diff options
Diffstat (limited to '38521-0.txt')
| -rw-r--r-- | 38521-0.txt | 9839 |
1 files changed, 9839 insertions, 0 deletions
diff --git a/38521-0.txt b/38521-0.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..6e36eaa --- /dev/null +++ b/38521-0.txt @@ -0,0 +1,9839 @@ +*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 38521 *** + +A Drake By George! + +By + +John Trevena + + +New York + +Alfred A Knopf + +MCMXVI + + + + +CONTENTS + +CHAPTER + + I. SOMETHING ABOUT THE FAMILY + II. EXHIBITION DAY AT WINDWARD HOUSE + III. THE CAPTAIN MAKES HISTORY + IV. CHANGES IN THE ESTABLISHMENT + V. GEORGE TACKLES THE LABOUR PROBLEM + VI. HONOURABLE INTENTIONS + VII. SCANDAL AND EXPOSURE + VIII. A TANGLED INHERITANCE + IX. A SUBTLE SINNER'S SUCCESS + X. THE FIRST PERSON SINGULAR PARAMOUNT + XI. SOME LEADING INCIDENTS + XII. A SPLENDID BARGAIN + XIII. WASPS AND OTHER WORRIES + XIV. THE GRABBERS + XV. A NEW HOUSE AND THE SAME OLD FURNITURE + XVI. GEORGE TAKES CONTROL + XVII. PLOUGHING THE GROUND + XVIII. SOWING THE SEED + XIX. REAPING THE HARVEST + XX. THE GLEANERS + + + + +CHAPTER I + +SOMETHING ABOUT THE FAMILY + + +Rumour, introducing the newcomer as a celebrity, began to fly about +immediately Captain Drake appeared upon the scene and distinguished +himself not only by blocking the single narrow street of Highfield with +a presence weighing two hundred and fifty pounds, but by addressing +passing men, women, and children in a voice which sounded from the +church at the top of the hill to the post office at the bottom; top, +middle, and bottom being comparative terms when applied to the great +hills of Highfield. Rumour provoked excitement when it suggested legal +influences were at work about a couple of old semi-detached cottages +belonging to an absentee landlord. The man who found it necessary, on +account of his bulk and stentorian voice, to acquire two cottages would +have plenty of money; and wealth was much the shortest cut to fame that +Highfield knew of. Rumour passed into a condition almost hysterical when +builders arrived, demolished the two old cottages, erected a gabled +villa of suburban type, and set up against the street a massive +noticeboard, which looked as if it had been designed for some important +railway station; but instead of yielding such information as "Mazeworthy +Junction. Change for the Asylum," it bore the inscription, "Windward +House. Captain Francis Drake, Master." + +Finally, three vanloads of furniture were dragged up the hill, and the +family arrived to take possession of the parish; for it became at once +evident that Captain Drake regarded himself as "old man" of the place, +the vicar as his sky pilot, and the male inhabitants as crushers, +jollies, flatfeet, and shellbacks, all of whom were amenable to his +discipline. + +In any case the Captain was respected by everybody, whether they had the +privilege of knowing him or not--he was one of those men who had to be +known thoroughly and at once--when those vanloads of furniture drew up +alongside Windward House. Such fumed oak had never been seen before in +Highfield. There were vases from China, ivory images from India, living +trees of the forest in flower-pots from Japan, with curiosities from all +corners of the earth. There was also a large cage full of cats, another +cage of monkeys, yet another of parrots, and a giant tortoise, its +carapace completely covered with newspaper cuttings relating to the +numerous voyages of the old sailor who, in hours of leisure, had +committed to the Press columns of adventures wherein fiction was once +more proved to be far more interesting and instructive than truth. Birds +and beasts are not usually classed as furniture, but they were announced +as such in "the inventory of my possessions" duly posted upon the +noticeboard by the worthy Captain whose capacity for self-advertisement +was much too great for a little country parish. + +The first visitor to step aboard Windward House was the Dismal Gibcat, +and he came as usual with a scowl and a grievance. The Dismal Gibcat +occupied a house about a mile from the village in the company of a wife +who was more dismal than himself; he called himself a gentleman in +reduced circumstances, and could spell the word embarrassed with ease; +he ruled the parish with his scowl, and spent all the money he could get +in enjoying lawsuits with his neighbours. This gentleman inquired for +Mister Drake with a fearful emphasis, and received the information that +the Admiral was shaving. But a door at the top of the stairs stood open, +and a moment later the master himself appeared in a state of fury, half +clothed and shouting tremendously, "Captain, you rascal! Captain Francis +Drake, late of the Mercantile Marine, descendant of the immortal +Admiral, author of 'Tortoises: and how to treat them,' 'Comments on +Cats,' part owner of the sailing ship _Topper_, now unfortunately lying +at the bottom of the Persian Gulf. Captain Francis Drake, always at the +service of the Admiralty, but never at the beck and call of geese and +asses." + +"Willie, dear, you knew your name never was really Francis," called the +troubled voice of Mrs. Drake from somewhere in the parlour. + +"Stand off the bridge, Maria. Don't argue with your superior officer," +roared the Captain. + +He carried a shaving brush which might have been mistaken for a mop; +and, as he brandished it, flakes of lather fell around like surf from a +tidal wave. His immense face resembled the Bay of Biscay in a gale; dark +and lowering above, masses of foam below. Removing the field of stubble +was a tempestuous operation at the best of times: members of the crew +kept apart from the quarterdeck, where the Captain gasped and struggled, +scattering lather upon pictures, cats, and furniture. The Dismal Gibcat +could not have pronounced his insult at a more unfavourable moment. + +"I have called to tell you that board must be removed," he said rather +nervously; for he had begun to realize that his scowl was directed +against an individual who was not going to be reduced by it. + +"You give sailing orders to me--tell me to hoist Blue Peter on my board! +How long have you been harbour-master?" the Captain shouted as he +crashed downstairs. + +"We are proud of our scenery," continued the Dismal Gibcat. "That board +is an eyesore. It can be seen a mile away. It completely destroys the +local amenities, and, in my capacity as Chairman of the Parish Council, +I advise you to remove it at once." + +"Local amenities are pretty little things, but they aren't half as good +as Englishmen's rights. It's a pity you didn't make a few inquiries +about Captain Francis Drake, at places where's he's known, before you +started on this little voyage of piracy. If you had found out something +about him, and his way with mutineers, you might ha' tossed up, heads I +don't go, tails I stay away. It's no use trying to scare me with rocks +what aren't marked upon the chart. I've cast anchor here, I've paid my +harbour dues. I've got notions about landscape what perhaps don't agree +with yours; but I reckon most passengers would rather find a moorage +opposite my signal station than sail half a knot with a face like yours. +You can drop overboard, Mister Jolly Roger--and take my local amenity +with you!" + +So saying the Captain plunged his shaving brush full into the face of +the Dismal Gibcat and drove him discomfited from the premises. The same +evening he posted the following notice: + +"Captain Francis Drake will be pleased to receive the names of all +parishioners who desire him to remove this board, in order that he may +attend to each grievance personally. He begs to notify friends and +neighbours that the parrots are shedding their feathers just now, also +that he possesses a barrel of tar. _Verbum sap._, and God save the +King!" The hint was sufficient, for the Dismal Gibcat had been seen upon +the road with his scowl so thoroughly lathered that it looked almost +like a grin. Not a complaint was received. Indeed the vicar went so far +as to declare the noticeboard was a distinct acquisition to Highfield. + +Such was the beginning of the absolute monarchy of Captain William +Drake. He dethroned the Dismal Gibcat from his chairmanship and +converted the Parish Council into a monologue. He became vicar's +churchwarden, and kept the key of the church in his pocket. He +introduced a flower show, at which only vegetables were shown, judged +the exhibits himself with a tape measure, and awarded prizes according +to length and circumference. He collected money for the building of a +Parish Hall, where the inhabitants might assemble upon winter evenings, +to drink gassy liquors and listen to his yarns. His voice stormed +continually. Even when darkness had fallen, a muffled roar sounded from +Windward House, where Captain Drake would be reading the newspaper +aloud, denouncing every form of government, and declaring that nothing +sailed between the British Empire and disaster except the ships of the +mercantile marine. And during the night his snores sounded like distant +traffic, except when unable to sleep; and then he would sit up in bed +and sing hymns for those at sea, until cattle ran about the fields, and +cocks began to crow, and dogs set up a howl in every farmyard. + +His untruthfulness, which harmed nobody, was due entirely to a powerful +imagination. Voice and body, alike tremendous, made him conceited to +such an extent that, had he been ushered into the presence of any +sovereign, except the King of England--whom he regarded as an equal--he +would perhaps have given Majesty permission to be seated, and might even +have encouraged him to speak with a certain amount of familiarity. After +having commanded a ship for a number of years, he was intolerant of even +the mildest form of opposition; while the knowledge that he had +succeeded in this life supplied him with an extra personality of +self-confidence. + +His tyranny was quite a good thing for Highfield. It caused the +inhabitants to remember--and some to discover--there were other places +on the map no less important. It was responsible for certain +improvements, such as the introduction of telegrams and an evening post. +But it did not succeed in impressing upon the people the fairly obvious +fact that some other country would in time become so jealous of their +territory as to lay siege to the church, general store, and post office, +with the idea of breaking open poor-box and till, and escaping with +loose cash and stamps; for Highfield, being in the middle of Devonshire, +therefore at the centre of the universe, evinced a fine contempt for +foreign countries. Captain Drake was fond of his joke, but he simply +made a braying ass of himself when he declared other countries beside +England possessed a mighty army, although the same listeners were well +able to accept the statement that he had once adopted a mermaid. + +On this single matter the Captain was a pessimist; and, as he believed +in appealing to the eye when the appeal to the ear failed, he prepared +and set up another noticeboard, upon which he had painted in large +letters with his own hand, "The enemy will be in Highfield tomorrow;" +and he whipped small boys who threw stones at it; and, when their +parents grumbled, he threatened to whip them too. The mild vicar +entirely lost his temper upon this occasion, and told the Captain +plainly he was stirring up evil passions in the parish and corrupting +the morals of the young. + +"That board may tell a lie for a good many years; but it will speak the +truth at last," came the answer. + +The family at Windward House consisted of the Captain and his wife, +their nephew George, with the two servants, Kezia and Bessie. Mrs. Drake +was a lady of substance, having spent by far the greater part of her +life in a position which, when not recumbent, had been sedentary: when +travelling with her husband the compartment they occupied had a +singularly crowded appearance. She and the Captain were devoted to each +other, in spite of the fact that he had not fallen in love with her +until he had made sure she did possess a comfortable income, even though +it was derived from trust funds in which she enjoyed a life interest +only. + +"You commenced, my love, as the loadstone of my career," remarked the +Captain upon the occasion of their silver wedding, "and have continued +as the pole star of my existence." + +Having no children, they adopted the son of the Captain's younger +brother, who had died at an early age, after having attempted almost +every form of livelihood, and trying none which did not make him poorer. +George was apparently making it his business in life to defeat this +record. He had occupied thirty years in seeking to discover the most +restful method of leaning against a wall, and the least embarrassing +manner of keeping the hands at ease within his trouser pockets. He had +been sent to school, but ran away. He had been exiled to Canada, but had +returned as a stowaway. He had been placed in business, but dismissed +at the end of a week. Mrs. Drake often wondered why George had been +created. Most human pegs can find a hole somewhere, but George was +neither square nor round; and shapeless holes are somehow not provided. + +Kezia had entered Mrs. Drake's service at a very early age, and was +determined upon remaining with the family until the end. She knew +nothing about herself, except that she was a respectable person and +belonged to the Church of England. She did not know her age, but +believed she had been born in Exeter since the building of the +cathedral; for she recalled, as her earliest experience, falling upon +her face beside the west front of that building on a cold winter's day, +and being picked up by no less a person than the Dean, who had made a +joke about the ungodly and slippery places, which was published in a +local paper, quoted in the Press of the country as a witticism of the +Duke of Wellington, and translated into most of the European languages +in consequence. At all events, Kezia had belonged to the Church of +England ever since. She was not sure of her Christian name, but felt +certain it was Biblical, and rather fancied, "'twur one of Job's young +ladies;" and she did not oppose Mrs. Drake's preference for Kezia. Nor +did she know her surname, but had an idea her father had been called Tom +by his wives, of whom he had two; and, as she could remember two Mrs. +Toms, it seemed probable that the first had been her mother. She had +always got along very nicely without a surname, which was not nearly so +necessary to a woman as to a man: she really did not want one, unless +the man who belonged to it had a voice and figure like her dear admiral. +She had looked with enthusiasm upon that massive form, and had listened +in admiration to that mighty voice, until she felt that an ordinary man +with a normal voice would quickly make her dull and peevish. + +Bessie had not yet become a person of importance. She was quite young, +fairly good looking, and still growing, which was alarming since she was +already out of proportion with the doors of Windward House. Neither she +nor her master made a dignified entry into the parlour; for Bessie had +to stoop, while the Captain was forced to turn sideways. Mrs. Drake just +fitted when nobody flustered her. Bessie knew the whole history of +herself and family; and was proud of the fact that her father owned a +fishing smack, while both her brothers would have entered the Navy had +they not suffered from an incurable tendency to reject rations at the +first rolling of the ship. + +Now that the Captain was settled in the haven of Highfield, he had +solved all his difficulties except the one problem of finding a place in +the world for George. About twice a week he created a thunderstorm +about his nephew, who remained in the attitude of an admiring listener +until the tempest of tangled metaphor concerning starvation ahead, +rudderless vessels, and vagabonds begging their bread, had died away +along the village street; and then the cunning rascal would either place +a trembling hand to his forehead declaring he had not much longer to +live, or shuffle towards the door with the announcement that it might +just as well happen at once, and drowning was the best way he could +think of, as he could not afford to purchase fire-arms or poison; +besides, a watery grave was the proper ending for a Drake. He generally +added it was the man whom he venerated, the man who was content to +remain in a humble position when he should have been First Lord of the +Admiralty, the man who was the British Empire's principal asset--his +uncle--who had driven him to this. Then the Captain, who was a +soft-hearted old simpleton where his family was concerned, would take +George by the shoulders, press him into a chair, give him money to buy +tobacco which might ease his nerves, beg for his forgiveness, and behave +like a beneficent Providence until wind and weather were favourable for +the next thunderstorm. + +As a matter of fact, the Captain loved his nephew, who supported his +opinions and flattered him continually. Besides, George was fond of +cats, and respected the monkeys, and would frequently take the tortoise +for a stroll. Mrs. Drake, on the other hand, made no secret of her +contempt for an able-bodied man who seemed to regard Windward House as +an hotel where he could receive board and lodging without payment. She +reminded George constantly she had no money to leave, and when she was +gone he would find himself dependent upon charity; but George would beg +her not to worry, as he had no intention of outliving anyone who was so +good to him. Mrs. Drake then stated that, in her opinion, he would in a +future state of existence be separated from his uncle and herself, and +for that alone he ought to feel ashamed. And George admitted he was +ashamed, but even an ever present sense of shame was better, he thought, +than a separation from his uncle and aunt in this life. + +Mrs. Drake had a good reason for not insisting upon George's departure. +Doctors had warned her that the Captain's immense size was not a healthy +symptom: upon his last voyage he had been discovered unconscious in his +cabin; and although he declared subsequently this was nothing more than +a fit of exhaustion easily to be explained by his first mate's habit of +answering back, it was nevertheless accepted as a danger signal which +made retirement necessary. Even the unprofitable George might be of +service should a similar fit of exhaustion seize upon the Captain in his +house. + + + + +CHAPTER II + +EXHIBITION DAY AT WINDWARD HOUSE + + +"Mansion and grounds will be thrown open to the public on Sunday +afternoon, between the hours of three and five, for the inspection of +the rare and costly antiquities collected during his numerous voyages by +Captain Francis Drake, who will personally conduct parties. As the hall +carpet is of inestimable value, having formerly covered a floor in the +Yildiz Palace, visitors are earnestly requested to wipe their boots." + +"I think you have forgotten, William," said Mrs. Drake, when her husband +had posted this notice, "how you bought that strip of carpet at an +auction sale for eighteen pence. The piece you bought from Turkey is in +Bessie's bedroom." + +"Ah, yes, my dear, but it might just as well be in the hall, and for the +purpose of exhibition we can quite easily imagine it _is_ there," +replied the most capable showman. + +By twenty minutes past three, which was punctual for Highfield, a +respectable number of villagers had gathered beside the noticeboard as +though awaiting an excursion train: old men and young, women and +children, stood huddled together like so many prisoners of war, all very +solemn and anxious. One little boy was sobbing bitterly because a report +had reached him concerning another little boy who had been invited +beyond that gate and introduced to the giant tortoise, which had +displayed since then a singularly well-nourished appearance. Therefore +he was vastly relieved when the Captain announced that, owing to the +size of the crowd, which was adopting a closer formation every moment, +children would not be admitted that afternoon, but a separate day would +be arranged for the little ones, when they could play in the garden and +feed the animals; an ominous invitation which made the little boy cry +yet louder. + +The Yellow Leaf, who wore a coat not much younger than himself, as the +father of the people, and related to everybody within a ten mile radius, +stepped first into the house. He was, however, better dressed than the +Wallower in Wealth, who was believed to own a mattress so well stuffed +with gold and silver pieces that it could not be turned without the aid +of crowbars. The Gentle Shepherd paused on the threshold to scrape the +soles of his boots with a knife. The Dumpy Philosopher nervously +unfastened a collar which was borrowed. The ladies wore all the finery +they possessed. + +"You are now, ladies and gentlemen, standing in the hall of Windward +House, upon the priceless carpet used by a former Sultan of Turkey as a +praying mat," began the Captain. + +"Must ha' been a religious gentleman," said the Yellow Leaf approvingly, +as he tapped his stick upon the threadbare patches. + +"And fond of a quiet smoke," added Squinting Jack, pointing to some +holes obviously caused by cigar ends. + +"What size of a place would this Yildiz Parish be?" inquired the Gentle +Shepherd. + +"Palace, my dear old fellow. It's the Windsor Castle of Turkey, where +the Sultan prays and smokes, and signs death sentences of his Christian +subjects." + +"Amazing small rooms," remarked the Dumpy Philosopher curtly. + +"The Turks don't cover the whole of their floors like we do," explained +the Captain. "When the Sultan wants to pray, they spread a mat like this +before the throne, and he comes down on it. When he's done praying, they +roll up the mat and chuck it out of the window, for the Sultan never +uses the same bit of carpet twice. I happened to be passing underneath +his window when this particular mat was thrown out, so I picked it up +and nipped off with it, though Christians are forbidden by the law of +Turkey to touch anything the Sultan has even looked at." + +"Didn't 'em try to stop ye?" asked a lady. + +"They did," said the Captain grimly. "Though boasting isn't much in my +line, they did try to stop me--officers of the army, ministers of state, +officials of the court, men in the street--but Turks have enormous +noses, while I own an uncommon big fist; and when one big thing, my +dear, aims at another big thing, they are bound to meet. You can see the +bloodstains on the carpet yet," declared the Captain, indicating a +corner where Bessie had upset the furniture polish. + +"I do wish poor dear William wouldn't read so many newspapers," sighed +Mrs. Drake in the background. + +"Now, my dear friends and neighbours," continued the showman, warming to +his work, "although fully conscious of my own unworthiness, I beg to +draw your attention to this pedigree of my family, framed in English +oak, and most beautifully decorated in the national colours by one of +our leading artists. It commences, you see, with the name of my +illustrious ancestor, Sir Francis Drake, the mighty admiral who, almost +unaided, sent the Spanish _Armada_ to the bottom of the Irish Sea. The +head of the family has been honoured with the name of Francis ever +since: the same name, ladies and gentlemen, and the same undaunted +spirit. Boasting is painful to any member of the Drake family, yet I +would say--give me the Irish Sea and some English ships; give me a +hostile Navy, such as was faced by my immortal propogand ... my +imperishable protogent ... my eternal prognosticator--that's the word, +dear people--and if you think I'm boasting, I am very sorry for your +opinion of Devonshire manliness and courage." + +"You ha' forgot to mention what you might do to the hostile Navy," +reminded Squinting Jack. + +"Send it to the bottom," roared the Captain. + +"I can't bear to listen when he gets near the pedigree," murmured Mrs. +Drake. "He will not remember he made it all up. And he has made me +promise to put Francis on the gravestone." + +"Wur Queen Elizabeth one of your descendants too?" inquired the Gentle +Shepherd in great awe. + +"Not exactly: she was not, what you would describe as one of my +forefathers," explained the Captain. "Her illustrious name is here +inserted within brackets as an indication that the Drakes do not claim +to be of the blood royal; but, as you will remember, Queen Elizabeth +knighted Sir Francis, and there is a pleasant tradition in the family +that she once flirted with him." + +"Ain't that wonderful!" gasped one of the ladies. + +They entered the parlour, where George was crushing flies with a cork +against the windows. It was his habit to display some form of activity +when his uncle was about. + +"The pictures," resumed the Captain, "are chiefly good examples of the +oleographic school; with here and there a choice engraving taken from +the illustrated press: marine landscapes, depicting sea breaking upon +rocks, being a prominent feature. The young lady picking sunflowers was +painted by my wife at the age of seventeen, and is the only example of +that period which survives." + +"The flowers are dahlias," Mrs. Drake corrected somewhat sharply. + +"My dear, anybody acquainted with our simple wayside plants could tell +that at a glance. I am afraid, ladies and gentlemen, the only flowers I +can name with absolute certainty are sea anemones and jellyfish. The +grandfather clock is unique," hurried on the Captain. "It strikes the +hours upon a gong, chimes them upon bells, and is also provided with a +Burmese instrument which discourses sweet music at the quarters. A clock +like this relieves the unnatural stillness of midnight, and gets the +servants up early. A barometer is affixed to the case; this wind gauge +records the velocity of the draught between door and window; while the +burning glass registers the amount of sunshine received in this portion +of the room daily. Twice during the twenty-four hours this wooden +figure winds up an iron weight which, becoming detached at a certain +point, falls upon a detonating substance contained in this iron vessel. +The explosion occurs at noon and midnight." + +"Ah, now I knows it ain't always cats," muttered the Dumpy Philosopher, +who lived about a hundred yards away. + +"About four hours behind, ain't it, Captain?" remarked Squinting Jack. + +"It does not profess to be a timekeeper," replied the Captain. "Any +ordinary clock will tell you the time. This does more--it instructs and +entertains. It keeps us alive at nights. I like a clock that announces +itself. Last Sunday evening, when in church, I distinctly heard the +explosion, the clock being then seven hours slow, and it seemed to me a +very homely sound." + +"I hope Mrs. Drake ain't nervous," said one of the ladies. + +"No, indeed," came the reply. "I lived for ten years next door to one of +the trade union halls. I find it very quiet here." + +"I reckon this would be another clock," said the Gentle Shepherd, +staring at a grandfatherly shape in the corner. + +"No, my friend, that is an Egyptian mummy." + +"One o' they what used to go about on Christmas Eve in the gude old days +what be gone vor ever!" exclaimed the Yellow Leaf with great interest. + +"Not a mummer, but a body, a corpse--dried up and withered," explained +the Captain. + +"Same as I be nearly," murmured the Yellow Leaf; while some of the women +screamed and some giggled, one hoping the creature was quite dead, +another dreadfully afraid there had been a murder, and a third trusting +she wouldn't have to adorn some parlour when she was took. + +"Can he do anything, Captain--sing and dance, or tell ye what the +weather's going to be?" asked Squinting Jack. + +"'Tis a matter of taste, but I couldn't fancy corpses as furniture," +observed the Dumpy Philosopher. + +"What I ses is this," commented the Wallower in Wealth, "if I wur to dig +bodies out of churchyard, and sell 'em to folk as genuine antiquities, I +would have the policeman calling on me." + +"You mustn't dig up Christians--that's blasphemy," said the Captain. +"This chap was a heathen king, one of the Pharaohs you read of in the +Bible, and he died thousands of years ago. He may have known Jacob and +Joseph--and I bought him for five bob." + +"Ain't that wonderful!" exclaimed a lady. + +"It do make they Children of Israel seem amazing real," admitted the +Gentle Shepherd. + +"The remarkable object occupying the centre of the mantelpiece is a +Russian Ikon. It used to hang upon the quarterdeck of a battleship which +was lost in the Baltic," continued the Captain. + +"I suppose 'tis useful vor navigating purposes," suggested the Dumpy +Philosopher. + +"It is what the Russians call a holy picture. They say their prayers to +such things," shouted the Captain angrily. + +"A queer lot of old stuff here along," said the Gentle Shepherd. + +"A few articles are priceless," declared the proprietor. "These two +vases, for instance. They were looted from the royal palace at Pekin by +an English sailor lad who had intended them as a present for his +sweetheart; but, as he couldn't carry them about, he sold them to me for +ten shillings. An American gentleman offered me a hundred pounds for the +pair, but I wouldn't part with them for five times that amount. These +blue dragons are covered with a lustre known as glaze, which is now a +lost art. This portfolio of pictures also comes from China: there are +more than fifty, and each represents one of the various kinds of torture +commonly practised by Chinese magistrates upon people who are brought +before them, charged with such offences as forgetting to pay local +rates or being polite to foreigners. Here is the usual punishment for +omitting to lick the dust when a big-pot passes--being impaled upon +three stakes above a slow fire without the option of a fine." + +"Nice pictures to look at on a Sunday evening," said Squinting Jack. + +"The curiously twisted spike, which bears a close resemblance to iron, +and is indeed almost as heavy as that metal, was given me by an Egyptian +fellah, who said he had discovered it in the Assyrian desert," resumed +the Captain with somewhat less confidence. "It is supposed to be a horn +of that extinct animal the unicorn, but I don't guarantee it. According +to a mate who sailed with me once--a chap who knew a lot about animals, +and had taken prizes at dog shows--the unicorn had a hollow horn, and +this, you see, is solid." + +"The Egyptian fellow had you, Captain. It is iron, and there's a mark +upon it that looks to me like a crown," declared the Wallower in Wealth, +who had commenced prosperity as a wheelwright. + +"Don't that go to show it is genuine? Ain't the lion and unicorn +the--the motto of the crown of England?" demanded the Yellow Leaf. + +"The beast wouldn't have a crown stamped on its horn when he drawed +breath," said Squinting Jack. + +"I b'ain't so certain. I ha' seen rummy marks on a ram's horn," answered +the Gentle Shepherd. + +"There are wonderful things in Nature," said the Captain. "When I was +off the coast of South Africa, I watched a big fish flap out of the +water, climb a tree, stuff itself with fruit, and then return to its +native element. It may be the unicorn was adopted as one of the +supporters of the Royal Arms, because it had this mark of a crown upon +the base of its horn." + +"Some volk ses there never wur no unicorns," remarked the Dumpy +Philosopher. + +"Plenty believe creation started after they were born," retorted the +Captain sharply. "The lion and the unicorn are the royal beasts of +England--any child knows that--and when all the lions have been shot, +lots of people will say there never were such creatures. If unicorns +never existed, how is it we possess pictures of the beast? How do we +know what 'twas like? How do we know its name, and how do we know it had +only one horn bang in the middle of its forehead?" + +"That's the way to talk to unbelievers," chuckled the Yellow Leaf. "I +make no manner of doubt there wur plenty of unicorns; aye, and lions and +four footed tigers, and alligators too, in this here parish of +Highfield, though I don't seem to able call any of 'em to mind." + +"'Tis an iron spike sure enough, and 'twur made in Birmingham," +whispered the Wallower in Wealth to his nearest neighbour. + +"The little creature in this glass case is a stuffed mermaid, supposed +to be about three months old," the Captain continued, indicating a +cleverly faked object, composed of the upper part of a monkey and the +tail of a hake. "I did not see it alive myself, but was told by the +inhabitant of Sumatra, from whom I bought it, he had found it upon a +rock at low tide crying piteously for its mother. He took it home, and +tried to rear it upon ass's milk, but the poor little thing did not live +many days. It was too young to show any intelligence." + +"The ass's milk might ha' made it feel a bit silly like," suggested +Squinting Jack. + +"Don't it seem a bit like slavery to ha' bought it?" asked a +tender-hearted matron. + +"And a bit blasphemous to ha' stuffed the poor mite?" complained +another. + +"Oh no, my dear ladies. These creatures do not possess immortal souls," +replied the Captain. + +"How be us to tell?" inquired the Dumpy Philosopher. + +"Only creatures who can pray possess immortal souls," declared the +Captain piously. "When we pray we kneel. Mermaids cannot kneel because +they have no legs." + +"There used to be a picture in the schuleroom of a camel on his knees," +began Squinting Jack; but the Captain hurried off to the next object of +interest, which was a snuffbox composed of various woods inlaid with +mother of pearl. + +"A tragic and mysterious relic of the French Revolution, found in the +hand of a Duke while his body was being removed for burial," he said in +his most impressive manner. "This box is supposed to possess a most +remarkable history, but it has not been opened since the original +owner's death." + +"Will ye please to go on and tell us all about it," requested the Yellow +Leaf. + +"It is the mystery of this box that nobody knows its history," came the +answer. + +"Why don't ye open it, Captain?" + +"The second mystery of this box is that the secret of opening it is +lost. It is alike on both sides, so that you cannot tell which is top +and which bottom." + +"I'd open 'en quick enough," said the Wallower in Wealth. + +"And smash they lovely pearls all to pieces!" cried a lady indignantly. + +"'Twould be a pity to spoil a couple of mysteries," said Squinting Jack. + +"That's how I feel about it. As it is, this snuffbox is a genuinely +romantic antique; but if we discovered its history--which I was assured +by some gentleman in Paris is most astounding, although entirely +unknown--it might lose a considerable part of its value. I have charged +my wife to present this box to the President of the French Republic +after I am taken from her. She is not bound to present it personally, +but may either entrust it to the registered post, or hand it to his +Excellency the French Ambassador at his official residence by +appointment, whichever course may be most pleasing to her," said the +Captain handsomely. + +A number of curiosities sealed up in bottles were exhibited, and then +the Wallower in Wealth delivered a little speech he had prepared +beforehand. He began by mentioning that his cottage stood near the +garden of Windward House, and went on to explain how, upon certain +evenings, when shadows were lengthening, his soul had been soothed by +distant strains of sweetest music. His wife, who had no ear for harmony, +ventured to attribute these sounds to the rival choirs of cats on the +roof and owls in the trees; his mother-in-law, who was superstitious, +gave all credit to the pixies; his daughter, who was sentimental, had +gone so far as to suggest angelic visitors. But he was convinced the +sounds proceeded from Windward House. And he concluded by imploring the +Captain to entertain the company by a few selections upon his +gramophone. + +Captain Drake replied that nothing so commonplace had ever disturbed +the silence of his abode. "Oriental music of the most classical +description is played here," he said, approaching a large black case +upon gilded legs and throwing back the lid. "This, ladies and gentlemen, +is the musical box, formerly in the possession of an Indian potentate, +and bestowed upon me in return for services which I could not mention +without appearing to glory in my sterling nobility of character, which +was one of the phrases employed during the ceremony of presentation. The +Maharajah offered me the choice of three gifts--a young lady, an +elephant, and this musical box. Being already married, and having no +room in my ship for a bulky pet, I--somewhat to the astonishment of my +generous benefactor--selected the musical box. There are only two others +like it in this world; one being in the possession of the Dalai Lama of +Tibet, while the other unfortunately reposes at the bottom of the +Atlantic. The small figures dressed as Chinamen--these boxes were made +in China, but the art is now lost--play upon various instruments after +the fashion of a military band. In a small room such as this the music +is somewhat harsh; but when heard from the garden it is, as our friend +here has said, exquisitely beautiful; the more so when the parrots sing +in unison." + +"I thought parrots was like women; they just talked," said the Dumpy +Philosopher. + +"They don't sing like nightingales," the Captain admitted. "But their +notes blend very pleasantly with instrumental music. Before we go +outside I will wind up the box; but here is one more interesting relic I +must show you. This Star beneath the glass case, although its rays are +now sadly tarnished, adorned at one time the coat of His Majesty King +George the First. Its history is fully set out upon the parchment +beneath. The thing does look worth twopence, I admit, but then you must +remember it was made in Germany, where they have always been fond of +cheap decorations, which could be worn at Court, and then hung upon +Christmas trees to amuse the children. According to this parchment, +which supplies us with documentary evidence--the writing is somewhat +blurred, as I was forced to use an uncommonly bad pen--this Star was +worn by His Majesty upon his arrival in England. The maid of honour, +whose duty it was to rub up the royal decorations, took the wrong bottle +one day, and used her own matchless preparation for the skin instead of +the usual cleaning mixture; and when all the pretty things turned black +she passed them on to a Jew, and told the king she was very sorry, but +she had accidentally dropped all his Hanoverian decorations down the +sink. What he said with the usual month's notice I can't tell you, but +probably he didn't care much, as he could buy stars and crosses and +eagles by the gross from the toymakers of the Black Forest cheap for +cash. + +"This particular Star was cleaned by a patent process and sold to a +tailor, who stitched it on to a magnificent coat he had made for a young +Duke who had just stepped into the title; and he, after a time, passed +on coat and Star to his valet, who parted with them to a quack doctor, +well known as the discoverer of a certain cure for cataract. He had +already made about a score of people totally blind when he was called in +to attend a lady of quality; and when this lady's sight was destroyed, +her relatives invited the quack either to have his own eyes forcibly +treated with his ointment, or to clear out of the country. He soon made +up his mind, sold the coat and Star to a pedlar, and returned to +Germany, where he entered the diplomatic service and blinded a lot more +folk. + +"The pedlar made his way up to Scotland and, meeting a very shabby old +fellow upon the road, sold him the coat and Star after the hardest bit +of bargaining he had ever known in his life. This old chap turned out to +be the first Duke in all Scotland, and he was driven to buy the finery +as he had been commanded to appear at Court. When he got to London in +his ramshackle old coach, he rubbed up the Star, put on the coat, inked +the seams a bit, then went to the Palace, where he found the King +playing dominoes with one of the English Dukes. 'Gott in Himmel!' cried +his Majesty, 'His Grace has got my old Star. I know it's mine, for 'twas +made in dear old Sharmany.' The Scot was trying to explain that the Star +had been made to order by his village blacksmith, when the English Duke +chimed in, 'And he's wearing one of my cast-off coats!' At this point +the manuscript breaks off abruptly. + +"That's the true English history of this old Star, which I purchased for +sixpence from a sailor in whose family it had been an heirloom for the +last two hundred years." + +"Ain't that wonderful!" exclaimed a lady. + +"It do seem to make they old kings and Druid volk wonderful clear avore +us," murmured the Yellow Leaf. + +The Captain led his guests into the garden, while George, after +laboriously collecting a handful of dead flies, followed, ready to +support his uncle if necessary, but still more anxious to support +himself. + +"My cats are famous," said the Captain, approaching a building which had +been once a stable, and was now divided into two compartments; one with +a wired front for use in summer; the other closed and kept warm for +winter quarters. "I have now succeeded in obtaining a highly scientific +animal, combining the sleek beauty of the pure Persian with the +aggressive agility of the British species. For the last twenty years I +have supplied cats to the ships of the mercantile marine, and by so +doing have saved much of the commerce of this country; for a single rat +will destroy five shillings' worth of perishable cargo in one day; while +a single cat of my variety will readily account for fifty rats, not to +mention mice innumerable, during the same period. If you will reckon +sixty cats, let us say, supplied by me annually, each cat accounting for +fifty rats, again not reckoning mice innumerable, every day; if you will +add a dozen cats supplied, again by me, to dockyards and custom houses +swarming with vermin of every description, each rat doing damage to the +extent of some shillings daily, with smaller vermin doing the same +according to size and jaw power; if you will add sixty ships to twelve +dockyards, and add, let us say, twenty cats supplied from my stock to +foreign countries, reckoning in such cases in francs or dollars instead +of shillings, and making due allowance for the different tonnage of +vessels or dimensions of dockyards, if you will remember I have also +supplied most of the cats at present commissioned to kill rats and mice +upon the ships of the Royal Navy; and if you will include in your +estimate the Grimalkins I have sold, or given, to millers, warehousemen, +wholesale grocers, and provision merchants...." + +"I reckon, Captain, that will come to about quarter of a million pounds +a year, not taking into account shillings and pence," broke in Squinting +Jack to free the Captain from his obvious difficulty. + +"That is a moderate estimate; still I will accept it. Quarter of a +million pounds annually for twenty years, friends and neighbour! Have I +not done my part in liquidating the national debt?" + +"Cats aren't what you might call nearly extinct animals same as they +unicorns. Us ha' got more home than us knows what to do with," remarked +a lady timidly. + +"Us drowns 'em mostly," observed a matron who looked capable of doing +it. + +"Not cats like these--the latest triumph of scientific inbreeding," the +Captain shouted. + +"Oh no, sir! Ours be bred all nohow," said the timid lady. + +"Don't the monkeys tease 'em, Captain?" asked the Gentle Shepherd. + +"The simians have sufficient intelligence to understand that my felidæ +are famous for the claws. Beneath that tree," continued the Captain, +"about three paces from the side of my nephew, you see the giant +tortoise, which is the greatest antiquity that I possess--next, of +course, to the Egyptian mummy. That tortoise, my friends, has lived in +this world during the last five hundred years." + +"Ain't that wonderful!" gasped a lady. + +"I captured it upon the beach of one of the Galapagos Islands, where it +had just succeeded in laying an egg." + +"Him lay eggs! Then all I can say is he'm the funniest old bird I ever +did set eyes on," cried a lady who was famous for her poultry. + +"How did you manage to get hold of his birth certificate, Captain?" +asked Squinting Jack. + +"Tortoises live for ever, if you let 'em alone--that's a proverbial +fact," stammered the Captain, somewhat taken aback. "You can tell his +age by--by merely glancing at his shell. This tortoise has his shell +covered with tarpaulin to prevent the newspaper cuttings from being +washed off by rain; but if it was removed you would see that the shell +is yellow. It is a well known scientific fact that the shell of a +tortoise is black during the first century of its life; takes on a +bluish tinge for the next two hundred years; and becomes mottled with +yellow when it approaches the enormous age of five hundred years." + +"Same as me," said the Yellow Leaf sadly. + + + + +CHAPTER III + +THE CAPTAIN MAKES HISTORY + + +One day George entered the churchyard and set his face towards a big +sycamore, with the resolution of setting his back against it. He had +been tempted by the wide trunk and smooth bark for a long time; but his +attempt to reach the tree failed entirely because it stood upon the +unfrequented side of the churchyard, and was surrounded by an +entanglement of brambles and nettles some yards in depth. + +Determined to reach that sycamore somehow, George complained to his +uncle about the abominable condition of the churchyard; and Captain +Drake reprimanded the vicar for "allowing the resting places of our +historic dead to become a trackless jungle;" and the vicar once more +implored the sexton to give up the public-house; and the sexton declared +there were no such blackberries in all the parish as could be gathered +from those brambles. + +The matter would have ended there had it not been for Captain Drake, who +visited the territory, explored to within fifteen feet of the sycamore, +then called a meeting of parishioners and, with the aid of diagrams, +showed how the foremost line of nettles was advancing so rapidly in a +north-westerly direction as to threaten the main approach to the vestry; +while a screen of brambles had already reached a nameless altar tomb +whereon the youth of the place by traditional right recorded their +initials. + +The seriousness of the weed peril had not been realised until then; as +the Dumpy Philosopher remarked, they had all been asleep and thus had +been taken unprepared; but, when the parishioners did realise it, an +army of offence was raised quickly; the nettles were eradicated and the +brambles uprooted; that portion of the churchyard was thrown open to the +public; and George attained his resting place beside the sycamore. + +He had lounged against it several times before his eyes fell upon an +inscription which appeared familiar, although obscured by moss and +yellow lichen. As the tombstone was not more than three yards away, he +was able to reach it without much difficulty. Reclining upon the turf, +he summoned up energy to open his pocketknife and to scrape away the +lichen until the full meaning of the discovery burst upon him. + +Later in the day the Yellow Leaf met Squinting Jack, and said, "I saw +Mr. Drake running like wildfire down the street this forenoon. If I +hadn't seen 'en wi' my own eyes, I wouldn't ha' believed it." + +"I saw 'en too wi' my own eyes," replied Squinting Jack. "And still I +don't believe it." + +Captain Drake would have run too had there been less of him. George had +never been a liar--the poor fellow had no imagination and rarely picked +up a newspaper--still his story sounded too impossible to be true. They +reached the newly discovered tombstone; the Captain read the +inscription; and in a voice trembling with emotion murmured, "Amelia +Drake, of Black Anchor Farm, in this parish." + +The portion of stone which bore the date of her departure had sunk into +the ground. + +"George, my lad," cried the Captain, "this is the grave of my long-lost +great-grandmother." + +"The missing link," added the nephew, with the joyous certainty of one +about to negotiate a loan. + +"Our pedigree is now complete. I am certain my father used to speak of a +rumour which insisted that his grandmother's name was Amelia; and now we +have discovered she lived in this parish, at Black Anchor Farm, which no +doubt had passed to her husband--who is down on the pedigree as having +been probably lost at sea--from the lineal descendant of the great +Founder himself. The name of the farm proves that. You see, George, the +reference is to a black anchor, a new freshly tarred anchor, not to an +old rusty red one. I must have the stone cleaned. And we will show our +respect by planting roses here." + +"If it hadn't been for me, this grave would never have been discovered," +said George, ready to produce a statement of his bankruptcy. + +"That's true, my lad. It's the best day's work you have ever done in +your life." + +"Skilled labour, too," reminded George, still advertising. + +"I won't forget," his uncle promised. + +Black Anchor Farm was situated about two miles from the centre of the +village. It was not a place to covet, consisting of a mean little +thatched house; stable and barn of cob walls propped up by pieces of +timber; and half a dozen fields which brought forth furze and bracken in +great abundance. People named Slack occupied the place; the man was a +lame dwarf who tried to work sometimes, but honestly preferred poaching; +the woman went about in rags and begged; while the children were little +savages, kept from school by their father, and trained to steal by their +mother. + +The Captain refused to be discouraged when he visited the home of his +ancestors and discovered a hovel; but wrote to the owner for +information, interviewed the vicar, turned up the registers, and +consulted the Yellow Leaf. + +The letter was answered by a solicitor, who expressed his sorrow at +never having heard of the family of Drake. The vicar mentioned that the +name Anchor occurred frequently in the neighbourhood, and was +undoubtedly a corruption of Anchoret, which signified a person who +sought righteousness by retiring from a world of sin. He considered it +probable that the site had been occupied formerly by the cell of a +hermit who had distinguished himself by wearing a black cloak. + +Although the Captain gave days and nights to the registers, he could +find no entry concerning his family, of whom most, he was convinced, had +been lost at sea, apart from the funeral of Amelia Drake. The Yellow +Leaf, after remaining some days in a state of meditation, distinctly +recalled a tradition concerning a lady (the Captain thanked him for the +lady) who had lived alone at Black Anchor Farm for a number of years, +receiving no visitors, and leaving the place only to obtain fresh +supplies of liquid consolation. The end of her history was so unpleasant +he did not care to dwell upon it, but apparently this lady was +discovered at last ready for her funeral, and according to report it was +a pity she had not been discovered earlier. + +Still the Captain refused to be discouraged. His nobility of character +would not permit him to disown the memory of his great-grandmother, +although he thought it terribly sad she should have sunk so low. If she, +during recurring fits of temporary insanity, had disgraced the great +name, he had added lustre to it. If the former country residence of Sir +Francis Drake had fallen into a ruinous condition, it should be his +privilege to restore it with a few magic touches of the pen. He resolved +to devote the remaining years of his life to the writing of _A History +of the Parish of Highfield_. + +"The vicar was not altogether mistaken, my love," he remarked to Mrs. +Drake. "He associates the name of Black Anchor with a hermit who wore a +dark coloured vestment of some description, and no doubt he is right. My +unfortunate great-grandmother did live there entirely alone, and would +naturally be regarded as a hermit by the superstitious people of this +parish. And we need not be surprised to discover that she always wore +black--silk or velvet, I presume--the last poor remnants of her former +greatness. It is an established fact, I believe, that elderly ladies +generally wear black." + +As a compiler of history the Captain was in many ways well equipped. He +wrote rapidly, which was of great importance, because the least relevant +chapter in the life of a parish required a vast number of words. He +possessed a gift of making the past real because he owned a powerful +imagination. While confidence in his own abilities freed him from a +slavish adherence to facts which could serve no useful purpose. +Realising the importance of concentrating upon some particular feature, +in order that the narrative might be made continuous, he had not the +slightest difficulty in selecting that feature. The keynote of the +entire work was sounded by the opening sentence: + +"Although the Parish of Highfield is but little known to Englishmen, and +occupies an extremely small portion of the map, being entirely excluded +from the standard Atlas used in schools--in our opinion +unjustifiably--it must nevertheless remain for ever famous on account of +its associations with the sublime name of Drake." + +The opening chapter dealt with the destruction of the Spanish _Armada_. +The second gave an account of the arrival of Sir Francis Drake in +Highfield parish, fully describing his purchase of a site and the +erection of a stately manor house, of which unfortunately nothing +remained except a few fragments "fraught with sweet Elizabethan +memories." The site was still known as Black Anchor, which was +undoubtedly the name conferred by the great Admiral upon his country +residence, because he regarded it as a place to which he could retire +from the world, where he could muse amid the solitude of nature, where +he could rest, or, in the phrase of the seaman, "cast his anchor." It +was here that Queen Elizabeth visited him, and, according to some +authorities who seemed to deserve serious attention, it was here, and +not in London, that the Queen conferred the honour of knighthood upon +this magnificent bulwark of her throne. + +The third chapter was devoted entirely to the royal visit, concerning +which tradition was happily not silent. It was indeed a simple matter to +follow the Queen's progress towards its culminating point, which was +unquestionably Highfield Manor, as Black Anchor Farm was known in those +days, through the adjoining parishes, all possessing manors of which +some had survived to the present time, but most had fallen down, at each +of which the royal lady had enjoyed a few hours' slumber. + +Several pages were allotted to this habit of Elizabeth, who was +apparently unable to travel more than five miles without going to bed; +and in these the author sought to prove the existence of some malady, a +kind of travelling sickness, no doubt exaggerated by the roughness of +the roads and constant jolting of the coach, so that the physician in +attendance felt himself compelled to advise his royal mistress to sleep +at every village through which she passed. + +The peculiarities of monarchs, remarked the author, are more conspicuous +than the virtues or vices of ordinary people. The nervousness of King +Charles the Second was no less remarkable than Queen Elizabeth's +recurring fits of somnolence: he was continually retiring into +cupboards, standing behind doors, or climbing into oak trees, owing to a +morbid dread of being looked at. King Charles had secreted himself +inside a cupboard within the boundaries of Highfield parish, but this +was not to be regarded as a coincidence, for a patient inquiry into +local traditions elicited the fact that, wherever Queen Elizabeth had +slept in the best bed of the manor house, King Charles had climbed a +tree (usually the common oak, _Quercus robur_) in the garden. As the +writer was dealing with the parish of Highfield only, it would be +outside the scope of his work to give a list of villages, in Devonshire +alone, which claimed to possess pillows upon which Elizabeth had deigned +to rest her weary head; but he was satisfied that the Highfield pillow +had been stored away in precisely the same cupboard used by Charles +during one of his secretive moments. Both these interesting relics had +been destroyed, as was customary, by fire. + +The fourth chapter flourished the Drake pedigree, copied from the +original document in the author's possession; and went on to give a +pathetic account of Amelia, the lonely and eccentric lady who was the +last representative of the famous family to reside at Highfield Manor. +Three facts concerning her could be stated with certainty: she was of a +singularly retiring nature, she was accustomed to wear a black silk +dress upon all occasions, and she was murdered by some unknown ruffian +for the sake of certain valuable heirlooms she was known to possess. It +appeared probable that she was a poetess as, according to local +tradition, she could frequently be heard singing; while her fondness for +cats, a weakness which had descended to her great-grandson, was a +clearly marked feature of her character. + +The fifth chapter was a triumph of literary and artistic handiwork. Even +Mrs. Drake, who did not approve of the undertaking because she had to +meet the expenses of publication, felt bound to admit that, if William +had not chosen to become a great sea-captain, a certain other William, +who had written plays for a living, might conceivably have been toppled +from his eminence; for nothing could have been more thrilling than the +story of a family vault, "filled with the bones and memories of the +greatest centuries in British history," becoming first neglected, then +forgotten, and finally overgrown by brambles and nettles: a vault, let +the reader remember, not containing rude forefathers of the hamlet, but +members of the family of Drake; a vault, not situated in the Ethiopian +desert, nor abandoned within some Abyssinian jungle, but built beneath +the turf of an English churchyard hard by a simple country Bethel. This +vault became entirely lost! Summer followed spring, autumn preceded +winter, year after year, while the nettles increased, and the brambles +encroached yet more upon the consecrated ground, until the very site of +the famous vault was lost to sight--this sentence being the one literary +flaw upon an otherwise perfect chapter--and the oldest inhabitant had +ceased to tell of its existence. + +Here the _History of the Parish of Highfield_ was interrupted by some +chapters dealing with the birth, education, early struggles, voyages, +adventures, success, and retirement of Captain Francis Drake; together +with an account of Mrs. Drake and her relations; with a flattering +notice of George Drake, Esquire, who was later to win renown as the +explorer of Highfield churchyard and the discoverer of the long-missing +vault. It was shown also how the Captain had been guided by Providence +to the village, formerly the home of his ancestors, and how "the lure of +the place had been nothing but the silver cord of an hereditary +attraction stretched through the centuries to reach the golden bowl of +his soul." Mrs. Drake objected to this sentence, and the printer made +still stranger stuff of it; but George upheld his uncle's contention +that poetical prose could not be out of place in a work dealing with the +origin and progress of a wayside village. + +At this point the author interpolated, by means of footnotes, a few +remarks, which he owned were unconnected with the purport of his work: +Domesday Book alluded to Highfield in one deplorably curt sentence; the +church contained nothing of interest; an oak tree, which had formerly +shaded the village green, no longer existed; the views were local, +charming, and full of variety; the streams contained fish; botanists +would discover furze and heather upon the adjacent moorland; the name of +the place was derived probably from two Anglo-Saxon words which +signified a field standing in a high place. + +The author arrived at that fateful day when George, led by his interest +in arboriculture to inspect a magnificent specimen of sycamore upon the +south side of the churchyard, found his progress checked by tangled +growths which, to the eternal disgrace of the parish, had been permitted +to conceal "the precious memorial and cradle of British supremacy upon +the main." Mrs. Drake opposed this sentence still more strongly, but the +Captain pleaded inspiration and retained it. + +There followed a stirring account of "the wave of indignation that burnt +with its hot iron the souls of the villagers, when their attention had +been drawn to a state of neglect which threatened to deprive them of the +obvious benefits of their own burying ground, and was rapidly making it +impossible for the mourner to drop the scalding tear or the fragrant +flower upon the sepulchre of some dear lost one." A vivid page described +the destruction of brambles and nettles, the removal of five cart loads, +the subsequent bonfire in which "these emblems of Thor and Woden melted +into flame and were dissipated into diaphanous smoke clouds." + +The style unfortunately became confused when the author dealt at length +with the actual Discovery, and represented himself as head of the family +kneeling in humble thankfulness beside the mouldering stone marking the +hallowed spot where Drakes lay buried. + +The work included with an account of Windward House, a description of +the furniture, a complete list of the antiquities, among which, owing to +a printer's error, appeared the names of Kezia and Bessie; with a +reference to the cats, monkeys, parrots, and giant tortoise. Then +Captain Drake lay down his pen, put aside the well-thumbed dictionary, +and, calling wife and nephew, informed them solemnly, "The last words +are written. I have rounded off my existence with a book." + +Nothing much was said for some minutes. The author was obviously +struggling with emotion; Mrs. Drake put her handkerchief to her eyes; +George smiled in a nervous fashion and trifled with the coppers in both +pockets. Kezia and Bessie were called in and the news was broken to +them: the Parish of Highfield now possessed a history. + +"This," said the Captain gently, "is one of the great moments in the +thrilling record of a most distinguished family. I feel as the sublime +founder must have done while standing with wooden bowl in his hand +gazing across the sparkling sea." Then he murmured brokenly, "Heaven +bless you all," and stumbled from the room. + +When the publisher sent in his estimate, Mrs. Drake was quite unable to +understand how a newspaper could be sold for one halfpenny. The leading +item, which was a charge for sufficient paper to print one thousand +copies, came as a revelation to her; for she had always supposed that +paper, like string and pins, could be had for nothing. As the publisher +pressed strongly for a few illustrations of local scenery, the Captain +was compelled to sacrifice, for economical reasons, three chapters of +his voyages, together with the whole of his valuable footnotes. When +George suggested that the history of the parish itself did not appear to +be treated with that fullness the Captain was capable of giving it, the +old gentleman replied, "What we lose in the letterpress we'll make up by +the pictures. I quite agree with the printer, my lad: the beauty and +dignity of my work will be enhanced considerably by the addition of a +few engravings." + +Six photographs were therefore taken exclusively for this volume, by the +son of the postmistress who was an expert with the camera; and +reproduced by the usual special process upon a particularly valuable +kind of Oriental paper. The frontispiece represented Captain Francis +Drake in a characteristic attitude. The five other illustrations +depicted Windward House from the southeast; present day aspect of Black +Anchor Farm; George Drake, Esquire, discoverer of the missing vault; +stone marking site of vault and bearing the name of Amelia Drake; and +finally, Captain Francis Drake in another characteristic attitude, with +Mrs. Drake in the background. The lady, having shifted behind her +husband during the moment of exposure, has disappeared entirely. + +Two copies were sold. The vicar bought one out of a sense of duty, while +the Dismal Gibcat purchased the other, to discover whether there was +anything in it which would justify him in bringing an action for libel. +Both were disappointed. + + + + +CHAPTER IV + +CHANGES IN THE ESTABLISHMENT + + +One doctor had promised Captain Drake eighteen more months of life; +another, less generous, refused to allow him more than twelve; he +presented himself with ten years, and then he did not die from natural +causes. The Dismal Gibcat had his revenge at last. He murdered Captain +Drake before the eyes of the village, in the full light of two oil +lamps; and, instead of being hanged for it, he stepped into the dead +man's place, and ruled the parish with his scowl as he had done in the +good old days when a pair of old cottages had occupied the site whereon +Windward House now stood; although he had the decency to attend his +victim's funeral, and to declare he had always respected the Captain, +who undoubtedly belonged to that class of mortals, none of whom are ever +likely to be seen again. + +War for a right of way led up to the murder. The Dismal Gibcat owned a +field, across which people had walked since the world began, according +to the testimony of the Yellow Leaf, who was the final court of appeal +in all such matters. When a stone coffin was disinterred, or a few Roman +coins were turned up, the Yellow Leaf was invariably summoned to decide +the question of ownership. He might confess that the stone coffin had +been made before his time, although he would give the name of the mason, +and narrate a few anecdotes concerning the eccentric parishioner who had +preferred this method of burial. While he would possess a clear +recollection of the thriftless farmer who had dropped the money while +ploughing through a hole in his pocket. The Yellow Leaf declared he had +crossed that field thousands of times when he was a mere bud, and went +on to state that, if the people allowed the Dismal Gibcat to triumph +over them, they would find themselves back in the dark ages, bereft of +all the privileges which Magna Charta, the post office, and Captain +Drake had obtained for them. + +The Dismal Gibcat began by ploughing the field and planting it with +potatoes. Then he lay in wait for the first trespasser, who chanced to +be the vicar on his way to baptise a sick baby. Undismayed by the +importance of his capture, the Dismal Gibcat informed the vicar he was +committing an unfriendly act by trespassing across his vested property. + +The vicar, with some warmth, asserted there was a path. The Dismal +Gibcat, with exceeding dullness, replied that a man who had received his +education at a public school and an ancient university ought to be able +to distinguish between tilled land and thoroughfare. + +The vicar declared that, if there was at the moment no path, it could +only be because the Dismal Gibcat had maliciously removed it, although +he did not use the word maliciously in an offensive manner. The Dismal +Gibcat replied that, as there was no path, the vicar could not walk +along it; and, as he was obviously trying to make one--with a pair of +boots quite suitable for the purpose--he was committing an act of +trespass, and by the law of England a trespasser might be removed by +force. + +The vicar explained that he could not stay to argue the matter lest, +while they were quarrelling, the poor little baby should become an +unbaptised spirit. The Dismal Gibcat declared that his vested rights +were more to him than baptised babies, and ordered the vicar to get off +his potatoes by the way he had come. + +Finally the vicar abandoned a portion of his Christianity and threatened +to hit the Dismal Gibcat upon the head with his toy font. + +Civil war having thus broken out, the entire population of military age, +headed by Captain Drake and the Yellow Leaf, promenaded across the field +and trampled out a new pathway. The Dismal Gibcat replied by putting up +barbed wire entanglements. + +Then the Captain called a meeting of the Parish Council, to be held at +seven-thirty in the schoolroom; little dreaming, when he set out a few +minutes after eight to take the chair, that he was about to perform his +last public duty. + +The Dismal Gibcat attended the meeting without any idea of doing murder: +he brought no weapon except his scowl, which was possibly a birthmark, +and a tongue which disagreed with everybody out of principle. He +presented his case to the meeting and asked for justice. The chairman +promised he should have it, and went on to inquire whether the Dismal +Gibcat would give an undertaking to remove the entanglements and allow +the public to make free use of the pathway. + +The Dismal Gibcat replied that, by so doing, he would be committing an +injustice which must fall most heavily upon all those of his dismal +blood who might come after him. + +"Then, sir," the chairman cried in his most tremendous voice, "the +matter must pass from our hands into those of a higher tribunal. We +shall appeal to the District Council, and that body will, if necessary, +carry the case further, even to the Court of County Council itself." + +Silence followed, during which every parishioner save one in that +crowded schoolroom felt thankful Highfield had a leader capable of +carrying their grievances to the foot of the Throne if necessary. About +the District Council little was known, beyond the fact that it had never +yet interfered in any parochial affairs; while the Dumpy Philosopher +seemed to be the only person primed with information concerning the +County Council. + +"It make roads and builds asylums," he explained. "The gentlemen what +belong to it are called Esquire; and they'm mostly in Parliament." + +The Dismal Gibcat had the wickedness to declare that he defied all +Councils. There never had been a right of way across his field, and +there never should be. Out of simple goodness of heart he had refrained +from interfering with the homeward progress of a few weary labourers, +although they had not asked permission to trample down his pasture; and +now he was to be rewarded for this mistaken kindness by having a strip +of territory snatched from him by a person--a fat, vulgar person--one he +was sorry to call an Englishman--whom they had been foolish enough to +elect as their chairman--a man who had written a book about himself--a +common creature who claimed to be a descendant of Sir Francis Drake--a +man who styled himself Captain because he had once stolen a fishing +boat--a coarse bullying brute of a gasbag. + +The chairman had been struggling to find breath for some moments. At +last he found it, and released such thunders as had never been heard +before. Even the Dismal Gibcat quailed before the volume of that +tempest, while a few nervous parishioners left the schoolroom with a +dazed look upon their faces. George detached himself from the wall and +implored his uncle to be calm, but his words of warning were lost in +that great tumult. The shocking nature of the scene was considerably +enhanced by the fact that the Dismal Gibcat, for the first time within +living memory, actually tried to smile. + +"A right of way has existed time out of mind across that field. Sir +Francis Drake and Queen Elizabeth walked there arm in arm," the Captain +shouted, magnanimously ignoring the insults, and fighting for the people +to his last gasp. + +"Path warn't hardly wide enough, Captain," piped the Yellow Leaf, who +was for accuracy at any price. + +"I tell the chairman to his face he's a liar. He has never spoken a word +of truth since he came to Highfield," cried the Dismal Gibcat. + +Again the Captain opened his mouth, but no sounds came. He stretched out +an arm, tried to leave the chair, then gasped, fell against George, and +bore him to the floor. The leader of the people, the great reformer, the +defender of liberty, lay motionless beneath the map of the British +Empire like Cæsar at the foot of Pompey's statue; murdered by the Dismal +Gibcat's smile in the village schoolroom, upon the fifth of April, in +the seventy-fourth year of his age. + +At the inquest it was shown by one of the discredited doctors that his +heart had really given way a long time ago, and nothing but indomitable +courage had preserved him in a state of nominal existence: he sought to +impress it upon the jury that the Captain, from a medical point of view, +had been a dead man for the last ten years; but, as everybody knew, this +statement was made by an arrangement with the coroner to prevent a +verdict of wilful murder against the Gibcat. + +"'Tis like this right o' way business," commented Squinting Jack. "He +ploughs up the path and ses us can't walk there because there arn't no +path. And doctor ses as how the Captain wur a corpse when he come to the +meeting, and you can't kill a man what be dead and gone already." + +The Dismal Gibcat did all that was possible to atone for his crime. He +sent a wreath; he did not smile again; and in the handsomest possible +manner he removed the barbed wire entanglements, and dedicated a right +of way across his field to the public for ever, as a memorial to the +late Captain, whose life would remain as an example to them of truth, +and modesty, and childlike gentleness. + +Highfield ceased to progress when the Captain had departed. The +historian would have found no deed to chronicle, although he could +hardly have omitted the brilliant epigram, attributed to the Dumpy +Philosopher, "Captain put us on the map, and now we'm blotted out." +Local improvements were no longer spoken of. Mrs. Drake continued to +live in Highfield, although she took no part in public affairs, and +immediately removed the notice boards which she had never much approved +of. George resumed his disgraceful habits of loafing in fine weather, +and keeping the house clear of flies when it rained. His aunt disowned +him once a week, but he bore up bravely. She threatened to turn him out +of the house every month, but the courageous fellow declared he should +not be ashamed to beg hospitality of the vicar who had loved and +reverenced his dear uncle. George explained that he was leading a +singularly industrious career, but it had always been his way to work +unobtrusively: he fed the giant tortoise, controlled the monkeys, taught +the parrots to open their beaks in proverbs; he attended all meetings of +the Parish Council; sometimes he sneered at the Dismal Gibcat. Above +all, he managed the cat breeding industry, although it was true he had +at the present time no more than six cats in stock. + +"That's because you have been too lazy to look after them," Mrs. Drake +interrupted. "You let them out to roam all over the place; dozens have +been shot or trapped; while the others have made friends with common +village cats. You know how particular your uncle was about the company +they kept." + +"I'm expecting kittens soon, and I'll take great care of them," George +promised. + +"Your uncle used to make a lot out of his cats before we came here. You +do nothing except ask for money to buy them food, which you don't give +them. If it wasn't for Kezia the poor creatures would be starved," said +Mrs. Drake. + +She realised that the only way of ridding herself of George would be to +regard him as a lost soul haunting Windward House, and to destroy the +place utterly; as she could not afford to do that, an idea occurred of +inviting an elderly maiden sister to share her home. Miss Yard replied +that the plan would suit her admirably. So Mrs. Drake broke the news to +Kezia, who had become a person of consequence, accustomed to a seat in +the parlour; and Kezia told Bessie she was going to allow Mrs. Drake's +sister to live in the house for a time; and Bessie went to her mistress +and gave notice. + +"You don't mean it," stammered the astonished lady. "Why, Bessie, you +have been with me fifteen years." + +"Kezia ses Miss Yard's coming here, so I made up my mind all to once." + +"I don't know what I shall do without you, Bessie." + +"You can't do without me, mum. I'm not going exactly ever to leave you. +I'll just change my name, and go across the road, and drop in when I'm +wanted." + +"You are going to be married!" cried Mrs. Drake. + +"That's right, mum. May as well do it now as wait." + +"I hope you have stopped growing," said the lady absently. + +"I don't seem to be making any progress now, mum. Six foot two, and +Robert's five foot three, and has taken the cottage opposite. Robert +Mudge, the baker's assistant, mum. He makes the doughnuts master wur so +fond of vor his tea." + +"I remember the doughnuts," said Mrs. Drake softly. "I used to put out +two, but the dear Captain would not content himself with less than half +a dozen." + +"He told Bob to exhibit his doughnuts. Master said he would get a gold +medal vor 'em. But he can't find out where the exhibition is." + +"I hope Robert Mudge is worthy of you, Bessie." + +"He ses he is, mum. He goes to chapel in the morning, and church in the +evening, and he never touches a drop of anything. And he keeps bees, +mum." + +"It all sounds very nice. I hope you will be as happy as I have been," +said Mrs. Drake. + +"Thankye, mum. I wouldn't get married if it meant leaving you; but now +that Miss Yard's coming here I may as well go to Robert. Just across the +road, mum. If you ring a bell at the window I'll be over in no time--if +I b'ain't here already, mum." + +"You have always been a handy girl, Bessie. The dear Captain had a very +high opinion of you, but he was so afraid you might not be able to stop +growing." + +"Thankye, mum. Bob ses 'tis his one ambition to get great like the +Captain; not quite so big, mum, but like him in heart; at least, mum, as +gude in heart. I don't know, mum, whether you would be thinking of +giving me a wedding present?" + +"Of course I shall give you a present, Bessie." + +"Well, mum, me and Robert think, if 'tis convenient to you, furniture +would be most useful to us." + +"You shall have some of Captain Drake's furniture; and you shall have +more when I am gone," the old lady promised. + +Bessie married Robert Mudge a month later. Mrs. Drake furnished the +cottage; George presented the bride with a kitten; while Miss Yard, who +had not yet completed her preparations for departure, sent a postal +order for five shillings, together with a Bible, a cookery book, and +pair of bedsocks. Kezia gave the wedding breakfast, and Mrs. Drake paid +for it. The honeymoon, which lasted from Saturday to Monday, was spent +somewhere by the sea. Then Bessie settled down to her new life, which +meant sleeping upon the one side of the road and taking her meals upon +the other. + +Miss Yard was a gentle old creature who knew nothing whatever about a +world she had never really lived in. For nearly half a century she +occupied a little house just outside the little town of Drivelford; +during weekdays she would scratch about in a little garden, and twice +each Sunday attend a little church, and about four times in the course +of the year would give a little tea party to ladies much engrossed in +charity. Sometimes she would go for a little walk, but the big world +worried her, and she was glad to get back into her garden. It must have +been rather a mazy garden, as she was continually getting lost in it; +having very little memory she could not easily hit upon the right +pathway to the house, and would circle round the gooseberry bushes until +a servant discovered her. One awful day she lost her servant, luggage, +memory, and herself at a railway junction; and was finally consigned to +the station-master, who was not an intelligent individual; for, when +Miss Yard assured him she was on her way to the seaside, he was quite +unable to direct her. Nobody knew how that adventure ended, because Miss +Yard could not remember. + +She accepted her sister's invitation gladly, because a letter came +frequently from the bank to inform her she had overdrawn her account. +Miss Yard did not know much about wickedness, therefore when a servant +told her it was time for a cheque she always smiled and signed one. She +could not understand why no servant would stay with her more than a few +years; but, being a kind-hearted old soul, she was delighted to know one +was going to marry a gentleman, another to open a drapery, and a third +to retire altogether. It was not until she engaged a rather shy little +orphan, whose name of Nellie Blisland was good enough to tempt anybody, +as a lady-servant-companion-housekeeper, that the bank stopped writing +to her; and then Miss Yard, who comprehended a passbook with some +assistance, wondered who had been leaving her money; and at last arrived +at the conclusion that Nellie was a niece who was living with her and +sharing expenses. But this discovery was not made until Mrs. Drake's +invitation had been accepted. + +Miss Yard's memory underwent all manner of shocks, when she found +herself installed in the parlour of Windward House. She perceived her +sister clearly enough, but where was Nellie, and what was George? She +had completely forgotten Captain Drake until she turned her spectacles +towards the Egyptian mummy; and then she asked questions which caused +Mrs. Drake to use her smelling salts. + +"This is George, our nephew. He does nothing for a living," said the +widow severely. + +"Our nephew," repeated Miss Yard, in her earnest fashion. "His name is +Percy, and he came to see me last year, but he seems to have altered a +great deal. What is it he does for a living?" + +"Nothing whatever," said Mrs. Drake. + +"I've got a weak back," George mumbled. + +"He's got a weak back, Maria. He must try red flannel and peppermint +plasters," said Miss Yard with barbaric simplicity. + +"Stuff and nonsense! He's got the back of a whale, if he'd only use it. +This is not Percy, our real nephew, who for some reason never comes near +me, but my nephew by marriage. He's not your nephew really." + +"I'm sorry for that. I like nephews, because they visit me sometimes. +What's the name of this place, Maria?" + +"Highfield, and it's eight hundred feet above the sea," said George, in +a great hurry to change the subject. + +"I hope it's somewhere in the south of England. The doctor told me I was +not to go near Yorkshire," said Miss Yard. + +"You are in Devonshire, just upon the edge of Dartmoor," George +explained. + +"That sounds as if it ought to suit me. I can't explain it, but I was so +afraid this might be Yorkshire. Where is Nellie? I do hope she wasn't +lost at that dreadful railway station." + +"Nellie is upstairs," Mrs. Drake replied. + +"I wish somebody would go and bring her. I don't know what she can be +doing upstairs. My memory is getting so troublesome, Maria. Before +Nellie came to live with me I had quite forgotten she was Percy's +sister." + +"But she isn't," said Mrs. Drake. "Percy's only sister died as a child." + +"Did she!" exclaimed Miss Yard. "I wonder how long I shall remember +that. How many children did my brother Peter have?" + +"He never married," replied Mrs. Drake. + +"Then Nellie must be poor dear Louisa's daughter." + +"That would make her Percy's sister. Nellie is your companion. She is +not even so much related to you as George." + +"Now I have quite forgotten who George was," said Miss Yard. + +At this moment Nellie herself appeared with a load of luxuries, such as +footstool, shawl, wool slippers, and various bottles to sniff at, which +she had just unpacked. Miss Yard fondled the girl's hands, and told her +that somebody--she could not remember who--had bees trying to make +trouble between them by spreading a malicious story about Nellie's birth +and parentage; but she was too muddled to know what it meant. + +Mrs. Drake had been aware that her sister's intelligence was not high, +but was dismayed at discovering her mental condition was so low; and she +quickly repented of the new arrangement, which could not be altered now +that Miss Yard had disposed of her house and most of her belongings; +bringing just sufficient furniture to equip a sitting room and bedroom, +and to replace those articles which Mrs. Drake had bestowed upon Bessie. + +Her sister's furniture soon became a source of anxiety to Mrs. Drake, as +she did not like to have things in the house which did not belong to +her, and she also foresaw difficulties should the partnership be +dissolved at any time by the death of either her sister or herself. So +she took a sheet of notepaper and wrote upon it, "If I depart before +Sophy, all my things are to belong to her for her lifetime;" and this +document she placed within a sandalwood box standing upon the chest of +drawers in her bedroom. + +Then she took another sheet of notepaper and commanded her sister to +write upon it, "If I die before Maria, all my things are to belong to +her." Miss Yard obeyed, but when this piece of paper had been stored +away within the Japanese cabinet standing upon the chest of drawers in +her bedroom, she took a sheet of notepaper upon her own account, and +wrote, "When I am gone, all my things are to belong to Nellie;" and this +was stored away in the bottom drawer of her davonport, as she had +already forgotten the existence of the other hiding place. + +And this was the beginning of the extraordinary will-making which was +destined to stir up strife among the beneficiaries. + + + + +CHAPTER V + +GEORGE TACKLES THE LABOUR PROBLEM + + +The following summer Percy Taverner visited his aunts. This gentleman, +who was younger than George, would in due course inherit the money left +by the late Mr. Yard to his sons and daughters, of whom the two ladies +of Highfield were now the sole survivors. Therefore Percy had nothing to +lose by being uncivil, although as a matter of fact he had only +neglected Mrs. Drake because he disliked her husband. His Aunt Sophy he +loved with good reason, for he made a living by mortgaging his fruit +farm, and when the borrowed money was spent he had only to explain +matters to Miss Yard, and she would pay off the mortgage and immediately +forget all about it. Percy was not an idler like George, but he +possessed little business capacity, and had selected a form of +occupation about which he knew nothing whatever; and as he would be +quite a rich man when his aunts departed, he did not take the trouble to +learn. Nor did he care to consider such examples of longevity as the +giant tortoise and the Yellow Leaf. + +Miss Yard was delighted to see Percy, but greatly distressed when he +declined to kiss his own sister; at least he was willing, but Nellie +positively refused. The usual explanations were gone through, and the +good lady tried hard to understand. + +"Of course you are right not to kiss Nellie as she's your cousin. Young +people who can marry must not get into the habit of kissing each other," +she said. + +Mrs. Drake was inclined to be chilly towards Percy, but thawed quickly +when he revealed himself as an attentive and obliging young man. She was +quite sorry he had to sleep across the road in Bessie's cottage because +there was no spare room in Windward House; and was almost indignant when +Percy declared upon the second day he could not stay until the end of +the week, as he dared not neglect his tomato plants. + +"Your foreman can look after them," she said. "I have not seen you for +years, and after all there's nothing like one's own relations. It's a +pleasure to have some one to talk to, for your poor Aunt Sophy is +getting so stupid, and George is no company at all. What do you think of +George?" she asked suddenly. + +"Not much," replied Percy with a laugh. + +"I want to speak to you about George," Mrs. Drake continued. "You're the +head of my family, so I should like your advice about the +good-for-nothing creature. He is getting on for forty, and has never +done a day's work in his life. He sleeps here, and takes his meals, and +grumbles, and begs money--and, my dear Percy, he has been seen coming +out of the public house. He does nothing whatever. He won't even dig up +the potatoes." + +"He knows you can't leave him anything?" asked Percy. + +"Of course he knows it. He will have the furniture and all the +curiosities collected by the Captain; I think that's only right, and +besides, I promised my husband he should have them. But the things won't +be of much use if he hasn't got a home." + +"He can sell them," said Percy. + +"Second-hand furniture goes for next to nothing," replied Mrs. Drake. + +"That depends," said Percy. Then he pointed to the mantelpiece and +continued, "If I were you, Aunt, I should wrap those two Chinese vases +in cotton-wool, and put them away." + +"Are they really valuable? My dear husband thought they were, but I'm +afraid he didn't know much about such things, and he would exaggerate +sometimes. He used to say they were worth a hundred pounds apiece." + +"He was under the mark," said Percy. "I'm not an expert, but I know more +about Chinese vases than I do about tomatoes, as a friend of mine deals +in the things, and I've picked up a lot from him. I believe those vases +are worth a heap of money." + +"Well, that is a surprise!" cried Mrs. Drake. "I shall take your advice +and pack them away. Don't mention it to George." + +"Certainly not," said Percy, somewhat indignantly. + +"And now what can you suggest?" Mrs. Drake continued, waddling to the +mantelpiece and flicking a disreputable blowfly from one of the vases. +"I have told George plainly a hundred times he must do something for a +living, but he won't take a hint. I suppose you wouldn't care to give +him employment? He ought to know something about fruit, as he spends +half his time leaning against an apple tree." + +"He wouldn't work under me. Besides, I'm doing a losing business as it +is. It's a jolly difficult problem, Aunt." + +"Will you open his eyes to his folly and wickedness? If you can't make +him ashamed, you may be able to frighten him. Tell him, if he works, I +will help him; but, if he won't work, I'll do nothing more for him." + +"All right, Aunt. I'll shift the beggar," said Percy cheerfully; and he +went out to search for his victim. + +George was reclining upon a seat which his uncle had dedicated to the +public for ever, to commemorate the return of the Drakes to Highfield. +When he saw the enemy approaching he closed his eyes; for his cunning +nature suggested that Percy would respect his slumbers unless he came as +a special messenger. When the footsteps ceased, and the ferrule of a +stick was pressed gently against his ribs, George realised that a +certain amount of trouble awaited him. + +"I was sound asleep. It's a tiring day, and I've been a long walk," he +explained amiably. "Sit down, old chap, and look at the view; but if you +want to admire the sunset, I should advise you to go higher up." + +"I don't want to admire the sunset," replied Percy. "I've been having a +talk with Aunt Maria----" + +"And I've been to Black Anchor," broke in George. "I don't suppose +you've read my uncle's history of the parish. It's a classic, and there +are nine hundred copies at home. People called Slack were living there +when we came; a regular bad lot and a disgrace to the village." + +"Friends of yours?" asked Percy. + +"Not likely! They were no better than savages. The man hobbled off one +day and has never been seen since, and the woman was sent to prison for +stealing, and the children were taken into a Home. The farm has been +without a tenant for the last two years, and now an old man named Brock +has taken it." + +"Perhaps he would give you a job," suggested Percy. + +"That's a good idea. I'm sorry I forgot to ask him when I went over this +afternoon," said the amiable George, perfectly well aware in which +direction the wind was blowing. "Unluckily the old chap hasn't any +money. He cooks the grub while his grandson drains the bogs. Everybody's +talking about it; they can't get over the idea of two men running a farm +without a woman. Sidney, the young chap, wants to go into the Navy, but +he sacrifices his future to help his grandfather. Funny idea that! Now +if my uncle had been alive he would have got young Brock on a training +ship, I warrant." + +"Funny idea he should want to do some good for his grandfather?" + +"No; but it's queer that a chap who wants to go into the Navy should +come to Black Anchor with all its associations of us Drakes," said +George loftily. Then he added, "I'm rested now, so I'll take a stroll." + +"Just as you like. We'll sit here and talk, or we'll stroll and talk," +said the pestilential Percy. + +"Go on then," said George sourly. + +So Percy in his capacity of ambassador delivered the ultimatum: Aunt +Maria had borne with her husband's nephew for a great number of years, +postponing vigorous action out of a mistaken kindness, but she was now +firmly resolved upon the act of expulsion. "It's for your sake +entirely," he continued. "Naturally Aunt wants to see you settled in +some business, as she knows she can't leave you anything." + +"Except the furniture," remarked George indifferently. + +"That's not exactly a fortune," replied Percy, wondering how much his +cousin knew about Chinese vases. + +"My uncle promised I should have the furniture," said the monotonous +George. + +"Every man should work," observed Percy virtuously. + +"I could manage tomatoes," retorted George. + +"I shall be a rich man when the aunts die, while you will have nothing. +I don't require to build up a business. Don't you want a home of your +own, wife and children, and all that sort of thing?" + +"No," said George. + +"What do you want then?" + +"Board and lodging, and some one to look after me," replied the candid +cousin. + +"Aunt Maria has said her last word. She won't keep you in idleness any +longer. And I'm going to stay here until you leave the place." + +"They never brought me up to do anything," argued George for the +defence. + +"They did their best, but you wouldn't work." + +"They ought to have made me. I was young then, and it was their duty to +make me submit to discipline. Now I'm middle-aged." + +"Thirty-eight is still young." + +"With some men; not with me. My habits are formed." + +"When you find something to do--" + +"That's just what Aunt Maria says," George interrupted bitterly. "She +never suggested anything but once, and then she said I might have gone +abroad as a missionary if I hadn't been unfit for the job. It's all very +well to talk about doing something in this beastly overcrowded world, +but what can a middle-aged bachelor do except put his trust in +Providence? My uncle was at least practical: he did suggest I should +turn pilot or harbour-master, although he knew the very sight of the sea +puts my liver out of order." + +"You might open a shop to sell fruit and flowers; and I'll supply you." + +"I don't understand buying and selling, and I can't do accounts. You +would take the profit, and I should have the losses." + +"You must make up your mind. Aunt is perfectly serious," declared Percy. + +"I don't want to offend her, and of course I couldn't abuse her +kindness," said George slowly; "but just suppose I did refuse to leave +home--suppose I insisted upon staying here and leading the sort of life +that suits my health--what could she do?" + +"If you were rotten enough for that, I suppose she could appeal to the +magistrates for an ejectment order," replied Percy hazily. + +"She is much too kind for that. Besides, I am her nephew." + +"Only by marriage. You are not a blood relation; you can't claim to be +dependent on her." + +"I was thinking what a scandal it would make in the parish. Aunt and I +don't get on well together, but I'm sure she would never turn me out." + +"You ought to have heard her just now. I had no idea Aunt Maria could be +so determined. She will give you money--she will help you--but go you +must." + +"Did she say where?" + +"That's for you to decide. Isn't there any sort of job that takes your +fancy?" + +"I like railways. I always feel at home in a big railway station," +George admitted. + +"Station-master,--or traffic-manager--might suit you." + +"Do you know I really believe it would," said George brightly. + +"Now we've found it!" exclaimed Percy. "I'm going the day after +tomorrow, and you had better come with me. We will travel up to +Waterloo, and you can see the directors there about getting a job as +station-master. I don't know if there's a premium, but, if there is, +Aunt will pay it. You might get a small suburban station to start with. +We'll go on Friday--that's a bargain, George?" + +"Right, old chap! It's a long time since I had a holiday," came the +ominous reply. + +Mrs. Drake opened her heart and purse when she discovered George was +about to accept a position as station-master. Miss Yard said she was +sorry to hear he was giving up tomatoes, then in the same breath +implored Percy to keep away from junctions where people were lost and +trains collided with distressing frequency. Kezia mended linen, packed, +and uttered many a dark saying about men who left their homes on Friday +in the pride of life and were not heard of again. Percy assured his +aunts they might always rely upon him to settle any difficulty. While +George basked in popularity, like a sleek cat upon a windowsill, and +took all that he could get in the way of cash, clothing, and +compliments. + +"You must come here sometimes. I expect you won't be able to get away +for a year or two; but when you do get leave remember this is always +your home," said Mrs. Drake warmly. + +"I feel sure we shall soon meet again," said George hopefully. + +"A year anyhow: you cannot expect a holiday before then. I'm sure the +railway will be lucky to get such a fine looking man, though it's a pity +you stoop, and I wish you were not quite so stout. Perhaps the King will +get out at your station some day; and you will have the honour of +putting flower-pots on the platform and laying down the red carpet. You +may be knighted, George, or at the very least get a medal for +distinguished service." + +George was not thinking about honours much; for he had glanced towards +the mantelpiece and discovered that the pair of vases were missing. + +"I have put them away," explained Mrs. Drake. "They are wrapped up +safely in a box underneath my bed." + +"I was afraid Percy might have taken them," said George cautiously. + +"He did advise me to put them away, as he thought perhaps we ought to +take care of them," Mrs. Drake admitted. + +"I hate the chap," muttered George. + +"I was afraid Aunt Sophy might break them. She is always knocking +things over. She takes an ornament from the mantelpiece, and when she +tries to put it back she misjudges the distance. It's the same with +tables and teacups. She has broken such a lot of crockery." + +"Uncle said I was to have the vases and everything else that belonged to +him," said George firmly. + +"Oh, you needn't worry," Mrs. Drake replied. "Now that you are really +going to work for your living, I will let you into a little secret. When +I married your uncle he insisted upon going to a lawyer and making his +will leaving everything to me, although the dear fellow had nothing to +leave except his odds and ends. So then of course I made a will leaving +everything to him, although I thought I had nothing to leave; but the +lawyer explained that any money I should have in the bank, together with +the proportion of income reckoned up to the day of my death, would go to +him. Then we adopted you, so I went to the lawyer again, and he put on +something called a codicil, which said that, in the event of uncle dying +first, everything that I left would go to you." + +"Then there is no reason why I should work for my living," said George +cheerfully. + +"How are you going to live upon the interest of two or three hundred +pounds?" + +"A man of simple tastes can do with very little," declared the nephew. + +Fruit grower and prospective railway magnate went off together on Friday +morning, but the only despatch to reach Windward House came from Percy, +who announced he had reached his mortgaged premises in perfect safety, +after leaving George upon the platform of Waterloo station surrounded by +officials. This might have signified anything. Mrs. Drake supposed it +meant that all the great men of the railway had assembled to greet their +new colleague upon his arrival. What it did mean was that Percy had +freed himself of responsibility at the earliest possible moment, +abandoning his cousin to a knot of porters who claimed the honour and +distinction of dealing with his baggage, which probably they supposed +was the property of a gentleman about to penetrate into one of the +unexplored corners of the earth. + +Not a postcard came from George. He disappeared completely; but Mrs. +Drake was delighted to think he was attending to his new duties so +strenuously as to be unable to write; while Miss Yard remembered him +only once, and then remarked in a reverential whisper that she would +very much like to visit his grave. + +It was the fourteenth day after the flight of George into the realm of +labour; and during the afternoon Mrs. Drake set out upon her weekly +pilgrimage to the churchyard, accompanied by Kezia, who carried a basket +of flowers, and Bessie with a watering pot. Nellie had settled Miss Yard +in her easy chair with the latest report of the Society for Improving +the Morals of the Andaman Islanders, and had then retired to her bedroom +to do some sewing. The giant tortoise was clearing the kitchen garden of +young lettuces; the monkeys were collecting entomological specimens. One +of the intelligent parrots exclaimed, "Gone for a walk;" a still more +intelligent bird answered, "Here we are again!" Then George passed out +of the sunshine and entered the cool parlour. + +"Oh dear! I'm afraid I had nearly gone to sleep," said Miss Yard, rising +to receive the visitor, and wondering whoever he could be, until she +remembered the churchwarden had promised to call for a subscription to +the organ fund. + +"Do please sit down," she continued and tried to set the example; but +she missed the chair by a few inches and descended somewhat heavily upon +the footstool. The visitor helped her to rise, and was much thanked. +"You will stay to tea? My sister will be here presently," Miss Yard +continued, while she fumbled in her reticule, and at last produced a +sovereign. "You see I had it all ready for you. I remembered I had +promised it," she said triumphantly. + +George pocketed the coin, and thanked her heartily. He mentioned that it +was very dusty walking, and he was weary, having travelled a +considerable distance since the morning. Then he proposed to leave Miss +Yard, who shook hands, and said how sorry her sister would be not to +have seen him; and went to his bedroom, which he was considerably +annoyed to find had been converted into a place for lumber. + +"Maria, you have missed the vicar!" cried Miss Yard excitedly, the +moment her sister returned. "I gave him a sovereign for the Andaman +Islanders, and he told me what a lot of sleeping sickness there is in +the village." + +"What are you talking about? The vicar can't have been here, for we saw +him in the churchyard, and he never mentioned any sickness in the +village." + +"Perhaps I was thinking of something I had just read about. One gets +muddled sometimes. But the vicar--or somebody--has been, and there was +nearly a dreadful accident. He caught his foot in the hearth rug, but +luckily my footstool broke his fall." + +At that moment footsteps descended the stairs. With a feeling that the +sounds were horribly familiar, Mrs. Drake hurried into the hall, there +to discover her nephew, who appeared delighted to be home again upon a +thoroughly well earned holiday. "George, I have prayed that you +wouldn't do this," she cried. + +"It's all right, Aunt," came the cheery answer. "Though perhaps it _was_ +rather silly of me to start work upon a Friday. The railway profession +is very much overcrowded just now, and there's not a single vacancy for +station-master anywhere. They have put my name on the waiting list, and +as soon as there's a job going, they will write and let me know. I am +quite content to wait, and I may just as well do it here as in expensive +lodgings." + +"How long do you expect to wait?" + +"Can't tell. It may be a slow business, but it's sure. A station-master +told me you may have to wait year after year, but promotion is bound to +come at last--if you live long enough." + +"Then you may do nothing for years." + +"I'm not going to take anything; I owe it to my uncle's memory to occupy +a respectable position. Still, if I can't get a terminus after a few +months' waiting, I'll put up with a small junction. Rather than not work +at all, I would condescend to act as a mere Inspector," said George with +dignity. + +"I wish the vicar would shave off his moustache," Miss Yard murmured. + + + + +CHAPTER VI + +HONOURABLE INTENTIONS + + +Every evening at nine Mrs. Drake drank a cup of coffee. This was a +custom of some historical importance, and it originated after the +following manner: + +Captain Drake had a great liking for a small glass of whisky and water +after his evening pipe; but, during the first few weeks of married life, +refrained from divulging this weakness to his wife, who could not +understand why he became so restless at the same time every evening. The +Captain explained that, when he had finished smoking, he suffered from +an incurable longing to arise and walk about the house. Mrs. Drake +advised him to take exercise by all means, and the Captain did so, +wandering towards the dining room at nine o'clock, and returning about +ten minutes later in a thoroughly satisfied state of mind. But one +evening the lady heard him whisper to the servant, "Water, my child! +Water!"--the Captain never could whisper properly--and upon another +evening she distinguished the creak of a corkscrew, while every evening +she was able to detect a subtle aroma which could not have been +introduced as one of the ordinary results of walking about the house. + +"So you are fond of whisky," she said sharply. + +"Well, not exactly fond of it, my dear," stammered the Captain. "Really +I don't care for whisky, but I like the feeling it gives me." + +"I don't like hypocrisy, and I dislike still more the feeling it gives +me. In future we will drink together. When you take your glass of +whisky, I will have a cup of coffee," she replied. + +After the arrival of Miss Yard at Windward House, she too was offered +the cup, but declined, as she abhorred coffee. + +"But it's cocoa," explained Kezia. + +"Why do you call it coffee then?" asked Miss Yard, who had quite enough +to perplex her poor brain without this unnecessary difficulty. + +"Mrs. Drake used to have coffee once, but, as she never cared for it +much, she took to cocoa. She has drunk cocoa for twenty years, but we +always call it coffee." + +Bessie and Robert stayed every evening to drink coffee, which was +generally cocoa, but sometimes beer. One evening Nellie was so late that +Kezia declared she should wait for her no longer. It was Thursday, and +Nellie, who sang in the choir, had gone out to attend the weekly +practice. Suddenly Robert withdrew his head from a steaming bowl and +declared he heard voices in the garden. All listened, and presently +Nellie's laughter passed in at the back door, which stood open as the +night was warm, but Nellie did not accompany it. + +Robert made a signal to the others, and they tiptoed out like so many +conspirators, to discover the young lady enjoying a confidential +conversation with somebody else who sang in the choir, and whose voice +had been described by the schoolmaster-organist as a promising baritone. +It looked as if it was promising then. + +A few minutes later Kezia and Bessie appeared in the parlour, and asked +Mrs. Drake if she had any objection to Sidney Brock drinking a cup of +coffee. + +"Who is Sidney Brock?" demanded Mrs. Drake, like a learned judge of the +King's Bench. + +"He'm the grandson of Eli Brock, and he sings in the choir." + +Mrs. Drake expressed her approval, but required to know more about the +family before she could issue a permit to Sidney entitling him to drink +coffee. + +"They'm the new folk to Black Anchor," explained Bessie. "Mr. Brock used +to keep a post office, they ses, but it failed, and now he'm farming wi' +Sidney, and they ha' got no woman, and they took Black Anchor because +'twas to be had vor nothing nearly, and 'tis wonderful, Robert ses, +what a lot they ha' done already." + +"The post office failed!" exclaimed Miss Yard, who had been listening +intently with a hand behind her ear. "What a pity! Now I shan't be able +to write any more letters." + +"Mr. Brock's post office, miss," cried Bessie. "It was a shop as well, +but it didn't pay." + +"How much does he want?" asked Miss Yard, searching for her reticule. + +"Nothing, miss." + +"What's he come for then? I hope he hasn't brought a telegram." + +"He's one of the choirmen, Sophy," exclaimed Mrs. Drake, adding, "But I +don't know why he should come here." + +"He's just brought your Nellie home," said Kezia. + +"Oh, I am so thankful!" cried Miss Yard. "I knew Nellie would be lost, +going out these dreadful dark nights." + +"She only went to choir practice, miss. Sidney is her young man now, and +they'll make the best looking couple in Highfield," said Bessie. + +"How silly of you to tell her that!" said Mrs. Drake crossly. + +Miss Yard said nothing for a few moments. She stared at the mummy, then +at the grandfather clock, which was no longer in working order; and +presently her poor old face began to twitch and tears rolled down her +cheeks. She tried to rise, but Kezia restrained her with kindly hands, +saying, "Don't worry, miss. Sidney is a very nice young man, and I'm +sure Nellie couldn't do much better." + +"She never told me," sobbed Miss Yard. + +"Perhaps she did, but you know you don't remember anything," said Mrs. +Drake soothingly. + +"My memory is as good as yours. I can remember you eating a lot of +chocolate on your fifth birthday, and being suddenly sick in the fender. +Nellie has run away and got married--and I never gave her a wedding +present--and I can't get on without her. You know, Maria, I never did +like that fat woman at the post office." + +"What has she got to do with Nellie?" + +"You told me Nellie had to marry the man because the post office +failed--and that woman opens my letters and reads them." + +"Call Nellie and tell her to put Miss Sophy to bed," ordered Mrs. Drake. + +"The young man's waiting outside," Kezia reminded her. + +"Ask him in, and give him a cup of coffee. And, when she has gone to +bed, tell him to come in here. I want to see what he is like. Get +Nellie, quick!" cried the lady; for Miss Yard had got away from her +chair and was knocking things over. + +Nellie appeared in full flower, to scold her mistress for not remaining +dormant until her usual bedtime; but on this occasion Miss Yard rebelled +against discipline. + +"You have deceived me," she said bitterly. "You have been a little +viper. Everybody in this house deceives me, and keeps things from me, +except George. He is the only gentleman here. He's the only one who +knows how to behave properly. When I hit my head upon the door, he was +sorry for me; but you laughed, and my sister laughed, and everybody's +laughing now except George. He knows how hard it is to walk out of a +room without hurting yourself." + +"It's so easy to laugh somehow," said Nellie. + +"Why did you marry the postman without telling me?" + +"I have not married the postman, and I'm not thinking of getting +married; and what's more I won't marry while I have you to look after," +Nellie promised. + +"But you went out and got lost, and some man found you, and they all say +you married him." + +"There wasn't time," said Nellie. "Now come away to bed, and we'll talk +about it in the morning." + +"I hope we shall be able to forget all the malice and wickedness. Maria, +do let us try to begin all over again," said Miss Yard earnestly. "This +evil speaking and slandering is so dreadful. You tried to take away +poor Nellie's character; you heard Kezia say she was a regular bad girl; +and that horrid Bessie, who will _not_ stop growing, said it was because +the woman at the post office couldn't sell her stamps, and then the +postman tempted her to run off with him." + +"But he didn't succeed," said the laughing girl, as she conveyed Miss +Yard towards the stairs. + +As they disappeared George entered the house, and observed to his aunt +that the night was warm. Mrs. Drake felt cold towards her nephew, whose +letter of appointment had not yet arrived, but she thawed sufficiently +to inquire whether he knew anything about the Brocks. George became +suspicious, and answered guardedly: + +"The old man is a marvel. He cooks the food and keeps the house tidy, +and puts in a good day's work as well upon the worst farm in the parish. +But the people don't like him much." + +"Why not?" demanded Mrs. Drake. + +"They think it's queer a man should do a woman's work; and some of them +say it's not quite decent." + +His voice died away into a gasp of amazement, for that moment Kezia +announced Sidney, and that young fellow appeared upon the carpet. George +had been about to give him a remarkably good character, but was now +disposed to reconsider his decision; especially when Mrs. Drake, after a +few preliminary remarks, introduced the name of Nellie. George +immediately withdrew to a back window and began to search for flies. + +"She is a very good girl, and my sister is wonderfully attached to her," +Mrs. Drake resumed. + +"Same here," said Sidney promptly. + +"I don't know whether you are engaged to her," said Mrs. Drake. + +"Well, we don't exactly get engaged. We just walk together until we can +get married, and then we do it," exclaimed Sidney. + +"I hope you won't ask her to marry you while my sister is alive." + +"Nellie wouldn't leave Miss Yard, and 'twould be no gude my asking her." + +"Do you think the farm will pay?" was Mrs. Drake's next question. + +"We'll get a living out of it, sure enough," replied Sidney cheerfully. +"The last folk left it in a pretty bad state--they let the bog get into +the best field, and the whole place is vull of verm--but there's plenty +of gude soil. 'Twill take a year to get straight, and after that we +shall go ahead. Grandfather's past seventy, but he's vor ten hours a day +yet." + +"An example for some men," commented the lady, with a shrug of her +shoulders towards the fly killer. "The finest man in the world--that's +grandfather. There ain't hardly a job he can't do, whether 'tis man's +work or woman's work." + +"How old are you?" + +"Past nineteen." + +"Would you marry a girl older than yourself?" + +"If her name wur Nellie Blisland, I would." + +"I hope you will get on," said Mrs. Drake in her kindliest fashion. "You +may come in any evening for a cup of coffee with the others, and tell +your grandfather to stay to supper with you on Sundays after church." + +"Thankye kindly," said Sidney. + +"That's what I call a man, though he is only nineteen," observed Mrs. +Drake, when she and her nephew were alone again. + +"Oh yes, he's a nice boy, a clever boy. A bit mealy-mouthed, and all +that sort of thing," said George indifferently. + +"Do you know anything against him?" + +"I can see what's going on. The old man is one of the best, but Sidney +isn't quite straight. This singing in the choir, you know, is just a +blind. Nellie's not the only girl." + +"Do you mean to say the boy is a humbug--like you are?" + +"Find out for yourself," replied George fiercely, and stalked out of the +room. + +Local rumour was brought to Windward House every day by Robert, but +Mrs. Drake had no direct communication with him. She inquired of Kezia +concerning Sidney's character, and Kezia appealed to Bessie, who knew +quite as much as her husband, although she could not speak with his +authority. Robert declared he liked Sidney, and had never seen him with +more than one young woman at a time; but he admitted some rather unkind +things were being said against the two occupants of the lonely farm, +especially by the women, who were of opinion that old Brock had disposed +of his former relations by means of those illegal methods which made the +ordinary Sunday newspaper such interesting and instructive reading. At +all events, a man who was independent of female labour could not expect +to be regarded as a Christian, even though he did attend church and had +grown a patriarchal beard. The Brocks, in short, were not like other +men; they were therefore mysteries; and anything of a mysterious nature +was bound to be intimately connected with secret crime. + +These things Robert admitted, quite forgetting--if the fact had ever +dawned upon him--that it was the custom in Highfield, as in other places +about the Forest of Dartmoor, for the parishioners to revile each other +amongst themselves, and to defend one another against all outsiders. In +the bad old days a certain vicar of Highfield had been a notorious +drunkard, and was so hated by his people that he could hardly appear in +the street without being insulted; but when the authorities sought to +procure evidence against him, all were for their vicar, and the very men +who had carried him home drunk the previous night swore they had never +known him the worse for liquor. Mrs. Drake did not know of this +peculiarity, and was therefore forced to the conclusion that Mr. Brock +had a past, which was not wonderful considering his age; and that, if +Nellie married Sidney and went to live at Black Anchor, it was quite +possible she would not have a future. So she instructed Kezia not to +encourage the young man, and advised Nellie to fall out of love as +tactfully as possible. + +In the meantime, George appeared to be passing through the throes of +reformation. Although actually the same unprofitable person, he +succeeded, by a skilful change of methods, in making his aunt believe +industry was now the one and the only thing he lived for. He displayed a +passion for railways; talked of little but express trains and +timetables; constructed a model of a railway station out of a few +packing cases; and drew caricatures of locomotives. He fumed every +morning because the long expected letter from headquarters still failed +to arrive. Mrs. Drake, who was easily deceived, quite supposed George +had turned over a new leaf; and he had done so, but without changing +his book. He had not the slightest intention of quitting Windward House, +but he could see no prospect of carrying out his programme by +persevering in the old methods. He continued to idle away his time; but +he did so in a different fashion. + +His next step was to develop the programme, and to indulge a few of the +leading items to the other person whose name was writ large upon it. +This was no easy matter, since opportunity, resolution, and guileless +speech would have to be obtained simultaneously. George's eloquence was +of the meanest description; he was master of no honeyed phrase, while +his method of expressing affection for another consisted in advertising +the virtues of himself. + +One afternoon he was lying beneath a favourite apple tree, when a fine +specimen of the fruit fell upon his chest. He sat up, rubbed his eyes, +and looked round. Then he ate the apple and listened. The silence was +profound; he seemed to be indolent monarch of a lazy world. George +remembered that, shortly before sleep had gently touched his eyelids, +Mrs. Drake and Kezia had passed out of the garden. Miss Yard would be +contentedly muddling through the maze of some missionary magazine. While +the only other person in the house might be sitting beside a window at +the back. + +George comprehended that the falling apple had been a call to seize the +opportunity; resolution he seemed to have acquired by devouring it; +eloquence alone was wanting. But big words, he knew, could never fail +brave people. + +Fortune was smiling in the kindest way from the little upstairs window, +where Nellie's head was bobbing over a sewing-machine, which she fed +with yards of summer-cloud material. George went on steadily reforming +and strenuously gazing; but Nellie did not condescend to throw a glance +in his direction. + +"There's a nice view from your window," he said at last; an unfortunate +beginning, as the girl could see little except himself. + +"Lovely," she said, without looking around. + +"Are you sewing?" George inquired gently. + +"Learning the typewriter," she replied. + +George wanted to go into the house and procure a glass of cider, but +dared not lose the opportunity. + +"Nellie," he said, making as many syllables possible of her name, "do +you mind me talking to you a little about yourself?" + +"I can't prevent it unless I shut the window, and don't want to do +that," she said. + +"I wanted to say that--to remind you that my aunt is not going to live +for ever," George continued. + +"That's not talking about me." + +"Ah, but I'm coming to you presently." + +"You can stay where you are," she said coldly. + +"Miss Yard won't live for ever either," said George, more confidently. +"She can't leave you anything, because all her money goes to my beastly +cousin Percy. I know she is always promising to leave you money, but she +can't do it." + +"I am to have her furniture anyhow," said Nellie, removing her hands +from the machine, and turning at last towards the window. + +"Oh no! I get that. Aunt Sophy's furniture is to go with the rest." + +"Is that really true?" asked Nellie, who had good reason to be +suspicious of Miss Yard's promises. + +"Yes, it all comes to me," said George eagerly. "I shall have the +furniture, and the house, and the cash my aunt leaves. The two Chinese +vases aunt keeps underneath her bed are worth a thousand pounds; that's +a great secret, and I wouldn't tell any one but you. The other things +will fetch five hundred pounds. Then I shall have the money that aunt +leaves--perhaps another five hundred. Then the property will bring +another thousand. So you see, when the old ladies die, I shall have pots +of money." + +"It will mean more to be you then than it does now," said Nellie darkly. + +"Yes, I shall be quite rich. You see, there's no reason why I should +work, as aunt is well past seventy." + +"But I thought you were going to do something great and wonderful on the +railway?" + +"That was an idea, but I can't afford to leave the place; that's another +secret, Nellie, and I wouldn't tell any one but you. I am so afraid aunt +may give away the vases. She's getting a bit queer in her memory too, +and she's always giving away things. When I went to see about a job on +the railway she sent a lot of my things to a rummage sale. She has given +Kezia the bed she sleeps on, and a lot more things; but they all belong +to me, and I shall claim them when she dies." + +"She has promised me the round table in the parlour," said Nellie. + +"Of course I don't mind what she gives you," said George awkwardly. + +"Many thanks. Now I must go and put on the kettle for tea. You have told +me such a lot about myself." + +"Yes, and I've got still more to say. I shall have quite three thousand +pounds--and my tastes are very simple. I don't expect much, and I don't +ask for much. It's my own belief that I can put up with almost anybody." + +"Now I'm in for it!" Nellie murmured, with a scorching glance at the +somewhat dejected figure in the garden. + +"I have always flattered myself," George rambled on, with the feeling +that eloquence had come to him at last, "I can get along anyhow with +anyone." + +"You mustn't be too complimentary. Flattery alone is not worth much, you +know," she said carelessly. + +"I mean all that I say, and--and I'm not so idle as they make out, but +what's the good of breaking your back when you are coming into +thousands? It's only taking a job from some other fellow. I can draw +quite well, and paint, and prune roses, and I shall have all my uncle's +famous furniture, and the house, and the money--" + +"Oh, for goodness' sake, don't keep on talking about me," cried Nellie. + +"If you won't let me say anything more, I'll write it all down," said +George delightedly. "I have tried, but it's so hard to find a word to +rhyme with Nellie, while Nell is just as bad. Now if your name had been +Mary, there's dairy, and fairy, and hairy--" + +"And wary," laughed the girl, as she ran away from the window. + + + + +CHAPTER VII + +SCANDAL AND EXPOSURE + + +Squinting Jack declared there were some things better than a murder. He +referred to the mystery which surrounded the unnatural tenants of Black +Anchor Farm. They had received a visitor, who was neither honest +gentleman, nor respectable lady; but a woman with bold red cheeks. She +had driven through Highfield, staring at the inhabitants and smiling at +their dwelling places; her driver had inquired of the first gentleman in +the place--George being set up above the vicar because he did no +work--which of the lanes ahead would be most likely to lead towards +Black Anchor; and a few days later this same red-cheeked lady had been +driven back through the village, staring and smiling as before. Her +clothes where the saddest part about her; for she was dressed in the +height of fashion. + +So far the Dismal Gibcat had defended the Brocks because every other +person was against them; he admired their poverty and loved their +humility; he prophesied kindly concerning their future, and sent them +superfluous vegetables. The three stages of manhood were at last +represented in Highfield parish by righteous men: old Brock, young +Sidney, and his middle-aged self. But the vision and visit of the +painted lady caused two vacancies. The Dismal Gibcat drew the line at +well dressed women. + +The Yellow Leaf was consulted because of his knowledge of the world's +history, and he gave it as his opinion that the atmosphere of Highfield +had been deprived by the nameless visitor of a considerable amount of +moral oxygen: in the first place she belonged to a higher class than the +Brocks; in the second place she came upon a secret mission, and in the +third place she entered a house which it was notorious contained no +other woman. She could not be a relation; while, if she had come as a +friend, all he could say was heaven preserve Highfield from such +friendships. + +"Some poor folk do have rich relations, though mine ain't come along +yet," said Squinting Jack. + +"What would you be saying about me, if I wur to receive a visit from a +young lady wi' red-hot painted cheeks?" inquired the Yellow Leaf. + +"I should say you wur lucky," replied Squinting Jack. + +"Her cheeks wur warmish, I allow; but I wouldn't exactly call 'em +painted," observed the Dumpy Philosopher. + +"You'm mixing it up wi' doorpost paint. Ask your missus if her cheeks +warn't plastered wi' cosmetics," said the Yellow Leaf crossly. + +"I'd rather not," retorted the Dumpy Philosopher. + +"There be two ways of looking at pretty nigh everything, a gude way and +a bad way," urged the Gentle Shepherd. "There be ladies who take a +kindly interest in young men, and try to help 'em along a bit. Us knows +the Brocks ain't got much money, vor they ha' took the poorest farm in +the whole parish. Maybe this lady is helping young Sidney a bit, and her +come along to see how he wur doing." + +The others listened doubtfully, then turned to hear the oracle's +opinion. + +"I ha' heard tell o' such ladies, but I ain't seen one of 'em; and I +wants to see a thing avore I believes--ay, I wants to see it two or dree +times," said the Yellow Leaf. Then he asked, "How old do you say her +wur?" + +The Dumpy Philosopher fancied the region of twenty; the Gentle Shepherd +thought the neighbourhood of forty; while Squinting Jack suggested +second childhood. + +"You can tell an old lady when you sees one," replied the Yellow Leaf, +"and you can tell a young maid when you sees one; but when you can't +tell whether a woman be old or young, then you'm looking at something +what ain't respectable. 'Tis old folk what be charitable, and she +warn't old; and when young ladies be charitable to young men, their +charity ain't far away from home, I reckon. They Brocks ha' no woman to +mind vor 'em; 'tis because they don't dare to; 'tis because this lady +wouldn't like it, and they can't tell when she may be coming. She'm a +jealous lady vor certain, and she won't have no woman to Black Anchor +'cept it be herself. And she couldn't come to the farm if they had +another woman, vor her wouldn't have the face to do it." + +This was one of the longest, and quite the wisest, of all the opinions +stated by the Yellow Leaf. Although it could hardly add to his +reputation, it destroyed entirely the credit of the Brocks. + +"The old man don't hardly ever come into the village, 'cept it be to +church, and he don't pass the time o' day to no one," said the Dumpy +Philosopher. + +"Now I come to think of it, young Sidney has a funny, uneducated sort o' +way of answering," added Squinting Jack. + +"They'm mysteries," concluded the Yellow Leaf, "and I hopes to live to +see 'em all exposed to the vull light o' day." + +Robert passed this scandal to Bessie, and she hurried it across to +Kezia, who carried it while still fresh into the parlour, and presented +it to both the ladies. Miss Yard expressed no interest, but Mrs. Drake +was painfully distressed. She was ageing rapidly, and beginning to lose +her memory too; she had forgotten what a very favourable impression the +boy had made upon her. + +"Are you quite sure she did go to Black Anchor?" Mrs. Drake inquired. + +"Yes, Aunt," said George, who was busy designing locomotives. "She asked +me the way--at least the driver did. They were both strangers to me." + +"Quite a young gal, warn't she, Mr. George?" appealed Kezia. + +"Not more than eighteen, I should think. But she wore a wedding ring; I +saw it distinctly." + +"Yes, mum; I saw her drive past, so bold and staring. They say she's an +actress, mum." + +"How awful! I suppose she's his wife." + +"Well, mum, us all hopes she is." + +"The wretched young man! How can he be so wicked!" + +"Is anybody wicked?" asked Miss Yard vacantly. + +"Never mind, Sophy. It's nobody you care about. Has she been told? You +know who I mean." + +"Oh no, mum. We wouldn't like to say anything much to her. But of course +she mustn't go out with him any more." + +"Of course not," said George vigorously. + +"I suppose I must break it to her," said Mrs. Drake. "And he sings in +the choir too--miserable wretch!" + +"I warned you, Aunt," said George. + +"He must never come into the house again. Ask Robert to tell him." + +"Oh no, mum! We couldn't drink coffee with him now. He seemed such a +nice young man too. Robert thought him almost like a gentleman." + +"It's often these nice young men who turn out the greatest humbugs," +said Mrs. Drake severely. + +"What is she saying? I do hope there are no such things in the house," +Miss Yard cried anxiously. + +Nellie was thoroughly well told. Kezia, Bessie, and Robert were alike +eager to play the part of candid friend because they liked her so much; +indeed, they somewhat overwhelmed her with candid affection. According +to Bessie, the mysterious lady had been overheard imploring Sidney to +return with her; while Robert declared the young man had confessed the +whole truth. Kezia could invent nothing, so contented herself with +moaning over life's tragedies like the chorus of a Greek play. Nellie, +being a wise maid, argued with nobody, and smiled at everyone; but her +eyes made people sorry for her; and because of their sympathy they +brought yet other charges against Sidney. + +Nellie waited for choir practice, when she hoped to hear a healthier +story. She expressed no gratitude when the heroic George offered to +accompany her to church, lest the dragon Sidney should abduct her +forcibly and add her to his collection in the cupboard at home. He +explained these references according to the best of his historical +information, quoting the story of Bluebeard at some length. He was still +talking when Nellie escaped from the house, and went to church by +herself. + +During practice the other members of the choir shrank from Sidney, as if +afraid he should make some evil communication; and they practised the +hymns, which were of a penitential nature, at him. It was never the +custom in Highfield to allow even one sinner to go unpunished. + +"At last!" exclaimed Nellie, when they were out of the church and alone +together in Dartmoor wind and darkness. "Of course you know what I am +going to say?" she added. + +"You'm going to say this place be vull o' liars," suggested Sidney. + +"Oh no, indeed! Our friendship is quite over, and you are not to come +near Windward House again." + +"What's it all about, Nellie?" + +"You know perfectly well. I'm walking with you this evening just to hear +what you have to say." + +"You think I'm a bad lot?" + +"I'm getting dreadfully certain of it." + +"Because you've heard tales. I know you'm the prettiest maid in the +world, but if a stranger wur with us he wouldn't believe me if I said +so, vor 'tis too dark to see you. You can't be sure of anything you'm +told. I'm not the best chap in the world by a long way, but if you could +see me 'just as I am,' as we wur singing in church just now, you might +fancy I b'ain't quite what folks make me out to be." + +Nellie was disturbed by this speech, and still more by the manner in +which it was uttered. She had an uncomfortable feeling that Sidney was +trying to bring himself down to her level, although her birth and +education were undoubtedly superior to his. + +"I suppose it's easy to sing like that, especially as you must have had +no end of practice," she said crossly. + +"Now you'm out o' tune, Nellie." + +"Miss Blisland has discovered you have made a fool of her. You asked her +to--to--well, you know what, when all the time you are married--" + +"Here, I say, steady! I didn't know it had got to that," he broke in +sharply. + +"Then who was that girl who came to see you?" + +"She's not a girl. If you want to know her age, I'll tell you. She is +forty-three--and I'm nineteen. Is it likely I'd be married to a lady old +enough to be my mother?" + +"Who is she?" + +"A very kind lady who has done a lot vor me. Her name is Mrs. Stanley." + +"Then she is married!" + +"Her husband's been very kind to me too." + +"And I suppose you are very fond of her?" + +"Well, that's natural, considering what she's done vor me." + +"You love her!" cried Nellie, getting out of patience with his coldness. + +"There's someone I love better." + +"And that's yourself," she snapped. + +"'Tis the pretty maid I'm going to marry, and that's you." + +"If you dare to say such a thing again," gasped Nellie, "I'll--I'll run +away." + +"You can run t'other end of the world, but I shall come and fetch ye +back," declared the bold youth. + +"What's to prevent me from marrying someone else?" + +"Yourself, I fancy." + +"But I never did like you much, and now I hate you," she said, troubled +again by his accent, which recalled her own superior education. + +"If you won't hate me any more than what you do now, I shan't grumble," +replied the confident young man. Then he asked gently, "Won't you come +out Sunday afternoon?" + +"No, I will not." + +"I could tell you a tale what might make us sweethearts again," he +continued. + +"I expect there is hardly any sort of tale that you don't know. But why +don't you?" + +"I'm going to make you believe in me and trust me." + +"Tell that to Mrs. Stanley--I'm sure she's a widow." + +"I trust her, and she knows it. I told her about you, and she wanted me +to promise not to marry till I'm twenty-five." + +"By then, I suppose, she'll have become sick and tired of you," said +Nellie, who was rapidly forming Highfield opinions about Mrs. Stanley. + +"She doesn't mind who I marry--" + +"How perfectly unselfish!" + +"So long as 'tis the right sort o' maid." + +"I hope you'll find her. Goodnight; I'm going now," said Nellie, +standing beside the garden-gate of Windward House. Then she added rather +faintly, "I'm sorry you ever came to Highfield." + +Sidney struck a match and, making a lantern of his hands, turned the +light upon her face. + +"Oh, Nellie darling! There's a tear upon your cheek!" + +"Don't be rude and wicked," she murmured, searching for the gate handle, +which she generally found quite easily. + +"The beautifullest tear from the loveliest eye in the world!" + +"What's wrong with the other eye?" she asked trying to laugh. + +"It's still more lovely. Nellie, you are--just Nellie, and that means +everything. You shall trust me, and I'll make you love me, if I have to +work a thousand times harder than I do on the farm." + +"Will you have nothing more to do with Mrs. Stanley?" + +"I can't do that." + +"You mean she won't give you up!" + +"She's the best and kindest lady in the world. But you come first, and +that's where you'll be always." + +"I must be second too. It's no good, Sidney. I'm not going to be talked +about and laughed at--no girl can stand it. Besides, Mrs. Drake has +forbidden me to speak to you, and my poor mistress would go crazy if she +knew what has happened. I have a good home, and I must think of my +future. Leave me alone, please, and let me forget you. But I must give +up the choir and sit at the bottom of the church, for I--I can't sing +any more." + +"Is that you, Nellie?" called Kezia; and the faithful band of protectors +and consolers appeared, putting the false Sidney to flight. + +George was so pleased when Nellie did not go out upon Sunday afternoon, +that he presented her with a picture of his latest locomotive, very +handsomely designed, but without cylinders. He began about this time to +take an interest in his personal appearance, with the result that Mrs. +Drake, who was not at all prejudiced in his favour, remarked to Kezia +that Mr. George was undoubtedly the best looking man in the place, +which, after all, was not much of a compliment. Kezia, who was a Drake +in everything but surname, and contemplated assuming that to supply her +own deficiency, agreed, and went on to mention Mr. George was regarded +as the perfect pattern of an English gentleman by Highfield, where all +geese were swans. + +Mrs. Drake was simple enough to believe George was preparing himself for +the duties of station-master, and he more than suggested this was indeed +the case; having the impudence to hint at negotiations for various +stations where it would be his business to receive all manner of +royalties; but the letters he received were of such a confidential +nature that he was not at liberty to show them to his aunt. He convinced +her they were all typewritten, and this was quite sufficient for his +purpose, because the old-fashioned woman supposed letters written by +machinery could emanate only from departments under the immediate +control of Ministers of State. + +The cold-blooded George had drawn up a programme of his career under +such items as Courtship of Nellie, Annihilation of Sidney, Conciliation +of Aunt, Guarding of the Furniture, Departure of Aunt Sophy, Contract +with Nellie, Departure of Aunt, Marriage and Retirement. With fine +prophetic instinct a date was appended to each one of these events: Miss +Yard had but a single year of life remaining, while three more years +were allotted to Mrs. Drake. So far the programme was well ahead of +time, owing to the visit of Mrs. Stanley. + +The careful mind of George was troubled concerning his forthcoming +marriage and subsequent retirement. He asked himself frequently whether +it could be prudent to enter into a matrimonial alliance with Nellie, or +indeed with any girl; was a wife preferable on the whole to a +housekeeper? George sought the opinion of the Dismal Gibcat, who replied +that the house presided over by a wife was bound to be respectable, +while the house ruled by spinster or widow was not; besides, a +housekeeper could not be scowled at with impunity, whereas a wife might +easily be taught all the accomplishments of her husband: that was to +say, if the husband found it necessary to slander another man, or to +deprive some woman of her character, the partner of his joys and sorrows +would slander these persons too; whereas a housekeeper might find it her +duty to defend them. + +Then George consulted the Yellow Leaf, who was of the decidedly robust +opinion that men and women should not only marry as early as possible, +but should keep on doing it as often as the law allowed; and even if +they did offend against the law sometimes it was better to err upon the +right side. He alluded to his own brilliant example of marrying at +eighteen, with the happy result that the entire population of the +village were more or less related to him; and he went on to declare he +had already appointed a successor to his present wife, who had been +bedridden for some years. + +Although George had some doubts remaining, he arrived sorrowfully at the +conclusion that it would be his duty to make Nellie happy, if the ladies +of Windward House should respect his programme and depart from the world +according to scheduled time. The question of his retirement remained the +only point to be disposed of. Should he conclude a life of usefulness as +the most respected parishioner of Highfield, or favour a wider circle? +Certainly it would be more agreeable to retire in a village, where +respect came automatically, than to run the risk of being dishonoured in +some town, where standing at corners or musing beside lamp posts might +be wrongly construed as revealing instability of character. + +It might, he feared, become necessary to commence his retirement within +the next few months, for Mrs. Drake was clearly in a restless frame of +mind, and the impending failure of his negotiations with the railway +company might induce her to issue the expulsion order which Percy would +be called upon to execute. In such case George decided his health would +be forced to suffer a breakdown, although it might be possible, now Mrs. +Drake's powers were growing defective, to assure her his career upon the +railway was finished; but, unfortunately, owing to his inability to +serve full time, he enjoyed no pension. + +A wet day assisted George in making a discovery which, although not +altering his programme, seemed to promise an extension of the indefinite +time limit. + +"I want to go to the sea. Aunt Sophy worries so about her friends, and I +can't make her believe she hasn't got any. She will forget all about +them if we go away. When are you going to your station?" asked Mrs. +Drake, while Miss Yard looked up plaintively and wanted to know what she +had done now. + +"Oh, nothing. I'm telling George we are going to the seaside directly he +is ready to leave." + +"I think you had better not wait," said George warningly. + +"You promised to go this month," his aunt said fretfully. + +"Changes have occurred, with the result that I have now broken off the +negotiations." + +"Then I have done with you!" + +"I'm so glad somebody else has broken something," said Miss Yard +happily. + +George left the room, and returned presently with an armful of plans and +diagrams. + +"I knew they existed, and at last I have found them," he remarked +triumphantly. + +"Take away your rubbish!" said Mrs. Drake. + +"My uncle made these plans. These diagrams were the solace of his +closing years," said George; and directly he had spoken his aunt's face +softened, and she fumbled for her spectacles. + +"My dear uncle charged me to carry out the work if he should not live to +complete it. These are his plans for a railway to link up the scattered +parishes of this moorland region. It is my earnest hope," said George, +"that I may be permitted to undertake the work which is to give Dartmoor +a railway and Highfield a station." + +"I had forgotten all about it," Mrs. Drake murmured. + +"I did not forget," said George reprovingly. "I should have acted long +ago, if I could have found these precious plans. Here is the prospectus +in dear uncle's writing. He shows how simple and inexpensive it would be +to build a railway across the Dartmoor, without a single viaduct, +tunnel, embankment, or cutting. It was his intention to make Highfield +Station a terminus, as he could not see his way to surmount the steep +drop into the valley without going to considerable expense. Now you can +understand why it is no longer my intention to occupy the poorly paid +position of station-master. I aim at higher things. I mean to be a +railway magnate." + +"What can you do?" asked Mrs. Drake, much impressed by those relics of +her husband. + +"I shall communicate with my railway friends; I shall float a company, +and appoint a Board of Directors; I shall pass a Bill through +Parliament." + +"Whatever is George doing?" inquired Miss Yard. + +"Making a railway," replied her sister. + +"I wish I could do something half as useful," sighed Miss Yard. + +George borrowed five pounds for postage stamps, converted his bedroom +into an office, and fed the village with false news which percolated +into the ears of Mrs. Drake by means of Robert the dripping tap and +Kezia the filter. George had anticipated this, and, knowing the truthful +ways of the village, was not greatly astonished when Robert informed him +in confidence how engineers had already been seen taking the level of +the Dartmoor heights; while the parishioners had sworn to tear up the +railway as fast as it was made, unless they received ample compensation +for this cynical infringement of their rights. + +What he had not anticipated was the action taken by his aunt. Left to +herself she would have remained credulous to the end; but Kezia declared +Mr. George was not spending his days letter writing; while Bessie stated +the postmistress had told her Mr. George had bought no stamps lately. + +"I have looked into his room and seen him writing," said Mrs. Drake +despairingly. + +"He wur doing poetry, mum," said Kezia sadly. + +"Oh, I'm sure he's not so bad as that," cried the lady. + +"I don't want to say too much, mum, and I ain't going to say anything +against Mr. George, whom you might call a member of the family," +continued Kezia in the voice of doom, "but I saw a lot of the paper he +had wrote some of his poetry on." + +"I saw it too, mum," chimed in Bessie. + +"And, mum, at the end of the first line wur six kisses." + +"Crosses, mum," exclaimed Bessie, as an expert in this form of +literature. + +"And the second line--oh, mum, I don't know as how I can say it." + +"Shall I do it vor ye?" asked Bessie eagerly. + +"No, Bess, I'll do it. He said, mum, his heart wur all jelly." + +"Think of that, mum!" gasped Bessie. + +"Oh no! Not jelly again. We had yesterday," cried Miss Yard, who liked +to be consulted concerning the bill of fare. + +"I do hope the poor creature isn't going off his head," said Mrs. Drake. + +"Don't you see, mum, that word wur meant to sound like the word at the +end of the first line what he wrote in crosses. And you know, mum, +there's someone in this house whose name do have the same sort of sound +as jelly." + +"Ah, but she b'ain't so soft," added Bessie. "And he wrote she was so +bewitching, drinking cocoa in the kitchen. That was a rhyme, mum." + +"I have heard quite enough," said Mrs. Drake wearily. "I wish to +goodness I had never seen the fellow," she murmured. + +The following week she visited the Captain's grave, staying longer than +usual, and scribbling industriously on scraps of paper the whole +evening. Next day the exodus took place, Kezia and Nellie accompanying +the ladies to the seaside, while George remained in solitary possession. +As any pretence of industry was no longer necessary, he settled down to +enjoy a honeymoon with indolence, until a letter arrived to waken him +completely. + +It appeared that Mrs. Drake had written to Percy, informing him of all +George had said and not done; also asking for information about the +floating of companies and the construction of railways, as, she +explained, George had decided to build one across Dartmoor, and was +inviting Miss Yard and herself to become debenture holders. + +Percy's answer had crushed the poor lady entirely. He explained that, as +George of course was perfectly well aware, to obtain a position as +station-master it would be necessary to enter the service of the railway +company as a clerk, and work upwards gradually. As for building a +railway, that was not the recreation of a single individual, but a +superhuman undertaking, which in the first place would require to be +discussed by some of the greatest financial magnates upon earth for half +a century--at least such was his own impression--before Parliament could +even be approached; and then another half century would probably be +demanded for the arrangement of preliminary details; and after that a +new generation would have to begin the work all over again. While the +suggestion of a railway across Dartmoor could appeal only to a +Parliament with a sense of humour. + +Accordingly Mrs. Drake disowned her nephew. She ordered him to depart +from Highfield, declaring also her intention of not returning to +Windward House while he remained there. For his maintenance she was +prepared to allow the sum of ten shillings weekly so long as she might +live. Should he delay in taking his departure, Percy would instruct +some gentleman learned in the law to hasten the eviction. And if he +took anything in the house away with him, he would thereby forfeit all +benefits under her will. + +This letter made the world seem cold to George, who strongly suspected +Percy had dictated the punitory clauses. It was clear that his reign as +first gentleman of Highfield was over. Not being of that faint-hearted +disposition which abdicates without a struggle, George wrote a touching +letter which was also, he considered, a complete vindication of his +conduct; for, as Mrs. Drake must have been aware, he had suffered from +his spine since childhood. + +Then he packed his belongings and travelled an hour's journey into the +next parish, where he arranged with the landlord of a wayside inn, which +bore the hospitable title of "Drink and be Thankful," to accommodate him +with board and lodging upon especially reduced terms; and from this +alcoholic address he despatched a daily apology for his existence to +Mrs. Drake, each document more poignant than the one preceding it. His +aunt sent a cheque for a quarter's allowance, which George cashed +gratefully; but she did not write. That business was entrusted to Percy, +who sent an ultimatum, giving George forty-eight hours to retire from +the "Drink and be Thankful," and warning him that, if at any future time +he should be discovered within twenty miles of Highfield village +without obtaining a permit, his prospects would be marred considerably. + +George pronounced a malediction against Percy and all his tomatoes. +Then, as compliance seemed necessary--for he was terribly afraid his +aunt might destroy her will--he decided to make a farewell visit to +Highfield, in order that he might muse amid the scenes of his former +slothfulness, and inform the villagers he was going away to oppose on +their behalf the promoters of the Dartmoor Railway Company. + +George was not surprised to discover the door of Windward House standing +open, as he supposed Bessie would be cleaning; but he was considerably +astonished to behold Miss Yard nodding in the parlour, with Nellie on +her knees hard by extracting the indifferent lady from a web of wool +which, with amazing thoroughness, she had wound about herself. George +made a sign to the girl not to disturb her mistress, but to follow him +as soon as possible into the garden. + +"What's the meaning of this?" he asked, hastily, adding that he was not +at all sorry to see her. + +"Miss Sophy was so miserable I had to bring her back. When we went away +she thought she was going back to her old home; and then, when she +couldn't recognise anybody she kept on saying she was forsaken. She +would stop people in the street and ask them where she lived, and if +they didn't remember her. As she got worse every day I had to bring her +back. Aren't you living here now?" asked Nellie. + +"No," said George sadly. "You gave me no encouragement." + +"So you waited until I was out of the house, and then you ran away!" + +"My aunt and I have now agreed to differ. How did you leave her?" asked +George pompously. + +"Oh, very well. In fact, Kezia said she had not seen her in such good +health for years." + +"Miss Yard is breaking up, I think," said George, thinking of his +programme, which was suffering sadly from interference. + +"Indeed she's not. She is just mazed after the journey, as they say +about here. Then you are really not going to live here again?" + +"Not for the present. But I shall write to you, Nellie, at least once a +week, and I shall think of you nearly every day." + +"Thank you. Are you going to turn blacksmith?" + +"Why do you ask a ridiculous question?" + +"We have been playing at rhymes lately; and the only rhyme I can find +for your name is forge." + +"Nellie," said George heavily, "it is frivolous conduct like this which +breaks a man up completely." + +"I'll be serious then. When are you coming back?" + +"Not until the place becomes my own. My aunt has injured me; she has +upset all my plans. I do not intend to speak to her again until she has +asked for my forgiveness." + +"There goes the gate!" cried Nellie. "It's sure to be Bessie. If you +don't want to be seen here--run!" she laughed. + +"I do not stir for Elizabeth Mudge." + +"Or budge for any man," sang teasing Nellie. Then her note changed, for +the postmistress appeared from behind the rhododendrons. + +"Why, it's Mrs. Cann! And she's got a telegram!" + +"Vor you, Miss Blisland. Very bad news, miss. Terrible news. But she wur +an old lady, and 'tis better to be took avore you knows where you be +than to see it coming. I hopes and prays as how I'll be took the like +way--selling a penny stamp, or licking a label, or doing some poor soul +a gude turn by giving her an old-age pension." + +She went rambling on, while Nellie tore open the telegram and read, +"Mistress passed away in her sleep. Kezia." + +She shivered slightly, then handed it to George. + +"Cruel bad news vor you, sir, especially as we'm all so sorry to hear +you be a leaving us," said the postmistress. + +"I had meant to go away," replied the self-sacrificing and sorrowful +reprobate. "But I'm afraid I shall have to change my plans now." + + + + +CHAPTER VIII + +A TANGLED INHERITANCE + + +George formally took over Windward House, with the exception of his +aunt's bedroom, the door of which was locked. Bessie admitted she held +the key, but was not going to give it up to anybody except Kezia. In the +meantime, Miss Yard wandered about the house, declaring that Maria had +always been able to look after herself, scolding Nellie for wearing +black, "and making yourself look so small I can't see you," driving away +Bessie by waving her hands and calling "Shoo!" but delighted with George +because he looked bright and cheerful. + +"Maria has been making up the past again," she said plaintively. "She +told me I was good for nothing, and she wouldn't have me here any +longer. She keeps all my friends away from me--and now she has hidden my +money." + +"We'll look for it," said Nellie, glad of the excuse to lure her back +into the parlour. "I expect it is hidden in one of the usual +places--inside the clock, or on top of the bookcase." + +"It's no good looking there, Nellie. I have searched the whole +house--and my cheque-book has gone too. My sister takes everything away +from me." + +A pleasant quarter of an hour was spent in searching for the missing bag +of money, which had been secreted with more than usual ingenuity. These +games of hide-and-seek were of daily occurrence, as Miss Yard would hide +away everything she possessed, and then accuse the others of robbery by +violence. On this occasion the little bag containing her spare cash had +been deposited behind the register; George made the discovery after +noticing a heap of soot upon the fender; and Miss Yard was more +delighted with him than ever. + +"Percy always does the right thing," she declared. "He wrote to that +horrid man who said he was going to come and live here. Nellie, remind +me tomorrow to pay off a mortgage on his railway." + +"Percy grows tomatoes, Aunt. I am George, and I'm here to look after +you," explained that gentleman uncomfortably. + +"How silly people are!" said Miss Yard. "Of course it's tomatoes, and +not railways. I don't know why they talk about railways, but I suppose +it's because Nellie and I missed a train the other day. Everybody mixes +up George and Percy, but one is quite as good as the other. One quality +only, and that's the best. Now I wonder where I read that." + +Then she opened the canvas bag and gave George ten shillings because he +was so clever; and she gave a sovereign to Nellie because she was so +good; but she refused to give Bessie a present, as she felt positive +that young woman had conspired with Mrs. Drake to hide away her money. + +"I must write to Maria and tell I've found it, and ask her to forget the +past like I do and begin all over again," she said, shuffling to her +writing table, where nearly every day she wrote letters which Nellie +subsequently destroyed. + +"Don't try to make her understand," said this young lady to George. "I +have told her Mrs. Drake is dead, and she quite realised it, but a +minute later had forgotten all about it. It's no use worrying her. She +has no memory, and hardly any mind, left; but she is perfectly healthy +and enjoys life thoroughly. Really, it isn't such a bad state to be in +after all." + +George rather looked forward to the funeral, as he meant to enjoy a +settlement with Percy, who arrived only just in time to join the others +in the churchyard. Mrs. Drake's bedroom had been opened the day before: +George discovered the will, while Kezia made off with the box which had +always stood upon the chest of drawers. + +After the ceremony they returned to Windward House. Presently George and +Percy went into the garden to discuss business, assuming a brotherly +affection, although George felt sure Percy entertained nothing but evil +thoughts concerning him. + +"That was rather a nasty letter you wrote to me, old chap--about +clearing out of the place, you know," he began reproachfully. + +"Aunt asked me to write it, and of course I had to. I don't want to rub +it in, George, but you deceived the old lady badly, and you've been a +frightful slacker," replied Percy. + +"If it comes to deceit, I expect you put your best tomatoes on top of +the basket," said George, opening a line of attack which made Percy +cough uneasily, before he attempted to point out the difference between +deceiving hostile tradesmen and affectionate relatives. "What do you +propose doing?" he asked. + +"This is my home," replied George firmly. "Somebody must be here to look +after Aunt Sophy, keep up the property, and look after the servants." + +"I suppose the place belongs to Aunt Sophy now, and in that case it will +come to me," said Percy sternly. + +"Grab it all, old chap!" exclaimed George mockingly. + +"It's like this," said Percy sharply. "I'm one of the trustees of the +Yard estate, and Hunter is the other. I dare say you have heard the +aunts mention Hunter; he's a partner in Martin and Cross, the family +solicitors. I needn't go into the details of Mr. Yard's will, but of +course you know Aunt Maria enjoyed only a life interest in her share. +Aunt Sophy now inherits the lot, but she can't touch the capital, all of +which comes to me at her death. That's the position." + +"And here's mine! Oblige me by running your eye over this, my dear +chap," invited George, producing his aunt's will. + +Percy did so, frowning considerably, and when he had finished tried to +mutter a few words of congratulation. + +"Not so bad," chuckled George. "The whole place is mine, and everything +in it. Aunt Sophy is now my tenant." + +"There's no mention of the house," objected Percy. + +"Read this--'all I die possessed of.' The property belonged to aunt; +left her by my uncle." + +"But she bought the ground and built the house," cried Percy. + +"Out of income," said the triumphant George. + +"I suppose you'll be sending this to Martin and Cross?" + +"It goes this evening by registered post. Aunt Sophy won't leave +Highfield. She will be enjoying the use of my house and my furniture. In +return she can give me board and pocket-money. Quite a decent scheme, +old chap. Everybody satisfied! No grumblers!" + +"I didn't know anything about this will," muttered Percy. + +"You can't object to my staying here now--you can't order me out, my +dear old chap. Nice little property, isn't it?" cried George riotously. + +Percy had not much more to say, especially as he seemed in a hurry to +catch a train which would carry him towards London and Mr. Hunter's +office. Immediately he had departed, Kezia approached and asked, "Can I +speak to you vor a minute, please?" + +"Certainly," replied the prosperous George, following her into the +dining room, where Bessie towered beside the table upon which reposed +the sandalwood box taken from the late mistress's bedroom. George could +not help noticing what a quantity of waste paper appeared to be lying +about. + +"This wur lying on the top," explained Kezia, presenting a slip upon +which was written in his late aunt's handwriting, "This box is the +property of Kezia, who has served me faithfully since her childhood." + +"I ha' been wi' her forty years, and I don't know how I shall get along +without her. I feels as though she can't be gone vor ever, and will soon +be coming back again maybe," Kezia continued. + +"She knows what be going on. She can see me, and you, and Mr. George, +and she can tell what he'm thinking of," added Bessie. + +"Went just like the Captain, all to once and no fuss. She said to me +many a time, 'I wants to go like him, Kezia, nice and quick.' So she +did, poor dear! Lay down, and went to sleep, and never woke up again +this side Jordan. And the last thing she said wur, 'Kezia, I ain't felt +so well as I be feeling now vor I can't tell ye how long.'" + +"They'm always like that," said Bessie. + +"What are all these papers?" asked George. + +"These be mine," said Kezia, taking one bundle. "Those belong to Bess. +This one is vor Miss Sophy. And this one is vor Nellie." + +"Wasn't there one vor Mr. Percy?" inquired Bessie. + +"Here's something on the floor," said George. He picked up the scrap of +paper and read, "I should like Percy to have something to remember me +by. He can take the pair of silver candlesticks given me by his mother +as a wedding present." + +"He can't have them," said Bessie, looking across at Kezia. + +"No, that he can't," said Kezia, staring rather uneasily at Bessie. + +"What are all these papers?" George demanded, feeling in his pocket, to +make sure that the will was safe. + +"Will ye please to read 'em?" replied Kezia, extending her bundle. + +George opened the first and read, "I want Kezia to have all the +furniture in her bedroom, also six dining room chairs, my sofa, and the +largest bookcase." The second paper included, for Kezia's benefit, much +of the furniture in the parlour, together with "the pair of silver +candlesticks given me by Louisa as a wedding present." The third paper +mentioned most of the articles in Mrs. Drake's bedroom, with the +grandfather clock, the Chinese vases, "and anything else Mr. George does +not want." And so the lists ran on, until Kezia had been left everything +in the house several times over. + +Then Bessie proffered her bundle with a sorrowful smile. First of all +she was to have the bed she had once slept on, then all the furniture in +her bedroom, much of that in the parlour, half of that in the dining +room, with "the pair of silver candlesticks given me by Louisa as a +wedding present," most of the ornaments including the Chinese vases, the +Egyptian mummy, and "any other little thing Mr. George does not care +about." + +Nellie was to have the round table in the parlour, which had been +already bestowed upon both Kezia and Bessie. While Sophy was requested +to take the musical box and "the pair of silver candlesticks given me as +a wedding present by Louisa." + +"This is a nice business!" George muttered. + +"Seems to be rather a lot of mixing up, don't it!" said Bessie. + +"I can see what has happened," George continued. "Poor old aunt never +had much of a memory, and, when she put away one of these papers in the +box, she forgot about the others. Some of them were written when I was a +child--the ink is beginning to fade--while others are quite recent." + +"She would write 'em in the evening. I've seen her doing it. And when +she went into her bedroom, she would put it into the box quick and lock +it up. She wouldn't let no one touch that box," said Kezia. + +"You see she wanted to leave you something to remember her by, and she +never looked into the box to see what she had written." + +"I suppose we mustn't take the things now?" asked Bessie hurriedly. + +"Nothing wur to be touched, Bess, while Miss Sophy lived. Even Mr. +George warn't to touch anything," said Kezia with unnecessary irony; +since, according to these scraps of paper, George had nothing to take. + +"I have the will which was made soon after I came to live with my uncle +and aunt. There is no mention of Miss Yard," said George firmly. + +"Mrs. Drake wrote a paper and gave it to Miss Sophy. And Miss Sophy +wrote a paper and gave it to Mrs. Drake. Here it is!" exclaimed Kezia, +diving to the bottom of the box, which contained brooches and other +trinkets dropped in from time to time. "You see, Mr. George,' If I die +before Maria, all my furniture is to belong to her.' And 'tis signed +Sophy Yard." + +"What did my aunt write on her paper?" cried George, as a horrible +thought flashed across his mind. + +"Just the same. If she died avore Miss Sophy, everything she possessed +wur to belong to her." + +"And she has died before Aunt Sophy after all," George muttered. + +"Why, so she has! I never thought of that avore," said Bessie. + +George refused to discuss the matter further, pointing out that nothing +could be done during Miss Yard's lifetime, although he had no intention +of remaining inactive until then. Escaping into a quiet place, he sought +to find a solution of the problem thus suddenly presented to him. By a +properly attested will the entire furniture of Windward House had been +left to him; this furniture had been left also to Miss Yard by a rough +kind of agreement; the same furniture had been bestowed upon Kezia by +means of a number of scraps of paper which were certainly not legal +documents; while the greater part of the furniture had been also +bequeathed to Bessie by means of similar scraps of paper. The conclusion +arrived at by George was that the will must prevail over all other +documents, although it was difficult to see how he could prevent +pilfering; and his final wise decision was to preserve silence +concerning these scraps of paper in all his subsequent dealings with +Messrs. Martin and Cross and Mr. Percy Taverner. + +"I feel sure Kezia and Bessie cannot claim anything, but I'm afraid the +lawyers may say the will is cancelled by the document given to Aunt +Sophy," George muttered. "But then they needn't know anything about it. +All the business will be done through the trustees and myself. They +don't know, and I shan't tell them. I'd better strike up a friendship +with Percy; I'll conciliate him; I'll sacrifice the pair of silver +candlesticks." + +He went home, sealed the will in an envelope, and addressed it to +Messrs. Martin and Cross. Then wrote to Percy, explaining his discovery +of a scrap of paper written by their late aunt, expressing a wish that +the candlesticks should be given to him upon her death. "Of course they +are mine really," he wrote, "but I feel that I ought to respect her +wishes, especially as the candlesticks were given her as a wedding +present by your mother." + +Kezia and Bessie remained chattering vigorously after George departed +from them, but neither ventured to speak upon the subject which +threatened to convert friendship into rivalry. It was true, owing to an +unfortunate slip of the tongue, Bessie mentioned how grand the silver +candlesticks would look upon her mantelpiece; but Kezia merely replied +that Mrs. Drake had been very generous to Mr. George in leaving him a +will as a remembrance of her, although she presently administered a +rebuke by speaking about her future retirement, when she looked forward +to reading her books of religious instruction by the light of wax +candles set in the candlesticks aforesaid. To which Bessie replied +somewhat feebly they wouldn't be of any use to Miss Yard because she +used a reading lamp. She could not trust herself to say more, but, when +gathering up her share of the testamentary documents preparatory to +departure, another idea occurred, and she asked, "Who do the house +belong to?" + +"Mrs. Drake said to me a lot of times it wur to go to Miss Sophy." + +"Who gets it when she dies?" + +"I don't know. If nobody else wants it, I don't mind taking it," said +Kezia. + +"Mr. George is sure to ask vor it," said Bessie, moving slowly towards +the door. + +"Well, he won't get it," replied Kezia sharply. + +Bessie crossed the road and welcomed Robert from the bakery with the +announcement that a domestic crisis was impending. Robert studied the +documents, and agreed with his wife they would certainly be called upon +to fight for their rights. Then he asked for information concerning +George, and Bessie replied, "He ain't to get nothing." + +"Didn't Mrs. Drake leave 'en a will?" questioned the cautious Robert. + +"Kezia ses it ain't really a will. It's a codicil, and that means he +gets nothing 'cept the little bit o' money in the bank, and he'll have +to pay out all that vor the funeral expenses. Miss Sophy gets the house, +and me and Kezia has the furniture." + +"Then Mr. George is ruined!" exclaimed Robert. + +"Best thing what could happen to 'en," said Bessie. + +Robert had his tea, then went out into the village to report. Since the +days when he had first gazed upward, fascinated by the altitude of +Bessie's windswept features, he had acted as an intermediary between +Windward House and the general public, bringing the scandal, fresh and +greasy as his own doughnuts; and bearing to the village green--which was +not so green as it sounded, for the signpost represented a rising +sun--valuable items of information regarding Mrs. Drake's most recent +act of charity, or Miss Yard's latest partition of a tea service. On +this occasion he brought news which was to set all the tongues wagging: +George Drake, the most respected man in Highfield, the sole gentleman, +the fearless idler, was now a homeless fellow, a destitute person, +without a scrap of inheritance he could call his own. The Drake whom +they had honoured as a swan was hardly worth the price of a goose. + +A gentleman was not defined by the worthies of Highfield as a man of +good birth, but as one who declined all labour. George had fulfilled +this definition admirably. An idler, it was argued, possessed ample +means, and for that cause he was respected. Highfield required nothing +further of him, except that he should wear decent clothing and not be +seen with his coat off, digging potatoes or nailing two pieces of board +together; even the picking of peas was a dangerous pastime, while mowing +the lawn would have meant an irremediable loss of caste. It could +honestly be said of George that he had done nothing disgraceful; he had +kept his hands clean; he was far more of a gentleman than his uncle had +been. And now he was exposed as a common impostor who had been wearing +an order of chivalry to which he was not entitled. + +"I always thought," said the Wallower in Wealth, who, above all men, +had respected George, "that when Mrs. Drake died he would have her +money." + +Everybody in the place had thought the same; and were now to realise +that George had bitterly deceived them. + +"He don't get nothing," declared Robert. "The furniture comes to Bessie, +and the house goes to Miss Yard." + +"What do old Kezia get?" inquired a charitable voice. + +"What me and Bessie like to give her," replied Robert. + +George went to sleep that night sure of his position as the most popular +man in Highfield parish; for everybody knew how the odious scheme of a +Dartmoor railway had been brought to nothing owing to his strenuous +opposition. Nor did he suppose, upon going into the village the +following morning, that his glory had departed. He was therefore +unpleasantly surprised to be greeted by nodding of heads, and no longer +by hands uplifted to the forehead. Highfield nodded to equals, and +touched hats to superiors. George did not like the omen. + +The Yellow Leaf was enjoying a large slice of bread upon which butter, +cream, and jam were piled in lavish quantities; and when George inquired +after Mrs. Y. Leaf, he received the answer, spoken with some asperity: + +"Her be tedious this morning. Ses her be going quick, and I be to hurry +after; but I tells she I b'ain't agoing to hurry." + +"Would you like to buy my giant tortoise? I'll sell him for five +shillings," George continued. + +"What would I do wi' a tor-toys?" asked the Yellow Leaf with great +deliberation. + +"It's a nice friendly animal," explained George. + +"Would he make gude eating?" asked the Yellow Leaf. + +"Might be a bit tough, but he'd make splendid soup," said George. + +"I ha' no craving vor gigantic tor-toyses, thankye. And if I did crave +vor 'en, how be I to know he'm yours to sell?" + +"Of course it's mine. Everything belongs to me," said George sharply. + +"Then you have been told lies." + +"I ha' heard another tale." + +"I hears plenty o' they. Don't ye ever think o' driving that old toat of +a tor-toys into my garden, vor if you does I'll kick 'en." And with +these words the Yellow Leaf withdrew into his cottage, munching severely +at his bread and jam. + +Bessie has been talking, thought George, as he went along the road, to +pause beside a potato patch where Squinting Jack was whistling as he +worked. He looked up and nodded, then went on digging, while George +drew near and remarked: + +"I'm selling off the animals." + +"Sorry I b'ain't a butcher, sir," said Squinting Jack. + +"I've got a very good half Persian cat for sale at two shillings," +George continued. + +"How much would ye charge vor the whole cat?" asked Squinting Jack. + +"I mean it's part Persian." + +"Which part?" asked the humourist. + +George laughed somewhat feebly, while Squinting Jack continued, "I've +got a whole English cat what you can have vor nothing." + +By this time George had discovered he was not so well liked as formerly, +and the reason was not far to seek: Kezia and Bessie were advertising +their own triumph and trumpeting his misfortunes. George went a long +walk, climbed a steep hill, and sat upon the summit, trying to work out +a plan of campaign which might enable him to obtain the victory over all +his enemies. + +"Why not shift the responsibility?" he muttered at length. "That's the +plan right enough--shift it on to Percy. He wants to run the whole +show--why not let him?" + +George meditated yet more deeply, rubbing his head which was nothing +like so dense as his relations had supposed. "Percy means to do me, so +it's my duty to do him. When you want to catch anything you set a trap. +And now I've got it!" George shouted exultantly. "I'll tempt Percy with +the furniture--I'll get him to buy it! Then I shall have the cash, while +he can settle with Kezia and Bessie, and all the rest of the beastly, +selfish, money grabbing crowd." + + + + +CHAPTER IX + +A SUBTLE SINNER'S SUCCESS + + +Mr. Hunter of Messrs. Martin and Cross sent George a very civil letter, +acknowledging the will and announcing that the papers necessary for +obtaining probate would be prepared in due course. As a valuation of the +furniture would be required, he proposed to send down the man usually +employed by his firm for that purpose, his knowledge being extensive and +his fee moderate. + +One other point Mr. Hunter wished to refer to. He had gathered, from an +interview with Mr. Percy Taverner, that Miss Yard's mental condition +left something to be desired: although in several respects a person +competent to do business, she might be described as susceptible to the +influence of a superior intelligence, and could therefore be prevailed +upon to act in a manner contrary to her interests: she would--to put the +matter plainly--sign a cheque if ordered by some other person to do so. + +Mr. Hunter understood further that Miss Yard positively declined to +leave Highfield House, which was now Mr. Drake's property by virtue of +the phrase "all that I die possessed of" contained in the codicil to +the will of Mrs. Drake deceased; and at her age it might perhaps be +inadvisable to press her. The position was somewhat a delicate one, as +he understood Mr. Drake's financial position was not possibly quite so +strong as could be wished; and he might be desirous of selling the +property. Or, on the other hand, he might be inclined to allow Miss Yard +the use of the premises upon the undertaking that she provided him with +board and lodging, and paid a peppercorn rent. + +Both Mr. Percy Taverner and himself, in their joint capacity as trustees +of the Yard estate, agreed that in such case it would be absolutely +necessary to appoint some trustworthy person as the manager of Miss +Yard's affairs, such person to be given the charge of the lady's +cheque-book, and to give an account of all moneys spent. Mr. Taverner +had recommended for this purpose Miss Nellie Blisland, whom he believed +to be a thoroughly trustworthy young person and one, moreover, not only +firmly attached to Miss Yard, but highly favoured by the lady herself. + +"More of Percy's dirty little ways," was George's comment. "He thinks I +shall wheedle money out of Aunt Sophy like he does himself. I'm quite +satisfied that Nellie should be appointed; but I should like to be told +for certain that he didn't squeeze her hand when he said good-bye. I saw +him looking sideways at her anyhow. Now for the trap--and I don't care +which of 'em tumbles into it." + +He wrote to Mr. Hunter, quite agreeing with all that gentleman had said. +It was unfortunately true that his financial condition was somewhat +embarrassed at the moment, while his physical state did not encourage +him to hope for any considerable increase of income likely to accrue +from his professional duties of civil engineer. The position, as Mr. +Hunter had admitted, was somewhat delicate, since Miss Yard would be +living in his house, enjoying the use of his furniture; and would +probably continue to do so until her death, by which time a great +quantity of domestic utensils would have been destroyed, much valuable +crockery broken, while the whole of the furniture would have suffered +deterioration owing to wear and tear; furthermore he would have no +control over the servants, who might conceivably indulge in a certain +amount of pilfering--indeed a few articles had already unaccountably +disappeared. + +He could not, of course, allow Miss Yard, whom he regarded with feelings +of utmost affection, to be disturbed, or even to be troubled by any +suggestion that her tenancy of Windward House should be brought to a +close; but it was perhaps a pity Mr. Hunter had not suggested that Miss +Yard should purchase the furniture--with the exception of a few articles +he would wish to retain because of their sentimental value--for the sum +which might be quoted by the professional valuer. George did not press +the point in the least, but he would remind Mr. Hunter, under such an +arrangement, Mr. Percy Taverner might very likely benefit. + +The appointment of Miss Nellie Blisland as custodian of Miss Yard's bank +account met with his entire approval. He had watched this young lady +carefully, and could assure Mr. Hunter that Miss Yard's interests would +be perfectly safe in her hands. + +As Mr. Hunter prowled and sniffed through these elegant sentences, he +discovered nothing of a suspicious nature. On the contrary, Mr. George +Drake appeared to him a very obvious gentleman indeed. He wrote to +Percy, requesting another interview, and when the tomato merchant +arrived Mr. Hunter spread George's letter before him and asked him what +he thought about it. + +"Nothing until I've heard your opinion," replied the cautious Percy. + +"You have the advantage of knowing Mr. Drake." + +"It's no advantage," declared Percy. + +"What sort of a man is he?" asked Mr. Hunter. + +"As this is a privileged communication, he's the most useless, +good-for-nothing chap in the country," replied Percy; and he went on to +narrate the tragical history of his cousin's deception and indolence. + +"Then he is, in your opinion, unscrupulous?" + +"That's right. If he wants Miss Yard to buy the furniture, it's because +he hopes to benefit by it." + +"Naturally," said the lawyer. "There's nothing unscrupulous in that. +Under the will of Mrs. Drake he becomes possessed of a certain amount of +property; and, being a poor man, he is anxious to convert this property, +or a portion of it, into cash. There is apparently no opening for fraud +but, should one exist, you may be quite sure I shall discover it in the +course of negotiations." + +"What do you advise?" asked Percy. + +"First of all I should like to know whether he has written to you?" + +"I had a note from him, offering me a pair of silver candlesticks. It +appears he found a scrap of paper left by my aunt, expressing a wish +that I should have them, as they were given her as a wedding present by +my mother. I don't want them just now, as I live in lodgings, so I wrote +back and said they had better stay in the house until Miss Yard dies." + +"It would have been the easiest thing in the world to have destroyed +that piece of paper. Yet Mr. Drake has communicated its contents to +you," said Mr. Hunter, putting on his eyeglasses and again searching the +letter for any possible stratagem or pitfall. + +"I don't say George is altogether bad. I suppose he can respect his +aunt's memory to a certain extent," replied Percy. + +"His standpoint appears to me not unreasonable," the lawyer continued. +"The furniture belongs to him, and his argument, firstly that he will be +unable to realise upon it during Miss Yard's lifetime, and secondly that +it may deteriorate to some extent in value before her death takes place, +is quite a sound one. It is possible that Miss Yard may live to well +over ninety, and his financial position may become intolerable before +then. I understand the furniture is valuable?" + +"Most of it is rubbish; but there are two Chinese vases which, I +believe, are enormously valuable. Captain Drake probably looted them +during one of his eastern expeditions. I have described them to Crampy, +the well known expert, and he says they may be worth almost anything." + +"Mr. Drake is careful to mention there are a few articles he would wish +to retain because of their sentimental value. For sentimental read +pecuniary," said Mr. Hunter, in the shocked voice usually adopted by a +lawyer when he discovers another person trifling with the truth. "But +the goods are his, he is aware of their value, and naturally he wishes +to retain them. These vases throw a new light upon the position. The +best thing he can do is to sell them at once: then, if they are as +valuable as you suppose, he can retire from Windward House, and live +upon the interest of his capital." + +"Leaving Miss Yard in possession of the house?" + +"Exactly--if he will agree to that course." + +"Then you are going to advise Miss Yard to buy the furniture?" + +"I think not, and I will give you my reasons. In the first place we +ought not to perplex Miss Yard with matters of business she cannot +understand. In the second place it might not be safe for her to become +the owner of the furniture. Miss Yard, I understand, does exactly as she +is told; she is completely under the control of servants; if an entire +stranger entered the house and introduced himself as a relation, she +might give him anything he liked to ask for. It would be easy for Mr. +Drake, if he is unscrupulous as you suggest, to visit Miss Yard and +induce her to sign a will leaving him the furniture she had previously +purchased from himself." + +"On the other hand," said Percy, "we shall never get George out of +Windward House while the furniture belongs to him. He is too much afraid +of the servants stealing things." + +"I had thought of that difficulty," said Mr. Hunter in his most +omniscient manner. "What I am going to recommend is that you should make +Mr. Drake an offer for the goods." + +"George wouldn't sell to me," said Percy. + +"It cannot matter to him whether you or Miss Yard purchase the +furniture. If you do so, it will be upon the understanding that Mr. +Drake leaves Miss Yard in undisturbed possession of the premises at a +rental to be agreed upon. By this arrangement she will be left in a +position of absolute security. While, if you decide not to purchase, Mr. +Drake may sell the contents of one room after another according to his +need for money." + +"I'll think over it, and let you know," said Percy. + +"During the course of the next few days we shall be receiving the +figures from the valuer," Mr. Hunter continued. "I shall then be in a +position to advise you as to the sum you should offer Mr. Drake. You +agree with me, I think, that I have suggested a way out of the +difficulty?" + +"I am always ready to take your advice," replied Percy. "But I believe +George hates me and, if I made him an offer for the furniture, he would +smell something fishy." + +"He will receive a complete assurance from my firm that his interests +are being adequately protected," said the lawyer, with a dignity that +seemed to make the windows rattle. + +A few days afterwards the expert sent in his report, and Mr. Hunter was +considerably astonished to read that the contents of Windward House, +excluding the articles belonging to Miss Yard, were valued for probate +at the sum of £220 5s. 3d. He sent for the valuer, requesting another +interview with Percy at the same time; and, when they came together, an +explanation of these figures was demanded; the lawyer mentioning that, +according to his instructions, the late Captain Drake had died possessed +of a great number of valuable antiques. + +"Most of them worthless. At all events, it's no easy matter to value +such things as an Egyptian mummy and a stuffed mermaid for purposes of +probate." + +"How about the Russian Ikon and the Indian musical box?" asked Percy. + +"There is no market price for articles of that description. They might +fetch a few shillings, or a great number of pounds. It would depend upon +history and association, or upon rivalry between collectors. I value the +Ikon at ten shillings, and the musical box at five pounds. It's all +guesswork, but I doubt whether you would get much more. As for the +mummy, I simply throw it in with the oleographs." + +"Why the odd threepence?" asked Percy. + +The valuer coughed and said nothing. + +"Mr. Taverner and I are particularly interested in a pair of Chinese +vases," began Mr. Hunter cautiously. + +"Which were kept in a box under Mrs. Drake's bed," added the more +reckless Percy. + +"Those things!" exclaimed the valuer disgustedly. "I remember them well, +for I thought Mr. Drake was getting at me when he pulled out the box and +unwrapped those vases. There's your odd threepence, sir!" he continued, +turning towards Percy. "And dear at the price." + +"You have made a mistake, my friend. I'm not an expert, but I would give +five hundred pounds for those vases without having another look at +them," said Percy. + +"Then I wish they were mine!" cried the valuer. + +"Perhaps you would describe these vases for Mr. Taverner's benefit," the +lawyer suggested. + +"They're not worth describing, sir. They are the sort of things +exchanged by hawkers for a rabbit skin. A pair of green vases about +eighteen inches high, with red cabbages meant for roses splashed across +them." + +"We need not trouble you any further, I think," said Percy. + +"It was the most difficult job I've had in my life. I value plate and +furniture, not the contents of museums," the man protested. + +"You have done your work excellently, as usual; and you have also given +us the information we require," said Mr. Hunter, as the valuer took his +hat and his leave. + +"Of course you see what has happened," began Percy at once. + +"Mr. Drake had concealed the vases. I shall write pretty sharply to +remind him he must not play these tricks with the law," said Mr. Hunter. + +"He's a bigger fool than I took him for, if he thought he could deceive +the valuer--not to mention you and me," said Percy. + +"Mr. Drake is no fool: on the contrary, he seems a clever fellow. He did +not suppose he could deceive the valuer, nor did he make the attempt. He +simply produced the pair of worthless vases without comment." + +"Then what is he playing at?" + +"In the first place he tries to evade the death duties as far as +possible; and these fall upon him rather heavily, as he was related to +the deceased only by marriage. Mr. Drake would naturally prefer to +receive one thousand pounds for the vases rather than nine hundred. In +the second place, he is anxious to discover how much we know about these +vases. It is true they belong to him, but he is by no means certain of +their value. If we make a fuss about the vases he will guess they are +genuine; whereas, if we make no inquiry, he will evade the duty and at +the same time be satisfied that you are not scheming to get hold of +them." + +"I never thought of such a thing!" exclaimed Percy. + +"The best thing we can do is to send down an expert in china. I shall +first write to Mr. Drake, informing him that he must produce the vases." + +"Send Crampy! You needn't write; I'll go and see him," cried Percy +eagerly. + +"We could not get a better man than Mr. Crampy; but I'm afraid his fee +will be rather high." + +"He'll do it for a guinea if I ask him. Crampy is a great friend of +mine. He told me to keep an eye upon the vases." + +Mr. Hunter being perfectly agreeable, Percy snatched his hat and made +off, muttering as he reached the street, "For poor old George's sake I +must tell him not to value them too high." + +George in the meantime had nothing much to worry about, although +somewhat disgusted at the low figure placed upon the furniture. He and +Mr. Hunter wrote to each other every day like a couple of lovers; George +always hoping that the lawyer enjoyed a continuance of perfect health; +while Mr. Hunter trusted himself to anticipate a complete cure from the +backache which had blighted Mr. Drake's existence for so long. Kezia and +Bessie were moderately happy while taking stock of the goods which +appeared to belong to them under the joint tenancy created by the scraps +of paper; but there was obviously a certain amount of coldness arising +between them at the prospect of a day of settlement. George was not much +accounted of by either, although the interference of the valuer was +bitterly resented, and George had much difficulty in making them +understand that, whenever a person of quality departed this life, the +Government required a perfect stranger from one of the State Departments +to set a price upon the furniture, in order that statistics as to the +national wealth might be obtained. + +Although they were both prepared to fight for the possession of the +Egyptian mummy, which Robert was especially anxious to see set up +against the wall of his parlour, and Kezia had long regarded as the joy +and inspiration of her spiritual existence, neither of them showed the +slightest interest in the Chinese vases which they regarded as vulgar. +Vases to Kezia and Bessie were--vases; that is to say, conspicuous +objects set upon either end of mantelpiece or dresser, to be replaced by +others when broken. Any little village shop, or travelling Cheap-Jack, +sold artistic vases, such as those Mr. George had lately purchased to +delight his eyes, of a beautiful bright green painted with lovely roses. +As Kezia and Bessie were quite prepared to make George a free gift of +all the rubbish in the house, they assured him, in the kindest possible +fashion, that the vases with hideous dragons on them were his, together +with the tortoise and cats, and any other little thing he might like to +have as a remembrance of his aunt. George did not thank them much, but +then he had never been demonstrative. + +Letters from the lawyer and expert reached George by the same post; the +one informing him the vases must be produced; the other announcing the +day upon which the valuation would be made. When Mr. Crampy arrived he +was received at the door by Bessie, who spent most of the day regarding +her own home from the windows of Windward House and, as no visitor was +expected by any one except George, who as usual had kept his own +counsel, she said, "Not today, thankye," and would have shut him out; +but, perceiving that the gentleman appeared somewhat agitated, she added +with less severity, "Have ye come vor anything?" + +Mr. Crampy had a nervous manner and spoke somewhat indistinctly; but +Bessie was able to gather he had come all the way from London to inspect +their china. + +"Please to step inside," she said. + +Mr. Crampy did so, and Bessie led him like a lamb into the kitchen, +where she announced to Kezia, "Gentleman come to see the cloam." + +"That's one lot on the dresser," gasped Kezia, wondering how many more +inquisitors would arrive. "The best dinner service is in the pantry," +she added. + +Mr. Crampy grew more nervous, but managed to explain he had come to see +a certain Mr. Drake. + +"I beg your pardon, sir, I'm sure," said Bessie, "but I fancied you said +something about china." + +"Yes, I have come to see a pair of vases," stammered Mr. Crampy. + +"Best tell Mr. George a gentleman wants to see 'en," said Kezia, when +the situation threatened to become painful. + +A minute later Mr. Crampy was left to cool in the dining room. Presently +George descended the stairs, carrying a large white candle beneath each +arm. He apologised for the stupidity of the servants, then locked the +door, and placed the precious bundles on the table, with the +announcement, "I didn't show these things to the other man for, to tell +you the truth, I was afraid he might place a ridiculously false value +upon them. I expect you know what's what in this particular line?" + +"I am supposed to have a very fair knowledge of Chinese porcelain. A +great deal of it passes through my hands," said Mr. Crampy, who was now +perfectly composed. + +George removed a quantity of twine, unwound some yards of linen, removed +clouds of brown paper, then abstracted from a bushel of fibre the vase +heavily swathed in cotton-wool; and this he handed to Mr. Crampy with +the utmost reverence. + +The expert paused a moment to adjust his glasses; then he drew aside the +wool and gazed at the vase with the love and tenderness of a father +regarding his firstborn child. His lips moved to mutter repeatedly the +single word, "Undoubtedly!" + +"A dream, isn't it?" remarked George. + +"Glazed porcelain, moulded in relief with dragons--belonging probably to +an early period of the Tsing dynasty, about the end of the seventeenth +century." + +"And they've been knocked about like a couple of twopenny teacups," +added George. + +"Do you know, Mr. Drake, how they came into your late uncle's +possession?" asked the expert, caressing the glazed surface with tender +fingers. + +"My uncle had a yarn for everything. He would have said they were a +present from the Emperor of China. The only thing I'm concerned about is +the price you mean to put upon them." + +"Porcelain of this class has its own value," replied Mr. Crampy. "Were +these vases to be offered for sale, they might fetch a thousand pounds +or, on the other hand, they might be knocked down at five hundred. I am +here to value them for purposes of probate, and that means the lowest +possible value I can put upon them. Is the other vase in a perfect +condition?" + +"Just the same. Not a mark upon it. Shall I unwrap it?" + +"Oh no! It is quite sufficient to have seen the one. I think I may value +them, for legal requirements, at five hundred pounds; but, Mr. Drake, if +you are willing to accept a thousand pounds, I will hand you a cheque +for that amount before I leave this room." + +"There's a big difference between the figures," said George. + +"I don't say you would get more than a thousand pounds for these vases. +But I am in the trade, I know how to get to work and secure a profit on +the transaction." + +"It sounds a very liberal offer, but I won't decide offhand." + +"There is no hurry whatever," said the expert hastily. + +"If nothing better comes along I'll write and let you know," said +George, tingling with happiness and excitement. + +Nor did his triumph end here. A few mornings later came a letter from +Mr. Hunter, and George read as follows: + +"With reference to so much of the furniture and other +articles--excluding the pair of Chinese vases, to which you probably +attach a sentimental value--as belonged to your late aunt, I have had an +interview with Mr. Percy Taverner, and I am now authorised on his behalf +to make you an offer of £200 for these effects. Although this sum is +less than the amount of the probate valuation, you might feel disposed +to accept the offer, having regard to the fact that it would save you +the expense of removing the furniture and holding a sale by auction and +the auctioneer's commission on a sale. I shall be glad to hear from you +when you have considered Mr. Taverner's proposal." + +"I've caught 'em!" cried George exultantly. "I baited and set my little +trap and I've caught, not only slippery Percy, but that two-faced, +double-tongued, pill-gilding, thimble-rigging, gammoning, diddling +Hunter!" + + + + +CHAPTER X + +THE FIRST PERSON SINGULAR PARAMOUNT + + +"This is easier than catching flies," was George's comment, when the +cheque for the furniture arrived, together with a document which +pretended to be a receipt, but was unable to disguise the fact that it +was also an agreement; for it contained a clause, by which George +undertook to quit Windward House within three calendar months, and to +accept Miss Yard as his tenant for life at a yearly rental of thirty +pounds. + +He looked forward to a busy day without flinching. Some forms of labour +were fascinating, and quashing lawyers was one of them. George did not +write to Mr. Hunter returning thanks, but walked into the market town +and opened an account with the post office savings bank by paying in the +comfortable cheque. Returning to Highfield, he lured Nellie into the +garden, and informed her he was piling up money in a reckless fashion. + +"Two hundred pounds this morning," he said. "Another two hundred next +week. And so it will go on." + +"Where's it all coming from?" she asked. + +"Money Aunt left me. They don't know what a lot she _did_ leave. It's a +great secret and I wouldn't tell any one but you. I'm refusing +money--that gentleman who called the other day begged me to accept a +thousand pounds, but I wouldn't look at it. I can retire any day now." + +"From what?" she laughed. + +"From business. Making money is business, and I'm making it like the +Mint." + +"Did you really get two hundred pounds this morning?" + +"Look at this, if you can't believe me," George replied, showing her the +bank book. "It's nothing--just a flea bite--what the French call a game +of bagatelle. Still it would give many an honest soul a start in life." + +"You had better lend the money to your cousin," suggested Nellie. + +"I'd let it perish first," cried George. "Whatever made you think of +such a thing?" + +"Mr. Taverner wrote to Miss Sophy this morning--she shows me all her +letters now--and asked her to lend him two hundred pounds, as he had +suddenly discovered another mortgage he had forgotten to pay off." + +"The fellow's a ruffian!" exclaimed George, not without some admiration +for Percy's methods of finance, which compared favourably with his own. + +"He had learnt the profession of begging, and isn't ashamed to practise +it. I think he might wait until Miss Sophy is dead." + +"Percy has no moral sense," said George, with the utmost severity. "He +has visited here, and I have entertained him; but he has never given me +anything except superciliousness, and on one occasion a cigar which was +useless except as a germicide. I have never yet heard your opinion of +him." + +"He's a name and nothing else," she said. + +"I did have an idea he wanted to be something to you." + +"What rubbish! He never even looked at me properly. When he didn't gaze +at my boots he stared over my head; and he spoke to me like a +gramophone." + +"You didn't exactly like him?" George suggested. + +"I positively dislike him." + +"You never looked at him softly with your nice blue eyes?" + +"My eyes are not blue." + +"They seem very blue sometimes, but I'm not good at colours. I am glad +you don't like Percy. It has removed a great weight from my mind. I had +a dreadful suspicion, Nellie, and--and I was afraid it might interfere +with my sleep; but I won't say anything more about it now. Don't you +think we had better meet this evening, when it is getting dusk," George +rambled on heavily, "and go a little walk, and talk about plans?" + +"I have no plans," said Nellie. "I shall just go on living here until +Miss Yard dies, and then I shall pack up my belongings--including the +round table in the parlour--and disappear from Highfield forever." + +"Not you," said George. "I have a quantity of plans, Nellie; a lot for +you as well as for myself." + +"Tell me all about them." + +"This is not the time." + +"Can't you speak while we stand here in the sunshine?" + +"It would be easier if we were walking about in the dark." + +"That might be bad for me," she reminded him. "When a couple talk in the +dark, other couples talk about them. I will listen to some of your +plans--with a decided preference for those about myself. You shall tell +me four," she said, tapping the first finger of her right hand. "What is +plan number one?" + +"About Aunt Sophy," replied George promptly: + +"Unless there's a sudden change in temperature," murmured Nellie, "I am +to be frozen out again." + +"You come last," said tactless George. + +"Just as I expected, and perhaps a little more," she answered. + +"Aunt Sophy must die," said George firmly. "That sad event should happen +any time now. The first plan is to get rid of her." + +"Let it be done decently," she begged. + +"I don't want her to die, for, of course, one is always sorry to lose +old relations. Aunt Maria's death was a great shock to me," George +explained. "But for Aunt Sophy it would be a happy release, especially +as I cannot be master in my own house while she lives. She ought to have +gone before Aunt Maria." + +"I suppose she forgot." + +"Do you notice any signs of breaking down?" + +"In yourself?" asked Nellie gently. + +"In Aunt Sophy. I--I don't much like to be made fun of, Nellie." + +"I was trying to cheer you up, as this is not Miss Sophy's funeral. +Don't worry about the dear lady; she is perfectly well and thoroughly +happy; her health has been much better since we came to Highfield; and I +shall be quite astonished if she doesn't live another twenty years. She +is a great admirer of the giant tortoise--" + +"He's over five hundred years old," cried George in anguish. + +"That makes Miss Yard the smallest kind of infant." + +"If she lives another two years, I must give her notice. I cannot have +her upsetting all my plans--though I quite agree with you she is a dear +old lady." + +"Plan number two!" cried Nellie. + +"That concerns myself," said George. + +"You should have been number one," she said reproachfully. + +"I had to put Aunt Sophy first, because I cannot arrange my own future +while she occupies the house. I don't want to say too much about +myself." + +"I know," said Nellie sympathetically. "That's your way. But you should +try to be a little selfish sometimes." + +"You are quite right, Nellie; we must think of our own interests. I have +wasted far too much time bothering about Aunt Sophy, Kezia, Bessie--" + +"And me!!" cried Nellie. "Do let me come in somewhere." + +"Not with them. You come in a class by yourself." + +"The fourth," she murmured. + +"As Aunt Sophy is so good and religious we cannot want her to live on, +knowing how much happier she will be in the next world; and then I can +settle down as the big man of Highfield--quite the biggest man in the +place, and I hope the most respectable. Mr. and Mrs. George Drake, of +Windward House, in the parish of Highfield and county of Devon, Esquire, +as the lawyers say." + +"How unkind! You introduce Mrs. Drake, and then ignore her. You married +her at one end of your sentence and divorced her, for no fault whatever, +at the other end." + +"Married ladies are not credited with separate existences," explained +George. + +"They generally insist upon taking one." + +"By lawyers, I mean. They are not distinct entities like spinsters and +widows." + +"I see: while I am single I have a personality, when I marry I lose it, +when I am a widow I regain it. You could not have improved upon that +sentence." + +"Why not?" asked George. + +"In its repetition of the most important letter in the alphabet. Now for +plan number three." + +"But I have said nothing about myself yet!" cried George. + +"Don't try. You are finding it very disagreeable, I am sure; and after +all I can guess. This house ought to be converted into a mansion, and +you mean to do it. This village sadly needs a squire, resident +magistrate, pillar of uprightness; and you fully intend to supply that +want." + +George nodded, and hoped she would go on talking like that, blinking +after the fashion of a tomcat who has just enjoyed a bowl of cream. + +"I have all sorts of plans for my future, but they are not properly +arranged yet. Aunt Sophy blocks them all. I am not ambitious," George +blundered on, "but I do mean to have a comfortable home, luxurious +armchairs, piles of cushions, deep carpets, felt slippers, and good +cigars. I don't care how simple my food is, so long as I have good +tobacco, and the very finest tea obtainable. I should like to turn the +parlour into a tea house, with a divan at one end where I could lie and +smoke--sometimes." + +"A dream of Turkish delight!" laughed Nellie. "What is the third plan?" + +"Concerning finance, and there I can't be beaten," replied George +promptly. + +"I thought you were rolling in money." + +"It is coming in nicely now," George admitted, "but after a time the +flow will cease; while I shall still be spending. The problem before me +is how to invest my capital so that I shall be certain of a comfortable +income. Government securities are treacherous things, and I have very +little confidence in railways. The secret of wealth is to invest your +cash in those things which everybody must have. Now every man must buy +tobacco and drink beer; they are necessities of life. And every woman +must carry an umbrella. What is a woman's principal necessity next to an +umbrella?" + +"No respectable girl would even think of anything except umbrellas," +replied Nellie. "But most girls are not respectable, I'm afraid, and, +though it is a horrible confession to make, they cannot be happy unless +they are constantly supplied with chocolates." + +"Is that really the truth?" asked George, with much interest. + +"It is, indeed. My kind of girl must have chocolates, just as your kind +of man must drink beer." + +"Now that you mention it, I seem to remember there are an +extraordinarily lot of sweet shops in every town." + +"And I should visit them all, just as naturally as you would go into the +public houses." + +"That's a very valuable suggestion," said George. "I shall invest the +whole of my capital in beer, tobacco, umbrellas, and chocolates. You +see, Nellie, that will practically cover the prime necessities of either +sex. A man goes to work with a pipe in his mouth, and he walks straight +into a public-house. A woman comes out with an umbrella, and the first +thing she does is to buy chocolates." + +"There are sure to be exceptions," said Nellie. "A bishop, for instance, +might not go to his cathedral with a pipe in his mouth, while a Cabinet +Minister would probably walk straight past several public-houses." + +"But they all smoke and drink at home." + +"I don't fancy somehow that bishops drink beer." + +"Bottled beer," said George eagerly. + +"Surely some are teetotallers!" + +"Then they drink cocoa, and that's chocolate melted down. On the other +hand, plenty of ladies drink beer. You can see them carrying jugs--" + +"Not ladies!" cried Nellie. + +"Well, charwomen--they are ladies from a business point of view. I can +see myself making tons of money," said George delightedly. "If only Aunt +Sophy--" + +"Do please let the poor old lady live on and enjoy herself. You wouldn't +like to be hunted out of the world to suit anybody's plans. And now," +said Nellie, "we reach the fourth subject, which I flatter myself has +some connection with a certain person who is quite used to being +regarded as an afterthought." + +"Three persons--Kezia, Bessie, Robert. They must go, all of them." + +"Really this is the last straw!" cried Nellie. "I was almost certain I +should be at least honourably mentioned." + +"But I am talking to you, not about you. I'm telling you my secrets--and +I wouldn't do that to anyone but you. Nellie, you don't think I am +playing with your affections?" + +"I'll not listen any longer. I couldn't expect to come first, but I did +hope to be placed last." + +"If you would walk after dark--" + +"I'm not a ghost; besides, I will not be ashamed to stand in the +light." + +"Then we might talk about something that means love," said George, who, +being wound up for that sentence, was bound to finish it. + +"Oh, George!" exclaimed one of the parrots. + +"I wonder what it would be like," said Nellie, when she had done +laughing. + +"You teach those birds to say things," he muttered crossly. + +"They are so intelligent. That one can say, 'Nellie's the belle of the +ball.' Even that sort of compliment is better than none." + +"I am thinking, Nellie, that you like chocolates. I had better get you +some," George continued, believing it might be threepence well invested. + +"That wouldn't be a bad idea." + +"And you would take them as a compliment from me?" + +"I'll take all I can get," she promised. + +"You know, Nellie, I'm older than you, but I'm reliable. I'm not much +good at silly talk, but I do mean what I say. I can quite understand +some men would say very silly things to you, but I can't." + +"People will talk rubbish when they are in love," she admitted. + +"It's a very serious matter. I wouldn't joke about such a thing," said +George. + +"Of course, when a man tells his own particular girl she is a star, a +flower, an angel, and a goddess, he is only joking; but most girls are +so sweet tempered they can take a joke." + +"I never made a joke," cried George. + +"And I hope you will never try." + +"But I'm full of affection." + +"I have never seen any one quite so seriously in love as you are." + +"I'm so glad you can see it. You have quite sensible eyes, Nellie, and I +think you may improve a good deal as you get older. I am easy-going, and +you are pleasant, so we ought to get along very well." + +"You are so much in love," cried Nellie, "that you can't help saying +silly things. You regard the person that you love as the most angelic +creature possible; and angels are always masculine in spite of lovers' +talk." + +"I take people as I find them; I never look for their faults," said the +virtuous George. + +"Try! If you could discover a few faults in the person that you love, it +might help you to stop saying, 'I am,' and to begin learning, 'Thou +art,'" replied Nellie, as she ran off towards the house. + +"There, George!" cried one of the parrots; while the giant tortoise +thoughtfully advanced one millimetre. + +"She is not nearly serious enough," said George, "and I'm afraid her +words sometimes have a double meaning; but she is useful and quite +ornamental. She pours out tea beautifully, and I do admire the way she +puts on Aunt Sophy's slippers." + +The next duty--a more simple one--was to win the sympathy of Miss Yard. +Every evening, when fine enough, the lady walked once round the garden +and, upon returning to the house, was packed into her chair till supper +time; although she refused to remain quiescent, and would wander about +the room hiding her valuables in secret corners. On this particular +evening she fell asleep and, when George entered the parlour, she did +not recognise him until he had introduced himself. + +"I shall soon be getting quite stupid," she said. "I was just going to +ask you to sit down and wait for yourself. But I'm thankful to say my +memory is just as good as ever." + +"Then you remember Percy?" began George, seating himself close beside +her. + +"Oh dear yes! I often hear from Percy. He tells me he has a fine crop of +potatoes." + +"Tomatoes." + +"He dug up two hundred pounds' worth last week. I had a letter from him +this morning telling me that." + +"And you remember Mr. Hunter?" George went on. + +"I've just sent him a subscription for his new church," replied Miss +Yard. + +"Ah, that's somebody else. I mean Mr. Hunter, your family solicitor." + +"Oh, yes, I remember him quite well. He came to see me when I lived +somewhere else. It must have been a long time ago, because he's been +dead for years." + +"He's back again at his office now, and has written to me. He tells me I +am to leave you," said George solemnly. + +Miss Yard gasped and looked frightened at this message from the grave. +She seized George's arm and ordered him to say it all over again, more +slowly. + +"Mr. Hunter is afraid that, if I live here, I may rob you; so he says I +must go out into the world and make my own living. That's impossible at +my time of life," said George warmly. + +"You wouldn't do such a thing," cried Miss Yard, almost in tears. "You +are so kind to me; you find my money when the others hide it away. If I +break anything you are always the first to run for the doctor--I mean +when I bump my head. I shall write to Mr. Hunter and tell him his new +church will never prosper if he does this sort of thing." + +"It is hard to be ordered out of my own house," said George. + +"Whatever can the man be thinking of! I really cannot understand a +clergyman being so wicked. Perhaps I ought to write to the bishop." + +"He's a lawyer, Aunt," George shouted. + +"Now why didn't you tell me that before?" said Miss Yard crossly. "Of +course, lawyers will do anything. The people who did my father's +business were the only honest lawyers I ever came across. This house +belongs to me, and you shall stay here as long as you like. If you'll +find my cheque-book I will write to this man at once--I mean, if you +will bring my pen, you shall have a little present, for you are always +so thoughtful. I am so sorry your poor dear mother didn't leave you +much." + +George had not time to correct her error; besides, it was useless. He +brought her writing materials after a vain search for the cheque-book, +for Nellie had taken possession of that, and said, "I don't want to +confuse you, Aunt, but I suppose you will be leaving Nellie something?" + +"Everything I have," replied Miss Yard earnestly. "I am leaving her the +house, and all the furniture, my clothes and jewels, and as much money +as I can save. I could not rest if I thought dear Nellie would be left +unprovided for. You will look after Nellie, won't you? I should be so +pleased if you would adopt her as your daughter." + +"I'm not quite old enough," George stammered. + +"Nonsense, you look quite elderly," said Miss Yard encouragingly. "And +Nellie is such a child." + +"If I had been younger I might have thought about marrying her," said +George awkwardly. + +"Now that would have been a nice idea! What a pity it is you are not +forty years younger." + +"You are thinking of someone else," cried George despairingly. + +"Oh, I'm sure you are sixty. Your mother married when I was quite a +girl. I do remember that, for I got so excited at the wedding that, when +the clergyman asked her if she wanted the man, I thought he was speaking +to me, and I said, 'Yes, please,' and poor Louisa gave me such a look, +and I went into hysterics. Girls can't go into hysterics in these days +like we used to do. It's funny how well I remember all these things that +happened in our young days, but then for an old woman my memory is +wonderful. What were we talking about before you mentioned your mother's +wedding?" + +"About Mr. Hunter, the lawyer who has ordered me to leave you," replied +George, deciding to say no more of his matrimonial intentions. + +"I never heard of such impertinence in my life. He will be telling me +next I don't own the place," cried Miss Yard, stabbing with her pen in +the direction of the ink pot. "What am I to say to the wretch?" + +"Remind him I am your nephew, and I have every right to enjoy your +hospitality. Tell him I am indispensable to you. Then you might add +something about the wickedness of depriving an orphan of his home, and +conclude by mentioning that you will never consent to my leaving you." + +"I'll tell him, if he persecutes you any more, I will put the matter +into the hands of my own solicitor," Miss Yard declared, scribbling away +briskly, for her greatest delight, next to chattering, was letter +writing. + +"I wouldn't do that," said George piously. "It sounds too much like a +threat, and after all we must try to forgive our enemies." + +"Thank you for reminding me. That's a beautiful idea of yours. I wish I +was a good and clever old woman like you are." + +George was stooping over her at the moment, and this compliment made him +groan. "It's my poor back," he explained. + +"Oh dear!" exclaimed the innocent old lady. "When you have gone to bed, +I shall send Nellie to wrap you up in red flannel. We old people cannot +be too careful." + +Miss Yard wrote letters to all manner of persons, living, dead, and +imaginary; but very few found their way to the post office. George took +possession of the letter to Mr. Hunter and despatched it himself; and, +knowing exactly when the answer would be received, he took the +precaution of going out to meet the postman. By this time he was +prepared for action, as the cheque for two hundred pounds had been +cleared, and the amount was deposited safely to his account. + +There were two letters, and one was addressed to himself. Miss Yard's +was merely a note, acknowledging the receipt of her communication and +mentioning that Mr. Taverner would shortly be writing with a view to +clearing away the misunderstanding which had arisen since the death of +Mrs. Drake. George opened a phial of malice and poured out its contents +upon the name of Percy. Then he examined his own letter, which was bulky +and of a strongly acid tendency. + +Mr. Hunter was astonished and pained to think that Mr. Drake should have +taken advantage of the age and infirmities of Miss Yard to such an +extent as to have made her the instrument of his plans; as it was +perfectly evident Mr. Drake had dictated, or at least had inspired, the +letter which had been addressed to his firm by Miss Yard. Mr. Hunter +earnestly desired to avoid anything of an unpleasant nature, and he +hoped therefore Mr. Drake would not venture to repeat an experiment +which suggested a state of ethics with which he had not previously been +acquainted; and would adhere to his undertaking, given as a condition +to Mr. Taverner's purchase of the furniture, namely, to leave Miss Yard +in undisturbed possession of the premises bequeathed to Mr. Drake by his +late aunt, and better known and described as Windward House. Mr. Hunter +had also just been informed, to his soul's amusement, that Mr. Drake had +not yet subscribed to this form of agreement, nor had he acknowledged +the receipt of a cheque for two hundred pounds forwarded him some days +previously. Mr. Hunter continued to be sorry to the end of his letter, +which was a memorable piece of philosophic morality, suggesting that the +lawyer's office had been quite recently taken over by some institution +for reforming wicked people. + +George expressed a hope that Mr. Hunter some day might be sorry for +himself. He had under-rated the powers of the lawyer, who had now proved +himself to possess the ordinary malevolent, orphan-baiting, legal soul. +However, George had no intention of surrendering without a struggle. He +took his pen and obliterated the highly offensive clause which referred +to his expulsion from Windward House. He then added his signature and +composed an epistle complaining bitterly of the oriental methods of +oppression which were being brought to bear upon him. He mentioned that +he was an invalid Englishman residing in Devonshire; and laid particular +stress upon the fact he never had been an Armenian living somewhere in +the Turkish Empire. He especially desired to draw Mr. Hunter's attention +to the phenomenon that the present age was democratic, and British +workmen--with whom he did not disdain to be associated--were becoming +impatient of high-handed methods. He enclosed the receipt and regretted +the delay, which had been unavoidable owing to the insertion of the +clause--now deleted, as Mr. Hunter would observe--which seemed to strike +far too harshly against his personal liberty. He had given this clause +his serious attention for some days, but had arrived at the conclusion, +regretfully, that it involved a principle he was quite unable to accept. +Messrs. Hunter and Taverner, in their joint capacity as trustees of the +Yard estate, had apparently conspired--he did not use the word in an +objectionable sense, although in his opinion it had but one meaning--to +secure his eviction from premises to which he was legally entitled. They +had offered him a wholly inadequate sum of money for the furniture, and +this offer he had accepted with the sole idea of rendering Miss Yard a +kindness; but now, it appeared, the money had been intended as a bribe +to induce him to quit his home. Was this altogether legal? Was it +honest? Could it be respectable? He felt compelled to remind Mr. Hunter, +again regretfully, that a bribe was something given to corrupt the +conduct of poor but decent men. + +Then he went to Miss Yard and told her the lawyer was still tormenting +him, and he was very much afraid it might soon be necessary to go away +and find some hiding place. + +"Has the man written to me?" asked Miss Yard, when the whole matter had +been recalled to her memory. + +"Don't you remember? He said you were a silly old woman, and you had no +business to interfere." + +"Where is the letter? Find it for me, George, and I'll do something," +she cried indignantly. + +"You were so angry that you threw it on the fire. Don't worry, Aunt; I +shall know how to defend myself. The man tried to bribe me to leave you, +and now he's threatening to send me to prison by means of false +evidence." + +"I wish you would let me write to my own man, what's his name?" + +"That would lead to expense, and you must not spend money on me. If I +don't go away I'm afraid the man may come to Highfield with a gang of +ruffians, and break into the house--and I won't have you worried." + +"I'll give you some money," said the generous lady. "Where's my +cheque-book? Tell Nellie to find my cheque-book." + +"Thank you, Aunt. A little money will be very useful. This man is just a +blackmailer, and if I hide for a few weeks he will forget all about me. +Then you can write and invite me to come back," said George tenderly. + +"I'll write this moment," cried Miss Yard. + +"But I haven't gone yet. You are mistress here and, if you like to +invite me, of course, I can come and stay as long as you care to have +me." + +"And if that horrid man tries to turn you out again, I shall let Percy +know about it, and I shall get advice from Hunter--I wonder how I came +to remember his name. Do write to Hunter and tell him all about it," +Miss Yard pleaded. + +"To please you, I will," George promised. + +That evening he received a letter in strange handwriting, and bearing +the illegible postmark which signified that it came from London. George +opened it and, perceiving the signature of Mr. Crampy, expert in ancient +porcelain, read the contents with interest: + +"Since visiting you I have spoken with several collectors about your +pair of vases, which, I have no doubt whatever, are excellent specimens +dating from the Tsing dynasty, although I admit forgeries of this period +are exceedingly difficult to detect. My object in writing is to warn you +against being imposed upon, and to remind you of your promise to give +me first refusal up to a thousand pounds, which sum I am still perfectly +willing to risk. + +"It is highly probable some wealthy collectors may call upon you as, +when the existence of such vases as you possess becomes known, there is +invariably a hue and cry after them. I enclose, on a separate sheet of +paper, a list of names; these are all gentlemen whom you can trust +absolutely. The two against whose names I have pencilled the letters, +U.S.A. are, I know, very keen to get your vases. If you should do +business with any of the gentlemen on my list I get a commission. I +don't suppose you will let yourself be humbugged, but I beg you not to +make any offer in writing unless you intend to stick to it, as any of +these collectors would convert your scrap of writing into a stamped +legal document at once, and then sue you for breach of contract if you +tried to get out of it. + +"So long as you refuse to part with the vases for less than a thousand, +you'll be all right." + + + + +CHAPTER XI + +SOME LEADING INCIDENTS + + +"I do hope there's nothing wrong with Mr. Percy, vor Miss Sophy ha' got +a letter from him, and she's crying something shocking," remarked Kezia, +as she handed George a communication informing him that, not only Mr. +Hunter, but the entire firm of Martin and Cross, had been outraged by +the unspeakable conduct of Mr. Drake, who had dishonoured the title of +gentleman by breaking his plighted word, and had stained his own name +for ever by repudiating a contract. During the whole course of his +professional career Mr. Hunter was thankful to say he never before +received a letter suggesting that he--a solicitor--was capable of +conspiring with another to deprive a third party of his lawful +inheritance. He banished the sinister reflection, and enclosed a fresh +form of receipt, containing the clause which Mr. Drake unaccountably +regarded as oppressive, after having expressed his entire approval of +the conditions contained therein, and he pressed for its execution at +once or, failing that, the immediate return of the cheque for two +hundred pounds. Mr. Taverner had specifically mentioned he would not +purchase the furniture unless Mr. Drake gave an undertaking in writing +to withdraw from Windward House; and now that Mr. Hunter had become more +intimately acquainted with Mr. Drake's character, he was bound to +confess that Mr. Taverner had displayed remarkably shrewd judgment. + +"I trapped him, but he doesn't know it; I have trod upon his corn, and +he doesn't like it; now I'll make a fool of him completely," George +muttered. + +Then Miss Yard came trembling and half tumbling downstairs, supported by +Nellie, and weeping bitterly in quite a joyful fashion. + +"Percy has got a new tomato and he calls it Emily," she announced. + +"Emmie Lee," corrected Nellie. + +"You mustn't allow that to upset you," said George. + +"But he's going to bring her to see me, and he wants me to write to her. +Oh dear! I do pray it may be a blessing to him." + +"Try not to cry any more, or you will have such a headache," said Nellie +soothingly. + +"I should not have thought," remarked George, "that tomatoes were worth +crying about anyhow." + +"All the information was there, but rather too condensed," explained +Nellie. "Mr. Taverner discovered in one of his glass-houses--" + +"Oh, no, Nellie, you are silly, child. It was at a garden party." + +"You begin breakfast, and let me tell Mr. Drake in my own rambling +fashion," said Nellie, coaxing the lady into her cushioned chair, then +slipping into her own place behind the tea tray. "Mr. Taverner +discovered his foreman had cultivated a particularly fine tomato plant +unawares, and he made up his mind it was a new species, so he means to +introduce it to the market under the name of Emmie Lee." + +"He's full of dirty little tricks like that," George grumbled. + +"And she's the great-grandchild of a clergyman, so there cannot be +anything wrong with the family," sobbed Miss Yard. + +"You must stop crying at once," said Nellie sternly. + +"My dear, I will cry and be happy." + +"The truth of the matter is, Percy has got a young woman?" George +suggested. + +"That's it," said Nellie. "And he's naming the new tomato after her." + +"Because it matches her complexion, I suppose. What has he got to be +married on?" + +"It's not love, he says. It's money. I am so thankful." + +"It is love, Miss Sophy. Love on both sides, at first sight, and all the +way." + +"Of course it is, my dear. Poor dear Percy! He was such a gentleman, and +he did work so hard. If I could have seen him once more, just to tell +him how happy I am--" + +"Now you are not to say anything more until you have eaten your +breakfast," Nellie ordered, as she rose to supply the old lady with a +fresh handkerchief and a piece of buttered toast. + +That morning George wrote a curt and final note to Mr. Hunter, +announcing his intention of leaving Highfield within the next few days, +and enclosing the receipt duly signed. He then approached Nellie, +informed her duty was calling him elsewhere, and explained that, before +his departure, a little cheque from Miss Yard would be acceptable. + +"You know the rules," she said. "I have to give an account of my +stewardship to the trustees." + +"Yes, but Aunt Sophy owes me rent, and you mustn't allow her generous +nature to be restrained if she wishes to add a few pounds by way of +bonus," said George. + +"There are to be no additions whatever," she said firmly. "I'll let Miss +Sophy give you a quarter's rent, but no more. She can't afford it, as +her bank account is low." + +"Because she gives all her money to Percy. You let her do that," cried +George wrathfully. + +"How can I prevent it? Mr. Taverner does bleed her frightfully, but he's +a trustee, and her nephew." + +"So he can levy blackmail, grab all his aunt's money, ransack my home! +He's above the law, while I'm crushed down by it. The kindest thing I +can say about Percy is to call him a kleptomaniac, though I believe he's +a pirate." + +"I want you to tell me who really does own the house and furniture. And +why are you going? I'm sure you wouldn't leave Highfield unless you had +to. I promise not to tell anyone," said Nellie eagerly. + +"Not even Sidney Brock?" + +"You are not to mention his name to me. You know quite well I never see +him now that he's given up the choir," said Nellie, flushing with shame, +indignation, and other things. + +"I should have said nothing if he hadn't written to you. I saw the +postmark was Highfield--and of course I felt jealous," said George +composedly. + +"Yes, he did write, and asked me to meet him again. Just a selfish +letter," snapped Nellie. "I'm not going to answer it. Now I've told you +my secrets, and I expect to hear yours." + +"I never did like the idea of keeping anything from you," said George +doubtfully. + +"Especially as Mr. Hunter would tell me everything, if I liked to write +and inform him I cannot undertake my new duties until I have the whole +position explained to me." + +"If you tell Kezia and Bessie there will be a fearful rumpus." + +"I won't say a word to either. I don't care much about them, now I see +how grasping they are, though it's only natural I suppose. Mrs. Drake +treated them more like relations than servants, and they are quite sure +she meant them to own everything." + +"They know my aunt left a will," said George. + +"She left about a hundred," laughed Nellie. "Kezia has fifty, Bessie has +forty, Miss Sophy has two, and I have one." + +"But the will in my favour is the only legal one; and it's the only one +the trustees know about." + +"Some of the papers were signed and dated, though none were witnessed. +Anyhow, they are all later than your will," said Nellie. + +George thought he could see what she was driving at. Miss Yard would +leave the entire property to Nellie if she could; and his aunt had +certainly left a scrap of paper expressing a wish that her sister should +own the house. No doubt Nellie has this document hidden away safely. It +did not matter much, and yet George felt uncomfortable at the idea of +his wife owning the property. + +"I'll tell you the truth," he said boldly. "My aunt lost her affection +for me rather during the last years of her life, as she thought I didn't +put my whole heart into my work, and perhaps she didn't want me to own +the property. Still, she never destroyed the will, and that leaves the +house to me." + +"But who owns the furniture?" + +"Last week it was mine. Now it belongs to Aunt Sophy." + +"You never gave it her!" + +"She has bought it. I offered it to her through Hunter, and he advised +Percy to buy it with her money." + +"That means the furniture belongs to Mr. Taverner." + +"Aunt Sophy paid every penny of the purchase money, therefore it belongs +to her. I have you as a witness to prove it." + +"She advanced the money to Mr. Taverner. She didn't even know what he +wanted it for," cried Nellie. + +"It will come out at her death, when Percy claims the furniture. We must +keep the cheque, produce it to Percy, and demand an explanation. If he +refuses to withdraw his claim, we will threaten to expose his knavish +tricks before his high-minded Emmie, the whole of her virtuous family, +and the immaculate firm of Cross and Martin." + +"We!" laughed Nellie. "Do you suppose I will be the accomplice of your +villainy?" + +"This afternoon," said George, "I am going into town, and there I shall +buy a sixpenny printed form of Will. I shall then insert what is +necessary, words to the effect that all the furniture, with everything +that Aunt Sophy dies possessed of, are to come to you. I have kept a +copy of aunt's will, which was properly drawn up by a lawyer, so I shall +know how to do it. Then you must ask Aunt Sophy to sign it. Kezia and +Bessie ought to be the witnesses. It would serve them right," said +George, chuckling vastly. + +"I'll have nothing to do with it," cried Nellie. + +"Then I must work alone as usual. I'm not going to let you be defrauded. +The only way to get justice is to help yourself," declared George. +"There's Hunter now! He would give twopence with one hand and steal your +last sovereign with the other. And, if you caught the rascal, he would +swear you had dropped the sovereign in his pocket. And he wouldn't rest +until he had got back the twopence. Hunter stands for justice; he deals +in it like Percy, who puts his sound tomatoes on top of the basket to +hide the rotten ones underneath." + +"I'm afraid you don't love Mr. Hunter," laughed Nellie. "Is it because +he has ordered you to clear out?" + +"He and Percy between them hatched the dirty plot. They know I want +money--" + +"A few days ago you were refusing it." + +"Ah, but that was tact. The pair of rascals offered to buy the +furniture, if I would promise to leave my own home. That was bribery and +corruption. They want to get rid of me; they would like me to starve in +a ditch, and they would prefer the ditch to have water in it. Hunter's +not quite so bad as Percy, I think. Hunter has to be a scoundrel, or he +couldn't make a living. But Percy is just a homicidal maniac." + +"They are afraid you might try to influence Miss Sophy," suggested +Nellie, when she had done laughing. + +"It's Percy's doing entirely. He's a common malefactor himself, so he +thinks I must be the same. He's not going to have any one else milking +his golden goose. Besides, he knows how fond I am of Aunt Sophy, and +what great care I take of her. I have saved her from serious injury many +a time, and that doesn't suit Percy at all. He wants the dear old lady +to fall about, and hurt herself, and die of shock, so that he can get +her money, which I hope will be a curse to him." + +"I understand the position," said Nellie. "You really are going?" she +added. + +"I must go," replied George gloomily. "It is hard on both of us, but you +must try to be brave, for we shall soon meet again. Aunt Sophy won't +live long when she hasn't me to look after her." + +"Thank you for another compliment," cried Nellie. + +"You deserve them all," said George, with more tenderness than usual. + +He set off presently, carrying the precious vases wrapped up like +twin-babies and, arriving at the market-town, he entered the shop of the +principal ironmonger, who dealt also in all kinds of earthenware goods, +and had the notice, "Art pottery a Specialty," posted in one of his +windows. The proprietor advanced to meet him, and was highly flattered +when George remarked he had come to obtain the impartial opinion of a +specialist regarding the value of some Chinese vases. + +"If I can't give it ye, sir, I don't know who can. I ha' handled cloam +all my life, as my father did avore me, and I'll quote ye a fair market +price vor anything you like to show me. They are amazing ugly things, +sure enough, wi' they old snakes all twisted round 'em," said the honest +tradesman when George had undressed his babies. + +"They're beautifully glazed," said the owner proudly. + +"Yes, they'm nice and shiny. 'Tis done by baking 'em. Now you want me to +tell you how much they'm worth?" + +"Suppose I asked you to buy them, how much would you offer?" + +"I might give ye eighteen pence vor the pair, though I should fancy I +wur doing ye a favour. Some folks like these ugly things--I sell a lot +o' they china cats wi' the eyes starting out o' their heads--but I would +be satisfied if I got a shilling each vor these old vases." + +"A gentleman told me the other day they were worth a lot of +money--hundreds of pounds in fact," said the astounded George. + +"I believe ye, sir. Plenty o' gentlemen, when they see a bit o' cloam +that ain't quite the same as ordinary cloam, will tell ye it's worth +money. Cloam is wonderful cheap just now, sir. I can show ye some +amazing bargains in vases at half a crown the pair, and far better value +than these old china things." + +"But the gentleman, who told me they were valuable, came from London," +George protested. + +"Well, sir," replied the little provincial, smiling broadly, "ain't that +just where all the vules do come from?" + +There was another china shop in the town, so George tried his fortune +there. This shop was kept by a fat lady, who turned sour when George +informed her he had not come to purchase anything; and passed into +indignation when he had unveiled the vases. + +"Take 'em away, sir," she said sternly. "I wouldn't show such vulgar +stuff in my window if you paid me for it. My establishment is noted for +chaste designs--flowers, and birds, and butterflies--little lambs, and +shepherdesses--and I deal wi' gentlefolk." + +"A thing can be ugly, and yet priceless," said George. + +"It's not the ugliness so much as the obscenity," replied the stout +lady, who was herself no gracious object. "They were made, I fancy, by +poor benighted heathens; though why people ship such stuff into England, +when they can buy cheap and beautiful Christian home-made vases from +such establishments as mine, I can't tell ye," she declared, handling +one of the treasures so recklessly that George darted forward in great +terror. + +"Oh, you needn't be alarmed," she went on. "If I did break it, I'd give +ye another pair, and something to be proud of. I should smash these +nasty old things into crocks and put 'em in my flower-pots." + +George returned to Highfield, wondering greatly. He knew nothing +whatever concerning china, and apparently the local experts were no +better informed than himself. Crampy, on the other hand, had valued the +vases at a thousand pounds, although he admitted the possibility of +their being forgeries; he was, however, prepared to pay the money and +take the risk. Before reaching home George had fully decided to secure +the thousand pounds before he commenced his pilgrimage. + +He was absent from the village about three hours, and during that short +period all manner of things had happened. The Yellow Leaf had often +noted with regret that a strong leading incident rarely occurred in +Highfield; but, when one did take place, it was almost sure to be +accompanied by another, to the great confusion of the inhabitants who +were compelled to discuss two incidents at the same time. + +The first, and by far the most startling, incident took place quite +early in the afternoon. Nellie had gone into Miss Yard's bedroom to look +up some mending, and presently seated herself beside the window which +overlooked the village street. That letter from Sidney worried her, but +the knowledge of his loose principles troubled her far more. She +remembered the words of his defence, indeed there was nothing much about +him she had forgotten, as her memory was much better than Miss Yard's; +and still she could not decide whether to answer the letter or to ignore +it; whether to meet him once more or to let him go; whether to go on +thinking of him--but that she had to do; or to hate him--though she +couldn't. + +"It's a dreary outlook," she murmured. "Little work and no love makes me +a dull maid. I'm alone in the world, and somebody loves me, but he's a +bad somebody. And another somebody is willing to marry me, but he's a +silly old somebody. And I want the bad somebody." + +"Hook it!" shrieked a parrot from the garden, addressing a bumblebee +which was threatening to enter its cage. + +"Polly gives me advice," she murmured. "Hook it! Hook George, and pour +out rivers of tea, and put on his slippers in respectable humility. No, +thankye, Poll! I won't hook it. I'll fish for something better, else, +when Miss Sophy dies, I must find another job, and go on jobbing it," +she whispered, looking into the glass, "until I don't look anything like +so saucy as I'm doing now." + +"Nellie, where be to?" called the equally saucy parrot. + +"Here she be!" answered the girl from the window. "Her's going to write +to the bad somebody, and her's going to meet him, and her's going to be +a soft dafty little vule and believe his nonsense." + +While she spoke a rumbling of wheels heralded the approach of the +incident, which had already occurred with disastrous results along the +more important reaches of the street. Nellie remained at the open +window out of curiosity until the incident, which was of no importance +to her at the moment, became revealed in the form of a young and pretty +girl, gazing about in a highly interested fashion as she swept past in +an open wagonette; a beautifully dressed young lady, certainly no more +than eighteen, who looked quite capable of travelling round the world +without an escort. + +"Whoever can she be?" Nellie murmured, as she went towards her own room, +to get that letter written before she changed her mind again. + +She could hear voices buzzing in the kitchen, where Kezia and Bessie +were discussing the incident; presently she opened the door and +listened, for the air was thrilling with unpleasant sounds of proper +nouns and most improper adjectives; finally she went downstairs and +presented herself at the kitchen door. + +"Oh, Miss Nellie!" cried Kezia. "Did you see the person driving past?" + +"I did see her," replied Nellie. "Who is she?" + +"Ah, that's what every one's asking. I shouldn't like to say who she be. +See how bold she stared as she drove along!" said Bessie. + +"She warn't so bold looking as that other one," remarked Kezia. + +"She wur just a bit o' painted brass," said Bessie. "This gal's terrible +young. Oh, ain't it awful to see 'em all so wicked! Folks are saying +they won't ha' much more of it." + +"Where was she going?" asked Nellie impatiently. + +"To Black Anchor Farm. Where else would she be going? The driver stopped +by the green and asked the way to Black Anchor." + +"'Tis three o'clock. She can't get away tonight," Kezia whispered. + +"She brought a bag--she's going to stay a long while," muttered Bessie, +covering her face for shame. + +"Policeman ought to get hold of her and lock her up," cried Kezia +wrathfully. + +"Ah, that he ought," agreed Bessie. "If me and Robert wur to have a few +words, he'd be round quick enough and tell us to keep our mouths shut. +Pity I b'ain't an actress! I could do what I liked then. The folks won't +stand much more of it. I wish Captain Drake wur back again; he'd have +they Brocks out of the country in no time." + +Nellie crept back to her room and destroyed the unfinished letter. Then +she drew down the blind. + +The second incident commenced about an hour later, when another +conveyance reached Highfield and proceeded at once to Windward House. A +gentleman stepped out and inquired for Mr. Drake. Having learnt from +Kezia that George was absent, but expected home at any time, the +gentleman said he would take a stroll round the village and await his +coming. + +This incident would have passed almost unnoticed, so far as the general +public were concerned, had the stranger been of the usual speechless +type of tourist, content to stare deferentially at the local antiquities +and to wander aimlessly round the churchyard. But he was not, as he +himself admitted, within measurable distance of an ordinary man; for he +joined a group of villagers, who were discussing the latest tragedy in +whispers, and insisted upon introducing himself and asking questions +about themselves. + +In the first place he came from America, and he lost no time in +informing his listeners that an American gentleman was the only perfect +specimen of humanity to be found upon the face of the globe. In the +second place he was a millionaire, and had no bashfulness about +advertising the fact. Finally, he enjoyed use of the name Josiah P. +Jenkins, and his business premises, or at least some of them, were +situated in Philadelphia, which, he explained, was the city of brotherly +love, where Irish toasted English, whites embraced negroes, Jews dined +with Christians, and sharp practice was unknown. + +By this time the poor little actress, driving in solitary state towards +Black Anchor, was almost forgotten. Actresses had occurred before, +unhappily, but this was the first occasion during the entire history of +the universe upon which a millionaire had walked and talked in +Highfield. Mr. Jenkins was bestowing a new tradition upon the village; +he was quite the equal of Queen Elizabeth, who had slept, and very much +superior to King Charles, who had hidden, somewhere in the +neighbourhood. Here was an individual who reckoned the weekly wage, not +by a few shillings, according to local custom, but by innumerable +dollars every moment. The people gazed upon him with reverence, while +children approached to touch him, and discover what metal he was made +of, while some of the more intelligent made remarks concerning copper +which the great man did not seem to understand. The Yellow Leaf admitted +afterwards he was thankful he had lived to see it, although he would +have respected millionaires far more had he never set eyes upon the +corporeal presence of Mr. Jenkins. It was wonderful, he added, how +quickly these Americans acquired a superficial knowledge of the English +language. + +"What might be your occupation, sir?" asked the Dumpy Philosopher. + +"Railways, my friend, with patent medicines as a side-line," replied Mr. +Jenkins. + +"I hope you ain't come here to build none, nor make none," said the +Yellow Leaf. + +"I have come here in my private capacity as art lover, collector, +connoisseur. I am awaiting the arrival of one of your leading citizens, +Mr. Drake of Windward House." + +"And here he be, bringing home the washing," cried Squinting Jack, as +George at the moment appeared upon the road with a fantastic white +bundle beneath each arm. + +"Don't you believe his tale," whispered the Dumpy Philosopher to his +friends, as the American started forward to meet George. "He'm going to +make that railway across Dartmoor what'll ruin the whole lot of us--and +Mr. Drake ha' been and brought 'en here." + + + + +CHAPTER XII + +A SPLENDID BARGAIN + + +It was the most awkwardly thrilling moment of George's life, when he +found himself confronted by the millionaire before the eyes of the Elder +Inhabitants. Because of the couple of ridiculous bundles he could not +grasp the hand of Mr. Jenkins; he dared not explain he was carrying the +porcelain about with him; so he muttered something about grand weather +and unexpected pleasure, then raced homewards with the American ambling +at his side. + +"Crampy flung me a line telling me about your masterpieces. I beat the +sun this morning in an aeroplane invented by a friend; came to turf on +Salisbury plain; friend and driver broke rudder and ankle; caught a +horse, rode him barebacked to the nearest garage; bought a car, drove it +fifty miles; car broke down, sold it second-hand, hired a train, drove +here from the station--all so to speak. If I'm not first, I guess I'm a +derned good second." + +"You needn't have hurried quite so much," gasped George, wishing he +could exaggerate like that. + +"I guess, sir, when it comes to business, a man has got to put in his +best licks, or some other fellow will pull his foot ahead and spudgel up +the goods. Cramp has unloosed his jaw-tackle to the crowd. I'm not +particular scared of the Britishers, who look before they leap, and +think before they look, and make their wills before they think; but +there's quite a few Americans in your London, England, nosing around for +something specially ancient to take home. There's Wenceslas Q. Alloway +of Milwaukee. Lager-beer he is, or was, for now he's mostly grape juice +for conscience' sake; with an elegant white beard and the innocent ways +of an archangel--he's got this collecting craze so bad he'd mortgage his +immortality, or a thousand years of it, for a bit of old china, though +he'd try to stick in a clause to best the devil, for he's a pretty +derned orthodox First Baptist on a Sunday. I'm a Second Adventist, and +my crowd has just built a church in Philadelphia which for size and +shape makes your Westminster Abbey look a bit retrospective." + +"Come inside," said George faintly. "I'm afraid I can't offer you much +hospitality, as I'm only staying here with my aunt who is not able to +receive visitors." + +"Don't mention hospitality, sir. Just give me a sight of your vases, and +if they're genuine, you'll be giving me a gorge. Wonderful pretty place. +I'd like to ship the whole of this township across to America, put up a +barbwire fence around, and charge a dollar for admission. Beautiful +place to be buried in! Might I inquire if you are carrying anything +specially out of date?" + +"I've been shopping," replied George. + +"Mr. Drake!" called the voice of the postmistress. "A telegram vor ye, +sir." + +George tore open the envelope and read, "Just heard from Crampy. Fifteen +hundred if O.K. Alloway." + +"Knew he'd switch on to the main track up to time, but he can't begin to +best me. Guess he's exceeding your speed limit right now, and about +midnight his automobile will be killing ducks in this neighbourhood," +said Jenkins complacently. + +"I suppose you know something about china?" George suggested, as he +ushered the visitor into the dining room. + +"My knowledge of porcelain extends from my head to my finger ends. When +you show me Chinese vases I'm at home, sir, I'm surrounded with familiar +objects, I'm behind the scenes. Crampy knows something, but I can run a +saw upon him. When his wells dry up, that's the time, sir, mine begin to +flow," said Jenkins, ostentatiously producing a long cheque-book and +slapping it upon the table. + +"If you will excuse me a moment, I'll go for the vases," said George. + +He carried the bundles up to his room, and consulted the list which +Crampy had sent him. Having satisfied himself that the names of Jenkins +and Alloway appeared upon it, he went downstairs with the undraped +vases, thankful his visitor had called at the time of day when Miss Yard +and Nellie were shut up together, and Kezia was occupied in the kitchen. + +The millionaire stood in the attitude of a clergyman about to receive a +child for baptism; and, when George extended one of the vases, he +accepted it reverently, then walked to the window, examined it, tapped +and stroked it, hugged and adored it, and very nearly kissed it, before +turning to exclaim, "These are the goods, Mr. Drake!" + +"Yes, they are very fine specimens," replied George casually. + +"I don't say they are unique at present, though that's what they will be +when I get 'em across to Philadelphia. I guess there's been an empty +mantelpiece in the Emperor of China's palace for quite a few years." + +George explained the vases had been discovered by his uncle during one +of the anti-foreign riots in China many years ago. + +"Your uncle was a great lad, sir. He saw his chance to loot the pieces, +so he repelled boarders and took 'em. I should call your uncle a public +benefactor. He removed these vases from the custody of the uncivilised +Chinee, and conferred them upon the cultured world of art. When the +potter turned them on his wheel," continued Jenkins, beginning to +rhapsodise, "he little thought they were destined, by a far-seeing +Providence, to find a home in the United States, the illustrious city of +Philadelphia, the unassuming if somewhat palatial mansion--" + +"The postmistress again!" exclaimed George, hurrying to the front door. + +"I hadn't hardly got back home, sir, when there come another. I do hope, +sir, it ain't bad news again," said the good woman, as she handed over a +second telegram. + +"It's of no consequence," said George. + +"I'm very glad it ain't no worse, sir. I hope, sir, you'm going on +well," said Mrs. Cann, trusting that an interpretation of these +telegrams might be vouchsafed to her. + +George cautiously replied that his lumbago was improving daily; then he +returned to the dining room and said, "Here's a telegram from an +American named Anderson. He asks me not to deal with any one until he +calls, and he offers seventeen hundred." + +"I don't know the fellow," said Jenkins suspiciously. "I would advise +you to have nothing to do with him. He may be a crook, a man of straw." + +"He's all right," said George. "Crampy sent me a list of collectors I +could trust, and his name is on it. I suppose Crampy himself is safe, +as a firm of lawyers, who are supposed to be respectable, sent him down +here." + +"Crampy is as genuine as the rising sun. He's valuer to your Court of +Probate, he's got a fixed place of business, his name's in the +Directory. He's just got to tote fair, but he won't get rich till he +grows more brain. I've known Crampy to pay down big money for a fake." + +"He made me an offer for these vases," said George. + +"I'll double it," cried the millionaire, nestling down to his +cheque-book. + +"He offered me a thousand pounds." + +"Then I'll give you two thousand." + +"I might get even more at a sale," George muttered greedily. + +"I guess you don't know a great lot about sales," said Jenkins +pityingly. "If you put these vases up to auction, collectors and dealers +would get together and fix the price beforehand. I'm playing my lone +hand in this game, for I'm dead set on getting the ornaments, and I +don't mind paying a fancy price for 'em. Crampy won't go beyond a +thousand, and even Alloway reckons he's sure of them for fifteen +hundred. The other chap offers seventeen hundred it's true, but I have +my doubts about him. I didn't mean to bid two thousand, but I've +promised to double Crampy's offer, and I'm a man of my word or I'm +nothing. Now, sir--you to play!" + +"I'll take it," said George. + +"Easy way of making money, ain't it?" said the American jauntily. "If +you wouldn't mind wrapping some cotton-wool and paper round the things, +I'll take 'em right along with me." + +"Are you going to offer me a cheque?" George stammered. + +"I was going to, but as you don't know a great lot about me, and perhaps +you don't feel like relying on Crampy's introduction, and as I must take +the pieces right away with me, I'll just hand over the stuff in notes +upon your Bank of England which, so far as I know, hasn't put its +shutters up," said the millionaire, producing a mighty pocketbook. "Here +you are, sir--four five-hundreds, and may they breed you a bonanza. +Kindly hand me a form of receipt; and if at any time within the next +forty-eight hours the vases should be discovered forgeries, I am at +liberty to return them, while you will hand back the money. At the +expiration of the forty-eight hours the deal is closed absolutely and, +if the things are fakes, I come out spindigo. Don't be ashamed of your +suspicions, and don't consider my feelings. Hold up the notes to the +light and take a look at the watermark." + +"That's just what I was doing," said George feebly. + +A few minutes later the millionaire departed, George walking with him to +the inn where his conveyance waited. Here also wise men were discussing +the state of decadence towards which the parish was being hurried by +moral failures like the Brocks and such a despicable plotter as the +formerly respected Mr. Drake, who was undoubtedly scheming to construct +that Dartmoor railway by means of American dollars. Mr. Jenkins was seen +to drive away by the Gentle Shepherd, who reported the gratifying +intelligence to headquarters, and a hearty sigh of relief went up while +a quantity of inferior beer went down. Yet nobody sighed so deeply or so +joyously as George as he hurried home a man of means at last. + +Rapture lost half its charm because there was nobody with whom it could +be shared; for Nellie, he found, had retired with a headache, while +Bessie, upon sentry duty near the bedroom door, repelled the advance of +Miss Yard who was in tears because they would not let her in to see the +poor girl's body. + +"I knew she would go like that. I told her she had a heart, because she +was such a good girl, and they always go suddenly. I do hope you won't +be the next, George. Of course you know poor Percy is gone," she +wailed. + +"You were very good in your young days," said George gallantly, "but you +are still alive. There's nothing much the matter with Percy, except that +he's going to get married." + +"Take that woman away," snapped Miss Yard, "and make her stop growing. +She gets worse every day." + +"I finished long ago, thankye, miss," said Bessie. + +"What a wicked story! She's done a lot since yesterday," complained Miss +Yard. "Do let me have one peep at my dear little Nellie before they take +her away." + +The young lady herself cried out and hoped they would all be taken away. +Peace was restored, after Miss Yard had tumbled down happily, convinced +that the age of miracles was not past. + +George woke the next morning with a sense of prosperity which required a +safety valve when the inevitable letter from Mr. Hunter, who had now +shrunk icily into a solitary initial beneath the signature Cross and +Martin, announced, "the probate of your late aunt's will has been +granted, and you are now at liberty to draw cheques against the balance +of two hundred pounds lying in the bank." + +George felt sufficiently healthy to dig potatoes, make love, or perform +any other menial act. He ate a huge breakfast, then climbed into an +apple tree and whistled for half an hour: Miss Yard, sitting at the +window, declared she had never heard the blackbirds sing so beautifully. +While thus relieving his high spirits a light carriage could be heard +approaching; its wheels rattled down the hill; the driver shouted to the +horse; and the conveyance drew up beside the garden gate. + +"Here's another millionaire!" George chuckled, as he dropped from the +branches. But there was nobody except the driver, whom George recognised +as belonging to the principal hotel of the neighbouring town. + +"I was to give you this letter, sir, and to bring you this box, and to +wait for an answer," said the man. + +"Did a gentleman called Jenkins send you?" George faltered, receiving +the box with the dignity of an author taking back his rejected +masterpiece. + +"That's right, sir. I was to get back as quick as I can, for the +gentleman wants to catch a train. Here's the letter, sir; and I was to +be sure and take back an answer." + +George hurried indoors, his knees wobbling; tore open the envelope and +read: + +"It's worse than a falling birth rate, but the vases are fakes. I have +examined them carefully with strong glasses and discovered marks which +show beyond a doubt they are not more than a hundred years old. These +pieces would deceive any amateur and quite a few experts: they fairly +hocussed me till I turned on the glasses. This will make your soul sick, +I guess, but you've still got Crampy. I won't say anything to queer your +business; but take my advice and don't hawk the things about, or some +other fellow may get notions. Your best chance is Crampy, right now, +while he's innocent. The longer you keep the vases the more they'll +smell. Kindly return shinplasters by bearer, and pile up my sympathy to +your credit." + +George sprang to the box and wrenched off its lid; but a glance +dispelled his suspicions. The vases had not been exchanged for local +beauties; they had been returned undamaged but condemned. Crampy was +honest, and Jenkins was genuine; and he himself had lost a fortune. + +"I don't want to gammon a decent fellow like Crampy, but I can't afford +to lose a thousand pounds," George muttered, after the driver had +departed with the banknotes. "I'll walk over to Brimmleton and send him +a telegram. If it goes from here Mrs. Cann will talk all over the +village. And on the way back I'll look in at Black Anchor, and try to +find out what young Sidney is up to." + +Before starting he told Nellie of his intentions, which were still +honourable; but the young lady was indifferent to the point of malice. + +"They are nothing to me, and the sooner they clear out of the place the +better," she said firmly. + +"I'm going to give the lad a little friendly advice. The people are +complaining that he's making Highfield more like London every day; and +naturally they are getting angry about it," said George. + +"Oh, don't talk to me about it," cried Nellie. + +"Shall I talk to you when I come back?" + +"That will depend upon what you have to say." + +"It can't possibly be good news," said George cheerfully. "I knew Sidney +was a bad egg the first time I saw him. He never took his eyes off my +boots, and that's a sure sign of a nasty character." + +So George walked to Brimmleton, where he was a foreigner, and despatched +the telegram to Crampy, accepting his offer for the vases and pressing +for a reply immediately, as he was very much afraid Jenkins might leak a +little upon his return to London. Then he turned aside to the lonely +farm, where half-savage children no longer rolled in the mud, noting +with approval the effect of hard labour in the shape of reclaimed land +and well drained fields. The Brocks, if vicious, were at least not idle; +and George was always well pleased at discovering signs of human +industry which convinced him that the race was by no means decadent. + +Nearing the house he walked warily; and here a shocking spectacle was +presented. He saw a young girl--the same infamous young person--most +daintily attired, seated upon a boulder near the door, wearing over her +pretty frock a deplorable type of beribboned and belaced apron, perusing +a volume with a lurid binding which assuredly was teaching her terrible +things. And he saw the old man--the grandfather--approach with a mattock +on his shoulder; and he pulled her hair; while she shouted at him--some +nameless jest, doubtless, but happily George could not hear the words. + +Presently Sidney appeared--for it was nearly dinner time--and the worst +happened. The abandoned young creature jumped up and ran towards him, +with an expression, described mentally by George as one of ready-made +affection, upon her pretty face; and, as they walked into the house, the +wicked young man passed his arm around the waist of the shameless +damsel. + +The watcher groaned in spirit, although he could not altogether escape +from the idea that the ungodly were not necessarily to be pitied in this +world. Then he walked to the house and knocked at the door. The +scuffling sound of young women in flight caused him to shake his head +again. + +"So 'tis you, Mr. Drake! You'm quite a stranger," exclaimed Sidney +readily enough, though in George's opinion his face wore a hunted look. + +"I'd like to have a few words with you," he replied. + +"Right," said Sidney, looking back into the house to call, "Tell Dolly +not to hurry wi' the dinner, grandfather." + +"Dolly!" groaned George, somewhat enviously. He had clung to the hope +that the girl's name might turn out to be Jane. + +"You know, Sidney, I don't bear you any ill-feeling," he began, when +they stood a few paces from the house, although his eyes were stricken +with horror at discovering the young woman had been reading a book +printed in French. "But there's some very loud talk up in Highfield +about you and your goings on with the ladies." + +"We have nought to do wi' Highfield volk, and we don't care that much +vor their talk," replied Sidney, snapping his fingers. + +"They are threatening to mob you," George whispered. + +"Not they," laughed Sidney. "They ain't got it in 'em, and if a crowd +did come down along me and grandfather would settle the lot." + +"It's pretty bad to have young women here--from France too--one after +the other. You can't blame the people for being a bit upset." + +"If that's all you've got to say, Mr. Drake, I'll thank ye kindly, and +tell ye I don't want to hear no more of it. Dolly is staying vor a week +or two, and when she goes I'll get another," said the young outcast +fiercely. + +"I thought I'd just look in and warn you as I was passing," said George. +"You know, Sidney, I don't blame you, and I think you're quite right not +to give way to them. If I can help you in any way I shall be only too +glad. These ignorant people don't understand men of the world like you +and me." + +"I reckon," said Sidney, with the deplorable grin of a completely +dissipated soul. + +"I mustn't keep you from your dinner, Sidney--and from the ladies. Give +my best wishes to your grandfather, and my respects to Miss Dolly. I do +hope she is enjoying her visit," said the double-faced George. Then he +ambled off, trying to smile and frown with the same face, entirely +satisfied that Sidney would never again be permitted to approach within +speaking distance of Miss Blisland. + +He was unable to report the result of this visit, beyond mentioning he +had discovered things too terrible for words; and, although Nellie did +appear for one moment inclined to listen, George could do nothing except +place a hand across his eyes and declare he could not face her after the +scenes of sheer depravity he had been compelled to witness at Black +Anchor. Nellie was well aware George would exaggerate if he could; but +this did really appear to be a case where exaggeration was impossible. + +"You do get a lot of these nasty things, Mr. George," remarked Kezia, as +she approached with a telegram which suggested to her nothing except +murder and sudden death. + +"In this case I shall attend the funeral," said George cheerfully, when +he discovered the deluded Crampy would meet him at the station upon the +following day. + +"Who's gone now?" asked Kezia. + +"Next week I am going into business," explained George with suitable +emotion. "This telegram is from a friend who wants to go into +partnership with me." + +"I hope he ain't coming here then," said Kezia, who was beginning to +resent the visits of strange gentlemen, because they walked upon her +carpets and sat upon her chairs. "What be you going to sell, Mr. +George?" she asked with much interest. + +"China," he replied. + +"I do hope and pray as how you may succeed," gasped Kezia; and off she +went to inform Bessie that Mr. George was about to start a cloam shop. +Bessie quite believed it, as Mr. George had always been so fond of +handling cups and saucers. + +Miss Yard also was fond of tea drinking, but she had no tenderness for +china, and would generally release her cup in a vacuum, instead of +placing it fairly upon the table; and express a vast amount of amusement +at the ridiculous laws of nature when the cup exploded upon the carpet. +She was particularly robust that afternoon and insisted upon pouring out +tea herself. When the fragments, which filled two small baskets, had +been removed, the steaming carpet mopped, and dryness restored, George +seated himself beside the old lady, produced a sheet of foolscap covered +with writing, and said in his most silvery voice: + +"Circumstances, my dear aunt, will compel me to leave you during the +course of the next few days: but I cannot go until I have the +satisfaction of knowing you have made a will in our dear Nellie's +favour." + +"Good heavens--in my presence, too!" gasped the young lady. + +"I need not remind you of the goodness, the modesty, the unselfishness +of our Nellie," he continued. "She would serve you for nothing, but +nevertheless it is your duty to leave her all you can." + +"I can't stay and listen to this," cried the distressed beneficiary. + +"Don't interfere. She has always meant to do it, but never will unless +we jog her memory," George whispered. + +"I'll have nothing to do with it," exclaimed Nellie; and out she went +with a fine colour. + +"Is this something to do with that nasty robbery they call income tax?" +asked Miss Yard. + +"This is your last will and testament," replied George solemnly. "I know +you mean to leave everything to Nellie, but you can't do that unless you +sign a will. You must die soon, you know; and, if it was to happen +suddenly, Nellie would get nothing." + +"I did write out a paper, but somebody has hidden it away somewhere," +said the old lady. + +"Pieces of paper are very little good," said George. "This is a properly +drawn up will. When you have signed it I can go away quite happy, and I +shall know dear Nellie will be provided for." + +"Will she have the house, and the furniture, and all my money?" asked +Miss Yard eagerly. + +"Percy gets your money, but Nellie will have all that you may leave in +the bank, any investments you may make, and the proportion of income up +to the time of your death," said George learnedly. + +"Must I write my name somewhere?" + +"Yes, and two witnesses are required; but Nellie can't be one," said +George, going to the window and gazing along the street for some honest +person who could also write. + +Presently the Wallower in Wealth appeared, prospecting the gutter for +any signs of gold dust. + +"I know he can write, for he signed a petition to uncle in favour of +more frequent offertories in aid of the poor and needy," George +muttered. Then he caught up the will, lest Miss Yard should scribble her +name all over it during his absence, ran out into the street, and +invited the scribe to step inside and witness Miss Yard's signature. + +"I'll do it on one condition," said the Wallower in Wealth. + +"What's that?" said George. + +"You sell me the musical box. I'll give ye ten shillings vor it." + +"That musical box is worth fifty pounds," said George. "But I can't sell +it." + +"Ain't it yours?" + +"It has been out of order since my uncle died." + +"You get it put right, and let me have it vor fifteen shillings, and +I'll sign." + +"Miss Yard wants you to witness her signature. You won't be doing +anything for me." + +"You'm asking me." + +"Miss Yard isn't feeling very well today, and she's in a hurry to get +her affairs settled." + +"I b'ain't preventing her," said the Wallower in Wealth. + +"She can't do it without witnesses." + +"I might spare a pound vor the musical box." + +"You couldn't get it repaired. That musical box is a lost art." + +"If I take it wi' all its faults, and Miss Yard gives me five shillings +vor my time and labour, will ye sell me the box vor one pound two and +sixpence?" + +"I can't stay here talking. If you won't come I must get somebody else," +said George impatiently. + +"Other folk would want to be paid the same as me," said the Wallower in +Wealth. + +"Then I shall go and ask the vicar." + +This was a fatal blow, and the bargainer climbed down at once. + +"I'll stand witness vor half a crown and first refusal of the musical +box," he promised. + +Miss Yard was unusually silent after signing her will, and paying a fee +to both her witnesses. She lay back in her chair with dreamy old eyes +which looked as if they were recalling many scenes. While George carried +the precious document upstairs to Nellie. + +"Put it away and keep it safe until she dies," he said. + +"I want to say the right thing," she murmured. "You ought not to have +made her sign, although she often says it is her intention to leave me +something." + +"You won't forget that I might have acted in a most scandalous fashion," +George hinted. + +"Yes, I know!" she said hurriedly. "You could have put your name in +place of mine, and she would have signed just as willingly. But it's a +horrible business." + +"All business is horrible. That is why we hire people to do it for us. I +was thinking of myself as well," said George heartily. "We are getting +along very nicely, Nellie--no just cause or impediment, you know! This +should mean one of those nice little sums of good money known as +capital," he whispered, rubbing his hands. + +"I must go to Miss Sophy," said Nellie; and she moved towards the stairs +like one in trouble. + +The next day George carried his vases tenderly to the station where, at +the appointed time, Crampy arrived, and at once inquired: + +"Has Jenkins been down?" + +"He came," replied George, prepared for some such question, "but we +couldn't do business." + +"All cackle, I suppose? That's his way. He'll come into my place to +bargain for a piece of Sèvres; swear he must have it, talk me dizzy; +then say he must cross the Atlantic and think about it." + +"He seemed very anxious to buy the vases, but he couldn't quite make up +his mind. I didn't exactly trust the fellow," said George. Then he went +on to describe the millionaire's adventures with aeroplane and motor car +between London and Highfield. + +"That was just his ornamental way of telling you he's a hustler. He +travelled by railway, and third class all the way. Jenkins is an awful +liar; but he's honest. I want to catch the up train, due in about twenty +minutes, so we had better get to business. If you are ready to hand over +the pieces, I am prepared to give you my cheque for a thousand marked +accepted by the bank." + +"Jenkins said they were really worth more than that." + +"Though he wouldn't give it," laughed Crampy. "I'll just take another +look at 'em to make sure." + +"It doesn't matter," George protested. + +However, Crampy insisted in a courteous fashion: so they walked to the +far end of the platform, where George unpacked one of the vases, and the +dealer, having put on his glasses, examined it shrewdly until the owner +began to suffer from the silence. + +"Do you know, Mr. Drake, I'm not sure--upon my soul I can't say for +certain whether the things are genuine or not." + +"Don't tell me they are forgeries," said George weakly. + +"They are marvellously well done. Still, I've got a horrible idea in my +head there is something wrong with them." + +"Jenkins told you?" cried George involuntarily. + +"So he said they were fakes!" + +"He didn't go as far as that, but he thought there might be some doubt +about them," George admitted. + +"It looks bad--Jenkins is an uncommon smart amateur. Still, Mr. Drake, +I'm a man of my word, and I'm going to make you an extremely liberal +offer. I'll buy the vases for the price agreed upon. If they should turn +out to be genuine, I can make a fair profit. If they must be condemned +as forgeries, I may discover somebody with plenty of money but not +enough brains to put unpleasant questions. Or, if you prefer it, I will +sell the vases for you on commission. But, in that case, you stand to +lose. It's a gamble so far as I'm concerned." + +"That's a luxury I can't afford," George muttered. + +"Exactly! Here's my cheque! I'm not a philanthropist; I'm willing to do +any man a good turn, but I'm far more anxious to do a bit of good for +myself. I may lose, but it's just as likely I shall clear a profit. +These vases can be passed off, though you couldn't do it--but, mind you, +I don't say even now they are not genuine." + +With a vast sense of relief George accepted the cheque, and gave up +possession of the Chinese vases. + + + + +CHAPTER XIII + +WASPS AND OTHER WORRIES + + +"Have you any idea what we are doing here?" Miss Yard inquired one +morning, while Nellie was assisting her to dress. + +"We came to live with your sister," replied the girl. + +"I suppose there's some truth in that. But what's the good of staying +now Maria has gone to the seaside? I want to go home, and see my friends +again," declared Miss Yard, declining the next garment until she should +receive a satisfactory answer. + +"This is your home," said Nellie. + +"Then why don't we have tea parties, and why don't we meet every week to +knit chest protectors for the people who eat one another?" + +"Because we no longer live in a town full of old ladies with nothing to +do." + +"There was an old clergyman who used to make me shiver with his dreadful +stories," added Miss Yard eagerly. + +"Not exactly. While the rest of you knitted, one of the ladies used to +read aloud from a book, written by a missionary who had spent thirty +years upon an island in the Pacific; and he did mention that, when he +first went there, the people were not vegetarians." + +"And we sent him a lot of mufflers and mittens," cried Miss Yard. + +"Yes, and he wrote back to say wool was much too warm for people who +wore nothing at all." + +"That's what made me shiver," said Miss Yard triumphantly. "It wasn't so +much what they ate, as their walking about without clothes. They used to +go to church with nothing on. It must have been dreadful for the poor +clergyman. No wonder his health broke down. We must go back," said Miss +Yard decidedly. "I can't think what made me so silly as to come here. Do +you remember the lady who lived in a dandelion?" + +"Now you really have puzzled me," laughed Nellie. + +"A little yellow dandelion on a hill. There were no stairs to go up, but +I didn't like it much in summer." + +"I've got it! You mean the bungalow that belonged to Miss Winter. You +didn't like her." + +"She used to kiss the clergy," said Miss Yard sadly. + +"My dear Miss Sophy you must not libel people. She told you once the +only men she ever had kissed were clergymen; one was her father, and +the other her uncle. What makes you remember all this?" + +"Percy has written to me, and says he's going to be a missionary." + +"Let me see the letter." + +"It's on my table. I'm sure Percy will make a good missionary, for when +he wants money, he's not ashamed to ask for it." + +"This is an appeal from the Society for Supplying Paper-patterns of the +Latest Fashions to the Ladies of the Solomon Islands." + +"That's where Percy is going. I do hope they will dress themselves +properly for his sake." + +"Oh, here it is!" cried Nellie, discovering a letter on the carpet. "So +Mr. Taverner is coming here next week." + +"And he's going to bring me some tomatoes." + +"He's going to bring his fiancée," said Nellie. + +"Now I've quite forgotten what that is." + +"The young lady he's going to marry." + +"That's what I mean. I get so confused between tomatoes and mortgages." + +"He has just come into some money most unexpectedly," Nellie read. "He +arrived at the conclusion long ago that the climate of England is quite +unsuitable for the cultivation of tomatoes; and as he is anxious to +exploit the capabilities of his new variety, he is going to settle, +after his marriage, in Tasmania, which he believes is an island with a +future. He is coming to Highfield to bid his dear good aunt a long +farewell. Whatever gave you the idea he was going to be a missionary?" + +"Doesn't he say so?" asked Miss Yard. + +"No, he is going to Tasmania to grow tomatoes." + +"I suppose I used to know something about Tasmania; but then I used to +be very good at acrostics, and I can't do them now." + +"It's an island near Australia. But not every one who goes to an island +in the Pacific intends to be a missionary," said Nellie, adding to +herself, "This will be delightful news for George." + +That gentleman was depressed, for he had just received an anonymous +communication threatening him with a fearful end upon the day that the +first boulder of the new railway was blasted. Also Crampy had sent him a +perplexing note, mentioning that some experts believed the vases were +genuine, while others declared them to be forgeries; but, in any case, +he had succeeded already in disposing of them. + +When George had read Percy's letter, which Miss Yard passed across the +breakfast table, with the remark that she herself would like to live "in +the Pacific," if he could find her an island where the police insisted +upon the wearing of apparel during divine service, he became highly +suspicious, and suggested to Nellie in an undertone that Percy had +selected the Antipodes with a view to removing himself as far as +possible from the Central Criminal Court. + +"He's going to grow Tasmanias in Tomato," announced Miss Yard. + +"He means to grow giant tomanias--I mean tomatoes, in--oh, bother!" +laughed Nellie. "Miss Sophy has muddled me. Why shouldn't Mr. Taverner +grow tomatoes in Tasmania?" + +"What about this money? Would anybody leave money to Percy unless they +had to?" cried George. + +"It may have been left to his young lady," suggested Nellie. + +"He has robbed someone," said George bitterly, "and now he's running off +the earth to hide the swag." + +"If I wanted to say something nasty about Mr. Taverner," said Nellie, "I +might suggest he had become engaged to Miss Lee because this money had +been left to her." + +"I should be certain of it, if he wasn't clearing out of the country," +replied George. + +"Isn't this honey?" complained Miss Yard. "What makes it taste so +bitter?" + +"Heavens, don't swallow them! Have they stung you?" cried Nellie, +perceiving suddenly that the good lady was spreading her buttered toast +with a mixture of crushed wasps and honey. + +"They are not at all nice. Did the doctor order me to have them?" + +"They are wasps, Aunt," said George bluntly. + +"Are they the things that turn into butterflies?" gasped Miss Yard, +rising from her chair and showing signs of distress. + +"Don't worry, dear. They are quite harmless. Come and lie down, and I'll +bring you something to wash out your mouth," said Nellie; and she +carried off the old lady. While George, always ready to play +emergency-man, rushed into the kitchen, acquainted Kezia with what had +happened owing to her gross carelessness in putting away the honey pot +with the lid off, and ordered her to despatch a telegram to the doctor. +Then he went into the parlour and observed consolingly: + +"People can live a long time with bullets inside them. Wasps can't be +worse, especially as they must be digestible." + +"I am afraid of the stinging parts," said Nellie. + +"Perhaps they are worn off," he replied. + +Miss Yard lay upon the sofa breathing peacefully, thankful she had made +her will, but looking wonderfully healthy. She complained, however, of +drowsiness, whereupon Bessie, who had rushed across the road at the +first alarm, and was then standing in the parlour armed with the brandy +bottle and blue bag, exclaimed incautiously, "That shows they'm +stinging her. Robert ses his father wur bit by a viper, and he drank a +bottle of brandy and lay unconscious vor twenty-four hours." + +"Was it really a viper?" groaned the sufferer. + +"I don't think they will do her any harm," said George. "In some +countries the people live on frogs and slugs." + +"And St. John the Baptist always had grasshoppers with his honey," added +Bessie reverently. + +"And Germans eat worms, and thrive on 'em," George concluded. + +Kezia was crying in the hall, declaring that the jury would bring it in +manslaughter. Being called upon by Bessie to make some valedictory +remark to the poor lady, she approached, and blubbered out: + +"Mrs. Cann ses, miss, you ain't to worry. She can't hardly open her +mouth in the post office without swallowing something; and one evening, +miss, taking her supper in the dark, she ate a beetle; and there's more +good food about than us knows of, she ses; and it 'twas all cooked, +miss, and if it warn't vor the look of such things, we might live a lot +more cheaply than we do; vor she ses, miss, 'tis horrible to think what +ducks eat, but there's nothing tastier than a duckling, 'cept it be a +nice bit of young pork; and she ses, miss, she saw a pig of hers eat a +viper--" + +"There's nothing here about internal wasp stings," broke in Nellie, who +had been consulting a book of household remedies. + +"I can't think how it got into the house," Miss Yard was moaning, with +her eyes fixed upon vacancy. "It seems wonderful that it should have run +down my throat when I wasn't looking." + +"Are you in any pain, dear?" asked Nellie. + +"No," replied Miss Yard in a disappointed voice. + +"They'm always like that," wept Kezia. "My poor missus was wonderful +well the morning she wur took." + +"I'm going away too," said the invalid. "Will you find me a train, +George?" + +"Where to?" asked the obliging nephew. + +"The place where Nellie and I came from. I don't know what they used to +call it." + +"We'll go directly you are well," Nellie promised. + +George brought a railway timetable, a pair of compasses, and a map of +the British Isles; and delivered a lecture which delighted the old lady +so much that she forgot her pangs, and was greatly astonished when the +doctor bustled into the room thankful to know he was not too late. + +"I suppose you want a subscription," said Miss Yard. + +"I had a telegram saying you were seriously ill, but I have never seen +you looking better," replied the doctor. + +"Yes, I am wonderfully well, thank you. I hope you're the same," said +the merry patient. + +"Oh, doctor!" cried Nellie, entering the apartment. "Miss Yard was +eating her breakfast--" + +"And I swallowed a snake! Do you know I had forgotten all about it!" +cried the old lady. + +Nellie revised this version, and the doctor was professionally compelled +to act the pessimist. He advised a little walk in the garden, to +complete digestion of the wasps, recommended a stimulant, prescribed a +tonic, and promised to call every day until the patient should be in a +fair way to recovery. + +Then he departed, and Miss Yard immediately suffered a relapse brought +on entirely by the visit. She was stricken with some mortal disease, and +they were hiding the truth from her. She consented to walk round the +garden, as it would be for the last time; then, having insisted upon +being put to bed, she implored Nellie to tell her the worst; and, when +the girl declared it was nothing but a little indigestion, the old lady +lost her temper, and said it was very unjust she should have to die of a +disease that was not serious. + +"There's nothing whatever the matter," said Nellie. + +"Then what's all this fuss about?" asked Miss Yard. + +"You are making the fuss." + +"I didn't send for the doctor. And he's coming again tomorrow. It's not +measles, and it's not whooping cough, but I believe it's poison. Bessie +put poison into the teapot." + +"Why Bessie?" + +"I knew she would do something dreadful if she didn't stop growing. And +Robert is so short. It must all mean something. He held the teapot while +Bessie put in the poison. Nasty bitter stuff it was too! I suppose I +must forgive them, though I don't like doing it. Where is George?" + +"He is packing. He's going away tomorrow." + +"But he must stay for the funeral!" + +"There's not going to be a funeral. You know Mr. George must leave us; +he has told you so lots of times." + +"Tell him to come here. I must give him a present. Look in the cupboard +and find me something to give George. And pack up all my clothes, for I +shan't want them again. Send them to that Bishop who wrote and said he +hadn't got any." + +"I don't think, really, your clothes are suitable for the ladies of the +Lonesome Islands," said Nellie. + +"You must keep the best things. I want you to have my black silk dress +and the coat trimmed with jet ornaments. They will come in nicely for +your wedding. Perhaps George would like a brooch. Tell Bessie and Robert +to come here at five o'clock to be forgiven--but I won't promise. You +must write to Percy, and tell him I was so sorry not to be able to say +good-bye, but the end came suddenly, though I was quite prepared for it. +Why aren't you packing my clothes--or did you say George was doing it?" + +"I'll call him. And if you worry me much more I shall swear," said +Nellie. + +George came and mourned over his aunt because the time of separation was +at hand. Miss Yard agreed, but almost forgot her own impending departure +when George explained he was referring to himself. + +"Oh, but you are not going to die yet. I'm sure that isn't necessary. +Besides, you are looking so well," she said earnestly. + +"He is not looking a bit better than you are," cried Nellie. + +"I am about to start on a long journey, Aunt," said George piteously. + +"Oh, yes! I remember now about the island in the Pacific where the +tomatoes grow." + +"I have been working rather too much lately, and need a rest," he +explained; "but directly you want me back you have only to send an +invitation." + +"I shall be left all alone--oh, but I forgot," said Miss Yard, +interrupting herself in a shocked voice. "You must stay, George, to do +me a great favour. I want you to bury me in Westminster Abbey in the +next grave to Queen Elizabeth." + +"My dear Miss Sophy!" exclaimed Nellie. + +"Don't listen to that child. She is in a nasty cross mood--and somebody +has been teaching her to swear. I took a fancy to Westminster Abbey when +I was quite young, and, even if it is rather expensive, I should like to +treat myself to a grave there." + +"I'll see to it," George promised. + +"You shouldn't say such a wicked thing," cried Nellie. + +"Are you suffering at all, Aunt?" he inquired, anxious to change the +subject. + +"I don't think so," said Miss Yard. "It's all going to be wonderfully +peaceful. I'm so thankful!" + +"Shall I ask the vicar to call?" George whispered. + +"Of course not," said Nellie fretfully. "She would think he had come to +prepare her. I am very sorry you sent for the doctor. Here's another +beastly wasp! Do kill it." + +"Is she packing my clothes?" whispered Miss Yard, peering over the +bedspread. + +"No, and I'm not going to," replied the young rebel. + +George struck out manfully at the living wasp, knocked it down +somewhere, and began to search for the body which was still buzzing. + +"Oh dear!" cried Miss Yard. "There's such a dreadful pain in my hand." + +"I knocked it on the bed. She really is stung this time!" George +shouted, seizing the insect in his handkerchief and destroying it; while +Nellie fled for the restoratives which were necessary at last. + +It was the best thing that could have happened, for immediately her hand +was bandaged, Miss Yard's interest became centred in that, and she +forgot there was anything else to worry about. When the doctor called +next day, he was advised to say nothing about affairs internally, but to +concentrate all his ability, and his bedside manner, upon the outward +and manifest sting; with the result that Miss Yard was pronounced out of +danger within forty-eight hours; by which time George had vacated the +premises and made room for Percy. + +Hardly had he driven away when there came a knock upon the back door, +and when Kezia went to answer it, she found the Wallower in Wealth +standing there, with twenty-five shillings in his hand and a bargaining +expression on his face. Having inquired after the well-being of every +one in the house, and made a few remarks upon the climate, he stated +that he had lately enjoyed a conversation with the blacksmith, who had +declared there never was a machine he couldn't mend and, if the musical +box were brought to his forge, he would speedily compel it to play all +kinds of music. + +"What's it all about?" asked Kezia; and, as she put the question, Bessie +crossed the road. Upon those rare occasions when she happened to be at +home, there was nothing going on in the house opposite which Bessie did +not contemplate from her upstairs window. + +"Mr. Drake promised me the musical box," explained the visitor, who had +watched the departure of George before setting out on his expedition. + +"It ain't his, and he knows it. And you knows it too," said Kezia +warmly, "else you wouldn't ha' waited till he'd gone away." + +"Gone away, has he!" exclaimed the Wallower in Wealth. "You give me his +address and I'll send the money on to him." + +"That musical box belongs to me," said Kezia. + +This was a critical moment in Bessie's career; to have yielded then +would have meant the complete abandonment of all her rights in +furnishings. She did not hesitate in declaring war upon her ancient ally +with two steely words: + +"'Tis mine!" + +"I'm surprised to hear you say such a thing, Bessie Mudge; and Miss +Sophy lying ill in bed too," replied Kezia. + +"Mrs. Drake left me the musical box, and I ha' got writing to prove it, +and me and Robert are only waiting vor Miss Sophy's funeral to take it." + +"Mrs. Drake said I wur to have all the furniture in the house." + +"I wouldn't like to have to call you anything," said Bessie. + +"And I'd be cruel sorry to fancy you craved to hear the like," retorted +Kezia. + +Then they paused to think out new ideas, and to place their arms in more +aggressive attitudes. + +"When furniture be left to more than one person simultaneous, 'tis usual +to divide it," explained the Wallower of Wealth. + +"Half a musical box b'ain't of no use to me." + +"Nor me." + +"You sell me the box, and I'll give you twelve shillings, and twelve +shillings to Mrs. Mudge, and I'll get it put right at my own expense," +said the Wallower in Wealth, seeking to introduce the peaceful principle +of compromise. + +"I wouldn't take twelve pounds. The Captain told me there warn't another +box like that in this world," said Kezia. + +"He told me there wur another, but 'twas lost," replied Bessie, adding +with the same spirit of determination, "I wouldn't take twelve pounds +neither. Robert ses not a thing in the house can be sold without his +consent." + +"Who's Robert Mudge?" cried Kezia, in the voice of passion. + +"He's my husband," replied Bessie. + +"And who be you?" + +"I'm his wife." + +"Sure enough! They'm husband and wife. I saw 'em married," said the +Wallower in Wealth, with a distinct impression that Bessie was winning +on points. + +"I don't know what's going to happen to us, I'm sure," said Kezia. Then, +in accordance with military strategy, she conquered the enemy by +abandoning her position and slamming the door after her. + +That evening Bessie advanced as usual for coffee, which included a hot +meal, and during this campaign Robert did not accompany her, being +detained, according to the best of his wife's belief, in the bakery, +working overtime at buns. Kezia distrusted this communication, as no +festival of buns was impending, and arrived at the conclusion that the +assistant baker had absented himself from coffee drinking owing to a +bashfulness not uncommon in the time of war and tumults. Having, as she +supposed, abated the pride of Robert, Kezia sought to assuage the malice +of Bessie by small talk concerning Miss Yard's convalescence, the +departure of George, which was positively final like the last appearance +of an actor, and the Turkish state of things at Black Anchor. But the +musical box remained an obsession, playing a seductive jig for Bessie, +and a triumphal march for Kezia; and at last the former said: + +"Me and Robert ha' been talking, and he ses nothing should be took away +avore Miss Sophy dies." + +"That's what my dear missus said. Not me, nor you, nor Mr. George, wur +to touch anything till Miss Sophy had been put away," agreed Kezia. + +"Didn't Mr. George sell part o' the cloam?" asked Bessie. + +"Well, Bess, I did give 'en a pair of old vases. I know I ought not to +ha' done it, but we've got plenty o' cloam, and I wanted the poor fellow +to have something, him being a relation." + +"What us wants to think about is this," Bessie continued, "me and you +ain't agoing to quarrel. Mrs. Drake made a lot of mistakes in her +lifetime, poor thing, and 'tis vor us to make the best of 'em." + +"I'm sure I put in a good word vor you many a time," declared Kezia. + +"I know you did," said Bessie warmly. + +"I used to say to missus, 'Never mind about me, but do ye leave Mr. +George and Bessie something. I don't care about myself,' I said." + +"When us come back from Miss Sophy's funeral, us will divide up the +things. First I'll take something." + +"First me!" said Kezia sharply. + +"You'm the eldest. You can take first," said the generous Bessie. Then +she inclined her head towards the door and whispered, "Ain't that +someone in the hall?" + +"'Tis only Miss Nellie," said Kezia. "There's a drop o' cocoa left in +the saucepan, Bess." + +"I'm sorry us had words today, Kezia," said Bessie, as she took the +drop. + +"Don't ye say anything more about it. I'm sure the dear missus would +walk if she fancied we weren't friendly. But I do wish she hadn't got so +forgetful like." + +"That ain't Nellie!" cried Bessie, listening again. + +"Sounds as if Miss Sophy had got out of bed and fallen down." + +"'Twas a bump vor certain. I'm agoing to see," said Bessie, opening the +kitchen door. + +She advanced along the passage, but was back in a moment. + +"The hall door's wide open--and I saw a light from the parlour." + +"There's a man in the house!" screamed Kezia. "Don't ye go out, Bess!" + +"Who's there?" called the valorous Bessie, advancing again to the +passage. Then she shrunk back, crying: + +"Here's a young man--and here's an old 'un. They're carrying something. +Don't ye go out, Kezia." + +"Oh, my dear, I ain't agoing to," faltered Kezia, retiring into the far +corner of the scullery. + +"They'm running!" Bessie muttered. "One wur youngish, and t'other wur +oldish. They ha' gone now. I heard 'em shut the gate." + +"'Tis they Brocks," whispered Kezia in terror of her life. + +"'Tis somebody who knew Miss Sophy wur lying ill in bed." + +Bessie took the lamp and went forth boldly, calling a challenge at every +step. Presently Kezia plucked up courage to follow, and they went +together into the parlour. + +The musical box had disappeared: so had the pair of silver candlesticks, +the Russian Ikon, and various other rich and rare antiquities. + +"Oh, Kezia; ain't it awful in a Christian country!" exclaimed Bessie. + +"Go vor policeman! No, don't ye--they may come back again." + +Then Kezia's eyes fell upon the mummy, and she cried hysterically, +"Thank heaven they ha' spared the King of Egypt!" + + + + +CHAPTER XIV + +THE GRABBERS + + +The constable, an exceedingly able man who was expecting to become a +sergeant, gave it as his opinion that a thief had been at work. In +support of this theory he pointed out certain prints of hob-nailed +boots, which upon examination he discovered to be his own. Thereupon he +increased his reputation by a shake of the head, and the statement that, +even in a small community, mysteries were bound to happen. + +Kezia began to mutter about Sidney Brock, who had eaten and drunk in her +kitchen, and had endeavoured to entice Nellie into his harem; while +Bessie had the effrontery to suggest she had seen two dark shadows, +unquestionably substantial, disappearing along the lane in the direction +of Black Anchor. + +"You can get to London by that road," replied the policeman. "Were they +walking or running?" he inquired. + +"When I last saw 'em they was running fit to break their necks," said +Bessie. + +The constable twirled his moustache and smiled in a superior fashion; +for he was about to make a point. + +"Running with a musical box pretty near the size of a piano, not to +mention other articles of furniture," he said. + +"The box wur big, but not very heavy," explained Kezia. "It stood upon +legs, four of 'em, but a man could lift it off and carry it." + +"And the legs would follow after?" suggested the policeman, who believed +in making people laugh; but he failed on this occasion. + +"They would have to walk back for the legs," Kezia explained. + +"How many men did you say there were?" + +"Two, but I wouldn't swear to nothing," replied the tactful Bessie. + +"If policeman wur to go along the lane he might catch up wi' them," +suggested Kezia. + +The officer declined, pointing out that it would be a physical +impossibility for two men to carry such bulky articles all the way to +Black Anchor, and a moral impossibility to do so and escape detection. +Then he sought for information concerning the ownership of the purloined +property. + +"'Tis mine," came the simultaneous answer. + +"That wants a lawyer," said the policeman, beginning to show the acumen +which was winning him promotion; and when the position had been +explained he continued, "Maybe Mrs. Drake left a like paper for Miss +Yard?" + +"Two of 'em," said Kezia. + +"Leaving her everything?" + +"Just the house and a pair of silver candlesticks." + +"What ha' been stolen," added Bessie. + +"And a paper for Miss Blisland?" went on the policeman, longing for a +superior officer to hear him. + +"Her left she the round table in the parlour, but that be rightfully +mine," replied Kezia. + +"Mine too," said Bessie. + +"Likely enough she left a bit of writing for Mr. Drake?" + +"He got a bit, but he wouldn't show it to no one," said Kezia. + +"Maybe the person who took the things has got about as much right to +them as certain other folks," said the constable darkly. "That's all I +can say at present, but I'll make inquiries in the morning," he added, +as Robert came up to find out what had happened. + +Highfield was an honest place, where a farmer did not wait for a dark +night to divert his neighbour's water supply, or postpone the cutting +down of a hedge, which did not belong to him, to a misty day. The +inhabitants therefore were convulsed with horror when informed by Robert +that an act of real dishonesty had happened: to wit, a pair of +desperate ruffians had broken into Windward House and departed with +much furniture. It became at once obvious to everybody, except the +policeman, that the district had been systematically plundered. +Squinting Jack declared, now he came to think of it, eggs had been +missing from his hen roost for weeks past; the Wallower in Wealth swore +that a sum not exceeding twenty-five shillings had been extracted from +his mattress; while the Dumpy Philosopher discovered a number of +vacancies among the red cabbages in his back garden. + +This being a matter of morality, the vicar was made the victim of a +deputation, headed by the Dismal Gibcat, an inevitable but unfortunate +selection, as this gentleman had not said his prayers in public for some +years, because, according to his own statement, a violent fit of nasal +catarrh seized upon him immediately he entered the church. The Dismal +Gibcat, encouraged by the silent but moral support of several +Nonconformists, who were generally credited with loving their neighbours +rather more earnestly than themselves, framed an indictment against the +Brocks: they were aliens who had sprung up at Black Anchor with the +suddenness of toadstools; no respectable female presides in their +kitchen; they were visited frequently by women of a certain class; they +had already corrupted the young people of the neighbourhood; and were +now breaking into houses and removing every article of value. +Assassination of prominent personages would follow in due course. + +"You are entirely mistaken," replied the vicar, somewhat stiffly. "It +must be well known to the parish that I often visit the Brocks." + +"They do say you'm friendly wi' every one," observed the Dismal Gibcat +bitterly, as he was obviously an exception. + +"I hope so. At all events I like the Brocks--indeed, I respect them." + +"How about they women and gals?" cried the Dismal Gibcat. + +"Probably their presence can be explained. As for this robbery, it is +ridiculous to suspect the Brocks. I may as well mention that I knew +something about them before they came here," said the vicar. + +"They ses you turned Sidney out of the choir because he teased the +maidens." + +"That is quite untrue. He resigned and explained his reason for doing +so." + +"Well, if they'm friends of yours, 'tis no use us talking; but I believe +they took them things as much as if I'd seen 'em doing it. Ain't that +the general opinion?" demanded the Dismal Gibcat of his limp supporters. + +"I takes volks as I finds 'em," replied the Dumpy Philosopher. + +"I wouldn't like to say parson goes shares wi' the Brocks in +everything--in every single thing," observed the Dismal Gibcat, as the +deputation retired, "but I shouldn't be surprised if a lot o' volk +didn't think so." + +During this excitement Percy and his young lady arrived, two days before +they were expected, and flustered Kezia so that she could think of the +robbery only at intervals. Bessie made no mention of it: neither did +Robert, though he went to the village shop, purchased a pound of +candles, and tried unsuccessfully to buy a bottle of lubricating oil. As +it was impossible in Highfield to enter into secret negotiations for the +purchase of even a penny tin of mustard, the policeman, in the course of +his inquiries, heard about it and, having worked out the problem without +the aid of pencil and notebook, he proceeded to the bakery and told +Robert he ought to be ashamed of himself. + +"For why?" asked the assistant baker, with the assurance of a man who +had nine points of the law in his favour. + +"What did you buy this morning at Mrs. Trivell's shop?" + +"Bottle o' blacking," replied Robert. + +"Sure it wasn't whitewash? What else did you buy?" + +"Penn'orth o' blacklead," said Robert cheerfully. + +"Making the case pretty black, ain't you? You didn't buy a pound of +candles, of course--best wax candles. But, if you did buy candles, what +were you going to do with them?" + +"I don't know what you can do wi' candles except light them," said +Robert. + +"And you didn't buy a bottle of lubricating oil, because Mrs. Trivell +hasn't got any. If you did buy a bottle of salad oil, what would you be +going to do with it?" continued the policeman, in his best and brainish +manner. + +"You can do pretty near anything wi' salad oil," declared Robert. + +"Among the things stolen from Windward House last night were a pair of +silver candlesticks and a musical box, out of order, but perhaps it +might play a tune if you oiled the works," said the policeman sternly. + +Robert stroked his nose and mentioned that an officer who could put one +thing to another like that, was not at all required in Highfield parish. + +"What were you doing when this robbery was taking place?" came the +question. + +"I fancy I might have been giving a hand," Robert admitted cautiously. + +"Who helped you?" + +"I don't know as anybody helped. But it wasn't a robbery, vor Mrs. Drake +left all the things to Bessie," said Robert cheerfully. + +"And to other folks as well." + +"I b'ain't responsible vor that. First come, first served; and other +volks take at their peril, I ses." + +"It's my duty to tell Miss Blisland you took the things. Where have you +hidden 'em?" + +"Inside the peatstack. If you'm going to tell Kezia, I shall shift the +things into town and sell 'em." + +"That's your affair," replied the constable. "Seems you haven't exactly +committed a robbery, as you have a sort o' right to the things; and you +haven't committed a trespass, as you can go into the house when you want +to. So I can't charge you with anything. But I reckon it won't be long +before you have the lawyers after you; and then the Lord ha' mercy on +your pocket, Robert Mudge." + +Before the constable could reach Windward House to report how easily he +solved a problem, his wife ran to meet him with cheering information +concerning a great fire upon the outskirts of the parish; and, as +conflagrations are things no policeman can resist, he mounted his +bicycle and scorched towards an isolated farmhouse which was doomed to +destruction; as its bankrupt owner had taken the precaution to store +plenty of dry faggots, well sprinkled with petroleum, within the +well-insured premises. The farmer was sitting upon an upturned pail, +which smelt of anything but water, bemoaning his fate, and informing the +neighbours that spontaneous combustion would happen sometimes no matter +what you did to prevent it, when the constable arrived, sniffing +greedily at the clue-laden atmosphere. The farmer replied that the oil +barrel had leaked terribly, and there was no preventing that either. The +policeman investigated, went on his way to report, and returned with +papers in his pocket; and, while teaching the farmer a few cheerless +facts concerning the legal meaning of arson, such a trifling affair as +the Highfield grabbing passed naturally and conveniently from his mind. + +Percy introduced himself to his Aunt, kissed her upon both checks +according to a family tradition; the bride elect followed his example; +and they all talked of Tasmania, tomatoes, tickets, and travelling, with +a few remarks upon marriage licences, until Miss Yard rolled off the +sofa for sheer joy of motion. + +"Nellie!" she called. "Pack my things at once! Percy and Emmie have got +a licence to go to Tasmania, and tickets to get married, and I won't +stay here any longer." + +"But this is your home, Aunt," mentioned Percy. + +"And there are not many places like that, you know," Miss Lee added. + +"I used to have a much better home than this. We had tea parties, and +mothers' meetings, and all sorts of nice things. I'm going to forget the +past and begin all over again." + +"Miss Sophy is quite serious," Nellie explained, when Percy approached +her on the subject. "It's very seldom she keeps an idea in her head, +but, when she does, it governs her completely. Ever since she was stung +by the wasp she has been worrying to get away." + +"How about taking her back to Drivelford?" suggested Percy. + +"That would do nicely. But you must see to it, else Mr. Drake will; and +there will be more trouble between him and Hunter." + +"George has gone for good," said Percy sternly. + +"He told me all he had to do was to go away; there was nothing said in +the agreement about the time he was to be away. Miss Sophy has written +already inviting him back." + +"If he insists upon returning here to live--" began Percy. + +"You will be at the other end of the world, and Hunter won't know +anything about it," she concluded. + +"George is a great scoundrel," said Percy. "I have only another two +weeks in England; but I suppose I must go to Drivelford and find a +house." + +Miss Yard was delighted when Nellie informed her that the golden age of +tea and talk was about to be restored; and she blessed Percy with such +tenderness that her nephew felt compelled to make her a most liberal +offer. + +"You know, Aunt, the furniture in this house belongs to me. It was left +to George, and I bought it from him for two hundred pounds. Don't you +think the best plan would be for you to buy it from me for--shall we +say--one hundred and fifty pounds? I lose and you gain, but that's as it +should be." + +"What an excellent idea!" cried Miss Yard. "Nellie, bring my +cheque-book." + +"You cannot afford to spend so much money, especially as we have a move +before us," said Nellie quietly. + +"Oh, I'll take a hundred pounds," said Percy. + +"Miss Sophy cannot afford that either." + +"That's what she always says, but I tell her I can afford it," said Miss +Yard crossly. + +Percy began to feel uncomfortable, as this was the first time his golden +goose had been prohibited from egg laying. He made up his mind that +Nellie was developing into an offensive young person; honest no doubt, +and admirably suited to control Miss Yard; but with mistaken notions as +to the dignity of a nephew and trustee. He sought, therefore, a secret +interview with the young lady, in order that he might caution her +against any further opposition, and remind her that in all financial +matters his word must be the last; and this interview was granted very +willingly. + +"Sit down, please," he began, when they had entered the dining room. + +"If you stand, I shall too," replied Nellie, who was holding a small +article wrapped in paper. + +"Just as you like," said Percy. "Is that Miss Yard's passbook?" + +"No," she replied. "But if you want to see the passbook I will fetch it. +Miss Sophy has a little over two hundred pounds at present." + +"Another dividend is due next month. My aunt is quite able to pay a +hundred pounds for the furniture." + +"The question is," said Nellie, "to whom does the furniture belong?" + +"To me, of course." + +"Have you what the lawyers call a good title?" + +"I hope you are not going to be impertinent, Miss Blisland," said Percy +sharply. + +"I know Mrs. Drake left the furniture to Mr. George," she continued, +thankful of her promise not to mention those numerous scraps of paper. + +"And I bought the stuff from him." + +"With Miss Sophy's money." + +"What has that to do with you? I can borrow from my aunt, and of course +she does not expect me to repay the money." + +"But I expect it. I manage her affairs, and I tell you plainly this +borrowing must cease. I shall not allow Miss Sophy to pay you a single +penny for the furniture, because it is hers already," said Nellie, with +all the coldness of a magistrate sentencing a poacher. + +"The little devil! You had better keep your mouth shut, or I may be +tempted to say something rude. I don't want to forget I am talking to a +young woman. You have just got to do what I tell you," blustered Percy. + +"But I decline," said Nellie sweetly. + +"Then you can look out for another job. I shall tell Hunter I have +dismissed you for gross impertinence. That's all I have to say. You may +go now." + +"Thank you," she said. "But I haven't finished yet. I want to know what +is going to be done about the furniture." + +"I have nothing more to say to you." + +"You must tell Miss Sophy, and she will consult me. So I may as well +hear your decision at once." + +"I shall have a sale," replied Percy. "My aunt can buy new furniture +when she gets to Drivelford. After all, it's not so very much more +expensive than moving it." + +"You will do nothing of the kind," said Nellie. + +Again Percy was tempted to say something rude; and again he yielded. +Then an explanation flashed across his mind and he began to laugh. + +"I see what it is! My aunt has promised to leave you as much as she +can--" + +"Then why should I object to her buying the furniture?" + +"All I know is you won't get it. I shall visit the nearest auctioneer +tomorrow--" + +"It's time we changed the subject. I believe this is your property," +interrupted Nellie, holding out the packet wrapped in paper. "Do you +think it fair to ask Miss Sophy to pay for the furniture twice over, +when you have just come into two thousand pounds?" she added. + +"Who told you that?" cried Percy, snatching the packet and tearing off +the covering. "My pocketbook! You stole it from my room. You have been +through my letters. You are the most unscrupulous young woman!" + +"We had better not talk about stealing. Perhaps you remember sitting in +the garden with Miss Lee yesterday evening. You did not come in until +dark, and you were so much engaged in discussing your plans that you +forgot to bring in the chairs. You also forgot your pocketbook. Kezia +found it and gave it to me. Now I return it." + +"After turning it inside out," he muttered, dropping the lion's hide and +assuming the calfskin. + +"I have not even opened it," she replied. + +"Then how do you know I have come into two thousand pounds?" + +"A gentleman called Crampy told me." + +"Crampy! He couldn't tell you--he wouldn't!" + +"It must have been one of the parrots then," said Nellie gleefully. "Let +me tell you a story! Once upon a time there was an idle gentleman who +had made up his mind never to work for his living, because he owned a +pair of Chinese vases which were supposed to be priceless. This +gentleman had a cousin, who knew the vases were exceedingly valuable, +and, as he was a bad man, in fact a terribly unscrupulous man," said +Nellie, opening her eyes widely. + +"Here, I say! You stop that!" bellowed Percy. + +"I'm having my revenge for being called a little devil," she said gaily. +"As this cousin was a thorough scoundrel, he determined to grab the +vases, so he went to another unscrupulous man called Crampy and told +him, if he could get the vases cheaply from the idle gentleman, he +should have half the profit. Crampy agreed, visited the gentleman, saw +that the vases were genuine, and offered him a thousand pounds. The +offer was refused and Crampy went away, beaten on the first round. His +next step was to send the idle gentleman a list of collectors who could +be trusted; and this was followed by a visit from an American +millionaire, Josiah P. Jenkins, who in his own domestic circle was +generally known as Bill Sawdye." + +Percy forgot himself and swore. + +"The story is not very clear at this point, but it appears Bill Sawdye +was a sort of handyman employed by Crampy for dirty little jobs like +this. He offered the idle gentleman two thousand pounds for the vases. +This was accepted, Bill paid the money, and took the things away." + +"I don't want to hear any more," muttered Percy, gulping like a fish. + +"But I must have the satisfaction of showing you how well up I am in the +latest criminal news," said Nellie. "Next day Bill sent back the vases, +swearing they were forgeries, and assuring him Crampy was the last hope. +The idle gentleman communicated at once with Crampy, agreeing to accept +his offer. Crampy paid the thousand pounds and went off with the vases. +He sold them for five thousand, and that left four thousand to be +divided between the wicked cousin and himself. It was understood that +Crampy should pay Bill and all expenses. These two scoundrels expect to +live happily ever after, but I'm sure they won't," concluded Nellie. + +"I was a fool to have kept Crampy's letter. But what right had you to +take it out of my pocketbook and read it?" growled Percy. + +"I told you I never looked inside your pocketbook, but you left it +unfastened, and there was a good deal of wind in the night. This +morning, when I went out to pick sweet-peas, I saw a letter blown +against the sticks. I glanced at it out of ordinary curiosity, I read on +out of interest, and I finished it out of duty." + +"Now you can hand it over," said Percy sulkily. + +"I intend to keep it for the present. I may even have to send it on to +Mr. George." + +"He can't do anything. It was a trick, but a perfectly straightforward +business trick. Crampy made an offer, and he accepted it." + +"Mr. George is a stronger man than you, though he does pretend to have a +weak back. If he knew about this, and could get at you, I believe he +would break your head. He would write to Hunter anyhow, tell Miss Lee +and all her family--" + +"Do you know his address?" + +"Yes, and I can bring him here tomorrow; and I will too, if you refuse +to make over the furniture to Miss Sophy. That is only fair, as she has +paid for it." + +"If I consent to make my aunt a present of the furniture?" suggested +Percy. + +"Then I promise not to mention the matter to Mr. George." + +"All right. I'll tell Hunter to draw up a deed of gift. Of course you +understand it would be useless telling George, as he cannot recover the +vases or make any claim against me?" + +"Then why are you clearing out of the country?" + +"The soil of Tasmania is said to be ideal for--" + +"Fugitives from justice," finished Nellie. + +"Emmie, my darling," said Percy, a few minutes after this interview, "I +feel quite certain there is something wrong with the drains. I shall +tell aunt we are leaving in the morning." + +"Percy is so wonderfully unselfish," said Miss Yard to Nellie that +evening. "He has made me a present of all the furniture; and tomorrow he +is going to find me a new home." + + + + +CHAPTER XV + +A NEW HOUSE AND THE SAME OLD FURNITURE + + +Miss Yard became uncontrollable, almost dangerous, when Percy wrote +informing her he had discovered a house situated upon high ground, quite +fifty feet above the meadows through which the Drivel percolated. The +garden soil was a singularly fertile gravel; the view, which was +monotonous, consisting chiefly of mole heaps, was fortunately blotted +out by lichened apple trees; while the principal reception room had been +designed, in his opinion, with a view to knitting parties; and a retired +Archdeacon had quite recently passed away in the best bedroom. + +The old lady craved for Drivelford delights every hour of the day. She +escaped constantly from the garden to begin the first of the hundred +miles which separated her from such a respectable abode. When imprisoned +in the parlour, she wrote a quantity of letters to old friends, most of +whom had travelled far outside the radius of the postal union, inviting +them to her first tea party at the Lodge, Drivelford. The name of the +house was really Wistaria Lodge; but Percy had recommended the shorter +form as less of a committal. + +"Percy must live with us; he will enjoy the river. Don't you remember +the gentlemen, in long coats and round hats, who used to sit all day +smoking and tasting something out of jars? Percy would like that," she +said merrily. + +"Mr. Taverner is now a married man, and by this time he is a thousand +miles away. I suppose you are referring to Mr. George," said Nellie. + +"Of course I mean George. Why don't you listen, child? He can sit by the +river with the rest of the gentlemen. He can hand round the cakes, and +talk to the ladies. Give nice things, and say nice things. I wonder if +somebody told me that, or whether I invented it. I used to be clever +once; twenty years ago I could have told you what Wistaria meant." + +"It's a creeper," explained Nellie. "But Mr. Taverner as good as says +there isn't one." + +"I'm glad of that. I do not like creeping things. Now I'm going to write +to George. My memory is wonderfully good today, and yet I cannot +remember the name of the lady he married." + +"My memory is better than yours, but I cannot remember it either," +laughed Nellie. "When Mr. George marries, I shall expect to hear your +banns read out." + +"I could have married once," declared Miss Yard. "He was a curate with +such a funny face, and his nose was just like a cork." + +"Why didn't you?" asked Nellie. + +"I think there was some impediment. I rather fancy he took to comic +songs, or perhaps he forgot to mention the matter. Why did George go +away, if he never means to get married?" + +"That's a long story, which I cannot tell you now, as I must get on with +the packing. Don't you write to Mr. George. Leave that to me." + +"He is coming with us," cried Miss Yard. + +"He is not," said Nellie. + +She went out, locking the door lest Miss Yard should commence one of her +perambulations towards Drivelford, murmuring to herself: + +"Kezia goes with us, so there will be no trouble with her; but Bessie, +of course, stays with her husband. Whatever will she and Robert say--and +do--when we begin to move the furniture? George must come back. He's +pretty artful, and perhaps he'll suggest a plan." + +The artfulness of George was a thing to be reckoned with, so, when +Nellie wrote, she did not mention that the furniture was now the legal +property of Miss Yard; but merely informed him they were leaving +Highfield, and requested him to return as soon as possible. + +She had hardly finished this letter when Kezia entered the room, seated +herself in the most comfortable chair, as prospective mistress of all +she surveyed, and announced her intention of getting to the bottom of +everything. + +"I don't know what's going on, but there's something being kept back +what I have a right to know. Who stole my things, Miss Nellie? Who come +into this house, when me and Bess wur sitting in the kitchen, and took +my musical box, and my silver candlesticks, what dear Mrs. Drake left +me--snatched 'em out of my hand, as you might say? Mr. George had gone +away, so it couldn't be him. It warn't nobody here. It warn't the +Brocks, they ses. That musical box wur so heavy the dear Captain +couldn't lift it without saying something Mrs. Drake wur sorry vor. And +it went off avore my face as if 'twur smoke." + +"I'm just as much puzzled as you," said Nellie. "Perhaps the policeman +will tell us all about it when he comes home." + +"I've got a fancy he took the things himself. He's got a way of hanging +about after dark what I don't like," said Kezia. "I ha' never trusted +policeman, since one kissed me when I was a young gal. 'Twas ten o'clock +at night, and I wur standing by the gate--and then he begged my pardon, +said he'd mistook the house, and 'twas the gal next door he meant to +kiss. You can't trust them, miss. They ses he's gone to run in a farmer +whose place got burnt down, but it's my belief he's gone to sell my +candlesticks." + +"You mustn't say such things," cried Nellie. + +"And what's all this about going away? Mr. Percy come here, and I heard +'en tell about finding a house, and Miss Sophy does nought 'cept worry +about packing and getting off, and her talks all day about a place +called Drivelford. Nobody tells me nothing about it." + +"Miss Sophy has told you a great deal." + +"I don't pay no attention to what she ses. Mrs. Drake said Miss Sophy +wur to die here, and be put away in Highfield churchyard, and nothing +was to be touched in her lifetime." + +"But surely Miss Sophy can please herself!" + +"Mrs. Drake said I wur to look after Miss Sophy," muttered Kezia. + +"And so you shall. We are going away, as Miss Sophy really ought to live +in a place where she can see a few people. We have taken a house in +Drivelford, which is where she used to live, and we shall go there some +time this month. Kezia, I want you not to mention this to anyone, not +even to Bessie," said Nellie impressively. + +"Well, I never!" gasped Kezia. "I fancied we should never be going away +from here, and I don't think it's right. I'm sure Mrs. Drake wouldn't +like it. What sort of a place is this Drivelford?" + +"Oh, it's quite a bright little town, and a lot of old people go there +to live because the death rate is only seven and a half in a thousand." + +"What do that mean?" asked Kezia. + +"Statistics are beyond me, but I suppose if means that out of a thousand +people only seven and a half die." + +"What happens to the old folk what don't die? How long do the person +what half dies bide like that? Do he get better or worse? How be us to +know whether me, and you, and Miss Sophy, won't be among the seven? I +can't sense the meaning of it." + +"It does seem rather hard to explain, especially as Drivelford has the +biggest cemetery I ever saw in my life. You will like the place, Kezia. +There are plenty of houses and rows of shops--one very big one, called +Field, Stanley, and Robinson, where you can buy anything." + +"I'd like to be among a few shops," said Kezia more cheerfully. "Ain't +Stanley the name of that dreadful woman what came to Black Anchor?" + +"I believe that was the name, but it is quite a common one. There are no +Stanleys in Drivelford anyhow; but there are three churches and two +chapels." + +"That'll keep us busy on Sundays," said Kezia delightedly. + +"And there's an electric theatre." + +"What's that?" asked Kezia suspiciously. + +"A place where they show pictures." + +"I won't go there. I've heard a lot of loud talk about them places. I +heard of a young woman who went into one, and was never seen again. That +Stanley woman came from an electric theatre, where there was singing and +dancing and showing their legs, you may depend. Ah, they'll be weeping +and wailing and gnashing their teeth some day. Is there a dentist in +Drivelford?" + +"Yes, and several undertakers, and a huge lunatic asylum," cried Nellie. + +"Well, perhaps it won't be so bad. There's nothing to cheer a body in +Highfield. I'll try to put up with it, vor the sake of dear Mrs. Drake. +She said I wur never to leave Miss Sophy. Poor Bessie'll fret herself +into a decline when she hears I'm agoing away vor ever." + +"Mind you don't tell her. I know you two are great friends, but directly +Bessie hears we are going to move the furniture, she and Robert will be +over here claiming all sorts of things." + +"So they will," said Kezia uneasily. "I don't mind about Bessie--she's +welcome to anything I don't want--but Robert's been talking a bit too +sharp lately. I can't lay a hand on anything in the kitchen without him +saying it belongs to Bessie, and telling me to be careful how I touches +it." + +"If it comes to the worst, we might let them have the mummy. Miss Sophy +doesn't really care for it," suggested Nellie. + +"They ain't agoing to have he. I wouldn't part wi' the dear old stuffed +gentleman, not vor fifty pounds," cried Kezia. + +"Oh dear!" sighed Nellie. "I can see very well we are in for a +battle--feather beds torn in pieces--carpets rent asunder--you and +Bessie tugging at opposite ends of Mrs. Drake's sofa. But suppose Robert +brings a crowd!" + +"I won't say a word," promised Kezia, breathing heavily with excitement. +"They shan't know we'm going vor ever till the vans come. I suppose us +couldn't move the things on a dark night, same as they does in towns?" + +"Right under Bessie's window!" exclaimed Nellie. "Why, it will take them +a whole day merely to pack the things." + +"Robert won't let a thing be took. He ha' said so many a time. 'Not a +stick, Kezia, is to go out of the house,' he says, 'unless I takes it.' +Whatever shall us do, Miss Nellie?" + +"We had better wait until Mr. George comes. Then, if he cannot suggest +anything, I shall have to write and ask Mr. Hunter to come down and +look after Miss Sophy's interests." + +"But the furniture don't belong to she," objected Kezia. + +"At all events she has a life interest in it," Nellie reminded her. + +"Sure enough. Mrs. Drake said it wur to belong to Miss Sophy while she +lived, but no longer. I suppose I'll have to see about letting the house +now," Kezia remarked, gazing yearningly at the oleographs. "I did think +once of living here, when Miss Sophy wur took, but it's too big vor me, +and I'd feel lonely here. Besides, I wouldn't want to bring back the +furniture. I ought to get thirty pounds vor it, and that's a nice bit +coming in every year. Perhaps I might sell it, but I fancy Mrs. Drake +wouldn't like me to do that. What would you do, if the place wur yours, +Miss Nellie--would you let or sell it?" + +The girl seized her letter and fled, being far too kindly a little +coward to inform Kezia that the house belonged to George. She looked +into the parlour, where Miss Yard was singing away happily and, after +bidding her to go on with her warbles for another ten minutes, she ran +out of the house; but hardly had turned towards the post office when a +voice called from the opposite direction. Nellie turned, shading her +eyes, seeing nothing at first because she was staring into the glow of +the sunset; and then two figures advanced towards her--the policeman and +George Drake. + +"I was just going to post a letter to you. Whatever has made you turn up +again?" she cried. + +"The bad shilling has saved you a good penny stamp," replied George. "I +seemed to have been away quite long enough and, as my lodgings were +jolly dull, I decided to accept Aunt Sophy's invitation to live in my +own house again. I ought never to have gone, for as soon as I was out of +the house--what do you think the policeman has been telling me?" + +"About the robbery." + +"How that miserable Robert stole my things, while Bessie kept Kezia in +the kitchen." + +"That's right, miss. I guessed how it was at once, but couldn't say +anything till I'd made sure. I was just coming to tell you when I met +Mr. Drake," said the new sergeant, stroking his moustache complacently. + +"It doesn't pay to be a rascal here," said George. "This policeman has +caught a farmer burning down his house, and Robert making off with my +property, within the last few days. I hope it won't be long before he +gets a murder. I don't mind telling him to his face that he deserves a +double murder and suicide." + +The constable expressed his gratitude for this unsolicited testimonial, +and added, "Mr. Drake thinks, miss, I'd better not go any further in the +matter, as there seems to be a sort of doubt as to who owns the +furniture." + +"There is no doubt whatever. I own the things, and I'll see about +getting them back without troubling you," said George. + +"Right, sir!" Then the policeman bade them good evening and went his +way. + +Immediately they were alone, George burst out excitedly, "Nellie, +there's another girl!" + +"In your case? Well, nobody's jealous," she replied. + +"A prettier one than ever, but very young, in short skirts, with her +hair down, and her name's Teenie," he continued, without even hearing +her comment. + +"I think you've come back perfectly crazy," observed Nellie. + +"If you don't believe me, you can just go to Black Anchor and find out +for yourself." + +"Oh, you mean another girl there!" she exclaimed, flushing angrily, and +adding, "I don't want to hear any more--but how do you know?" + +"She travelled in the same carriage with me, and I thought what a +dear--I mean passable little thing she was. Directly the train stopped I +saw Sidney, and he called out, 'Here I am, Teenie darling!' And the +little girl fairly shouted, 'Oh, Sidney dear, how brown you are!' Then +she jumped out, and they kissed and hugged. I never saw anything more +disgraceful in my life. I sat back in the carriage so that Sidney +shouldn't see me. I suppose they have driven through the village by this +time, unless they have the decency to wait until it's dark." + +"Where's your luggage?" asked Nellie rather sharply, but determined to +change the subject. + +"First the painted lady, then Dolly, now Teenie! Thirty, then twenty, +and now fourteen! The next will be twelve, and after that they'll be +coming in perambulators. My word, young Sidney is a patriarch!" + +"Hold your tongue," cried Nellie, more sharply than she had ever spoken +in her life. + +"I'm sorry, but my feelings ran away with me--she was such a pretty +youngster--but of course it's fearfully sad. I had to walk from the +station, as I couldn't get a conveyance: the carrier can fetch my box. +What's the news? Has Percy been?" + +"He came, saw me, and fled," replied the girl more amiably. + +"I knew he was a coward, but I didn't suppose you could frighten any +one." + +"He wanted Miss Sophy to buy the furniture. I told him it was hers +already. He blustered and threatened; I stood like a tor. He was so +rude that I lost my temper; and when I am angry I can frighten anyone. +He yielded and ran. The news," continued Nellie, "is that we are going +to run too." + +"For a change of air. I'll come with you." + +"A permanent change. We are going back to Drivelford. The house is +taken, and the problem before me is how to move the furniture." + +"So you wrote asking me to come back and do the dirty work?" + +"If you like to put it that way." + +"Aunt Sophy has no right to leave without giving notice. She is my +tenant for life. If she breaks her contract I shall claim the +furniture--it is mine really, as Percy didn't give me a fair price, and +now he's gone to Tasmania he can't interfere. I have always regarded the +furniture as belonging to me in spite of Percy's interference. Of +course, when I say to me, I mean to us." + +"Don't worry," she said. "Mr. Taverner has signed a deed of gift making +over everything in the house to Miss Sophy; and, as she has signed a +will in my favour, the furniture should come to me eventually--if Kezia +and the Mudges don't grab it all." + +"So you made Percy give my furniture to Aunt Sophy. Percy, who has never +given away anything in his life except a bad cigar!" + +"Marriage has improved him." + +"He wasn't married when he came here." + +"He was on the brink. I persuaded him that, as Miss Sophy had paid for +the things, she ought to have them." + +"That argument would simply slide off his back. You said he threatened +you, and, from what I know of him, it's fairly certain that he swore at +you. Is it likely he would threaten one moment, and give way the next? +His young woman may have changed his vile nature--I hope she has--but +you can't reform the stripes off a zebra. You found out something about +him--you made him confess how he got hold of that money he wrote telling +us about, and why he was clearing out of the country. He has defrauded +the Yard estate, and Hunter helped him. The next thing we shall hear is +that Hunter has gone to study the business habits and professional +morals of the Esquimaux. Out with it, Nellie, or I shall suffer from a +horrible suspicion that Percy has squared you." + +"I have spoken nothing but the truth, and you won't squeeze anything +more out of me," she said. + +"When a fellow stays in lodgings," said George, "he must either read +novels or go mad. I have been reading a quantity of novels, and they +convinced me that women are deceitful beings." + +"They have to protect themselves against the perfidy of men," cried +Nellie. + +"Remember poor innocent Adam! He was all right as long as he was engaged +to Eve; but what happened when he married her?" + +"It's a shame that story was ever invented." + +"He wouldn't have eaten the apples; peaches and bananas were good enough +for him," George continued. + +"But the serpent started it, and the serpent was the devil in disguise, +and the devil is a fallen angel, and all angels, as you told me once, +are gentlemen. So the male sex is the most deceitful after all." + +"Why can't you stick to the subject?" said George sourly. + +"Certainly," laughed Nellie. "This business about the furniture must be +settled finally one way or the other. Are the Mudges to have anything, +and, if not, how are they to be prevented from taking just what they +want?" + +"Robert and Bessie are not to take a stick from the house, or a stone +from the garden; and they must give back the things they have stolen," +replied George. + +"Are those scraps of paper worth anything at all?" she demanded. + +"They are as useless as agreements between nations." + +"Then why don't you tell Kezia?" + +"Because the law is so slippery." + +"That means you are not certain." + +"I am quite positive; but how can I be responsible for judicial errors? +Kezia may put her case into the hands of some shady lawyer--worse even +than Hunter--and some stupid court may make a mistake in her favour. +Kezia is going with you, so there will be no trouble with her while Aunt +Sophy lives." + +"But it's not fair to keep her in ignorance." + +"It's supposed to be a state of bliss." + +"Oh, I can't argue with you. Will you answer one question properly?" + +"I'll try," said George. + +"How are we to rescue the furniture from the Mudges?" + +"If they don't know you are going to move, and have no suspicions," +began George. + +"They have none," said Nellie. + +"And are not told." + +"They won't be." + +"Then you can leave it to me," said George. + + + + +CHAPTER XVI + +GEORGE TAKES CONTROL + + +Miss Yard shuffled contentedly downstairs, nicely dressed for her +evening meal, which usually consisted of thin soup, a milk pudding, and +boiling water; peeped into the parlour, drew a deep breath and peeped +again, uttered a few exclamations, then shuffled back to the stairs, +called Nellie, and announced: + +"There's a great big man in the house!" + +"It's only old George," whispered the irreverent girl. + +"I don't know anybody of that name; but there used to be several King +Georges, and they were followed by William, and then came our dear good +Victoria, who was taken in the prime of life just when she seemed to +have settled down, and after that I don't remember anything," said Miss +Yard. + +"George is the name of our present King--and of about ninety per cent, +of his loyal subjects," said Nellie. + +"What's he doing here? This isn't Windsor Castle," stammered Miss Yard. +"Has he called for a subscription? Gentlemen who come here always want +subscriptions. Does he want to hide? I do hope there's not a revolution. +Go and show him into a cupboard, Nellie, and tell him how loyal we are." + +"My dear lady," laughed Nellie, "you are clean muddled, confoozled, and +astern of the times. This gentleman is your much respected relative, +George Drake." + +"Why couldn't you say so at once, without talking a lot of wicked +rubbish about a revolution and the Royal Family hiding on Dartmoor?" +demanded Miss Yard snappishly. + +"Of all the injustice!" sighed Nellie; but the old lady had left her. +Toddling at full speed into the parlour, she embraced George, and said +how well she remembered him, though twenty years had passed since they +had met. "I knew you at once, directly I looked into the room I +recognised your stooping shoulders and your bald head," she added, +looking at a portrait on the wall and describing that accurately. + +"Nellie couldn't make you out at all," she continued, "but then she was +a baby when you went away. Nellie, dear, where are you? Come and be +kissed by your uncle. I told you he would come back some day." + +"The soup is on the table," cried Nellie as she fled. + +The mind of Miss Yard roamed in a free and happy state about the +nineteenth century, enabling her, during the progress of a meal, to pass +through a number of different periods. While taking her soup and sipping +her boiling water, she informed the others that the first railway had +recently been constructed, and it ran between Highfield and Drivelford, +and for her part she was very glad of it, as she thought it was quite +time the coaches were done away with, and she fully intended travelling +by the railway if Mr. Stephenson would let her. + +"Whoever is Stephenson?" inquired George, who ought to have known +better. + +"It's wonderful what things she does remember," replied Nellie. "She +would forget me if I left her tomorrow; yet she can remember the man who +invented railways." + +"I think you had better go tomorrow," said George, taking the cue. + +"Yes, I should like to be one of the first," Miss Yard admitted. + +"Why have you put that idea into her head? It may stick, and then she'll +drive me crazy," scolded Nellie; it being perfectly safe to speak openly +before the old lady. + +"Send her off with Kezia at once," urged George. + +"I must go with her." + +"Then take Kezia too. If she stays she will split to Bessie. Even if she +tries her hardest not to, she won't be able to help herself. You can't +keep anything a secret for long in a place like this. You clear off, and +I'll go into lodgings--and read more novels." + +"Won't that look queer?" + +"It would if Kezia stayed: it won't if she goes. I can't put up here +with nobody to look after me." + +"And you will undertake to move the furniture?" + +"I will," he promised. + +"Very well," she murmured after a pause. "We can't possibly get away +tomorrow, as it will take me a day to pack; but we will go the day +after." + +"Oh, well, it's no good bothering now," said Miss Yard in a voice of +bitter resignation, pushing back her plate and kicking at her footstool. +"They've started without us." + +George occupied his old bedroom, positively for the last time, and in +the morning went out to wrestle with his difficulties. His reception by +the villagers was colder than ever because, during his absence, the +Dismal Gibcat had made a speech directed mainly against the man who had +dared to interfere with local progress. The Dismal Gibcat preferred to +be in a minority of one, but such was his gift of eloquence that a +single speech sometimes swung the majority over to his side; which was +an embarrassing position only to be escaped from by repudiating his +former opinions. This speech had done its work, as George was presently +to discover when the Dumpy Philosopher and the Wallower in Wealth +approached him with questions concerning the Dartmoor Railway Company. + +"That scheme is done for. It was one of my uncle's bubbles, but I have +pricked it," he replied, groping his way back to popularity. + +"Us wur told a lot of American gentlemen wanted to build the railway wi' +something they called a syndicate," said the Wallower in Wealth. + +"I told 'em the country is hardly flat enough," said George. + +"It wur flat enough vor Captain Drake, and it wur flat enough vor you +when you fetched that millionaire down along to look at it," said the +Dumpy Philosopher. + +"That's all a mistake. Mr. Jenkins came here to buy a pair of vases," +said George, speaking the truth with disastrous results; for the two +elders were not quite such fools as to believe a gentleman would travel +from London to Highfield for the sake of purchasing a shilling's worth +of crockery. + +"They'm out o' cloam in London, I fancy," remarked the Wallower in +Wealth. + +"And in America," added the Dumpy Philosopher. + +"Mr. Jenkins is a collector of vases," explained George. + +"He never come to look at mine. There's a proper lot o' cloam in +Highfield, and he didn't crave to see it. Us ha' heard he come to build +the railway, and you stopped him from adoing it." + +"Well, perhaps I did," replied George, trying to score a point by lying. +"I know you are all against the scheme." + +"Us wur agin it very strong, because it had never been properly +explained," said the Wallower in Wealth. "Us hadn't been told they meant +to put a terminus in Highfield. I ha' been to terminuses. 'Tis places +where trains start from." + +"And where 'em pulls up," added the Dumpy Philosopher. + +"Where they starts from and where they pulls up again. It don't make no +difference. I ha' started from terminuses, and I ha' stopped in 'em, so +I knows what I'm telling about. A terminus brings a lot of money into a +place. When they makes a terminus a town is soon built all round it. +There's one or two in Highfield who ha' seen Waterloo, and that's a +terminus. And they ses 'tis wonderful what a big town ha' been built all +round it. A hundred years ago it wur just a ploughed field, where that +tremenjus big battle was fought what made us all free volk vor ever; and +now 'tis all terminus as far as you can see. That American gentleman +come here wi' his syndicate...." + +"'Tis something vor levelling the ground, I fancy," said the Dumpy +Philosopher, when his colleague paused. + +"He would ha' levelled the ground as flat as your hand, and made the +terminus; and we would ha' sold our land vor what us like to ask. Now +you've ruined us, sir. You ha' stopped the terminus--and you stole my +musical box," said the Wallower in Wealth, combining his grievances in +one brief indictment. + +"You're talking like a child. How can I steal my own property?" cried +George angrily. + +"Mrs. Drake left all your furniture to Kezia," shouted the Wallower in +Wealth. + +"And the rest of it to Bessie," added the Dumpy Philosopher. + +"They ha' got paper to prove it, Robert ses." + +"Why did you offer me money for the musical box, then?" asked George. + +"To try your honesty," replied the Wallower in Wealth. "And you warn't +honest. You wouldn't take my money because it warn't big enough. Then +you go and steal the musical box, wi' a lot of other things, from +Kezia." + +"And from Bessie Mudge," added the Dumpy Philosopher. + +"And if you don't get sent to prison--" + +"It won't be for the same reason that you aren't put away in a lunatic +asylum," George finished; wondering, as he went on to engage a lodging, +how it was his uncle had succeeded in ruling this community of +wranglers. + +A devout widow let religious rooms opposite the churchyard: they were +religious because tables were piled with theological tomes, and walls +were covered by black and white memorial cards, comforting texts, and +discomposing pictures of Biblical tragedies in yellow and scarlet which +helped to warm the house in chilly weather. Towards this dwelling George +made his way, knowing the importance of being respectable, although he +could not help feeling he had done nothing to deserve those pictures. +But presently he swung round, and went off in the opposite direction. An +idea had come to him: he remembered the Art Dyers. + +That name described a married couple; not a business of giving a new +colour to old garments; but the vocation of bread baking, cake making, +and specialising in doughnuts. Arthur Dyer was the stingiest man in +Highfield; he gave away no crumbs of any kind; had any one asked a stone +of him, he would have refused it, but would assuredly have put that +stone into his oven and baked it, hoping to see some gold run out. He +went to church once a week, no entrance fee being demanded, and always +put two fingers into the offertory bag, but whether he put anything else +was doubtful. He was also Robert's employer. Mrs. Dyer had learnt in +the school of her husband until she was able to give him lectures in +economy; and in times past she had implored George, out of his charity, +to drive the wolf from their door by finding her a lodger. + +"She will ask a stiff price, and I shall get nothing to eat except bread +puddings," he muttered, "but the game will be worth starvation." + +George might also have remarked with poetic melancholy he had lived to +receive his warmest welcome in a lodging house, when Mrs. Dyer had taken +him in, showed him a bed, certain to be well aired as it stood above the +oven, and promised to be much more than an ordinary mother in her +attentions. The rooms appeared somewhat barren, but the air was +excellent, being impregnated with an odour of hot fat which was a dinner +in itself, and might very possibly be charged as one. + +A slight difficulty arose regarding terms, owing to a sudden increase in +the price of commodities and a shortage of domestic labour. Everything +had got so dear Mrs. Dyer could not understand how people lived: it +seemed almost wicked of them to make the attempt, but then a funeral had +got to be such a luxury it was perhaps cheaper to struggle on. That was +what she and her husband were doing from day to day, with everything +going up except their income. Luckily they were still able to sell a +few doughnuts: people insisted upon them for their tea. The local +doctor spoke highly of them, and most of the babies in the parish were +brought up on their doughnuts, with a little beer occasionally--the +doctor said it helped. After sleeping in that atmosphere Mr. Drake would +find one good meal a day--a chop followed by bread-and-butter +pudding--would be almost more than he could manage. She did not want to +make a profit, but if he could pay five shillings a day, she thought +with careful management she might not lose much. + +This matter arranged, George returned to Windward House, where the +packers were as busy as a hen with one chicken. Miss Yard, feeling she +must be doing something, was pinning sheets of newspaper round the +mummy. Bessie was hindering Kezia from filling all manner of cases with +various ornaments and photographs, which it was the custom to take away +for the annual outing, although they were never removed from the boxes. +Bessie felt uncomfortable, as it appeared to her Kezia was dismantling +the place. + +"You don't want to take all them pictures," she said at last. + +"I'd feel lonely without 'em," explained Kezia. + +"You never took 'em last time you went to the seaside. You'm not going +to be away more than two weeks." + +"Miss Sophy might fancy to be away a bit longer. I do like to have my +little bits o' things round me, wherever I be." + +"What's the name of the place you'm going to?" + +"Miss Nellie will tell ye. 'Tis worry enough vor me to get ready without +bothering where we'm going," replied the harassed Kezia. + +"Miss Sophy ses 'tis Drivelford." + +"'Tis something like that, I fancy," admitted Kezia, beginning to break +down under cross-examination. + +"That's where Miss Sophy come from. It ain't seaside." + +"A river ain't far off," Kezia muttered. + +George had arrived and, hearing these voices, he tramped upstairs to +save the situation. + +"They are going to Drivelmouth," he said. + +"I fancied Miss Nellie said Drivelford," remarked the futile Kezia. + +"I know she did, and that's where Miss Sophy come from. Why does she +want to go back there again?" Bessie inquired warmly. + +"You ought to know by this time it's no use attending to what Miss Yard +says. Drivelford is quite a different place from Drivelmouth, which +happens to be on the sea just where that beautiful river, the Drivel, +runs into it. There's a splendid sandy beach--and it's quite a new +place they've just discovered," explained George. + +"Seems funny, if 'twas there, they never found it avore," said the +suspicious Bessie. + +"It has just become popular. It was a little fishing village, and now +they are making roads and building houses because doctors have +discovered there's something in the air," George continued. + +"That's what Miss Nellie told me. There's an amazing big cemetery, and +'tis a wonderful healthy place," said Kezia. + +"You see, doctors recommend the place so highly that old people go there +and die. That accounts for the cemetery, which is not really a local +affair, for Drivelmouth is the healthiest place in England," said +George. + +"Miss Nellie ses there be a thousand volks, and seven be took, and one +gets paralytics," commented Kezia. + +"Drivelmouth is a great place for general paralysis. The paralytics are +wheeled up and down the front all day. People go there just to see +them," said George recklessly. + +"Wish I wur going," Bessie murmured. + +"Surely you are not going to take all those things!" George exclaimed, +indicating a teaset, dinner service, and a quantity of art pottery. + +"That's what I tells her. She don't want all them things away with her," +cried Bessie. + +"I don't like leaving them behind--wi' thieves breaking into the house +to steal. I ha' lost enough already," said Kezia plaintively. + +This was a fortunate remark, as it disconcerted Bessie and put a stop to +questions, while at the same time it removed her suspicions. It was not +surprising that Kezia should wish to take away as much treasure as +possible. She would have done the same herself. Still, she did not like +to see that dinner service go out of the house. Robert had been about to +move that. + +"How long be 'em going away for, Mr. George?" she asked presently, when +Kezia had gone to gather up more of her possessions. + +"That depends on the weather," came the diplomatic answer. + +Packing continued steadily: boxes, crates, and hampers were piled up in +the hall awaiting transport; Kezia had been prevented from leaking; Miss +Yard continually inquired whether the railway was quite finished. + +The calm of exhaustion prevailed, when there came a defiant knock upon +the front door, and the bell rang like a fire alarm. + +"It must be a telegram," said George gravely. + +"I hope nothing has happened to Mr. and Mrs. Taverner," said Nellie. + +"Why shouldn't something happen to them?" George muttered. + +"What do they say? Is there any hope?" cried Miss Yard. + +"We don't know anything yet," replied Nellie. + +"The railway has gone wrong. I was afraid it would--they were so +venturesome. You were reading about letters coming without wires." + +"Telegrams," corrected Nellie, listening to the voices outside. + +"Yes, the postmen are very wonderful. You said they were using the stuff +we eat in puddings, tapioca--or was it macaroni?" + +"You mean Marconi wireless messages, Aunt," said George. + +"I always mean what I say," replied the lady curtly. + +In the meantime Kezia and Bessie had advanced together, preparing +themselves to face the police inspector, but hoping it would be nothing +worse than the tax collector. Bessie opened the door, while Kezia sidled +behind her. The next moment they both groaned with horror. + +"Is Miss Blisland in?" asked a pert young voice. + +"She might be," replied Bessie hoarsely. + +"Ask her please if she'll come out and speak to me." + +"Oh, my dear, shut the door and bolt it!" Kezia whispered. + +This was done, and they presented themselves in the parlour with woeful +faces. + +"It's her!" Bessie announced. "She wants to see you. She's standing on +our doorstep!" + +"Who?" cried Nellie. + +"The last of 'em--the one that come yesterday. She didn't tell us her +name." + +"She's ashamed of it," said Kezia. + +"Perhaps Mr. George'll go and send her off," suggested Bessie. + +"Who are you talking about?" asked Nellie impatiently. + +"The wench from Black Anchor. She ain't no more than a child, but the +way her stared on us wur awful." + +"Sent a shiver through me--so bold and daring!" Kezia added. + +"Miss Teenie, is it?" George muttered. "Sit down, Nellie; I'll go and +talk to her." + +"I can do my own business, thanks," said Nellie, going towards the door. + +"I'll come with you anyhow," he said. + +"You will do nothing of the kind," replied the young lady coldly. + +Out she went, while Miss Yard stood trembling on the hearthrug, and +Bessie listened at the keyhole, and Kezia sniffed beside the window. +George was trying to persuade himself that no young woman would venture +to trifle with his noble nature. + +"Is it very bad?" asked Miss Yard. + +"Yes, miss," replied Bessie. "She's brought her in--she's taken her into +the dining room--she's shut the door. Oh, Miss, they're laughing!" + +"I never did think Miss Nellie would go like this," Kezia lamented. + +"She was here just now," said Miss Yard simply. + +"Yes, miss, but she's gone now--gone to the bad." + +"What's it all about?" asked the old lady, appealing to George who +seemed to be the only comforter. + +"I am sorry to say Nellie has got into bad company--into the very worst +company--and we shall have to be very stern with her." + +"Yes, indeed we must, or she will lose all her money. I know what these +companies are. I get a lot of circulars, and I always tell Nellie she is +to burn them," said Miss Yard in sore distress. + +"Just listen to 'em talking!" cried Bessie. + +"I can't abear much more," Kezia wailed. + +The next minute Miss Yard was struggling towards the door, rejecting +the advice of George, pushing aside the arms of Bessie; declaring that +nobody should prevent her from dragging Nellie out of the pit of +financial ruin. She stumbled across the hall, banged at the door of the +dining room until it was opened to her; and then came silence, but +presently the old lady's queer voice could be heard distinctly, and +after that her bursts of merry laughter. Miss Yard had fallen into this +very worst company herself. Kezia and Bessie crept silently toward the +kitchen. The whole house was polluted. George searched for flies to +kill. + +"Oh, I say, what tons of luggage!" cried a childish voice. + +"Yes, we are off first thing in the morning," said Nellie; and then +followed some whispering, with a few words breaking out here and there: + +"Miss Yard wants to be among her old friends again ... a great secret, +you know" ... "of course I shan't tell anyone, but Sidney will be" ... +"I'm so sorry, but it can't be helped" ... "there's such a thing as the +post" ... "good-bye! I'm so glad you came." + +The door shut, George jumped out of the window in time to see the young +girl racing down the lane; then he returned to the house and asked +sternly, "What's the meaning of this?" + +"Really and truly I don't know," replied Nellie. "But I am at least +satisfied that Highfield needs a missionary." + +"Now you are shuffling. You invited that miserable little creature into +my house, you encouraged her to cross my doorstep, I heard you laughing +and talking as if you were enjoying yourself. You actually gave away the +secret about Drivelford. Come outside!" said George, as if he meant to +fight. + +"I mean you can't believe a word that Highfield says," she explained, +following obediently. "That little girl's as good as gold." + +"To begin with, who is she?" George demanded, scowling like the Dismal +Gibcat. + +"That is more than I can tell you. She told me her name was +Christina--sometimes Chrissie--but those who love her generally call her +Teenie." + +"What did she want?" + +"She invited me to tea at Black Anchor Farm on Sunday. She also promised +to chaperon me." + +"The infamous urchin!" groaned George. + +"I should have gone," she said steadily. + +"Then you must be altogether--absolutely wrong somewhere. Go there to +tea! Sit opposite that wicked old man, beside that abandoned youth, and +positively touching that shameless child who hasn't got a surname! After +all that has passed between us, after all your promises to me, after +all that I have done for you--all my kindness and self-sacrifice--you +would drink tea out of their teapot, and let yourself be talked about as +one of the young women of Black Anchor!" + +"My suspicions are not quite gone. But directly I saw little Miss +Christina I knew the horrible things we have heard are all lies. She's a +young lady. She goes to school at Cheltenham." + +"That makes it worse. You know old Brock--he's an ordinary labourer. +While Sidney is a common young fellow who can't even speak English. They +are not fit to lick the polish off your shoes." + +"But then I don't want the polish licked off my shoes; it's enough +trouble putting it on. I do not understand the Brocks, and I can't +imagine why Miss Teenie wouldn't tell me her whole name. If I could have +gone to Black Anchor on Sunday, I might have found out something." + +"These Dollies and Teenies, and painted females, are no relations of +such common chaps. And I won't have you speaking to any of them." + +"Really!" she murmured with great deliberation. + +"No, I won't; and they are not to write either--I heard something about +the post. Just suppose you had thrown yourself away utterly, suppose you +had lowered yourself so fearfully as to have got engaged to this Sidney +instead of to a Christian gentleman--how awful it would have been!" + +Nellie changed colour and gazed significantly at her left hand, which +was unadorned by any lover's circlet. + +"You would not only have lost me, which would have been bad enough, but +I should have lost the furniture, all my dear uncle's precious +antiquities and priceless curios--" + +"Which would have been far worse," she added. + +"It would have been dreadful. Now I have secured all the furniture to +you--" + +"I did that for myself; I got it from Mr. Taverner," she interrupted. + +"But I advised Aunt Sophy to make her will. Of course I was thinking of +myself--we must do that sometimes--but I was quite unselfish in the +matter. I knew if the furniture was left to you, it would be the same +as--as--" + +"Be careful, or you'll spoil the unselfishness," she broke in gently. + +"Things have come to a head now," George continued. "You are going away +tomorrow, and, of course, you will never see these horrible people +again. We must do something, Nellie--we must be reckless, as we are both +getting on in life. This is the third of September, and I do think +before the month is out we ought to--I mean something should be done. +Shall we settle on the last day of the month? I have quite made up my +mind to live with Aunt Sophy; it will be good for her, and cheap for +us." + +"This is what the Americans call a proposition," she murmured. + +"Then when she dies, there will be the furniture all round us. And Kezia +can go on living with us, imagining that the furniture is hers, until +she too departs in peace. We can teach Aunt Sophy how to save money, and +show her how to invest it for our benefit. It looks to me as if we'd got +the future ready-made." + +"Is there anything very serious in all this?" she asked. + +"Well, it's not like a bad illness, or any great disaster. It's comfort, +happiness, all that sort of thing. When we are in for a jolly good time, +we don't regard that as serious." + +"But what is to happen on the last day of the month?" + +"It has just occurred to me we might do the right thing--obviously the +right thing. Don't you think so, Nellie? What's the good of waiting, and +wearing ourselves out with ceaseless labour? On the thirty-first of this +month, the last of summer, let us make the plunge." + +"Do you mean it?" she asked, with a queer little laugh, which was +perhaps a trifle spiteful; but then the lover was so very callous. + +"I have thought over it a great many times, and I've always arrived at +the same conclusion." + +"But what do you want me to do on the thirty-first?" + +"To go to church." + +"I go every Sunday." + +"For a special purpose." + +"I always have one." + +"To hear the service read." + +"Will that make any difference to me?" + +"Why, of course it will." + +"It will change my present B. into a lifelong D.?" + +"That's a very artistic way of putting it," said George, rubbing his +hands. + +"On the thirty-first?" + +"It will suit me nicely." + +"For the sake of peace and quietness I agree. But I want you to promise +one thing--don't waste money over an engagement-ring; as, if you do, I +won't wear it." + +"That's a splendid idea! But all the same, Nellie, I should never have +thought of going to any expense." + +"You are so economical. It's the one thing I like about you." + +"And the one thing I like about you," said George, not to be outdone in +compliments, "is your willingness to listen to good advice." + +They parted, with quite a friendly handshake. George went to his bed, +and was baked so soundly above the oven that, before he reached Windward +House the following morning, Miss Yard and her attendants had departed. + + + + +CHAPTER XVII + +PLOUGHING THE GROUND + + +Kezia had locked up the house and given to Bessie possession of the +keys; because she had always been left in charge when the family +departed to the seaside, having received her commission as holder of the +keys from Captain Drake himself in the days when she was growing. Now +there was a husband in command, and one who held decided views regarding +property. Robert expressed his willingness to undertake the duties of +custodian; but, in order that the work might be performed efficiently, +he proposed to Bessie that they should close their own cottage and +retire into luxurious residence across the road. + +So when George called at his own house, which was occupied by caretakers +he had not appointed, the doors were locked against him. He was not +refused admittance, as that might have looked like an unfriendly act; +his presence was simply ignored. Robert, smoking in the parlour, with +his feet upon the sofa, heard the knocking; but he struck another match +and smiled. Bessie, who was preparing the best bedroom, heard the +ringing; but she peeped behind the curtain and muttered, "Can't have him +in here taking things." + +George retired to his lodgings and stared at the framed advertisements, +until he heard Dyer singing as he scoured the oven. The baker had been +heard to declare that, if he had not known how to sing, he would have +lost his senses long ago owing to the fightings and despondings which +beset him. As a matter of fact he did not know how to sing, and those +who listened were far more likely to lose their senses. George +descended, assured Dyer it was a sin to bake bread with a voice like +that, and went on to inquire affectionately after the business. + +"Going from bad to worse, sir," came the answer. Dyer was more than a +pessimist; he was not content merely to look on the dark side of things, +but associated himself with every bit of shadow he could find. + +"I don't see how that can be. People may give up meat, they may reduce +their clothing; but they must have bread," replied George. + +"But they don't want nearly so much as they used to," said Dyer +bitterly, "and they looks at anything nowadays avore they takes it. When +I started business a healthy working man would finish off two loaves a +day; and one's as much as he can manage now. The human race ain't +improving, sir; 'tis dying out, I fancy. They used to be thankful vor +anything I sold 'em, but now if they finds a button, or a beetle, or a +dead mouse in the bread--and the dough will fall over on the floor +sometimes--they sends the loaf back and asks vor another gratis. And the +population is dwindling away to nought." + +"According to the census--" began George. + +"Don't you believe in censuses," cried the horrified Dyer. "That's dirty +work, sir. Government has a hand in that. If me and you wur the only two +left in Highfield parish, they'd put us down, sir, as four hundred +souls." + +"You have a big sale for your cakes and doughnuts," George suggested. + +"I loses on 'em," said the dreary Dyer. + +"Then why do you make them?" + +"I suppose, sir, 'tis a habit I've got into." + +"My uncle used to say he had never tasted better cakes than yours." + +"Captain Drake was a gentleman, sir. His appetite belonged to the old +school what be passed away vor ever. When he wur alive I could almost +make both ends meet. But he gave me a nasty fright once, when he got +telling about a tree what grows abroad--bread tree he called it. Told me +volks planted it in their gardens, and picked the loaves off as they +wanted 'em. 'Twas a great relief to my mind when he said the tree +wouldn't be a commercial success in this country because the sun ain't +hot enough to bake the bread. Talking about gentlemen, sir, what do you +think of the Brocks?" + +"A bad lot," said George, wagging his head. + +"Sure enough! They make their own bread," whispered the baker. + +"I didn't know they went so far as that," replied the properly horrified +George. + +"Some volks stick at nothing. But is it fair, sir? How be struggling +tradesmen to escape ruin when volks break the law--" + +"It's not illegal." + +"There's Government again! I tell ye how 'tis, sir, Government means to +get rid of me, though I never done anything worse than stop my ears when +parson prays vor Parliament. I hates Government, sir, and I do wish it +wur possible to vote against both parties. If I wur to make my own +tobacco, or vizzy wine such as rich volk drink at funerals, they'd put +me away in prison. Why ain't it illegal vor volks to make their own +bread? I'll tell ye why, sir: 'tis because Government means to do away +wi' bakers. They ha' been telling a lot lately about encouraging home +industries, and that's how they stir up volks to ruin we tradesmen by +making all they want at home." + +"You are not ruined yet. Robert declares you are the richest man in +Highfield--not that I believe much he says," George remarked, settling +down to business. + +"Quite right, sir. I ha' learned Robert to bake, but I can't prevent him +from talking childish. He'd like to see me out of the business, so that +he could slip into the ruins of it. When he sees I'm the richest man in +the village he means the poorest. 'Tis just a contrairy way of talking. +Captain Drake often looked in to tell wi' me--out of gratitude vor my +doughnuts what helped him to sleep, he said--'twur avore he died so +sharp like." + +"I guessed as much," said George. + +"And he used to tell me, if you wanted to make a man real angry you had +only to say the opposite of what you meant in the most polite language +you could find. He told Robert the like, I fancy." + +"My uncle generally found the soft answer a success," said George. "He +told me once how another captain once called him 'a bullying old +scoundrel with a face like a lobster-salad,' and he replied, 'You're a +ewe-lamb.' The other man got madder than ever though, as my uncle said, +you can't find anything much softer than a ewe-lamb. But Robert isn't +always calling you a rich man. He's in our kitchen every evening, and he +talks pretty freely when he has a drop of cocoa in him." + +"He ain't got nothing against me. Me and the missus ha' been a father +to him," said the baker, with suspicious alacrity. + +"He thinks he has a grievance." + +"Then I suppose he's still worrying over his honeymoon. A man what's +been married years and years ought to be thinking of his future state +and his old-age pension. He might as well be asking vor his childhood +back again." + +"He says you cheated him out of his honeymoon," said George, who knew +the story: how Dyer's wedding present to his assistant had been leave of +absence, without pay, from Saturday to Monday; coupled with a promise of +a week's holiday, with half pay, at some future date when business might +be slack; which promise belonged to that fragile order of assurances +declaimed so loudly at election time. + +"'Tis a lot too late now," said the baker. + +"I suppose a deferred honeymoon is better than none at all," George +remarked. "Anyhow, Robert and his wife are grumbling a good bit and, as +I'm staying here, they asked me to remind you of your promise, business +being very slack at present." + +"I ha' never known it to be anything else, but 'tis funny it should be +picking up a little just now. I got a big order vor cakes this morning, +as there's a school treat next week. Me and Robert will be kept very +busy all this month--but it's a losing business. There's no profit in +cakes, nor yet in bread. There used to be a profit in doughnuts, but +that's gone now." + +The cautious George said no more, being content with the knowledge that +he had given Dyer something to worry about. The baker would certainly +not mention the matter so long as Robert kept silent; and Robert had +probably forgotten all about the promise, although many months back +George had overheard him assuring Bessie it would be time to think of a +new dress when master's wedding present came along. + +"One thing is certain: nobody can get the better of me," George chuckled +as he left the bakehouse. "I beat Hunter at his own game, I diddled +Crampy in his, I scared Percy out of the country--at least that's my +belief--and now I'm going to make old Dyer set a trap to catch the +furniture snatchers." + +The Mudges, unsuspecting treachery, were glittering like two stars of +fashion; Robert lolling at ease in the parlour until Bessie summoned him +to supper in the dining room. If it was their duty to look after the +house, it was also their pleasure to take care of themselves. They did +not regard George as either friend or enemy; they despised and pitied a +poor fellow who possessed no visible means of support, while attributing +his presence in Highfield to a cat-like habit of returning to a house +which might have been his had he behaved with propriety. + +The only person they feared was Kezia, who certainly did appear to have +almost as much right to the Captain's furniture as themselves. This +suspicion was in Robert's mind when, the shutters having been closed and +the lamps lighted, he stood beside the round table upon which were +spread various scraps of paper beginning to show signs of wear and tear. + +"If we takes all that Mrs. Drake sees we'm to have, what do Kezia get?" +he asked. + +"Not much," replied Bessie. + +"If Kezia takes all the things Mrs. Drake said she could have, what do +we get?" continued Robert. + +"Nought," said Bessie. + +"When property be left this way, volks sometimes share and share alike; +or they sells the stuff, and each takes half the money," continued +Robert. + +"Kezia won't neither sell nor share. She'll bide quiet till Miss Sophy +dies, and then she'll see a lawyer," declared Bessie. + +"Our bits o' paper are as gude as hers." + +"Kezia would sooner lose everything than see us take any little old bit +of stuff. She'm a spiteful toad." + +"The nicest thing we can do, Bess, is to go on shifting, one bit now and +agin. Kezia won't notice nothing, if us takes 'em gradual." + +"Where can us hide them?" asked Bessie. "We can't put 'em over in the +cottage. Kezia ain't such a vule as you think. If I wur to take a +kitchen spine she'd miss it." + +"She never found out about the last lot," Robert reminded her. + +"Policeman went away sudden and forgot to tell her. We'll have to shift +those things, vor rainy weather'll be starting soon, and that musical +box will spoil inside the peatstack." + +"I'll get 'em out avore they comes back home; I b'ain't ashamed of +claiming what be rightly ours. I told policeman we'd took what belonged +to us, and he said 'twas all right this time, but us mustn't do it too +often. I'm going to shift a few more pieces across the way in a day or +two." + +"Best wait till Miss Sophy dies," said Bessie nervously. + +"We'll let the big furniture bide till then. Where's Miss Sophy going to +be buried?" + +"Somewhere in London, she ses. Said she wouldn't be buried here if they +paid her vor it." + +"That's got it!" cried Robert. "When Kezia goes to the funeral, I'll +shift the furniture." + +"Don't that seem like trying to get the better of her?" + +"Ain't she trying to deprive us of our rightful property? Don't she want +to see me and you cut off wi' a fry pan? See what's wrote on this +paper--'I want Bessie to have all the furniture in the spare bedroom.' +And on this one--'all the furniture in the dining room.' And on this +here--'all the stuff in the kitchen.' Ain't that clear?" + +"Sure enough," said Bessie. + +"Then there's the house and garden; worth a thousand pounds, I reckon." + +"It seems as how Mrs. Drake never left the place to no one, unless it +wur to Miss Sophy. But, I tell ye, Kezia means to have it." + +"Parson had best keep his eyes open, or she'll slip off wi' the church," +said Robert grimly. + +"If Miss Sophy ha' got it, 'tis only vor her life. She can't keep it +afterwards," explained Bessie. "So Nellie can't get it, and Mr. George +ain't to have nothing, and I'll watch Kezia don't have it, though I +wouldn't mind letting her the attic where they keeps the boxes." + +"What about Mr. Percy!" + +"Well, there! I never thought of him. But the house belonged to Captain +Drake, and he didn't like Mr. Percy, so it don't seem right the place +should go to him." + +"Mr. George would know." + +"'Tis him, I fancy, who's been knocking such a lot," said Bessie. + +"Go and let 'en in," directed Robert. "He can't do us any harm, and he +may do us a bit of gude." + +Bessie obeyed, and George entered, beaming in the most sunny fashion, +assuring the Mudges he too had frequently been deluded into the belief +that a loose branch had been tapping against the door, when in reality +somebody was knocking and ringing. It was a mistake, he thought, to +plant umbrageous perennials so close to the front doorstep, which had +been nicely purified since Miss Teenie stood upon it. Their plan of +acting the part of caretakers with the thoroughness of ownership he +commended highly; as, with autumn approaching, it was necessary to keep +the house warm and the furniture dry; and the only satisfactory way of +doing so was for Robert to smoke his pipe in the parlour while Bessie +reclined upon the easy chairs which, he went on to suggest, would be her +own some day. + +"Us might as well take t'em now as wait vor 'em, Robert ses," replied +Bessie, delighted at the geniality of her visitor. "Won't you sit down, +Mr. George, and make yourself comfortable? I was surprised to hear you +had gone to Mrs. Dyer's. I'd have asked ye to come here, if I'd known +you wur going to stay." + +"Thank you very much," said George simply. "I should have been far more +comfortable here; but I am not making a long stay, and I felt sure you +would be wanting to turn out these rooms." + +"Kezia said you weren't coming back again," observed Robert, hoping to +obtain raw material for gossip. + +"What do she know?" snapped Bessie. + +"Nothing," replied George. "I had to come back on business in connection +with the railway. You see, I'm civil engineer to the company, and I have +to prepare a report." + +"They did say you had given up the railway," remarked Bessie, beginning +to understand the politeness of George's manner, although she did not +know why engineers had to be more civil than other people. + +"That railway has been in the air a long time, but I shall never rest +until I've made it," said George with energy. "Everything is arranged +now except a few preliminary details, such as issuing the prospectus, +collecting the money, and obtaining of Parliamentary powers. I have an +idea of turning this garden into the terminus, and making the house the +station. This will make a good waiting room, while the dining room can +be converted into the booking office. The station-master and his family +can live upstairs. I shall be station-master, as well as general +manager." + +Bessie gulped and Robert whistled. + +"Your cottage will do for a goods' station. I shall build a platform +round it, put up a crane--" + +"What about the street?" cried Robert. + +"I shall divert that, if necessary. If I find the church is in my way, +it must come down." + +"But you won't start till Miss Sophy dies. Mrs. Drake said nothing wur +to happen till Miss Sophy died," said Bessie. + +"We can't possibly wait for her. We have got to make progress," replied +George firmly. + +"What about Mr. Percy?" asked the crafty Robert. + +"What has he got to do with our affairs?" + +"Ain't he to have the house and garden?" + +"The whole of this property belongs to me, and Miss Sophy is my tenant," +replied the far more crafty George; for this was the question he had +been leading up to. + +"Kezia won't have it anyhow," Robert muttered with satisfaction, +removing his boots from the sofa. He wanted to go out into the village +and talk. + +"You never did tell us much about that paper what Mrs. Drake left vor +you," said Bessie reproachfully. + +"It was just an ordinary will, leaving me some money and the house. She +couldn't deprive me of that, as the property belonged to my uncle, and +he made her promise I should have it. If you don't believe me, you can +ask Miss Blisland," George added lightly. + +"Of course we believes you. I always thought it funny Mrs. Drake +shouldn't have left you nothing," said Bessie. + +"What do you think she meant to do about the furniture, sir?" asked +Robert boldly. + +"Ah, that's a troublesome question," said George cautiously. + +"I fancy she meant to leave half to Kezia and half to me; but she wur +such a kind-hearted lady that she left all of it to both of us," +observed Bessie. + +"Not all--tell the truth, Bess. We ain't going to claim what don't +belong to us. She never left you the carpet on the stairs, nor yet the +old bed in the attic," said Robert severely. + +"You can't be too honest in business, and that means, if you are too +honest, some one else will get the better of you," said George. "If Mrs. +Drake had left the furniture to Mr. Taverner and myself, as she has left +it to Kezia and you--" + +"What would you ha' done, sir?" asked Robert eagerly. + +"I should have looked after my own interests," George answered, as he +reached for his hat. + +The Mudges escorted him to the door of his own house, and hoped he would +look in any time he was passing. + +"It's right about the house," said Robert, as he too reached for his +hat. "And it's right about the railway. I know Captain Drake meant to +build it; he talked a lot about it, and he brought gentlemen down to +look round the place; they pretended to be fishing, but we knew what +they wur up to. Mr. George ain't clever like his uncle. He made a vule +of hisself when he said the American gentleman come here to buy a pair +of vases--all the way from America to buy a bit o' cloam! Everybody knew +he'd come about the railway. Mr. George ain't clever--that's a sure +thing. He can't talk so as to deceive a child. 'Twas the American +gentleman what put him up to the idea o' turning this house into the +terminus. He would never ha' thought of it." + + + + +CHAPTER XVIII + +SOWING THE SEED + + +Next morning George invited the dreary Dyer to step into the parlour +with a view to continuing the diplomatic conversation commenced the +previous day. The baker responded with a certain amount of trepidation, +as he thought it possible Mr. Drake might desire to buy a share in the +business, and he did not at all relish the idea of confessing that the +profits were considerable. His relief, therefore, was only equalled by +his amazement when George inquired: + +"Did you ever buy a penny weekly journal, Mr. Dyer?" + +"Never in my life, sir," replied the baker. + +"Then you know nothing about picture puzzles?" + +"Never heard of 'em avore, sir." + +"A penny weekly journal exists upon its picture puzzles," George +continued. "The last time I went away I bought one of these papers. The +competition interested me, as the pictures represented the names of +certain railway stations, and that's a subject I know as much about as +any man in England." + +"I don't know as I quite get your meaning," said the baker. + +"I'll explain. Suppose the picture is intended to represent Marylebone. +You may be shown a drawing of a little girl eating a mutton chop. Of +course, you are expected to have some brains." + +"I wouldn't use mine vor such a purpose," said the baker somewhat +sharply. + +"It's quite simple when you've got the trick. You have to assume the +little girl's name is Mary, and _le_ is French for the, and there's more +bone than anything else in a mutton chop. Well, I went in for this +competition, and I've won second prize. I don't know why I didn't get +the first, but perhaps that was suppressed for economic reasons." + +"I suppose it would be the same sort of thing as a flower show," +suggested Dyer. "I got second prize for carrots once. It should ha' been +half a crown, but they ran short o' money, so I got only eighteen pence, +and I never showed again." + +"My prize was worth winning," said George, who had really received a +solatium of ten shillings. "It was fifty pounds." + +Dyer repeated the amount, firstly as a shout of admiration, secondly as +a whisper of covetousness; then he released all kinds of exclamations +for some moments; and presently observed with emotion: + +"Education does it, sir! If I could ha' gone to a big school, and to +the University, I might ha' gone in vor them pictures too. Little gal +eating a mutton chop--well done, sir! They'm nought but bone as you ses. +You found out her name wur Mary, and you talked French, and you learned +all about the railways. Ah, that's wonderful! But I fancy, sir, you must +ha' used a map." + +"I did it by skill entirely, but of course I had an advantage over my +competitors owing to my connection with the railways. Now you are +wondering why I'm telling you this?" + +"We all knows you does business in railways," said Dyer absently. + +"I find myself with a large sum of money, and I mean to make a good use +of it. I propose spending the whole amount in giving happiness to +others; but I want to do it unobtrusively. I intend to give a meat tea +to the old folk of this parish, but I shall hand the money to the vicar +and request him to keep my name out of it." + +"Perhaps, sir, you'm a-paying vor the cakes ordered yesterday," cried +Dyer. + +"Don't mention the matter," said George. + +"You can trust me, sir." + +"Another thing I am anxious to do is to give the Mudges a real good +holiday. That's what I wanted to see you about, Mr. Dyer. I know you +wish to keep your promise--about the wedding present, you know--but, of +course, you can't afford it. My idea is to send them away for a week to +the seaside. Bessie served my uncle and aunt faithfully for a number of +years, while Robert was always ready to make himself useful in the +house; but I've done nothing for either of them. We could give them the +best week of their lives for five pounds." + +"Did you say anything about me, sir?" asked the baker. + +"Yes, because I felt sure you would insist upon contributing something, +though I should like them to think the whole amount comes from you. +Suppose I give three pounds. You can make up the other two." + +"Can't be done, sir. Can't possibly be done. Besides, sir, business is +looking up, owing to your generosity, and I can't spare Robert." + +"It will give you a splendid reputation for liberality. Everybody in the +parish will know you have given the Mudges five pounds and a week's +leave of absence." + +"I works vor my reputation, sir. Two pounds would ruin me. I can't tell +ye how bad things be; I'd be ashamed to speak the truth, sir; I don't +hardly like to think on it. Often, when missus fancies I'm asleep, she +has a gude cry. She knows we can't pay five shillings in the pound if +miller wur to call vor what us owes 'en." + +"I'll subscribe four pounds, if you will give the other," said George. + +"Where would I get a pound from?" asked Dyer, more drearily than ever. +"I'd have to borrow, or sell the bed I tries to sleep on, but can't vor +all the trouble. A sovereign, sir, is more to me than to any one else in +this parish." + +"I've heard that before, and I believe it." + +"And it's the truth. Twenty shillings might make the difference between +pulling down the blinds today, or keeping 'em up till next week." + +"Will you give ten shillings?" George inquired desperately. + +The baker shook his head like one in pain, muttering something about +last straws and poor relief. + +"Will you give anything?" + +"Well, sir, to show my heart's in the right place I'll sacrifice a +shilling. I'll grab it from the till when missus ain't looking." + +"Here is the money," said George, counting out five sovereigns. "You had +better see Robert at once: tell him to get away tomorrow. This is +September, and fine weather may break any day." + +Such a rush of philanthropy numbed the baker's faculties; but even in +that semi-paralysed condition he remained a man of business. His fingers +closed upon the coins, his feet carried him to the door; then he turned +back to face this benefactor, who was shedding sovereigns in the +reckless fashion of a tree casting its autumnal leaves. The old folk +were to be provided with a meat tea; the Mudges were to be given a week +at the seaside; the donor was to remain anonymous. Dyer in all his +dreariness could not understand why Mr. Drake should desire to benefit +his fellow creatures at all; but, more than that, he was actually +proposing to do good stealthily. Where then was the advertisement? + +"It's a lot of money, sir. You could buy a bit of land vor this," he +said at last. + +"I do not require any land," George answered. + +"You don't get any profit so far as I can see," the baker proceeded. + +"I am helping you to give Robert and Bessie the first real holiday they +have ever known; I am enabling you to keep your promise; and I am +enjoying the satisfaction of performing an unselfish action." + +"'Tis there I'm beat. Why don't ye give the money to Robert, and tell +'en 'tis a present from me and you?" + +"I will, if you like, and tell him your share is one shilling." + +Dyer again moved towards the door; but still he hesitated. + +"They could do it on less than five pounds, sir." + +"Give them four, then, and keep the other sovereign for yourself," +George replied, breaking out into bribery. + +"What about the shilling?" asked Dyer eagerly. + +"I'll let you off that." + +The baker became a reformed character at once. He did not profess to +understand Mr. Drake's extraordinary conduct, but he was quite willing +to benefit by the eccentricities of any man. His meanness had become a +by-word in the parish. Now Mr. Drake was offering to purchase him a +reputation for generosity, which was almost as good as an annuity, and +was giving him a sovereign for himself. Dyer was not the man to shrink +from duty that was profitable. + +"You're the son of your uncle, sir," he said with feeling. + +"I have always set his example before me," replied George. + +"I'll spare Robert a week from tomorrow. Don't ye think, sir, four +pounds are a bit too much?" + +"I couldn't let them do it on less," said George firmly. + +"And you don't want me to tell 'em part of the money comes from you?" + +"I want them to think you are keeping your promise." + +The baker retired, muttering, "He wants to get 'em out of Highfield +House vor certain. But that don't matter to me so long as I get my +profit." + +George went for a long walk to refresh himself, not bothering about his +popularity any longer, as he was contemplating an act which would make +future residence in Highfield impossible; but he met the Wallower in +Wealth, who demanded his musical box; and the Dumpy Philosopher, who put +searching questions concerning the railway and the amount of +compensation for wounded feelings he was likely to receive; and the +Yellow Leaf, who had just lost his wife and was going courting. +Returning, during the late afternoon, he stopped at his own house, +knocked, but received no answer from that side of the street. Bessie +looked out from the cottage window opposite and invited him to step in +that direction. + +"Have ye heard the news, Mr. George?" she whispered excitedly. "Master +ha' given Robert three pounds and a week." + +"Three pounds!" cried George fiercely. + +"Us can't make any one believe it. Three solid sovereigns, sir! Robert +ha' got teethache through biting 'em." + +"I am not surprised," said George. "Dyer has been left a lot of +money--he told me yesterday. An uncle, who went to New Zealand years +ago, has just died and left him thousands. He can buy up the whole +village if he wants to." + +"Master never told Robert he'd been left money. He gave 'en the +sovereigns and said 'twas a reward vor the way Robert had worked. +Couldn't spare 'em, he said, but his conscience worried him. They do say +the Dyers ha' never given away anything avore 'cept the water what they +boiled their cabbage in." + +"When are you off?" + +"First thing tomorrow. We'm going to my home, so it won't cost nothing +'cept the railway. I'm getting our things together now." + +"Where's Robert?" + +"Going round wi' the bread--that's him a-whistling. He'm fair mazed, Mr. +George." + +"Who is to take care of the house?" + +"I'll lock it up and take the keys away wi' me. Why shouldn't us go? No +one won't go near the house, wi' you and policeman about." + +"I think you ought to wait until Miss Yard comes back," said George, who +knew enough about women to be aware how the spirit of opposition acts +upon them. + +"And lose our holiday! The only real holiday we've had, and the chance +to see my folks again. Not likely, Mr. George! If we don't go tomorrow, +master will ask vor them three sovereigns back again. How did you +manage to find out he'd been left all this money?" + +"I was talking with him yesterday and--it just slipped out. You will +hear more when you come back." + +"I'll make Robert ask 'en vor a rise. How long be you staying, Mr. +George?" + +"I might be here when you return or, on the other hand, I might go +tomorrow. Do you want me to take charge of the keys?" + +"Somebody ought to go in and open the windows." + +"I don't mind doing you a favour. If I'm called away I will leave the +keys with Mrs. Dyer." + +"Not wi' she. Leave 'em wi' Mrs. Cann to the post office. You come this +evening, and I'll give ye the keys." + +"All right," said George. "But you know I don't approve of your going +after having been left in charge." + +"If I don't go, Robert will, and he ain't going home without me," said +Bessie. "I wouldn't like leaving if Kezia wur here, vor I'd dread her +selling some of my things; but Robert ha' told the volks the house +belongs to you, so there's no fear of any one breaking in, unless it be +the Brocks. Policeman ha' promised to keep his eye on them." + +George went on to punish the baker, who had succeeded with grievous +pangs in handing over three sovereigns, but had failed in his endeavour +to part with the fourth. Dyer affirmed Robert had lied, by no means for +the first time; but, when George threatened to call the Mudges that they +might give evidence upon oath, Dyer admitted it was just possible the +missing coin might have slipped through a hole in his pocket; so he +called his wife to light a candle and to sweep the floor. The elusive +piece of gold, however, had passed entirely out of vision, although +neither of the Dyers could feel surprised at that; the lady declaring it +was wonderful how easily things lost themselves; while her husband said +he had done nothing except drop money all his life. + +"Very well, Mrs. Dyer," said George. "When you make up my bill for +lodgings and bread puddings, just remember that you owe me a pound." + +"You wouldn't think of such a thing. You'm too much of a gentleman," +cried Mrs. Dyer. + +"The missus fancies you meant it, sir. She ain't very humorous," +explained the baker. + +George had a trick of nodding after supper, and that evening he did not +wake until it was nearly time to sleep more seriously. Remembering that +Bessie would be sitting up to surrender the keys, he hurried out; but +when he entered Windward House modestly by the back door--hoping to +overhear some scraps of conversation--the house appeared deserted, +until he pushed open the kitchen door, to discover the Wallower in +Wealth sipping a cup of something hot beside the fire. + +"Where are the Mudges?" cried George. + +"Where's my musical box?" retorted the man in possession. + +George had made a rule never to use bad language; by an exception then +he proved the rule's existence. Some men are frightened when sworn at +because they never know what may come next; and the Wallower in Wealth +belonged to that class. He sat silent and sulky, while George repeated +his question with one more exception. + +"Gone vor their holiday," came the answer. "I looked in to wish 'em +gude-luck, and Mrs. Mudge asked me to bide till you come. Keys be in the +doors, I was to tell ye." + +"Their train doesn't go till seven o'clock tomorrow morning." + +"Postman told 'em there's an excursion up to London at eleven, so they +reckoned they'd go part of the way in that, and get there quicker." + +"The fools!" cried George. "That train will take them in the very +opposite direction." + +"They was a bit mazed. Robert had begun to enjoy his holiday, and Bessie +wur trying to catch up wi' 'en. Now they'll ha' to wait all night +outside the station." + +"What are you drinking?" asked George, sniffing at the fumes. + +"Mrs. Mudge said 'twur coffee, but it tastes more like hot whisky and +water. I'll give ye thirty shillings vor the musical box." + +"I'm not going to talk business at this time of night. It's my bedtime +and yours too," said George, making a motion towards the door. + +"There's a drop o' this wonderful nice coffee in the jug." + +"Take it with you." + +"I won't take it in the jug, lest I forget to bring it back. Your very +good health, Mr. Drake--and I'll give anyone thirty-five shillings for +that musical box." + +George hurried into the town next morning, and ascertained from a porter +who had relations in Highfield, that the muddled Mudges had started upon +their journey in the right direction shortly after midnight, by +obtaining an introduction to the guard of a goods train and +travelling--contrary to all regulations--in his van. The porter +mentioned that the guard had possibly been influenced by the fact that +Bessie was carrying a basket of delicacies, while the neck of a bottle +protruded from the pocket of Robert's overcoat. + +Satisfied on this point, George visited a certain place of business, and +interviewed the manager who promised to send up to Highfield, very +early on the following morning, two furniture vans, with sufficient men +to do the packing in one day. The simplicity of working out a plot +caused George to laugh aloud; also to treat himself to a luncheon from +which bread and margarine pudding was rigorously excluded. + +On the way home he sighted, in the dip of the road, a pair of strolling +youngsters, boy and girl, who looked back often as if expecting +somebody; the back of the one, and the beauty of the other, seemed +familiar. Suddenly the girl took to her heels and raced round the bend, +while the boy allowed George to draw up to him. + +"Why does the little girl run so fast?" asked George in a paternal +fashion. + +"She's full of beans," replied Sidney. + +"Taking a holiday?" George continued. + +"I fancied a friend might be coming by the three o'clock train; but I've +had the walk vor nothing." + +"Another young lady, I suppose?" + +"That's right," said the laughing profligate. + +"Well, I'm confounded! It seems to me you are collecting girls," George +muttered. + +"There's plenty. I'll leave ye a few to choose from," said Sidney. + +"I've done my choosing and I'm going to settle down after this month. I +suppose you know we are all clearing out of Highfield? Miss Blisland +has gone already, and you'll never see her again. You tried to catch +Nellie," said George, who frequently lost by his silly conversation all +he had gained by his cunning. "But she saw through your nasty little +ways, my lad. She didn't fancy your harem. Nellie is one of the most +sensible girls I have ever met, and she's got the makings of a good +woman in her." + +"I reckon," said Sidney, like an oaf. + +"It's a bit of a change to me to marry any one, but I don't mind +sacrificing myself," George rambled on. "There's no secret about it. +We've taken a house at a place called Drivelford, and we're going to let +Miss Yard live with us. You won't get the chance to congratulate Nellie, +and I shouldn't permit it in any case, as I don't think you are the sort +of young fellow she ought to speak to; but I do hope you are feeling a +bit sorry for yourself. I'm not perfect, but I do think a man ought to +be honest and truthful, and be satisfied with one wife, so long as she +does what he tells her." + +"That's right enough," said Sidney. + +"You see what a callous young fellow you are already. You pretended to +be in love with the future Mrs. Drake; but, now that you have lost her, +you don't care a hang." + +"Not that much," said Sidney, snapping his fingers. + +"That's your character," said George bitterly. "Why should you care? +There are plenty of Dollies, and Teenies, and painted ladies, cheap for +cash as the advertisements say." + +"Here, you mind what you're saying. You're going a bit too far!" cried +Sidney, rounding angrily upon his oppressor. + +"I'm not insulting you," George explained. "But I do want to give you a +little good advice before we part. I can quite understand that you don't +want to hear the truth about your young women, and they wouldn't like to +hear it either. That little girl ran away just now because she couldn't +face a decent gentleman." + +"She ran because she wouldn't be introduced to you." + +"That shows she can't be altogether bad," said George approvingly. "Now +I must leave you, as I'm going to take the short cut across the fields. +I do hope you will remember what I've said. When this new young woman +arrives, try to show yourself a lad of courage. Send her home again or, +if you don't like to do that, send her to me." + +For some inscrutable reason Sidney could not restrain his laughter. + +"Ah, you think I should want to make love to her," said George angrily. +"I know your nasty mind. You and your grandfather had better be +careful. You haven't got a friend in the parish." + +"Except the vicar," Sidney reminded him. + +"And, if he goes on visiting you, he won't have a friend in the parish +either. Do you know what they call you in the village?" + +"Do you know what they call you?" Sidney retorted joyously. + +"They call you the Mormon." + +"And they call you Ananias!" + +"Well, that beats everything," gasped George, as he dropped clumsily +over the stile. "I never tell lies except in the way of business. I +always speak the truth in private life." + +Days were shortening, so that by the time George had finished his tea, +which included a propitiatory offering of doughnuts, the boom of beetles +sounded in the street. As life was dull in the bakery, he decided to +spend a tranquil evening in his own house, surrounded by the furniture +he had been brought up with. He went and settled himself in an easy +chair with one of the copies, still unburnt, of his uncle's monumental +work, "A History of Highfield Parish." But reading grew tedious, and the +doughnuts he had consumed so recklessly began to trouble, and the +buzzing of flies and wasps became tempestuous. + +Yet these sounds recalled pleasant memories of the past; he had not done +much with his life, still he had managed to win distinction as an +insect killer. He had eased his uncle's labours by crushing the wasp, +and averted his aunt's displeasure by obliterating the blowfly. He rose +and went into the kitchen to search for a cork. + +The lighted candle cast weird shadows as he blundered through the pantry +to the larder; discovering at last a cork which smelt of alcohol. That +at least would give the wasps a pleasant death. But, while hurrying back +to the insect-haunted parlour, he heard a new disturbance: no sleepy +buzzing, but the fall of active footsteps. Then a handbag was flung +recklessly through the open window; banging upon a chair, rolling to the +floor. The footsteps died away, and the gate of the garden slammed. + +With horrible dread of a possible explosion, George crept towards the +missile, and touched it gingerly. It was a neat brown bag, ridiculously +small to hold a wardrobe, and it bore the initials N.B. + +"That's what they put in books, when they want to draw your attention to +something," he muttered. + + + + +CHAPTER XIX + +REAPING THE HARVEST + + +It would have been extraordinary, after Teenie's visit, had Nellie not +received a letter from Sidney, begging her to give him an opportunity of +clearing up the mystery which had so long surrounded Black Anchor Farm. +The style and spelling of this epistle moved her to the discovery that +it would be necessary to leave Miss Yard in the hands of Kezia, and +return to Highfield, for one night only, in order that she might +superintend the packing of the furniture; in place of George, who might +quite possibly prove untrustworthy. + +She replied, not altogether to that effect, without one thought for the +ridiculous nature of her expeditionary programme; she could not arrive +at Highfield until late in the afternoon, she would be compelled to +leave early the following morning, while the packers could not +reasonably be invited to work from dusk to sunrise. Sidney could meet +her at the station if he liked: in fact she thought that might be the +best plan, "As poor old George does not possess a sense of humour." +Sidney thought so too; but Nellie in her hurry missed the train. She +was able to agree with Miss Yard, who could not travel without the +observation, "They ought to do away with railway junctions." + +There was no good reason for losing all sense of method upon her arrival +at Windward House. As a methodist, she would have walked calmly indoors, +announced to Bessie--who was presumably in charge--that she had returned +to spend one more night in her old bedroom entirely out of sentiment; +and then have gone for a walk, in the opposite direction to Black +Anchor, among the moths and beetles, hoping to catch a glimpse of the +new moon. But the sight of that open window, the garish lamplight, the +cold apparition of George with a murderous cork in his hand, made her +hopelessly unmethodical. Her mind became so entirely disorganised that +everything escaped it, except that stupid necessity of going for a walk +immediately. She flung her bag through the window and fled. + +On the way to Black Anchor Nellie succeeded in persuading herself that +she was, if not exactly discreet, at least as sensible as any other +young woman in revolt from the severity of everyday life towards a more +picturesque and imaginative style of existence. She actually made a +plan. As it was night, and sufficiently dark for spying, she would +approach the farm among the bogs, flit around it like a +will-o'-the-wisp, play watchful fairy at the window, act recording +angel at the keyhole, until part at least of the mystery might be +revealed. She had no particular wish to discover the secret of Sidney's +fascination, which attracted to him young ladies of superior birth and +education, but she desired very much to learn something about these +prepossessing damsels; who they were and why they came; and above all it +was her business to ascertain why Sidney spoke like a farmer's boy, but +looked like a farmer's landlord, and wrote like the descendant of a poet +laureate. + +"How dark it is down here!" she murmured. "Lucky I know the geography. I +wish I knew my history half as well." + +Then it seemed to her that all kinds of light-footed people were leaping +over the bogs and jumping the furze bushes; while the moor on each side +twinkled with teasing eyes of local inhabitants sent out to watch the +movements of the spy. + +Nellie saw the farm, and knew by the stream of light that all the doors +and windows stood wide open. The trackway beyond was dangerous because +one window threw a searchlight right across it; but she walked on, +having never been taught the art of scouting, and came presently to a +colossal figure, carved apparently out of granite, or beaten into human +shape by wind and weather, rising from an unhewn boulder halfway to the +sky. This was a wonder of the moor never previously discovered, thought +Nellie; but a moment later she felt certain ghosts were abroad, and this +colossus was being worshipped by the local inhabitants, dancing +invisibly all over the peat and tussocks: she could detect the smell of +incense, see the smoke rising; any moment she might be compelled to +witness a human sacrifice. There was a glow of fire undoubtedly. Again +she fled, while the colossus shook from side to side although there was +no wind. + +"How silly of me!" gasped Nellie. "It was old Mr. Brock, sitting on a +rock--bother the rhyme!--smoking a cigar." + +Obsessed by the idea of finding out something concerning this enchanted +region, she went on towards the farmhouse, forced to walk along the +lighted trackway because it skirted the edges of a bog, where in full +swing was the season of grand opera and, from a cool green dais, the +bullfrog conductor constrained an enormous amount of energy out of his +orchestra--it sounded like Tanhäuser but was more melodious--although +the night-jars and owls did their best to mar the performance out of +professional rivalry, while the beetles with their trombones were +hopelessly discordant. But soon there were other sounds, far pleasanter; +a scuffling in the furze-clad regions beyond; an approach, a +trepidation, a capture, and a scream: + +"You beast, Sidney! I did think I had hidden myself that time." + +"I saw the white ribbon in your hair. You looked out just at the wrong +moment." + +"It's my turn to seek now." + +"I'm going up to Highfield." + +"I don't believe she's coming." + +"I'll go and find out anyhow." + +"Shall I come?" + +"No, you stop at home." + +"I won't spoil sport. If you see her, I'll cut off full lick." + +"Listen! that was grandfather whistling." + +Nellie stood upon the trackway shivering. Behind her old Mr. Brock +closed the pass; in front Sidney was approaching; on the right side +spread the bogs; on the left a jagged wilderness of boulders. From a +strategical point of view she was done for. And she had come there to +spy! She could only halt in vexation squeezed against a rock until +captured, or advance with what little dignity remained to make an +unconditional surrender. + +"Boots muddy, hair all anyhow, crushed clothes--and caught in this +abominable fashion," she murmured. "In fact I'm so untidy there's just a +chance he may not recognise me." + +She had not the slightest cause for worry. A girl may know when she +looks attractive to other girls; but she seldom realises she is most +fascinating to a man when her boots are muddy and her hair is all +anyhow. + +There came a rabbit-like scamper up the trackway, and the stampeding +Teenie screamed again: + +"Oh, I say--you did make me jump! Sidney! Sidney, you ass! Here she is! +Here's Miss Blisland! Oh, what a lark!" shouted the child with shameless +and barbaric jubilation. + +"Don't talk such beastly nonsense," cried the other voice. + +"It is her!" screamed the child. + +"Yes, it's me," said Nellie faintly; and all three stood together, in an +atmosphere of amazement and bad grammar. + +"I thought, as it was such a lovely night--I mean evening--I would +stroll in this direction to tell you I'm off again first thing in the +morning," explained Nellie. + +"This is splendid! I was just going to start for Highfield, but this is +far better, as there's no old Drake to waddle about and quack. I was +hanging about the road all the afternoon. This is Teenie Stanley--my +cheeky young sister." + +"Your sister! And your name isn't Brock at all!" cried Nellie. + +"Run away, kid, and talk to grandfather," Sidney ordered; and the +little whirlwind whisked round Nellie and departed. + +"I did have the idea, but thought somehow it wasn't possible," Nellie +was saying. "You have humbugged everybody, but you never really deceived +me; if you had, I shouldn't be here now. I saw through your Dartmoor +dialect, and all the rest of it. And I suppose Dorothy is your elder +sister?" + +"Of course she is." + +"And the much-abused Mrs. Stanley--" + +"Is my mother who, in spite of local rumour, does not put on local +colour." + +"Why ever didn't you tell me before? What was the sense of making such a +mystery of it?" + +"The people in Highfield made the mystery. We didn't want them to know +we were here." + +"Couldn't they see you, stupid?" said Nellie, more cheerfully. + +"I mean grandfather didn't want them to know who we are; but I should +have let out everything that evening--when you were spiteful--if we +hadn't quarrelled. You know, Nellie, you were rather too cross about +mother, and--and I lost my temper because you wouldn't trust me, and I +made up my mind you should." + +"You are nearly as bad as George Drake," she declared. + +"Nearly isn't quite." + +"And who are you, please?" + +"Oh, we are not of vast importance. My full name is Arthur Sidney +Stanley. It was a shame to give me such names, as I can't possibly put +my initials on anything. That little beast, Teenie, always calls me ass. +We're not exactly paupers, as we own a big share in a number of stores +all over the south. There's one at Drivelford." + +"I've been in it hundreds of times, and distinctly remember seeing you +behind the counter." + +"Don't be horrid. I've never been to Drivelford in my life, but I'm +going there tomorrow if you are." + +"Who is Mr. Brock?" she asked in a great hurry. + +"Really my grandfather, and the owner of Black Anchor Farm, also the +patron of the living. Now you know why the vicar condescends to visit +us. Brock is such a common name in this part of Devonshire that nobody +could dream he is _the_ Mr. Brock." + +"And why did you come here? Why have you lived, like a couple of common +people, in this ramshackle place, without housekeeper or servant? You +simply made the people talk about you. How could they understand a +couple of gentlemen pigging it! Your mother and sisters coming here +naturally made a scandal. Even I couldn't believe they were your +relations, though I was positive you were much better than you pretended +to be. I shall never forgive you for talking to me in Devonshire +dialect, though I'm quite willing to forget you had supper one Sunday +evening in our kitchen." + +"Wasn't it fun too!" Sidney chuckled. "I wanted grandfather to come, but +he drew the line at that. When you know grandfather well--and that's +going to be jolly soon--you will guess how enormously he has enjoyed his +time here. It was his idea entirely. He loves roughing it, he has spent +most of his life knocking about the world, and he's only really happy in +a cottage. He declares luxury and high feeding kill more people than any +disease. It's only the rustic who lives to be a hundred, he says; and, +as he means to score a century himself, he takes a spell of living like +a rustic occasionally. He could never get a satisfactory tenant for this +place, so he told father one day he'd made up his mind to show the +commoners what hard work could accomplish on a Dartmoor farm." + +"Where do you come in?" + +"Just here. I hadn't been very strong since leaving school--crocked +myself rowing--and the doctor said I ought to work in the open air for a +time before taking up anything serious. You can't persuade doctors that +farming is work; they look upon it as a recreation. So grandfather +suggested I should come along with him. Father was willing, but mother +was horrified. I jumped at the idea of course. Grandfather is the +grandest old fellow alive, and I would rather be under him than all the +doctors in the world. He wouldn't have a housekeeper, as he likes doing +everything for himself when he's roughing: besides, a woman would have +seen his papers and letters, and found out who he was; and naturally he +doesn't want the people to know that the patron of the living, and +biggest landowner in the parish, is grubbing in the bogs down here." + +"Didn't the scandal make him angry?" + +"He has never heard a word of it." + +"So that's the mystery!" cried Nellie, feeling rather ashamed of +herself. + +"It's jolly simple after all. We are going away before winter, when +there's a flood four days a week, and a gale the other three. +Grandfather owns the place has beaten him. He says a man who tries to +farm on Dartmoor ought to receive a premium instead of paying a rent. If +it isn't bog, it's rock, and, if it isn't rock, it's 'vuzzy trade.' And +if you do put in a crop, the moles turn it out; and, if the moles don't +turn it out, rabbits, sheep, mice and grubs in millions and slugs in +trillions gobble it up completely. Now come and be introduced to +grandfather, and then I'll take you home. He is sure to growl at you, +but you must stand up to him, and then he'll love you. He likes anyone +to stand up to him. The vicar got the living by contradicting him. I +say, Nellie, don't hurry back to Drivelford." + +"Are you aware you have not called me Miss Blisland once?" she demanded, +showing no inclination to approach the terrible black grandfather. + +"Quite! And are you aware you have never once called me Sidney?" + +"I must go back in the morning. Miss Yard will be crazy all night +without me. She will think I've been kidnapped," Nellie hurried on. + +"She won't be wrong." + +"I should like to start at once, though I hate the idea of facing +George. I'm a dreadful coward really, and I'm afraid he will think I +have treated him badly. He knows of my arrival, but I'm quite certain he +is not bothering to look for me." + +"A kick in the face will do him good," replied Sidney disdainfully. + +"He can't take a joke, though he did try to take me, and I'm much the +biggest joke he has ever run against. The truth of the matter is he has +made up his mind to get back the Captain's furniture, which belongs to +Miss Yard now, and he knows the only way he can get it is by marrying +me." + +"There's grandfather growling! He's telling Teenie to go to bed, and +she's telling him to go himself. That kid never is tired. Now he's +chuckling! Grandfather likes to be cheeked." + +"I ought to have gone long ago. It must be getting on for midnight." + +"And we've got to be up early. I'm coming with you, and you shall +introduce me to Miss Yard, and then I'll take you to my people, and then +we'll get married--" + +"Well, of all the precociousness!" she gasped. "Do you know I'm older +than you?" + +"You can't blame me for that." + +"And I expect to be treated with respect. And my father was never +anything more than a very poor curate." + +"Well, a curate is a bishop on a small scale, and we are only +shopkeepers on a large scale. It's funny that poor curates should always +have the nicest daughters." + +"And I can't forgive you for talking to me like a farmer's boy." + +"Then I won't forgive you for saying horrid things, and thinking worse +about my mother and sisters." + +"Of course we might forget. But then that wouldn't be enough. So I can +never marry you, Sidney--at least, not until Miss Sophy dies." + +"She'll have to be jolly quick about it," said the young man fiercely. + +"She is very kind and considerate," Nellie murmured doubtfully; trying +to work out the algebraical problem. If a Giant Tortoise is hale and +hearty at five hundred, and a Yellow Leaf is trying to inveigle a Mere +Bud towards the matrimonial altar at ninety-something, what is the +reasonable expectation of life of an old Lady who has nothing to die +for? + +"All this time," said Sidney, "grandfather is peering at us, while +Teenie is simply goggling. We have got to pass them, and then--thank +heaven!--we shall be alone." + +"If I let you come with me--" she began. + +"As if you could prevent it!" + +"Will you stand up to George for me? Will you play the Dragon, and _not_ +get beaten?" + +"Rather! I owe the saint one for his sermons." + +But Sidney was not given the opportunity, for, when they reached +Windward House, after wasting an extraordinary amount of time in +climbing the hill, they found the place deserted; but the key was in the +door, and a note lay on the table. They read it with explosions of sheer +rapture. + +Why Nellie had returned to Highfield George, for his part, could not +imagine; but he considered her conduct on the whole disgraceful, and +begged to remind her that nothing but a satisfactory explanation could +avert a rupture. She, in her selfishness, had supposed, no doubt, he +would either light a lantern and seek to track her footsteps; or sit up +and wait until she should be pleased to return. He had no intention of +doing either of these things. A game of hide-and-seek about the +Highfield lanes at dead of night, after a long and fatiguing day, was +not much to his taste; while the rôle of henpecked lover, awaiting the +return of a profligate fiancée to the family hearth, was a part he was +still less suited for. It was his habit to retire at half past ten. He +had retired, utterly worn out and exhausted. In the morning he would +give Nellie an opportunity for explaining her conduct; and, if the +explanation should prove unsatisfactory, he should seriously contemplate +asking her to return all the presents he had given her. + +"What has he given you, darling?" asked Sidney. + +"Nothing whatever, dearest." + +They had learnt a number of words like that while toiling up the hill. + +"But surely, sweetheart, he must have given you something." + +"I expect he's thinking of the furniture; but I got that for myself, +though he doesn't know how." + +Then they made their plans, but George had also made his. His usual +habit was to permit the sun to warm the world before he walked upon it; +but on this occasion he had requested Mrs. Dyer to call him early. +Nellie, on the other hand, overslept, having nobody to call her, and +being naturally tired after so much travelling, romance, excitement and +happiness: excellent things but all fatiguing. + +She woke with a dream of a battlefield where shells of monstrous size +were exploding upon every side, each one missing her by inches; nor was +this surprising for, upon opening her eyes, she soon became aware that +stones were being hurled into the room. + +"It can't be Sidney," she murmured sleepily. "He wouldn't wake me so +roughly, even though I am late. Goodness--that's a rock!" + +It was not Sidney. It was George, as she discovered by one swift glance. +He frowned like an artillery man while adding to his stock of +ammunition. + +"Stop it! You've broken the water jug, and my room is flooded," she +cried. + +"So I've got you up at last! You threw your bag into my window last +night, so I throw stones into your window this morning. It's what they +call the _lextalionis_." + +"Please go away! I'm not dressed yet," she called. + +"I'm waiting to hear your explanation, and I'm going to stand here, in +this very same place where I was first beguiled by your deceitful face +at the window, when you sat and worked a sewing machine, like that lady +in the Bible who got pushed out and trodden underfoot," said George +wrathfully; for during the night a suspicion of the truth had reached +him. + +"I'd better get it over at once," Nellie murmured. Then she wrapped +herself in the quilt and approached the window. + +"Here I am!" she said brightly. + +"What a nasty, hostile, ungrateful expression. And you ought to be in a +white sheet instead of that scarlet quilt," said George bitterly. + +"Well, you shouldn't be so rude as to throw stones at me. They were not +pebbles either." + +"It's my house and my window. Why have you come back?" + +"Because I wanted to." + +"That's a woman's answer. Did you give your address to that wicked +little girl who answers to the name of Teenie?" + +"I might have." + +"That's another woman's answer. Did that young man who wallows in vice +write to you?" + +"A young gentleman known here as Sidney Brock did write to me." + +"That's the sort of confession a woman does make. And you actually +replied? You had no shame whatever?" + +"I sent an answer." + +"Then came!" + +"And saw and conquered," she murmured happily. + +"What are you muttering about?" + +"I suppose you would call them my sins. But, if you speak to me again +like that, I shall shut the window," Nellie replied with spirit. + +"I'm blest if she isn't going to argue," George mumbled. "I don't want +to be hard upon you, young woman, but I can't have this sort of thing," +he went on sternly. "You desert my dear old aunt, and come back here, +and rush into bad company, and you don't even ask my permission. I'm a +liberal and broad-minded chap, but I can't stand that." + +"How are you going to prevent it?" + +"By asserting myself, by putting my foot down. Here am I working and +toiling for you. I have sent Robert and Bessie away for a well-earned +holiday, and presently vans will be coming for the furniture. It's all +for you. I don't think of myself at all. I'm saving the furniture, and +handing it over to you at great expense, while you are breaking my heart +by making appointments with young Mormons in the dark, and going to such +a place as Black Anchor at dead of night, and staying there till +morning. That sort of conduct makes men commit murder and suicide, and +other things they are sorry for afterwards. But I'm not a criminal, and +I'm not passionate. I'm practical, and cool, and--and amiable. I have +taken quite a fancy to you, Nellie. Other people don't think much of +you, but I can see you have good qualities, only you won't show them. +Now I want you to tell me why you wrote to young Sidney, and why you +met him last night. Be very careful how you answer, as the whole of your +future happiness may depend on it." + +"I wanted to clear up the mystery," she said. + +"There is no mystery about shameful wickedness. Being about to marry a +respectable gentleman, who bears a highly honoured name, upon the last +day of this month--" + +"Oh, stop! Do please!" cried Nellie appealingly. "We are only playing. +We have been fooling all along, and you must have known it. I was always +laughing and teasing--have you ever seen me serious, as I am now?" + +"You don't mean to tell me you are trying to get out of it--you are not +going to keep your promise?" + +"What was my promise?" + +"That you would marry me on the last day of this month." + +"It wasn't put like that. I promised, in fun, to marry you on the +thirty-first of September, and, of course, I thought you would have seen +through that joke long ago." + +"I suppose the point of the joke is that you mean to become a Mormon?" + +"There is no thirty-first of September. And I am going to become a +Mormon, if you like to put it that way, for I am engaged to Sidney +Brock." + +"And I'll tell you what I am going to do," George shouted. "I'm going to +jilt you." + +"Thanks so much," laughed Nellie. + +George stalked out of the garden, and was not seen again until Sidney +and Nellie had departed, and big vans had drawn up beside Windward House +to the wonder and dismay of all the village. Then he revisited the +scenes of his former triumphs and issued certain orders to the packers. +After that he hurried off to the town and visited an auctioneer. + +Returning to Highfield, he passed behind Robert's cottage, demolished +the peatstack, and brought to light the musical box, the silver +candlesticks, and all the rest of the purloined articles. These were +deposited in the vans. + +A hostile crowd had collected, but George took no heed of anyone; not +even the Wallower in Wealth who sought ineffectually to obtain +possession of the musical box by force and without payment. The unhappy +Dyer had his eyes opened to the exceeding perfidy of his lodger, but he +dared not open his mouth as well. + +The following day bills were posted about the neighbourhood, announcing +a sale to be held at short notice, in the market hall of the town, of +the valuable furniture and remarkable antiquities formerly in the +possession of Captain Francis Drake, by order of the Executor of the +will of Mrs. Drake deceased. + +"I'm sorry for Aunt Sophy, but she ought to have kept out of bad +company," was George's only comment. + + + + +CHAPTER XX + +THE GLEANERS + + +When Bessie and Robert returned to Highfield; when the people discovered +how the light railway, which originally had been a matter of +electricity, and then had degenerated into an affair of steam, was in +fact a proposal of gas entirely; when Windward House remained empty and +unswept, with the giant tortoise lord of the manor; and when the +niggardly Dyer was attacked on all sides as the confederate of the +public enemy--there unfortunately existed no genius of the lamp +competent to continue the parochial record from the point where Captain +Drake had closed it. Genii of the lantern undoubtedly did exist, and +these made another story, a kind of fairy tale, which was not told +outside the village. All the water was spilt near the pump. Nobody took +part in the revolution which followed, causing an alteration in the +landscape; at least nobody in particular; but there was not a man, +woman, or child of destructive age who did not give a hand towards the +general rubbing of the lamp. When the furniture failed to arrive at the +banks of the Drivel, and inquiry elicited the fact that all had passed +into the hands of dealers, Kezia fell into a state of melancholy which +not even her favourite Sunday walk around the cemetery was able to +relieve; and when the cruel truth of George's unassailable title to +Windward House was broken gently room by room, despondency increased +upon her to such an extent that she actually paid a visit to the +electric theatre. + +Miss Yard laughed merrily at the humorous idea of buying new furniture, +and told everybody about her provincial escape from the fire which had +destroyed everything she possessed, and how a young gentleman called +Sidney had rescued her from the flames at great personal risk. She was +so grateful that she suggested he might become engaged to Nellie, and he +had done so at once; which showed how absurd it was to say that young +men of the present day were rude and disobedient. Of course it was +understood that the engagement was only to continue during her lifetime. +As for Nellie, she breathed a great sigh of relief. The loss of the +furniture might be a serious matter, so far as Kezia's future and Miss +Yard's banking account were concerned; but it meant the total eclipse of +George. He could not show his face either in Highfield or Drivelford; he +had done for himself completely. She refused to listen to Sidney's +proposal of instructing Hunter to institute proceedings. + +"By doing nothing we get rid of him for ever," she said. + +"Anyhow, we can take action against the people who bought the things," +he urged. + +"We shall do nothing of the kind. It would worry the old lady into her +grave; and I believe that's your object." + +"I want to punish the brute for bullying you and preaching at me." + +"You can't make a thick-skinned creature like George feel anything," she +answered. "If he were put in prison, he would congratulate himself upon +living free of expense. And if he refunded the money, he would insist +upon coming here and living with Miss Sophy. It would be no use turning +him out. He would come back like a cat and make us all miserable. Leave +him alone, and we shall hear no more of him." + +She prophesied truly. Those who had been honoured by the society, and +somewhat doubtful friendship, of George Drake were not privileged to +look upon him--or on his like--again. After gathering in his harvest, he +retired into the privacy of lodgings, having a sum of sixteen hundred +pounds to his credit, and spent a couple of years drinking tea, smoking +cigars, and trying to make up his mind whether his landlady's daughter +"would do." + +This young lady was of a more orthodox type than Nellie. She possessed a +head of golden hair, upon which much time and dye had been expended; her +eyes were dull; her countenance was flaming. George secretly admired +that style of beauty. The young woman could make tea, arrange cushions, +fetch and carry slippers, stand in a deferential attitude; she showed +unmistakable signs of honesty, and obeyed the call of her mother +instantly; she had no conversation, the possession of which was a gift +that marred so many women; she giggled respectfully when addressed; nor +did she shrink from admitting that gentlemen of Mr. Drake's magnificence +unhappily grew scarcer every year. + +George became highly delighted with Matilda which, he remarked, was a +sweet, old-fashioned name, suggesting to him somehow the odour of lilac +and honeysuckle. He congratulated himself frequently upon having thrown +over that designing young woman, Nellie, just in time; and, at the +expiration of eighteen months of indolence, he informed her--for in such +a matter he disdained all questions--of the social position that awaited +her. She was capable of improvement, he admitted, and no doubt she would +improve. Grace she would acquire by watching him. The heavy tramping +about the house might be exchanged for a gentle footfall by the use of +more appropriate footwear. He begged her to bear these things in mind, +and above all never to forget that out of all the women in the world he +had selected her. + +Matilda appeared quite satisfied. So did her mother, who was deep in +debt, and had no scruples against adding to the burden, when informed by +her future son-in-law that his resources were practically unlimited. + +"It has just occurred to me I have a property on Dartmoor worth a couple +of thousand," he said in the grand manner, well suited to his wealth and +indolence. "I have not been near it for the last two years. It's a fine +house--a beautiful Elizabethan mansion--but it has a somewhat peculiar +history," he added. + +"Is there a ghost?" asked Matilda's mother, who was greatly impressed by +everything George said. + +"There are several ghosts," he replied. + +"Don't ye ask me to live there then," said Matilda, with her giggle +which ought to have been illegal. + +"Nothing would induce me to go near the place," said George with perfect +truth. "I ought to have sold it long ago, but these little things escape +one's memory. I will dispose of it at once, and buy a cottage, with a +bit of land. I shall keep bees and prune the rose trees; while you look +after the poultry and the cow, do the cooking, mind the house, and +attend to me." + +Matilda was a poor mathematician, but even to her this did not appear a +fair division of labour. Already she was running up a little account +against her future husband. His courtship was not of that vigorous order +she had a right to expect; his indolence seemed to her a type curable +only by the constant application of a broomstick; his craving for tea +and tobacco, unless checked, might easily become morbid. Matilda +possessed some wits; not many, but ingenious ones; and, until George was +safely tied to her by matrimony, she was going to pretend she had no +conversation. + +When George observed that the Dartmoor property had just occurred to his +memory, he intended perhaps to say he had thought of little else during +the last two years. He had almost succeeded in believing that his +disposal of the furniture had come perilously near actual dishonesty; by +which he meant to imply his action had been unbusinesslike and foolish; +though he had the satisfaction of knowing that Nellie had been justly +punished for her offences. He had planned to sell, or to let, Windward +House immediately; but had reckoned without his cowardly nature, which +conjured up visions of all manner of people seeking vengeance against +him. Bessie and Robert would be clamouring for his arrest; Kezia might +have taken her scraps of paper to some solicitor; Nellie might have +placed the matter in the hands of Hunter; the dreary Dyer might be +forced to bring an action for conspiracy to clear his own mean +character. George had been so terrified by these fancies that, for +several months, he hardly dared to stir from his lodgings, and could not +look a policeman in the face. + +But now that two years had passed, and nobody had tapped him on the +shoulder, he decided it would be perfectly safe to emerge from his +obscurity to the extent of communicating with a land agent in Exeter, +which city was a satisfactory distance from Highfield, and instructing +him to offer the property for sale by public auction or, should an +opportunity arise, to dispose of it at once by private treaty. For sake +of convenience George requested that letters should be addressed to him +at a certain post office, as he still thought it advisable to protect +the sanctity of his private residence. + +The land agent replied that a sale by auction was generally the most +lucrative manner of disposing of a property, and suggested the despatch +of a clerk skilled in valuation to inspect the premises. He mentioned +also that applications for houses in the Highfield district reached his +office continually, and he would be pleased to issue orders to view the +property which by the description appeared a valuable one. + +George agreed to everything, but was inclined to lay stress upon the +private sale if possible, as he did not wish the local inhabitants to +know that the ownership of the house was about to change hands. Included +in the sale, he mentioned, would be a giant tortoise--or the animal +might be offered separately--more than half a thousand years old. This +reptile, which would appeal alike to animal lovers and to antiquarians, +was a fixture with the garden, above which it browsed one half of the +year, and below which it slept for the other half. + +Some days passed, during which George became a prey to various emotions. +Then came a letter which puzzled him exceedingly. The land agent would +be much obliged if Mr. Drake could make it convenient to call at his +office in order that certain misunderstandings might be removed. He did +not care to say anything more definite at the moment, as it was quite +possible he had read Mr. Drake's instructions wrongly. If this was not +the case, something very mysterious had happened. + +George thought of all manner of things, but above all he suspected +treachery. If he entered the office, he might find himself trapped; with +Bessie in one corner, Kezia in another, Dyer in the third, and Nellie in +the fourth; with that notorious oppressor of widows and orphans, Hunter +himself, standing vindictively in the centre; not to mention a horde of +howling Highfielders outside the office. So he decided to take Matilda +with him. It would be a nice outing for the girl. He could send her into +the office to spy out the land; and, if necessary, he could sacrifice +her to the violence of the mob. + +However, no precaution was required for, upon reaching the office and +peering anxiously through the glass portion of the door, George +discovered one clerk sprawling over a desk asleep, and another reading a +newspaper. Reassured by these peaceful signs of business as usual, he +told Matilda to go and look at the shops, and to cultivate a gift of +imagination by selecting those articles of dress and adornment which she +most desired; then entered, and asked the clerk, who seemed more capable +of action, whether his master was disengaged. The reply being +favourable, George gave his name, though with less noise than usual, and +was immediately invited to step upstairs and to open the first door that +occurred. He did so, reproaching himself bitterly for the shameful +timidity which had kept him in hiding for two years, and entirely +convinced that the purloining of the furniture was a very ordinary and +straightforward piece of business. + +But this fine humour was knocked out of shape when the land agent, after +a few preliminary remarks concerning hurricanes and +anticyclones--appropriate under the circumstances--remarked courteously: + +"In what part of Highfield parish is the property situated?" + +"Near the end of the village street, just above the post office," +answered the astounded George. + +"So I judged from your description. It sounds a very remarkable thing to +say, Mr. Drake, but--we can't find it." + +"What the deuce do you mean?" George stuttered. "Not find it! Not find +Highfield House! Why, it's the only gentleman's residence in the +village. It stands out by itself. It hits you in the eye. It's as +obvious as Exeter Cathedral." + +"Then you have no explanation to offer?" + +"Explain! What do you want me to explain?" + +"Why my clerk, also a possible purchaser, both acting on the same day +though independently, were unable to locate the property. And why the +local residents have no knowledge of its existence." + +"Of course, they went to the wrong village." + +"There is only one Highfield in Devonshire. I will tell you precisely +what happened. Upon receiving your instructions, I directed my valuation +clerk to go to Highfield and inspect the property. I also displayed a +notice in the window. Houses on Dartmoor are selling well just now, as +very few are available, and the district has become highly popular as +it is said to be the healthiest part of England. Hardly was the notice +in the window, when a gentleman called and asked for an order to view +the property; and he travelled in the same train as my clerk, though +neither was aware of the other's existence; nor did they meet in +Highfield, as my clerk had left the village--supposing that a mistake +had been made--before the gentleman arrived. Since then several people +have inquired after the property, but I had to put them off until I had +seen you. Now, Mr. Drake, surely you can explain the mystery." + +"Mystery--there can't be one. There's the house simply blotting out the +landscape! If they couldn't find it they must have been blind and +paralysed," George shouted. + +"My clerk could see no signs of a gentleman's residence in the village, +and when he asked one or two of the inhabitants they knew nothing about +Windward House. He did not press his inquiry, as he naturally supposed +you had somehow sent the wrong instructions." + +"I should like to know what part of the world he did go to," George +muttered. + +"The gentleman who went to view the property, returned here in a pretty +bad temper, as he thought I had made a fool of him," continued the +agent. + +"He too inquired of the local inhabitants where Windward House might be +situated, and received the same answer. They either did not know, or +would not tell him." + +"Are you making this up? Have you received instructions from people +answering to the names of Hunter, Mudge, Dyer, Blisland, Kezia, Brock, +to humbug me?" cried George. + +"Certainly not, sir," said the agent sharply. + +"Then I'm confounded! I don't believe in magic, ghosts, witches, evil +eye, Aladdin's lamp, or pixies. Have you ever heard of such a thing in +your life? Have you ever known a fine, big, well built, modern residence +to vanish off the face of the earth, together with the ground it stood +on, and the garden around it? Do you believe such a thing is possible? +Because, if you do believe it, I am ruined." + +And having thus spoken George wiped away the most genuine moisture that +had ever dimmed his vision. + +"I cannot offer any explanation, Mr. Drake, but it's certain your house +has disappeared. Don't you think the best thing you can do is to go +there yourself and find out what really has happened?" + +"I won't go near the place," cried George. "I wouldn't be seen in it. +I--I might disappear too." + +"Then will you put the matter into the hands of the police?" + +"I'll have nothing to do with them either," declared George. + +"Shall I go myself and make inquiries of the vicar or some other +reliable person?" + +"All right," said George heavily. "It means more expense, but that's +nothing to me now. If my house has gone, I may as well go to my last +home at once. It's no use trying to kick against the powers of +darkness," he muttered. + +So the agent travelled to Highfield and collected a few details from +certain inhabitants, who did not altogether approve of the local +revolution, but were not going to make themselves unpopular by refusing +to take a rub at the lamp themselves. Having learnt so much, it was easy +to add to his information by assuming hostility to George and expressing +approval of the punishment which had been meted out to him. + +"Mr. Drake said one thing and meant another all the time he wur here," +explained the Dumpy Philosopher. "Us didn't mind that, but when he +started to treat us as human volks wur never meant to be treated, us had +to learn 'em a serious lesson. His uncle promised to build us a railway, +and they do say he left money vor it; but Mr. Drake did all he could to +stop it from a-running. American gentlemen come here--a lot of 'em--to +make the railway; but he said us didn't want it, and he drove 'em away, +and he wouldn't let 'em spend a shilling. Said they'd come here to buy +cloam. Said he'd rather see us all starve. Said he'd build the railway +himself out of his own pocket, and he'd put a big waterwheel atop o' +Highfield hill to draw the trains up; though us knew he couldn't, vor +there ain't enough water coming over in summer to draw up a wheelbarrow. +Said he'd make Highfield House a station and put a terminus in the back +garden. I don't know what else he warn't going to do, but he wur talking +childish day by day. And when he'd deceived us more than us could bear, +he run away." + +"What he done to poor and honest volk don't hardly seem possible," said +the Gentle Shepherd. "Mrs. Drake left 'en Highfield House, and all the +furniture she left to Bessie Mudge what married Robert Mudge who works +vor Arthur Dyer. They ses she left part of the furniture to Kezia, but +Bessie ses that part o' the will be so mixed up it can't be hardly +legal. Mr. Drake kept on going away, and coming back again; and one day +he come back, and drove Miss Yard and Kezia out of the place; and he +goes to Dyer and bribes 'en to send Robert and Bessie away vor a +holiday; and when they'm gone he brings up vans and clears out all the +furniture; and he breaks into Robert's house and steals a lot of his +furniture, what he bought and paid vor wi' his own money; and he sells +the lot by auction avore us could recover from the shock; and he ain't +never been seen nor heard of since. And I fancy 'tis the most +disgraceful deed what can ha' happened since the creation of the world." + +"But he couldn't take the house, nor yet look after it, vor us wasn't +going to have him back again after the way he'd used us, and us wasn't +going to have 'en letting or selling the place neither, and making money +out of our misfortunes," said the Wallower in Wealth. "He tried to ruin +us all, he ha' brought the Mudges to awful poverty, and he ha' pretty +near drove the Dyers into the asylum, and he stole a musical box what +ha' been in my family vor generations out o' mind. It wur a fine house, +sure enough, but 'tis all gone now. There's nought left but foundations, +and there's not much o' them, and you can't see 'em, vor they'm covered +wi' grass. The trees be all cut down, and the shrubs ha' got moved, and +the garden wall ain't there no longer. The house warn't there one day, +and gone the next, as some volk say. It seemed to go so gradual that no +one noticed it really was a leaving us. Us all knew why it wur going, +and how it wur going; but us didn't talk about it much, vor what be +everybody's business ain't nobody's business." + +"The youngsters started it," said Squinting Jack. "They smashed the +windows and got inside. They sort o' took possession of the place and +played there every day. They played at soldiers mostly. One lot o' +children climbed up into the roof, and defended themselves wi' tiles and +laths, while another lot attacked 'em wi' doors and window frames. And +when they'd finished play, they took home all the broken stuff vor +firewood. That wur the beginning, but in an amazing short time the house +began to alter; it wur never the same place after the children got +playing in it. When an old woman wanted wood vor the fire, she just went +vor it; and when any one wanted a new door or window, they knew where +one wur handy. Then one or two started building a cottage, and as the +cottages went up Windward House come down. Some mornings us missed a bit +o' wall what seemed to ha' fallen in the night, but nobody asked +questions, vor us all had a hand in it, but there's no evidence to prove +it. You won't find anything worth taking away now, not if you was to +search wi' a miscroscope. The house didn't vanish away suddenly, not by +no manner of means." + +"It seemed to me," said the Gentle Shepherd, "as if it melted." + +"It vanished in small pieces," added the Dumpy Philosopher. + +The Wallower in Wealth had nothing more to say. The giant tortoise had +transferred itself to his garden, having apparently engaged a +wheelbarrow for that purpose. Either it was anxious to adopt the +Wallower in Wealth, or he desired to study its habits in order that he +too might attain eternal life. Or possibly he was determined to obtain +some compensation for the lost musical box, through the possession of a +genuine antique, which might with some propriety be styled the sole +remaining item of the Captain's furniture. + +The Dismal Gibcat said nothing whatever, although at one time he had +been exceedingly loquacious. His was the only voice raised in protest +against those who pillaged windows and door posts, or flitted at +moonlight with joists and floorings. He publicly rebuked a poor old dame +whom he caught staggering homeward with her apron full of laths. He +explained the law as to wilful damage and petty larceny, and he dealt +with the moral aspect of the matter till all were weary. Finally he +announced his intention of protecting the property of the absentee owner +by taking care of it for him: and he removed at least one half of the +material and, by judicious guardianship of the same, succeeded in +doubling the accommodation of his house. + +George had no difficulty in speaking like a whale, but when he tried to +talk like a sprat he made a mess of things. Therefore he could not bring +Matilda and her mother to understand how a rascally trustee, whose name +was Hunter, had sold his property and made off with the cash. They were +sorry but firm; Matilda asserting it cost very little to keep a woman; +while her mother pointed out with considerable fluency that matrimony +was always less expensive than breach of promise actions. George gave +way--having a horror of the fierce light of publicity which beats upon +law courts--and became very melancholy. Nor was he much restored to +gaiety by the joys of married life; for Matilda rapidly developed a flow +of small talk which astounded him; when George ordered her to bring him +a cup of tea she prescribed herself a glass of beer; and when he called +for his slippers she threw the dirty boots at his head and told him to +clean them. Matrimony was not all bee-keeping and rose-pruning for +George. + +Still more tragic were affairs at Drivelford, where Nellie and Sidney +had come to realise that, for them at least, the married state was +unattainable. Old ladies can be very selfish sometimes, and in that +stimulating atmosphere, which shared with many others the distinction of +being the healthiest in the land, Miss Yard grew no weaker daily. She +suffered from a slight cold last winter, but was all the better for it +in the spring. Indeed in merry May-time she made the shocking suggestion +that Sidney should teach her to ride the bicycle. + +With such dispiriting examples as the Yellow Leaf, whose longevity was +becoming a public scandal, and whose conduct was disgraceful, as he +would not be refused his right to wed the youngest grandchild of one of +his middle-aged connections; and the giant tortoise, who found fresh +lettuces more luscious than the weeds of his fifteenth century diet; and +the eternal obstacle, Miss Yard, who was continually giving children's +parties because she felt so young herself; with such monuments of senile +selfishness before them, Nellie and Sidney did indeed appear condemned +to single blessedness. + +But happily, according to the latest report from Drivelford, Miss Yard +was not feeling very well. She was suffering from broken chilblains. + +THE END + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of A Drake by George!, by John Trevena + + +*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 38521 *** |