixty, and wearing a bushy iron-grey beard and +dark-tinted spectacles, it would be difficult to guess at his rank in +life. He might be a peer of the realm, or he might be a detective, and +he was dressed with perfect simplicity, though well. + +"Indeed?" he replied carelessly. "I just remember being at Wandsborough +many years ago, when I was almost a boy. By the way, what's that +remarkably fine place I passed driving over here? It stood back in a +park, where there were any amount of deer." + +"Was it against the hill, sir? 'Cos that's Cranston 'All--Gen'ral +Dorrien's. Yes, that is a fine place, sir." + +"Dorrien did you say? Dorrien? Now that's strange. Fact is, I used to +know someone of that name, but I'm certain he hadn't ever been in the +army. Has this one any sons?" + +"Oh, yes, sir. There's--" + +"Ah! The one I knew hadn't. He was a bachelor." + +"That must 'ave been the old squire, sir--the Gen'ral's brother. 'E was +a bachelor. But this one--well, sir, I don't mind tellin' you, 'e's a +terribly cross-tempered gentleman, and they do say as how none of his +fam'ly can live with him." + +"Indeed? How's that?" + +"Well, sir, I believe it's this way," went on the loquacious waiter, +delighted at the prospect of whiling away a goodly portion of this dull +Sunday afternoon at his favourite pastime. Here, too, was a stranger, +one who seemed to listen to him with interest. So he plunged at once +into his lecture, with the utter disregard of his class for sequence or +order in narration, and the stranger was favoured among other incidents +with a highly-coloured version of the fracas which had taken place in +the Dorrien family some months earlier. + +"And then, you see, sir, the General was that savage with the poor young +Squire, 'cos he not only wanted to marry the parson's young lady, but it +seemed he hadn't been playing quite on the square with a gal in Cranston +village--Steve Devine's gal, that was--he as is now keeper at Colonel +Neville's. And now they say he's took up with her in London. She's a +play-actress up there, they say." + +If the slightest possible change came over the listener's countenance at +this announcement, to have discovered it would have taken a very close +observer indeed, which the waiter was not. + +"H'm! A sort of Don Juan this young Dorrien seems to have been," +remarked the stranger more to himself than to the other, and pronouncing +the name in the usual British and erroneous way. + +"Yessir--I daresay, sir--King John--wasn't 'e the party that 'ad eight +wives and cut their 'eads off as fast as he got tired of them?" + +"Well, what sort of a girl was this?" + +"A fine gal, sir. A reelly fine, purty gal, and Gipsy Steve, he looked +after her orlways and led her a life of it, if any young chap so much as +looked at her. And now, sir, 'ere's a bit of queer human natur'," went +on the gossip, sinking his voice and looking preternaturally wise. +"There's some wot sez they don't believe the gal's with Mr Roland at +all, but that his brother started the story. Ah! he's a bad lot, is +young Mr Hubert." + +"Well, but why the deuce should he tell such an infernal lie as that?" + +The loquacious one looked at him for a moment pityingly, and his voice +grew even more confidential. + +"Bless your 'art. Don't you see, sir? The young one wants to stick to +all the swag. If the other comes back, well, of course, it'll make all +the difference to this one. And so 'e says 'e sor his brother and +Lizzie in London together, and the General's more furious than ever +about it." + +"And what do they think in Wandsborough?" + +"Well, sir, there's them as believes it and there's them as doesn't. +For my part I dunno wot to think, though, of course, it's no concern o' +mine." + +"H'm!" The stranger yawned and deliberately stretched himself, and +began to show signs of moving, and the loquacious one perceived that his +fill of gossip was over for the present. + +"Beg pardon, sir," he remarked, "but are you 'Igh Church?" + +"What? Why?" answered the stranger, starting from a reverie. + +"Because, sir, if you are, there's a big 'Igh Church over at +Wandsborough, and lots of folks go from here on a Sunday evening. I've +been myself once or twice, but couldn't make nothing out of it. But +it's very gorjus." + +"Well, it'd be something to do. How long does it take to walk over?" + +"Nearly an hour, sir, if you walk very quick. But the walk's jest +lovely, and so's the music." + +"All right. I may go over. Now I'm going upstairs," and escaping from +the running fire of enquiries by which he was pursued, the stranger made +his way to his bed-room. Once there, and the door locked, a restless +sigh escaped him. He threw open the window, and kept consulting his +watch from time to time. Then he sat down and fell into deep thought, +with knitted brows and fixed gaze. He was thinking over all he had just +heard. The thoughtless chatter of busybodies, like this talkative +waiter, often reflected public opinion with marvellous accuracy. After +a while he rose, and pulling on a warm overcoat and taking a stout +walking-stick in his hand, he went out. + +About half a mile outside Wandsborough there is a certain stile leading +from the high road into the footpath to Minchkil Bay. Anyone commanding +a view of this stile might have witnessed a curious spectacle on this +dark, wintry afternoon. They might have descried an elderly stranger, +grey-bearded and spectacled, leaning over the stile, his gaze riveted on +the cliff path; and our concealed witnesses would opine that the said +stranger had one foot in the grave. Then through the gloom rang out a +clash of bells upon the damp, chilly atmosphere; a joyous, musical peal, +that seemed to tell of light and warmth and peaceful homes. And the +lonely man standing there, with his eyes wandering over the darkening +wold, heard it, and his face wore an expression such as might rest upon +the countenances of the lost. Yes, he seemed dreadfully ill, hardly +able to stand, in fact; for presently he sank down into the rimy grass +in a half-faint. + +For long he sat thus. Then, suddenly starting to his feet, he walked +rapidly towards the town, and in a few minutes stood within the church +porch. The change from darkness to the brilliantly-lighted interior was +bewildering. Mechanically he slipped into the place shown him by the +civil verger, heedless of the screwed-round heads and curious glances +inseparable from the event. How familiar it all seemed! The stately +altar lighted by its six tall tapers; the rows of white-clad choristers, +and the celebrant in his rich cope; the solemn chanting and the fragrant +fumes of the incense--what memories it seemed to bring back! And around +him many a familiar face--yet none knew him. + +Mechanically again he took the hymn-book which the good-natured verger +put into his hands, and--held it upside down. After the singing, a +priest in surplice and stole entered the pulpit and began his sermon, +evoking in the stranger's face a momentary gleam of recognition. But +his thoughts soon wandered. Our friend Turner, indeed, was a pulpit +bore of the first water, but had he been a very Chrysostom he would have +met with scant attention from this stranger, who had walked all the way +from Battisford to attend the evening service. + +The function over, the stranger hastened not to depart, but lingered, +half-concealed, in the shadow of a pillar, apparently intent on studying +the framed list of notices there hung up--in reality, his keen eyes +narrowly scanned the dispersing congregation. One group stood chatting +in a low voice just inside the west door, and, as his eye fell upon it, +again that white, haggard look came into his face. + +"Brown," said a low, sweet, woman's voice, addressing the verger, who +was intent on putting out the lights. "Please tell Mr Mason that I +shall be happy to take his organ duties to-morrow, and even the next +day, if he wishes it. So that'll be a weight off his mind." + +"Very good, Miss Olive. I know he'll be glad. I'll be sure to tell +him. Good-night, ladies." + +Then the unknown, with a nod and a "good-evening" to the friendly +verger, passed out into the street, keeping within a dozen yards behind +the first speaker. Immediately a dark figure passed him hurriedly, and +gaining the side of her whom he was watching, a cordial greeting ensued, +and the two dropped a little behind the rest. The cassock and cloak +which he wore denoted one of the parish clergy, and as he passed under +the light of a lamp, the watcher recognised the features of Turner, the +curate. + +An overpowering desire came over the stranger to learn the burden of +their conversation. That a strong bond of mutual sympathy existed +between them he had no difficulty in perceiving, and his mind leaped to +its own conclusions. Then with noiseless step he overtook the pair and +passed them slowly. + +But what the sad, soft voice was saying, as well as the answer, was +inaudible to the listener. A loud, harsh hammering was sounding in his +brain, and he felt faint and dizzy. Fearful of betraying himself, he +crossed the road, and leaned against the wall for a few moments to +recover. When he looked up again the street was empty. + +He wandered out of the town, and still lost in his reflections, hardly +noticed where he was till he reached the stile where he had rested a +short while previously. Then, instead of continuing his way along the +high road, he turned off across the fields, and began to ascend the +bleak heights which lay above the cliffs. + +And it was a weird and desolate scene, that winter expanse of sea and +land upon which the wanderer's glance was bent. On all sides to seaward +the mist-wrack was rolling back like a curtain, and a red half-moon +slowly rose in the heavens, pouring a pale, spectral light upon the +silent waters and the great mysterious cliffs. A murmur of waves +breaking on the beach was upborne to his ears, as he strode rapidly on +through the rimy heather plants and the chill, bracing whiff of the salt +sea. Minchkil Beacon is left behind, and the rugged brow overhanging +Hadden's Slide, and still he keeps on his way, stopping now and again to +gaze upon the solemn grandeur of the moonlit coastline. + +It is cold, but the pedestrian is in a glow of warmth after his hard, +uphill exercise, for he pauses occasionally to rest and wipe his heated +brow. What then makes him start and shiver violently, as though chilled +to the very marrow! + +Cleaving the still and frosty air comes a deep-toned, lugubrious howl, +long-drawn, and proceeding apparently from the sea itself--a dismal, +unearthly baying, not loud, but with a carrying vibration that renders +the sound no less felt than heard. The listener standing alone on the +cliff feels an icy perspiration break out upon his forehead, and his +dilated gaze is riveted upon two rock pinnacles rising out of the sea +beneath. The crest of the highest is hidden in a dark cloud. + +Stay! A strange phenomenon, that! There is not a vestige of cloud +nearer than the horizon. Yet down yonder a dark wreath broods over the +summit of one of those rock-turrets. And the highest of The Skegs is +far below the brow of the cliff. + +The contour of the coast is perfectly outlined in the clear and +searching moonlight. The silver surface of the sea is deserted. But +darker than ever, and seeming to take shape beneath the watcher's gaze, +the cloud rests upon that turret-rock, and from its black folds again +and again sounds forth upon the silent night the terrible Death Portent. + + + +CHAPTER TWENTY NINE. + +THE TRAGEDY OF A WINTER NIGHT. + +"Pooh! What a fool I am, and what fancies a course of starvation and +mooning will put into a man's head!" exclaimed the stranger impatiently. +"A wreath of mist over the sea, and immediately one conjures up an +apparition. But I never saw anything more diabolically real in my +life." + +Yet he was not quite reassured as he turned to continue his walk. The +cloud had completely disappeared from The Skegs, vanished as suddenly as +it had gathered there, nor was there a trace of vapour round the +turret-like head--and the moonlight seemed to fall clearer upon the face +of the cliffs. + +He felt weary. He threw himself on the springy turf, heedless of damp +or wet. A great, black fissure yawned at his feet, a gaping rent in the +ground seeming to straggle into unknown depths. A few boulders lay +about the little hollow where he rested. The fissure in front of him +was known to the neighbourhood as Smugglers' Ladder. Bats arose from +the dark cleft and circled in the night air. The tide was in, and the +lapping of the waves in the chasm beneath came up with a tuneful +monotony through this gigantic telephone--but all else was silent as the +grave. Far above twinkled the solemn stars, and the red, pointed moon +looked angrily down. Then the distant chime from Wandsborough steeple +rang out the hour of nine. + +Only nine! Yet it might be midnight, so still and lifeless was this +out-of-the-world hush. A soothing lethargy crept over him. Stillness-- +silence--rest. After the warring turmoil of a great city, this was as +another world. But it was winter, and soon a shiver from head to foot +reminded him that the more prosaic side of life, i.e. bed, had its +attractions. A few minutes more and he would be on his way to +Battisford, but a low whistle, unmistakably human, recalled in a trice +his wandering reflections. It was repeated, and simultaneously the +figure of a man appeared on the skyline. + +The stranger did not move. He felt no apprehension, whoever the other +might be. He was without hope in this world and therefore absolutely +without fear, and so he sat with the lower part of his face resting in +his hands, perfectly motionless, while the other approached him, saying +in a low whisper: + +"Why didn't you answer my signal, dear?" + +Then the stranger arose, with a harsh laugh. + +"Ha-ha-ha! I'm afraid you're the victim of a trifling `sell' to-night, +Hubert Dorrien." + +To say that the new-comer was astonished would be to say next to nothing +at all. He was thunderstruck--speechless; and his face was as white as +a sheet, as he stood rooted to the earth--gazing at this unexpected +apparition as one transfixed. + +"G-Good God! Who are you, sir, and what do you want with me?" he +stammered at last. + +"Ha-ha-ha! Good boy, Hubert. Good boy! Mother's darling and papa's +expectant and deserving heir," went on the stranger in the same harsh, +jeering tone. "And now, may I ask, who is the fair frail one with whom +this most delightful moonlight tryst was to have come off?" Excess of +courage was at no time one of Hubert Dorrien's besetting faults, and now +he simply shivered, and his lips trembled. All of which the stranger +noted as the moonlight played upon the white, terrified face. + +"I don't know who the devil you are, sir--and I don't care," he found +courage to bluster at last. "But anyhow, I shall wish you good-evening, +for I must go," and he made a movement. + +"But you are not going, Hubert Dorrien, not yet at least. Not until you +and I have had a little talk together," said the stranger, laying a firm +hand upon his shoulder. + +"Well, what do you want with me?" said Hubert doggedly, but horribly +uneasy in his mind, for to his ordinary "prudent" disposition was now +added the incubus of a tolerably guilty conscience. The place was +hideously lonely withal, and his strange questioner looked powerful +enough to have eaten him. + +"Good boy, Hubert--ha-ha-ha! Does papa know you're over here to-night, +I wonder? But now--who were you expecting to find here?" + +"Be damned to you!" broke out the young fellow furiously. "I'm not +going to stand your impudent catechising. Go to blazes and find out. +Oh--by God!" + +For the stranger had turned his face full to the light, and, hiding the +lower half of it, had removed his glasses. + +"--Roland!" + +And the two stood looking into each other's eyes in the moonlight, and +both faces wore any other expression than that of mutual affection. Yet +they were brothers. + +"Now that you have stepped into my shoes, Hubert, I hope they fit you," +said the elder, drily. + +"Oh yes, thanks. Fit--very well indeed. More comfortable, by the bye, +after a little further wear," was the reply, given with a cold, +exasperating grin. + +"Which wear you won't get out of them, my friend, in all probability. +So look out for speedy squalls." + +"Oh, shan't I?" replied the younger, his former fears dispelled, now +that the mysterious stranger's identity lay disclosed. "Shan't I? Who +will, then?" + +"Why, their rightful owner, of course. Myself, to wit." + +"Good dog, Brag," jeered the other contemptuously, jerking a stone +across the mouth of Smugglers' Ladder. Better for him had he kept up +his prudence a little longer. "And now, Roland, I don't come blundering +in on top of your little arrangements up in Town, and should be very +glad if you would kindly not interfere with mine here. In other words, +by remaining in this sequestered spot you are spoiling my fun--if you +have not already done so, that is." + +"Ah--now we are coming to it. Just answer me one question. What the +deuce made you follow me over half the town one night last week, and +then pretend you didn't recognise me?" + +"By Jove! It _was_ you, then! I wasn't sure, you see, and I couldn't +well buttonhole another fellow on spec. Besides you were with someone," +answered Hubert readily. But the other laughed drily. + +"Not bad for you, Hubert. Shouldn't wonder if you got your `silk' after +all, one of these days, if you go on as you have begun. And now, isn't +it a singular thing that a certain rumour should have started here at my +expense, coincidently with that merry meeting of ours just by +Westminster Bridge?" + +"Very odd," was the sneering rejoinder. "But the world's devilish +small, you know, and it's astonishing how these little things will leak +out." + +He ought to have known better. One glance at his brother's face, and he +would have spoken in a very different tone. But he was talking +half-turned away. + +"Quite so. It is. And now, O brother of mine, may I ask what motive +you had in originating such a gratuitously mischievous and infernally +backbiting story?" + +Hubert's first alarm had given way to exasperation and venomous +resentment. Over and above inspiring him with considerable fear, this +inconvenient brother of his had quite spoiled his little programme for +the evening. + +"Go to blazes and find out," he answered again with an impudent sneer. +"Or better still--ask Olive Ingelow what she thinks on the subject-- +Ha-ha-ha!" + +But his laughter died, for with a furious curse the other had seized him +by the throat. They were perilously near the edge of the chasm to +indulge in a wrestling bout. And like a whisper from hell there flashed +through the exile's brain a vivid picture of all he had undergone from +that sad parting scene in Wandsborough street to this hour, and probably +she for whose sake he had given up all and was now an outcast had +allowed her mind to be poisoned against him by the lying reports +emanating from the slanderous tongue of this ungrateful and heartless +young villain, this serpent who was his brother. + +"Whisper _her_ name again, and I'll choke the life out of you," he +ejaculated, almost inarticulate with fury. But Hubert, exasperated +beyond measure, forgot all his prudence. + +"Yes, I will," he shrieked, wrenching himself free. + +"You asked just now who I was expecting to-night. What if it was the +lovely Olive herself?" + +But again the speaker's voice failed him. Again his face went livid +with deadly fear. He recoiled and would fain have fled before the +terrible effect of his words. Behind lay the dark, yawning mouth of the +chasm. His wild scream for help was choked in his throat. There was a +fall--a scuffle and a slide. A human figure rolled down the sloping +rock, with fingers convulsively clutching the merciless, unyielding +stone, and face upturned to the cold moon in a paroxysm of deadly +terror, then disappeared into the black chasm. A metallic sound as of +stones dislodged striking against the sides of the fissure, then a dull +splash far below and--silence. + +He who was left upon the height above stood motionless for some minutes, +his chest heaving and a perfect hell of fiendlike ferocity inflaming his +countenance. Then he advanced to the edge of the fissure and peered +fearlessly down. All was black as ink. Here and there the moonlight +from without fell upon an angle of rock far beneath with a ghostly +glint, but there was no sign of life--or death; nothing to tell that a +human being had just been hurled down that terrific chasm to his last +account. No accusing voice in the air--to proclaim aloud over the +placid sea, to thunder forth from the hard, frowning cliffs--or even to +whisper into the survivor's ear the ghastly tale of this chill winter's +night--Murder. + +And they two were brothers. + +The survivor roused himself and looked keenly around. Were there no +traces on the smooth turf that would connect him with the disappearance +of the other when he should come to be missed and a search was made; no +marks of feet upon the slippery rock? No, there were none. The moon's +cold eye alone had witnessed the deed--of which there remained +absolutely no trace. Having assured himself of this, he readjusted his +spectacles and walked rapidly away from the spot without once looking +back. + +Battisford was an old-fashioned place and "The Silver Fleece" was a snug +and old-fashioned hostelry, where they kept early hours. Especially on +Sundays was this the case, but on this particular Sunday our friend the +loquacious waiter was deputed to sit up for the new guest--the gentleman +who had gone over to church at Wandsborough. The service there would be +over at any time after eight--say half-past, so that he should be back +at a quarter-past nine or half-past at the latest. But it was slow work +sitting up alone in the deserted coffee-room, and so it speedily came to +pass that the talkative one followed the example of the five foolish +virgins--slumbered and slept. + +At length the stranger returned, and the first sound that greeted his +ears as he let himself in and stood within the dimly lighted passage was +a prolonged and unmistakable snore. Now in the said passage there stood +a clock--a large timepiece of venerable aspect--and the hands of this +clock were close upon a quarter-past ten. Whether it was a kind of +instinct that prompted him to do so, or that he noticed that the glass +was closed, but not shut--or both--cannot be here recorded, but in a +moment he had opened the clock face, put the hands back forty minutes, +and, having closed the glass again, proceeded carelessly in the +direction of the snore. + +"Hallo! Been sitting up for me?" he cried. "Early here, I suppose. +Well, see if you can scare me up an S. and B., and that's all I shall +want to-night." + +Up jumped the drowsy one with a start. + +"Yes, sir. Beg pardon, sir, but I must ha' dropped off," he said, +rubbing his eyes and making for the door. "Ah well, sir, I h'aint been +long in a doze; it was after nine when last I looked at this blessed +clock, and now it ain't quite half-past yet, leastways it's just over +it." + +The other felt relieved. There was no fear of the man discovering the +alteration of the hands if he had been asleep ever since nine, and it +crossed his mind as just within the bounds of possibility that this +circumstance might yet stand him in good stead. + +"Just over half-past nine? So it is," he said carelessly, as the waiter +re-appeared with the brandy and soda. "I must have come quick, for it +seemed to me a precious long way from Wandsborough." + +"You have come quick, sir. Did you come by the cliffs?" + +"The cliffs! Is there a way by the cliffs, then?" + +"Oh yes, sir, much shorter. But not over-safe at night, speshully to a +gentleman as doesn't know the country well." + +"H'm! I should think not. Likely to take a plunge over in the dark-- +eh? By the way, what's the name of the verger at Wandsborough church? +He seems a nice, civil sort of fellow. I rather liked the look of him, +and he quite took me under his wing and looked after me. The +bald-headed man." This would show that he had been at Wandsborough. + +"Brown, sir, it is. Oh yes, I know him well, he's been there a matter +o' many years now. He's a downright good honest chap, is Brown," and +then the loquacious one launched into a dissertation on the many good +qualities and rare virtues of the official in question, which we shall +spare the reader, even as he upon whom it was inflicted spared himself +by promptly retiring to his room. + +Next morning, while the grey-bearded stranger was leisurely discussing a +late breakfast, the talkative waiter bustled in. + +"Heard the news, sir? but of course you 'aven't--seeing you're only just +up." + +"Quite right, my friend. And now, what's the excitement?" + +"Well, sir, they Bays as how young Mr Dorrien, he as we was talking +about yesterday, he can't be found nowhere," said the man, hastening to +discharge this last prime event with which his mind was burdened. "He +went over to Cranston church by himself last night, and didn't come home +all night." + +"H'm! I don't see anything very extraordinary in that. He may have had +reasons of his own for being out all night, perhaps went somewhere by +train, eh, don't you see?--young men, you know, will be young men--and +missed his train back." + +"No, sir, depend upon it there's something wrong," dissented the other, +provoked at the stranger's imperturbability. He had taken a great +liking to him, "a pleasant-spoken, haffable gent as ever was, and yet a +gent every hinch of him, as anybody might see" had been his verdict, in +camera, with his colleagues below stairs. "Mistress Dorrien they say is +that scared, and she's going to have the country searched for him. He's +come to grief, 'e has. He carrier from Wandsbro', he as brought the +news--he says"--and here the man's voice fell to what he intended to be +a most impressive and mysterious whisper--"he says that one of them down +at Minchkil Bay was coming home along the beach by moonlight and saw the +Dorriens' wraith on `The Skegs.' The ghost always appears before the +death of a Dorrien." + +The stranger looked quickly round as a violent shiver ran through him +from head to foot. + +"Just shut that door, will you? When the front door is open as well, +the most infernal draught finds its way in here. It's enough to give a +man his death. Thanks. What were you saying? Something about a +ghost?" + +Only too delighted with the opportunity, our voluble friend proceeded +redundantly to regale the stranger's ears with the dour legend we heard +narrated by very different lips nearly at the commencement of this +narrative. But the listener proved sadly sceptical. + +"Pooh!" he said, when the other had done. "That won't wash at all, you +know. It's surprising how these humbugging old myths survive in the +country, and the further away from Town you get, the more you find of +them." + +"Beg pardon, sir, but shall you be leaving to-day?" asked the waiter, as +the stranger rose from the table. + +"No." + +"All right, sir. Glad to 'ear it, sir. Custom's slack just now, sir." + + + +CHAPTER THIRTY. + +SEARCH. + +Great was the consternation which prevailed at Cranston Hall as the day +wore on and Hubert did not return. + +When first it was reported that his room was undisturbed and his bed had +not been slept in, Mrs Dorrien's chief care was to keep the knowledge +from her husband, but soon her fears got the better of her prudence on +her son's behalf, and it became necessary to acquaint the General with +the fact, with a view to a search being instituted. + +Very sternly and concisely the latter at once proceeded to enquire into +the circumstances of the case, but, beyond the fact that the missing one +had left home with the expressed intention of attending evening service +at Cranston Church, no one at the Hall could throw any light on the +matter. + +"I don't know what could possibly have happened to Hubert between this +and the village," he said to his wife. "Why, it's barely twenty +minutes' walk. I really don't know what to think about it, Eleanor. It +is extremely painful to be obliged to say so, but it looks strangely as +if Hubert had started on an unlawful errand, inventing a pretext for +covering it. I have not found him invariably truthful, you know." + +She burst into a storm of tears, her hard nature stirred to its very +depths; her cold heart sorely wounded in its one vulnerable point. + +"Oh, my boy, my boy?" she sobbed. "I shall never see you again, +something tells me I shall not. And you"--turning fiercely upon her +husband--"you were always so stern, so severe with him. He may have +left his home, left it for good. Couldn't you remember that he was +young, and make allowances--and in delicate health? Yes, it is you who +have driven him away, even as you drove away the other. Oh, my boy, my +darling boy! I shall never see him again!" + +A deep frown came over the General's brow at this reproach. + +"Pray calm yourself, Eleanor," he said sternly. "The reproaches you +allow yourself to make are most ill-chosen, and, in fact, inexcusable. +However, to confine ourselves strictly to the matter in hand, I shall +ride down at once to the village and make enquiries, and, if necessary, +shall institute a search without delay." + +In less than an hour afterwards the General, aided by Mr Curtis, the +vicar of Cranston, had elicited the following information. His son had +been present at the village church the preceding evening, and had left +with the congregation. Here testimony began to wax uncertain, some +being ready to assert that they noticed Mr Hubert nearly at the park +gates, while others were equally certain they had seen him going in the +direction of Wandsborough. From this chaos of testimony it seemed +impossible to evolve anything like order, and the General and his +willing ally were nearly giving up all attempts at unravelling it, and +starting in search of a fresh clue, when light came in upon the subject +from an unexpected quarter. + +A rustic couple was found who had been "sweet-hearting" in the lanes +outside Cranston, according to the manner of rustic couples, after +evening church. These were ready to swear that Mr Hubert had passed +them, walking swiftly, and going in the direction of the cliffs. In +fact, they had had the curiosity to turn and watch him. It was a cold, +damp evening for any gentleman to be taking a walk on the cliffs all by +himself, but why Mr Hubert should do so rather than return home was a +speculation which aroused curiosity even in their thick, rustic pates. +The pair, a stolid, bovine brace of bumpkins, were in great awe during +the severe cross-questioning they underwent at the hands of the Squire +and the Vicar, both magistrates to boot, but stuck tenaciously to the +main point of their narrative. They were not mistaken, for not only had +they seen Mr Hubert's face distinctly in the moonlight, but they had +wished him "good-night," to which he had replied. As to time, well, +about that they couldn't be quite certain, they supposed it must have +been about nine--or, if anything, rather earlier; but anyhow, not long +after church. + +It was clear that these people were the last who had seen Hubert, and +convinced that now they were on the right track, though with a direful +sinking of heart, the two gentlemen agreed that their next move must be +to betake themselves to Minchkil Bay, and enlist the services of the +hardy seafarers there in a regular search. If the missing man had found +his way to the cliffs, as both feared he had, he might have fallen over. +Possibly he might yet be alive, but in a situation of peril or +difficulty, from which he could not extricate himself, and in this case +the aid of these bold fishers, experienced cragsmen all, would be +indispensable. + +As they rode up to the little fishing colony they descried a group of +three seated against a boat, and a tall young man leaning over them. +All had their backs towards them, and were talking with animation, +unaware of the approach of strangers, for the sound of the horses' hoofs +was deadened by the soft turf. + +"But I say, Jem Pollock," the young man was saying. "What did this +affair really look like? It may have been a cloud, you know." + +"Well, you see, zur, it was a big black thing--yet not black so be it, +but zumtimes you could see through it like. No, zur, it weren't no +cloud. Why, thur worn't a cloud in the sky. And thur it was on top o' +The Skegs, and when I come 'ome I told Daddy here, and, `Jem,' he says, +`that what you've seen is the Dorrien wraith, and'--Oh, Lord, save us!" + +All turned quickly. Not half a dozen yards off, the two gentlemen had +reined in their horses. General Dorrien's face was as white as a sheet, +and the hand which held his bridle reins, though clenched and rigid, was +trembling. That he had heard those last words was plain, but that one +of his stern temperament should be so strangely moved by a mere bit of +popular superstition seemed inexplicable. + +"Your servant, gentlemen!" said old Mat Pollock, hobbling to his feet, +assisted by his stalwart son, Jem, which worthy seafarer looked sorely +abashed in the presence in which he so suddenly found himself, and which +coming about, too, so soon upon his narrative of the apparition, +disturbed his superstitious soul not a little. + +Briefly, but clearly, Mr Curtis explained the situation, and how a +search party was needed without delay, and the white-haired patriarch of +the hamlet, though he had no love for the house of Dorrien, at once +issued his mandates accordingly. Most of the hands were away in the +boats, he said, but here were his two lads, Jem and David, who, by the +way, had both well turned forty. Then they might turn out a couple of +boys more--and there was--well, he didn't know whether he might make so +bold, but--And here he looked inquiringly at the young gentleman with +whom the three had been conversing. + +"I trust, Mr Curtis, that General Dorrien will allow me to take part in +this search," said Eustace Ingelow, stepping forward--"I know this coast +thoroughly, and can keep my head at any height, as these good fellows +here will tell you," he added, eagerly looking from one to the other. + +The General was about stiffly to decline, but Mr Curtis interrupted +quickly. + +"We shall be only too glad, Eustace. We want all the hands and eyes we +can get, I'm afraid, and I know what a fellow you are for risking your +neck. Are you ready?" he went on, looking around. "Then the sooner we +start the better." + +It was between one and two o'clock, and the day was cloudy and lowering. +Not many hours of daylight would remain to them, for the evenings +closed in fast at this time of year. Considerable excitement was rife +in the fishing village as the party moved off, women and children +standing about the doors talking volubly in their rude dialect. It was +arranged that Eustace Ingelow, with Jem Pollock and one of the boys, +should accompany General Dorrien along the top of the cliffs, while +David Pollock and the other boy and the parson thoroughly searched the +beach below, both divisions moving in concert. A couple of powerful +telescopes, three coils of rope, of sufficient stoutness and length, +with two strong crow-bars, constituted the equipment of the party; nor +must we omit to mention a flask of brandy, which Jem Pollock privately +hinted to Eustace, with a wink at the General, might be making the +Squire a party to a bit of smuggling. + +And Eustace himself was thinking, as they ascended the steep, turfy +slopes, what a great piece of luck this was which had fallen in his way. +What if he should be the fortunate finder of the missing man? In +common decency the General could hardly give him the cold shoulder after +rescuing his son; but, on the other hand, it might be--probably would +be--only the poor fellow's dead body that they would find. For an +opinion had gained ground among the party that Hubert Dorrien had either +fallen over the cliffs, in which case there would be very little chance +for him, or that he had gone down on the beach and had been cut off by +the tide, a contingency equally fatal, the only hope being that in the +former event he might have fallen on to a ledge--for the cliffs were +broken and rugged, and such projections abounded; or that in the latter +he had gained some refuge whence he was unable subsequently to escape. + +"Look over, Jem, lad, and see if you see nowt. There, on the ledge just +below the footway," bawled David Pollock from the beach, after intently +scanning with his glass the most dangerous point of the face of Hadden's +Slide. A thin mist had begun to drive along the cliff, but a black +object, not unlike the body of a man, might be discerned at the point +indicated. + +Jem obeyed, and, lying down, peered long and anxiously from the dizzy +brink. + +"It's nowt!" he shouted in return. "Only a heap o' grass or suchlike," +and the search went on. + +"I fear we shall soon be overtaken by the darkness," observed the +General, moodily looking round. They had passed a queer little cottage +in the hollow, and a woman came out to answer their enquiries, but could +add nothing whatever to their knowledge. Another false alarm, too, had +been raised by those on the beach. + +"I'm afraid so, sir," answered Eustace. "But we shall have time to get +as far as Smugglers' Ladder," he added encouragingly, "and I don't think +your son would have had time to get much further than that, if he +intended coming back from his walk in fair time. See, it would be about +in line with the point where he was last seen, and he was going in that +direction." + +They reached the little hollow. Before and around lay a few rocks and +boulders half embedded in the springy turf. A couple of hooded crows +flew up and winged their flight downward along the face of the cliffs, +uttering a harsh croak, and before them yawned the black chasm with its +jagged, slippery sides. Both Eustace and Jem Pollock fearlessly gazed +down into its depths. + +Suddenly the former uttered an exclamation and sprang to his feet. On +the very brink of the fissure, hanging to a short tuft of rank, dry +herbage, was a piece of thin, black silk cord--such as is used for +securing an eyeglass. Closer inspection showed that the grass itself +had been violently crushed. + +"I think we are getting nearer, sir," he gently remarked, showing it to +the General, who was visibly agitated, but made no reply. "Now, Jem, +give us a light here, quick." + +The man obeyed, and forthwith large pieces of burning paper were dropped +into the chasm, bringing its rocky facets and roughly-hewn cells and +recesses into view to those above. Nothing was visible, however. + +"Now, Jem, bear a hand with that belaying-pin; sharp's the word," cried +Eustace, waxing nautical again in his excitement, as he took the +stoutest of the crow-bars from the other's hand, and looking around for +a second, his quick eye lit upon a crevice in the rock, into which the +iron bar was promptly driven. "Here! shake out that brace--that's it. +Now. Is it long enough?" anxiously, as Jem Pollock dropped the coil of +rope into the chasm to test its length, keeping the other end in his +hand. + +"Not quite, sir, but the two together will do it, easily. But better +let me go down, sir; I understand it better nor you." + +"I daresay you do, but I'm lighter, you see, and you'd make a better +hand at working the apparatus up here than I should. Now heave it +over!" + +"What are you going to do?" asked General Dorrien, who had been a silent +witness to these rapid preparations. + +"I'm just going quietly down the Ladder, sir," answered Eustace. "The +poor fellow may have got into some place where we can't see him, and not +be able to call out." + +"Really, Mr--a--Ingelow--I can't consent to your running this risk," +answered the General, greatly moved. "Now, this man is accustomed to +it. Therefore let him go down." + +"No risk at all, sir, I assure you. Only an easy climb. I wish it +might be successful," answered Eustace, as he threw off his jacket, and, +aided by the fisher lad, let himself carefully over. + +"You'll ha' to be quick down there, 'cause of the tide," warned Jem +Pollock, who was devoting his energies to keeping the crow-bar steady. +"You can't come up again this way, I'm thinkin'. And jes' tell them +down there to hurry a bit, for she's a rollin' in fast and steady." + +"All right," cried Eustace as he made his way down. The rope was a +regular climbing rope, knotted at intervals; but the depth was +considerable, and before he had got halfway, the athletic young fellow +began to feel that he would need all his powers. Indeed, although he +had made light of any idea of risk in the matter, he now realised that +there was plenty of it. The perspiration streamed from every pore, and +it was all he could do at times to avoid being hurled from his dizzy +position by the swaying of the rope and the consequent friction of his +knuckles against the hard surface of the rock. + +Although dark enough from above, yet once in the fissure, sufficient +light penetrated from the outside to render all its recesses plainly +visible, and as the intrepid youth made his way down deeper and deeper, +the more strongly did the conviction take hold of him that he would +indeed find Hubert Dorrien at the bottom, but it would be in the form of +a shattered, ghastly and unrecognisable corpse. Not an encouraging or +nerve-steadying reflection for one in his perilous position, but Eustace +Ingelow, with his brave heart and good conscience, felt that it would +take more than this to cause his nerve to fail. And now all sounds were +hushed, and save for the laboured breathing of the climber and the +occasional rattle of dislodged stones, falling with a hollow echo to the +bottom of the abyss, the silence was almost oppressive. + +"Is he safe?" whispered the anxious father to Jem Pollock, as the sound +of something heavy reaching the ground was borne upward. + +"Ay, sir, he is," replied the other gravely. The stout fisherman had +never ceased to reproach himself for allowing a lad like that to venture +upon such an errand while he himself remained safe at the top. What +would he find down there, he wondered? + +And Eustace was thinking the same, as, very much exhausted, he +thankfully realised that his feet were once more on solid ground. His +heart beat fast and irregularly as he peered about in the dim half +light, expecting every moment to meet with a horrible sight. But the +cave was empty. A big crab sidled away into a dark corner, with its +formidable nippers extended, menacingly, and shoals of smaller ones ran +spiderlike into the little pools of water left by the tide in the rocks +and sand. The green, slimy walls were hung with seaweed and studded +with pointed limpets, but of anything human there was no trace. + +No trace. Stay--what was that? A gleam of something caught his eye-- +something that lay half-buried in the sand. He picked it up, and his +heart gave a great jump. It was a small and curiously-wrought silver +matchbox. + +A shout outside and Mr Curtis and his party joined him. In the flurry +of his excitement and the exhaustion following upon his perilous and +violent exertions, Eustace handed over his discovery to the vicar. The +next moment he would have given anything to have kept it quietly to +himself. Why, he could not for the life of him have told--one of those +strange and most unerring instincts. + +"I fancy there's no doubt now as to the poor fellow's fate," said Mr +Curtis. "He must have fallen from above, and even if he lived after it, +must have been carried away by the tide. See, the high-water mark is a +good many feet above our heads as we stand here." + +They looked up. It was as he said. Even at the highest point in the +fissure, wherever they could stand, the wet slimy water-line was beyond +their reach. A shout was heard above, and Jem Pollock's face could be +seen peering over the brink. + +"The tide!" he shouted. "Get away out o' that as fast as ever ye can. +She's a comin' into the bight like a racer, and it'll take ye all your +time." + +No further warning was necessary, and they hastened to act upon this +one. Hubert Dorrien's sad fate was established beyond doubt, and unless +his body was ultimately washed up on the beach, he would be no more seen +until the day when the sea should give up her dead. + +An hour later the party joined hands on the cliff. Further search was +useless, for it was now quite dark. Next day it might be continued; and +then it would be not for the living, but for the mangled remnants of the +dead. + +"I have greatly to thank you, Mr Ingelow," said the General, his face +very white and set and his speech forced. "Your help has been most +valuable, and of the courage and energy you have displayed I cannot +think too highly. And to you, too, my men, I must tender my thanks for +your efforts towards the rescue or recovery of my unfortunate son. I +cannot talk more about it at present, but you may be sure I shall not +forget it. Good-night." + +He extended his hand to Eustace, who warmly grasped it. + +"Believe me, General Dorrien, I would gladly have done more to have met +with better success," he said in a tone of sympathetic respect. And +Eustace, in the midst of that sorrowful scene, could not feel so +depressed as he told himself he ought, for athwart it there smiled upon +him, though mournfully now, Nellie's sweet face, and he felt she was +nearer within his reach than he had of late so much as dared to dream. + +The party separated on the dark cliff's brow and the General and Mr +Curtis rode sadly home. + +And that night in the stately mansion a bitter cry went up, and the +voice of great mourning--a mother sorrowing for her lost and +passionately loved son, whose voice she was destined never again to hear +on this side of the grave. + + + +CHAPTER THIRTY ONE. + +"DEATH'S ALTAR, BY THE LONE SHORE." + +A fortnight had slipped away since Hubert Dorrien's disappearance, and +still the stranger stayed on at "The Silver Fleece," in Battisford. +Those who had at first marvelled what attraction their dull little town +had for one of his stamp had quite ceased speculating as to his pursuits +and identity. As to the former, they had come to the conclusion that he +was an antiquary of some sort--a professor most likely, and a member of +some learned society--who was engaged on a work on the curiosities and +antiquities of the neighbourhood, which he spent long days in exploring, +asking many questions about it, and when not thus employed, he would +shut himself up and sit for hours writing. As to the latter, well, it +didn't signify. Anyone could see that he was a gentleman born, and sure +enough, didn't he pay his way, and wasn't he pleasant-spoken and +friendly with everybody? So "The Silver Fleece" was right glad of its +guest, and would fain keep him as long as he chose to stay. He got his +letters, too, quite regularly, addressed to Robert Durnford, Esq, and +now and then a learned looking pamphlet. What more could Battisford +desire in the way of vouchers for his respectability? + +In Battisford, sooner than in Wandsborough, Hubert Dorrien's sad fate +ceased to be a nine days' wonder. It was talked of occasionally on +market days by farmers assembled at their one o'clock dinner in the +coffee-room at "The Silver Fleece," and in the evening sometimes the +loquacious waiter would entertain a batch of newly arrived +"commercials," over their hot spirits and water, with a highly graphic +narrative of the event, to which the accompaniment of the supernatural +lent unusual spice. Sometimes in these conversations the stranger would +join, putting in a careless remark or two, or asking a question, but +never by any chance would he attempt avoidance of the subject. + +And what was Roland Dorrien's real frame of mind, having committed a +ruthless and what the world might call a cowardly murder! It is a +strange thing to have to record, but the fact is he felt no great +compunction. He had spent some of the most impressionable years of his +life in the Far West, where human life was held at the lowest possible +valuation, and he had known of at least a dozen instances where men had +been shot dead upon far less provocation than he had received. Besides, +he had not particularly meant to kill the other; unfortunately, the +mouth of the fissure had been inconveniently close. + +But he whom he had slain was his brother--his own mother's son. Well, +what of that? Relationship was a mere accident, in his case an accident +in no sense to his advantage, and all the twaddle written and talked +about blood being thicker than water, and family affection and so on, +but the "thinnest" of cant. And had not this precious brother of his, +not content with supplanting him in his inheritance, taken advantage of +his downfall to blacken his name, so that she whom he loved and who had +loved him as he felt persuaded she would never again love, even she had, +in all probability, brought herself to regard his memory as a loathsome +thing; something to be put far from her? Then, to crown all, those +insulting words. Yes--whatever had occurred, the other had brought upon +himself and had richly deserved, and now, as it happened, it was perhaps +as well that the popular verdict should be one of accidental death. + +And had this man no conscience? Since there was no chance of his being +brought to the bar of human justice, had he no fear of the great +Hereafter? He had none. He could meet it, whatever it was, without +flinching. If he did not altogether disbelieve in a future existence, +he was at any rate firmly convinced that for himself it could hold no +worse state of things than did the present. That was impossible, for he +was utterly without hope in the world. + +And now he had made up his mind to leave Battisford. He had remained +there long enough to avoid the suspicion that would inevitably have +attached to a casual stranger coming and going coincidently with the +fatality--now he would go. He had not seen Olive Ingelow since the +brief glimpse he had obtained of her in the lamp-lit street that fateful +evening, and it was better so. He was hard as adamant now, cold, +stony--all his natural impulses petrified at their source. One glance +into those sweet eyes: one pitiful, tender tone of the dear voice, and +all might be undone. He would soften again, melt for the time, and his +overthrow would be complete. No, he would not behold her face again, +but he would once more, and for the last time, revisit Wandsborough, +arriving towards nightfall, and then the next day he would leave the +scene of his wrecked life for ever. + +There are some men whom one is constrained to believe were sent into the +world to enjoy prosperity, if only for the reason that they are so +woefully and completely unfitted to sustain adversity. We must fall +foul of another popular cant in asserting that adversity does not +strengthen them, neither does it bring out sterling qualities which +otherwise would never have seen the light. In no way does it benefit +them; on the contrary, they succumb to it and sink down, down, lower and +lower, till their ruin is complete. In some occult way this may be a +Providential dispensation; we are told that everything is; but, if so, +why then to the observer of human nature is it of all things the most +marvellous? + +Just such a man as this was Roland Dorrien. His rightful place in +society he would have filled with credit--it is even probable that under +favourable circumstances he would have adorned it; for he had plenty of +good qualities, which, in their proper sphere, would have shone out to +the advantage of himself and of those who came within his influence. +But he was the last person in the world who should have been marked out +for adversity, and with his natural temperament and the fatal way in +which he had been brought up, or rather left to grow, it was no wonder +that he succumbed. + +What man but one who had temporarily taken leave of his better +judgment--not to say his senses--would have mapped out for himself such +a plan as that which he now proposed? To revisit the scenes of his +former prosperity; to wander morbidly over the paths consecrated to his +memory by the tenderest associations of love and happiness and bright +hopes, knowing perfectly well that the joys of past days must ever be to +him as the turned-down page of a sealed book--could mania itself carry a +man to greater, to more unreasoning lengths? Yet this is what he +deliberately resolved to do. + +He would walk along the beach to Wandsborough. The tide was low in the +afternoon, and he would be less likely to meet anybody that way. So, +arming himself with an overcoat and umbrella, for the day was cloudy and +lowering, he sallied forth. + +A group of men were standing round the door of the taproom as he passed. +Of them he took no notice at first, till a voice arrested his +attention--a voice saying in a strong Scotch accent: + +"--And I tell ye what it is, Williams. Ye just won't see the young +Squire back again. The General hates him wurrse than hell, and 'd +sooner burrn the place down than see him in it, even nouw." + +For the life of him Roland could not resist turning his head, and his +eyes met those of Johnston, the Cranston gardener. Then he kept on his +way. Had the other recognised him? he wondered. Their glances had met +full. The Scot was a shrewd fellow, and his gaze might have penetrated +even this inimitable disguise. If so, why, the sooner he disappeared +from Battisford the better, for if it was in Johnston's power to work +him mischief he would certainly do so--and it was. But it would not do +to look round again, and, after all, why should he care? + +He walked rapidly forward, and soon the town was left out of sight +behind. A few sheep browsing the short grass on the turfy down +scampered off a little distance and stood watching him as he made his +way to the beach; but not a soul did he meet, and at length, as he +reached the shore, it seemed to him that he stood in the world alone. +He walked on, a great seething, tumbling plain on his left, the white, +curling billows chasing each other obedient to the propulsion of a +strong and freshening breeze, their foam-crests leaping to the misty +sky. A flying scud partly hid the tall cliffs, and then passed, and the +crescent-like bays and looming promontories of the iron coastline stood +clear above the restless, leaden-hued waters. A scene of wild, solitary +grandeur. The cold salt breeze played upon his face; the roll and hiss +of the white waves breaking on the beach seemed full of voices speaking +from that happier Past as the exile wended his way along the lone shore; +and in the tones of the rising gale he could hear in a far-off, dreamy +way the voice as he had heard it when they walked together over this +very ground. + +All the deepest chords in the man's wretched, storm-tossed soul were +harrowed and unstrung. This wild reach of roaring surf, and looming +cliffs, and pebbly shingle, with the strong, chill winds resisting his +advance, was to him as hallowed ground--to be trodden reverently, and to +be lingered on as one is loth to leave the last haven. His head was +bent low to resist the fury of the sudden gust which met him as he +staggered round a projecting arm of the cliff, and his thoughts were +given up to the free play of wildest fancy. + +"God or demon--whoever you are that makes such a wretched muddle of the +affairs of poor mortals," he murmured in his despair, "take my soul--my +life--anything--and plunge it in torments untold for all the ages if you +will. Only bring _her_ to me--here--let me see her here for one short +half-hour!" + +He was hardly conscious of having spoken aloud. It seemed to him but +one among many unuttered wishes; and now, as he looked up, his face +became ashy and his eyes were fixed, staring and dilated, while he stood +rooted to the spot, unable to stir a limb. For not twenty yards off, +alone in this remote spot, in the misty twilight of the darkening +afternoon, stood the figure of a woman. She was leaning lightly upon a +low rock, with one small, shapely hand, gazing out to sea. Her delicate +profile was towards him, but there was a mournfulness in the sweet, sad +face, and the repose of the mouth was that of one who had well-nigh +forgotten how to laugh. A tress or two of soft, dark hair had escaped, +and with this the wind was playing wild havoc. Yet she was heedless of +it and of all around, and stood there calm and undisturbed, like a +beautiful goddess of the wild stormy coast. + +His invocation had been answered. + +"Olive?" + +His voice came harsh and inarticulate. She turned, startled at the +strange sound, though not catching the name, and her face paled. Who +could this intruder be? She was alone with him and at his mercy, and he +looked so wild and queer. She was very frightened, and for a moment all +manner of horrid conjecture flashed through her brain. She felt sickly +and faint. An escaped lunatic, was one of her first thoughts, having +dismissed the tramp theory--and she noticed that he was tall and strong +of build, and well-dressed, withal. And he was approaching her. + +"Have you lost your way?" she began gently, striving hard to repress the +apprehensive tremor in her voice. + +"Olive! Don't _you_ know me?" + +With a low cry she sank down on the rock, and sat gazing wildly at him +with a white, scared face. + +"It is _his_ voice--Roland!" + +The spell was broken. He was beside her, and his arms were round her +while he poured into her ears passionate words of tender reassurance. +And it would be difficult to determine which of the two was most +startled by the unexpected meeting. + +"My love--my love! Why did you leave me all this long time?" she +murmured at last. + +Not an intonation of reproach towards himself on her account, only on +his own, as if she had said, "Why did you leave me--your haven of refuge +when the storm came upon you? Why did you leave me, who would have +cleaved to you in adversity--who would have clung to you through evil +report a hundred times closer than through good?" + +"Yes--why did I?" + +He had removed his glasses, and stood before her his old self--but such +a shadow of it! She was horrified. + +"What have you been doing with yourself?" she said. "Have you been +trying to die?" + +Then he laughed--a harsh, bitter laugh. It rang back from the cliffs in +weird, mocking echo. + +"Oh, no. The Fates are not so kind. Why did I leave you, you say? +Everything was against us. Your father would not listen to me, even +when I had my head above water--how could I expect him to when it was +below, with no prospect of ever rising to the surface again? You, +yourself, would never have acted contrary to his wishes, even if I had +been in a position to urge you to--and for this I should be the last to +blame you, understand that, well. But for me, an utterly ruined man, to +hold you bound to me for life, was just the one thing I could not do." + +"Go on." + +"Well, we never saw each other again after that informal parting in +Wandsborough street," he went on. "I hoped--I mean I tried to hope--you +would forget me and be happy again. After all, why should you not? +Only three or four short months--a summer dream." + +His voice was harsh and grating. At times it seemed that he would +choke. + +"A summer dream! My whole life was lived within that summer dream," she +whispered, more to herself than to him. "Roland, you will not leave me +again!" + +His haggard eyes devoured the sweet face which was bent down upon his +hands, and he felt that if hell itself opened to receive him its +torments would be rest compared with what he was undergoing at that +moment. The pleading voice, the little hands imprisoning his own as she +leant upon him, giving herself to him as it were in all the rich fulness +of her love--this for which he had hungered and agonised, sleeping and +waking, during the long weary period of his hopeless exile, and which, +now that he had obtained it, he must deliberately forego. In one short +hour, in fact, he would be apart from her, in bitter loneliness once +more. No--there was no hope. His pride was a part of himself. +Penniless and an outcast, how could he keep for himself and wear this +priceless jewel? And now he was something more--he bore a burden that +not all the untold wealth of ages could take from him. And yet at this +moment he felt as if he could imbrue his hands in the most pitiless of +crimes, to obtain the wealth which should save them both. + +"My darling, you will not leave me again!" + +Not the scud in the dark, lowering sky above--not the wild waves +plunging and careering before the shrieking wind, to hurl themselves +madly upon yonder sharp rocks--not the whirl of air and water and +vaporous cloud, was more storm-tossed and chaotic than the thoughts +which surged through the man's soul, and flashed with well-nigh the +fires of mania in his overwrought brain. His reply came--hoarse and +labouring. + +"I must." + +The sweet, sad face sank down upon his hands, which her own were +grasping with an almost convulsive clutch, and a shiver like a great +choking sob ran through her. She had found him--the wanderer whom +everybody else had lost sight of. She had found him, as was her right, +for he belonged to her. She had found him--how then could she let him +wander from her again, away into the outer darkness of the cold, wide +world! All too lightly had she valued those days in the by-gone past, +until they had fled, never to return. + +O fairest summer, with thy many-hued glories of rich verdure, and +heathery-crimson and golden-tinted hills keeping watch above an azure +sea! O halcyon time, of vows whispered amid the radiance of a passing +glow from Heaven's bright plains, as the westering sun drove his great +amber-wheeled chariot down to his rest, shedding back an ethereal lustre +upon a love-dawn which should lend a hundredfold more of beauty to a +beauteous world--where are you now? Gone. And you--leaden waves, +tossing wildly to the misty wrack above--storm-blast howling o'er the +watery waste--cliffs spectral and grey, throwing back with hollow echo +the surges' tone--to you it is given, in mocking fitness, to behold the +anguish of two breaking hearts, here on the lone seashore! + +"It was never intended we should part again," she murmured without +looking up. "Oh! why should you have been brought here to-day? I never +visit this place now, and to-day it must have been something more than +chance that made me do so." + +"I don't believe in your Heaven, or why should it delight to torture any +living creature as it is torturing us, here, to-day," broke jerkily from +his set, dry lips. "Listen, Olive--darling, and you will understand why +I must leave you again. I am destitute at this moment, utterly +destitute; one who has gone down beneath the weight of what some might +call a curse--but I don't believe in such things. And above and beside +all this there is--there is--a barrier between us--a barrier of my own +raising, and with its shadow I would never cloud your dear life." + +"Oh, Roland. What is it?" + +"Ah! If I were to tell you, you would shrink from me, now and for ever. +You would even rush into yonder sea to escape from the horror wherewith +my presence would inspire you. Why, even your love would turn to +repugnance. Yet why should it?--except that the trammelled imagination +of a canting world reads crime into what is no crime at all." + +"You are quite wrong. I would do none of all this," she answered +bravely. A horrid suspicion that the rumours she had heard about him +might be true flashed through her mind. What if he had done in a moment +of weak desperation that which nothing but death could undo? + +"I had never expected to look upon your dear face again," he went on in +the same tones of heart-wrung misery. "I set out this day to visit for +the last time the scenes we had looked upon together, and to break my +heart over the memories that they would evoke. Then, as I trod these +stones which your feet had trodden, as on holy ground, I invoked the aid +of the demon who rules the universe--offering my life and limitless +future of eternity, if such there be--for one glimpse of you. And I was +answered. I looked up and there you stood. Now I care nothing for what +may happen. I can face it without fear--for my prayer was answered." + +Her tears were falling like rain, and for some time she could not +speak--could only cling to him all the firmer. + +"You shall not go," she said at length. "You belong to me. A hundred +times more than when all things went well with you. Oh, my darling, do +not leave me. I claim you now, for you belong to me!" she reiterated +passionately. + +It may be that to some lives comes a period such as that which these two +had to undergo at this moment; it cannot be that it comes to many. But +even while she spoke, another had claimed them both--ay, and had already +made good his claim. With swift, remorseless subtlety the dark waves +came sweeping in. The King of Terrors was about to exact the fulfilment +of his awful bargain--and to exact it with interest. + +"Olive, come. We must go, and go quickly." + +She gazed at him in surprise. His tone had changed to one of calmness, +almost indifference, except for a quick anxiety, which her ear detected. + +"It will be all we can do to turn the corner over there before the water +is even knee-deep." + +She followed his glance, and her face paled slightly. Nearly a mile of +beach lay between them and the jutting headland, whose base even now was +all but hidden by the inflowing tide. As the waves receded, a few yards +of ground were left visible, but the next roller or two swept over it +completely, breaking into angry foam against the rock. Full well she +knew--full well both of them knew--the perilous nature of the coast, for +every year added its quota to the list of victims of the treacherous +tides. + +"We shall never do it, Roland." + +"We must try. Come along." + +He hurried her forward, and, with the aid of his strong right arm, she +had no difficulty in keeping pace with him. But the beach was pebbly +and yielding, and before they had gone a hundred yards the consciousness +broke upon them that the desired point would be ten or twelve feet under +water by the time they should reach it. + +"Can't be done. We must give it up," he said anxiously, coming to a +halt. "Our only chance is to try back. The beach is not so narrow on +the Battisford side. We must look sharp, too, or the point behind us +will be covered." + +The treacherous waves were creeping up to the promontory he had come +round. To remain where they were was hopeless, for in less than an hour +the whole of the bay would be completely swept by the sea, which would +be breaking against the cliffs many feet higher than their heads as they +then stood. + +"Now, Olive! It is our only chance." + +Breathless and panting from the pace at which she had come over the +heavy yielding ground, Olive resigned herself with a shiver to be half +dragged, half carried through the belt of milky surf which barred their +passage round the rocky promontory, and it was all her companion could +do to support her and keep his own footing amid the powerful wash and +swirl of the receding waves, for he had been obliged to watch his +opportunity and make a dash through between the inflowing waves, and, +being knee-deep in water, with the pebbly ground beneath his feet, +uncertain and shifting in the treacherous "undertow," the wonder is that +both were not carried away there and then. Yet it was only putting off +the evil hour. Two minutes later and they stood within the next bay. + +A quick, despairing ejaculation escaped Roland's lips. He had +miscalculated his distance, and now the strip of beach by which he had +reckoned they would be able to effect their escape was a mass of great +rolling breakers. To retrace their steps was impossible, even were it +of any use. There was no more means of exit from this bay than from the +one they had just left. They had but exchanged one death-trap for +another. + +Then they stood still and stole a furtive look at each other, and all +hope died away within their hearts. To the mind of each there came the +same thought. The man's wild prayer and desperate vow had been heard +and answered. The King of Terrors was about to exact the fulfilment of +the awful bargain--and to exact it with interest--and the great, cruel +sea, which alone had witnessed and registered the reckless vow, was now +lending itself and its rage a willing instrument for the pitiless +fulfilment of that vow. + + + +CHAPTER THIRTY TWO. + +IN THE VALLEY OF THE SHADOW. + +"Olive, it is I who have brought you to your death!" + +His face was ghastly with the horror of his self-reproach and +desperation. The two were standing now, locked in each other's embrace, +beneath the cliff, watching the narrow strip of beach rapidly disappear +as the fierce tide came pouring in. Nothing could be seen immediately +above, for the rock beetled overhead as though about to topple upon +them, but running out on each side of the bay rose a crescent of +frowning wall. And from thence no succour need be expected, for its +summit was lost in the gathering mist. The winter twilight was fast +descending, the chill blast howled and shrieked over the heaving, +storm-lashed main, and a chaos of driving, leaping billows, whose great +leaden backs and white rearing crests rose hideous and spectral in the +gloaming as they dashed the one upon the other in their tumultuous rush, +flinging themselves high against the adamantine walls and falling back +with a roar and a hiss. The grim coastline was enveloped in wreathe of +white spray, and the surf-lashed base of the heights rang again as it +repelled the onset of each watery monster, while in showers of milky +foam the sea ran from the black, slippery rocks. A scene of wild +grandeur, unparalleled in its tremendous loneliness--a terrible scene, +even when viewed from a point of safety. What must it then have been to +the two who stood there awaiting an inevitable death! + +"It is I who have brought you to this!" She looked up at him and +nestled more closely in his embrace. In the midst of her bodily fear-- +the natural fear of a weak woman suddenly brought face to face with a +horrible death--she was able to smile. And it was a smile of unselfish +reassurance. + +"No, dearest. It is not your doing," she said. "If it had not been for +finding me here, you would have gone your way in safety. Roland--it is +I who have destroyed _you_." + +"By heaven--no!" he broke in passionately. "I would sooner die with you +than live without you. But nothing can get rid of the fact that it is +owing to me that you are here at all. You, for whom I would have given +five hundred lives--would have lost the salvation of a thousand souls to +see in safety now. Oh, my darling--my heart's sweet love--will not your +God again take me at my word and work a miracle to save only you!" he +added with a despairing, bitter cry, as he sank upon his knees at her +feet, still clasping her with both his arms. + +She bent her face down till it rested against his, and her soft, +caressing hands were round his neck. + +"Hush--my own!" she said. "Do not talk in that desperate way. A very +little while, and we shall be united to part no more. We--you +especially--have been terribly tried; now we are about to pass through +the waters of death, but our sweet Saviour is very merciful. He will +not part us again." + +Her calm courage and the solemn conviction of her tender tones seemed to +breathe a halo of peace amid that jarring scene of storm and chaos. +Their faces were wet with the showers of salt spray, and the girl's soft +hair, partially unfastened, was tossed rudely about by the cutting wind. +The thunder of the surf upon the shore and the shrieking of the fierce +gale drowned all other sound, yet in an interval in the turmoil, her +voice could be heard fervently praying. She pleaded that if it was +agreeable to the Divine Will they might be rescued from their imminent +peril, but if not, and it was appointed to them now to pass through the +awful waters of death, that grace might be given them both patiently to +undergo whatever period of penance might be necessary to their +purification, so that they might at last be united, never again to part, +safe in the Heavenly Country. Then, with her head upon her lover's +shoulder, his arms around her, and her hands in his, it seemed to Olive +Ingelow that the world was very far away, and she could await with +perfect resignation the short but terrible struggle which should set +them both free. + +Rolling in, huge and awful in the dim gloaming, the mighty billows +roared nearer and nearer, hurling great masses of milky foam at their +very feet. They could hardly see each other's face in the weird, +sepulchral light. + +"Roland, we are close to Smugglers' Ladder, are we not?" + +He started at the sound of her voice, in which there was a ring of hope. + +"Quite close. Why?" + +"Is there no chance of escape that way?" + +He shook his head sadly. + +"None whatever. I had thought of that, but it seemed better to--to face +the worst here in the open than to be drowned like rats in a hole. Why, +the tide runs up it like a mill-race." + +He had thought of it, and now her suggestion revived the ghastliness of +the idea. What a terrible revenge of Fate! Come what might there could +be no hope. Had the awful Shape been seen upon The Skegs again? Would +not men be discussing the apparition with bated breath the next morning +as the chill dawn revealed to the eyes of the devoted searchers two +drowned corpses? Could this legion of leaping, hungry billows be the +same blue, smiling, peaceful sea, on whose shore they two had sat +together, when from Olive's lips he first heard about the drear tale of +violence and revenge which overshadowed the spot as with a curse. If he +were to meet his end in that place of all others? Then another idea +struck him. They might by singular good luck find some ledge that would +place them above the reach of the waters. He himself had no such hope, +but it was just barely possible. + +"It is our only chance," he continued, "and the very poorest of poor +ones. But come; we will try it." + +On they sped, straining every nerve to reach the great jagged rent in +the cliff, which they could see not far ahead. Farther than they +thought, though, for as they stood within its dismal portals, the +advance-guard of the tide already swirled knee-deep around them. + +Gloomy and terrible in the extreme was the aspect of the chasm. The +last faint light from without, straggling through, here and there fell +upon the black, slippery rock, and the bellowing of the surf as it came +dashing in, white and seething, was echoed in hollow clamour up the +sides of the abyss. No light was visible above, and the atmosphere +within this hideous cave hung cold and dank as the breaths of the grave. +And upon the man who knew the grisly secret which these slimy walls had +witnessed and had kept so well, the horrors of the place weighed an +hundredfold. The outer darkness; the roaring and hissing of the great +surges; the shriek of the gale and the flapping of the long wisps of +seaweed against the face of the rock; all were as accusing voices--the +exultant gibbering of demons come to claim their just due--and it seemed +to his overtaxed brain that ghostly hands were stretched forth to drag +him to his everlasting woe. A cold sweat was on his brow and his knees +trembled under him. Were it not that a most precious life depended on +his exertions, he would have yielded up the struggle then and there, and +have plunged headlong into the boiling surf. + +It was of no avail. They had immured themselves in their living tomb. +A dozen great seas came sweeping in one after the other, and the chasm +was a mass of white, churning water dashing backwards and forwards with +resistless velocity. They had retreated as far as they could go, and +now stood up to the waist in water. The very next wave would carry them +off their feet--and then-- + +It came--crashing high against the cliff overhead, and whirling back +with lightning speed. Then another and another, and Roland Dorrien was +struggling in the surge--alone. + +Oh, the agony of that moment! Even while battling wildly for a minute +more of dear life, the awful, aching void of separation was the only +consciousness he retained--that he was not to be allowed even to die +with her hand clasped in his. We know that a man can dream the events +of hours in as many seconds. In this fleeting moment this man endured +an eternity of everlasting woe. He was separated from her in death--he +would be separated from her in the future life--and his lot would be +among the lost for ever. + +Then his senses began to fail. He was hurled to and fro, there was a +roaring in his ears; he was sinking--down, down, down--then up again +into black space. Then he struck against hard rock--his footing was +firm. Instinctively he threw out his hands and grasped something long +and trailing; the waters fell back, and with a mighty effort he resisted +their suction. He was on a ledge. + +But Olive? Had the Eternal Vengeance spared him and taken her life? +Was she drowned and dead in that hell-cave while he wae doomed to live? +No--a thousand times no! + +And then a cry, so awful and blood-curdling in its unspeakable agony, +rang out above the thundrous turmoil in that grisly cave, as surely was +never emitted from human breast before. It rose above the bellowing of +the mighty surges, it rang upward through the black sides of the chasm, +with many a weird echo--upward into the outer air--upward, till +assuredly it must have mounted to the very throne of high Heaven. + +"Great God! Great God! Spare her and take me!" But a grim spectre +stood at his side--only a voice from the pit of the grave answered in +his ear: + +"Life for life. Blood for blood. Live on, accursed one, but her thou +shalt never behold again in this world or in that which is to come. +Never--never!" + +The survivor stood for a moment on the edge of the black, slippery rock, +straining his haggard eyes as he strove to pierce the gloom through +which the white, seething foam was dimly rushing. + +"Never--never!" he shouted, with a maniacal laugh, and poising himself +he leaped headlong into the surf. + +What was that? As he rose, something came in contact with him. It was +a human body, limp, lifeless. A thrill of the most exquisite relief +shot through his heart. He had found her. And now he felt that he had +the strength of a hundred men. Half-a-dozen powerful, yet judicious +strokes--for to be dashed against the rock would be fatal--and he was +again grasping the ledge. A wave swept up, lifting them high in the +air, but he clung to his hold with the tenacity of despair, and then, +before he knew how it was done, he was crouching on the ledge, holding +the girl's insensible form in his arms. + +Was she dead? Ah, no. He could hear her faint, regular breathing as he +pressed his lips to hers. Wave after wave swept their precarious +refuge, but now he was filled with a new hope. They had been spared for +a purpose. Even if they were to die they would die together, and this +reflection was sufficient to fill him with the keenest bliss after the +awful agony of that moment of separation. + +With one foot planted firmly against a projection in the rock, and +grasping with both hands the slender and precarious hold which the +seaweed and rock afforded above, Roland Dorrien crouched there for two +long hours in the pitchy darkness, supporting the girl's unconscious +form. Waves surged over them, and more than once it was all he could do +to avoid being swept from the slanting ledge, and his muscles cracked as +he strained every nerve to resist the potent suction of the receding +seas. For two long hours he dared not move a finger or alter his +position by a hair's breadth, and his laboured breathing was loud and +stertorous in the intervals between the howling of the waves in the +cavernous gloom and the hollow, metallic echoes, like the booming toll +of a great bell, which thundered from the overhanging rocks. At length, +when his exhausted strength threatened to bear no more, he suddenly +realised that the onslaughts of the waves were becoming less frequent, +and their force when they did come was weaker. Surely the tide had +turned. + + + +CHAPTER THIRTY THREE. + +CAIN. + +"Are you here, Roland?" + +The tone was the faintest of whispers, but the voice was as if the +silvern echoes of heavenly harps had suddenly been wafted to the +listener's anxious ear. He could hardly murmur a reply. + +"Where are we? How dark it is!" continued she, in an awed whisper. + +"We are safe." + +"Safe?--Oh, I remember." + +"Don't talk yet, my darling. Lie still and let yourself be perfectly at +rest, as much so as you can, that is, in this uncomfortable attitude. +We shall have to hold on here for some time longer." + +"But you?" + +"Never mind me. Wait. That's better now," shifting his position. And, +indeed, it was a real relief--so great had been the strain upon his +powers. + +"Now try to sleep," he continued. "We shall have to stay here for some +time; in fact, it will be difficult to get down in the dark. We were +literally washed up here--and here we had better stay." + +Though the seas no longer reached their place of refuge they still +surged angrily through the chasm. Olive shivered. + +"How cold it is!" she said faintly. + +"Yes. Take a `nip' of this. It is absolutely necessary!" he said, +unscrewing the top of a small brandy flask. + +She obeyed, for she felt very faint and exhausted. The potent cordial +restored her a little and sent the blood coursing through her veins with +renewed life. + +"There! Fortunate I had it with me," he went on. "And now, darling, +you must sleep if you can. You will be perfectly safe until they find +us, for they will be sure to send out a strong search party." + +"Poor dear father will be so horribly frightened. Roland, how soon can +we go to him?" she asked faintly. + +He made no reply at first. The question had called back his thoughts to +the hard world again, to such as he more pitiless than the billows from +which they had miraculously escaped, colder than the chill wind which +whistled through the great dark vault. The exile's soul was bitter +within him again. They two had gone down into the Valley of the Shadow +of Death together, and had emerged thence, only to be parted once more. + +"It will not be safe to go from here--until they find us," he replied. +"But only think of the relief your father will experience when he finds +you are safe! Why, it'll be worth while going through the suspense he +is in at the present moment. While I--" + +He checked himself. No words could depict the awful desperation which +lay upon this man's soul at that dark hour. All his hopes in this life +were dead--his very life itself was forfeited, could be claimed at any +moment--and in the next he had little, if any, belief--certainly no +hope. Why had the sea spared him, why had it not taken them both +together, or, at any rate, him? Why was he not lying at rest for ever +far beneath the tossing billows--beyond the reach of the storms and +whirlwinds of this wretched life? Was he spared to eke out an accursed +existence? Could there be any truth in the old story of Cain? He +remembered it as one of the sacred teachings which had been instilled +into his infantile mind with all the accompaniments of rod and task-room +and unbending severity, and which he had since scouted, in common with +other like stories, as a mere childish legend. "A wanderer on the face +of the earth." Ah, but then his sentence had begun before he had earned +it. The curse of Cain had been upon him before he had committed Cain's +crime. And why had the temptation and opportunity been so thrust upon +him? He had gone out that fatal night perfectly devoid of harmful +intent--not so much as a thought of it, indeed, had entered his head. +He had returned a murderer. + +Then a horrid thought came over him. What if the purpose for which he +had been brought to this spot was not, after all, accomplished? What +might not the terrible sea yield up? That face with its look of awful +despair, upon which he had so pitilessly gazed in the wan moonlight, as +it sank into the black abyss--how could he bear its unearthly look now, +should it suddenly appear before him with glassy, upbraiding eyes, and +features hideous from the effects of its long immersion? Even as this +thought struck him he descried something floating in the water-- +something long and dark, like a human form. Great God--it was terrible! +A cold perspiration broke out all over him as, with a dilated stare, he +watched the awful object. What could it be, swaying helplessly +backwards and forwards on the ebbing surge? Then it disappeared. + +The midnight gloom deepened, and the chill breaths of the mist-laden +blast swept through the great fissure, playing about his face like the +cold touch of shadowy, spectral hands. Every sound was re-echoed with a +hollow clang from the chasm's overhanging walls, and in the noise of +falling water as it ran in torrents from the rocks with each receding +swell, and in the many-tongued raving of the imprisoned surges, he +seemed to hear the voice of a brother's blood crying from the deep, and +to feel the flap of demon wings in his ears. Had he been alone in this +ghastly solitude his very reason might have given way. + +But now a blessed ray of light and hope beamed in upon the outer +darkness. If he had destroyed life, had he not also saved it? This +horrible abyss which had been the scene of his crime had also witnessed +his act of reparation--or what might well stand as such--for now he +could not help realising that had he not appeared on the beach when he +did, his companion would never have retraced her steps in time--even +apart from the delay of which he had been the cause. And she would have +perished miserably, for her own unaided exertions would never have +availed her to reach this place of refuge, or to take advantage of it +when there, had she reached it. + +The soft, regular breathing of the sleeping girl betokened that her +slumbers were peaceful. Her head rested on his shoulder as she reclined +against him, a beautiful picture of the most perfect dependence and +trust. This pure, sweet, innocent life which he had saved should be his +own ark of refuge now. Passionately he kissed the slightly-parted lips. + +"My beautiful--my pure guardian angel! I can defy all the demons of the +nethermost shades while you are with me!" + +She stirred in her sleep and murmured slightly. Then her hands +tightened yet more clingingly upon his, and nestling closer to him she +slumbered again. No supernatural terrors could appal him now, no +fearful imaginings begotten of cold and darkness. Morbid temperament +and crime-laden conscience counted for naught as he sat there in the +heart of the wild cliffs at midnight, and the pure, lovely life of her +who slumbered so peacefully and confidingly in his arms, was dependent +on him for its preservation. Whatever grisly secret those grim waters +held, they might keep or divulge; it was powerless to scare him while +_her_ presence was with him. And so the dark hours wore on, one by one, +over the sleeper and over the watcher. + +"This way, sir, and mind 'ow you walk. Better let me go fust--if you'll +wait 'ere!" said a rough seafaring voice, and then, in a lower tone, as +if addressing another person, it went on, "Better keep him 'ere, sir. +If we do find the poor young lady in 'ere--well you know, sir, there +ain't a ghost of a chance of her being alive." + +Lights began to flash in the chasm, feeble and glimmering in contrast +with the gigantic ruggedness of its massive walls. Then Roland Dorrien +started as if he had been shot. Their time of emancipation had come. +She was about to be taken from him, and he must wander forth again. +Rapidly he resumed his tinted glasses, which in the uncertain light +would suffice to guard against recognition. + +"This way?" he called out in a harsh, quavering voice which needed no +disguise. "The young lady is perfectly safe, and you will find her +here." + +Twice that night did these stern cliffs echo a great cry. First, the +awful outpouring of a human soul in its last depths of anguish, now a +shout of unparalleled joy and thankfulness. The searching party rushed +in the direction of the sound, stumbling and nearly falling in their +eagerness. + +"Here we are. Now, careful," cried Roland. And Olive's half-fainting +form was lowered from the ledge which had proved such an ark in the time +of need, and placed in her father's arms. The rough fishermen turned +away their heads, and honest Jem Pollock's manful attempts to clear his +throat resulted in a series of dismal barks, which echoed hideously from +the overhanging heights. + +"Well, I'm darned!" he said, looking up at the ledge. "Who'd ha' +thought such a blessed bit o' good luck? Well, I'm darned--ahum!--beg +pardon, Muster Turner," he interjected apologetically, becoming aware of +the young curate's presence, right at his elbow. + +The first joy of success over, they began to eye the stranger with some +curiosity. He stepped forward. + +"I fancy the young lady will soon come round," he said in his assumed +voice, which grated with an anxious harshness upon the ears of the +listeners. "She has been rather frightened, I fear, and is very wet. +The sooner you get her between warm blankets the better." + +"You have earned for yourself the gratitude and blessing not only of a +father but of an entire community, sir," said Turner, extending his hand +to him. + +"Indeed! How?" + +"Why, by saving this young lady's life," went on Turner in surprise. +"Anyone can see with half an eye that she could never have reached that +place of refuge but for you." + +The other smiled sadly. + +"I fancy the young lady saved both our lives, since it was she who +suggested falling back on this place at all," he replied. "There was no +other chance for us, and so I acted on the idea--happily, as it +transpired. And now, if I might suggest--she should be taken home as +soon as possible." + +Leaving reluctantly his recovered child, Dr Ingelow hurried up. + +"God bless you, sir, whoever you may be!" he cried, seizing both the +strangers hands. "Pray do me the favour of making my house your +resting-place--you must be wet through and thoroughly tired out--and of +allowing me to become further acquainted with one who has rescued my +darling child from a terrible death." + +The exile's heart thoroughly knew its own bitterness, as he heard once +more the true, kindly tones. But it could not be. He would accompany +them until they reached the high road, when he would make some excuse, +and hasten to fly from the temptation to which he dared not yield. So +he consented. + +The waves were breaking with a hoarse, sullen boom, as though +disappointed of their prey, as the party returned along the beach in the +pitchy darkness of the small hours of the winter's morning, and the +light of the lanterns shone with a weird gleam upon the receding surf. +Olive had been placed in an improvised litter of shawls and wraps slung +on to two stout poles which they had brought with them, and was borne by +two sturdy fishermen. Exhaustion and the terrors she had gone through +had reduced her to a state of semi-unconsciousness, in which her mind +was hardly sensible of what went on around her. Her father, still +terribly anxious, walked at her side, and the stranger, who evinced no +disposition to talk, had taken up his position on the other side--an +arrangement not exactly to Turner's taste, who, however, took comfort +from the thought that the man was fifty or sixty at least, even though +he was well-made and free of step still, and undeniably a gentleman. At +last a stray light betokened the vicinity of Wandsborough. + +"Now, let me see," mused the stranger. "This is the Battisford road, I +believe. Do not think me very rude, Mr--Ingelow--but on turning things +over I find I must unavoidably be back in London to-day. I should have +gone up by the night train but for this unfortunate--this fortunate, +rather should I call it--walk of mine. On some future occasion, +perhaps, I may have the great pleasure of renewing our acquaintance." + +"My dear sir, we really cannot allow such a thing," cried the rector, +aghast. "You will surely reconsider this. At any rate, put off your +flight for a few hours. It is a long way to Battisford, and we are just +home now. You shall be driven over later if you wish it. Now do oblige +me--" + +All who witnessed it thought they had never seen such a curious look +before, as that which came into the other's face. A sharp struggle was +going on within him. + +"Go back with them--tell them who you are," said the lonely heart of the +exile. "You will have friends--a way will be found out of your +difficulties somehow, and then what love and peace and happiness will be +yours!" + +"You--a beggar, penniless, ruined, destitute?" whispered Pride. "You, +whose memory is under a cloud, and who are without the barest means of +existence--will you go back to accept the charity of those with whom you +moved as equal? Only reveal your identity and see how their grateful +overtures will cool!" + +Said Conscience, "Leave her--assassin. Can red blood-guiltiness and +pure white innocence ever mate? Leave her, ere she comes to abhor your +name." And Pride and Conscience triumphed over Heart. "I greatly fear +I must excuse myself for being unable to accept your kind hospitality," +he said at last. "But if you will do me one favour, I shall feel +thankful to you." + +"Certainly. What is it?" said the rector. "If you will drop me a line +to this address once or twice, and let me know how the young lady gets +on, it would be a satisfaction to me. I cannot but feel greatly +interested in my companion in adversity," replied the stranger, rapidly +scribbling on a card, which he handed to Dr Ingelow. + +"Why, most certainly," said the rector, hardly glancing at it. "Most +certainly. But--" + +He stopped short, gazing blankly into the darkness. The stranger had +disappeared. + +------------------------------------------------------------------------ + +Roland Dorrien returned to Battisford in the grey winter's morning, and +having put together his few possessions at "The Silver Fleece," he left +that ancient hostelry for the railway station, to the unfeigned regret +of the garrulous waiter, whom even a liberal honorarium could hardly +console for the loss of so congenial a recipient of local gossip. Yet, +up to the last moment, he found himself inconsistently cherishing a wild +hope that, his identity being cleared up, the rector might come over in +post haste to insist upon his return to Wandsborough. But no such +summons came, and when he took his seat in a hard, cushionless +third-class carriage, down whose rattling windows the pelting rain +streamed in torrents, his case was about as hopeless and desperate as +the lot of mortal man could well be. + + + +CHAPTER THIRTY FOUR. + +AFTER THE STORM. + +Hubert Dorrien's sad fate soon came to be recognised as an accepted fact +by Wandsborough and its neighbourhood. He had fallen down Smugglers' +Ladder in the dark, for had not young Mr Ingelow found a bit of the +cord of his eyeglass hanging from the brink of that fateful chasm? And +his body had been carried away by the tide, as to that there was no +doubt. Why, only a fortnight afterwards, the rector's daughter would +have lost her life at the same spot, to a dead certainty, had it not +been for a stranger, who must have been sent there by Providence, +specially for the purpose, said Wandsborough and its neighbourhood. And +no sooner had the community arrived at this conclusion than its verdict +was confirmed beyond a doubt. The body of the missing man was cast up +on the shore a few miles from Wandsborough, and though in a dreadful +state after its long immersion, the face was unrecognisable, the +clothing, watch, and other possessions of the missing man were not, and +the identity thus established, a coroner's jury returned a verdict of +"Death by misadventure," and the remains were interred in Cranston +churchyard. One juryman, burning with zeal, was anxious to append a +rider, censuring the absence of fencing along the dangerous part of the +cliffs, but was stifled by the remainder, who were alive to the fact +that although part of such fencing would be at the cost of the +deceased's father, by far the larger portion would fall upon the rates, +i.e. themselves. + +Then the gossips began to speculate as to the probable effect of the +fatality upon domestic affairs at Cranston Hall. Would it result in a +healing of the breach between General Dorrien and his eldest--now his +only--son. In its heart of hearts the neighbourhood hoped it would. +Him, at any rate, it knew, and if he was somewhat cold and reticent, he +would none the less keep up his position as it should be kept up, an +eventuality by no means so certain in the case of poor Hubert, had he +been the one to inherit. But if the feud were to run on to the bitter +end, the probability was that some stranger, wholly undesirable, would +eventually reign at Cranston. + +But as time went on, it brought with it no sign of reconciliation. No +communication passed between Roland Dorrien and his father, indeed the +General was in as complete a state of ignorance on the subject of his +son's whereabouts as the most curious of the busybodies who interested +themselves in his affairs. In truth, there were times when the old man +realised his loneliness and would fain have had the prodigal return, but +then it must be unreservedly as a prodigal and not as one with whom +terms were to be made, that must be distinctly understood. To be sure, +he forgot that his son had inherited his own unyielding nature, but that +is just the very thing parents of his type invariably do forget. + +Finally, as the prodigal made no sign, he grew more hardened than ever +in his resentment. He would not have been unwilling to abandon his +cherished idea--to wit, the Cranston-Ardleigh alliance; perhaps, in +time, might have brought himself to waive his opposition to the Rectory +one, had the exile only approached in an apologetic spirit. In fact, it +was one of those rare cases where a judicious friend, having touch of +both parties, might have been invaluable. But no advances did the +erring one make, conciliatory or otherwise, and the stern old man, +sonless and unloved in his old age, grew more morose and reserved every +day. + +On his wife, the bereavement told with terrible effect. All the love of +her hard, yet strong, nature had been poured out upon her youngest-born. +He was her Benjamin, and now that he had been taken from her, she felt +that it would, indeed, bring down her grey hairs in sorrow to the grave. +And what lent tenfold anguish to her bereavement was that she regarded +it as an act of the direct vengeance of Heaven. Like all women of her +hard, uncompromising opinions, she believed firmly in "judgments"; +unlike most of them, however, she did not believe in these applying to +her neighbours to the exclusion of herself, and now fully, yet +unresignedly, did she admit to herself that her passive acquiescence in, +if not indirect attempts at the robbing of her eldest son of his +birthright in favour of her idolised younger, had been visited by the +signal and direct curse of Heaven. And, perhaps, in one sense she was +not altogether wrong, for partiality and favouritism in family life is +dangerously likely to breed, at any rate, the spirit of Cain. + +Though fully recognising the justice of the visitation, yet, none the +less, was she furiously rebellious. She remembered Roland's last words +to her as he went forth in anger from his father's roof, words spoken in +bitter and wrathful satire. "_Let me congratulate you upon having +things at last exactly as you have long wished them to be_." And now it +seemed to her that there was menace in the words. And from that moment +she hated her eldest son. Her former want of love now turned to +something more positive, and she felt that she fiercely hated him, as in +some mysterious degree the cause of his brother's death. + +She had not even the poor consolation of once more gazing upon the +beloved face, all cold and unresponsive as it would be. Even that was +denied her. Ah, but how little had she grieved for that other son when +he had gone down beneath the buffeting storms which had so fiercely +swept the ocean of his life, how secretly exultant she had been that his +birthright had passed to his brother, whom she loved! + +All that a daughter could do had Nellie done for her mother at this +terrible crisis. Her patience was unbounded, even when her hardest and +most unselfish efforts were met with fierce reproaches and ironical +taunts. What had she cared for poor Hubert when he was alive, that she +should feign grief for him now? Why, if she thought of anyone but +herself, it was Roland, to whom everything must give way. At other +times the grievance would be that she did not show feeling enough. No +one would think that her brother had barely lain a month in his cold +grave, to see the cheerful expression of her face. These and similar +reproaches were her daily portion, till at last the poor girl had begun +to think she really was without feelings, and if not, that the sooner +she became so the better. + +But there was an ever-brightening spot on her horizon. Although he had +been unable to see her, Eustace Ingelow had made of the catastrophe an +opportunity of renewing his vows by letter, and even this was as balm to +the girl's empty, aching heart. The rector's son was no half-and-half +lover, and in a trice the correspondence had become brisk. Of course +his letters were supremely incoherent and foolish effusions, such indeed +as would convulse a callous court were they produced in a breach of +promise suit, but they were so thoroughly genuine, breathing throughout +such a spirit of manly affection and real hopefulness, that poor Nellie +took vast comfort, and found herself looking forward to the expiration +of the few weeks which should bring the Oxford vacation and the writer +in person with a degree of eagerness such as she had never before +experienced about anything. + +Yes. Eustace was hopeful. That mournful search in which he had borne +so active and intrepid a part had, he felt, rendered him yeoman's +service. Not only had Nellie's father spoken gratefully to him on that +occasion, but he had since received a--for him--very kind letter from +the General, expressing appreciation of his energetic aid and true +sympathy, and trusting that when he returned to Wandsborough he would do +him the favour of calling at Cranston, in order that he might adequately +thank him in person, he, the General, having given up visiting for the +present. + +So Eustace saw light ahead, and being very young and proportionately +sanguine, his hopes flew off at a tangent and took in the interests of +others besides himself. Who knew but that he might be instrumental in +bringing about a reconciliation all round? Perhaps the old General was +not such a bad sort at bottom, he reasoned, and if only the "padre" +could be got at him, why, he was sure things would come right. Then the +next thing would be to find poor, dear old Roland. They could advertise +for him, or set some of those private-inquiry fellows on his track, and +find him somehow, and then Olive and himself could have a +double-barrelled wedding, and henceforth they would all be as jolly +together as jolly could be, more so in fact by contrast with all these +wretched rows which had gone before. So reasoned glowing youth, leaving +out of account such considerations as that rancorous feud--bitter, +burning words, which, once spoken, cannot be forgotten, no, not in a +hundred life-times--black misfortune, and hope turned to the gall of +despair do not pass over those concerned without leaving terrible traces +of their deadly blight, even if the fruit which they have borne be that +of ruin and of crime. + +But if Eustace left out of sight these reflections, his father did not. +The rector smiled sadly to himself as he read his son's sanguine +outpourings--sadly, for he speculated how soon and to what extent +contact with the hard world would rub off the boy's fresh, wholesome +warmheartedness. Yet one suggestion had fixed his attention, for it +bore upon the very plan which he had himself been meditating for some +days. It was that he should pay a call of condolence at Cranston. He +did not pretend to himself that it was otherwise than distasteful, but +it seemed his duty. The Dorriens were not his parishioners, but they +were neighbours. They had always treated him with hostility, and on one +or two occasions with studied insult; yet they were now sorely +afflicted, and for him to allow resentment because of his trifling +wrongs to stand in the way at such a time, would be more than unworthy. +It was not to be thought of. + +So, actuated by these considerations, Dr Ingelow found himself one +afternoon ringing at the great door of Cranston Hall. He noted the +stare of surprise which came over the stolid visage of the domestic who +opened it, and who in a minute returned to inform him that General and +Mrs Dorrien did not see visitors at present, but that they desired that +their compliments should be conveyed to him. A few days later the +rector received a note stamped with the Dorrien arms, which he opened +with considerable curiosity. Though stiff and formal, it was not +uncivil, as in curt phraseology General Dorrien expressed his +appreciation of the Rector of Wandsborough's kindly attention, and +indeed that of all other sympathetic inquirers, etc, etc. And the good +priest felt that he had done his duty. + +But he still had plenty of anxieties, the first and chiefest of which +was on Olive's behalf. She had never quite recovered from the effects +of that terrible night, and the Wandsborough M.D., together with a great +London luminary whom the rector had privily got down to see her, had +confessed themselves baffled. At any rate they were clear upon one +point. She must have a change; that was imperatively needed, and it +must be a thorough one. For a long time she resisted. She did not want +to leave Wandsborough, she protested, and why not wait until the summer, +when it would be so much pleasanter abroad? But Margaret's diplomacy +overruled all these objections, and it was decided they should leave for +the south of Spain almost immediately. + +On one point Olive's lips were sealed. No word passed them as to the +identity of the mysterious stranger. Her lover had more than hinted at +some terrible shadow overhanging him, apart from his ruined prospects. +Her quick intellect put two and two together. His disguise must have +been assumed with no light object, and with no living soul, not even her +own father, would she share the key to the mystery. But she lost no +time in despatching to the address which he had left, such a letter as +should ensure her against losing sight of him again, repeating, as it +did, all--and more than all--her assurances to him during that last +meeting on the lone seashore; breathing a world of comfort and +hopefulness and love. + + + +CHAPTER THIRTY FIVE. + +REDIVIVUS. + +Again we must ask the reader to stand with us in the cheerful +dining-room within which he obtained his first introduction to Cranston +Hall. Now, as then, the breakfast table looks bright and inviting, as +its owner sits at it, opening his letters with a grave, serious face; +but now, unlike then, no warm summer sunshine searches out every corner +of the floor, for the sky is thickly overcast, and tossing eddies of +snowflakes are whirling past, and powdering with a sugary carpet the +half-frozen lawn. Nor do the clustering roses softly beat their bruised +fragrance against the window panes; in their stead only bare branches, +tossing in the wintry wind which, dismally whistling round the corners +of the house, enhances the snugness of the cosy room, with its blazing +fire, whence reflects a sparkling glow upon the breakfast-things and the +snowy cloth. + +And he who now sits at the table is not him whom we first saw there, for +this is a much younger man. Time, which brought its rude buffets, has +at length brought its compensations, and Roland Dorrien now reigns in +the halls of his ancestors. Let us look at him as he sits there. A +little thinner perhaps, certainly graver, and with a brow never quite +free from an expression of anxious care; there is an occasional thread +of grey in his dark hair, and in the deep blue eyes may be descried a +tinge of sadness which is seldom absent. He has aged, too, in +appearance, and that greatly; yet barely two years have gone over his +head since the night the mysterious stranger altered the hands of the +old clock standing in the hall of "The Silver Fleece Inn" at Battisford. + +General Dorrien is dead--has lain in Cranston churchyard a year and a +half--and his son reigns in his stead. + +But whatever our opinion of the deceased Squire of Cranston, the +important part he has played in our story entitles him to something more +than the above brief obituary. One evening at the period named, the +General failed to return home, whereas it was his wont to appear +punctually at the dressing bell. His wife, astonished at this deviation +from his rigidly unchanging habits, grew alarmed. The dinner-bell +rang--still the General did not appear. Then inquiry elicited that he +had been last seen by one of the under-gardeners strolling near the +ornamental water, it might have been an hour ago. No, the man noticed +nothing strange about his master, who seemed quite well, if anything, +rather cheerful. Thoroughly alarmed now, Mrs Dorrien collected the +gardeners and proceeded to the spot where her husband had last been +seen. It was, as the man had stated, close to the lake--being, in fact, +barely thirty yards distant therefrom. While directing the men to +scatter and proceed through the shrubbery in search of their master, +Mrs Dorrien's eye fell upon an object floating in the water, and the +sight well-nigh deprived her of speech and power. In response to her +signs as she sank down half-fainting, the men pushed off the boat and +quickly returned with the General's cane. That was enough. All hope +was at an end. But a few minutes more and the body of the missing +Squire was found, lying in barely four feet of water. Suicide? No. +The medical examination proved that the deceased had been suddenly +seized with a fit while standing on the brink of the pool, and had +fallen in. + +Those who knew the family legend were now more awestruck than they chose +to admit. Within a few months of each other, two more Dorriens had +miserably perished--alone, unseen, _and by the agency of water_. Of a +truth there was something in the prophecy. When the exile, in response +to an urgent advertisement for the late Squire of Cranston's missing +son, presented himself at the offices of Messrs. Swan and Simcox, +solicitors, Furnival's Inn, and having duly satisfied those gentlemen as +to his identity, was informed that General Dorrien had died suddenly, +and that every search having been made for his will without avail, he, +the applicant--who, as he stood there, could not have put down two +shillings and a sixpence if his life depended on it--was heir-at-law to +the splendid estate of Cranston with its dependency, Minchkil Down, etc, +etc, and all personal property besides, the deceased having died +intestate, it struck those respected practitioners, Messrs. Swan and +Simcox, that this new client was a very extraordinary sort of man +indeed. For he had sunk into a chair muttering something about "too +late," and turning ghastly white, till they became quite alarmed on his +account. However, good news does not kill, and the first shock over, +Roland Dorrien, without any fuss, quietly, and as if he had never left +it, entered upon his own. + +Yet when this happened his affairs were in a very desperate condition +indeed. For months after his terrible experience with Olive Ingelow on +the tide-swept coast he had supported himself by sheer physical labour, +more by way of forcing his mind to forget, than with the desire of +prolonging his wretched existence, for he had now no longer the means of +leaving the country. This could not last long. To a man of his +temperament there was but one end--mental prostration, with its dire +result, the lunatic asylum or the suicide's grave. And from this his +father's death had befallen just--but only just--in time to save him. + +How it was that General Dorrien should not only have allowed his +unforgiven son to succeed him, but also, by dying intestate, have left +his wife and Nellie almost entirely dependent upon that son's bounty, is +one of those mysteries that will never be solved in this world. His +wife had a small income of her own, but out of the estate she could not +touch a penny otherwise than as a free gift from Roland. And this she +positively refused to do--and persevered in her refusal. + +Greatly did the family solicitors puzzle over the non-transpiration of +any will. They were aware of the quarrel between the General and his +son, and that the former should die without testamentary instructions +was not quite satisfactory. At first they suspected that there was a +will, but that it had somehow got lost, but when after a most careful +search it was not forthcoming, then their suspicions took the direction +of foul play, in which, however, they acquitted the heir-at-law of any +complicity. + +And the said heir-at-law shared their suspicions, though he breathed no +word of it to them or to any other living ear. But no precaution would +he neglect to render secure to himself that which he regarded as +rightfully his own, and which had come to him, if by chance, yet at the +most fortunate of times. If it should transpire that others had the +legal right, at any rate he had the moral right, and it should not be +his fault if he did not keep it. So the first thing he did upon +entering on possession was to institute a most thorough and exhaustive +search for the missing document on his own account. He would ensure the +safety of his position once and for all, and leave nothing to chance. +So for several nights, when no living eye could behold him, did he +remain up till early dawn, carrying on his search. Not a desk or a +drawer was left unrifled, not an article of furniture unmoved. Even the +very wails he carefully sounded for hollow places and sliding panels, +and more than one escritoire suspected of secret drawers did he hew in +pieces with his own hand, alone and with locked doors. Once, indeed, +his breath came thick and his heart stood still as he lit upon a bundle +of legal-looking parchments in one of these forgotten recesses. But +they were only records of a private and delicate transaction of his +father's early life, and with a sigh of relief he burnt them to ashes. +Had one of them been the genuine document, which was to dispossess him, +it would have shared the fate of the rest. No scruples would have +stayed his hand. He had drained the cup of poverty and destitution to +the very dregs; but the tide had turned at last. What he had got he +meant to keep, at all and every hazard. + +But that was a year and a half ago, and now here he sits opening his +letters. A frown comes over his face as his eye falls upon the address +of one of them, and with a couple of impatient tugs at his moustache he +chucks the obnoxious missive aside. Then a light step is heard in the +passage and his brow clears. There is a place laid opposite his, and +behind the urn, evidently awaiting its occupant. Surely that is she +outside. Who is it? His sister, Nellie? + +Then the door opens, and enter--not Nellie, but Olive. No longer Olive +Ingelow, however, for it is rather over a year ago that she changed it, +and never in all his priestly experience had the rector of Wandsborough +pronounced the blessing of his Church upon a happier union than these +the nuptials of his best-loved child have up till now proved. + +Olive's happiness suits her well, for she is looking lovelier than ever, +and seems to bring a ray of sunshine in with her this biting, +tempestuous winter morning. She seems, too, to have recovered a large +portion of her old irresistible spirits, though the sparkling piquancy +of the beautiful girl whom we first saw in Wandsborough church has given +way to the more thoughtful sweetness of the woman who has passed to her +happiness through the dark days of trial and affliction. Her husband is +wont sportively to tell her that she is fast acquiring the staidness of +the conventional British matron--an imputation which she makes believe +greatly to resent. But Roland Dorrien's love and adoration of his +beautiful wife is as warm to-day as it was when they stood together two +years ago beneath the cliffs, in the dim gloaming, with the spray +dashing in their faces as they watched the huge waves thundering in, and +knew that in another hour they would be lying dead in each other's +embrace. + +She goes across to him now and puts her arm round his neck and lays her +cheek against his. + +"What is it, dear? Any bad news? No. Only those stupid old business +letters," she says, looking over his shoulder. "Put them away till +later and don't let them bore you. But just look how it's snowing. You +won't be able to shoot to-day." + +"No, I shan't. But it doesn't really matter--Marsland won't care--and I +asked the Colonel, but I believe the good old chap will be only too glad +of the excuse to sit quietly at home. Tom Barnes will be rather sold, +I'm afraid--but we can give him a shoot at any time." + +"Of course. And now we'll have a snug day together, all to ourselves-- +won't we?" + +"Olive, darling, I can't help thinking sometimes you must be dull here, +shut up all the year round with such a cross-grained animal as this," he +says, after a minute's pause. "It must be such a contrast as compared +with the jolly days at the old Rectory. Now confess." + +"I'll confess this much--that if you don't get that idea out of your +wise old head, I shall begin to have a bad opinion of you," she replies +affectionately. "Why, I can run over at any moment and look them up, or +get them up here, as in fact I'm always doing. What more can you think +I want? Now let's see what the arbiter of Fate has brought forth," +continues she, going round to her place. "Two bills--that's your +department. Letters--only one, and that from Eusty. His regiment has +been ordered to India--wonder how Nellie will like that--and he is +coming down here the week after next. He will be here in time for the +festival." + +"That's a goodish bit of news. Will he come to us or to the Rectory +first?" + +"Don't know. That'll have to be decided." + +"By the way, where's Roy?" he asks suddenly. "He hasn't been in this +morning. Ah, there he is." + +For the servant entering with a tray has also admitted our woolly +friend, who makes for his master and thrusts his nose into his hand with +an affectionate whine, his brush wagging like a flail. + +Roy, too, is restored to his rightful place in society, as his master +puts it. One of the first things Roland did when the tide of his +misfortunes turned, was to take steps for the recovery of his faithful +follower, and Roy's new owner, who was a good-hearted fellow, had +refused the somewhat extravagant sum which was offered him for his +purchase, and had handed him back at the same price. Roy's exuberant +glee on his restoration to his old master was something indescribable. +But now he has long been an institution in the Cranston household and is +a favourite with everyone, except Johnston, the head-gardener, of whom +more anon. + +The airy mood of the new Squire of Cranston fades as suddenly as it +arose. He eyes for a moment the unwelcome missive which he has cast +aside, then, as if with an effort, he tears it open. It is only a +letter from his mother. + +"Oh! What is it, darling?" cries Olive anxiously, half starting up. +For with a furious imprecation Roland has dashed down the open sheet +upon the table, and sits back in his chair, his face ashy white. + +Only a couple of lines does this letter contain, and they are in his +mother's handwriting. + +"_Since you force me to speak plainly, I will--I can hold no +communication with a murderer--a fratricide_." + +"Roland, tell me what it is. Tell me, darling, and let me share it with +you," urges Olive pleadingly. "What cruel thing does she say?" + +His hand is trembling as it heavily lies upon the open paper, as if to +blot out the accusing words. + +"Nothing but what is evil and ill-conditioned," he answers hoarsely. +"See what comes of doing the right thing. It's only her reply to that +letter of mine offering to make a settlement upon her. This is the +fifth time I've done it, and each time I get more abused than before. +One's mother!" + +Oh, the biting satire in the last two words. Roland Dorrien has never +seen his mother since the day he passed her in anger on the stairs. +There had been no affection between them at any time, and now he would +not pretend to any. But he had his code of honour, and under this he +would willingly have made a liberal settlement upon her out of the +estate. Mrs Dorrien, however, refused to touch a penny--and went +further. She rejected his overtures with scorn and even reproach. An +idea had rooted itself in her mind that he was responsible for his +younger brother's death--that he had made away with him, in short, for +his own advantage. It was the merest fancy, wholly destitute of the +slightest clue, but it took firmer and firmer hold upon her till she was +convinced of its truth, as though she had beheld with her own eyes that +terrible scene on the cliff. But she had never gone so far as to put +her suspicion into words until now, when, in an access of fierce grief +for the lost, and fury against those who had benefited by her +bereavement, she had penned those fearful words. + +"I won't let you leave me while you are like this," pleads Olive +tenderly, with her arm on his shoulder. He had been gathering up his +letters to go, a move which she was determined to circumvent. "Whatever +it is, remember nothing can separate us now." + +He almost shudders at her words. Can it not? he thinks. Yes, but it +can--and in a manner so grisly and awful as she would never dream of +suspecting. His brain is in a whirl. What could have set his mother's +suspicions to work? Even though they could have no foundation to go +upon, a fixed idea like that, in such a mind as hers, might be in the +highest degree dangerous. + +"I must go," he answers. "But, my darling, I promise to come back to +you here in half an hour. Will that do?" + +She is satisfied. A clinging kiss, and then she stands gazing after the +tall, fine figure in its shooting-suit of light homespun. She sees him +enter the study--his father's study that was--and hears the snap of the +key in the lock, then, turning to the window, she stands looking +thoughtfully and with a troubled expression out upon the whirling +snowflakes and the white, cold earth, in contrast whereto the dark +trunks and gaunt limbs of the trees in the park show out like starved +spectres, and the dismal howling of the wintry blast is as the warning +voice of impending woe. + +Amid the joys which encompass Olive Dorrien's married life there is yet +room for one great sorrow. Over her husband's peace there hangs some +dark and terrible secret, the weight of which he must bear alone. + + + +CHAPTER THIRTY SIX. + +THE SWORD. + +Although the neighbourhood had by this time got thoroughly accustomed to +the new state of things at Cranston, and had voted it a great +improvement on the old, yet the said vicinity was unanimous in its +opinion that the General's successor was decidedly queer. + +True, a man in his position should be popular and not eccentric, but +then, there were extenuating circumstances. If the county was not so +much entertained at Cranston Hall as it deemed it had a right to expect, +at any rate open house was kept periodically; and, as all things are +relative, the contrast between even this and the inhospitality which +characterised the late General's tenure, told to tenfold advantage. +Another claim had Roland Dorrien upon the indulgence of the +neighbourhood. He had taken his wife from among the daughters of the +land. No stranger to them and theirs had he brought into their midst, +but one whom they had seen grow up among them, and right nobly did she +grace her far from unimportant, and at first rather trying, position. +So, taking all things into account, the neighbourhood was inclined to +congratulate itself on the acquisition of a new lord for Cranston, and +to look with indulgent eyes upon his moods and vagaries. + +And these were multifold. Though not of a hilarious disposition, yet +there were times when he would yield himself up to the excitement of the +hour with an unthinking _abandon_ which made even the youngest and +liveliest of his guests stare, and then, while they were wondering with +an agreeable surprise how it was that they had never suspected Dorrien +of having so much in him, the mercury would fall with alarming +suddenness, and he would relapse into a moody taciturnity, for which +there was no accounting. Sometimes, too, those staying at Cranston +never saw their host for days at a time, except at meals, and these he +seemed to get through in a half-absent kind of way, answering in +monosyllables if appealed to, but never originating a remark. In his +normal frame of mind, however, Roland Dorrien struck his acquaintance as +somewhat cold and uncomfortably reticent, but as a peculiarly +keen-witted and observant man. + +For a long time he had steadfastly refused to be placed on the +Commission of the Peace, and his old friend, Colonel Neville, had waxed +very sore and disappointed thereat. For Dorrien of Cranston not to have +his place among the judicial luminaries adorning the Wandsborough Bench +was, in the gallant veteran's eyes, a thing simply unheard of in the +annals of the county. Why, it was tantamount to a prediction of the +family downfall. But Roland had stood firm, and the Colonel had taken +the matter quite seriously to heart. Then all of a sudden, just as his +friends had given up trying to persuade him, he had, of his own accord, +expressed his willingness to serve, and the Colonel was overjoyed. But +from the day of his appointment up till now he had only taken his seat +on the bench three times, and then, either by accident or design, when +there was a peculiarly light list of cases for adjudication. Moreover, +his voice had been strenuously raised on the side of mercy, to the no +small astonishment of those who had ever been wont to look upon his name +as a convertible term for unbending severity. "A hard Dorrien" was how +inferiors and dependents had been wont to speak of the heads of the +family. + +"I don't think it exactly my line in life," he observed to Mr Curtis, +the vicar of Cranston, in reply to that worthy's expostulation with him +for his scant attendance at Petty Sessions, "to sit in judgment on a lot +of poor devils who knock over a rabbit when they're half-starving. It +doesn't seem a very ennobling kind of office to fill, does it?" + +"That's all very well, Mr Dorrien," had replied the vicar, who was a +zealous attendant at the Wandsborough Bench, and not a little proud of +his connection therewith. "But birth and station have their duties, you +must remember, and if those who by virtue of these advantages are +appointed to `execute justice and maintain truth' shrink from their +responsibilities, why, it will soon be a bad thing for the country. For +what is the country to do?" + +"Pay some fellow--one of the Great Unbriefed, for instance--to perform +these onerous duties," was the reply, with a careless laugh, not wholly +free from satire. "Plenty of sharp fellows in these hard times would +jump at the billet, any one of whom would be quite as competent as we +are collectively to fine Bill Gubbins ten shillings and costs for +driving a horse and cart down the street when drunk and incapable, or to +decide whether John Hodge or Tom Podge shall be adjudged to contribute +towards the maintenance of Sarah Timms' latest hopeful. At any rate it +doesn't strike me that the discharge of these elevating duties should be +monopolised by `birth and station.'" + +To which the vicar, a fine, hard-headed Tory of the old school, had +replied severely, that he feared his friend had become imbued with some +of the Radical tendencies of the day. + +Roland's eccentricities, too, had their religious side. For weeks he +would never go near a church, then he would rise in the dark, three or +four times a week, mount his horse and ride over to the morning office +at Wandsborough church, and the little congregation assembled in the +side chapel, whose gloom was hardly dispersed by the altar tapers' soft +glow, while the rain poured down upon the roof, would be astonished by a +tall figure, gaitered and mud-besplashed, suddenly arriving in its +midst, perhaps, just as Dr Ingelow and his acolyte were reciting the +Nicene Creed. On the subject of these pilgrimages he let drop no word +to anybody, not even to his wife, turning the conversation if she +alluded to them; and this, with ready tact, after the first time, she +never did, in having recorded which fact, by the way, we have testified +volumes to Olive's advantage. Nevertheless, she rejoiced with a great +secret joy. But Wandsborough regarded these proceedings on the part of +the Squire of Cranston with undivided curiosity, but diverse feelings, +and the advanced Anglicans congratulated themselves mightily on the +acquisition of so influential and important a convert. + +Various theories, too, were advanced to account for Roland Dorrien's +eccentricities. Some went so far as darkly to whisper that there was +madness in the family. There was the late General, for instance. Look +how he shut himself up and never entertained, and was always gloomy and +morose, and quarrelled with everybody, his own flesh and blood included. +Then, to go further back, there was the General's brother, the former +Squire, an old bachelor and most queer in his ways. And now this one-- +at his age, and in his fortunate circumstances, a man ought not to look +and act as if life was one great and protracted mistake. A few, more +charitably disposed and more superstitious withal, scouted the mania +theory, but declared that the present race of Dorriens must be under a +curse. At any rate, it was not a little singular that two out of the +three sons had met with an untimely and tragical death, and now, no +doubt, the thought of it preyed upon the mind of the surviving one. But +whatever it was, it must be a very serious thing, for there could be few +more enviable positions and calculated to produce happiness, as the +world understands it, than that of Dorrien of Cranston. On this point +the neighbourhood was thoroughly agreed. + +And the neighbourhood, looking at things from its own light, argued +rightly. In the full health and vigour of his manhood, possessed of one +of the most beautiful seats in England, its splendid domain absolutely +unencumbered, a lovely wife, who adored him--if there is such a thing as +happiness in the world, assuredly Roland Dorrien should have been a +happy man. Yet he was not. + +As we have seen, no compunction followed upon his crime--no remorse--no +fear of detection and of the awful penalty which, in the event of +detection, he would be called upon to pay. He was then so overwhelmed +beneath the blows of Fate, that one more or less could make no +difference in the wretched hopelessness of his lot. His conscience was +seared past all feeling. + +Then had come the change, and from a living death a single day had +sufficed to restore him to the joys of life in more than all their +fulness--their sweetness, beyond measure, enhanced by the black period +which had gone before. He had stretched forth his hand and grasped +them, he had hastened to pluck for his own this fair flower which had +languished and grown beyond his reach, and in gathering it he had +filled, as he thought, his cup of bliss to the very brim. Secure in the +love of his beautiful wife, prosperous in his splendid possessions, what +could this one crime of a troublous past avail against him? + +But with prosperity his heart grew soft again, and with it the voice of +compunction made itself heard--at first, but faintly, and only at long +intervals. Then, little by little, the haunting vision of a face in its +agony of death-terror stole across the unclouded brightness of his life, +and Time, which in its course blurs over all recollections as it rolls +on, only served to bring out this one more vividly. In the dead of +night would that face be staring at him, in the golden hours of the +bright and peaceful day, that awful, agonised gasp would sound in his +ears as he heard it on the brink of the abyss; and as the horror of this +ever-brooding cloud across his sunshine swept full upon him with a weird +and supernatural, yet none the less real a consciousness, a dejection +settled down upon his mind, which, if allowed to grow apace, might end +in the most disastrous of results. + +And Olive--did she ever regret the step which had linked her lot to his, +burdened as it was with a secret grief in which she had no share? +Never, for the fraction of a moment. Always brave, loving, and patient, +she strove to lighten his load. Even when suffering from a temporary +depression of spirits herself, she would brace herself with an effort +and cast care away in order that she might cheer him. She studied his +moods, and when in her clear-sightedness she saw the dark hour about to +come upon him, any sacrifice of her own comfort and convenience did she +deem of small account if only she could keep up his spirits and lift him +out of himself. And she had her reward. Never was he so happy as when +alone with her--and as amid the night horrors of the fatal cave, with +the wild waters surging around them, he had found refuge in her +slumbering innocence and purity from the supernatural terrors which came +crowding in, thick and fast, upon his soul, so now, in his dark and +conscience-stricken moods, hers was the image that caused the evil +spirit to fly; her tones, the music that rendered his ears deaf to the +accusing voice; hers the protecting presence, beneath the weight of the +ever-threatening cloud which he felt would sooner or later descend upon +him and overwhelm him in his doom. + +Yet why should it? No human eye witnessed that moonlight tragedy. +Already the circumstances had faded into past history; nor at the time +had any suspicion of violence arisen to fix people's memory. But for +all that, Roland was as firmly convinced that sooner or later the +reckoning would overtake him, as that he himself was a living man, and +when it did, he had little enough doubt as to the issue. And now, as we +see him once more after two years, that crisis seems to him within +measurable distance. + + + +CHAPTER THIRTY SEVEN. + +EUSTACE OUTFLANKED. + +General Dorrien's widow occupied a semi-detached villa in Maida Vale. +She had, as we have seen, persistently and even fiercely refused her +son's repeated offers of a settlement, liberal and freely made as they +were, preferring to live on her own not very ample means to accepting a +penny from him whom, without a shred of evidence to justify her in the +idea, she persisted in regarding as responsible for his brother's death. +The difference in her mode of living was a trifle, she declared. At +Cranston, they had always lived very quietly, so it was in no sense a +"come-down." Poor Nellie, however, had felt the change acutely, and +although she tried dutifully to make the best of it, the exclusive +society of a gloomy parent told upon her spirits, and the smoke-defiled +air of suburban London was a poor substitute for the strong ozone of the +sea. Consequently, the girl became seriously ailing, and there was +nothing for it but to send her away for a change. + +It was some time, however, before the widow would allow her to accept +Roland's invitation, and it was not until he threatened to go in person +and bring her away by force that her mother, whom misfortune had not +rendered one whit less selfish and exacting, reluctantly gave way. So +Nellie returned for a long stay at her old home, and was made much of by +her brother and his wife, under which bright auspices her spirits came +back like magic, and day after day she wondered the more how they could +all find themselves so thoroughly happy where, before, gloom and +restraint, jars and wrangles, had been the order of the day. Why, she +could hardly believe it was Cranston, and Olive's warning had weight-- +that she must not get well and strong too quickly, or her mother would +be wanting her back again. + +And this warning was very urgently seconded by a certain +recently-gazetted subaltern, who seemed to divide the time of his leave +exclusively between the Rectory and Cranston Hall, the latter receiving +by far the lion's share. In short, Eustace made the most of his +opportunities, to the satisfaction of both parties. There was a third +party to be reckoned with, though, and one into whose scheme +satisfaction did not enter. This was Nellie's mother. + +The widow was furious when the subject was broached to her. Never as +long as she lived would she listen to any such preposterous idea. The +very name of Ingelow was repulsive to her; had not that detestable +family wrought mischief--not to say crime--enough? Poor Nellie was +ordered home at once; and, not content with giving Roland a most +unambiguous bit of her mind, Mrs Dorrien, senior, extended the +attention to Dr Ingelow, who for his part consigned the vituperative +document to the flames, mostly unread. But Roland, chucking his +jobation across the table to Olive, laughed sneeringly at the pious +quotations, alternating line by line with vehement abuse. + +"Ha-ha! Honour our parents, indeed! No, no. That string's played +through, Mrs General Dorrien." + +He was for keeping Nellie at Cranston altogether, but apart from the +objections of the girl herself--who, in spite of everything, refused to +leave her mother, now that the latter was all alone--the rector strongly +objected to his son being a party to such desertion. They must wait and +have patience. It was only a question of time, and both were young. A +little self-denial and consideration, even for one bitterly hostile, +would do them no harm--in fact, they could not but be the gainers by it +in the long run. Thus the good old man. But his son-in-law was not of +this way of thinking; however, he yielded the point. + +Then Eustace, deserted by his supports, resolved upon a bold venture-- +nothing less than an advance upon the enemy's camp under cover of a flag +of truce. The widow received him, but to the end of his life the +youthful warrior was sure he would retain a very lively recollection of +the interview, though a confused idea of what was said in the course +thereof. As he remarked to his sister, Sophie, when reporting +progress--"Sweet relative--future mamma-in-law? Blackguarded a fellow +without a break for twenty-five minutes by the clock, and then, before +he could get in a word edgeways, turfed him out into the street. Take +my word for it, Sophonisba, my jewel, I wouldn't tackle that same +ancient and formidable party again--no, not for all the V.C.s ever +struck." + +Left to her retirement, the General's widow did two things, neither of +which tended to her own peace of mind nor to the happiness of her +daughter. She went in strongly for the Gospel according to Calvin, and +she cherished and fed her grief for the loss of her idolised son. Her +crapes were as heavy as in the first month of her widowhood, and no +little awe did the stern and gloomy countenance, and the tall figure +swathed in deepest black, inspire among the elect of the flock +shepherded by the noted evangelical luminary whom Mrs Dorrien had +elected to "sit under." She lived alone with her daughter, visiting, +and being visited by, nobody, in order that she might more freely brood +and indulge her grief. She suffered terrible anguish at times, yet +looked upon her loss in the light of a judgment, and while admitting the +justice of it as concerning herself, yet none the less luridly did her +resentment burn against him whom, rightly or wrongly, she regarded as +its instrument. + + + +CHAPTER THIRTY EIGHT. + +"GIVE ME YOUR CONFIDENCE." + +It was Monday morning, and a bright and beautiful day. Three people sat +at breakfast at Cranston Hall, the third being Frank Marsland, Roy's +quondam purchaser. The wintry sun shone brilliantly in a cloudless sky, +though without power, for the hard frost lay in silvery patches, wholly +unaffected by his searching beams. + +"Do you feel like skating to-day, Marsland?" said Roland, breaking off +from the discussion of a grand festival service they had attended at +Wandsborough Church the night before, and as to the detail of which the +guest had been seeking information from Olive. + +"I should think so. Ice good, eh, Dorrien?" + +"First-rate. I had it flooded last night, and it'll be like glass." + +A sound of voices in the hall, then the door opened without ceremony, +and there entered Eustace and his youngest sister, each armed with a +pair of skates. + +"Salve! All hail, Macbeth! Glorificamus, all round!" cried the former. +"Roland, old chap, you don't seem quite the thing. In the words of the +poet, you look decidedly `chippy.'" + +"Enough to make one, you ruffian, to have a cyclone like yourself +bursting upon one's quiet breakfast-room without any warning." + +"Haw! haw! Coffee, yes, decidedly. Breakfast? no--emphatically," cried +Eustace, running two replies into one. "And, Olive, I must say, it's +disgraceful of you, reared in the sweet seclusion of a virtuous rectory, +only just sitting down to breakfast at ten o'clock. Disgraceful, I +repeat." + +"Oh, Eusty, in the words of the poet--shut up!" laughed Olive. "Mr +Marsland, I don't think you've met my sister?" And she introduced them. +Sophie had grown up a very pretty girl. Her vivacity, however, was +dashed with a tinge of shyness in the company of strangers, which was +rather "fetching." Now she looked very engaging in her furry winter +costume, her bright face sparkling with animation, and crowned by a +becoming arrangement of golden hair. Marsland's somewhat susceptible +heart was impressed. + +"No. But I think we should have broken the ice, anyhow, Mrs Dorrien," +he answered with a laugh. + +"Break the ice? No you don't," cried the irrepressible Eustace. "At +least not till this evening, when we flood it. And now, look sharp and +finish the oats, good people, for we've come to pick you up, and Spelder +Fields is over two miles off." + +"All right. I'll send and order the waggonette," said Roland, getting +up. + +"Waggonette be hanged!" was the ceremonious rejoinder. "We are going to +ride Shanks His Mare. And I tell you what, Roland, you lazy dog, you +had better do ditto. Some leg work, this gorgeous morning, will do you +all the good in the world. Quite set you up again," he grinned, with a +wink at Marsland. + +"Set me up, eh? But I turned in before you did!" + +"Did he, Olive? No, I won't bet. I'll have no chance against your +combined perjuries. But Roland, why didn't you turn up at our place +last night and feed, instead of sneaking off home. The dad was +expecting you. He wanted to run you against that great gun, Hurrell, +the padre who held forth. Wasn't _he_ lively, eh?" + +"Eusty, you irreverent boy, don't talk shop," said Olive impatiently. + +"All serene. We had a regular sacerdotal feed though, with the dad in +the chair and Margaret in the vice-chair. Concerning whom, old +Crustibore, the ex-archdeacon of Seringapatam, who's stone deaf and +takes snuff, remarked to his neighbour in a strident stage-whisper what +a young-looking woman `Mrs Ingelow' was, to be the mother of that +dashing fellow opposite. I thought the dad would have choked. As for +me I roared outright, but I took care to look in another direction, so +it didn't matter." + +"It wasn't `dashing fellow' at all, Olive," struck in Sophie. "What Dr +Crustibore really said was `that lanky rascal.'" + +All shouted, except Eustace, who affected to regard the interruption as +unworthy of notice. + +"Yes," he went on. "It's a pity you weren't there to keep Sophie in +order. She behaved disgracefully, the more so that `great was the +company of the preachers.'" + +"Ah! I've been waiting for that quotation," cried Sophie, sharp as a +needle. "Olive, he made use of it about twenty times last night--went +all round the room planting it everywhere. I heard it myself at least +ten times, and knowing Eusty as we do, it's safe to put the total figure +at twenty. And now he's transplanted it here. I knew he would. +Dragged it in by the head and shoulders, too--literally." + +"Twenty times! Say a hundred while you're about it." + +"It was twenty at least. Why, Margaret heard him three times, and +scowled at him for a profane person." + +"Who hadn't got any `birthright' to sell," cut in Eustace. "But you +should have heard that child. She got in among a knot of those doleful +chaps, all neck and spectacles, regular gargoyles, you know, and played +the very mischief. You know that lank chap, Berriman, who brought out +those asinine articles on celibacy. Well, she soon worked round to that +topic, and made of it a peg whereon to hang such a jobation, that they +stared at her in horrified amaze, and scattered as if a shell had +dropped in among them. You see, she spoke feelingly. That sort of +doctrine tends to spoil trade." + +"Pooh! None of your gargoyles for me," laughed Sophie. + +"No. Nothing less than a gay Hussar will suit her," rejoined Eustace. +"There are two in the regiment that'll be just the thing--both much of a +muchness. I'm going to bring them over next time I get leave, and then, +O Sophonisba, my child, you can smile on the survivor." + +"No," retorted the girl mischievously. "I don't like soldiers-- +cavalrymen least of all. Civilians are much nicer. Look at Roland, for +instance. He doesn't tire one with a lot of third-hand chaff." + +"Oh, come! I say, Olive, do you allow that?" cried the irrepressible +subaltern. "In view of the approximate passing of the Deceased Wife's +Sister's Bill, I call upon you to quell such sentiments, and to +repudiate their enunciator--trix, rather." + +The ice at Spelder Fields was in fine order. It was a large, flooded +meadow on one of the Cranston farms, and although the Squire could have +kept it closed to the public, that course would have roused such an +amount of ill-feeling as to render the experiment not worth while, for +it had been used from time immemorial. It was the rule, however, that +anything tending to spoil the ice should be rigorously excluded, and +elides were strictly taboo, while any approach to yahooism was promptly +nipped in the bud. As the townspeople could not turn out till evening, +during the daytime the privileged few had things all their own way. + +We shall not, however, follow our party throughout the day. Be it +briefly recorded, however, that Marsland surrendered at discretion to +Sophie's blue eyes and golden hair, and fresh, bewitching ways, and +constituted himself her guide, philosopher and friend, and +fetch-and-carry generally, through the uncertain and mazy evolutions of +the ice--and how Eustace poured out the vials of his exuberant chaff +upon them and upon everybody, and notably upon a brace of shaven and +spectacled young clerics, who rather fancied themselves on skates, and, +with singular unanimity of intent, were bent on imbuing Sophie with the +same idea, but that our friend Marsland sailed in and cut out the prize +from under their guns, apparently with the full approval of the prize +itself. + +"Time to knock off and give King Mob his innings," cried Roland, +whirling up to the bank and casting himself thereon. + +"Oh, hang it, old man! Isn't it rather soon?" objected Marsland, who, +hand-in-hand with a certain blue-eyed young lady, glided by just in time +to catch the suggestion. + +"Rather soon! I should think it was!" echoed Sophie. + +"I think Mr Dorrien's right," said Clara Neville, who had just been +taking a turn or two round the ice with the first speaker. "It's +disagreeable being here when the place is full of rough people. +Besides, it's getting late." + +Ill-natured friends were wont to whisper that the fair Clara was getting +somewhat _passee_ and soured, and that the qualifications of the future +aspirant to Ardleigh Court would not be so narrowly scrutinised now as +of yore. But the answer to this libel was that she had refused two very +good offers and one indifferent one. Her sister, Maud, was married, and +Clara was left alone in the ancestral halls. And now she had made up +her mind to smile favourably on Frank Marsland, who had on a former +occasion or two begun to show her attention, when again that detestable +Rectory furnished a thorn for her side. That chit of a girl had upset +the plan, even as her sister had done years before. Poor Clara had not +enjoyed her day. + +"Er--Dorrien--if you don't mind, I think we--er--I--will have half an +hour more of it," stammered Marsland. "Miss Sophie says she'd rather +walk back--er--and I'll see her safe home." + +"All right, Marsland," replied his host. "Olive dear, do you mind +driving back without me? You can take Margaret in the waggonette." He +had taken off his skates, and was standing with one foot on the step of +the vehicle, wherein sat his wife, wrapped in furs, and looking very +sweet in the crisp, frosty air. "Your father and I are going to walk. +Oh, and by the way, he says they all can go straight back with us to +dinner, so you'd better go on ahead and arrange accordingly." + +"Very well, dear. But I quite envy you your lovely walk." + +"Not a few quite envy me my lovely something else," he replied +meaningly. + +"What? Oh, you dear old goose!" she laughed, blushing at the delicate +compliment, her dark eyes flashing at him a bright glance of affection. +"Now go and find Margaret--there she is, just coming off the ice--and +then we'll go." + +"Well, Roland, my boy, this sort of thing makes a man feel young again," +said the rector, as they began to step cut briskly on their homeward +way. The sun had gone down, and the bare trees stood against the +cloudless sky in delicate tracery, as in a steel engraving. The dead +leaves crackled underfoot, and behind them the ring of the skates on the +ice, and the voices and laughter of the skaters grew fainter and +fainter. + +"I suppose it does," answered the other shortly, with a glance around as +if to make sure that no one was within earshot. Then after a pause-- + +"Look. From where we now stand, it will take us the best part of an +hour to walk home--I can call it home now--and the Hall is nearly in the +centre of the estate. Well, all this I gave up of my own free will-- +flung it away with both hands. For what? For love. But even that +which I had bought at the price of my birthright, was snatched from me +not many hours after its purchase, for the very day after I had done +this I learned that I was a ruined man." + +"My dear boy, I can never blame myself enough for my short-sightedness +in that wretched business," cried the old man in a distressed voice, +letting his hand fall affectionately on the other's shoulder. + +"There is no question of blame in the matter," went on Roland, speaking +quickly and decisively. "And now, do you ever regret that things turned +out as they did? Have you ever had during this year and a half which +has passed since you gave Olive to me--any reason for misgivings as to +her future?" + +"Never, Roland--never! Not for a moment! You have been as a dear son +to me, and my other children look upon you as a brother, indeed." + +Again there was a pause. The rector, understanding well that these +questions were leading to something, refrained from interposing. + +"Well--now I ask--could anything that might happen--that might come to +light, rather--cause you to entertain such misgivings now?" + +It was the rector's turn to hesitate. Whither was the conversation +drifting? His mind reverted to the rumours current in Wandsborough +shortly after Roland's disappearance, and his brow slightly clouded. +Before he could reply Roland struck in. + +"I know what you are thinking of. I solemnly assure you again, that +those rumours were absolutely false. Whatever might happen would affect +myself alone. On Olive's account you need feel no anxiety whatever." + +"That is all I was hesitating about, Roland. And now, my dear boy, if +you feel that you can give me your confidence, it may be that you will +have no cause to regret it." + +The younger man made no immediate reply. If ever there were time and +place for confidence, it was here, in the sweet and peaceful quiet of +the evening, the moonlight sleeping upon the hill and the bare, leafless +woods lying still and ghostly against the slopes. That confidence he +was resolved to make at all costs. No longer could he bear his terrible +burden unaided, for a desperate idea had occurred to him. Who could he +more certainly trust than his old and revered friend, the rector +himself? No man living. But what he shrank from was the possible--nay, +probable--loss of intimacy that would result from the avowal. Dr +Ingelow was an Anglican priest, but then he was also a father. No word +would pass his lips--but would it not hasten his steps to the grave once +the old man learned that his daughter's husband was a murderer, a man +whose life would be forfeit for the rest of his days? And how should he +meet a murderer on terms of friendship from day to day? To Roland, +circumstanced as he was, there seemed a strange, subtle, protecting +influence in the cordial intimacy existing between himself and the old +priest, and he dreaded to cut away this sheet-anchor with his own hand. +So this idea had slipped from him in despair, and he seemed as one +hopelessly drifting. + +And then again a new hope leaped into existence. Dr Ingelow had been a +great traveller in his younger days. He knew what it was to carry his +life in his hand. He had seen men shot down on very slight provocation +in wild, lawless regions where a man must be ready to answer for his +acts, and even his words, with his life, if not quick enough to defend +it. Surely no man living was more qualified to judge of a case by its +own merits. He would take a broader view than the cut-and-dried rules +of a high-pressure, artificial state of society, recognising that +England is not the world, nor yet its law-giver. + +And now, walking beside his friend in the gathering gloom, Roland +thought the moment had come. The remembrance of his resolution was +strong in his mind, and he could imagine the rector once more the cool, +wary traveller in wild countries, where friends stood by each other to +the death. + +"My confidence!" he echoed huskily. "I greatly fear I may regret giving +it, but--" and again he paused, his features working strangely. + +What a wonderful thing is life with its contrasts! Only two friends +returning home this lovely evening from a day of healthful exercise, the +cheerful voices of those they had left behind scarcely out of earshot. +No more than this would the casual saunterer along that unfrequented +footpath through the plantations meet or see. Yet, what could be of +more awful moment than the subject of their discussion! If the +supernatural powers to which one of these two lays claim exist, such +powers are bounded by no considerations of time or locality; are +dependent on no such matters of detail as official insignia. They exist +or they do not, and if the former, can neither be qualified nor limited. +Can it be that these silent woods--these glittering stars looking down +through the leafless boughs, are about to witness a solemn act of +absolution, and that from one of these men will be lifted a terrible +weight of blood-guilt--even the curse of Cain! Surely it seems that +those peaceful stars reflect the light of angelic eyes, and that even +the voice of God might be heard in this secluded place. + +But it is Earth after all. Whatever confidence might have been +imminent, an interruption befalls, a diversion is created--and by what? +Only a dog. + +Ranging at will, forgotten of his master, Roy's quick ear has detected a +stealthy footfall among the dry crisp leaves, and there he stands, with +hair erect and fangs bared, snarling savagely at a dark, thickset form, +whose efforts to pacify him only seem to augment his hostility. + +"Come away, Roy, you rascal--come away, sir, d'you hear?" cried Roland. +The dog obeyed, and retreated reluctantly to his master's side, keeping +up a running fire of most threatening growls. "Down, sir. And now, who +are you?" + +"It's only me, sir," answered a gruff voice. + +"Oh, it's you, is it, Devine? By the way, have you been over at the +Hall?" + +"Well, sir," answered the man in rather hang-dog fashion, "I've a bin +over to see Mister Lucas about them dawgs the Kurnel was to have, and +took a short cut back." + +"I see. Is that shoot to come off the day after to-morrow, do you +know?" + +"Well, sir, the Kurnel don't seem to have made up his mind. But he'll +be sure to let you know. There's lots o' rabbits in the cliff jest +above Smugglers' Ladder, sir," added the keeper, in a different tone, +looking Roland keenly in the face. "Such lots are there, that they +pitches each other over, sometimes. I see'd one wunst, one moonlight +night." + +Although feeling as if suddenly shot through the heart, Roland made no +sign. With a short nod, he turned away. Roy, still growling deeply, +walked close at his side, as if his instinct told him that his beloved +master might come to need more than all the watchfulness of the most +faithful of friends in the impending peril. It was the third time of +late that Stephen Devine had let fall a sinister hint. + +This interruption had given the rector time to reflect, and with a +foresight which, when he came to look back upon it in the days that were +coming, seemed to him little short of inspired, he now saw that the +interruption was an opportune one. He was the first to break the +silence, and his tones were very grave and solemn. + +"Roland, my dear son, I will gladly receive your confidence, but not +here. There must be no possibility of interruption, and no half +measures--and--there may be other reasons. I can see you are +overwrought and tired now, therefore rest and place yourself in a calm +and composed disposition. Then we will talk, and more freely." + +Not another word passed between them. The confidential strain in which +they had been interrupted seemed to preclude lighter topics. And they +were nearly home now. + + + +CHAPTER THIRTY NINE. + +THE WEB WEAVES. + +The bright, frosty weather lasted nearly a month, and was followed by a +whole month of rain and squalls, culminating in a truly furious March. +The trees in the park bent and groaned beneath the lashing wind; and +night and day driving showers hurled themselves against the window panes +with a crash as of volleys of gravel. At such times, even from +Cranston, the thunder of the surf upon the cliff-girt coast could be +plainly heard, and safe in her comfortable, luxurious home Olive would +shudder at the dull booming of the billows and at the recollections +conjured up by the sound. But it was with feelings of deepest +thankfulness that she dwelt on that dark and terrible time, while +realising her present lot of joyfulness and peace. + +And, during this period of conflicting elements, a great and singular +change had come over Roland Dorrien. He seemed like a man from whom a +great weight of care had been suddenly lifted, an impending danger +miraculously averted. His brooding despondency had completely left him, +and though he was grave at times, it was with a seriousness far removed +from that moodiness and settled gloom which had caused the charitable to +whisper hints about hereditary insanity. His cheerfulness, too, became +free and unaffected, displacing those wild, excitable fits of hilarity, +followed by their corresponding periods of reaction and gloom. The +neighbourhood marvelled, but it could do no more, for the cause of this +metamorphosis in the Squire of Cranston was known only to one living +person and guessed at by another--Dr Ingelow and Olive. + +And the latter rejoiced with an exceeding great joy, and her cup of +happiness was now, indeed, full. Never by word, or hint, or look had +she sought to arrive at that which had caused her husband to return home +in the small hours of a certain dark winter morning with such an +expression of relief, yes, and of peace upon his face as she had never +dared hope to behold there again. Never, even to herself, had she +ventured to conjecture, except with the most reverential awe and +thankfulness, as to the instrument of this miraculously restored peace; +the power which had exorcised the evil spirit and restored to her this +man in whom her life was wrapped up--restful, free from care, happy. If +she dimly guessed at the nature of that power, she was content to stop +there. + +This afternoon the rain crashed and volleyed on the panes in such wise +as to render the snug morning-room doubly snug. Suddenly Olive broke +into a peal of laughter. + +"Roland, dear, that seems a desperately engrossing book you have got +hold of." + +"Hullo! And why?" + +"Because you haven't turned a page for eighteen minutes. Eighteen +minutes! I timed you by the clock." + +"By Jove! no more I have! No. Fact is, I've been thinking out an +idea." + +"Let's have it then." + +"Well, then--how should you like to go away for a time? To travel, in +fact?" + +"Oh, immensely," she cried gleefully. "Where shall we go. Italy? It +would be delightful to get out of this hideous weather for a couple of +months. No, I should like to go to a new country this time. What about +Spain? Or better still, Algiers? There--I've set my heart on Algiers." + +"All right. We can't go too far, I think, nor yet too soon. So see if +we can't manage to get away at once. I feel as if my life depended on +it." + +Hardly had he spoken the words than they struck him with a prophetic +import. The fact was, he had been revolving this plan for some time +past. It would be good for them both, in every way, besides which he +felt an irresistible longing to leave the neighbourhood for a +considerable period. It seemed to him in some instinctive way that such +a course would do away with the last lingering possibility of danger. +His apprehensions on the score of certain hints which Devine had from +time to time let fall, were lulling. The fellow could have had nothing +tangible to go upon. He was a shrewd rogue, merely talking at random in +the hope of hitting the right nail on the head, but he, Roland, was too +old a bird to hop upon any such palpably limed twig. Yet, on the whole, +it might be safe to take a long change. Time blunts the edge of every +weapon, even that dangerous one Suspicion. + +They discussed the new scheme eagerly for half an hour, and then Olive +got up, declaring she should go into the conservatory to get a little +air. He laughed. + +"Glad to get rid of you, dear. Only you won't get much air there, I +should think, unless it's hot air. Wait--I've just got to dash off a +couple of notes to a couple of tiresome fellows, and then I'll come +after you." + +Ten minutes later he had finished his writing. + +"What an infernal day," he muttered, as he took his way down the covered +passage leading to the conservatory. Suddenly he stopped short, +arrested by the sound of a voice. In the harsh, northern tones he +recognised that of Johnston, the Scotch gardener. + +Strange as it may seem, this worthy was still in the Cranston service. +That it was so may be due to various reasons. The canny Scot, on the +sudden and unlooked-for accession of the General's exiled son, had +hastened, with many plausible yet abject apologies, to make his peace +with the reigning lord, for the berth was an uncommonly good one, and +one to be kept at all costs. Roland, who knew the fellow to be a great +rascal and felt towards him a hearty contempt, had kept him on, and his +reasons for doing so were various. In the first place, it would save +trouble, for the man was good at his work; then he had an idea that he +might ascertain whether Johnston really had recognised him that day at +Battisford, but as time went on and the man made no sign, his suspicions +were lulled. However, the arrogance of so presuming a knave must be +kept within bounds, and Johnston no longer dared tyrannise over his +betters, by virtue of his office, as he had been wont to do in the old +times. On one or two occasions, Roland had come up in time to overhear +him rebuking in his old bumptious strain a guest who had ventured to +pick a flower, and the trouncing he had got had made the worthy Scot +squirm. + +He hated his master with a bitter, rancorous hatred, but still he stayed +on, for he foresaw the day when he might be revenged on him upon whom he +now fawned, saw it dimly still, but opening wide possibilities. So +patiently and warily the crafty Gael had watched and waited until the +weapon should be ready to his hand, and then how he would strike! But +to resume. + +A frown of terrible import came over Roland's face as he paused for a +moment. The rain was volleying against the glass sides of the +conservatory, but above its rattle, he could hear his wife's voice, +speaking in what seemed to him a tone of scared expostulation, and then +the Scot replied: + +"--A don't want to hurrt yere guidman, but after these yeers of surrvice +a' think ye might promise me that place for my bairn, Davy. Ye wouldn't +be wanting to leave this bonny hoose yeerself, awm thinking." + +"Johnston! How dare you talk to me like that!" came the startled and +indignant rejoinder. + +Roland waited to hear no more. The blaring insolence of the fellow's +tone set his blood surging. There was a half-scream from Olive as he +entered suddenly, confronting the astonished speaker. + +"Go," he said. "You are discharged this instant. Go out of my sight, +before I forget myself." + +But Johnston had been drinking; yet, even though backed by a certain +amount of "Dutch courage," he deemed it advisable to withdraw a few +paces. + +"Would ye murrder me--too?" he yelled. + +Roland still controlled himself with an effort little short of +superhuman, but his face was white and icy. + +"Go," he said. "You are discharged." + +"Dischairged!" echoed Johnston sneeringly, for he had backed away to a +safe distance. "Dischairged, am I? I'll have the law on ye if ye +assault me, but it's a noose ye'll come to for this day's wurrk." + +And with this parting shot, he took himself off. + +Olive was terribly alarmed and disturbed. The violence of the incident, +and the dark and mysterious threats had upset her not a little. +Tenderly, Roland set to work to soothe her. + +"My darling, tell me all about it." + +She told him--how Johnston had accosted her directly she entered the +place, asking her to use her influence to get his wages raised and also +to procure a place for his son, who, by the way, was an out-and-out +young rascal. She could see that the man had been drinking, and so had +answered him quietly at first. Then his manner had become insolent and +threatening, and he had hinted at terrible mischief which it was in his +power to work his employer in the event of refusal. + +"It was only talk, Roland, wasn't it?" she urged, clinging to him. +"Darling, tell me that he has no power to harm you. He has not--has +he?" + +As a matter of fact the threat had momentarily struck him with a pang of +the old alarm. Momentarily, because, invoking reason to his aid, he +decided that the rascally Scot had got his suspicions at second-hand +from Gipsy Steve when the precious pair were in their cups. The +suspicions of these two scoundrels were harmless. Only if he flinched +might they become dangerous. So he had acted with decision, as we have +seen. + +"Not the slightest?" he answered reassuringly. "If he has I'll give him +every opportunity of putting it to the test. Off he goes this very +evening, bag and baggage." + + + +CHAPTER FORTY. + +THE BAN AGAIN. + +The Cranston party had organised a picnic to Durnley Castle. + +It was May--bright, flowery, laughing May--neither spring nor summer, +but something of both. The sun's rays were not too powerful this +glorious afternoon, as with a delicious warmth they poured down upon the +fields studded with golden buttercups and delicate bluebells, and +distilled the sweet scent from blossoming hawthorn hedges, where the +linnet and grey-backed shrike sat patiently upon their eggs, secure in +the recesses of their thorny covert. Fair to the eye were the velvety +coppices, with their newly-donned mantles of bright green, whence issued +the soft coo of the turtle-dove, and the flap of the cushat's wing among +the branches. Then, too, how light-hearted the joyous, oft-repeated +note of the cuckoo, sounding over the pleasant landscape! + +Durnley Castle was a fine ruin, with massive ivy-grown walls still +rising to a considerable height; and standing as it did on a lofty +headland, the views of the coast obtained from it were superb. +Otherwise it was much like other ruins of the kind, its scarp being +literally strewn with bits of sandwich paper, ancient and modern, broken +bottles, and similar relics of generations of picnic parties. It was +under the care of a clan of cottagers, whose thatch might be detected +among the trees hard by, which care mainly consisted in taking precious +good care to collect sixpences, but stopped short at clearing away the +abominable rubbish aforesaid. + +"Eva," cried Ned Medlicott, the curate's twelve-year-old, running up to +his sister, a pretty girl of eighteen, to exhibit some kestrel's eggs. +"Look at these. Did you ever see such stunners!" + +"`Stunners,' indeed," was the laughing reply. "Why, how did you get +them, Ned?" + +"I didn't _take_ them," explained the boy; "Mr Dorrien climbed the +tree--but--" + +"But the great thing is, here they are, eh, Ned?" cried Roland. "And +it's my private opinion you'll break them before you get home." + +He was thinking how thoroughly happy the boy looked, and how easily he +had been made so, and the thought seemed to please him. + +"Hullo, Eustace! Late as usual," he went on, as some new arrivals hove +in sight, toiling up the steep escarpment. "Thought you had wrecked +your party." + +For Eustace had brought round the rest of the party by sea, in a sailing +craft, chartered at Minchkil. + +"Oh, did you? Now look here. Do you know what Thought did? No? Well, +I'll tell you--Thought we had had a precious dry walk up from the boat, +and lost no time in beheading one of those jolly long-necked bottles +over there. Aren't I right, Mr Medlicott?" turning to his companion. + +"Oh, of course, you always are," answered the latter with a laugh. He +was the senior curate of Wandsborough, a middle-aged, scholarly man-- +owning a vast family, two representatives of which were with the party, +as we have seen. + +"Worse and worse!" said Roland, with a shake of the head, and +mischievously barring the way. "Eustace, I wash my hands of you--`fizz' +before tiffin isn't good for little boys like you." + +"Hallo--Sophonisba!" sang out Eustace. "Cut out one of those +long-necked bottles, and sail round here with it, sharp! Your dear +brother-in-law's getting mean in his old age. Marsland, tell her to. +She'll do it if _you_ tell her," added the mischievous dog, grinning all +over his face, while his youngest sister looked viciously at him without +complying. + +"There, there. Go and do for yourself, Eustace," said Roland, letting +him pass. "And now that we are all here, we can gather round the +festive--table-cloth. Assort yourselves, good people, and do it well; +if you don't it's your own faults. Stewart, keep an eye on that +subaltern of yours, and don't let him have too much champagne, or my +wife says you will be held responsible as his superior officer." + +Captain Stewart--in whose troop Eustace was--and who had run down with +him for the occasion--vehemently declined responsibility, and set to +work devoting himself to Eva Medlicott, to the no small satisfaction of +that young lady. + +"`Shop!' Bear witness all!" cried Eustace, tossing off his glass with +the air of a man who had walked a mile up a steep hill at mid-day. +"He's talking arrant `shop.' Roland, old chap, consider yourself fined +a case of this same `gooseberry.' Stewart and I will take it up to Town +with us to-night." + +"Nonsense, you're not going to-night," said Olive. + +"Am. With deep grief I say it--but--`painful necessities,' as the +schoolmaster says upon certain occasions! If we miss that train I'm +broke. Chief desperately glum--vows I've had four times too much leave +already. Isn't that so, Stewart?" + +"For once, Ingelow, truth and the exigencies of the Service compel me to +support your statement," gravely replied the captain, whose attention +was divided between his fair companion and the dispensing of a +pigeon-pie to many hungry applicants. + +There was a laugh at this, and then, the contagion spreading, the fun +grew apace, and never a merrier party made the grey old ruins ring. It +wae a model picnic party, not too large, all fairly well known to each +other, or, in the case of an exception or two, acquisitions to any +circle, and all young, except perhaps the curate, who was such a +thoroughly good-natured man that his quietness--"slowness" we are afraid +they called it--was quite forgiven him. Then there were no elderly +chaperons to spoil sport with their whisperings and confounded +sharp-sightedness, and not even a botanically-minded old maid to drag +off some wretched youth to grub up fern-roots for her, when he would +fain be wandering _perdu_ in another direction with a very different +sample of charmer. + +The Dorriens had been obliged to defer their foreign trip. Business of +all sorts, connected more or less with the property, which could not +well be left to others, had kept cropping up in the most vexatious +manner since we heard them making their plans nearly two months ago. To +Roland these delays had been irritating in the extreme, but now he +thought he saw the end of them, and had made up his mind to start early +next month. There was one bright side to it all. He had heard no more +mysterious hints. These seemed to have ceased since the departure of +Johnston, who had left the neighbourhood altogether when summarily +dismissed from Cranston. + +Luncheon over, the party dispersed themselves abroad according to +taste--in pairs or in squads. Others preferred taking things easy where +they were. Besides those named, there were half a dozen other people +who are not specially concerned with this history. + +"Hallo! Who are these chaps, I wonder?" suddenly exclaimed Eustace, who +was having a quiet weed with his brother-in-law, in a snug, sunny corner +of the ruin. Two men were strolling leisurely towards them, stopping +every now and then, as if admiring the view to seaward. The foremost +had a telescope slung round him, while the other carried a butterfly-net +and specimen box. They might have been a brace of well-to-do tradesmen. + +"Where? Oh! The advance-guard of a cheap trip, most likely. Two +waggonettes of hooraying yahoos to follow," was the somewhat +dissatisfied reply. + +"Beg pardon, sir," said the foremost of the new arrivals. "Excuse my +asking, but is there any objection to me and my friend going over the +castle." + +"None whatever, as far as I know," answered Roland good-naturedly. "By +the way, is there a trip behind you?" + +The men looked mystified for a moment, then the naturalist replied. + +"Oh, no, gentlemen, only we two. We walked over from Wandsbro', we two +did, just to look at the view from here, and catch a few butterflies." + +"Caught any?" + +"Not to speak of, sir. Just these two or three," opening his green box. +A tortoiseshell of dissipated aspect, and a couple of orange tips stood +displayed. + +"H'm! Well, as far as I know you'll find nothing to prevent you going +where you like. Only I should advise you to be careful in walking about +the walls, because they're unsafe in parte." + +The men thanked him and walked away. Eustace and Roland, grateful that +the invasion took so mild a form, puffed their cigars lazily, and +straightway forgot all about it. Had they been aware of it, what matter +to them that the strangers, exploring round the ruins, should light upon +the Cranston footman, lunching on the relics of the spread, and that the +said strangers, being of an engaging manner after their kind, should, in +a trice, find themselves on the best of terms with James, resulting in +much friendly consumption of Cranston ale, all round. + +"That your governor, up there?" said he of the telescope presently, +jerking a thumb in the direction he had just left. + +"Which?" asked James laconically. + +"Tall gent--light clothes--talks like God Almighty." + +"Yes, that's him." + +"Good governor?" said the butterfly-catcher. + +"So, so. Too much shirt, though--rather." + +"Hey?" + +"Too shirty, for them as doesn't like it," explained James. + +Then, with tongue loosened by a liberal allowance of ale, +indiscriminately poured upon the absorption of the residue of unfinished +champagne bottles, the faithful James proceeded to give his new friends +a full, true, and above all, humorous account of his master's +idiosyncrasies, whereat the strangers laughed till they could no longer +sit upright. But even the graphic James missed the real humour of the +thing, as conveyed from one to the other of his listeners in a swift and +irresistibly comic glance. + +The afternoon had reached the debatable ground lying between itself and +evening, and the diverse and errant members of the party had found their +way back to the rendezvous. And last of all arrived Marsland and +Sophie, trying to look as if they had been there all the time; and the +latter, catching her brother's eye, read therein a mute and satirical +assurance that she had not heard the last of her tardy arrival and eke +of its circumstances. + +"Don't wait for me, anybody who wants to stroll on," said Olive, who was +superintending the putting away of the things. "I'll come on +afterwards." + +"And, by the way, Stewart, do you mind taking the ribbons going back?" +said Roland. "I'm going home by way of the angry deep." + +The Captain declared himself delighted, as in fact he was. A smart +whip, he flattered himself he would show those four slashing bays of +Dorrien's at their best. + +"Ta-ta, Stewart. Good people, I hope all your lives are insured! I +know what Stewart on the box means," sung out the irrepressible Eustace, +with a fiendish chuckle over the misgiving which he had flung in among +the driving party. "And now for the rolling deep?" + +We will follow the party in the boat. Besides Eustace and Roland there +were two young ladies from Wandsborough and Mr Medlicott and Ned. +Item, an amphibious youth from Minchkil, who represented the "crew." + +It was a lovely evening. There was just enough breeze to propel them +gently and without rocking, and a fragrant whiff of sweet hawthorn +reached them even there. As they stood out to sea, the moon shone out +brighter and brighter in the clear sky, glancing upon the tiny ripples +as though its light were touching the moving spear points of a host. +Then, as they presently rounded the headland, a hollow and tuneful echo +seemed wafted back to them as the waves plashed against the semi-circle +of cliff with the inflowing tide. + +Eustace and the two Wandsborough girls were deep in a wordy war of +banter and laughter, the former steering villainously in consequence. +Roland and the curate were puffing at their cigars and lazily conversing +in the fore part of the boat, and young Ned was playfully pulling Roy's +ears. Suddenly through the stillness of the night, above the musical +ripple as the bow of the boat cleft the water, above the bell-like plash +of the waves upon the shore, a strange, mysterious sound came wafting +over the moonlit sea, a sound as of the deep-toned howling of a dog. + +The sky, studded with stars, is without a cloud. Yonder, shadowed by +the lofty headland, the grey rock-turrets of The Skegs stand forth +spectral under the clear moon. Again that most dismal sound floats out +upon the night air, but no one seems to hear or notice it. No one? +One--that is. One who has heard it before. The curate, glancing at his +host, is surprised and alarmed at the latter's face, for it is ashy +white; and following the set and rigid gaze, behold! a dark shadow is +resting blackly upon the summit of the haunted rock. And Roy, with his +hackles erect and gums drawn back, is snarling aggressively in response. + +The terrible and grisly Ban once more. What does it portend? + + + +CHAPTER FORTY ONE. + +THE SWORD FALLS. + +Olive was rather unwell on the morning after the picnic. It was nothing +to worry about, she declared. She supposed she had overdone it, and was +a little tired. Any way, she would stay in bed till the afternoon. So +Roland and Sophie sat down to a late breakfast alone, Marsland having +left earlier to spend a few days at Ardleigh. + +"What a jolly day we had yesterday!" the girl was saying. "Olive didn't +catch cold, did she, Roland?" + +"No. She'll be all right after a good sleep. Roy, you vagabond, shut +up. That melodious voice of yours is matter in the wrong place just +now." + +But Roy, who had been lying curled up on the rug, refused to be +silenced. His threatening growl became a deep-toned bay, and his ruff +began to rise, as with fangs bared he sprang towards the door, which was +yet shut. There were voices in the hall. Then the door opened. + +"Come here, Roy, d'you hear, sir?" cried Roland, seizing him by the neck +and dragging him by main force towards the rug. "Now. Lie down, sir." + +The dog would hardly obey, but half rose again, keeping up a running +note of growls. + +"Please, sir," said the butler, entering, "there are two gentlemen want +to see you very particular." + +"Who are they?" + +"They won't give their names, sir, and I never saw them before." + +Roland frowned. "Suppose I must send the fellows about their business. +Back in a minute, Sophie." + +It may be that an ugly misgiving shot through his mind at that moment, +but if so he showed no sign of it. As Jervis said afterwards, with awe +and admiration in his voice: "Master was out-and-out the very coolest +party he'd ever seen." + +The strangers were standing in the hall. With astonishment he +recognised the men who had accosted him at Durnley Castle the day +before. + +"Your name is Roland Dorrien, I believe, sir?" began one of them, before +he had time to ask a question. + +"It is. Kindly walk in here and state your business with me." + +He held open the study door. The others, with a moment's hesitation, +accompanied him within. Then they turned. + +"I have a most unpleasant duty to perform, sir," said the spokesman of +the pair. + +"And that?" said Roland coolly, though conscious that his face was +becoming white. + +"Is to arrest you on the charge of murder. Here is the warrant," said +the other very gravely. "I must, as a matter of form, caution you +against making any statement, though as a magistrate yourself, sir, you +will be aware of this formality." + +"Yes, the warrant is all right," he said, running his eye over it and +noting idly that it was signed by a man with whom he had next to no +personal acquaintance. + +The sword had fallen at last. Was he dazed--was he dreaming--or was he +really stunned? Was he, Roland Dorrien--one of the most influential men +in the county, and lord of this noble patrimony whose limits he could +not see from his highest window--was he, indeed, a prisoner, henceforth +no longer master of the simplest of his own actions? Horror incredible! + +Something of this must have appeared in his aspect as he turned away, +for the detective watched him keenly. + +"Let me see. I don't know whether you will prevent my just saying a +word to Mrs Dorrien before I go with you. She is rather unwell this +morning, and this in addition will try her dreadfully." + +The officer shook his head. + +"I'm extremely sorry, sir, but it can't be done. You see I'm bound not +to lose sight of you, and if I were to go with you it would frighten the +lady still more." + +Roland faced round upon him. + +"Listen. What if I were to pledge you my word of honour to return to +you here in ten minutes?" + +For half a moment the detective wavered. Then he shook his head very +gravely. + +"Can't do it, sir!" + +"No! Hang it! I suppose it wasn't fair of me to put you into such a +position. And you've been very good in managing so quietly. Of +course--one would have time to do all manner of queer things in ten +minutes. I'll order the brougham at once. It'll be thought I've gone +gaol-visiting, ha-ha?" + +Again the officer eyed him very curiously. That strange laugh, teeming +with a subtle irony, the queer carelessness of his tone, put the +detectives thoroughly upon their guard, and caused them to determine +that there was something about this case that was decidedly "fishy." +They were fully alive, too, to the importance of their errand. It was +not every day that their duty required them to arrest a gentleman, a +squire and a J.P., for murder. + +Roland rang the bell and gave the necessary orders. In a few minutes +the brougham came round. The officers had declined all offers of +refreshment, and became very impatient to start. Sophie was passing +through the hall as they came out. + +"Why, where are you going, Roland?" she asked in astonishment. + +"Got to go to Battisford on business. Take care of yourselves till I +come back. Bye-bye?" + +The girl looked puzzled, but there was no time for further explanations, +and the three men, getting into the brougham, were driven off. And +Barnby, the principal detective, still continued to watch his prisoner +closely, and drew his own conclusions. In his heart of hearts he was +thoroughly convinced of the other's guilt; but the pluck and coolness +displayed by Roland under the circumstances of his arrest filled him +with admiration, for it was unparalleled, even in that astute officer's +experience. + +But oh, the torture of the breaking heart which could smile, and even +half jest, at that awful moment! Even at the time when life was at its +very sweetest to him, had the sword fallen--and yet not; for had he not +been torn away at a moment's notice, nor allowed even a glance of +farewell at the sweet face of her who constituted all his world? But +for that horrible, jarring calm which he had assumed as a mask, his +self-control would have been nowhere. + +They reached Battisford, and drew up at the gaol. As a magistrate it +had frequently been Roland's duty to visit it; consequently his entrance +into the gloomy building caused no comment among those who witnessed it +now. Even the stolid turnkey was awed on receiving into his keeping one +so high among the great ones of the land. To the last the prisoner's +coolness did not desert him. He scribbled off a short note. + +"Watts. Drive round by Wandsborough on your way back and give this to +Dr Ingelow; and if he isn't in wait till he is. You needn't call for +me, as I shall be engaged here for some hours." And again that mocking +laugh lurked in his face. + +The coachman touched his hat and drove off. Roland Dorrien followed the +turnkey to the cell appointed to him. He needed nothing for the +present, he said, and so that vigilant guardian, closing the door on +him, retired, having respectfully hoped and trusted that he would soon +be able to clear himself, as, of course, he easily could. + +Clear himself? Not he. This was the fate awaiting him, and from it +there would be no escape. The wraith on The Skegs had never been known +to appear in vain. + +Here for the first time he dared to think--here, where no eye was upon +him. Yesterday, love, happiness, peace--to-day, this! Yesterday, +powerful, wealthy, free--the envied of all; to-day, not the meanest +loafer in Battisford market-place would change with him. Ah, good God! +why had he escaped by a hairsbreadth, as it were, from the deadliest of +perils that night on the seashore! Was it for this? Better a thousand +times that the wild waves had been his grave--both their graves then. +And the cold walls of his stone cell echoed such an anguished and +despairing groan as is seldom wrung from the breast of mortal man. + +It was not until late in the day that Olive awoke. Quickwitted Sophie +had not been deceived by her brother-in-law's assumed coolness, and +though absolutely in the dark as to the real facts, she could not help +fearing that something had gone very wrong. As the day wore on, and he +did not come, this feeling increased, and when at length the brougham +returned, it was with a feeling of vast relief that she ran to the door. +But it contained only her father. + +It happened that when, in pursuance of his orders, Watts called at the +Rectory, the old priest had just started on his rounds, and was not to +be found anywhere. There was a great deal of sickness in Wandsborough +at the time, and no one could say exactly where he was. As a matter of +fact he had been called over to Minchkil Bay to attend the dying bed of +one of the old seafarers. But the coachman's orders were positive. He +was to wait for him, and wait he did, and so it was not until late in +the afternoon that the brougham started to return to Cranston. + +All used as he was to strange and startling revelations, the rector +could not repress a start of astonishment as he rapidly scanned the +contents of the note which old Watts handed to him. But his normal calm +soon returned, and, entering the carriage there and then, he was driven +rapidly away to Cranston. + +There was time in the interval to think over the situation, but he was +grateful for every moment of it. His unfortunate friend was called upon +to satisfy human justice after all, and he, Dr Ingelow, was required to +break the terrible news to his daughter. Yet it might be the barest +suspicion--two years and a half was a long time. It would be difficult +to convict. But then the prosecution must be in possession of very +strong evidence indeed to move it to such a step as the arrest of a man +of Roland Dorrien's status. + +In all his experience--large as it was--the rector could not call to +mind a more painful case. What frightful ruin the conviction of this +man would entail! How much better, for every reason, that the terrible +secret should remain buried--a turned-down page of the past! Thus +musing, he arrived at Cranston. + +"Oh, father. What has gone wrong?" cried Sophie affrightedly, reading +the worst in his grave face. + +Enjoining silence, her father took her apart, and in a few words +communicated the fact of the arrest. The whole countryside would be +ringing with it by then, and it was just as well that those most +concerned should learn it at first-hand. The girl, though very shocked +and awed, was quite self-possessed. Her first thought was for her +sister. + +"Can we not keep it from her a little longer?" she asked. + +"Impossible. She will hear it by chance from others, and then think of +the result. You had better leave us alone together, dear, but remain +within call." + +It was well for Olive that her father was the one upon whom it devolved +to soften the terrible weight of the blow. But though she listened with +livid face and ashy lips, she was calmer than he had dared to hope. +Roland was alive and unharmed--that was relief. But in prison--in a +cold, hard cell--and on a charge of murder! It was frightful. He a +murderer! No, she would never believe that. Some absurd mistake had +been made, and he would soon be released. Why, it was too ridiculous, +and she almost laughed aloud at the bare idea. + +Then Memory, like a mocking fiend, started up to dash even that +consolation from her grasp. For it suddenly carried her back over the +lapse of years to the chance meeting with her lover on the beach, that +lowering afternoon when the tide overtook them. His words, spoken then, +now darted in characters of fire before her mental gaze. + +"_The trammelled imagination of a canting world reads crime into what is +no crime at all_." + +He had been urging a secret barrier existing between them--one that she, +in common with society at large, would recognise as irrefragable. And +she, mistaking the drift of the plea, had answered bravely that nothing +would cause her to shrink from him. + +They had talked at cross-purposes. Now--the whole mystery stood +explained. By the light of this _denouement_ the scales fell from her +eyes--even the intervening events were clear as daylight to her now. +But could she now answer as bravely as then upon the lone seashore? + +Every whit. + +Looking up, she met her father's eyes steadily and without speaking. +And the flash of meaning in that glance revealed to him that she was no +longer a blind believer in her husband's innocence. Looking back in +after years to this moment, the old priest was conscious of a distinct +satisfaction at the time in making the discovery. It would save all +danger of cross-purposes, though no word on the certainty could be +exchanged between them. + +"Oh, father! _you_ don't believe in--in this accusation!" + +"I don't believe that Roland is a murderer," was the answer; straight, +unhesitating, and in tones of conviction. "Men have been arrested on +suspicion before to-day and honourably acquitted. Keep your wholesome, +loving belief in him firm and unshaken, Olive my pet, and be strong for +his sake." + +The old man's voice shook as he strove to comfort this his best-loved +child, but he mastered himself. Her faith in the accused man must be +kept up at all hazards, nothing must dim that bright, pure flame. It +had been his safeguard hitherto; it must not fail him now. + +"I will indeed be strong. And now--I must go to him at once." + +"Not to-night, darling. Indeed, it will be impossible. To-morrow, we +can procure the necessary order, the first thing. His first thought was +of you--and--again I say it--you must be brave and strong for his sake." + +It was indeed well for Olive that her father's loving and clear-sighted +wisdom was with her in the dark hour of her affliction. Already she +felt soothed and hopeful. Yet there flashed across her mind the +similarity between this parting and that other one in Wandsborough +street, nearly three years ago. Then they had expected to meet again in +a few hours, and lo! a very lifetime of separation had been theirs ere +they met again. This time he had merely left her by the breadth of a +few rooms, and now the gloomy walls of a prison separated them. The +parallel was ominous. + +In due course, the preliminary examination was held, and the magistrates +had no alternative but to commit Roland Dorrien for trial at the ensuing +Battisford assizes on the capital charge. Further, the Bench intimated, +with infinite regret, that no question of bail could by any possibility +be entertained. + + + +CHAPTER FORTY TWO. + +"GUILTY OR NOT GUILTY?" + +To describe the state of excitement into which Wandsborough was thrown, +when the tidings of Roland Dorrien's arrest were bruited about--as they +very soon were--would battle the most graphic pen. Why, nothing +approaching to this had ever befallen in their midst. The Squire of +Cranston, the most influential of local magnates, greater even in point +of possessions than Colonel Neville, the chairman of Petty Sessions, to +be arrested on a criminal charge--one, too, for which, if convicted, he +would inevitably suffer the death of a common malefactor. No, +Wandsborough had, assuredly, never experienced the like of this. + +To most of the accused's brother magistrates, the case was a painful +affair. There was sufficient _prima facie_ evidence to send it for +trial, so for trial it went, and their responsibility ended. But the +police court was crammed during the examinations, and all Wandsborough +was making up its mind as to whether the accused was guilty or not, the +balance of opinion leaning, if anything, to the former. + +Needless to say, no expense was spared to secure the very best legal +talent. That done, there was nothing left for all concerned, but to +possess their souls in patience. The accused, in the bitter solitude of +his prison cell, set his teeth grimly, and muttered twenty times a day, +"Let them fight it out." But his legal advisers found him anything but +a satisfactory client. + +The time between the committal and the opening of the assizes was not +unduly long, and during it Olive had visited him once. But the galling +restrictions imposed upon the visit by gaol regulations, and the immense +strain upon the self-control of both, had rendered the interview too +trying altogether. Outwardly Olive was calmness itself, cheerful too, +and making plans for the future, affecting to treat the whole thing as +an absurd mistake; yet her demeanour did not deceive him, although he +was willing she should believe it did. + +At length the momentous day dawned. The Battisford assizes had been +duly opened, and the grand jury had returned a true bill against Roland +Dorrien for the wilful murder of his brother Hubert. + +The Court-house at Battisford was large and spacious, but not large +enough for one half of those who would fain have gained admission. As +the accused entered the dock, the sea of faces craned forward, white +with excitement and eagerness, was bewildering at first, but only at +first. There was a slight frown and contraction of the brows, and a +pallor which might have been the result of an anxious period of close +confinement; otherwise the prisoner's face was cold, impassive, almost +haughty, as he swept one glance around the Court. The wooden-faced +judge, in crimson and ermine, the rows of wigged and gowned counsel-- +these he felt were scrutinising him keenly. The High Sheriff, too--why, +he had narrowly escaped being pricked for that office himself, this very +year. Then he became aware that he was being called upon to listen to +an indictment couched in rolling legal phraseology, and to plead +accordingly. + +"Not Guilty!" + +The tone, firm, indifferent, might have been ventriloquised out of an +ice-block. He was not there to waste emotion, thought the prisoner +grimly. + +Then the prosecuting counsel proceeded to open his case on behalf of the +Crown. Concisely he went over the facts connected with Hubert Dorrien's +disappearance two years and a half previously, with the subsequent +search and its result, or rather, want of result; upon the subsequent +finding of a body upon the seashore, which, although the face was +unrecognisable, the clothing, and its marks, watch, etc, were amply +sufficient to identify as that of the missing man, and the inquest +immediately held upon it had decided accordingly. But circumstances had +come to light, which went to show that what had been regarded as a +lamentable accident there was reason to believe was nothing less than a +deliberate, vindictive and cold-blooded murder, committed by the +prisoner who stood before them to take his trial, and the very fact that +he stood there showed that there was sufficient evidence to justify that +belief. Whether that belief were turned into a certainty would rest +with the twelve honourable and intelligent gentlemen who were there to +try the case. + +The jury liked this opening. They had always heard of Benham, Q.C., as +a very big gun indeed, now they were going to have a chance of hearing +his oratorical gifts. Outwardly he was a tall, pleasant-voiced man, in +the prime of life, and he had a persuasive way with him. + +He should show, he went on, how prisoner had come to Battisford +disguised, how he had put up at "The Silver Fleece Inn" in that town, +under the pseudonym of Robert Durnford, and had laid his plans and +watched his opportunity, and having lured his brother to a lonely spot +upon the cliffs between that town and Wandsborough, had there done him +to death in the darkness of night, as he thought, unseen by human eye. + +Then counsel proceeded to call his first evidence. This was given, in +succession, by those who had found the body, two or three fishermen from +Minchkil. These were examined by Benham's junior, and their evidence +being purely technical, they were soon disposed of. They were followed +by the medical man who had testified at the inquest, and who declared +now, as he had declared then, and unhesitatingly, that death was due to +drowning. There were marks of bruises on the body, but not such as +would cause death, or even contribute to that result. + +There was a stir of sensation among the densely-packed crowd as Mr +Benham called for his next witness, for this was no other than Mrs +Dorrien, the General's widow. A tall figure in deep black made its way +to the witness-box with rapid, but firm, steps. A chair was placed for +her by direction of the judge. + +Then, as Mrs Dorrien slowly removed her heavy veil, her glance fell +upon her surviving son; that son, whom she had never seen since he left +his father's house those years ago. Then they had parted in coldness, +if not in anger. Now they met again thus, the mother and the son. + +Roland met her eyes firmly, and there was no sign of shrinking in his +mien. Her face was pale as death, but stern, impassive and determined +as his own. In it there appeared not a trace of pity. + +"Pray be seated, Mrs Dorrien," said Mr Benham in his suavest tone, +when the witness had been sworn. "We shall endeavour to spare you +unnecessary pain. All we want you to tell us are the circumstances +under which your son Hubert was first missed." + +Concisely, in a low, set tone, the widow complied. Aided now and again +by a question from the judge, she stated how Hubert had left home to +attend evening service at Cranston, how he had not returned, and how, on +the following morning, being alarmed, she had told her husband, who had +at once instituted a search, heading it in person--but without effect. + +"One thing more, Mrs Dorrien," said Mr Benham, "and we shall have +done. Had you any reason to suspect your eldest son, the accused, was +anywhere in the neighbourhood?" + +"None whatever." + +"Any questions, Mr Windgate?" asked the judge sharply. + +"N-no, m'lord," replied the prisoner's advocate. "At least, yes," +jumping up. "Just one. Will you kindly tell us, Mrs Dorrien, were +your two sons, Roland and Hubert, on good terms?" + +"They had never quarrelled." + +"They had never quarrelled," making a note. "That is to say, they were +on good terms." + +"They were not very cordial," said the witness in the same slow, +monotonous voice in which her evidence had been given. + +"Ah! They were not very cordial. Different temperaments, no doubt. +Thank you, Mrs Dorrien. That will do," said Mr Windgate blandly, +making another note. + +As different as possible from his opponent was Mr Windgate, Q.C., the +prisoner's advocate. A little man, with bushy black whiskers, round in +person, brisk and smiling in manner--he was sharp as a needle. Yet the +way in which he extracted admissions from an unwilling witness left an +impression on that uncomfortable personage that was soothing, not to say +flattering. Mr Benham, on the other hand, was apt to wax stern and +slightly supercilious when on his mettle. + +The next witness called was the Rev Charles Curtis, the vicar of +Cranston. He gave a more or less succinct account of the search in +which he had taken part, up to the time of meeting with Eustace Ingelow +at the bottom of Smugglers' Ladder. + +"This article was handed to you by young Mr Ingelow?" asked Mr Benham, +holding up the silver matchbox which Eustace had picked up. + +"It was." + +"Had you ever seen it before?" + +"Never." + +"Nothing else was found at the time?" + +"Not down below. I believe something was found above." + +"Ah, we shall come to that presently. Thank you, Mr Curtis. That will +do." + +Mr Windgate, having no question to ask beyond that concerning the terms +on which the two young gentlemen stood with each other, the vicar was +soon released. + +Then was taken the evidence of Thomas Platt, labourer, and afterwards, +that of his wife--the pair who had last seen Hubert Dorrien alive on the +fatal Sunday evening. The honest couple, who resided on the Cranston +estate and looked up to the accused as their feudal lord, were mightily +overcome by the awe of the situation, and the woeful perplexity with +which they made their statements convulsed the audience, vastly tickled +the Bar, and enraged the judge to the last degree. + +But the evidence of the rustic pair was straightforward enough, and +tallied exactly, nor was it to be shaken by all the silky +cross-questionings of the prisoner's counsel. Might they not have been +mistaken about the direction the deceased was taking, or about the time? +No--on all these points they were sure. They were of the soil born and +bred, and on matters local like this were sharp enough. They had no +feeling against the accused, quite the reverse. He was a kind master, +although some folks were a bit afraid of him. + +"We are not taking evidence as to the character of the prisoner, Mr +Windgate," reminded the judge crustily, drawing a suave apology from +that eminent counsel, and the prompt bundling out of the box of the +latter of the two rustic witnesses. + +"I shall call Eustace Ingelow," said the Crown Counsel on the return of +the Court after a short adjournment for lunch. + +Poor Eustace was in a woeful state of nervousness and genuine grief on +behalf of his relative, as he took the oath. Indeed, it seemed as if he +would hardly be able to deliver his evidence coherently. + +"Take time, Mr Ingelow," said Mr Benham kindly. "There's no hurry-- +none whatever. You are, I believe, the prisoner's brother-in-law?" + +"Yes." + +"In a double sense?" + +"I--I don't quite understand." + +"What do you mean by `a double sense,' Mr Benham?" snapped the judge. + +"We mean, m'lord, that they married each others' sisters." Here it +became necessary to explain that the learned counsel was forging ahead +too fast, and that at least half of his statement dealt with future +contingencies instead of with actual facts. Which explanation tickled +the audience and reduced the witness to a red-hot degree of nervousness. +"And now, Mr Ingelow," he went on, when the joke had subsided, "just +tell the gentlemen of the jury what happened during the search you took +part in. Were you asked to join in that search?" + +"No. I did not even know what had happened until I saw Mr Curtis and +General Dorrien arrive on the beach. I was there at the time talking +with Matt and Jem Pollock." + +"And then you learned that Hubert Dorrien was missing?" + +"Yes. I volunteered at once to join in the search." + +"Were you acquainted with the deceased?" + +"Very slightly. In fact, hardly at all." + +"But you were acquainted with General Dorrien?" + +A flush rose to Eustace's face, and he hesitated. + +"I can't exactly say that. But--but--of course I knew him well by +sight--and--" + +"I can't hear a word the witness says," snapped the judge, "and I'm sure +the jury can't." + +"A little louder please, Mr Ingelow. Did you find anything anywhere +near the Smugglers' Ladder?" + +"Yes. A piece of silk cord, such as might be used for an eyeglass." + +"The deceased wore an eyeglass?" + +"Yes." + +"What did you do with this cord?" + +"I took it to General Dorrien. He seemed to recognise it--but said +nothing." + +"Is this the cord?" handing it to the witness. + +"I think so." + +"How did you find it?" + +"It was hanging on a tuft of grass on the brink." + +"Now, what was your idea when you found this cord?" + +"I thought it a very important trace. It seemed to point to the poor +fellow having fallen in." + +"Quite so. Were there any other traces?" + +"The grass around the brink was crushed." + +"Crushed and trampled?" + +"M'lord, the witness said `crushed,'" objected Mr + +Windgate. "I must really object--" + +"Well, `crushed' then," went on Mr Benham suavely. "My learned friend +shall have no reason to complain of undue pressure on our part. Well, +and what did you think then, Mr Ingelow?" + +"I thought there was no doubt about his having fallen into the chasm." + +"Fallen in?" + +"Yes." + +"You had no suspicion then of foul play?" + +"Not the slightest. I never heard that anyone had." + +"Oh, you never heard that anyone had!" said Mr Benham quickly, catching +up the statement in just the way to embarrass and disconcert a nervous +witness. And Eustace, remembering sundry cautions he had received in +private about _volunteering_ evidence, felt disconcerted accordingly. + +His narrative of the descent of Smugglers' Ladder evoked considerable +applause, for the ill-omened chasm was well known by reputation. He +stated how he had found nothing on reaching the bottom. + +"Nothing, Mr Ingelow? Come, just cast your memory back." + +"Well, I mean I found nothing of importance, only a little matchbox," +"Ah-h! Two years and a half is a long time to look back across at your +age," said Mr Benham kindly, hitching his thumbs into the shoulders of +his gown and looking smilingly superior. "Now, what did you do with +this little matchbox?" + +"I handed it to Mr Curtis." + +"Is this it?" + +"Yes." + +There was a visible cloud on Eustace's face as he held the silver +matchbox in his hand, as if it would burn him. Heads craned forward to +catch a glimpse of the article. + +"Had you ever seen that matchbox before you found it at the bottom of-- +er--Smugglers' Ladder," asked Mr Benham impressively. + +"I think so." + +"Where did you see it?" + +"I had seen it--er--I had seen Roland use it." + +"You had see Roland Dorrien use it. How many times? Once--twice-- +perhaps?" + +"I can't remember exactly how many times." + +"No? You used often to--well--to have a pipe together, no doubt?" + +"Yes." + +"And Roland Dorrien was in the habit of using that matchbox?" + +"Yes." + +"In fact, you are under the impression it belonged to him?" + +"Yes." + +"Now, Mr Ingelow--you are on your oath, mind. Is this, or is it not, +the same matchbox which you saw in the prisoner's possession?" + +"I can't positively swear to it. It is like it, certainly." + +"Yet it is of very peculiar make." + +"The witness says he can't swear to it, Mr Benham," interposed the +judge. "Don't you think we might drop the matchbox now?" + +"Certainly, my lord. I have nothing further to ask." + +"Nor I, my lord," said Windgate. And Eustace, to his unspeakable +relief, was told to stand down, which relief was dashed by a miserable +misgiving that he had somehow or other materially damaged his relative's +chances. + + + +CHAPTER FORTY THREE. + +DARKER AND DARKER. + +To Eustace succeeded his father, and the appearance of Dr Ingelow in +the witness-box gave rise to not a little expectation on the part of +many. They wondered what card the prosecution held up its sleeve, and +although outwardly calmness and composure, so did he. + +Beginning at his earliest acquaintance with Roland Dorrien, Mr Benham +put the rector through a long, minute, and tiresome examination, +repeatedly challenged as irrelevant by the opposing counsel, as to his +relations with the Dorrien family at that time. On these points the +judge supported Mr Windgate, and the queries were waived or put less +pointedly. + +"You recollect Hubert Dorrien's disappearance, Dr Ingelow?" continued +the prosecution, having brought the examination down to that stage. +"Perfectly." + +"That was nearly five months after the prisoner had left Wandsborough, +was it not?" + +"About that time." + +"And you had seen nothing of him since?" + +"Nothing whatever." + +"Did you know his whereabouts at that time?" + +"I had not an idea of it." + +"Will you swear to that?" + +"Emphatically." + +"When did you see him next?" + +"Not till the following June." + +"That is to say, from August of the previous year till June of the +actual year in which the deceased met his death, you did not set eyes on +Roland Dorrien?" + +"You have my exact meaning." + +"Did any of your family?" + +"Not to my knowledge." + +"Will you repeat that statement?" + +"Not to my knowledge." Here Mr Windgate made a careful note. Then +followed a great deal of questioning as to the prisoner's marriage and +the terms upon which he and the witness had always stood. + +"Now, Dr Ingelow," went on the Crown counsel, waxing impressive. +"Kindly give me your closest attention. You have always been on the +most intimate terms with the prisoner." + +"Always." + +"Should you call him a man of a cheerful disposition!" + +"Well--no." + +"Ah! Now did not that ever strike you as a little strange in a man of +his age and position in life?" + +"I really can't say that it ever did." Mr Benham's face and attitude +formed a study. He threw himself back and, with half-closed eyes, +looking now at the ceiling, now at the witness, shook his head gently +with the blandest of deprecatory smiles. + +"Will you kindly tell the Court how long you have been in Holy Orders?" + +"Thirty-three years." + +"You have had great experience during that time?" + +"I think I may say I have." + +"Varied experience?" + +"Decidedly varied experience." + +"At Wandsborough and elsewhere?" + +"Yes." + +"Experience of character, human nature, and so forth?" + +"Yes." + +"Is it not a fact, Dr Ingelow, that one of your daughters met with a +narrow escape from drowning some time ago? Was cut off by the tide?" + +"That is so." + +"When did this occur?" + +"About two years and a half ago." + +"Was it anywhere near the time of Hubert Dorrien's disappearance?" + +"It was." + +"Before or after?" + +"Just after." + +"Just after. How long after?" + +"As far as I can remember, about a fortnight after." + +"The lady who met with that adventure is your second daughter, is she +not?" + +"Yes." + +"And is now Mrs Dorrien, the wife of the prisoner?" + +"Yes." + +"Ah! And now will you kindly tell the Court the circumstances of that-- +er--adventure?" + +This the witness did, as briefly as possible. The tale was not new to +the audience, few of whom, however, had heard it at first-hand. It was +listened to with vivid interest, particularly the facts relating to the +rescue by the mysterious stranger. Him--being asked to do so--the +witness described to the best of his ability. + +"This stranger--this Mr Robert Durnford--gave you an address, you say-- +a London address? Did you ever apply at that address?" + +"It was only a post-office address. I lost no time in writing to him at +it." + +"What was the address?" + +"It was some London post office. The name of the post office has clean +escaped my memory." + +"You wrote to him. And you received no reply?" + +"Pardon me. I did receive one." + +"May I ask to what effect?" + +"To the effect that the writer was on the eve of departure to New South +Wales, and regretting that therefore our further acquaintance must +remain in abeyance perhaps for years--also expressing gratification at +having been instrumental in my daughter's escape. It was a courteous +and kindly letter. I have heard nothing of him since." + +"Quite so, Dr Ingelow--quite so. Have you still that letter in your +possession?" + +"No. I have destroyed it, among other old papers." + +"Lately?" + +"N-no. It must be quite a year ago." + +"Now, you are on your oath, Dr Ingelow. You have not destroyed that +letter since your son-in-law's arrest?" + +"Your reminder is needless, sir. Nevertheless, for your greater +satisfaction I will reiterate that the letter was destroyed quite a year +ago." + +"Well, well. Now did it strike you at the time that any similarity +existed between that stranger and the prisoner, Roland Dorrien?" + +"It did not." + +"No resemblance whatever? Voice--walk--manner? Come. Think again, my +dear sir." + +"Unnecessary. I saw no such resemblance." + +"Has it ever struck you since?" + +"It has not." + +"You have never had reason to suspect that Robert Durnford, the rescuer +of your daughter on that occasion, might have been Roland Dorrien in +disguise?" + +"I never have." + +"You distinctly swear to that?" + +"Distinctly." + +"Don't you think, Mr Benham, you've got out of this witness all you're +likely to get?" said the judge snappishly. + +"I have just put my last question, m'lord," was the suave reply. "Thank +you, Dr Ingelow." And Mr Benham sat down, more nonplussed than he +cared to show. + +Mr Windgate rose. + +"I should be glad, my lord, if you would kindly make a note of the fact +that this witness has three times distinctly sworn that no identity +existed between the stranger, Robert Durnford, and my client, Roland +Dorrien." + +"Er--twice I think, Mr Windgate," said the judge. + +"Pardon me, my lord. Three times. If your lordship will glance back a +few folios. This gentleman stated earlier in his evidence that from +August till the following June he had not set eyes on the prisoner. +Now, the young lady's adventure befel in February, between those months. +Therefore the statement amounts to a denial of the identity." + +"Very well, Mr Windgate." + +"Thank you, m'lord. I do not require to cross-examine." + +So the rector stood down. Mr Windgate was jubilant. The evidence just +heard was all in his client's favour. + +Considerable disappointment prevailed among the audience at the +conclusion to which Dr Ingelow's examination had been so abruptly +brought. They looked for something far more exciting. Meanwhile, +another witness was being sworn. + +"Your name is George Newton?" queried Mr Benham, "and you are a waiter +at Welbrook's Tavern, in the Strand?" + +"Yes, sir." + +"Have you been long in that situation?" + +"About nine years." + +"Now, look at the prisoner. Have you ever seen him before?" + +"Yes," replied the witness unhesitatingly. + +"When?" + +"Well, that I can't exactly say, sir. It might be a year or two ago. +He came in one night to have some dinner--and seemed a bit flurried +like. The first thing he did was to ask for an A.B.C. time-table. We +'adn't got one in the 'ouse, and the gentleman seemed rather put out +about it." + +"And then?" + +"Well then, sir, we sent out and got him one." + +"Now, just cast your memory back and see if you can tell us what day it +was." + +But this the witness could not do. He could swear most decidedly to the +accused's identity, but for dates he had no recollection. The month on +the A.B.C. was January. + +"The gentleman seemed a bit queer," he went on. "He seemed to make a +great point about getting the A.B.C., and then when he goes out what +does he do but leave it behind!" + +"Did you examine it?" + +"Yes, sir. One of the pages had a corner turned down, and it was marked +at Wandsborough Road station." + +"You have it with you?" + +"Yes, sir. Here it is." And the witness, fumbling in his pocket, +produced the time-table which Roland Dorrien had forgotten and left +behind him at the tavern in the Strand, on the night of his chance +meeting with his brother. + +It was even as the man had said--turned down and marked at Wandsborough +Road station. + +"Did you draw anyone else's attention to this circumstance?" + +"Yes, sir. One of the other waiters, Tom Short." + +"Where is he?" + +"He's been dead these six or eight months." + +"And you are ready to swear that the prisoner is the gentleman who left +this with you?" + +"Yes, sir." + +Mr Benham sat down, and Mr Windgate rose to cross-examine. He seemed +determined to make up for having hitherto been debarred his privilege in +that line, for he assailed the witness in the most pitiless manner. But +it was of no use. The man's evidence was straightforward enough, and he +stuck to it, especially the identity--as to which he was calm certainty +itself. All present felt that its burden was of damning import. + +The next to enter the box was Johnston, the ex-Cranston gardener. His +testimony went to show that the prisoner was identical with Robert +Durnford, so-called, the mysterious guest at "The Silver Fleece Inn." +He swore positively to having recognised his late master in the +disguised stranger, when the latter had passed him in the street at +Battisford. He further deposed to having taken subsequent opportunities +of observing the pseudo-Durnford unknown to the subject of his +observation, and was quite satisfied on the point of the identity +between the two. Things began to look dark for the prisoner, but they +were destined to look darker still. + +When he had satisfied himself as to the identity of the accused with the +stranger staying at "The Silver Fleece" in Battisford--he said-- +suspicion first entered his mind, and it grew stronger and stronger. +Nor was it difficult to account for the fact that the one should be in +the neighbourhood disguised at the very time the other met his death; +the more so as the prisoner would be the gainer by his brother's death, +and in fact was the gainer. From that time, he had laid himself out to +watch the prisoner--and once had overheard some fragments of the +tatter's conversation with Dr Ingelow, which had more than ever +convinced him of the truth of his suspicions. Then Devine had begun to +let fall hints as if he knew something about the matter, and, finally, +the two of them had concluded to wait upon Mr Forsyth, one of the +county justices, and get his advice. In the result each made a +statement. + +That of Johnston was now put in, and read nut. He had nothing to +withdraw or add to it, he said; and then Mr Benham eat down. + +But the revengeful half-grin on the face of the witness turned to rather +a blank look as the defence began upon him in cross-examination. + +Beginning with the subject of identity, Mr Windgate tried all he knew +to make Johnston own to a possibility of mistake. Then he went on the +"bewilderment" plan, but the long-headed Scot was not to be floored in +that way, nor could he be made to contradict himself. The vindictive +rascal was precision personified. But when it came to the eavesdropping +story, Mr Windgate's tone was magnificent in its scathing contempt. + +"Kindly tell the Court the date of your going to Mr--er--Forsyth--the +magistrate?" + +"It was last month. About the 15th." + +"About the 15th of last month." + +"Yes." + +"You had then left Mr Dorrien's service?" + +"I had." + +"How long had you left it?" + +"About six weeks." + +"Why did you leave it?" + +"Mr Roland turned me off." + +"Oh! Mr Roland turned you off, did he? Now have the goodness to tell +us why?" + +"Well, it was just this way. He thocht I wasn't speaking respectfully +to Madam. So he turned me off." + +"Now, be very careful. You are on your oath, mind. Penal servitude is +among the consequences of perjury." Mr Benham to the rescue. + +"Really, this is a most unwarrantable aspersion of the witness' +veracity, which my learned friend is hardly justified in making." + +"We shall see," uncompromisingly retorted the other. "Now, Mr +Johnston, let me assist your memory. Did you not on the day you were +dismissed accost Mrs Dorrien in the conservatory, and ask for a certain +situation for your son?" + +"Yes." + +"And hint that it was in your power to injure your mister, if it was +refused?" + +"No." + +"What?" + +"No. I did no such thing," replied Johnston composedly. + +Mr Windgate was nonplussed. He stared at the witness in amazement. + +"You did no such thing? Kindly repeat that?" + +"I did no such thing." + +"Very good. Remember you were warned what a false statement involved," +said Mr Windgate severely, making a voluminous note to conceal his +chagrin. For the astute Q.C. had been completely foiled by the canny +Scot. That worthy knew that his master's lips were sealed, and that +even if his mistress could give evidence against himself it would merely +be oath against oath. So having decided that he could commit perjury +with impunity, he at least had the merit of doing it thoroughly. + +"Well, the fact remains that Mr Dorrien discharged you summarily. Now, +did you threaten him on that occasion?" + +"I may have." + +"Answer my question. Did you?" + +"Well, yes, I did." + +"What did you say to him?" + +"I don't remember." + +"Again let me refresh your memory. Did you say--`You will come to a +noose for this day's work'?" + +"I may have said so." + +"That won't do. Did you say that? Be careful now." + +"M'lord, the witness says he can't remember," objected Mr Benham. "He +was angry at the time--under the circumstances, naturally so. We can't +always remember words uttered in anger." + +"It's of no consequence, m'lord. We can prove that he used the words. +It would save time--and, perhaps, be better for himself--if he admitted +it, though," said Mr Windgate significantly. + +"Well, I did say that," said Johnston sullenly. + +"We know you did. Now, to what did you refer when you said that? Was +it to this charge of murder?" + +"It may have been." + +"Answer the learned counsel properly, sir," blazed forth the judge. +"You are an impertinent fellow, to come here and play the fool in Court. +Just be careful what you are about." + +"I mean it was," answered Johnston, overawed. + +"Quite so. In a word, you suspected that there had been foul play, and +that your master was at the bottom of it?" + +"Yes." + +"Only a suspicion, of course?" + +"Yes." + +"Now, what gave rise to that suspicion?" + +"Well, it seemed strange that Mr Roland should be down at Battisford in +disguise just at the time Mr Hubert disappeared." + +"Ah! How long were you in the service of the accused?" + +"Nearly two years." + +"Nearly two years in the service of a man you suspected of murder. I +should say you had a most elastic conscience, Mr Johnston, were it not +that your conduct looks very like an attempt to extract hush money. +Now, has your master ever had occasion to find fault with you +previously?" + +"He has once or twice said I must be more ceevil. He was a mighty +partecklar gentleman." + +"Quite so. And did you not, on a former occasion, attempt to take legal +proceedings against the accused, because his dog bit you?" + +"I did. But that was in the late General Dorrien's time." + +"And you were not a favourite with the accused at any time?" + +"Well--no." + +"That I can easily understand," rejoined Mr Windgate, with bitter +significance. "The marvel is that he kept you for a single day." + +"My learned friend is not justified in making such reflections on the +witness," objected Mr Benham. + +"My learned friend need not mind. I have now done with this witness, +and I devoutly thank Heaven for it," retorted Mr Windgate. + +"One moment, Johnston," said the Crown counsel. + +"Have you ever in any way traded upon your suspicions to obtain money or +favours from your employer?" + +"Never. I solemnly swear." + +There was a low hiss at the back of the room as Johnston left the box, +which even the judge pretended not to hear. + + + +CHAPTER FORTY FOUR. + +A SCRAP OF PAPER. + +In answer to a call for Mrs Eliza Clack, a hatchet-faced harpy entered +the box, and, the first diffidence over, tried all she knew to justify +her patronymic. From this propensity, however, Mr Benham managed to +pick out the facts that she knew the prisoner, could swear to him +anywhere, that he had lodged with her a couple of months two and a half +years ago, and had left at a date which would be but the day before the +deceased's disappearance. He owned a large red and white dog then, +which he had disposed of while in her house. She had always thought him +a strangely-mannered gentleman, and was not altogether sorry to see the +last of him. He looked somewhat different then to what he did now, he +wore a beard--and yes, now it was put to her, she thought he was getting +a little grey at that time. + +How could she remember the date? insisted Mr Windgate, when his turn +came. Well, she did remember it. Could swear to it, in fact. But two +and a half years was a long time. Well, yes it was, but she remembered +it by several things. It was the same night that the boy next door had +blinded her tortoiseshell cat with a catapult. And it was the day +before her daughter was turned away from her situation, well, never mind +why--it wasn't true; an answer which sent a ripple of mirth through the +room. However, the woman could swear to the prisoner, and swore +tenaciously to the date, which was all the prosecution wanted. + +Two maid-servants from "The Silver Fleece Inn" were the next witnesses. +These testified to the time when Robert Durnford had gone out on the +Sunday night, but were unable to state the hour of his return. One of +them declared she had heard the stranger talking to the waiter in the +hall at a quarter-past ten, and that she thought she had heard the front +door close just before. Upon her Mr Windgate pounced. + +"Your bed-room is at the top of the house?" + +"Yes, sir. But the 'ouse isn't an 'igh one." + +"I didn't ask you that. Now, how do you know it was a quarter-past ten? +Had you a watch?" + +"Yes, sir." + +"And you looked at it?" + +"Yes, sir." + +"Was it keeping the right time?" + +"Yes, sir. That is, I set it by the large clock in the passage." + +"When?" + +"The day before." + +"Oh! You did, did you?"--making a note. "Now, had you been asleep at +the time?" + +"No, sir. I was just goin' to drop off when I heard gentlemen's voices +in the passage." + +"And who were the `gentlemen'?" + +"They was Mr Durnford and Grainger, the waiter." + +"Now you are on your oath," said Mr Windgate impressively, fixing the +witness with a stern look that nearly drove the luckless young woman +wild with terror and apprehension. "Are you ready to swear that the +voice you heard talking to--a--Grainger was that of Mr Durnford?" + +"Well, sir, I don't know about swearing, but I'm positive it was." + +"Indeed. You are singularly confident, young woman," sarcastically. +"But no matter. We shall soon show that, like most positive people, +this witness is quite at fault. You are quite right not to swear. You +may go." + +"Stephen Devine." + +There was a stir among the audience, and interest, which had begun to +flag, now revived, as the hulking form of the ex-poacher appeared in the +box. There was a decidedly hang-dog look on his swarthy face, not +unmixed with fear, and he took the Book as if it would burn him. But +his evidence was straightforward enough. In the examination he stated +how, while returning home from Wandsborough on the night in question, he +had unexpectedly caught sight of Hubert Dorrien hurrying in a direction +which could have led him nowhere in particular. This, added to the fact +that it was a Sunday evening, rendered the young man's movements not a +little suspicious, and the witness determined to watch him. Accordingly +he followed him at a distance to the brow of the cliff above Smugglers' +Ladder. It must have been a little after nine, for he distinctly heard +the hour strike from Wandsborough steeple--to that he could positively +swear. To his surprise he heard another man's voice, and on stealing a +little nearer he recognised it as that of the prisoner, Roland Dorrien. +So he hid behind a stone and waited. He was not quite near enough to +catch what they said, but the deceased seemed rather frightened. But +what puzzled the witness most was that although he could swear to the +voice, no less than to the figure, the face was strange to him. It was +bright moonlight at the time. At last the prisoner turned to the light, +and his brother, recognising him, at once exclaimed "Roland!" and then +the witness was able to see that he seemed in a manner disguised. He, +Devine, afterwards saw him twice in Battisford--once from the window of +a public-house and once from a shop door, and easily recognised him. + +When the deceased had identified his brother he seemed less frightened, +and soon they got to high words. Then there was a struggle, and in a +moment the prisoner had thrown the deceased into the chasm. The witness +lay quite still, and saw the prisoner go and look down into the chasm +for a moment, after which he went away in the direction of Battisford. +Then his statement before the magistrate, Mr Forsyth, was put in as in +Johnston's case. + +Great sensation prevailed during this narrative. Those who had been +consulting their watches with an eye to dinner--for it was getting +late--elected to stay. The case might be finished to-night. + +Then came Mr Windgate's turn. His cross-examination was perfect. +Every point in the witness' past life, which he could colourably touch +upon--and several which he could not--was raised. He made him admit-- +notwithstanding continued objections from the prosecution--that his own +daughter would not live with him, even if the unfortunate girl had not +been fairly driven from her home. He brought up against him former +convictions for acts of ruffianism, and for poaching; and on the score +of character, and by way of proving _animus_, he forced the witness to +own that he had more than once expressed hatred of the accused, thus +making him prove himself guilty of the blackest ingratitude, in that his +situation with Colonel Neville had been procured through the prisoner's +good offices. But clever as he was, Mr Windgate could not get him to +contradict himself or to swerve by a word from the main details of his +story. + +"Well, now," he continued. "This took place two years and a half ago. +That is to say, Mr Stephen Devine, that by witnessing this deed and not +preventing it you made yourself an accessory after the fact? An +accomplice--in short." + +The man looked rather scared. + +"Please, sir, it was all done too quickly." + +"But why did you keep silence all this time?" + +"Well, sir, you see, it was no affair of mine, and I was afraid I might +get into trouble." + +"Indeed! Suspicious, to say the least of it. And how is it that, +having held your tongue for so long, you should at last see fit to let +it wag?" + +"Well, sir, you see Johnston, he knew about it too, and he kep' on a +lettin' me know that he did. At last he said that we should both get +into trouble if we kep' it dark any longer." + +"Quite so. When was this?" + +"About five weeks ago." + +"And what did you do then?" + +"Why, we went to Mr Forsyth and asked his advice, and he said we'd +better make sure of our fax, and then we must make a--a--a--aspersion." + +"A what?" + +"No, sir, that wasn't it--it was a disposition." + +"Oh! A deposition?" + +"Yes, sir, and we made it. And the next thing we heard was that Squire +Dorrien was in gaol." + +"Where I trust those who richly deserve it will soon be in his place," +rejoined Mr Windgate significantly. "And I hope I shall be +instrumental in bringing about this pleasant little change. And now, do +we understand you to say you would have kept silence about this if +Johnston had not known it too?" + +"Well, sir, yes. It warn't no business of mine." + +"Well!" said Mr Windgate in a tone which said, "Alter that--anything." + +"A very natural fear, my lord," explained Mr Benham. "A poor man like +the witness would naturally think a good many times before bringing a +grave charge of this sort against a gentleman in the prisoner's +position." + +"Many more witnesses on your side, Mr Benham?" asked the judge. "It's +getting very late." + +"Only one, my lord. But I am willing to adjourn." + +But Mr Windgate was not. He argued that it was important to his +client's interest that this witness should be heard to-night. The judge +ordered lights to be brought in--for it was becoming dark--and then Jem +Pollock was recalled. + +There was a seriousness and a gravity upon the seafarer's weatherbeaten +face which gave one the impression of a man there much against his will. +Re-examined, he stated that he was returning home from Battisford on +the night of the supposed murder, and took the short way over the cliffs +to Minchkil Bay. As he approached Smugglers' Ladder a man passed him +walking rapidly in the direction of Battisford. There was something +familiar about the stranger's figure and gait, and when he, the witness, +wished him good-evening, he seemed to recognise the voice as he replied. + +A few days after the search for the deceased, the witness had taken the +trouble to go and examine the chasm again, and not many yards from it he +found a fragment of an old envelope. Nearly the whole name was still on +it--"Roland Dor----don, W.," but the address was almost entirely gone. +The date of the postmark was January 19th. There was great excitement +in Court as the envelope was produced and handed to the jury, and all +eyes were bent on the prisoner to see how he would take it. But +disappointment awaited. The accused seemed to manifest not the smallest +interest in the proceedings. + +This envelope Pollock had kept, waiting to be guided by events. But the +stir attendant on Hubert Dorrien's disappearance soon quieted down, and +he decided to keep his own counsel. Then had come another exciting +event--the rector's daughter being cut off by the tide and narrowly +escaping drowning. Witness had also taken part in the search for the +young lady, and in her rescuer he recognised the man who had passed him +on the cliff. At the same time he recognised him for Roland Dorrien. + +This bit of romance turned the tide of public opinion quite in favour of +the accused, for the story of Olive Ingelow's narrow escape was well +known. Surely, never was a criminal trial so redundant with romantic +episode. Sympathetic murmurs began to arise in Court. But counsel's +inexorable voice recalled to prose again. + +"Could you swear to the prisoner being the man who rescued Miss +Ingelow?" + +"Yes, sir," replied the witness firmly, but very reluctantly. + +"You saw his face distinctly?" + +"Yes, sir. The lanterns was full upon it." + +"And you knew his voice?" + +"Yes, sir." + +"Now, how is it you kept silence about your suspicions?" + +"Well, sir, I'm not one o' them as talks a lot. And then, I had no +suspicions until the idea cropped up that Mr Hubert had met wi' foul +play. And I didn't want to injure Mr Roland, and especially Madam," he +added with feeling; "but that there detective chap he seemed to get it +all out o' me like a blessed babby," concluded he resentfully. + +"Quite so. Very natural. That will do," and Mr Benham sat down. + +But the prisoner's counsel realised that this witness was the most +dangerous one of all. Any attempt to browbeat a man of Pollock's known +respectability could not but damage his cause in the eyes of the jury. +So he assumed a tone at once conciliatory and deprecatory, as though he +would convey the idea that Pollock, though incapable of a false +statement, might be mistaken in his inferences throughout. + +"Of course, Pollock, you know Mr Dorrien well now, but at that time you +didn't know him very well, did you?" + +"Well, I'd often seen him, sir, and I knew him well enough by sight. +There was something about his walk, too, that I couldn't mistake." + +"Indeed? But that is not a very sure point to go upon, is it?" + +"That's as may be, sir." + +"Now, Pollock, you are on good terms with Mr Dorrien, are you not? You +would not wish to injure him?" + +"No, indeed, sir," answered the witness earnestly. "He's a kind +landlord to us, is the Squire--and as for Madam, I've known her since +she was a little maid not much higher nor my knee--bless her sweet +face." + +Great applause. Mr Windgate began to look more and more confident. + +"Quite so. Now, don't you think you may be mistaken in identifying the +man who saved Miss Ingelow with the one you met on the cliff on the +night of the disappearance of Hubert Dorrien?" + +"M'lord, I must take exception most strongly to my learned brother's +mode of cross-examination," said Mr Benham. "He appeals most +powerfully to the feelings of the witness, and then does what is +tantamount to begging him to unsay what he has already stated on oath." + +"Hardly that, I submit," rejoined the other. "My unfortunate client is +placed in a very grave position. Surely then it behoves us to make +certain as to our facts." + +"But the witness had already stated on oath his certitude as to the +identity of the men." + +"A man may excusably think twice when such grave issues are at stake, +Mr Benham," said the judge. + +"With the greatest respect I would submit that your lordship is laying +down a somewhat dangerous precedent," answered Mr Benham, undaunted. + +Then the judge retorted, and after some triangular sparring between his +lordship and the two counsel, Mr Windgate went on. + +"What time would it have been when you met the stranger on the cliff +that evening?" + +"It was after nine, sir. Indeed, it was nearly half-past--for very soon +after I heard the clock strike." + +"What clock?" + +"The Wandsborough clock." + +"How far from--er--Smugglers' Ladder was the stranger when you met him?" + +"Maybe half a mile, sir." + +"How long would it take to walk from Smugglers' Ladder to Battisford? +Walking at one's fastest?" + +"About thirty-five minutes. It might be done in thirty minutes--not in +less." + +"Then this man whom you met on the cliff, within half a mile of +Smugglers' Ladder, at nearly half-past nine, could not by any +possibility have reached Battisford by five-and-twenty minutes to ten?" + +"Not possible, sir--even if he ran all the way," repeated the witness +firmly. + +"Quite so, thank you," said Mr Windgate. "A--one more question. Did +you ever mention to anyone--any of your neighbours, for instance--having +recognised, as you thought, Mr Dorrien in this stranger?" + +"Not a word of it, sir." + +"That's the case for the Crown, my lord," said Mr Benham, rising as the +witness left the box. + +With a sigh of relief, the judge rose and left the bench. It was past +nine, and his lordship was very hungry and proportionately irritable, +for judges are mortal--very much so too. + +The Court room emptied fast, many turning to take a parting look at the +prisoner as they went out, speculating and laying odds for or against +his chances of acquittal. It was ominous, however, that public opinion +leaned considerably towards a conviction. But then, the defence had yet +to be heard. + +And the wretched man himself? He was conducted back to his cell, +another night of suspense before him. Outwardly, his proud +self-possession remained unshaken, but once within those cold, gloomy +walls, alone and unseen by any human eye, a groan of the bitterest +anguish escaped him as he sank despondently upon his bed. The web of +Fate was closing in about him; to battle with it further was useless. + +Throughout that night, a dismal sound smote upon the ears of the +dwellers in the neighbourhood of the gaol, a sound of weird and mournful +howling, where, upright upon his haunches, in the open space before the +frowning portcullis of the prison, sat a large dog--his head in the air +and his eyes lifted to the pale, cold moon, pouring forth his piteous +lamentations. The prisoner heard it too. + +"Dear old dog," he murmured to himself. "Dear, faithful old Roy!" + + + +CHAPTER FORTY FIVE. + +"IS HE ROBERT DURNFORD?" + +When the Court met again next morning there was no abatement in the +attendance of the public; if anything, it was increased, for it was +pretty well known that the verdict would be given to-day. + +Mr Windgate was in his place, smiling, cheerful, and cracking small +jokes with the juniors, as if he would convince everybody--judge, jury, +audience, and prisoner--that he considered his case already won and the +remainder of the proceedings a mere formality, unhappily necessary to +ensure his client an honourable acquittal. + +As for the case for the Crown, he said, it was fortunate they had come +to an end of it at last--but fortunate in this sense only, that from +beginning to end it had been a sheer wasting of the time of the Court, +and specially of the valuable time of the twelve intelligent gentlemen +before him. That being so, he proposed, himself, to be as brief as +possible. His defence would be very short, so short indeed as at first +blush to appear inadequate. But what could be more inadequate than the +case for the prosecution! He would simply remind the jury of two +things. One was that his unfortunate client, actuated by the most +considerate of motives--the delicacy of character of a true gentleman-- +had chosen rather to impair his defence than to drag into this Court +friends or relatives to whom such an attendance must necessarily be most +painful. The other was that the whole case turned simply upon a +question of identity. He would hardly so much as mention such trumpery +points, which were not even circumstantial, though they might seem to +be. What are they? A matchbox, a time-table, and a bit of paper. +However, to put such trivialities out of the account, we have left only +this question of identity, and that I shall have no difficulty in +disposing of, entirely to your satisfaction. I shall call-- + +"Joseph Grainger." + +The public, unaccustomed to the persuasive powers and self-confidence of +forensic eloquence, began to think at the conclusion of Mr Windgate's +speech that the result of the trial was not such a foregone thing after +all, and there was yet more exciting uncertainty in store for it. It, +therefore, prepared itself to listen eagerly. + +"You are head waiter at `The Silver Fleece Inn,' at Battisford?" + +"Yes, sir." + +"How long have you held that position?" + +"Nigh upon seven year, sir." + +"Look at the prisoner. Do you know him?" + +"Yes, sir. It's Squire Dorrien." + +"When did you first see him?" + +"Well, sir, I can't exactly remember that. It was shortly after the +General's death. Lawyer Barnes, he comes to our place, and he says to +my guv'nor, says he--" + +"Tut-tut-tut. Not so fast, my good friend," interrupted Mr Windgate +smilingly, while a ripple of mirth ran through the public. "Never mind +about Lawyer Barnes, but just tell us when you first saw Mr Dorrien?" + +"Well, sir, as far as I can remember, it was soon after he was married-- +just about Christmas-time." + +"Ah!" said, Mr Windgate triumphantly, making a rapid note. "And you +never saw him before he was married?" + +"No, sir." + +"Will you swear to that?" + +"To the best of my belief, sir." + +"Very good. And have you seen him often since?" + +"Not very often, sir. You see, he don't come much over to Battisford, +and I don't go much over to Cranston--" + +"Quite so. Now, do you remember a Mr Robert Durnford coming to stay at +`The Silver Fleece'?" + +"Yes, sir--well." + +"When did he come?" + +"He came--let me see--it was on a Saturday evening. I remember it, +because it was the day before Mr Hubert Dorrien was lost." + +"Now what sort of person was this Mr Durnford? Just describe him." + +"A very nice, pleasant-spoken gentleman, and quite the gentleman," and +then the loquacious one launched into a voluminous description of the +stranger, which made the audience laugh and the judge knit his brows and +mutter impatiently. + +"How long did he stay at `The Silver Fleece'?" + +"Rather over a fortnight, sir." + +"Have you ever seen him since?" + +"No, sir." + +"But if you did you would know him again--in a moment?" + +"Oh, yes, sir." + +"Now look at the accused." + +Grainger complied. The eyes of the witness and the prisoner met. In +those of the latter there was indifference--in those of the former there +was no recognition. + +"Is he the same man as the man you knew as Robert Durnford?" + +The loquacious one's homely features expanded into a broad grin. + +"Law bless you, no, sir. He ain't in the least like him." + +Mr Windgate could have danced with relief. + +"He isn't in the least like him," he repeated emphatically, for the +benefit of the jury. As for Roland himself, the first gleam of light +since his arrest a month ago now darted in upon the rayless gloom of his +soul. "Except--" The witness checked himself suddenly and with an +effort. He could have bitten his tongue out. For Mr Benham had looked +up quickly and was now making a note. Mr Windgate thought it better to +let him go on. + +"Except what?" he said playfully. + +"I was goin' to say, sir, leastways I was only thinking, sir," answered +the witness, stammering with confusion, "except it might be the way in +which he stands." + +Mr Benham went on making his notes. His opponent's feeling of relief +was dashed, and the prisoner could have groaned aloud in the revulsion. + +Then the witness in his roundabout way gave a voluble account of how the +stranger had gone over to attend Wandsborough church, and had returned +earlier than he was expected; and how he had come in while he-- +Grainger--was dozing. + +"What time did he return?" + +"It was after half-past nine." + +"How much after?" + +"Five minutes." + +"You are positive as to this?" + +"Oh, yes, sir--I said to the gentleman as how he'd come back very quick, +'cos they don't come out o' church till after half-past eight, and it's +over an hour's walk at least. I asked him if he'd come by the way of +the cliffs, and he didn't seem to know there was a way by the cliffs as +was shorter." + +Mr Windgate frowned slightly, and internally anathematised the witness' +garrulity. + +"Anyhow, you are ready to swear it was five-and-twenty minutes to ten +when this Mr Durnford came in?" + +"Yes, sir--quite certain. We both looked at the clock and remarked it." + +"But one of the servants, a"--consulting his notes--"a Jane Flinders, +says it was later." + +The loquacious one shook his head with a smile of pitying superiority. + +"Law bless you, sir! Them gals is always a-fancyin' things. They ought +to have bin a-bed and asleep. No, no, sir. It wasn't any more than +five-and-twenty to ten." + +"This gentleman stayed at `The Silver Fleece' a fortnight, you say. +Now, during all that time did you notice anything strange about him?" + +"Well, sir, he used to go about with a little hammer, chippin' off bits +o' stone from the cliffs and suchlike, and in the evenin' he'd sit in +his room and write a good deal." + +"Did you talk with him at all on the subject of Mr Hubert Dorrien's +disappearance?" + +"Yes, sir. I was the first to tell him of it." + +"Oh! And how did he seem to take it?" + +"Cool as a blessed cucumber, sir. And when I told him that the ghost +had been seen on The Skegs, he laughed in my face outright and said it +was all humbug." + +"Ha-ha! Of course. Thank you, Grainger. That'll do. Er--one more +question. Do you know the place called Smugglers' Ladder?" + +"Well, sir, I've been there." + +"How long does it take to walk there from Battisford?" + +"Three-quarters of an hour." + +"Ah! Now, you mentioned a cliff path leading from Wandsborough. Would +that lead one past Smugglers' Ladder?" + +"Oh, no, sir. Nowhere near it. Why, it turns inland before you come +within half a mile of Smugglers' Ladder." + +"Thank you." + +"Wait a moment, please," said Mr Benham suavely, as Grainger was about +to leave the box. "You say this Robert Durnford came to stay at `The +Silver Fleece' the day before Hubert Dorrien was lost. That was on a +Saturday evening. Did you at any time between that and Sunday evening +have any conversation with him about the Dorrien family?" + +The prisoner's head sank lower and lower. That devil of a counsel! + +"Well sir, we did." + +"Kindly repeat it." + +"Well, sir, as far as I can remember, the gentleman said he'd known the +old Squire, the General's brother. First he asked whose the house was, +an' then we got talkin', and I told him a little about the General--just +quietly and between ourselves, like." + +"Quite so. And what else did you tell him?" + +"Well, sir, I told him a little about the young Squire being in +difficulties with his father--not meanin' any 'arm to anybody," went on +the man piteously, and with a penitent glance towards the dock. + +"No, no. Of course not. People do talk of these things," said Mr +Benham encouragingly--then waxing impressive. "Now, did you mention a +girl named Lizzie Devine?" + +"Oh Lord, sir," cried poor Grainger, horror-stricken, staring +open-mouthed at the placid face of the inquisitorial counsel and +wondering how the deuce he had ferreted out all this. "I didn't mean no +harm, but we was just a-talkin' quietly like." Then little by little +Mr Benham inexorably elicited from the unwilling and terrified witness, +the whole of the conversation that had passed between himself and Robert +Durnford on the subject, and how he had told the stranger that Hubert +Dorrien had blackened his brother's name for his own advantage. + +"Now, when Mr Durnford returned from Wandsborough that evening, you +were asleep?" + +"Yes, sir. I had just dropped off." + +"Where?" + +"In the coffee-room." + +"And where was Durnford standing when you woke up?" + +"In the door." + +"The door of the coffee-room?" + +"Yes." + +"You mention a clock in the passage. Where does it stand?" + +"It stands--you've seen it, sir." + +"No matter, my friend. The jury haven't." + +"Well, sir, it stands about half way between the front door and the door +of the coffee-room." + +"So that Durnford, to reach the coffee-room door, would have to pass +that clock?" + +"Yes, sir." + +"And you did not wake till he was standing in the coffee-room door?" + +"No, sir." + +"How high is the face of that clock from the ground? Can you reach it +without standing on anything?" + +"Oh, yes. Quite easily." + +"Was Durnford a taller man than yourself?" + +"Yes, sir. At least a head taller." + +"Does the face of that clock open easily?" + +"Quite easily. I open it every few days to wind it." + +"Did that clock keep good time after that evening?" + +"I don't remember, sir," answered the witness, after a moment of earnest +thought. + +"No matter. Jane Flinders swears it was a quarter-past ten by her +watch, when she heard Durnford come in. You swear it was +five-and-twenty minutes to ten. How do you reconcile the difference?" + +"I don't know. She must be mistaken." + +"But so may you be." The witness was silent. + +"Now, has it never occurred to you that that clock may have been +tampered with? The hands put back half an hour or so, while you were +asleep?" asked Mr Benham, bending forward and fixing a piercing glance +on the witness' face. + +"Oh Lord! sir. No, it never did." + +"But still the thing might have been done--while you were asleep?" + +"It's not impossible, sir." + +"It's not impossible. And now--look at the prisoner." + +The light was full upon Roland's face, and again his eyes met those of +the witness. Grainger started and stared. His face was a study. He +looked like a man upon whom a new and unexpected light had irresistibly +dawned. + +"Oh Lord?" he ejaculated dazedly. + +"Now," went on Mr Benham, in his most inquisitorial tone, "will you +stand there and swear that the prisoner is not the man who was staying +at `The Silver Fleece,' under the name of Robert Durnford." + +"M'lord!" cried Mr Windgate, "I have made a special note of the fact +that the witness has already distinctly sworn to that very thing. I +must protest emphatically against my learned brother trying to +intimidate the witness into making a most unwarrantable contradiction of +his former statement." + +"And I must equally protest against these repeated imputations," +retorted Mr Benham. + +"The prosecution is quite in order, Mr Windgate," ruled the judge. +"Let us continue." + +"There is--there is a look of Durnford about him," blunderingly admitted +the witness. + +"A very similar look? On your oath, mind." + +"Well--he stands like him, and--and--his head--is like him," stammered +the unfortunate man. + +"Will you swear that he is not the men that you knew as Robert Durnford? +Yes or no?" + +"No, sir." + +"Thank you. By the bye, when did this Durnford leave `The Silver +Fleece'?" + +"It was the day after he and Miss Ingelow were cut off by the tide." + +"Did he leave suddenly?" + +"Yes, quite suddenly. He just came in--packed up his things and caught +the morning train for London." + +"Didn't that strike you as rather strange?" + +"Oh, no, sir. We didn't know he had been out all night. It was only +after he'd gone that we heard what happened. Dr Ingelow--that's the +rector o' Wandsborough--he came over to `The Silver Fleece' in the +afternoon, and was in a great state because the gentleman had gone." + +"That'll do, Grainger. You may stand down." + +Very black for the prisoner were things looking now. The jury wore an +unusually grave expression of countenance, and even among the audience +all levity was hushed in the intense anxiety attendant on the dread +issue. + +"Unless Windgate can prove an alibi, he's done," whispered a sporting +junior to another. "Take you two to one on it in sovs if you like, +Rogers." + +"Dunno. Think I won't. Isn't it rather queer form to bet on a fellow's +life," was the reply. + +Although the remark was unheard by him, it exactly rendered Mr +Windgate's reflections. That damning recognition--or half-recognition-- +of Grainger's had simply lost the case, and he would have given much had +it never been made. For he was on his mettle now. The case was a +highly sensational one--just the thing to put a crowning point on his +reputation if he had come out of it successfully, but now `that infernal +Benham' had been too sharp for him. Just one of his ferrety ideas, that +about the clock being tampered with--and in this instance Windgate was +shrewd enough to see that it had told with fatal effect. He wished +again and again he had not been fool enough to undertake the defence of +a man who would give him simply nothing to go upon. And he could not +even prove an alibi. + +The next witness was Brown, the verger of Wandsborough church. His +evidence was short and straightforward. He had a recollection of a +stranger coming into church on the evening in question, towards the +middle of the service. He certainly never thought of recognising Mr +Dorrien in him, nor had he since. He knew Mr Dorrien well, too--he +often attended Wandsborough church. It must have been considerably +earlier than half-past eight when the stranger came in, because the +service on ordinary Sunday evenings was nearly always over by that time. +As to distances and times, he, Brown, could not speak. He was an old +man now, and never had been much of a walker. The only thing he could +be positive about was that the stranger had left the church a little +before half-past eight, and he certainly had no suspicion that it was +Mr Dorrien, either at the time, or since. + +Him the prosecution declined to cross-examine. + +"I shall call the Rev Laurence Turner," said Mr Windgate. + +The curate had not been at first subpoenaed. But so urgent had become +the need of more testimony that the defence had decided at the last +moment to put Turner into the box. The latter looked not a little +nervous. Truth to tell, the situation was one of horror to his +immaculate soul. He did not fancy being mixed up in criminal trials, as +he subsequently put it. + +"Now, Mr Turner," went on Mr Windgate, after a few preliminary +questions. "I believe you took part in the search for Miss Olive +Ingelow, who was cut off by the tide on this coast some two-and-a-half +years ago?" + +"Yes, I did." + +"And you found her?" + +"We were so fortunate." + +"Kindly tell the Court how and where you found her." + +Turner complied in as few words as possible. + +"Now, did it strike you that this stranger you mention--this person who +rescued the young lady, might have been Mr Roland Dorrien disguised?" + +"Never." + +"Never? Then or since?" + +"Neither then nor since," answered Turner decidedly. + +"Did you ever hear that it struck anybody?" + +"Never." + +"Yet you knew Roland Dorrien well?" + +"Fairly well." + +"Dr Ingelow, the lady's father, took part in the search, did he not?" + +"Yes." + +"And he remarked no likeness?" + +"Not that I am aware of." + +"You saw a great deal of Dr Ingelow at that time?" + +"Yes." + +"And he never mentioned any such suspicion?" + +"Never." + +"One moment, Mr Turner," said the Crown counsel, rising to +cross-examine. "This lady is now the prisoner's wife, is she not?" + +"She is." + +"Didn't it strike you as rather--well, queer--the stranger Durnford +suddenly leaving you all in the way he did?" + +"A little perhaps. But we supposed he knew his own business best. And +some people _are_ queer." + +"A--quite so--Mr Turner, I quite agree with you--they are," said Mr +Benham waggishly. "That will do, thank you." + +"That's my defence, my lord," said Mr Windgate. + + + +CHAPTER FORTY SIX. + +LIFE OR DOOM? + +The prisoner, re-entering after the adjournment for lunch, found himself +idly wondering whether, when next he should pass through the dock gate, +it would be as a free man or as one whose days were numbered. Then, +amid the intense hush that followed on his appearance, he heard his +counsel opening his address to the jury, which, put into a good humour +by a few deft if stereotyped compliments, began to think that after all +there might be a good deal to be said on the side of the defence. + +Before brushing aside the flimsy testimony which seemed to tell against +the accused, for the prosecution had relied upon quantity to +counterbalance an utter absence of quality, began Mr Windgate, he would +show what manner of man it was whom they were asked to convict of the +gravest crime known to the law. It was all very well for the +prosecution to contend that a gentleman in his client's position was as +liable to commit crime as--say the historic Mr William Sikes. His own +experience--perhaps fully equal to that of his learned brother +opposite--was wholly against any such theory. + +Then Mr Windgate launched forth into a brilliant panegyric of the +accused, extolling his virtues in every capacity, public and private. +Then he proceeded to deal with the evidence bit by bit, and as this +involved a long repetition of all that has gone before, we shall not +follow him through it. Suffice it to say that he handled his points +with consummate skill. + +When he came to Johnston his scorn was beautiful to behold. This +fellow, who had eaten the bread of the accused and of his father before +him for a number of years, had gone into the box with the most +bare-faced and unblushing effrontery, and confessed to having played the +part of a crawling serpent, a part whose loathsomeness, he, Mr +Windgate, could find no terms adequately to stigmatise. What could the +evidence of such a creature be worth? Why, nothing--less than nothing. +But it was abundantly shown that the fellow harboured the greatest +ill-will towards his master, who had frequently found fault with him for +incivility, which, judging from his impudent demeanour in Court, was +little to be wondered at. Then when he had grossly insulted his +master's wife, Mr Dorrien, very rightly in the speaker's opinion, had +discharged him summarily. So he swore to be revenged on his master-- +threatened him, as they had heard. A pretty witness this, to swear away +a man's life! Justice in England must be coming very low if such +instruments as this could be capable of swaying her course. But, as a +matter of fact, such was not the case. He could tell them that it was +intended to institute proceedings against Johnston for wilful perjury, +but that was by the way. + +As for Devine, here, too, was a tainted witness, a corrupt witness, in +fact. He, too, was known to bear a strong grudge against the accused, +which, considering that he owed his comfortable place to Mr Dorrien's +influence--which his employer, it was to be hoped, would not suffer him +to retain--was quite sufficient to show what sort of person he was. +This precious rascal, then, had come into Court with a cock-and-bull +story about witnessing a crime at Smugglers' Ladder. Why, it was the +most bare-faced, as well as clumsy, attempt at a diabolical conspiracy +ever known--diabolical, because without motive, unless the motive were +to shield himself, for if he, Devine, was there at all at that hour, his +own presence needed explaining. It sickened him, Mr Windgate, to think +that it was even necessary to defend such a case--a case bolstered up +mainly by two witnesses of infamous character, whose evidence, even if +true, was that of midnight spies. Who saw Devine at Smugglers' Ladder +at all that night, and what is the bare statement of a man of Devine's +record worth? Not the millionth fraction of a farthing. + +After heaping up a good deal more denunciatory scorn upon these two and +their testimony, he came to Pollock's evidence. He had no wish to +impute _mala fides_ to a man of known honesty. Still, honest men were +mistaken sometimes. This matter of identity rested upon evidence very +shadowy. As to recognising the accused when he saw Durnford by +lamplight on the beach, he, the speaker, prayed them to receive this +statement with the greatest possible reserve. Here was the rector of +Wandsborough and his curate, Mr Turner, both of whom were far better +acquainted with the accused's appearance than the witness Pollock, yet +both these gentlemen had unhesitatingly sworn not only that they utterly +failed to identify the prisoner in Robert Durnford, but that the barest +suspicion as to such identity had never crossed their minds--and had not +done so from that day to this. And further--here he begged the jury to +give him all their attention--the lady rescued by Durnford was Dr +Ingelow's daughter. She was at that time, to her credit be it said, +something more than interested in his client, whose wife she +subsequently became, a fact which precluded her from giving valuable +evidence on Mr Dorrien's behalf. Was it likely then, he asked, that +this estimable lady would have kept silence these two years and a half +as to who her rescuer really was--that she should never have mentioned +the fact to her own father, with whom she had ever been on the most +dutiful and affectionate terms? Why, of course it was not. He put it +to them as sensible men--fathers themselves, most probably--and so on. + +"By Jove! Windgate's scored a point there, Rogers," whispered the +sporting junior. "If only he can squash the envelope business!" + +But this was just what he could not--and Mr Windgate knew it himself. +He tried his best though, as also with the other damning points. At +last his speech came near its close. + +The evidence, he continued, consisted of a series of mere coincidences-- +one or two of them, it might be, a little remarkable, but--coincidences. +The time had gone by in this country, he thanked Heaven, when men were +convicted on purely circumstantial evidence. As for the motive which +the prosecution had evolved, it was, he made bold to say, the veriest +mare's nest. Why, several of the most reliable witnesses had stated on +oath that there wae no ill-will between the two brothers, and that on +the whole they were on good terms. He wae not there to defend the +absent Durnford, since it was abundantly proved that with that +mysterious personage his client had nothing whatever to do, but he would +just remark that in the conflicting evidence in the matter of the hall +clock and the maid-servant's watch, it was merely oath against oath--and +that nothing was more confusing than differences in time. The witness +Grainger had utterly failed to identify the accused. Under the +prosecution's very bewildering cross-examination he had, it was true, +been afflicted with a temporary misgiving, but that was perfectly +natural under the circumstances. So against two rogues, and one honest +man, who could not be quite sure as to his statements, they had the +positive evidence of Dr Ingelow and Mr Turner against the identity. +That was to say, the two witnesses in this case to whom the accused had +always been best known. And all the side evidence made for his client. + +"Gentlemen," he concluded, in his most impressive manner, "I now call +upon you honourably to acquit my client. Remember, with you rests the +most awful responsibility which can be laid upon the shoulders of mortal +men--the life or death of a fellow creature. You must either honourably +acquit him or doom him to an ignominious death. There is no middle +course--absolutely none." + +"Good old phrase that," muttered the sporting junior, chuckling inwardly +over the scared look on the wooden faces of the twelve intelligent +Englishmen. + +"--Therefore, I call upon you to record your true sentiments, the +sentiments of upright and true Englishmen, and to acquit with honour my +client, to restore a wronged but high-minded gentleman to his family--to +a fond wife, whose affliction during these terrible weeks I dare not +imagine--to that neighbourhood which is anxiously waiting to receive him +back with acclamation--to a long, benevolent, and useful life, which he +has already begun most signally to adorn. + +"Gentlemen, I leave my client in your hands with perfect confidence as +to the result." + +A few moments of silence, and then the Crown counsel, who had been, to +all outward appearance, intently studying his brief, rose. + +The prisoner in the dock, he proceeded to say, was of a class whose +members, happily, in this country, seldom filled that unfortunate +position. He was a gentleman of affluence, more or less known to them +all, and holding a high and influential station. They might reason that +on that account, if any man was free from all temptation to such a crime +as the one under their consideration, that man would be the prisoner +before them. But this was precisely what they must not do. He, the +learned counsel, could assure them that human nature in this respect was +marvellously similar. All his experience--and it had not been +inconsiderable--went to confirm him in that opinion.--And so on. + +Then he proceeded to draw a graphic and rather harrowing picture of the +disappearance of the deceased and the terrible blow to the feelings of +his relatives which this re-opening of their grief must prove, going on +to dissect the evidence bit by bit. + +"The identity of the prisoner with the stranger known as Robert Durnford +is as clear as daylight," proceeded Mr Benham. "You will notice that +the persons who saw through this disguise were those to whom he was or +had been best known. Andrew Johnston, an old family servant, recognised +him at once. Stephen Devine, formerly a labourer on the Cranston +estate, and since gamekeeper to Colonel Neville--both these men had had +abundant opportunities of being acquainted with the prisoner's +appearance. Their suspicions aroused, they took further occasion to +observe the so-called Durnford, with the result that those suspicions +were fully confirmed. To this they had sworn--again and again. Then +there is James Pollock, a man of the greatest respectability--to him +Roland Dorrien was not so well known as to the other witnesses +mentioned, yet, being a man of keen perceptions, he had recognised him. +Not the first time, indeed--though even then the voice had struck upon +his ears as familiar. But on the second occasion of their being brought +together, meeting with the so-called Durnford on the occasion of Miss +Olive Ingelow's rescue from drowning, he saw through his disguise at a +glance, and in the man he had met coming away from Smugglers' Ladder, +between nine and half-past on the evening of the murder, he recognised +the prisoner, Roland Dorrien. Now here are three persons who distinctly +swear to the identity between these two. Nor is that all. There is +Joseph Grainger, the waiter at `The Silver Fleece,' at the time of +Durnford's stay at that inn. He comes here. He sees the prisoner in +his normal costume and wearing his ordinary aspect, and he does not +recognise him--at first. Indeed, he even goes so far as to emphasise +the statement. But memory will not be cheated. As he stands there, the +striking similarity of the accused to the pseudo-Durnford recalls itself +to his mind, and he is dumbfounded. Gentlemen, you saw him--his air of +utter astonishment, almost of awe, as he looked at the prisoner. You +witnessed his refusal to swear to the two men being different. That is +enough. Sensible men like yourselves can draw but one inference. + +"Now as to the time at which Durnford returned to `The Silver Fleece,' +there is a conflict of testimony, but a perfectly reconcilable one. The +waiter swears to the guest's return at five-and-twenty minutes to ten. +The maid-servant, Jane Flinders, swears with equal certitude to hearing +Durnford come in at a quarter-past ten, and more than half the issue +turns on this point. But, gentlemen, bear this in mind. The waiter +Grainger was asleep. When he awoke, Durnford had already _passed_ the +hall clock, which then marked the hour of nine thirty-five. Durnford +could reach the clock, be it remembered. But he could not reach Jane +Flinders' watch. Gentlemen, you will draw your own conclusions. One +more point in connection with this. Pollock's evidence proves that he +met the stranger on the cliff, close to Smugglers' Ladder, at half-past +nine. But the stranger is back in his hotel at Battisford by +five-and-twenty minutes to ten. That is to say, he covers in five or +ten minutes a distance which it has been proved by the most competent +testimony could hardly be covered in five-and-thirty. And then, when +Grainger asks him if he returned by way of the cliffs, he appears +surprised, and would have the other believe him unaware of there being +any way by the cliffs. + +"My learned friend here has seen fit to make merry over the articles +which infallibly connect the prisoner with this mournful tragedy, but +these articles, small, trivial though they may be in themselves, are of +the very last importance. First, there is the A.B.C. time-table. +Roland Dorrien goes into a tavern in the Strand, looking very strange +and excited, and asks for an A.B.C. It is purchased for him. He +searches it, marks the Wandsborough train, turns down a corner of the +page and--leaves the book behind him when he goes out. This is about a +week before the murder--the waiter, Newton, cannot be sure of the date. +But--and observe this--the very train marked in that time-table is the +one by which Robert Durnford arrives at Battisford. On the 21st January +Roland Dorrien gives up his lodgings at Mrs Clack's. He leaves London +early in the morning. Late in the afternoon of that day Robert Durnford +arrives at Battisford. From that time until he leaves Wandsborough +church on the night of the 22nd, Durnford's movements are accounted for. +Then, passing over for the moment Devine's evidence, he is met by James +Pollock coming away from Smugglers' Ladder, not many minutes after +Hubert Dorrien is--well `falls' into that chasm. And on the very scene +of the tragedy James Pollock picks up this envelope which has been +handed to you, directed--not to Robert Durnford but undoubtedly to +Roland Dorrien. And where? At a London address incontestably. And the +address subsequently given to Dr Ingelow by the pseudo-Durnford is a +London postal address. Now for the matchbox. The day after the +deceased's disappearance, Eustace Ingelow, the prisoner's +brother-in-law, a young gentleman who by common knowledge is devoted to +his relative, and not likely knowingly to injure him in any way, picks +up this matchbox, which is of peculiar make, and to which he can swear +as being the prisoner's property. Where does he find this article! +Why, at the bottom of this chasm, at the very spot where the deceased +met his death. + +"And now you will ask what motive could have been strong enough to lead +this man to the black and abhorrent crime of fratricide. Well, even +here the network of evidence is as complete as elsewhere. That motive, +gentlemen, the prosecution has been able to supply. It has been shown +that the prisoner had quarrelled with his father, and was in fact +disinherited. Herein," continued the learned counsel, putting on his +most sad and sorrowful expression, "came the passion of jealousy. +Furthermore, he had found reason to suppose, from some most deplorable +and unguarded statements on the part of Grainger, that his brother had +dealt him a blow which, if true, amounted to a stab in the dark--in that +he had set to work to damage his reputation in Wandsborough and the +neighbourhood. This being so, what more likely than that a man of the +prisoner's temper and character should at once seek to be revenged? How +he and his brother had come together was just one of those unimportant +links in the dark chain which it was beyond their power to connect. The +important fact was that they had come together--the evidence of Stephen +Devine and others was amply sufficient to establish that." + +Then Mr Benham proceeded to comment on the evidence of Devine, who with +his own eyes had seen the deed done. He explained away the witness' +reluctance to divulge it during these years as a perfectly natural +thing; laid stress on the straightforwardness and ring of truth which +characterised the man's statement, and how his tale in its plain, +unvarnished simplicity had more than triumphantly stood the test of his +learned brother's most skilful cross-examination. In short, he drew the +web of damning circumstances closer and closer around the accused, till +there was not a flaw in the enthralling network. Then, with some +conventional rhetoric about "terrible charge," "man in prisoner's +position," "truly painful duty which, painful as it was, he dared not +shirk," the heart-broken Mr Benham resumed his seat, complacently +conscious of having earned his not unhandsome fee. + +Then the judge began to sum up. + +The learned counsel for the prosecution, he said, had very properly +impressed upon the jury that they must lose sight of any such side issue +as class-distinction, and form their opinion of the case by the light of +hard, cold reason and the dry facts of the evidence. That evidence they +had had put before them in the most careful and patient manner, and it +was his own especial function, said his lordship, to explain the law on +the subject of such of it as appeared conflicting. + +For upwards of an hour the judge continued, weighing the arguments of +both counsel in calm, dispassionate and masterly fashion. But whether +his lordship was against the prisoner or not, it puzzled the public to +discern. His charge was a pattern of impartiality no less than of +lucidity. But the substance of it was now adverse, now favourable. + +One of the most regrettable features of the trial, continued his +lordship, was that there had been next to no defence whatever. No +attempt had been made to prove an _alibi_. If the prisoner had not been +near the neighbourhood at the time of his brother's disappearance, +surely there should be no great difficulty in obtaining evidence to that +effect. But no such evidence had been put forward. The question of +identity played a very important part indeed in this case. If the jury +believed the evidence of Johnston, Devine and Pollock, they would +consider the identity proved. But Johnston was a discharged servant, +and the evidence of such against a former employer was always to be +received with extreme caution, and in his case the greatest animus was +shown to have been entertained by him against the prisoner. Devine was +a man of notoriously bad character, but he appears to have had no real +motive for injuring the accused. But James Pollock was altogether +different from both of these witnesses. He was a man of the highest +respectability; a man of keen intelligence, resource and courage, in +short, a type of that most admirable body of men, the seafaring toilers +of our coasts. This man then had seen through the disguise of the +pseudo-Durnford, and under it had seen the identity of the prisoner, +Roland Dorrien. The piece of envelope put forward, bearing as it did +nearly the complete name of the prisoner, and part of a London address, +was to his lordship's mind the completing link in the chain of identity. + +Down went the hopes of the prisoner's friends, down to zero. The judge +was summing up dead against him. + +"To turn again to Stephen Devine," went on his lordship. "Here is a man +who testifies to witnessing with his own eyes the perpetration of a +deliberate act of murder. Alone, and in the dead of night, he stands as +a spectator of this terrible deed--then calmly walks away, and for +upwards of two years keeps silent on the subject. As the learned +counsel for the defence has aptly pointed out, before you can convict a +man of a murder you must be quite sure that a murder has been committed. +The question is, are you quite sure on this point? That the dead man, +Hubert Dorrien, met his end in the place known as Smugglers' Ladder, has +been established beyond a doubt. But how did he get in there? Did he +fall in, or was he pushed in? If there is any doubt in your minds upon +that head, why then, gentlemen, you are not merely entitled, but are +bound to give the accused the benefit of it. You have evidence in +plenty that the prisoner was near the spot--that is, to my mind, clear +beyond dispute. But that he pushed his brother into this cleft you have +the evidence of but a single eye-witness, and that witness, to my mind, +a tainted one." + +Now the hope of an acquittal ran high. The judge was again favourable +to the accused all along the line, it seemed. As for the prisoner +himself, for the second time a ray of hope dawned within his soul, only +to be dashed as before. + +If then, continued his lordship, they believed the evidence of Devine, +they would convict the prisoner; if they disbelieved that evidence they +would acquit him. There was no middle course. What had been a long and +elaborate trial had, after all, winnowed itself down to a very simple +issue, and that was the trustworthiness, or the reverse, of one witness, +because upon that, and that alone, depended whether any murder had been +committed at all. + +So now, being in possession of all the facts of the case, his lordship +trusted that they would most carefully confer among themselves and +return their verdict according to the solemn oath they had taken-- +without fear, favour or affection. + +The jury retired to their private room to deliberate, and once more the +murmur of voices arose among the audience, but it was a very subdued +one. The expectation--the awe of the moment--was upon that +densely-packed throng, and for a while light and careless talk was +hushed. Such conversation as there was bore upon the probable verdict, +and it was the opinion of the audience that it would be an adverse one. +Meanwhile the prisoner had been removed, pending the return of those who +should decide his fate. + +Half an hour went by, and at length the door opened. Ah--now for it! +But no. One of the intelligent jurymen wished to ask his lordship +whether in the event of them not being satisfied as to the identity, +they could convict Durnford and acquit the prisoner. He was answered +with exemplary patience, and the door closed again. The Bar lifted its +eyebrows--such of it as was able to keep from sniggering, that is. + +The light of the setting sun streamed in at the windows, throwing its +soft gleam upon the serried rows of anxious faces. And the accused--of +what was he thinking? Was it of his beautiful home, which it was only +too probable he would never enter again? Or was it of her whose first +vows just such a golden sunbeam as this had fallen on and hallowed and +witnessed? + +At length the door opened a second time, and the jury came forth. It +was noticeable that the prisoner, who had been hurriedly put back into +the dock, did not even glance in their direction, but continued to look +straight in front of him. + +"Gentlemen, are you all agreed upon your verdict?" + +"We are." + +The official's voice had a vague, far-away ring in Roland's ears as it +continued: + +"How find you the prisoner? Guilty or Not Guilty?" + +"We find him--Guilty." + + + +CHAPTER FORTY SEVEN. + +"I HAVE SOMETHING TO SAY." + +"Guilty." + +The fateful word rang through the room, producing something like a +shuddering gasp among the close-packed audience. It rang in the brain +of the prisoner, "Guilty! Dorrien of Cranston to be hanged--to be +hanged by the neck until dead. Guilty!" Thus the hideous refrain +danced through the wretched man's brain in clanging rhythm. And what he +had gone through during the trial alone--apart from the period which had +elapsed since his arrest--was sufficient expiation for a score of +murders far more cold-blooded and deliberate than this, for it was as a +thousand years of hell. + +The most astonished person in the room, perhaps, as this verdict was +given, was the judge himself; and forthwith his opinion of the +intelligence of juries, at no time high, underwent a stride of +improvement. This was an intelligent jury. For his lordship was as +morally certain of the prisoner's guilt as though he had seen him +perpetrate the homicide, yet how any jury could convict on the face of +his summing up was a marvel. His trained mind had recognised that the +evidence legally was not sufficient to hang a dog, and he had summed up +accordingly, yet the jury had convicted. It now remained to pass the +dread and only sentence of the law. Already his lordship was nervously +fumbling with the black cap. + +The prisoner felt as though shot through the head, as though a numbing, +sledge-hammer blow had descended upon his faculties. Was this real, +this sea of ghastly faces in the deathlike gloom of the ill-lighted +hall, the grim, red-robed pronouncer of doom, now turning to face him? +Was it real, or some terrible nightmare from which he would awaken +directly with a thrill of horror combined with intense relief and +thankfulness? Then he became dimly aware of an official voice asking if +he had anything to say why sentence of death should not be passed upon +him. So dim did the voice sound to his wrought-up fancy that the +question had to be repeated. + +"No. Nothing," he answered, and the judge drew on the black cap. + +"But I have. I have everything to say." + +The voice rang out upon the dead silence, full, clear and feminine. +From the back of the hall it came. Every head went round in that +direction as though turned with the same wire. + +"Let that woman be removed instantly," said the judge, whose experience +was not devoid of similar cases of interruption on the part of some +hysterically disposed female, worked up to exaltation pitch. + +"You cannot remove me until you have heard me," went on the voice, calm, +firm, and without a quaver; its owner doubtless strengthened by the +certainty that in the densely-packed crowd it would be impossible for +the Court officers to reach her before she had said her say. "My lord, +you cannot condemn this man for the murder of Hubert Dorrien, since +Hubert Dorrien is alive and well at this moment. I saw him and talked +with him as lately as this very morning. Then I hurried on here, and, +thank God, I am in time." + +A thrill of indescribable emotion went up from that wrought-up audience, +a gasp--that took the form of a deeply-breathed-- + +"Oh-h!" + +"Let her come forward," said the judge, his mind by no means free from +suspicion that this was a carefully planned theatrical _coup_. + +Way was made for a tall female figure, which, advancing from the back of +the room, was ushered forward, and for the sake of convenience was +marshalled into the witness-box, though not sworn. And the light of the +candles, clearer here in the vicinity of the Bench and Bar, revealed an +exceedingly attractive face, a face, moreover, well known to many there, +but to none better than the prisoner awaiting sentence of death. For it +was the face of Lizzie Devine. + +"Hubert Dorrien is alive, my lord," she began, without waiting to be +interrogated, "alive and well. He is at the Duke of Cornwall Hotel, at +Plymouth, with a broken leg." + +At this definition of "alive and well" there was a laugh, a strange, +nervous, staccato laugh, with but little merriment in it, however. +Rather did it express the collective tension momentarily relaxed. + +Then the girl went on to tell her story, how she and Hubert Dorrien had +been fellow-passengers on board the homeward-bound Australian liner +which had arrived in the small hours of that morning. She was with a +troupe of variety artistes, who had been touring in the Antipodes, and +had not been aware of the missing man's presence on board until they had +been some time at sea. Then they had recognised each other, and had +become acquainted, in fact, friendly. He had told her how he had fallen +over the cliffs near Wandsborough, and been picked up while still +unconscious by a coasting schooner, and pretty badly treated, too, he +said, for they took everything he had away from him. But the ship was +run into by an unknown steamer and sank, only he and another man being +saved, and they, after floating about on some wreckage for hours, were +picked up by a sailing vessel bound for Perth, Western Australia. She +believed that he had done well over there, for he seemed to have plenty +of money, and looked twice the man he was as she remembered him at +Cranston, prior to his disappearance. + +The first that either of them had heard of the trial just concluded, was +on landing that morning at Plymouth, where Hubert Dorrien had taken up +his quarters at the "Duke of Cornwall." They first saw it in the +papers, and as she herself was from Cranston, Hubert had begged her to +travel down there with him in order to give evidence as to his identity. +He was in a great state of excitement about it all, and in crossing the +road, close to his hotel, had been knocked down by a post-office van, +and now he was laid up there with a broken leg, but had escaped other +injuries. As he was all alone she had remained to look after him, and +see that he had proper medical and other attendance. Then he had +hurried her off to Battisford to put a stop to the trial, and save all +concerned a moment of further and unnecessary anxiety. This she had +done, and was here, it appeared, only just in the nick of time. + +She had told her story well and concisely, and it had been listened to +in breathless silence. The judge, keenly watching her, was convinced of +its truth, so too was the Bar. As she herself had said, there could be +no possible advantage to anybody in her coming forward with such a +statement unless it could be substantiated. Steps had already been +taken to break the news to old Mrs Dorrien, the injured man's mother, +who was probably on her way to Plymouth by that time. All Cranston, +moreover, would recognise him at a glance. There was no difficulty +whatever about that. But his lordship, while believing her statement, +swerved not a hairsbreadth from his original and private opinion. He +was as certain that the prisoner had, in actual fact, pushed his brother +over the cliff, as he now was that the latter had been rescued, in a +most astonishing and well-nigh miraculous manner. But meanwhile the +jury had returned a verdict of "Guilty." + +During this narrative, for the first time throughout the trial, the +prisoner had shown sign of outward emotion. His face had gone ghastly +white as he listened, and his hand was clutching the dock rail, as he +leaned forward, drinking in every word. Great Heaven! What did it all +mean? he thought. Were they never going to get it over? Why had Lizzie +come forward with this tale, which nobody would for a single moment +believe! It could only serve to prolong his agony. And yet--! Then he +became conscious of the judge's voice. Sentencing him to death--of +course! + +"I cannot reopen the case, and call fresh evidence at this stage, Mr +Windgate," his lordship was saying. "You see, the jury have already +given their verdict. But I can postpone sentence. Meanwhile you had +better have this young lady's statement reduced to writing and duly +sworn as an affidavit, and if you can produce the supposed murdered man +alive, and incontestably establish his identity, why, there is +necessarily an end of the case." + + + +CHAPTER FORTY EIGHT. + +"A HEALTH! DORRIEN OF CRANSTON?" + +"What an awful young brute I must have been in those days, Roland! By +Jove! any kicks that may have travelled my way I jolly well deserved." +And Hubert Dorrien puffed out a great cloud of smoke upon the sweet +evening air. + +"I think we all wanted a good shaking up," answered his brother +meditatively. "We are a rum lot, you know. At any rate we seem to have +got it--all round." + +At the further end of the beautiful avenue of feathery elms rose the +tall chimney stacks and long windows of Cranston Hall. The air was +fragrant with the multifold scents of evening, distilled dewy from +flower and herb, and the dappled deer moved like antlered ghosts in the +gathering twilight. From the lake, embowered in overhanging leafage, +came the craking cry of a waterhen or the plash of a rising fish, and in +the boskiness of the home coverts a very chorus of song, as innumerable +thrushes and blackbirds poured forth a final evening warble. + +"Well, if I got some kicks, at any rate I captured plenty of halfpence," +went on Hubert. "Tell you what it is, old chap: that was the best day's +work that ever happened when you launched me out into the world to fish +for myself." + +"It's rum how things do come about," said the other queerly. + +"Rather. If I hadn't got on board the _Atlanta_, or if she had +transhipped me on to some homeward-bound craft, I shouldn't have got to +Australia, and if I hadn't got to Australia I shouldn't have struck that +reef, and made my pile. Not but what I didn't have some real rough ups +and downs in between." + +"To continue the `ifs,'" said Roland, "what if you hadn't turned up when +you did, this time last year? What if your boat had been wrecked, and +you had taken another outward-bound trip on some rescuing craft? What +then?" + +"Don't speak of it, old chap. It's enough to give one the cold shivers +even to think of. But that sweep who had boned my clothes and things +had something to answer for, or rather those who were `thick' enough not +to know the difference between him and me, when they held the inquest on +him." + +"At any rate he sneaked certain elaborate obsequies under false +pretences," said Roland drily, whereat the other exploded. + +The change which had taken place in Hubert Dorrien had been thorough and +complete. Outwardly, there was hardly a trace of the weedy, loose-hung, +shifty-mannered youth in the sun-browned, well-set-up man walking here +now. Mentally, too, was he no less improved, and the process by which +that desirable state of things had come about was, in his own words, +that his ups and downs had knocked all the nonsense out of him, and +prepared him to appreciate and turn to good account his luck when it +came. And this he himself heartily recognised. Roland, on the other +hand, had changed but little, save that the awful tension of those +terrible weeks had turned his hair nearly grey. At the conclusion of +the affair he had suffered no fuss to be made, but had driven quietly +back to Cranston, and resumed life there as if nothing had happened. +And that had been a year ago. + +"Fancy Lizzie Devine being fool enough to marry that long-legged cad she +was touring with, after all," said Hubert presently. + +"Yes. Not good enough for her. By Jove! but that girl is sterling and +plucky. That was one of the finest things I ever saw, the way she came +forward. Well, if they don't hit it off, I'll back her to come out +best." + +Incidentally, both brothers had marked the event alluded to with a +substantiality that bordered on the munificent. To one, the +recollection of her would always be as that of the life-saver to the +drowning man. + +"And our rascally friend, Gipsy Steve? Does he still keep straight?" +went on Hubert. + +"Yes. A savage is capable of gratitude, and this one is so grateful to +me for prevailing on Neville not to sack him by reason of his giving +that evidence, that I believe he'd cut anyone's throat if I told him to. +But I only told him to keep straight, and I believe he'll do it. + +"Do you know, Roland, you're no end of a popular chap round here now-- +among the sovereign people, I mean. Why, only the other day, when I was +biking, I turned into a pub out beyond Clatton to get a whisky and soda, +and the place was full of yokels and a small farmer or two, and they +were booming you no end." + +"That was for your benefit." + +"Not a bit of it. They didn't know me from Adam." + +"Then it was on Olive's account. They recognise her as the good genius +here." + +"That's all right," assented the other heartily. "But I don't think it +was altogether on Olive's account, all the same. Besides, I've come +across other instances of it. I say, though. Fancy a Dorrien popular! +Eh?" + +"Yes. Seems odd, doesn't it?" + +"I've got some good news to break to you, Roland, so prepare for the +shock. I'm going back to Australia, now at once, the day after +to-morrow." + +"The deuce you are! Tired of us already?" + +"Tired of you! My dear old chap, how long have I been over here? Just +a year. And about ten months out of the twelve has been spent here. +Tired of you! Why, the shoe's on the other hoof, I think." + +"That's bosh, Hubert. We've had very jolly times here together. But +why are you off? Business?" + +"That's it. As part proprietor and director of the Kulgurra and Dawkins +Reef Company I've made my pile, and can go on making it. But, the fact +is, this sort of life is turning me too soft again. Besides, I have a +hankering after a certain amount of Bush life from time to time. They +say every fellow gets it once he has known it. I must get back there +and hustle around again." + +"I daresay you're right after all. Olive will be sorry. But, Hubert, +when you are back in the old country again, you know where your home +is?" + +"Rather, old chap. How things come round, eh? The last place I should +ever have thought of in that connection would have been this jolly old +place. But now." + +"There's an unwelcome sort of song to you, Hubert," said Roland drily, +as an unmistakable infantile squall sounded from an upper room, for they +had regained the house now. "One more between you and this. And he's +sound in wind and limb; extra so, in fact." + +"Oh, skittles, old man," laughed the other. "And as to that, I'll be +more of a millionaire than you are, if things go on as they've begun. +No, no. You're the man for this place, and I hope you'll live another +hundred years--you and Olive--to run it, and my six-month-old godson, +now equalling up there, after you." + +"What's that? What are you finding fault with your godson about, +Hubert?" laughed Olive, who was crossing the hall as they entered, and +caught the last words. + +"I'm not abusing him. I'm giving him my benediction. Ask Roland." + +"Fact, Olive," supported the latter. "But Hubert is leaving us +to-morrow. He's off to Australia the day after." + +"No. But where's the hurry. Short notice, isn't it?" + +And then she tried to prevail upon him to put off his departure. + +"Can't do it, dear," he answered, greatly pleased. "As I said just now, +I'm getting soft here. And I've been accustomed of late to make all my +moves at short notice." + +"Where's Roy?" said Roland suddenly. "The rascal seems to have deserted +me in these days." + +"Roy, indeed? You haven't asked after your son and heir, I notice," +said Olive, in feigned indignation. + +"H'm! _Seniores priores_. Roy is a much older friend," returned +Roland. "Moreover, he is an intelligent animal, whereas the other is +not--as yet." + +"You hard-hearted, unnatural parent. But--here he is." + +"Who? Roy, I hope." + +"I scorn to reply." + +"Ha-ha! You're spared the trouble. Come here, Roy, you scamp. What do +you mean by deserting me in this fashion? Eh, sir?" + +The woolly rascal rushed at his master, squirming and whining with +delight, as he made playful snaps at the hand wherewith his said master +was pulling his ears, and only flailing a couple of knick-knacks off a +low table with his wagging brush. + +"Go now and dress, you people, or you'll be late, as usual," laughed +Olive. + +It was essentially a family party, that which gathered round the +dinner-table at Cranston that evening, and it was the anniversary of the +sudden rolling away of that last and terrible cloud, which had lain so +heavily on all concerned since last we saw them together. Dr Ingelow +was there, genial, sunny-hearted, as of yore, and Margaret. Sophie, +too, tyrannising over and teasing her _fiance_--none other than Frank +Marsland, there at her side. Nellie Dorrien, however, is missing, and, +in fact, is far enough away, for she is making her _debut_ in an Indian +station as a bride of a month, Eustace Ingelow being there quartered. +But they are all uncommonly lively, except that every now and then the +recollection of Hubert's impending departure creates a momentary +silence, for he has long been one of this circle, and they will miss +him. + +From the repartee and laughter of the general conversation, Olive, +sitting there, bright and winning as of old, at times drops out. The +anniversary of this night rests in her memory still; so, too, does that +other terrible night, when they went down into the Valley of the Shadow +together--when they stood beneath the iron cliffs in the dim gloaming, +and Death stared them in the face, and his grisly hand was over them, +reached forth from the on-rushing thunder of raving surges. Both these +ordeals had left their mark upon her, moulding her character, and +bringing out the best of her nature, shining and durable. No cloud +remained now. + +But--the Ban! More than a year had passed and gone since its last and +grisly manifestation, but none had fallen victim. It was as though +cheated. But further literary research on the legendary terror +overshadowing his house had carried a reassuring conviction to the mind +of Roland Dorrien, strange in the light of his utter and scoffing +scepticism on the subject in former times. This was nothing less than a +prophecy appended to the prophecy, and done out of the quaintly-spelt +and worded phraseology of its period, this is how it ran: + +"All events befall in cycles. One woman consigned these two to the +bloodless Death. Generations seven shall pass, and he of that time two +women shall save from it. Then the Ban shall be removed and the +bloodless Death shall depart from Craunston." + +The cryptic utterance revealed itself to Roland's mind as clear as +daylight. He, himself, was of the seventh generation from the original +event, and sure, indeed, was it that two women had saved him--one upon +the lone sea coast, and one, indeed, from a still more hideous form of +the bloodless Death. And so deciding, he was conscious of a relief that +was hardly in keeping with his former scepticism. + +Such thoughts, not for the first time, are underlying his mind as he +sits at the head of his bright and sparkling dinner-table here this +evening. Then Marsland's voice breaks in upon his meditations. + +"Before we separate, I want to propose a health, one specially +appropriate this evening. Are you all charged? Well then--A health! +Dorrien of Cranston?" + +Hearty, spontaneous, and sharp is the response. + +"A health! Dorrien of Cranston!" + +The End. + + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Dorrien of Cranston, by Bertram Mitford + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK DORRIEN OF CRANSTON *** + +***** This file should be named 36623.txt or 36623.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + http://www.gutenberg.org/3/6/6/2/36623/ + +Produced by Nick Hodson of London, England + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. Special rules, +set forth in the General Terms of Use part of this license, apply to +copying and distributing Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works to +protect the PROJECT GUTENBERG-tm concept and trademark. 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