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diff --git a/42529-0.txt b/42529-0.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..09eb776 --- /dev/null +++ b/42529-0.txt @@ -0,0 +1,18163 @@ +*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 42529 *** + +DARIEL + + + + +NOVELS BY MR R. D. BLACKMORE. + + + THE MAID OF SKER. Cheap Edition. Small crown 8vo, 3s. 6d. WITH + FRONTISPIECE. Large crown 8vo, 6s. + + WM. BLACKWOOD & SONS, EDINBURGH AND LONDON. + + + LORNA DOONE: A ROMANCE OF EXMOOR. Illustrated _Edition de Luxe_, + crown 4to, parchment, 35s.; cloth, 31s. 6d. and 21s. New and + Cheaper Edition, 7s. 6d. Library Edition, cloth, 6s. Also in cloth, + with Photogravure Portrait of the Author, crown 8vo, cloth, 2s. + 6d.; and limited Edition at 6d. + + SPRINGHAVEN: A TALE OF THE GREAT WAR. Crown 8vo, 2s. 6d. + Illustrated Edition, 7s. 6d. + + MARY ANERLEY: A YORKSHIRE TALE. Crown 8vo, 2s. 6d. + + ALICE LORRAINE: A TALE OF THE SOUTH DOWNS. Crown 8vo, 2s. 6d. + + CHRISTOWELL: A DARTMOOR TALE. Crown 8vo, 2s. 6d. + + CLARA VAUGHAN. Crown 8vo, 2s. 6d. + + THE REMARKABLE HISTORY OF SIR THOMAS UPMORE, BART., M.P. Crown 8vo, + 2s. 6d. + + EREMA; OR, MY FATHER'S SIN. Crown 8vo, 2s. 6d. + + CRADOCK NOWELL: A TALE OF THE NEW FOREST. Crown 8vo, 2s. 6d. + + CRIPPS THE CARRIER: A WOODLAND TALE. Crown 8vo, 2s. 6d. + + KIT AND KITTY: A STORY OF WEST MIDDLESEX. Crown 8vo, 2s. 6d. + + PERLYCROSS: A TALE OF THE WESTERN HILLS. Crown 8vo, 2s. 6d. + + TALES FROM THE TELLING HOUSE. Crown 8vo, 5s. + + +LONDON: SAMPSON LOW, MARSTON & COMPANY, LIMITED +St Dunstan's House, Fetter Lane, E.C. + + +[Illustration: "_Between whose jagged mullions flowed the silvery +light._"] + + + + +DARIEL + +A Romance of Surrey + +BY + +R. D. BLACKMORE + +AUTHOR OF "LORNA DOONE" + +WITH DRAWINGS BY CHRIS HAMMOND + +[Illustration: Decoration] + +WILLIAM BLACKWOOD AND SONS + +EDINBURGH AND LONDON + +1897 + + + + +CONTENTS + +CHAPTER PAGE + I A NIGHTINGALE 1 + + II THE FAMILY 9 + + III TOM ERRICKER 16 + + IV MR. STONEMAN 26 + + V TICKNOR'S MEW 39 + + VI TRUE HYGIENE 54 + + VII KUBAN 63 + + VIII THROUGH THE CORN 74 + + IX STRANGE SENSATIONS 89 + + X UPON THE GROUND 94 + + XI SÛR IMAR 102 + + XII IN THE BACKGROUND 109 + + XIII SMILES AND TEARS 119 + + XIV THE RUBY CROSS 132 + + XV SISTER _v._ SWEETHEART 143 + + XVI INTERNATIONAL ELEMENTS 149 + + XVII PEPPERCORNS 158 + + XVIII A LOVEBIRD 170 + + XIX TO CLEAR THE WAY 181 + + XX NOT FOR SALE 188 + + XXI VOICES OF THE VALLEY 192 + + XXII IMAR'S TALE--WAR 197 + + XXIII IMAR'S TALE--LOVE 208 + + XXIV IMAR'S TALE--PEACE 220 + + XXV IMAR'S TALE--CRIME 227 + + XXVI IMAR'S TALE--REVENGE 232 + + XXVII IMAR'S TALE--EXILE 241 + + XXVIII SANGUINE STILL 244 + + XXIX LARGE AND LONG VIEWS 252 + + XXX IN THE QUIET PLACES 261 + + XXXI PIT-A-PAT 266 + + XXXII A PAINFUL DUTY 276 + + XXXIII TREMBLING 282 + + XXXIV REJOICING 292 + + XXXV A RACE OF PLATERS 302 + + XXXVI GONE, GONE, GONE 313 + + XXXVII LOVERS MAKE MOAN 321 + +XXXVIII BLACK FRIDAY 334 + + XXXIX FRANGI, NON FLECTI 344 + + XL TWAIN MORE THAN TWIN 352 + + XLI A CROOKED BILLET 363 + + XLII FAREWELL, SMILER 373 + + XLIII THE LAND OF MEDEA 382 + + XLIV THE LAND OF PROMETHEUS 390 + + XLV AMONG THE GEMS 399 + + XLVI QUEEN MARVA 409 + + XLVII WOLF'S MEAT 420 + + XLVIII USI, THE SVÂN 427 + + XLIX THE EYE OF GOD 433 + + L TWO OLD FRIENDS 441 + + LI THE ROOT OF EVIL 448 + + LII STILL IN THE DARK 455 + + LIII A RUTHLESS SCHEME 464 + + LIV THE VALLEY OF RETRIBUTION 472 + + LV AT THE BAR 481 + + LVI HARD IS THE FIGHT 488 + + LVII BUT NOT IN VAIN 492 + + + + +LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS. + + +"BETWEEN WHOSE JAGGED MULLIONS FLOWED THE +SILVERY LIGHT"; _Frontispiece_ + +"'ALLOW ME ONE MOMENT,' I SAID"; _Facing page_ 70 + +"SPRAWLING IN THE YELLOW STUBBLE"; 90 + +"WHY, IT MUST AT LEAST BE A PRINCESS"; 146 + +"HER SWEET, KIND FACE AS WHITE AS A SHROUD"; 168 + +"SHE TURNED AWAY HER FACE"; 218 + +"AT THE DOOR SHE TURNED, WITH A PROUD AND CALM +FAREWELL TO ME"; 238 + +"WHAT LITTLE THERE IS, IS ENTIRELY A GENUINE ARTICLE"; 274 + +"SÛR IMAR RECEIVED US WITH A LOVING SMILE"; 300 + +"A WOMAN OF GREAT SUBSTANCE RUSHED UP AND CAUGHT HER"; 308 + +"'ROT!' I REPLIED, WITH LESS ELEGANCE THAN TERSENESS"; 340 + +"'I TELL YOU WHAT,' HE SAID, TURNING ROUND AND +LOOKING AT ME WITH AUTHORITY"; 378 + +"GAZED AT THE CAPTAIN TILL HE SCARCE KNEW WHERE HE WAS"; 416 + +"'YES, I SEE,' HE ANSWERED SOFTLY"; 504 + + + + +DARIEL: A ROMANCE OF SURREY + + + + +CHAPTER I + +A NIGHTINGALE + + +If any man came to me, and said, "You are going to tell your tale, good +sir, without knowing how to handle it," I should look at him first with +some surprise, and anger at his interference, yet in a very few minutes, +unless he wanted to argue about it, probably he would have my +confession, and a prayer for his assistance. For every one knows how to +do a thing, much better than the one who does it. + +In spite of all that, I will declare in a truthful manner unabashed, +whatever I know concerning the strange affairs which have befallen me; +and perhaps if you care to look into them, you will admit that even now, +when the world supposes itself to be in a state of proud civilization, +there are things to be found near its centre of perfection which are not +quite up to the standard of the Lord. + +Towards the middle of the month of May, in a year which I never shall +forget, I happened to be riding home from Guildford in the county of +Surrey, after a long but vain attempt to do a little business for my +father. For we were not, as we used to be, people of wealth and large +estates, and such as the world looks up to; but sadly reduced, and +crippled, and hard-pushed to make a living. And the burden of this task +had fallen most heavily upon me, because I was the only son at home, and +my father's mind was much too large to be cramped with petty troubles. +So that when he had been deprived of nine-tenths of his property, and +could not procure any tenants for the rest, it became my duty to work +the best of the land that still remained, and make both ends meet, if +possible. + +To a young man this was no great hardship unless he were spoiled for +country life by ambition, or sloth, or luxury; and it seemed to me at +first a welcome change, to be recalled from Oxford and from Lincoln's +Inn, and set to watch the earth and sky, instead of ink and paper. And +although there were storms and swamps of loss and disaster, to cross +continually, I was always at the point of getting on, if only there came +just a little turn of luck. But that which seemed to baffle mainly my +most choice endeavours, was that when I had done good work, and made +good staple--as it seemed to me--never a man to whom I showed it (at the +most reasonable figure) would stop to look at it for a moment in a +reasonable spirit; because, whatever I had to offer was, by strange +coincidence, the very thing my fellow-creatures happened not to want +just then. + +What had I done, this very day, but carried into Guildford market, more +than twelve miles from our home, samples of as fair, and fat, and +thoroughly solid grain, as ever was grown to be ground in England? And +what had the dealers said to me? "Tut, tut! what call you that? Not so +bad for an amateur. Try again, sir, try again. Sir Harold must grow it +cheaper." And they made me not a single offer, such as I could think of +twice; while the farmers looked askance, and smiled very kindly and +respectfully, yet as if I had no business there, and must soon discover +my sad mistake. + +"Never mind what they think," I exclaimed to myself, "or how they laugh +at all I can do. Wait a bit, wait a bit, my friends. We are not come to +the bottom of the basket yet. Hold up, ancient Joseph." + +Ancient Joseph was the only horse now remaining with us, who could get +along at all, without a plough or waggon at his heels or tail. Like us, +he had seen better days; and like us he did not dwell upon them. +Faithful, generous, and conscientious, he kept up to his own standard +still, and insisted upon his twelve miles an hour, whenever his head was +homeward. It was in that pleasant direction now; and much as I longed +for a gentle glide of the soft May breeze around me, and a leisurely +gaze at the love of the year, now telling its tale in the valleys, that +old fellow (sniffing his oats leagues away) cared for nothing but a +quick stroke towards them. Much as I wanted to think about the money +that I ought to have got, but couldn't, this horse between my legs was +so full of what he meant to be filled with, that I was compelled to +attend to his mood, instead of giving rein to my own; lest haply a ditch +should be our conclusion. + +Without any heed we scoured past the loveliest views in England, as +people in a train are forced to do; till Old Joe's wind became a gale, +more adverse now than favourable. His four legs, which had been going +like two, began to go like a figure of four, and he gave me to +understand through the flaps of leather, that his heart was repentant of +having its own way. On the ridge of the hills at the four cross-roads, I +allowed him therefore a welcome rest, having the worst of the road +before us, and the shadows growing deeper. + +Perhaps I had prided myself too much upon seldom indulging in whims and +freaks, as my elder brother Harold did, to his great disadvantage and +our own; and now at the age of twenty-five, I should have known better +than to begin. But some strange impulse (which changed the whole course +of my life from that hour) seized me, as I stopped to breathe my horse +opposite that old direction-post. + +"To Cobham and Esher" was on the left arm; the forward one pointed to a +village near our home, and that was the road I had always taken. But the +arm that would have pointed to the right, if it had been in its duty, +was not there now, though a double mortice-hole gave token of its late +existence. And the lane towards the right, of which it should have told +us, seemed rather desirous of evading notice, and certainly had received +very little for years from any road-surveyor. Narrow, and overhung, and +sinking into sleepy shadows with a fringe of old roots and dead bracken, +it afforded a pleasant sense of passing into quietude and loneliness. + +Time was more plentiful than money with me, and why should I hurry to +tell my father the old tale of failure, so often repeated, but none the +more welcome--as an old joke is--by reason of familiarity? I knew the +chief outlines of the country pretty well, because an old fox had been +fond of it, whom we never brought to book, when the hounds were kept at +Crogate Park. How he had beaten us we never knew, beyond having fifty +opinions about it, of which only two were in favour with the wise +ones--the first that he sank into the bowels of the earth, and the other +that he vanished into the clouds of heaven. And the place was lonely +enough for him to have taken whichever course he chose, leaving nothing +but negative evidence. + +Knowing that if I could cross that valley I should probably strike into +a bridle-lane which would take me home at leisure, I turned my old +horse, much against his liking, into this dark and downhill course, away +from the main road, which according to the wisdom of our forefathers +followed the backbone of the ridge. Soon we began to descend steep +places broken with slippery falls of rock, while branches of thicket and +sapling trees shook hands overhead, and shut out the sky. My horse, who +had never been down on his knees, and knew perhaps by instinct the +result of that attitude in the eyes of men, was beginning to tremble +exceedingly; and in fairness to him and myself as well, I jumped off and +led him. He looked at me gratefully, and followed without fear, though +sometimes sliding with all four feet, and throwing back his head for +balance. And perhaps he observed, as soon as I did, that no horse had +ever tried that descent, since the rains of winter washed it. + +When I was ready to think myself a fool, and wish both of us well out of +it, the sweetest and clearest note, that ever turned the air into melody +and the dull world into poetry, came through the arching bowers of +spring, and made the crisp leaves tremulous. Then as a bud, with its +point released, breaks into a fountain of flower, the silvery overture +broke into a myriad petals of sensitive song. + +"What a stunning nightingale," said I, as a matter-of-fact young Briton +might, with never an inkling of idea that the bird meant anything to me. +But he seemed to be one of those that love mankind (as the genial +robin-redbreast does), or at any rate desire to be thought of kindly, +and to finish well what is well begun; for he flitted before me down +the hill, and enlivened the gloom with vicissitudes of love. + +Listening to this little fellow, and trying to catch sight of him, I was +standing with Old Joe's nose in my hand--for he was always +friendly--when the music that should lead my life, in the purest strain +came through the air. It was not the voice of a bird this time, but a +sound that made my heart beat fast and then held me in rapture of +wonder. + +Dew of the morning in a moss-rose bud, crystal drops beading a frond of +fern, lustre of a fountain in full moonlight--none of these seem to me +fit to compare with the limpid beauty of that voice. And more than the +sweetest sounds can do, that indite of things beyond us, and fall from a +sphere where no man dwells, this voice came home to my heart, and filled +it with a vivid sorrow and a vague delight. + +Sturdy as I was, and robust, and hardy, and apt to laugh at all +sentimental stuff, the force of the time overcame me, as if I had never +been educated; and as soon as I rather felt than knew that I was +listening to some simple hymn, I became almost as a little child +inhaling his first ideas of God. The words that fell upon my ears so +softly were as unknown as the tune itself, voice and verse and air +combining into a harmony of heaven. + +Ought any man to be called a snob, for doing a thing that is below +himself, on the impulse of the moment, and without a halt of thought? It +is not for me to argue that; but I hope that fair ladies will forgive +me, when I confess that I stepped very gently, avoiding every dry twig +and stone, across the brown hollow that is generally found at the foot +of any steep fall of wood. By this time the lane was gone to grass, and +I slipped Old Joe's bit that he might have a graze, while I went in +quest of my Siren. + +On the further brink of the spongy trough, a dark frizzle of alder and +close brushwood was overhanging a bright swift stream, which I +recognised as the Pebblebourne, a copious brook, beloved of trout, and +as yet little harassed by anglers. Through this dark screen I peered, +and beheld a vision that amazed me. Along a fair meadow that bent +towards the west, and offered a slim tree here and there--like a +walking-stick for evening--the gentle light of day's departure came +quite horizontally. There was, as there often is in nature, some deep +peace of sadness, which rebukes mankind for its petty cares, and +perpetual fuss about itself. And yet there was something in front of all +this, to set the heart of a young man fluttering. + +On the opposite bank, and within fair distance for the eyes to make out +everything, was a niche of dark wall shagged with ivy, and still +supporting the grey stonework of a ruined chapel-window, between whose +jagged mullions flowed the silvery light of the west and fell upon the +face of a kneeling maiden. The profile, as perfect as that of a statue, +yet with the tender curves of youth, more like the softness of a cameo, +was outlined as in a frame of light against the black curtain of the +ivied wall. Beside the kneeling figure lay a head-tire of some strange +design, removed perhaps when the hymn was followed by the attitude of +prayer. + +The beauty and rapture of this devotion made me hold my breath, and feel +as if I were profaning it. "Get away, you low intruder," said my better +self to me. But it is all very well to talk. It was out of my power to +go away. Under this spell I stood, until that gentle worshipper arose +with a bend of her graceful neck, and gathered her pale grey robe around +her. It was not such a dress as English ladies according to the fashion +of the moment wear, with pumpkin sleeves, or with wens upon their +shoulders, and puckers, and gathers, and frizzles and scollops, in a +mangle of angles and zig-zags. What it was made of is more than I can +say; I only know that it was beautiful; drawn in at the waist with a +narrow belt, and following rather than trying to lead the harmony of the +living form. But one thing caught my attention even so, and that was the +flash of a bright red cross on the delicate curve of the bosom. + +It appeared to me that tears were sparkling under the fringe of large +dark eyes, as the lonely maiden glanced around, while preparing for +departure. Then to my surprise--if anything could surprise me +further--with a rapid movement she laid bare a gleaming shoulder, and +set upon it the tip of a long straight finger. Her face was partly +obscured to me by the bend of her arm, but I fancied that she smiled, +and was opening her lips to pronounce some words, when suddenly that +horse Old Joe, who had been doing his best to lessen the burden of his +maintenance, gave vent to a snort of approbation, not of the fair sight +across the water--for that was hidden by bushes from him--but at the +juiciness of his graze. My guilty conscience made me start, for I fully +expected to be found out in a thing I had never done before; and I felt +ashamed to look again, till I knew there was no suspicion. Then a breath +of wind turned up a leaf; and who could help glancing under it? + +I saw that the beautiful and mysterious damsel had taken some little +alarm at the grunt of the greedy quadruped. From the foot of the old +chapel-window she was taking something white like a crucifix--though I +could not be certain about that; meanwhile she had placed on her head +that strange affair which I had seen lying on the ground. To me it +looked like an octagonal hat, with a long veil of gauze descending from +it, resembling nothing that I had ever seen on a lady's head, to the +best of my remembrance; although in bright fact they wear such strange +things, and trim them anew so wondrously, that no man must be positive. +Whatever it was, it looked very sweet--as the ladies themselves express +it--but I grieved that I could see her face no more. + +She placed that white object very carefully in the folds of her dress +beneath the veil which covered her down to the waist; and then to my +great disappointment she was gone, seeming rather to float on the air +than to walk with a definite stride, as our ladies make their way. But +the quivering points of some pendulous leafage showed that a bodily form +had passed there. + +I was left in a conflict of wonder, and doubt, and intense desire to +know more, mingled with some self-reproach--though the worst of that +came afterwards--and a hollow feeling in my heart as if I should never +fill it with myself again. Something told me that the proper course, and +the most manly and business-like, was to jump on my horse and make him +climb the hill anew, and take the high road, and get home at full speed, +and never say a word about what I had seen, nor even think about it, if +it could be helped. + +But I assure you (and I hope again that allowance will be made for me, +as a young man not much accustomed to the world, and hitherto heedless +of feminine charms) that I found it impossible to do the right thing +now. Instead of a lofty and resolute withdrawal, in I went for more of +that, of which I had taken too much already. I stuck Old Joe's bit into +the hungry leather of his most voracious mouth, and came down on his +back with a ponderous swing, and girded him with a hard grip of his +belly, to show me some more of what he had scared away. Much against his +liking--for if ever a horse was totally destitute of romance, here he +was and no mistake--with a grunt of remonstrance he plodded into the +pebbly ford at the bottom of the hill. + +But when we struck into the silence of the meadow, what was I the wiser? +Lo, the dusk was settling down in the most indifferent manner, the +sunset flush was fading into a faint and chill neutrality, the trees had +no shadow, and, worst of all, no sign or even memory of any sweet +passage among them. Only on the left hand some hundred yards away was a +black door set in an old grey wall, which curved along leisurely as far +as I could see, and offered no other entrance. + +"I am not the sort of fellow to put up with this," I exclaimed to myself +impatiently; and yet there was no way to help it just now. And if it +came to reason, what business had I there? Still the whole of this land +had been ours not more than a century ago, and a true Briton feels that +he has his rights, however long he may have lost them. But it is not in +his nature to lose sight of reason, though I am not quite so certain how +that was with me, as I wandered home slowly along forgotten ways, and +knew that my life was changed thenceforth. + + + + +CHAPTER II + +THE FAMILY + + +It is said, and seems worthy of belief--though denied quite lately by a +great Frenchman--that there are in the world no fairer damsels than +those of our own dear island. Graceful, elegant, straight and goodly, +gentle--which is the first point of all--yet lively and able to take +their own part, eager moreover to please, and clever to obtain what they +want by doing so, they have no cause to envy their brothers, or feel +ungrateful to Providence for making them fair. If any of them do that +sometimes, when led astray every now and then by feminine agitators, for +the most part they will come back to themselves, if left without +contradiction. + +My sister Grace, for instance, was one of the best and kindest-hearted +English girls that ever blushed. Far in front of me, I confess, in +quickness of apprehension, and perception of character, and readiness of +answer, and I might almost say in common-sense; though I never quite +conceded that, because I had so much need of it. Nevertheless she looked +up to me, as her elder by five years, and a man. Therefore, it was my +custom always to listen with much toleration to her, and often adopt her +views in practice, after shaking my head for the time at them. For she +always finished her orations with, "Well, brother George, you are sure +to know the best." + +Now, if we had none but Grace to deal with, things would have been very +different. Not that we could have retrieved our fortunes--of that there +was no possibility; still, we might have carried on in our humble way, +and kept my father, Sir Harold Cranleigh, comfortable in his old age, +and even happy among his books and collection of minerals, and seals and +coins. My mother also might have had all she could wish; for she was in +truth a very quiet soul, bound up in her children, and fond of little +else, unless it were county histories, and the fulfilment of prophecy. +Sometimes she was grieved that we occupied now the old cottage in a +corner of the Park, which had once been the house of our agent; also at +having but a pony-cart, instead of what she was accustomed to. But the +grief was not on her own account, and simply for our sake, as we knew +well; and we kept on telling her that we liked it better so. + +For after all, if one comes to think, those very wealthy folk have no +true enjoyment, and no keen relish for anything good. In the first +place, they can never feel the satisfaction of having earned, by honest +work, their pleasure. It comes to them but as an everyday matter, +wearisome, vapid, insipid, and dull. Many of them have a noble spirit, +and that makes it all the worse for them. They see and they feel the +misery of the poverty around them, but all they can do is of no avail. +They are cheated and wronged in their best endeavours; if they show +discernment, they are called niggards; if they are profuse, it is +ostentation. And if they are large enough not to be soured by any of +these expressions, they begin to feel more and more, as time goes on, +that the money should stop in the family. + +Remembering this, we should have regarded with delicate compassion that +very wealthy individual, Mr. Jackson Stoneman. This eminent stockbroker +claimed not only our sympathy for his vast riches, but also some +goodwill by the relief afforded us in a cumbrous difficulty. My father +had long been casting about, as matters went from bad to worse, and farm +after farm was thrown up by insolvent tenants, for some one to occupy +our old house, Crogate Hall, and the Park as well, for he could not bear +to let them separately, and have the old place cut into patches. But +there was no one left among the old families of the county, still +possessing cash enough to add this to the homes already on their hands. +There is much fine feeling and warmth of heart toward one another, +among those who have never had much to do, from one generation to +another, except to encourage the good people who love order, by +punishing those of an opposite turn, and to keep up the line which has +always been drawn between landed estate and commerce; as well as to be +heartily kind to the poor--even though they do encroach a little on +preserves--and above all to be hospitable not to one another only, but +to people of business who know their position. + +Our family, one of the oldest in Surrey, and of Saxon lineage, requiring +no mixed Norman blood of outsea cutthroats to better it, had always kept +its proper place, and been beloved for its justice, generosity, and +modesty. Our tenants had never made any pretension to own the lands they +held of us, any more than a man to whom I had lent a thousand pounds at +interest--supposing that I owned such a sum--would set up a claim to my +capital. We were very kind to them as long as they could pay; and +throughout their long struggle with the foreign deluge, we made every +effort to keep them afloat, reducing their rent to the vanishing point, +and plunging with them into poverty. But what can be done, when the best +land in England will not pay for working, and is burdened as heavily as +ever? + +"Cut your coat according to your cloth," is a very fine old precept; and +we went on doing so, as Heaven only knows. But when there is no cloth +left at all, and the climate is not good enough to supply fig-leaves, +wherewithal shall a man be clothed? And for a woman, how much +worse--though they sometimes exaggerate their trials. My sister Grace +was as lovely a maiden as ever was born of Saxon race, which at its best +is the fairest of all. To my mind she was far more beautiful than her +sister Elfrida, the eldest of us, now the wife of Lord Fitzragon, who +had children of her own, and very seldom came to see us, being taken up +with her own world. And one of the things that grieved me most was to +see my favourite sister dressed in some common blue serge, with a brown +leather belt round her waist, and thick shoes on her delicate feet, like +a boy elected by Twickenham parish to the Blue-coat School. For a boy it +is all very well, and may lead to the highest honours of the realm; but +with a maiden of gentle breed it is not so encouraging. + +Notwithstanding this, I say that you might put a lady of any rank you +please, and of any wealth to back it up, by the side of my sister Grace; +and I know to which of them your eyes would turn. The Lord may see fit, +for some good purpose, to set one of His children high and to pluck down +another; but He never undoes what He did at the first, and His goodness +remains in the trouble. Many girls lowered from their proper line of +life, and obliged to do things that seemed hard for them, would have +turned sour, and tossed their heads, or at the very least would have +taken unkindly to what they were forced to do. And if anybody blamed +them for it, the chances are that it would be some one who would have +done the very same. But to see our Grace now, you would have thought +that she had been born a small yeoman's daughter, or apprenticed quite +young to a dairyman. What I mean is--unless you looked at her twice; and +to fail of doing that would be quite sufficient proof that you care not +for the most interesting thing in all human nature--except perhaps a +loving mother--to wit, a gentle, truthful, lively, sweet, and +affectionate young maid. + +It is not in a man to be so good, and luckily it is not expected of him. +Certainly I did speak strongly sometimes, and find fault with the luck, +and the world, and the law, and above all with the Government, which +every Englishman has a right to do. At such times my sister would +scarcely say a word,--which alone is enough to prove her +self-command,--but draw down her golden hair between her fingers, and +look at me softly from her deep blue eyes, and clearly be trying to +think as I thought. When any one whose opinion is at all worth having +does that sort of thing, almost any man is pleased with the silence he +has created; and his temper improves, as he approves of himself. And so +I always felt with Grace, that she might be right, because I was right; +and it helped me more than any one might think, to know that my words +made a stronger impression on another mind than they left upon my own. + +Happy beyond all chance of fortune would be the man who could win such a +heart, and be looked at with even deeper love than a sister has for a +brother, and feel himself lifted more nigh to heaven than he had any +power, or perhaps even any desire of his own to go. But no man so gifted +had appeared as yet, neither did we want him to turn up, for the very +good reason that Grace Cranleigh was the heart and soul of our little +household, just as I, George, was the hand and head, for all practical +purposes, though much against my liking. + +Because my elder brother Harold, heir to the title and the dwindled +heritage, was the proper person to come forward, and take the lead of +our forlorn hope, and stand up bravely in the gap, and encourage the +elders when thus stricken down and impoverished. But as I have hinted +before, we had a trouble almost as bad as mortgages, loss of invested +money, and even the ruinous price of corn, and that was a Genius in the +family, without any cash to support him. Truly in almost every family +the seeds of genius may be found, but most of them are nipped in early +days, or start in some harmless direction. But Harold's was not to be +cured like this, for it started in every direction, with a force that +left nothing to be desired, except the completion of something. There +was no conceit in this brother of mine, neither any defect of energy. No +matter what he took up, not only was he full of it for the time, but +perfectly certain that nothing of equal grandeur had dawned upon the +human race till now. Time would fail me to begin the list of his +manifold inventions, for every one was greater than the one before it, +and in justice to him I should have to go through all. While there were +difficulties in the way, his perseverance was boundless. But the moment +he had vanquished them, and proved that there was little more to do, as +sure as eggs are eggs he would stop short, exclaim, "Oh, any fool can do +that!" and turn his great powers to something even greater. + +We all admired him, as no one could help doing, for he was a wonderfully +taking fellow, gentle, handsome, generous, and upright, a lover of +Shakespeare, a very fine scholar, as tender to animals as if he knew +their thoughts, and in every way a gentleman, though not fond of +society. But the worst of it was that we had to pay for him; and this +was uncommonly hard to do, under our present circumstances. For +inventors must have the very best material, as well as the finest tools +for their work, and some one of skill to hold things in their place, and +to bear the whole blame when the job miscarries. We were grieved, when +instead of the untold gold which was to have set us staggering, a +basketful of bills was all that came, with headings that sent us to the +Cyclopædia, and footings that spelled the workhouse. + +"What is all this about letting the old house?" Harold had asked me, +without indignation, but still with some sadness at our want of faith, +the very last time I had seen him. "You have so very little foresight, +George! You forget altogether how easy it is to let a man in; but to get +him out again, there's the rub; and how often the landlord is forced to +take the roof off!" + +"The rub has been to get him in, this time," I answered in my dry +submissive way, for I never tried to reason with such a clever fellow. +"The doors are scarcely large enough for a man of such substance. And as +for the roof, it was taking itself off, after three years without any +repairs, and no one to ask where the leaks were. I think it is a +wonderful piece of luck that Mr. Jackson Stoneman, a man of +extraordinary wealth, has taken such a fancy to the poor old place. It +was Grace who showed him round, for there was no one else to do it. And +she says that although he may not be quite accustomed----" + +"Oh, I don't wish to hear any more about him. I detest the idea of +letting our old house, and the Park, and the stables, I suppose he wants +them all. And just when I am at the very point of securing a patent, +which must restore us to our proper position in the county; for the +model is as good as finished. No lease, no lease, my dear George. If you +let him in, have a binding agreement to get him out at any time, with +three months' notice. And when you speak of roofing, have you quite +forgotten that I have discovered a material which must supersede all our +barbarous plans for keeping the sun and the rain out?" + +"Oh, yes, I remember. You mean to let them in," I replied, without any +attempt at sarcasm, but having a vague recollection of something. + +"Undoubtedly I do, to a certain extent; and then to utilise them. Every +great idea must be in accordance with nature, instead of repelling her. +Now the sun and the rain--but just give me that sheet of paper, and in +two minutes you will see it all. It is the most simple and beautiful +idea. All I fear is that some one else may hit upon it. But, George, I +can trust you, because you are so slow." + +With pencil and compass he was sure to be happy for an hour or more and +come beaming to dinner; so I left him, and went to tell my father that +his eldest son, whose consent he required, had given it to that most +necessary step, the letting of Crogate Hall and Park to some eligible +tenant. Not only was a very great burden removed,--for we could not bear +to see the old place lapse into ruin,--but also a welcome addition was +made to our very scanty income. For the great stockbroker paid a +handsome rent without any demur, and began for his own sake to put +everything into good order. Once more the windows shone with light +instead of being grimed with dust and fog; and the Park was mown, and +the deer replaced, and the broad expanse of lawn was gay with cricket +colours and the pretty ways of women. + +But we in our corner kept ourselves at a distance from such enjoyment. +Not through any false pride, or jealousy of a condition which had once +been ours; but simply because, as my father said, and my mother agreed +with him warmly, it had never been the habit of our family to receive +entertainment which it could not return. Our home-made bread was (for +relish and for nurture) worth fifty of their snowy Vienna stuff, and a +pint of the ale which I brewed myself was better than a dozen of their +dry champagne, or a vintage of their Chateau this and that. But they +would never think so; and if Englishmen choose to run down their own +blessings, as they do their merits, let the fashion prevail, while the +few who can judge for themselves hold fast their convictions. + + + + +CHAPTER III + +TOM ERRICKER + + +Mr. Jackson Stoneman was--so far as I could make him out, without having +had six words with him--a very clever City-man, yet keeping two sides to +his life, as he could well afford to do. At an early age he had come +into the chief control of a long-established firm, one of those that +venture little, but keep on rolling from age to age the ball of +accumulating gold. This globe of all human delight was not at all likely +to slip between such legs as his; though the wicked metal will do that +sometimes, and roll away down the great hill of despair. He attended +very strictly to the main chance of all humanity, the object for which +we were born and die. That of course ruled his existence; but the people +who met him outside the covert, or rode with him when the scent was hot, +declared that he was a most excellent fellow, ready at an answer, +intelligent of hounds, skilful of hand and full of pluck, neither +showing off nor shirking work, and as courteous to a farmer as to the +Lord-Lieutenant. + +This was high praise for a man of his position. And we found before long +that every one confirmed it. He took a large farm off our hands which +had long been begging anybody to take it; and though his solicitor was +keen enough to grind down the rent to the lowest figure, and insist upon +many new conditions, we could not blame his principal for that, and were +well aware that landlords nowadays must be grateful to any who will +patronise them. In fact, we had no other grievance against him, except +that he was rich and we were poor; and I am sure that we were not so +narrow-minded as to feel any grudge on that account. My mother +especially--as behoved one of the most charitable of women--found many +good excuses for a practice of his, which some might have taken as a +proof of want of taste. Our cottage was beside the direct road from the +Hall to the nearest railway station, for no line had cut up our +neighbourhood as yet. Every morning, at least except on Saturday and +Sunday, when we were sitting down to breakfast, a rattle of wheels and +clank of silver harness would explain itself into Mr. Jackson Stoneman, +sitting bolt-upright with a cigar in his mouth, and flourishing a long +tandem-whip, while a couple of glittering chestnuts whirled him along +the smooth road, and a groom in white buckskins and top-boots +accordingly sat behind, and folded his arms in contempt of the world. +Grace like a child, though she was dignity itself when any stranger +looked at her, used to run to the window and exclaim, "Oh, what loves of +horses! How everything shines, and how well he drives!" + +"Who couldn't drive a team of circus horses?" was the first thing I +said, but she took no notice. And the next morning, when the thing came +jingling by, and she stopped my sugar to stare at it--"Perhaps you long +to be upon that spare cushion," I remarked; for what man can put up with +his sister's nonsense? And after that, she never knew when the brilliant +tandem passed, which made me feel a little ashamed of myself. + +However, I will not blame the great stockbroker--"Stocks-and-Stones" was +the name I gave him, without meaning harm, but the nickname spread, and +gave him some trifling annoyance, I fear--what right has any man to +blame another for a little bit of thoughtlessness, redressed at first +perception? Somebody told Stoneman, or perhaps he found it out, for +nothing escaped him, that I was displeased at his flashing by like that, +not on my own account, as scarcely need be said; and the next week he +took another road to the station, half a mile longer and much worse for +his horses. And so we lost sight of his handsome turn-out, to which we +were getting accustomed and began to set our time-piece by it. + +All these things are small; but what is truly great, unless it be +concerned with love, or valour, freedom, piety, or self-denial, and +desire to benefit the world at large? And yet, as a rule, we care most +about those who dwell little upon such big matters, but carry on +pleasantly, and suit us, and amuse us, and seem to be rather below than +above us, in mind, and ambition, and standard of life. Tom Erricker +knows that he is of that class, and I am welcome to say what I like of +him, without any danger to our friendship. And if I describe him exactly +as he is, he will take the better part as a compliment, and tell me that +the rest is of my imagination. + +As he came to and fro from his chambers in the Temple, my friend Tom was +a very bright young fellow, indolent yet restless, perpetually in love, +though his loves were of brief continuity, light of heart, impulsive, +very eager to oblige, and gifted with a very high opinion of himself, +and a profound scorn of everything that he could not understand. He was +generous, bold, and adventurous, a keen judge of character according to +his own idea, yet a thorough hero-worshipper, very fond of addressing +himself in the mirror, and trying to give an impartial account of his +own appearance and qualities. + +"Well, Tom, my boy," I heard him say one day, for he was confidential to +others, as well as to himself, about himself, "you are not looking quite +the thing this morning. A few cigars less, Tom, would suit you better. +And little crow's-feet already coming! What business have they there at +five-and-twenty? It can't be reading too hard, or you would have got +through, last time. Never mind, Tom, you are not a bad-looking fellow, +though you mustn't suppose you are handsome. There is not enough of you; +that's the great fault,--not enough of you to look dignified." + +In all this he was perfectly correct, though he might have supposed +himself handsome without any very great partiality; for his eyes were of +a rich and lively brown, such as many a maiden might have envied. And +his features quite regular enough, and short, and full of genial +vivacity. He was right enough also in the observation that there was not +enough of him to enforce the impression which such wisdom as his should +create; for although not by any means a dwarf, he was of less than +average stature, while exceedingly active and very well built. But he +never said a truer thing in the purest of all self-commune, than that +his crow's-feet, if any there were, could not have owed their origin to +excess of mental labour. Such is the sort of man one likes; because he +can never put one right, when a plague of accuracy comes on. + +Now what was my inducement, who shall say? And the reasons come too late +to make much difference, when a man has done a very foolish thing. It +may have been partly because I had never kept any secret back from Tom, +after my long time at school and college with him, and I did not like to +do so now; and it may have been also that I felt uneasy about my own +behaviour, and longed for some encouragement. Be that as it will, when +Tom Erricker came down, as he never failed to do at least once every +month, to spend Saturday and Sunday with us, no sooner had I got him in +my little den at the back of our cottage where the harness was kept, +than I bundled old Croaker, our only stableman, away to his dinner, and +with proper introductions poured forth to my friend the whole narrative +of that strange affair which I had witnessed as above, but spoken of as +yet to no one. + +My friend's interjections and frequent questions need not be set down, +for he was of the many who can never hear a story without interruption. +But when I had assured him for the fiftieth time that there was nothing +more to tell, his face, which had been a fine study of amazement, became +equally full of oracular wisdom. + +"Leave it to me," he said; "leave it to me, George. I will soon get to +the bottom of it. I never speak rashly. You know what I am. There is +something very deep behind all this. You, who live so near, and are only +acquainted with country ways, must not move in the matter. I shall find +the key to it. You can do nothing. I get about among people so much; and +I know nearly all that goes on in Soho. You have never done a wiser +thing than to keep this dark and consult me about it. And a wonderfully +lovely girl, you say!" + +"Dark let it be if you please," I answered; though I had never even +thought about that before, for I do detest all mystery. "Erricker, I +told you this in confidence. It looks as if I was wrong in doing even +that, when you begin talking in that sort of way. Is it likely that I +would let you take it up? If I cannot myself, as a gentleman, pry into a +thing I was not meant to see, do you suppose I would let a young +fellow"--Tom was my junior by about three months--"a young fellow like +you meddle with it?" + +"Now don't be in a huff, George;" he spoke with a smile, as if I were +making a fuss about nothing. "I have far more important things than this +to think of. It was only for your sake that I said a word. But I always +try to be straightforward. Why did I go down in the last exam? They +asked me to describe a contingent remainder; and I said it was a +remainder that was contingent. Could anything be more correct than that? +And yet the infernal old Q. C. said that I must pursue my studies. And +now, if I don't get through next time, the glorious tinman will cut +short my allowance. But, thank God, I have got a maiden aunt." + +The glorious tinman was Tom's worthy father, the head of a great plating +firm at Sheffield. Being perpetually involved in law-suits concerning +trade-marks and patents, and finding silver and gold enough for a +month's heavy plating sink into the long robe, this gentleman had said +to his wife, "Why not keep it in the family?" And she had replied, "Oh, +how clever our Tom is! None of those councillors understand the trade." +Therefore was Tom at the Temple now. + +When my friend once began upon his own affairs, and the ignorance of his +examiners, he was ready to go on for ever; and so I cut him short with +the question which had chiefly induced me to unburden my mind to him. + +"The point is this, my dear boy. Ought I to feel ashamed, do you feel +ashamed of me, for acting the spy upon a young lady who had no idea I +was looking at her? Speak plainly, I won't be offended." + +"If I ever get through, I am sure to be a judge," Tom Erricker replied, +with a glance of deprecation at his rather "loud" suit of red-and-white +plaid "Dittoes;" "my aunt Gertrude has said so fifty times; and I feel +the making of it in me, though it takes a long time in development. And +I sum up the merits thus, George Cranleigh. You had no right to begin; +but when you had begun, I am blowed if I can see how you could help +going on. And I should like to go on a lot further with it." + +My mind (which was larger then than now, for nothing loses more by wear +and tear) was relieved, much more than it would be now by even some +valid pronouncement. + +"Tom Erricker, you are a brick," I said; "and I don't mind showing you +the place. There is plenty of time before dinner yet. Only you must give +me your word of honour--not a syllable about it to any one." + +"Hands up. That's what we say in our corps,"--for he was a member of the +"Devil's Own," and a very zealous one, for such a lazy fellow,--"but I +could not walk so far without a gun." + +This difficulty did not last long; for I ran to the door, and asked my +sister to lend her pony Amabel to my friend Tom for an hour or two. +Grace was the most obliging girl that was ever too good to be married, +and although she felt some kind disdain, as it seemed to me sometimes, +for Tom, her pony was heartily at his service, if he would promise not +to whip her. Tom came out of our little hole, when this stipulation +reached his ears, and he put on his hat for the pleasure and glory of +taking it off again to my sister. Among his many tendernesses, the +sweetest and biggest of all perhaps was one with our Grace at the end of +it. But he knew, as we know such things by instinct, that she never +would come in to share it; and though he fetched many a sigh, they were +shallow, because hope had never been beneath them. + +Off we set in the summer afternoon, for the month was come to June +already, with everything going on as if we were nothing. Because I have +not said much about it,--as behoves an average young Englishman,--if +anybody reads this, he may think that nothing to dwell upon had come +home to me, by reason of what I had seen that day when the millers made +light of my samples. But this I can declare, and would have done so long +ago except for some sense that it was my affair alone, the whole world +had been quite a different thing to me, ever since I set eyes +upon--well, there is but one to any man worth anything; and does he ever +get her? + +Tom Erricker was the last fellow in the world to whom one could offer +any fine gush of feeling; because he was sadly sentimental sometimes, +when his veins of thought were varicose, and when something nasty had +happened to himself; but when his spirits were up, you would think there +had never been a tear shed in the world, except by some brat who knew +not how to cut his teeth. He was now in great exaltation at having +fetched me, as he thought, to his level; for I had always regarded his +light flirtations with a pleasant turn of humour, and he could not see +the difference between himself and me. So I rode Old Joseph, who was a +good tall horse; and he on little Amabel looked up at me, with no more +reverence than Sancho Panza showed to the immortal knight, who ever +failed to elevate him. + +"Give me an open country, not your slash and scratch-pins." There was +nothing Tom loved more than talking as if he had followed hounds from +his infancy, instead of growing up under a dish-cover; but romancing on +such subjects would not go down with me. + +"Surely you might have brought us by a better road than this, George. I +have had my bad times, I don't mind them in a burst; but I'm blessed if +I like being scratched to pieces, with nothing whatever to show for it." + +"To talk about, you mean, Tom. Well, here we get out into as pretty a +bit of firland as can be found even in Surrey; and that may challenge +all England to equal it. But I never go in for the picturesque." + +"To be sure, not. The ladies do it ever so much better. To own the land, +or at any rate the shooting, is the chief thing for us to care about. +And the shooting is worth twice as much as the crops, in the present +condition of the market. Never mind, George, I won't talk about that, +for I know it is a very sore subject. Do you mean to say that all this +belonged to you, not more than fifty years ago?" + +"Out of the frying-pan into the fire, as regards the subject," I +answered with a smile, for I knew that he never meant to vex me. "But I +am sorry that we cannot give you leave even to poke about here with your +gun, and pot blackbirds and magpies. There go two magpies! You don't +often get so near them." + +"Two for a wedding--don't they say? A good omen for you, George. But +where the deuce does your nymph hang out? Aha! good hit of mine! A nymph +means a bride, doesn't she, in Greek?" + +"Shut up!" I said, for this talk was very paltry, and perhaps Tom +Erricker's appearance was not quite up to the mark of a romantic moment. +My chief desire was to gaze across the valley, down the further side of +which, about a mile away, I could trace pretty clearly by its fringe of +bushes the windings of the brook which I had crossed that day on my +return from Guildford. It seemed to be ages ago, whereas it was only +four weeks; but I had thought about it enough to make a very broad space +of time. And here was Tom chaffing, and eager to make fun, with his red +plaid trousers forced up to his knees by his jerking about in the +saddle, and his loftiest air of acquaintance with the world, and his +largest smiles of superiority to women. For the moment I longed to +deposit him in an ant-hill. + +"Well, what can I see? Or what am I to look for?" He spoke as if he had +paid me for a view and I was bound to make it worth the money. Whereas, +though I did ask his opinion at a distance, it was the last thing I +should think of now; and in plain truth, what business had he here at +all, and spying about through a shilling eyeglass? But it was not for me +to take things as he did. Let him long to enter into them. + +"All right," I said. "We will come another day. This may or it may not +be the place. Look at your poor legs. They are fat enough; but what a +sight for a lady! What a fool you were, not to take my straps!" + +"Bless the fellow! Well, you are hard hit, or you would not carry on in +this style." Tom turned his eyeglass upon me in a manner which might +have provoked me, if I had been capable of thinking twice about him now. +"In a blue study, George? Everything looks blue, even the mist in the +valley. Has she got blue eyes? Ah! there is nothing like them." + +"Blue eyes have no depth. What do you know about eyes?" I spoke with +some warmth, as was natural. And then, just to show him how calmly I +took his childish and shallow observation, I proceeded as if he had +never spoken. + +"You see that long mass of black ivy to the right, cutting a sort of +jag, or perhaps it is a great curve out of the flat steep line of the +meadow?" + +"Yes, to be sure I do. Nothing could be plainer. A jag which is a curve +at the same time; and a flat meadow which is also steep!" + +"Never mind the meadow. You are not so stupid that you can't see the +wall, and the ivy on it. Now, Tom Erricker, what do you suppose that to +be?" + +"How can I tell, about two miles away? Let us go on, and make it out, +old chap." + +"Not another step. I am not at all sure that I ought to have brought you +so far as this. However, you can hold your tongue, I know; and you are +upon your honour about all this. Well, that is the wall of an old +monastery, more than five hundred years old, I believe, and connected +with that ancient chapel on the hills. Naturally, it is all in ruins +now, and there has been an attempt to set a mill up in its place." + +"The best thing to be done with it," Tom replied, for his nature was not +reverent. "But a mill should have paid, if it had any water. Free trade +has not had time to destroy the pounders yet, although it has killed the +producers. But I don't want to hear about monks and mills. The lovely +nuns are more to my taste." + +"What nuns could there be in a monastery, Tom? You are even more abroad +than usual. But though I have not been near the place, since the time I +told you of, and we have nothing to do with that valley now, I have put +a few quiet questions here and there, and I find that the old place has +been sold to a foreign gentleman, whose name our fine fellows cannot +pronounce." + +"Oho! That becomes very interesting. He's papa of the beautiful nymph, +no doubt. But you never mean to say that you left off there?" + +"Certainly I do. How could I go prying? What Englishman would ever think +of meddling with his neighbours? And a foreigner, too, who has come here +for quiet----" + +"Bother!" replied Tom. "If they have lovely daughters, everybody has a +right to find out all about them. I'll bet you a hat it is some wicked +old conspirator, a Nihilist perhaps, or at least an Anarchist, taking +advantage of our stupid hospitality, to hatch some fiendish plot, and +blow up some foreign monarch, with whom we pretend to be in strict +friendship. Why, only a few months ago----" + +"No more of that. I hoped to have found a little common-sense in you. As +if it were possible that that--that perfect----" + +"Angel!" cried Tom. "You can't get beyond that. And I am blessed if I +ever could have believed that a sensible, slow-going bloke like you, +George----" + +I took hold of his bridle, and turned Amabel homeward, and gave her such +a sharp little flick behind that my friend had as much as he could do to +keep in the saddle, for the best part of the way back to our cottage. +For we never grudged oats to our horses. + + + + +CHAPTER IV + +MR. STONEMAN + + +No man who has to contend with the world, and support those he loves +against it, cares twopence about being taken for a fool by the people he +has to contend with. Their opinion to this effect frequently is of some +service to him, and very seldom hurts him, unless he wants to get into +their employment, or to borrow money from them. And in the latter point +it even helps him, when he has good security to give. + +There is a certain worm, whose name I know not, being all abroad in +natural history, whose habit it is to come out of the ground and give +himself an airing late at night. And then if you moisten him from above, +in September or October, so grateful is he--or, if you deny him that +lofty feeling, so sensitive--that he glitters like any glow-worm. + +With no less amplitude, perhaps, a man who has deep emotions, such as +shy ambition, or literary yearnings, or passionate humanity, or true +love of a woman, sometimes lets himself out at night, when small things +are lost to the eyes, and the larger objects begin to assert themselves. +For after all, what are the toys of the day, for which we sweat, and +fight, and crawl, and rack our poor brains till they cry for the +revolver--even if we get such gauds, what are they, to make up for the +gentle delight we have lost, of the days when we loved all the world, +and the moments when some one tried to do the like to us? + +Now nothing of this kind comes in here, for verily I had been cheated +too often to rush into the embrace of the universe. But for the life of +me, I cannot tell how to explain the behaviour of a man, keener by a +thousandfold, and harder than in my worst moments I could long to be, +except by such principles, or (if they are not that) such want of +principle, such backsliding, such loosening of texture, and relapse into +nature, as we feel even in ourselves sometimes, and are more ashamed of +them in voice than heart. However, let every one judge for himself. + +It must have been close upon St. Swithin's Day, for people were watching +the weather as they do, to keep up the fine old legend, when after a +long turn among the hay, which was very late that year, I sat in my +little den after dark, considering my pipe, or perhaps allowing it to +consider for me, because I was tired with a hard day's work, and fit for +nothing but putting my legs up. While we were so busy with the only +thing worth growing now in England, because it grows itself, the wisest +plan was to dine, or at least to feed, among it, and be content. And to +feed upon it is what the true Briton must come to, whenever a great war +arises. The man who has shut his eyes, must also shut his mouth, as the +proverb hath it. + +While I was nodding at every puff, and full of the sleepy scent of hay, +the sound of a step, and the darkening of my open doorway, aroused me. +"Come in, Bob," I said, "anything the matter?" For some of our ricks had +been carried rather green, and we were still obliged to watch them. + +"Excuse me for taking you thus by surprise. If you can spare me a few +minutes, Mr. Cranleigh, you will do a great favour. It is Jackson +Stoneman." + +Having seen this rich gentleman chiefly at a distance, and not cared +much to look at him, I wondered at his coming in upon me thus, and was +rather inclined to resent it. But the thought of my father and mother, +and of the great help that his tenancy was to them, compelled me to drop +such little points, and receive him with all civility. My snuggery was +but a very little place, forming a part of the harness-room, and +resigned (whenever the door was shut) to a very modest share of daylight +coming through leaded diamonds, which were certainly not brilliants. So +I lit my candles, still having a pair, and offered him my one armchair, +an ancient Windsor, with a cushion in the bottom, more cosy than most of +the easy-chairs made now to be gazed at rather than sat upon. He thanked +me, but took his seat upon an oaken bench, and looked at me steadily, as +if to search my humour. Being of an equable and by no means rapid +temper, I returned his gaze with interest, and left him to begin. + +"First of all, I must have this settled,"--his voice was very clear and +rather pleasant, though he showed some signs of nervousness; "it must be +understood that whether I am right or wrong in coming to you like this, +you will not be annoyed, and turn against me." + +"Very well," I said, for the promise was a light one. What harm could I +do to a man of his wealth? And if a man offends me, I let him alone, +until it is cowardice to do so. + +"You attach much importance, I think, Mr. Cranleigh, to questions of +birth, and position in the county, and ancient family, and so on?" + +"I am not at all aware that I do so. The fact is, that I am too busy now +to dwell much upon such things. And their period seems to be over." + +I knew that I was talking stuff, and that bitterness made me do it. One +glance from his swift eyes showed me that he thought none the more of me +for taking such a tone, although for the moment it was genuine. + +"If you make little of such matters, I do not," said Stoneman; "neither +will any one of common-sense, for many generations yet to come. At least +if those who are born to such advantage have the wisdom not to overdo +it. But I want to put a few plain questions to you; and from what I have +heard and seen of you, I am sure that you will answer them plainly, when +you know that they are not impertinent. And I give you my word that they +are not that." + +"Anything you please, to the best of my knowledge, of anything a +stranger has a right to know." + +"I am not a stranger altogether; though I have no privilege of +friendship. When I tell you what I have come about, you may think that +I should have gone to your father first. But I thought it better to give +you the chance of saving him from annoyance. In almost every way, you +act as the manager now for the family. Am I right in believing that?" + +"Yes, as regards all local business. My brother, Harold, would be the +proper man; but he is seldom here, and he is not fond of +business--business of a small kind, I mean of course." + +My visitor smiled, as if he doubted that ever there could be any but +small business here; and remembering what we must have been once, I +regarded him rather sternly. He was tall, and strongly built, and +straight, and plainly dressed, as a man should be, leaving beauty to the +beautiful. Not that he was an unsightly fellow, but very good-looking in +a certain way. His forehead was large and square, and gave the idea of +strength and steadfastness, and his eyes, perhaps too deeply set, but +full of vigour and decision. His complexion was dark for an +Englishman's, and his close-cropped hair as black as jet, and so was his +short moustache, the only growth allowed upon his face. A good clear +countenance upon the whole, without any sign of weakness in it, neither +of more hardness than a man of the world requires, to hold his own and +enlarge it. + +He saw that I was "taking stock" of him,--as his own phrase might have +been perhaps,--and he waited the result with confidence. Then he put me +to some little confusion. + +"Well, Mr. Cranleigh, I hope that some of your prejudices are not +confirmed. I know that my position here is not very likely to produce +goodwill, especially with young men of high spirit. But I will not go +into that question now, beyond asking you this as a favour. Have I done +anything, since I occupied the Hall, that a stranger should not have +done among--among the real owners?" + +"Not that I know of. I may say more than that. I may say that you have +shown us in every way very kind consideration." + +"Thank you. I have tried to do so in everything round here. But now as +to taking the hounds, I have given no promise, until I knew your +opinion. Would it annoy Sir Harold, or any of your family?" + +"Not in the least; especially after you have been so kind as to ask us. +They have long left our hands, as you know. My grandfather kept them on, +long after he could afford it; but my father never cared for them, and +gave it up as soon as possible. As for my brother, he would have nothing +to do with them, if he were made of money. And my liking matters of +course neither way." + +"That seems hard when you do all the work. You mean, I suppose, that you +would like to keep them under different circumstances." + +"If I were head of the family, and could afford it handsomely. As it is, +I would not, even if I could afford it. I should seem to be putting +myself too forward." + +"Exactly so. And shall not I appear to be putting myself too forward, if +I bring them back to the old place, just because I can afford it? Your +candid opinion about that." + +"Then I think not. No one could take it amiss but ourselves; and we are +not so small as that." + +"Not even the ladies? Sometimes ladies do not see things quite as we do. +They might take it into their heads--I mean, they might think, not +unreasonably, that I was of the upstart order." + +"There is very little fear of that," I said; "in our family the ladies +are never difficult to deal with. They have always been consulted, and +therefore they are shy about forming their opinions. It is not as if +they had no weight, as among the less solid Norman race. They know that +what they say is something; and that makes them like to hear our +opinions first." + +"That state of things is most interesting, as well as rather unusual." +Mr. Stoneman spoke with a smile of calm inquiry, entirely free from +irony, and evidently wished me to go on. But I did not see how it +concerned a stranger; so I left him to his own affairs. + +"He seems a very decent sort of fellow. But if he has come to pump me," +thought I, "he will find that the water has gone from the sucker." And +he saw that he could not pursue that subject. + +"I have lately received a requisition, or whatever is the proper name +for it, from several of the people about here, whose acquaintance I made +last season, that I should take over the old Crogate hounds, as Lord +Wiedeland has resigned them. It was signed by yourself and your brother +Harold. That made me think more about it. It seems rather absurd for a +busy man like me, who could never be out more than twice a-week, and +very seldom as much as that. And I am not such a fool as to care two +raps about random popularity; but I want to do what I ought to do; and I +will, whenever I know it." + +"Then I think that you ought to do this," I answered, seeing that he was +in earnest. "You ride very well, you enjoy it thoroughly, and you know +quite enough about it to keep things in good order. There is not a man +in the neighbourhood who dares take any liberties with you. Joe Stevens, +of course, will come over with the pack. He is a host in himself. The +kennels are as good as they ever were. And perhaps the hounds will +recognise their duty to their ancestors, who lived so happily in the old +place." + +"Ah, there you touch me up; although I am sure that you never meant it. +And that brings me to my second point. If I undertake this affair, upon +the distinct conditions which I shall make, will you join me, and be in +effect the real master, although my name is used? You are here always, I +am generally away. Everybody knows and values you. I am a mere +interloper. If you would only help me thus, everything would go +beautifully." + +Not being very quick of thought, which is upon the whole a benefit, +while on the other hand I am uncommonly fond of hunting, I was not far +from saying yes, when luckily my pipe went out. With that I arose to get +another, and as I stood by the mantelpiece a clearer waft of mind came +to me, and showed me the many objections. + +"Your offer is wonderfully kind and tempting, and shows more confidence +in me than I have earned." I spoke with some emotion, because I felt +that last point strongly, having shown no friendship towards this man. +"But I cannot accept it, Mr. Stoneman. I will do all I can to make +things easy, and to help you to the utmost of my power. But my first +duty is to my father and mother. And I could not do this without +neglecting that." + +"You are right. I was wrong in proposing it. My stable, of course, would +have been at your service. But the inroads upon your time, and the many +derangements--well, never mind, so long as you are not angry with me for +proposing it. But if you will come out with us now and then----" + +"Certainly I will, upon our Old Joseph. He ran away with me not very +long ago. Some of your young cracks would find him not so very far +behind; for he is wonderfully knowing." + +"Good for you, I know how that tells up; though I am not a 'Parson +Jack,' who laid £5 that he would be in at the death upon his old donkey, +and won it. Very well, all that is settled--not exactly as I should +wish, but as much as we ever get things. But the next thing I shall +never get. And it is the only thing in life I care for." + +"I should have thought that a man like you, resolute, very clear-headed, +and wealthy, might make sure of everything that in reason he required. +With life and health, I mean, of course, and the will of the Lord not +against him." + +"We never know what is the will of the Lord, until we console ourselves +with it. Not that I am a scoffer or even a sceptic, Mr. Cranleigh. And +in some of the greatest moments of my life--but I will not bother you +with them. Only I may say that I look upon this as the very greatest of +them all. I don't want to make a fool of myself--but--perhaps the Lord +has done it for me." + +He tried to make a little smile of this, and looked as if he wanted me +to help him out. But I could only stare, and wonder whether any man ever +born is at all times right in his head. For if anybody could be expected +to know what he is about at all times, I should have thought that man +would be Jackson Stoneman of the Stock Exchange. So I waited, as my +manner is, for him to make good sense of this. + +Then he got up from his bench and set his face (which had been +quivering) as firm as the Funds, and looked down at me--for I was in my +Windsor chair again--and his eyes seemed to flash defiance at me, +although his voice was tender. + +"George Cranleigh, you may think what you like. I care not a rap what +anybody thinks. I love your sister Grace, as no man ever loved a woman, +or ever will." + +My amazement was so great and sudden that I looked at him without a +word. For a moment I was beaten out of time by this strong man's +intensity. + +"I know all the stuff that you will say," he went on with scanty +politeness. "That I have not seen her more than half-a-dozen times. That +I have no right to lift my eyes to her. That even a mint of money can +never make up for the want of birth. That I am nothing but an upstart. +That I may be a rogue for all you know. That she is a million times too +good, and pure, and beautiful for such a fellow. Go on, go on; I would +rather have it over." + +"But I have not begun yet, and you give me no time," I answered very +steadily, having now recovered myself, and objecting to have my +arguments forestalled. "You seem to forget yourself, Mr. Stoneman. There +is no necessity for excitement. That a man of the world like you----" + +"That is the very point. That's what makes my chance so bad. There is +nothing of romance or sweet sentiment about me. I don't know anything +about hearts and darts. I have no poetical ideas. I could not fling +myself off a rock--if there was one. I don't know how to couch a lance. +I am pretty sure, though I have never tried, that I couldn't do a +sonnet, at any price. And if I did, and it leaked out, it would be the +ruin of my business." + +"You can buy a sweet sonnet for five shillings, as good as they make +them nowadays, but a little common-sense is better than a thousand +sonnets; and of that, when you are at all yourself, you must have a very +large supply. Now sit down, and let us talk this out. At first it came +to me as a very great surprise. It was about the last thing that I could +have expected. But I think you were wise in coming first to me." + +When I look back upon this interview, it often astonishes me that I +should have been able so quietly to take the upper hand with a man not +only my elder and of tenfold experience in the world, but also before me +in natural gifts, and everything that one could think of, except bodily +strength and the accident of birth. Nevertheless I did at once, after +that weak confession of his, take a decided lead upon him. Why? Because +he was plunged into love--a quicksand out of which no man attempts to +pull another, being well aware what he would get for his pains, and +rather inclined to make sport of him, whenever it may be done, without +harm to oneself. + +"Well," I said, after waiting to see whether he would make another +start; but even his vigour was unequal to that, and he felt that he had +trespassed over the British bounds of self-control--"well, let us look +at this affair like men, and as if there were no woman in it." He lifted +his hand, by way of protest, as if I were begging the question; but +seeing how judicious my view was, and desiring perhaps to conciliate me, +he pulled out a large cigar and did his best to light it. "You may take +it," I proceeded, with much magnanimity and some contempt, little +presaging my own condition in less than a month from that very day, +"that I look at these subjects sensibly. I have every reason so far to +like you, because you have behaved very well to us. You behaved very +handsomely and justly, long before--well, long before you could possibly +have taken this strange turn." + +"What a way to put it! But let everything be straight. I should never +have taken the Hall unless--I mean if anybody else had been there to +show me--to show me what a nice place it was." + +"I see. Well, never mind how it began. But I will be as straight as you +are. It is difficult for me to do that, without saying some things to +offend you." + +"Say what you please, Mr. Cranleigh. Say what you will, I shall not +forget whose brother you are, and that you mean to do your duty to her." + +"To the best of my power. In the first place, then, do you know what the +character of our Grace is? She is gentle, and shy, and affectionate, and +unselfish as a girl alone can be. On the other hand, she is proud, and +high-spirited, and as obstinate as the very devil. Of money she never +thinks twice, except for the sake of those around her. She has the very +loftiest ideals, which she cherishes, but never speaks of them. Can a +money-maker realise them?" + +This I ought never to have said; for it pained him very bitterly. He +made no answer; but the expression of his face showed that I had hit his +own misgivings. + +"Not that I would make too great a point of that," I proceeded more +politely; "for a woman is not like a man altogether, however consistent +she may be. And Grace is only a girl after all, so that no one must be +too certain. She forms her own opinions to some extent, and nothing will +work her out of them. She takes likes and dislikes at first sight, and +she declares they are always justified----" + +"You don't happen to know, I suppose--I mean you have not formed any +idea----" + +"What she thought of you, Mr. Stoneman? No. I was rather surprised that +she never said a word that day she was sent for to give you the keys. +The utmost I could get out of her was, 'Oh, yes, he was very polite, +very polite, I assure you.' And so it is still; as if your entire nature +was politeness, and you consisted of good manners." + +"Manners maketh man." My visitor spoke for the first time lightly, and +the smile on his face was no small improvement. "But you will think that +I cannot claim them, if I delay any longer to thank you. You have taken +what I had to tell you much better than I could have expected; and for +that I am very grateful. But I want to know this. I have heard a good +deal of the importance attached by the Cranleighs to their very old +lineage--Saxon, I believe. But my family has no such claims. We can +boast no more than this--for three, or four generations at the most, we +have been well educated and well off. All business men, no lords of the +land, no knights with coats of mail, and legs crossed upon a slab. Now +does that make you look down upon me from the height of Salisbury +steeple?" + +Without any knowledge of his wealth, such as most of us look up to, it +would have been hard for any one to look down upon the man before me. +And sooth to say, there are plenty of men in his position, and of far +lower birth than his, who would have considered themselves at the top, +and me at the bottom of the tower. But before I could answer, a sudden +flush came over his face, and he rose in haste--for I had made him sit +down again--and he seemed to be trying very hard to look as if he were +not where he was. Perhaps his conscience told him that he was caught in +the attempt to steal a march. + +But my sister Grace (who had just come in with her usual light step, to +tempt me to have at least a glass of beer before despising everything), +by some extraordinary gift of sight--though there never have been +straighter eyes--Grace never saw that great stockbroker, who wanted her +not to look at him. + +"George, this is too bad of you again," she began with a smile, almost +too sweet for home-consumption only. "Work, work, all day, double, +double, toil and trouble; and scarcely a morsel of nourishment!" + +"Not a bit to eat, is what you generally say, and ever so much better +English." I spoke in that way, because I really do dislike all +affectation, and I was sure that she had espied the stockbroker. + +"Never mind how I express it," said Grace, and I thought that rather +independent of her, and it confirmed my conviction that she knew of some +one too ready to make too much of her. "If you understand it, that is +enough. But do come, darling George, you make us so sadly anxious about +you. What should we do, if you fell ill? And your poor dear eyes that +were so blue--the loveliest blue--oh, such a blue----" + +She knew that her own were tenfold bluer, and mine no more than +cigar-ash to them. Now a man can put up with a lot of humbug from a +sister who is good to him; but he must be allowed to break out +sometimes, or she herself will soon make nought of him. And all this +unusual gush from Grace, because I had missed my supper beer. When she +offered to kiss my poor lonely brow, it annoyed me, as I thought of +being superseded. + +"My dear child," I said, waving my hand towards the corner where +Stoneman looked envious, "the light is very dim; but I really should +have thought that you must have seen Mr. Stoneman there. Mr. Stoneman, +allow me to apologise for my sister's apparent rudeness. I fear that she +over-tries her eyes sometimes." + +The stockbroker favoured me with a glance, as if he longed to over-try +my eyes too; and then he came forward and offered his hand to my +discomfited sister, with the lowest bow I ever did behold. All this was +a delight to me; but neither of them for the moment seemed to be +enjoying it. + +"Oh, I beg your pardon, Mr. Stoneman," said our Grace, recovering +herself with a curtsey, as profound as his bow, and a thousand times +more graceful. "Really I must take to spectacles. But I hope, as you +have heard my little lecture, you will join me in persuading my dear +brother to take a little more care of himself. He works all day long; +and then at night he sits all by himself and thinks--as I thought he was +doing when I came so in the dark." + +After a few more words she left us, departing with a dignity which +showed how wrong I must have been in suspecting her of levity. + +"She is--she is----" Mr. Stoneman stopped, for he could not find +anything grand enough. "Oh, I wish I might only call you _George_." + +"With all my heart," I replied quite humbly, perceiving a touch of +bathos, which in human affairs is almost sure to mean a return to +common-sense. "All over the farm they call me _George_, at any rate +behind my back." + +"Then, my dear George, I will leave you now. I have had a most +delightful visit; and I wish to go and think about it. But do not +suppose for a moment that I shall cherish any foolish hopes. I know what +I am, and what she is. Did you see how she walked from the table? And my +cigar was smoking on it." + +"Shall I tell you what to do, my friend?" I answered rather pettishly; +"you are famous for strong decision, as well as quick sagacity. Exert a +little of them now, and put away this weakness." + +"It is not my weakness. It is my strength." + +Before I could speak again, he was gone. And verily, when I went out of +doors, and saw the stars in their distant gaze, and felt the deep +loneliness of night, it struck me that perhaps this man was wise--to set +his heart upon a constant love, some warmth and truth not far to seek, +and one at least who would never fail to feel his thoughts and endear +his deeds. + + + + +CHAPTER V + +TICKNOR'S MEW + + +Some men there are whom it is a pleasure to observe at their daily work. +How they swing their shoulders, and sway their arms, and strain the +strong cordage of the bulky thigh, casting weight as well as muscle into +the fight they are waging! And this pleasure should be made the most of, +because it is growing very rare. I have heard my grandfather say, that +when he was a boy, one man could do, ay and would insist on doing, more +work in a day, than is now to be got out of three by looking hard at +them--three men of the very same stock and breed, perhaps even that +grandfather's own grandchildren. And the cause which he always assigned +for this, though not a bad scholar himself, and even capable of some +Latin, was the wild cram and pressure of pugnacious education. "The more +a jug gurgles, the less it pours," was his simple explanation. + +There is much to be said on the other side, especially as the things put +into their heads are quick enough to go out again, and the Muses as yet +have not turned the village-boy into a Ganymede; but the only man, on +our little farm, who ever worked with might and main had never been at +school at all, and his name was Robert Slemmick. To this man nothing +came amiss, if only there was enough of it. He was not particularly +strong, nor large of frame, nor well put together; but rather of a +clumsy build and gait, walking always with a stoop, as if he were +driving a full wheel-barrow, and swinging both arms at full speed with +his legs. But set him at a job that seemed almost too heavy for him, +and he never would speak, nor even grunt, nor throw down his tool and +flap his arms, but tear away at it, without looking right or left, till +you saw with surprise that this middle-sized man had moved a bigger bulk +in the course of a day than a couple of hulking navvies. + +But one fault he had, and a very sad fault, which had lost him many a +good place ere now, and would probably bring him to the workhouse--he +was what is called by those who understand such matters a "black +buster." At the nearest approach I could make to this subject, sidling +very carefully--for the British workman would be confidential rather to +a ghost than to his own employer--it seems that there are two kinds of +"busters." The white one, who only leaves work for a spree of a day or +two, meaning to jollify, and to come back in a chastened vein, after +treating all his friends, and then going upon trust; and the black, who +is of a stronger mind. This man knows better than to waste his cash upon +clinking glasses with a bubble at the top. He is a pattern for weeks and +months together, pours every shilling on a Saturday night into the hands +of his excellent wife--for it is his luck to have a good one--sits in a +corner with his quiet pipe at home, and smiles the smile of memory when +the little ones appeal to his wisdom. And so he goes on, without much +regret for adventure, or even for beer, beyond the half-pint to which +his wife coerces him. + +Everybody says, "What a steady fellow Bob is! He is fit for a Guild, if +he would only go to Church." He ties the Canary creeper up, and he sees +to his cabbages, upon a Sunday morning. And the next-door lady shakes +her head over the four-feet palings, with her husband upstairs roaring +out for a fresher, after a tumble-down night of it. "Oh, if my Tom was +like your Mr. Robert!" But Mrs. Bob also shakes her head. "Oh, yes, he +is wonderful good _just now_." + +Then comes the sudden break down, and breakaway. Without a word to any +one, or whisper to his family, off sets Mr. Robert, on a Monday morning +generally, after doing two good hours' work, before breakfast. Perhaps +he has been touched on the virtuous road home, by a fine smell of beer +at the corner, where the potboy was washing the pewters, and setting +them in the sun for an airing; perhaps it was a flower that set him off, +a scarlet Geranium, who can tell? Under some wild impulse he bolts and +makes away; he is in the next parish, before his poor wife has given up +keeping the tea-pot warm; and by the time she has knocked at the +tool-house door, in the forlorn hope that he may be ill, he is rousing +the dust of the adjoining county, still going straight ahead, as if the +Devil were after him. And that last authority alone can tell how Bob +lives, what he thinks of, where his legs and arms are, whence his beer +flows down to him, for a month, or even half-a-year, or nobody knows how +long it is. + +This Robert Slemmick had been in our employment ever since last +Candlemas, and had only broken out once as yet, in the manner above +described. Excepting only that little flaw, his character was excellent, +and a more hard-working, obliging, intelligent man never came on any +premises. When I took him back after his escapade, I told him very +plainly that it would not be done again; and he promised to stick to his +work, and did so. But not a word to me, or anybody else, as to why he +went away, or whither, or what he had been doing, or how he got his +living. Knowing how peculiar the best men are--otherwise could they be +good at all?--I tried not to intrude upon the romance of his Beerhaven, +but showed myself rather cold to him, though I longed to know about it. + +"Master Jarge," said this man one day, when he was treading a hayrick, +and I was in the waggon with the fork below; and it must according to +the times have been the very day after Jackson Stoneman came to me, +"Master Jarge, what would 'e give to know summut as I could tell 'e?" + +He had had a little beer, as was needful for the hay; and I looked at +him very seriously; reminding him thus, without harshness, of my opinion +of his tendencies. But he did not see it in that light. + +"You shape the rick," I said. "I don't want to hear nothing." For you +must use double negations if you wish them to understand you. We were +finishing a little rick of very choice short staple, with a lot of +clover in it, and _Old Joe_ in the shafts was likely to think of it many +a winter night. At such a juncture, it will not do to encourage even a +silent man. + +Bob went cleverly round and round, dealing an armful here and there, for +a very small round rick is the hardest of all for scientific building, +and then he came back to the brink close to me, till I thought he was +going to slide down upon my knees. + +"What would 'e give, Master Jarge," he whispered, making a tube of his +brown, bristly hand, "to hear all about the most bootifullest maiden as +ever come out of the heavens?" + +Although I felt a tingle in my heart at this, I answered him very +firmly. "Get on with your work. Don't talk rubbish to me." + +"You be the steadiest of the steady. Every fool knows that. But I +reckon, Master Jarge hath his turn to come, same as every young man the +Lord hath made with a pair of eyes. Oh! our Miss Grace, she be bootiful +enough. But this one over yonner--O Lord! O Lord!" + +He waved his hand towards the valley in the distance, whose outline was +visible from where we stood. And dignified as I tried to be, he saw my +glance go wandering. + +"Why, you knows all about it, Master Jarge! You be clapping your eyes +upon the very place! Why, ne'er a man in England hath ever seed the +like. And who could a'thought it, a'standing outside!" + +"Nonsense!" I said. "Why, you must have been dreaming. Who knows what +comes over you sometimes?" + +This reference to his "busting" weakness was not in good taste, when the +crime had been forgiven, and the subject was known to be hateful to him. +But this was the sure way to let his tongue loose; and when a reserved +man once breaks forth, he is like a teetotaller going on the spree. + +"I could show 'e the place now just, Master Jarge; the place can't run +away I reckon. All over ivy-leaves the same as a church-tower. You +can't deny of they, when you sees them, can 'e? And the bootiful young +gal--why, you've seed her, Master Jarge! By the twinkle of your eyes, I +could swear to it." + +"Robert Slemmick, you are off your head;" I answered with a very +steadfast gaze at him, for his keen little eyes were ready to play "I +spy" with mine. "I insist upon knowing where you have been, and what you +have done, and what people you have met. If they knew that you were in +Sir Harold Cranleigh's service, you may have done us great discredit." + +With some indignation he told his tale, and finished it before the other +men came back; for his tongue was as brisk as his arms and legs, which +had rare gifts of locomotion. But I must fill in what he left out, for +it would be neither just nor wise to expect him to inform against +himself. + +It seems that he was walking very fast, discharging himself from +domestic bonds, and responsibility, and temperance, when he came to a +black door in a big wall; and rapid as he was, this brought him up. His +thoughts, if any, were always far in advance of him at such moments, and +perhaps his main object was to overtake them. This he could not explain, +and had never thought about it, but at any rate that door should not +stop him. It was locked, or bolted, and without a bell, but he worked +all his members together against it, as he alone of mankind could do, +and what could withstand such progressive power? The door flew open, and +in rushed Slemmick, like the London County Council. + +But there are powers that pay no heed to the noblest psychical impulse. +Two dogs of extraordinary bulk and stature had him prostrate between +them in an instant, and stood over him, grinding enormous jaws. Dazed as +he was, cold terror kept his restless members quiet, and perhaps he +felt--though he did not so confess it--that conjugal law was vindicated. +"I were in too terrible a funk to think," was his statement of the +position. + +But the two dogs appeared to enjoy the situation, and being of prime +sagacity were discussing his character between them. If he had been a +mere "white buster," that is to say a common tramp, they would have +stopped his tramp for ever. But they saw that he was a respectable man, +a sound home-liver in his proper state of mind; and although they would +not hear of his getting up, they deliberated what they ought to do with +him. Slemmick in the meanwhile was watching their great eyes, and their +tails flourished high with triumphant duty, and worst of all their +tremendous white fangs, quivering if he even dared to shudder. + +"Abashed I were to the last degree," he told me, and I could well +believe it; "my last thought was to my poor wife Sally." A good partner, +to whom his first thoughts should have been. But while he was thus truly +penitent I hope, a clear sound as of a silver whistle came to his ears, +and the dogs stood up, and took the crush of their paws from his breast, +and one of them sat by him, in strict vigilance still, while the other +bounded off for instructions. + +Then, according to Slemmick, there appeared to him the most beautiful +vision he had ever seen. "Straight from heaven. Don't tell me, Master +Jarge, for never will I hear a word agin it. Straight from heaven, with +the big hound a'jumping at her side, and him looking like an angel now. +If you was to see her, you'd just go mad, and never care to look at any +other maid no more." + +"What was she like, Bob?" It had not been my intention to put any +question of this kind, but Slemmick was in such a state of excitement, +that I had a right to know the reason. + +"Don't 'e ask me, sir; for good, don't 'e ask me. There never was no +words in any Dixunary, and if there was, I couldn't lay to them. There +then, you go and judge for yourself, Master Jarge." + +"But she can't be there all by herself, my friend. Surely you must have +seen some one else. And what language did she speak in?" + +"Blowed if I can tell 'e, sir. All I know is, 't were a mixture of a +flute and a blackbird, and the play-'em-out-of-Church pipes of the +horgan. Not that she were singing, only to the ear, my meaning is; and +never mind the words no more than folk does in a hanthem. Lor, to hear +poor Sally's voice, after coming home from that--even in the wisest +frame of mind, with all the wages in her lap!" + +"But you did not come home, Bob Slemmick, for I know not how long. Did +you spend the whole of your time in that enchanted valley?" + +"Ah, a chant it were, by gum! A chant as I could listen to--why, Master +Jarge, I'll take 'e there; for two skips of a flea I would. Won't 'e? +Very well. Best not, I reckon. Never look at no English maids no more." + +This was nearly all that I could get from Bob, without putting hundreds +of questions; for instead of straight answers, he went off into ravings +about this most ravishing young lady, who must have contrived to make +out what he wanted, for after having saved him from the dogs, she led +him directly to the lower door, and sped him on his way with +half-a-crown. But that, as he assured me, was of no account in his +estimate of her qualities. "You ask Farmer Ticknor, sir, if you think I +be a'lying. Farmer Ticknor hath seed her, more at his comfort than ever +I did; and Ticknor come hotter than I do. 'Hold your blessed jaw'--he +say, when I goeth to ask about her, knowing as he were +neighbourly--'What call for you, Bob Slemmick?' he saith, 'to come +running like a dog on end down here? I'll give you a charge of shot,' he +saith, 'if I catch you in the little lane again. 'T is the Royal Family, +and no mistake, that knoweth all about this here. And don't you make no +palaver of it, to come stealing of my mushrooms.' As if we hadn't better +as we kicks up every day!" + +Now all this talk of Bob's, although it may have told upon my mind a +little, was not enough to set me running straight away from my home and +friends, at a very busy time of year, as Slemmick was so fond of doing. +But betwixt the green and yellow, as our people call the times of hay +and corn, it seemed to me that I might as well have a talk with that +Farmer Ticknor, who was known to be a man of great authority about the +weather and the crops, and had held land under us as long as he could +afford to do so. He was rather crusty now, as a man is apt to be when he +lives upon a crust for the benefit of foreigners, and receives his +exchange in coloured tallow. It was two or three years since I had seen +him now; for "Ticknor's Mew," as he called his place, was out of the +general course of traffic, and as lonely among the woods as a dead +fern-frond. I found him at home on a fine summer evening, and he put up +my horse, and received me very kindly, for he was not a bad sort of man, +though rough. And if any pleasure yet remained in Farmer's lane to +workhouse, this man made the most of it by looking at the sky, as if it +still could help him against the imbecility of the earth. + +"Yes, I have been a fine hand at it," he said, after sending for a jug +of ale, and two bell-rummers; "there never was a cloud, but I know the +meaning of 'un, though without they long names they has now. Bessie, my +dear, fetch _Ticknor's marks_. Don't care much to do it now--nought to +lose or gain of it. Not much odds to this land of England now, what +weather God Almighty please to send. 'And when they shamed the Lord out +of caring to mind the harvest, the Government goeth for to hirritate Him +more, with a Hoffice to tell us what sort of hat to put upon our heads, +when us can't pay for none. But I'll bet my Sunday beaver against his +band of gold. What say to that, Mr. Cranleigh? I stuck 'un on the +barn-door every marnin' as long as there was anything to care for in the +whitfields. It covereth a whole year, don't it, Bessie? Cross stands for +wrong, and straight line for right." + +_Ticknor's marks_, as he called his calendar, certainly seemed to hit +the mark more often than the men of science did. On a great blackboard +were pasted in parallel columns the "Daily forecasts" and Farmer +Ticknor's predictions entered at noon of each preceding day. His pretty +daughter Bessie, the editor, no doubt, of his oracles, displayed them +with no little pride. + +"If you will be pleased to observe, Mr. Cranleigh"--Bessie had been at a +boarding-school--"my father's predictions are in manuscript of +course,"--and much better than he could write, thought I,--"while the +authorised forecasts are in type. Now the crosses on the manuscript are +not quite five per cent; while those upon the printing exceed +seventy-five. If there were any impartiality in politics, don't you +think, Mr. Cranleigh, they would give father the appointment? And he +would be glad to do it in these bad times, for less than half the money. +Though we must not blame the gentlemen who have to do it all through the +window." + +"You never hear me boast," interrupted the farmer; "there never was that +gift in our family. But I'll go bail to give that Meatyard man, or +whatever they calls 'un, five pips out of ten--all this reckoning by +scents hath come after my time--and give 'un twelve hours longer with +his arrows and his dots; and then I'll name the day agin him, for the +best joint in his yard. But bless your heart and mine too, Master Jarge, +what odds for the weather now? Why, even the hay, they tell me now, is +to come in little blocks from foreign parts. Make a ton of it they say +they can by hyderaulic something come out not a morsel bigger than the +parish-Bible. Well, well! Well, well!" + +Knowing that if he once began upon "Free Trade," there would be many +changes of weather before he stopped, I brought him back to the other +subject, and contrived to lead him as far as the margin of the wood, +where the clouds by which he made his divinations could be contemplated +more completely; but he told me a great deal about their meanings, +although he knew nothing of their names; all of which I forget, though I +tried to attend. + +It was not for any knowledge of clouds, or weather, or politics, or even +harvest-prospects, that I was come to see this Prophet Ticknor in the +woods. My mother's favourite subject was the "Fulfilment of Prophecy;" +but what I cared for now, and thought myself bound to follow out, was +the vision (seen by others as well as myself) of a foreign young +maiden--if it must be so--unequalled by any of English birth. The +prevalence of loose commercial ideas, and the prostitution of Britannia +(so highly respected while she locked her own gate), had given me a turn +against things foreign, though none but my enemies could call me +narrow-minded. And here I was open to conviction, as usual, with a +strong prepossession against my country, or, at any rate, against her +girls, however lovely. + +"I suppose you don't happen to know," I said to that excellent Ticknor, +while still among his clouds, "whether anybody lives in that old place, +where there seems to be such a lot of black stuff? What is it? Ivy it +looks like. And old walls behind it, or something very old. I think I +have heard of some old Monastery there; and it was part of our property +long and long ago. Oh, Farmer Ticknor, how everything does change!" + +The farmer afforded me a glance of some suspicion. Narrow +trade-interests had got the better of him. "You be gone into the retail +line," he said. "To think of the Cranleighs coming down to that. But you +don't sell milk by the quart now, do 'e?" + +Though I did not see how it could bear upon the subject, I assured him +that most of our milk went to London, under contract with a great man, +whose name I mentioned; and the rest we kept for making butter. + +"Well, then, I does a good little stroke of business there. Though not +much profit out of that, of course. They takes in a gallon-can every +morning. And they asked the boy whether I didn't keep no goats." + +"Goats! Why then they must be foreigners," I said. "No English people +care about goat's milk. At least, unless their doctor orders it." + +"They ha'n't got no doctor, and don't want none. A rare strong lot +according to all I hear. Toorks I call them, and I put it on the bill, +'Toork Esquire, debtor to John Ticknor.' Having raised no objection, why +it stands they must be Toorks." + +"But people can't live on milk alone, Mr. Ticknor. And they must have +some other name besides Turks. Even if they are Turks, which I scarcely +can believe." + +"Well, you knows more about them than I do, sir. I never form an +opinion, so long as they pays me good English money. But they never has +no butcher's meat, nor no beer; and that proves that they bain't English +folk. If you want to know more about them, Mr. Cranleigh, the one as can +teach you is my dog _Grab_. _Grab_ feeleth great curiosity about them, +because of the big dogs inside the old wall. He hath drashed every other +dog in the parish; and it goeth very hard with him to have no chance to +drash they. Never mind, old boy, your time will come." + +An atrocious bull-dog of the fiercest fighting type, who had followed +us from the farmhouse, was nuzzling into his master's grey whiskers. Now +I love nearly all dogs, and, as a rule, they are very good to me; but +that surly fellow, who is supposed to be the type of our national +character, does not appear to me, by any means, adorable. Very faithful +he may be, and consistent, and straightforward, and devoted to his duty. +But why should he hold it a part of his duty to kill every gentle and +accomplished dog he meets, unless the other dips his tail, the canine +ensign, to him? And of all the bull-dogs I have ever seen, this _Grab_ +was the least urbane and polished. A white beast with three grisly +patches destroying all candour of even blood-thirstiness, red eyes +leering with treacherous ill-will, hideous nostrils, like ulcers cut +off, and enormous jowls sagging from the stark white fangs. He saw that +I disliked him, and a hearty desire to feel his tusks meet in my throat +was displayed in the lift of his lips, and the gleam of his eyes. + +"Wonnerful big hounds they furriners has, according to what my milk-boy +says," the farmer continued, with a plaintive air; "but they never lets +them free of the big wall hardly, to let _Grab_ see what they be made +of. But come back to house, and have a bit of supper with us, before you +go home, Mr. Cranleigh. 'T is a roughish ride even in summer-time." + +"Thank you; not a bit to eat; but perhaps before I go, another glass of +your very fine home-brewed. But I see a tree down in the valley there, +that I should like to know more about. I'll follow you back to the house +in a few minutes. But how long did you say that those strangers have +been here? It seems such an odd thing that nobody appears to know +anything about them." + +"Well, a goodish long while they must have been there now. And they +don't seem to make no secret of it. Bakes their own bread, if they have +any; never has any carriage-folk to see them, never comes out with a gun +to pot a hare; don't have no fishmonger, butcher, grocer, nor any boy to +call out 'papper' at the door. My boy Charlie is uncommon proud, because +he have got into their 'Good-morning.' They says it like Christians, so +far as he can judge, and naturally he sticketh up for them. You can ask +him, Master Jarge, if you think fit. Nothing clandestical about +Ticknor's Mew. But none of them Inspectors to pump into our milk, and +swear as we did it. That's why I keep you, _Grab_." + +Farmer Ticknor made off with this little grumble, lifting his hat to me, +until I should return. For he did not look down upon the "Gentry of the +land," for being out at elbows. After thinking for a minute of all that +I had heard, which was not very much to dwell upon, I twirled my +riding-crop (which I had brought from habit, and been glad to have when +I watched _Grab's_ teeth), and set off with a light foot, to explore +that lonely valley. + +I was now on the opposite side from that by which I had entered it to +the tune of the nightingale, and at first I could scarcely make out my +bearings. For though I had seen it afar with Tom Erricker, something +prevented me from letting him come near it. Tom was an excellent fellow +in his way; but of reverence and lofty regard for women no decent +Englishman could have much less. Decent I say, because if such +sentiments are cast by, and scoffed at--as fools think it clever to +do--the only thing left is indecency. + +This valley was not like many places, that are tempting only at a +distance. The deeper I found myself in it, the more I was filled with +its gentleness and beauty. It has never been in my line at all to be +able to convey what comes across me,--when I see things that look as if +they called upon us to be grateful for the pleasure they contribute to +our minds. Certain people can do this, as some can make fine +after-dinner speeches, while others are more fitted to rejoice inside. +And if I were to fail in depicting a landscape, such as any Surrey man +may see by walking a few miles, how would you care to follow me into the +grandest scenery the Maker of the earth has made anywhere, unless it be +in His own temple of the heavens? + +Enough that it was a very lovely valley, winding wherever it ought to +wind, and timbered just where it should be, with the music of a bright +brook to make it lively, and the distance of the hills to keep it +sheltered from the world. And towards the upper end where first the +stream came wimpling into it, that ancient wall, which had baffled me, +enclosed a large piece of land as well as some length of watercourse, +but gave no other token of its purpose. This was what I cared most +about; for stupid and unreasonable as it must appear, a sharp spur had +been clapped to my imagination by the vague talk of Slemmick and +Ticknor. And not only that, but to some extent, the zeal and the ardour +of Jackson Stoneman, and his downright policy, had set me thinking that +poor as I was, while he was rolling in money, the right of my manhood +was the same as his--to pursue by all honest means the one fair image +which a gracious power had disclosed to me. Therefore, after looking at +the tree to soothe my conscience, I followed the course of that +wandering wall, by no means in a sneaking manner, but showing myself +fairly in the open meadows, and walking as one who takes exercise for +health. + +The wall was on my left hand, all the way from the track (in which the +steep road ended after crossing the brook) and although I would rather +sink into a bog than seek to be spying impertinently, nothing could have +come upon that wall, and no one could have peeped over it without my +taking it in at a side-flick. But I only had sense of one thing moving +throughout all my circuit, and that was but little to comfort me. Just +as I was slipping by the upper door (which Slemmick had burst open), and +taking long strides--for if some one had opened it and asked what I +wanted there, how could I, as a gentleman, tell the whole +truth?--suddenly there appeared within a square embrasure, and above the +parapet among the ivy, the most magnificent head I ever saw. Mighty +eyes, full of deep intelligence, regarded me, noble ears (such as no man +is blest with) quivered with dignified inquiry, while a majestic pair of +nostrils, as black as night, took sensitive quest of the wind, whether +any of the wickedness of man were in it. + +Knowing that I only intended for the best, though doubtful if that would +stand me in much stead, supposing that this glorious dog took another +view of it, I addressed him from below with words of praise, which he +evidently put aside with some contempt. He was considering me +impartially and at leisure; and if I had moved he would have bounded +down upon me. Luckily I had the sense to stand stock-still, and afford +him every facility for study of my character. At the same time I looked +at him, not combatively, but as if I felt similar interest in him, which +I had excellent reason for doing. To my great relief his eyes assumed a +kind expression; by the pleasant waving of his ears I could tell that +his tail was wagging, and he showed a bright dimple beneath his black +whiskers, and smiled with the humour which is far beyond our ken. +Whereupon I nodded to him, and made off. + +When I came to think of him, in that coarser frame of mind in which we +explain everything so meanly, it occurred to me that those noble +nostrils, curving like the shell of Amphitrite, were scarcely moved so +much perhaps by the influence of my goodness, as by the fragrance of my +sister's spaniel, _Lady Silky_, who had nestled in my hairy jacket, +while I was casting up accounts that day. However, be his motive large +or small, he had formed a friendly opinion of me, and when I disappeared +among the trees, a low whine followed me as if the place had grown more +lonely. + +Upon the whole I had made some progress towards the solution of this +strange affair. Within those walls there must be living a settlement of +foreigners, an establishment of some size, to judge by the quantity of +milk they used. Some of them could speak English, but they did not seem +to associate with any of their neighbours, and probably procured from +London the main part of what they needed. To Farmer Ticknor, as to most +of the rustics round about us, all who were not of British birth were +either Turks or Frenchmen. To my mind these were neither; and the +possession of those noble dogs--a breed entirely new to me--showed that +they were not dwelling here to conceal their identity, or to retrench +from poverty. For there were at least two dogs, perhaps more, worth a +hundred guineas each to any London dealer at the lowest computation, and +not by any means qualified to live on scanty rations. Another point I +had ascertained--that the old Mill, out of use for many years, was now +at work again. This had been built, no one knows how long ago, among +the monastic ruins upon the never-failing Pebblebourne. And while I was +counting the moments for that gigantic dog to spring down on me, I heard +very clearly the plash of the wheel, and the boom and murmur of the +works inside. + +As a last chance of picking up something more, when I was getting on my +horse, I said across his mane to the fair Bessie Ticknor, that +"highly-cultured" maiden,--"A little bird has told me, though I would +not listen to him, that a young lady almost as pretty as Miss Ticknor +lives in a valley not a hundred miles from here." Bessie raised her +jet-black eyes, and blushed, and simpered, and whispered, so that her +father could not hear it:-- + +"Oh, I 'd give anything to know! It is such a romantic mystery! Culture +does put such a cruel curb upon curiosity. But it does not take much to +surpass _me_, Mr. Cranleigh." + +"We are not all quite blind in this world, Miss Ticknor; though some may +try to contradict their looking-glass." + + + + +CHAPTER VI + +TRUE HYGIENE + + +Whenever my brother Harold deigned to visit us from London, we had not +much time to do anything more than try to understand his last idea. If +he had only been fond of society, or philosophy, or even ladies, we +could have got on with him ever so much better; for he really never +meant any harm at all. Pity for the pressure he was putting on his brain +saddened to some extent the pride which he inspired; and when he came +down to announce his last _eureka_, the first thing my mother did was to +make him show his tongue. My mother did think mighty things of this the +first-born child she had; and him a son--endowed beyond all +sister-babies with everything. Nevertheless she did her utmost to be +fair to all of us; and sometimes when her eyes went round us, at +Christmastime, or birthdays, any stranger would have thought that we all +were gifted equally. + +I am happy to say that this was not the case. Never has it been my gift +to invent anything whatever; not even a single incident in this tale +which I am telling you. Everything is exactly as it happened; and +according to some great authorities, we too are exactly as we happened. + +But my brother Harold can never have happened. He must have been +designed with a definite purpose, and a spirit to work his way +throughout, although it turned to Proteus. He had been through every +craze and fad,--I beg his pardon,--Liberation of the Age, Enlightenment, +Amelioration of Humanity, &c. &c., and now in indignation at the Pump +Court drains, he was gone upon what he called _Hygiene_. + +"What the devil do you mean, by this blessed Hygiene?" Though by no +means strong at poetry, I turned out this very neat couplet one day, +with the indignation that makes verses, when I saw that he had a big +trunk in the passage, which certain of us still called the hall. + +"George, will you never have any large ideas?" he replied with equal +rudeness, such as brothers always use. "This time, even you will find it +hard to be indifferent to my new discovery. The ardour of truth has +triumphed." + +"Go ahead," I said, for he had had his dinner, though that made very +little difference to him, his ardour of truth being toast and water now. +"But if you won't have a pipe, I will. Is the smell anti-hygienic?" + +"Undoubtedly it is. About that there cannot be two sane opinions. Puff +away; but be well assured that at every pull you are inhaling, and at +every expiration spreading--" + +"All right. Tell us something new, and you are never far to seek in +that--Pennyroyal, fenugreek, ruta nigra, tin-tacks hydrised, hyoscyamus, +colocasia, geopordon carbonised--what is the next panacea?" + +"Tabacum Nicotianum." Nothing pleased my brother more than the charge of +inconsistency and self-contradiction. Seeing that he lay in wait for +this, I would not let him have it, but answered with indifference-- + +"That is right, old fellow. I am glad that you have come to a sensible +view of Tobacco. Any very choice cigars in your trunk, old chap? But I +should fear that you had invented them." + +No one could help liking Harold at first sight. He was simply the most +amiable fellow ever seen. Amiable chiefly in a passive way, although he +was ready for any kind action, when the claims of discovery permitted. +And now as we were strolling in the park, and the fine Surrey air had +brightened his handsome face with more "hygiene" than he ever would +produce, I was not surprised at the amount of money he extracted even +from our groans. + +"Would you like to know what is in my trunk?" he asked with that simple +smile, which was at once the effect and the cause of his magnetism. "I +have done it for the sake of the family first, and then of the +neighbourhood, and then of the county. I shall offer the advantages to +Surrey first. As an old County family, that is our duty. There is some +low typhoid in the valleys still. Run and fetch my trunk, George. It is +heavy for me, but nothing for your great shoulders. Bring it to the +bower here; I don't want to open it in the house, because, +because--well, you'll soon know why, when you follow my course of +reasoning." + +I brought him his trunk, and he put it on a table, where people had tea +in the park sometimes, to watch a game of cricket from a sheltered +place. "Come quite close," he said very kindly, throwing open the trunk, +and then making for the door, while I rashly stooped over his property. +In another minute I was lying down, actually sneezed off my legs, and +unable to open my eyes from some spasmodic affection or affliction. + +"That's right," said Harold, in a tone of satisfaction; "don't be +uneasy, my dear brother. For at least a fortnight you are immune from +the biggest enterprises of the most active Local Board. You may sit upon +the manholes of the best sanitated town; you may sleep in the House of +Commons; you may pay a medical fee, and survive it. It is my own +discovery. See those boxes?" + +"Not yet. But I shall as soon as my eyes get right!" I was able now to +leave off sneezing, almost for a second. And when I had chewed a bit of +leaf he gave me, there seemed to be something great in this new idea. + +"You are concluding with your usual slur"--my brother began again, as +soon as I was fit to receive reason instead of sympathy--"that this is +nothing more than an adaptation of _Lundy Foote_, _Irish blackguard_, or +_Welsh Harp_. George, you are wrong, as usual. You need not be capable +of speech for that. Your gifts of error can express themselves in +silence." + +"Cowardly reasoner," I began, but the movement of larynx, or whatever it +might be, threw me out of "ratiocination." He had me at his mercy, and +he kept me so. To attempt to repeat what he said would convict me of +crankiness equal to his own, and worse--because he could do it, and I +cannot. But the point he insisted on most of all, and which after my +experience I could not but concede, was that no known preparation of +snuff without his special chemistry could have achieved this excellence. + +"Pteroxylon, euphorbium, and another irritant unknown as yet to +Chemists, have brought this to the power needful. But this is not a +merely speculative thing. You feel a true interest in it now, George." + +"As men praise mustard, with tears in their eyes. But let me never hear +of it, think of it, most of all never smell the like again. My nose will +be red, and my eyes sore for a fortnight." + +Harold tucked my arm under his, with a very affectionate manner of his +own, which he knew that I never could resist. "Four pockets always in +your waistcoat," he observed, "and a flap over every one to keep it dry. +Now I very seldom ask a favour, do I, George, of you? Here are three +hundred little boxes here, as well as the bulk of my preparation. The +boxes are perfectly air-tight, made from my own design, very little +larger and not much thicker than an old crown-piece. You touch a spring +here, and the box flies open. Without that you never would know that it +was there. Promise me that you will always carry this, and open it +whenever you come to a place where the Local Boards have got the roads +up. One of my best friends, and I have not many, has lost his only +little girl,--such a darling, she used to sit upon my knee and promise +to marry me the moment she was big enough,--but now she has gone to a +better world, through the new parish authorities. Diphtheria in the +worst form, my dear boy!" + +His eyes filled with tears, for he was very tender-hearted, and in the +warmth of the moment, I promised to carry that little box of his, as a +safeguard against sanitation. + +"My dear George, you will never regret it. You will find it most useful, +I can assure you." He spoke with some gratitude, for he knew how much I +hated all such chemistry. Little did I think how true his words would +prove. + +"Why, there goes that extraordinary fellow Stoneman!" I exclaimed +suddenly, to change the subject. "What a first-rate horse he always +rides! But there is something I ought to tell you about that great +Stockbroker. I have not told the Governor yet, because I was not meant +to do so, and must not, without the man's consent. But you ought to know +it, and he would not object to that." + +"What has he discovered? I have often thought that men, who fall into +the thick of humanity, ought to get their minds into an extremely active +state; like mariners straining their eyes to discover--" + +"The Gold Coast. There is nothing else they care for. But there I am +wronging Jackson Stoneman. He is a man of the world, if there ever was +one; and yet he is taken above the world, by love." + +"Love of what?" asked my brother, who was sometimes hard upon people who +despised all the things he cared for. "Love of gold? Love of rank? Love +of dainty feeding? Love of his own fat self perhaps?" + +"He is not fat. He is scarcely round enough. He is one of the most +active men in the kingdom. There are very few things that he cannot do. +And now he is deeply and permanently in love--" + +"With filthy lucre. If there is anything I hate, it is the scorn of +humanity that goes with that." Harold, in a lofty mood, began to strap +up the trunk that was to save mankind. + +"If filthy lucre means our Grace," I said with much emphasis, for it was +good to floor him, "you have hit the mark. But our Grace has not a +farthing." I very nearly added--"thanks to you." But it would have been +cruel, and too far beyond the truth. + +"Ridiculous!" he answered, trying not to look surprised, though I knew +that I had got him there. "Why, his grandfather kept a shoe-shop." + +"That is a vile bit of lying gossip. But even if it were so, the love of +humanity should not stop short of their shoes. I am afraid you are a +snob, Harold, with all your vast ideas." + +"I am a little inclined to that opinion myself," he answered very +cordially. "But come, this is very strange news about Grace. Has she any +idea of the honour done her?" + +"Not the smallest. So far as I know at least. And I think it is better +that she should not know. Just at present, I mean, until he has had +time." + +"But surely, George, you would not encourage such a thing. Putting aside +the man's occupation, which may be very honourable if he is so himself, +what do we know of his character, except that he gives himself airs, and +is rather ostentatious?" + +"He gives himself no airs. What you call ostentation is simply his +generosity. You forget that in right of his wealth he stands in the +place we have lost through our poverty. That makes it a delicate +position for him, especially in his behaviour to us. And do what he +will, we should scarcely do our duty to ourselves, unless we made the +worst of it." + +"How long have you turned Cynic? Why, you put that rather neatly; I did +not think it was in you, George." It should be explained that my brother +Harold could never be brought to see that it was possible for me to do +anything even fairly well; unless it were in manual labour, or sporting, +or something else that he despised. And this was all I got for my +admiration of his powers! + +"Never mind about me," I replied; "I am not a Cynic, and I never shall +be one. And when I spoke thus, I had not the least intention of +including my father, who is above all such stuff. But mother, and you +and I, and no doubt Grace herself, although she thinks so well of +everybody,--it would be against all human nature for us to take a kind +or even candid view of our successor's doings. And as for his station in +life, as you might call it, you must live entirely out of the world, +even in the heart of London, not to know that he is placed far above us +now. Everywhere, except among the old-fashioned people who call +themselves the County families, a man of his wealth would be thought +much more of, than we should have a chance of being. What good could we +do to anybody now? you must learn to look up to him, Harold my boy." + +"Very well. I'll study him, whenever I get the chance. I can't look up +to any man for his luck alone; though I may for the way he employs it. +But he must not suppose that his money will buy Grace. If ever there +was a girl who tried to think for herself and sometimes succeeded, +probably it is our Grace. She cannot do much. What woman has ever yet +made any real discovery, although they are so inquisitive? But she has a +right to her own opinion." + +"At any rate as to the disposal of herself." Here I was on strong +ground; though I never could argue with Harold upon scientific +questions. But I knew my dear Grace much better than he did; and she +always said that she liked me best, whenever I put that question to her; +not only to make up for mother's preferences in the wrong direction, but +also because she could understand me,--which did not require much +intelligence,--not to mention that I was much bigger and stronger than +Harold, though nothing like so good-looking, as anybody could see with +half an eye. + +"Leave it so," said Harold; for he liked sometimes to assert himself, as +he had the right to do, when he cast away scientific weaknesses. "Let +such things take their course, old fellow. If Grace takes a liking to +him, that will prove that he is worthy of it. For she is uncommonly hard +to please. And she never seems to care about understanding me; perhaps +because she knows it would be hopeless. I want to go on to Godalming +to-morrow. There will be a meeting of Sanitary Engineers--the largest +minds of the period. I speak of them with deference; though as yet I am +unable to make out what the dickens they are up to. Can you get me the +one-horse trap from _The Bell_?" + +"Most likely. I will go and see about it by-and-by. Old Jacob will +always oblige me if he can. But you won't take away your sneezing trunk? +You owe it to your native parish first." + +"My native parish must abide its time. In country places there is seldom +any outbreak of virulent diseases, until they set up a Local Board. I +shall leave a score of Hygioptarmic boxes in your charge. The rest are +meant for places where the authorities stir up the dregs of infection, +and set them in slow circulation. And the first thing a Local Board +always does is that." + +I did not contradict him, for the subject was beyond me. And fond as I +was of him, and always much enlarged by his visits, and the stirring up +of my dull ideas, it so happened that I did not want him now, when so +many things had to be considered, in which none of his discoveries would +help me. In fact it seemed to me that he thought much more of his +hygienic boxes, than of his and my dear sister. + +When he was gone in the old rattle-trap from _The Bell_, with his trunk +beneath his feet, my mother seemed inclined at first to think that no +one had made enough of him. + +"All for the benefit of others!" she exclaimed, after searching the +distance for one last view of him, if, haply, the sun might come out for +the purpose of showing his hat above some envious hedge; "Does that poor +boy ever think of himself? What makes it the more remarkable is that +this age is becoming so selfish, so wedded to all the smaller principles +of action, so incapable of taking a large view of anything. But Harold, +my Harold"--no words of the requisite goodness and greatness occurred to +my dear mother, and so she resorted to her handkerchief. "It seems as if +we always must be parted. It is for the good of mankind, no doubt; but +it does seem hard, though no one except myself seems so to regard it. It +was five o'clock yesterday before he came. It is not yet half-past ten, +and to think of the rapidly-increasing distance--" + +"I defy him to get more than five miles an hour out of that old screw," +I said. "Not even with one of his Hygioptarmic boxes tied beneath the +old chap's tail. Why, you can hear his old scuffle still, mother." + +She listened intently, as if for a holy voice; while Grace looked at me +with a pleasant mixture of reproach and sympathy. For who did all the +real work? Who kept the relics of the property together? Who relieved +the little household of nearly all its trouble? Who went to market to +buy things without money, and (which is even harder still) to sell them +when nobody wanted them? Who toiled like a horse, and much longer than a +horse--however, I never cared to speak up for myself. As a general rule, +I would rather not be praised. And as for being thanked, it is pleasant +in its way, but apt to hurt the feelings of a very modest man; and, of +course, he knows that it will not last. After such a speech from my dear +mother, no one could have blamed me very severely, if I had put my +fishing-rod together and refused to do another stroke of work that day. + + + + +CHAPTER VII + +_KUBAN_ + + +That evening we stuck to our work, like Britons, and got all the ricks +combed down so well, and topped up ready for thatching, that the weather +was welcome to do what it pleased, short of a very heavy gale of wind. +Not a mowing-machine, nor a patent haymaker, had been into our meadows, +nor any other of those costly implements, which farmers are ordered by +their critics to employ, when they can barely pay for scythe and rake. +All was the work of man and horse, if maids may be counted among the +men--for, in truth, they had turned out by the dozen, from cottage, and +farm, and the great house itself, to help the poor gentleman who had +been rich, and had shown himself no prouder then than now. + +For about three weeks, while the corn began to kern, and Nature wove the +fringe before she spread the yellow banner, a man of the farm, though +still wanted near at hand, might take a little change and look about him +more at leisure, and ask how his neighbours were getting on, or even +indulge in some distractions of his own. Now, in summer, a fellow of a +quiet turn, who has no time to keep up his cricket, and has never heard +of golf,--as was then the case with most of us,--and takes no delight in +green tea-parties, neither runs after moths and butterflies, however +attractive such society may be, this man finds a riverbank, or, better +still, a fair brook-side, the source of the sweetest voices to him. Here +he may find such pleasure as the indulgence of Nature has vouchsafed to +those who are her children still, and love to wander where she offers +leisure, health, and large delights. So gracious is she in doing this, +and so pleased at pleasing us, that she stays with us all the time, and +breathes her beauty all around us, while we forget all pains and +passions, and administer the like relief to fish. + +Worms, however, were outside my taste. To see a sad creature go +wriggling in the air, and then, cursing the day of its birth, descend +upon the wet storm of the waters, and there go tossing up and down, +without any perception of scenery--this (which is now become a very +scientific and delicate art in delusion of trout) to me is a thing below +our duty to our kin. A fish is a fellow that ought to be caught, if a +man has sufficient skill for it. But not with any cruelty on either +side; though the Lord knows that they torment us more, when they won't +bite on any conditions, than some little annoyance we may cause +them--when we do pull them out--can balance. + +Certain of the soundness of these views, if, indeed, they had ever +occurred to me, but despairing to convince my sister of them,--for women +have so little logic,--I fetched out a very ancient fly-book, with most +of the hackles devoured by moth-grubs, and every barb as rusty as old +enmity should grow. Harold never fished; he had no patience for it; and +as for enjoying nature, his only enjoyment was to improve it. Tom +Erricker, who was lazy enough to saunter all day by a river, while he +talked as if examiners were scalping him, not an atom did he know of any +sort of fishing, except sitting in a punt, and pulling roach in, like a +pod of seedy beans upon a long beanstick. Therefore was everything in my +book gone rusty, and grimy, and maggoty, and looped into tangles of +yellow gut,--that very book which had been the most congenial love of +boyhood. If I had only taken half as well to Homer, Virgil, Horace, I +might have been a Fellow of All Souls now (Bene natus, bene vestitus) +and brought my sister Grace to turn the heads of Heads of Houses, in the +grand old avenue, where the Dons behold the joys that have slipped away +from them. + +But perhaps I should never have been half as happy. To battle with the +world, instead of battening in luxury, is the joy of life, while there +is any pluck and pith. And I almost felt, as a man is apt to feel, when +in his full harness, and fond of it, that to step outside of it, even +for a few hours, was a bit of self-indulgence unworthy of myself. +However, I patched up a cast of two flies, which was quite enough, and +more than enough, for a little stream like the Pebblebourne, wherein I +had resolved to wet my line. + +This was a swift bright stream, as yet ungriddled by any railway works, +and unblocked by any notice-boards menacing frightful penalties. For +although the time was well-nigh come when the sporting rights over +English land should exceed the rental in value, the wary trout was not +yet made of gold and rubies; and in many places any one, with permission +of the farmers, was welcome to wander by the babbling brook, and add to +its music, if the skill were in him, the silvery tinkle of the leaping +fish. And though all this valley was but little known to me, a call at a +lonely farm-house on the hill, a mile or two further on than Ticknor's +Mew, made me free of the water and them that dwelled therein. + +Now why should I go to this Pebblebourne, rather than to some other +Surrey stream, fishful, picturesque, and better known to anglers? Partly +I believe through what Robert Slemmick said, and Farmer Ticknor after +him, and partly through my own memories. There can be no prying air, or +pushing appearance about a gentle fisherman, who shows himself intent +upon the abstract beauties of a rivulet, or the concrete excellence of +the fish it holds. My mother liked nothing better than a dish of trout, +my father (though obliged to be very careful about the bones) considered +that fish much superior to salmon, ever since salmon had been propagated +into such amazing rarity. So I buckled on a basket, which would hold +some 50lb., took an unlimited supply of victuals, and set forth to clear +the Pebblebourne of trout. + +My mother had no supper except toasted cheese that night, although I +returned pretty early; neither did my father find occasion to descant +upon the inferiority of salmon. And the same thing happened when I went +again. I could see great abundance of those very pleasing fish, and they +saw an equal abundance of me. They would come and look at my fly, with +an aspect of gratifying approval, as at a laudable specimen of clever +plagiarism, and then off with them into the sparkles and wrinkles of the +frisky shallows, with a quick flop of tail, and yours truly till next +time. And yet I kept out of sight and cast up-stream, and made less mark +than a drop of rain on the silver of the stream. + +I was half inclined to drop any third attempt, having daintily treated +some meadows of brook, without any token of fish to carry home, or of +human presence to stow away in heart, although I had persisted to the +very door, which had swallowed that fair vision, in the twilight of the +May. Her little shrine and holy place I never had profaned, feeling that +a stranger had no business there; neither could I bring myself to hang +about in ambush, and lurk for the hour of her evening prayer and hymn. +But my dear mother seemed to lose her fine faith in my skill; for ladies +are certain to judge by the event; moreover to accept a beating lightly +was entirely against my rules. So I set forth once again, saying to +myself--"the third time is lucky. Let us have one more trial." + +On that third evening of my labour against stream, I was standing on the +bank, where the bridle-track came through, and packing up my rod, after +better luck with fish, for I had found a fly which puzzled them, and had +taken a good dozen--when who should come up gambolling round my heels, +and asking, as it seemed to me, for a good word, or a pat, but that +magnificent and very noble dog who had reviewed, and so kindly approved +of me, from the battlements near the upper door? "What is your name, my +stately friend?" I said to him, not without some misgivings that he +might resent this overture. But he threw up his tail like a sheaf of +golden wheat, and made the deep valley ring, and the heights resound, +with a voice of vast rejoicing, and a shout of glorious freedom. + +But was it this triumph that provoked the fates? While the echoes still +were eddying in the dimples of the hills, a white form arose on the +crest of the slope some fifty yards behind us. A vast broad head, with +ears prickled up like horns of an owl, and sullen eyes under patches of +shade, regarded us; while great teeth glimmered under bulging jowls, and +squat red nostrils were quivering with disdain. It was _Grab_, Farmer +Ticknor's savage bull-dog; and hoping that he would be scared, as most +dogs are, when they have no business, by the cast of a stone, I threw a +pebble at him, which struck the ground under his burly chest. He noticed +it no more than he would heed a grasshopper, but began to draw upon us, +as a pointer draws on game, with his wiry form rigid, and his hackles +like a tooth-brush, and every roll of muscle like an oak burr-knot. + +I drew the last loops of my line through the rings, and wound up the +reel in all haste, and detaching the butt of my rod stood ready, for it +looked as if he meant to fly at me. But no, he marched straight up to my +noble friend, with blazing eyes fixed on him, and saluted him with a +snarl of fiendish malice. Clearly my dog, as I began to consider him, +had no experience of such low life. He was a gentleman by birth and +social habits, not a coarse prize-fighter; so he stood looking down with +some surprise at this under-bred animal, yet glancing pleasantly as if +he would accept a challenge to a bout of gambols, as my lord will play +cricket with a pot-boy. Nay, he even went so far as to wag his courtly +tail, and draw his taper fore-legs, which shone like sable, a little +beneath the arch of his body, to be ready for a bound, if this other +chap meant play. _Grab_ spied the mean chance, and leaped straight at +his throat, but missed it at first, or only plunged his hot fangs into a +soft rich bed of curls. My dog was amazed, and scarcely took it in +earnest yet. His attitude was that of our truly peaceful nation--"I +don't want to fight, but, by Jingo, if I must, it won't be long before +this little bully bites the dust." + +"At him, _Grab_, at him, boy! Show 'un what you be made of! Tip 'un a +taste of British oak. Give 'un a bellyful. By the Lord in Heaven, would +you though?" + +I stretched my rod in front of Ticknor, as he appeared from behind a +ridge, dancing on his heavy heels at the richness of the combat, and +then rushing at the dog, my friend, with a loaded crab-stick, because he +had got the bull-dog down and was throwing his great weight upon him. He +had tossed him up two or three times as if in play, for he seemed even +now not to enter into the deadliness of the enemy. + +"Fair play, farmer!" I said sternly. "It was your beast that began it. +Let him have a lesson. I hope the foreign dog will kill him." + +No fair-minded person could help perceiving the chivalry of the one, and +bestiality of the other; while the combat grew furious for life or +death, with tossing and whirlings, and whackings of ribs, and roars of +deep rage on the part of my friend, while the other scarcely puffed or +panted, but fought his fight steadily from the ground, and in deadly +silence. + +"Furriner can't hurt 'un much," said the farmer, as I vainly strove to +get between them; "made of iron and guttaperk our _Grab_ is. I've been +a'biding for this, for two months. I sent 'e fair warning, Master +George, by that fellow Slemmick, that you might not lose it. Fair play, +you says; and I say the very same. Halloa! our _Grab_ hath got his hold +at last. Won't be long in this world for your furriner now. Well done, +our _Grab_! Needn't tell 'un to hold fast." + +To my dismay, I saw that it was even so. My noble foreign friend was +still above the other, but his great frame was panting and his hind-legs +twitching, and long sobs of exhaustion fetching up his golden flanks. +The sleuth foe, the murderer, had him by his gasping throat, and was +sucking out his breath with bloody fangs deep-buried. + +"Let 'un kill 'un. Let 'un kill 'un!" shouted Farmer Ticknor. "Serve 'un +right for showing cheek to an honest English dog--" + +But I sent Ticknor backwards, with a push upon his breast, and then with +both hands I tugged at his brutal beast. As well might I have striven, +though I am not made of kid gloves, to pull an oak in its prime from the +root-hold. The harder I tugged the deeper went the bulldog's teeth, the +faster fell the gouts of red into his blazing eyes, and the feebler grew +the gasps of his exhausted victim. Then I picked up my ashen butt and +broke it on the backbone of the tyrant, but he never even yielded for +the rebate of a snarl. Death was closing over those magnificent brown +eyes, as they turned to me faintly their last appeal. + +A sudden thought struck me. I stood up for a moment, although I could +scarcely keep my legs, and whipping out of my waistcoat my brother's +patent box, I touched the spring and poured the whole contents into the +bloody nostrils of that tenacious beast. Aha, what a change! His grim +set visage puckered back to his very ears, as if he were scalped by +lightning; the flukes of his teeth fell away from their grip, as an +anchor sags out of a quicksand, he quivered all over, and rolled on his +back, and his gnarled legs fell in on the drum of his chest, while he +tried to scrub his squat nose in an agony of blisters. Then he rolled on +his panting side, and sneezed till I thought he would have turned all +his body inside out. + +As for me, I set both hands upon my hips, though conscious of some pain +in doing so, and laughed until the tears ran down my cheeks. My +enjoyment was becoming actual anguish when the pensive Ticknor stooping +over his poor pet inhaled enough of the superfluous snuff to send him +dancing and spluttering across the meadow, vainly endeavouring between +his sneezes to make an interval for a heartfelt damn. + +But suddenly this buffoonery received a tragic turn. From the door in +the ivied wall came forth a gliding figure well known to me, but not in +its present aspect. The calm glory of the eyes was changed to grief and +terror, the damask of the cheeks was blurred with tears, the sweet lips +quivered with distress and indignation. + +"Ah, _Kuban, Kuban_, Daretza, Dula, _Kuban_!" This, or something like +this, was her melancholy cry, as she sank on her knees without a glance +at us, and covered that palpitating golden form with a shower of dark +tresses, waving with sobs like a willow in the breeze. + +"Ah, _Kuban, Kuban_!" and then some soft words uttered into his ear, as +if to speed his flight. + +I ran to the brook and filled my hat with water, for I did not believe +that this great dog could be dead. When I came back the young lady was +sitting with the massive head helpless on her lap, and stroking the soft +dotted cheeks, and murmuring, as if to touch the conscience of Farmer +Ticknor, "Ah, cruel, cruel! How men are cruel!" + +"Allow me one moment," I said, for she seemed not even to know that I +was near. "Be kind enough to leave the dog to me. I may be able yet to +save his life. Do you understand English, Mademoiselle?" + +[Illustration: "_'Allow me one moment,' I said._"] + +"His life, it is gone?" Another sob stopped her voice, as she put her +little hand, where she thought his heart must be. "Yes, sir, I +understand English too well." + +"Then if you will be quick, we may save his life yet. I am used to dogs; +this noble fellow is not dead; though he will be very soon, unless we +help him. There is a wound here that I cannot bind up with anything I +have about me. Bring bandages and anything long and soft. Also bring +wool, and a pot of grease, and a sponge with hot water, and a bowl or +two. I will not let him die, till you come back!" + +"If that could be trusted for, when would I come back?" She glanced at +me, having no time to do more, with a soft thrill of light, such as hope +was born in; and before I could answer it she was gone, leaving me +unable to follow with my eyes; for it was the turning-point of _Kuban's_ +life--if that were the name of this high-souled dog. The throttling was +gone, and the barbed strangulation, and devil's own tug at his windpipe; +but the free power of breath was not restored, and the heart was +scarcely stirring. Lifting his eyelids, I saw also that there was +concussion of the brain to deal with; but the danger of all was the +exhaustion. + +Luckily in the breast-pocket of my coat was a little silver flask with a +cup at the bottom, Tom Erricker's present on my last birthday. I had +filled it with whiskey, though I seldom took spirits in those young +days, but carried this dram in case of accidents, when fishing. Instead +of dashing cold water out of my hat on the poor dog's face, as I had +meant to do,--which must in such a case have been his last sensation,--I +poured a little whiskey into the silver cup, and filled it with the +residue of water that was leaking quickly from my guaranteed felt. Then +I held up the poor helpless head, and let the contents of the cup +trickle gently over the black roots of the tongue. Down it went, and a +short gurgle followed, and then a twitch of the eyelids, and a long soft +gasp. The great heart gave a throb, and the brown eyes looked at me, +and a faint snort came from the flabby nostrils, and I shouted aloud, +"_Kuban_ is saved." + +There was nobody to hear me, except the dog himself, and he was too weak +to know what I meant. Ticknor was gone, with that beast at his heels, +for at the end of the meadow I saw _Grab_, the British champion, +slouching along, like a vanquished cur, with his ropy stomach venting +heavy sneezes; and to the credit of his wisdom, I may add that even a +lamb in that valley ever after was sacred from a glance of his +bloodthirsty goggles. + +With his long form laid between my legs, while I sat down on the sod and +nursed him, my wounded dog began more and more to recover his +acquaintance with the world, and to wonder what marvel had befallen him. +He even put out his tongue, and tried to give me a lick, and his grand +tail made one or two beats upon the ground; but I held up my hand, for +he had several frightful wounds, and he laid down his ears with a +grateful little whine. For the main point was to keep him quite still +now, until the dangerous holes could be stopped from bleeding. + +So intent was I upon doing this, that before I was at all aware of it, +three or four people were around me. But I had eyes for only one, the +lovely mistress of the injured dog; while she for her part had no +thought whatever of anything, or any one, except that blessed _Kuban_. +That was right enough of course, and what else could be expected? Still +I must admit that this great fellow rose even higher in my estimation, +when he showed that he knew well enough where to find the proper course +of treatment, and was not to be misled even by the warmest loyalty into +faith in feminine therapeutics. + +"He has turned his eyes away from me. Oh, _Kuban, Kuban_! But I care not +what you do, beloved one, if only you preserve your life. Do you think +that he can do that, sir, with all these cruel damages?" + +Now that she was more herself, I thought that I had never heard any +music like her voice, nor read any poetry to be compared to the +brilliant depths of her expressive eyes. And the sweetness of her voice +was made doubly charming by the harsh and high tones of her attendants, +who were jabbering in some foreign tongue, probably longing to +interfere, and take the case out of my management. + +"If they would not make such a noise," I said, "it would be all the +better for my patient. Can you persuade them to stand out of my light, +and let the fresh air flow in upon us? Oh, thank you, that is a great +deal better. There! I think now if we let him rest a minute, and then +carry him home, he will be all right. How clever you must be, to bring +the right things so well!" + +For this bit of praise I was rewarded with a smile more lovely than I +should have thought possible, since the fair cheeks of Eve took the +fatal bite, and human eyes imbibed Satan. But she was truthful, as Eve +was false. + +"Without Stepan I could have done nothing. Stepan, come forth, and +receive the praise yours. You must now take _Kuban_ in your arms, and +follow this gentleman into the fort. Understand you? He has very little +English yet. He can do everything except learn. Stepan is too strong for +that. But he has not the experience that I have. Nevertheless, he is +very good. I am praising thee, oh, Stepan. Lose not the opportunity of +thanking me." + +Stepan, a huge fellow, dressed very wonderfully according to my present +ideas, stood forth in silence, and held up his arms, to show that they +were ready for anything. But I saw that a hard leather bandoleer, or +something of that kind, with a frill of leather cases, hung before his +great chest, and beneath the red cross which all of them were wearing. +"Stepan is strong as the ox," said the lady. + +That he might be, and he looked it too. "Can he pull off that great +leather frill?" I asked, seeing that it would scrub the poor dog sadly, +as well as catch and jerk his bandages. + +"He cannot remove it. That is part of Stepan." His young mistress smiled +at him, as she said this. + +"Then put him up here," I said, holding out my arms, though not sure +that I could manage it, for the dog must weigh some twelve stone at +least, and one of my arms had been injured. Stepan lifted him with the +greatest ease; but not so did I carry him, for he must be kept in one +position, and most of his weight came on my bad arm. So difficult was my +task indeed, that I saw nothing of the place they led me through, but +feared that I should drop down at every rough spot--which would have +meant the death of poor _Kuban_. And down I must have come, I am quite +sure of that, if I had not heard the soft sweet voice behind me--"It is +too much for the kind gentleman. I pray you, sir, to handle him to the +great Stepan." + +When I was all but compelled to give in, by the failure of the weak arm, +and the fear of dropping my patient fatally, a man of magnificent +appearance stood before me, and saw my sad plight at a glance. + +"Permit me," he said, in a deep rich tone, yet as gentle as a woman's +voice. "This is over-trying your good will. I see what it is. I have +only just heard. I will bear him very gently. Take _Orla_ away." + +For another dog was jumping about me now, most anxious to know what on +earth had befallen that poor _Kuban_, and displaying, as I thought, even +more curiosity than sympathy. But when the weight was taken from me, and +my companions went on, I turned aside with pains and aches, which came +upon me all the worse. + +"I have done all I can. I am wanted no more; the sooner I get home the +better." + +Thinking thus I made my way towards the black door of our entrance, now +standing wide open in the distance; and I felt low at heart through the +failure of my strength, and after such a burst of excitement. + +"I am not wanted here. I have no right here. What have I to do with +these strange people?" I said to myself, as I sat for a moment to +recover my breath, on a bench near the door. "I have quite enough to do +at home, and my arm is very sore. They evidently wish to live in strict +seclusion; and as far as concerns me, so they may. If they wanted me, +they would send after me. A dog is more to them than a Christian +perhaps. What on earth do they wear those crosses for?" + +I would not even look around, to see what sort of a place it was; but +slipped through the door, and picked up my shattered rod and half-filled +creel, and set off, as the dusk was deepening, on the long walk to my +father's cottage. + + + + +CHAPTER VIII + +THROUGH THE CORN + + +According to Farmer Bandilow (who was now our last old tenant, striving +to escape from the wreck of plough, by paddling with spade and trowel), +the London season begins with turnip-tops, and ends with cabbage-grubs. +But this year it must have lasted well into the time of turnip-bottoms; +otherwise how could my sister, Lady Fitzragon, have been in London? Not +that we knew very much about the movements of her ladyship, for she +found our cottage beyond the reach of her fat and glittering horses; +only that she must have been now in town, because our Grace was with +her. And this was a lucky thing for me; for if Grace had been at home, +she must have known all about my wounded arm, and a nice fuss she would +have made of it. But my mother, though equally kind and good, was not +very quick of perception; and being out of doors nearly all the day now, +and keeping my own hours, I found it easy enough to avoid all notice and +escape all questions. For the people at the cottage very seldom came to +my special den, the harness-room; and I kept my own little larder in +what had once been a kennel close at hand, and my own little bed up a +flat-runged ladder, and so troubled none but a sweetly deaf old dame. +And this arrangement grew and prospered, whenever there was no Grace to +break through it. + +However, there is no luck for some people. One night, when I felt sure +that all the cottage was asleep, I had taken off the bandages, and was +pumping very happily on my left forearm, where the flesh had been torn, +when there in the stableyard before me, conspicuous in the moonlight, +with a blazing satin waistcoat, stood the only man who could do justice +to it. For this gallant fellow had a style of his own, which added new +brilliance to the most brilliant apparel. + +"Why, Tom," I cried, "where on earth do you come from? I can't shake +hands, or I shall spoil some of your charms. Why, you must have been +dining with the governor. New togs again! What a coxcomb it is!" + +"Never would I have sported these, and indeed I would never have come +down at all, if I had known Grace was out of the way." + +He was allowed to call her _Grace_ to me. + +"How slow it is without her! But I say, old chap, what a frightful arm +you've got! Pitchfork again, I suppose"--for I had received a scratch +before--"only ten times as bad. Why, you mustn't neglect this. You'll +have it off at the elbow, if you do. Why, even by this light--By Jove, +what a whacking arm you've got! Why, it is twice the size of mine. I +could never have believed it. Let me pull off my coat, and show you." + +"But you cannot want one the size of mine"--I answered with a laugh, for +it was thoroughly like Tom to fetch everything into his own person; "you +could never put it into a waistcoat like that." + +"George, you are an ass," was his very rude reply, and it seemed to ring +into me far beyond his meaning. "My dear fellow, you will be, in your +own parish, what nobody has seen anywhere,--a dead jackass,--if you go +on like this. There is a black stripe down your arm; the same as you see +on a 'mild-cured-haddy' when he shines by moonlight. What does that +mean? Putrefaction." + +"Rot!" I replied, meaning his own words. "I'll pump on you, waistcoat +and all, my dear Tom, if you go on with this sort of rubbish." And yet I +had some idea that he might be right. But the worst--as I need not tell +any strong young fellow--of the absurdities our worthy doctors try to +screw into us now--that a man must not draw the breath the Lord breathed +into him, for fear of myrio-mycelia-micro-somethings, neither dare to +put his fork into the grand haunch of mutton which his Maker ordered +him to arise and eat--of all such infantile stuff the harm is this, that +it makes a healthy man deride the better sense that is in them. + +"Come to my hole, and have a smoke," I said to my dear friend. "And mind +you, not a word about this scratch to my good people. To-morrow we shall +cut our first field of wheat. Though it won't pay for cutting and +binding, Tom, the sight is as glorious as ever. What a pity for our +descendants, if we ever have any, to get no chance of ever seeing the +noblest sight of Old England! Come to this gate, and take a look. In a +few more years, there will be no such sight." + +"Poetry is all very fine in its way," replied Tom, who had about as much +as I possess, although he could make a hook and eye of rhyme sometimes. +"But the moon will go on all the same, I suppose; and she does most of +our poetry." + +She was doing plenty of it now, in silence, such as any man may feel, +but none can make another feel. We waited a minute or two by the gate, +till a white cloud veiled the quivering disc, and then all the lustre +flowed softly to our eyes, like a sea of silver playing smoothly on a +shore of gold. + +"After all, love is rot," said Tom, carried away by larger beauty, after +some snub of the day before. "I should like to see any girl who could +compare with that. And a man must be a muff who could look at this, and +then trouble his head about their stupid little tricks. Look at the +breadth of this, look at the depth of it! Why, it lifts one; it makes +one feel larger, George; that is the way to take things." + +"Especially when some one has been making you feel small," I answered at +a venture, for I understood my friend; and this abstract worship of +beauty was not so satisfactory to me now. "But come into my place, and +tell me all about it, my dear Tom. You were so mysterious the other day, +that I knew you were after some other wild goose." + +"I am happy, most happy," Tom went on to say, after pouring forth the +sorrows of his last love-tale, through many a blue eye and bright curl +of smoke; "I feel that I cannot be thankful enough at the amount of +side that girl puts on. And the beauty of it is, that she hasn't got a +rap, and her husband would have to help to keep her mother. How lucky +for me she never can have heard of the glorious Tinman, or my oofy +maiden-aunt; wouldn't she have jumped at me, if she had? A fellow can't +be too careful, George, when you come to think. But you'll never make a +fool of yourself. Not a bit of romance about you, Farmer Jarge; and a +fellow of your size and family has a right to go in for ten thousand +a-year. How about those gipsies in the valley, though? You mustn't go on +with that, even if you could, my friend. Great swells, I daresay, but no +tin." + +"What business of yours? What do you know about them? I'll thank you to +hold your tongue upon subjects that are above you." + +"Ha, ha! Ho, ho! Tinmen must look up to tinkers, must they? How dare I +call them tinkers? Well, it is just like this. These people are gipsies, +all gipsies are tinkers, therefore these people are tinkers. But don't +get in a wax, George. I was only chaffing. It may be Cleopatra herself, +for all I know, come to look after her needle--would not look at it, +while her own, will look at nothing else, when lost. Oh, I know what +women are." + +"And I know what idiots are," I answered with a superior smile; not +being quite such a fool, I trust, as to pretend to that knowledge which +even the highest genius denies to man. "And an idiot you are to-night, +Tom." + +"Well, I may be a little upset," said he, striking his glorious +waistcoat, and then stroking it to remove the mark. "I confess I did +like that girl. And she liked me; I am sure of that. Why, bless her +little heart, she cried, my boy! However, it was not to be. And when I +told her that I must look higher (meaning only up to heaven) for gradual +consolation, what a wax she did get in! Never mind. Let it pass. There +are lots of pretty girls about. And no man can be called mercenary, for +I am blest if any of them have got a bit of tin. I thank the Lord, every +night of my life, that my old aunt never was a beauty. And that makes +her think all the more of me. Sir, your most obedient!" + +Behind my chair was an old looking-glass, which Grace had insisted upon +hanging there, to make the place look rather smart; and Tom, who had not +seen himself for some hours, stood up before it in the weak +candle-light, and proceeded in his usual manner. "Tom, my friend, you +don't look so much amiss. If your heart is broken, there is enough of it +left to do a little breaking on its own account. Don't be cast down, my +boy. You may not be a beauty, though beautiful girls think better of you +than your modesty allows you to proclaim. But one thing you may say, +Tom; whoever has the luck to get you, will find you a model husband." + +This I thought likely enough; if only he should get a wife with plenty +of sense and love to guide him. But what was the opinion of a tall, hard +man who stood in the doorway with a long gun on his arm, criticising +Erricker's sweet self-commune with a puzzled and yet a very +well-contented gaze? + +"Mr. Stoneman!" I exclaimed, giving Tom a little push, for he stood with +his back to him, in happy innocence of critics. "We did not expect this +pleasure so late at night. This is an old friend of mine--Mr. Erricker. +Allow me to introduce you, Tom, to Mr. Jackson Stoneman." My old friend +turned round, without a symptom of embarrassment, and bowed almost as +gracefully as he had been salaaming to himself. + +"I have heard of Mr. Erricker, and have great pleasure in making his +acquaintance," our new visitor replied, and I saw that the pleasure was +genuine, and knew why; to wit, that he was thinking in his heart, "That +little fop to make up to Grace Cranleigh!" For no doubt he had heard of +Tom's frequent visits, and the inference drawn by neighbours. "But I +must beg pardon," he continued, "for daring to look in at such a time. +It was only this, I have been down to the pond at the bottom of the long +shrubbery, to look for some shoveller ducks I heard of, and see that no +poachers are after them. I don't want to shoot them, though I brought my +gun; and going back, I happened to see your light up here." + +"Sit down, Mr. Stoneman," said Tom, as if he were the master of the +place. "I have often wished to see you, and I will tell you why. I am a +bit of a sportsman, when I can get the chance. But this fellow, +Cranleigh, is so hard at work always that he never will come anywhere to +show me where to go." + +"And he has not many places to take you to now." I spoke without +thinking, for to beg permission from this new landowner was about the +last thing I would do. And I was vexed with my friend for his +effrontery. + +"Of course I should never dream," proceeded Tom, for he had some reason +in him after all, "to ask leave to shoot on any land of yours, or where +you have taken the shooting rights. But there is a little warren with a +lot of rabbits, on Bandilow's farm, where Sir Harold gives me leave. But +I must go a mile round to get at it, unless I may cross the park with my +gun. May I do so, without firing, of course?" + +"To be sure. As often as you like. Any friend of Mr. Cranleigh may do +much more than that. And I am come to ask a favour, too. I have three +fellows doing next to nothing. They have just finished bundling a lot of +furze. Capital fellows with a hook, I believe; and so I don't want to +turn them off. I hear you intend to begin reaping to-morrow. Can you +find a job for them, just for a few days?" + +This was a very pretty way to put it. I knew that he had plenty of work +for the men, but wanted to help us with our harvest labour, having +heard, no doubt, that we were short of hands. I thanked him warmly, for +these men would be of the greatest service to us. And then he turned +upon me severely, as if my health were under his superintendence, and I +was trying to elude it, by keeping my arm from his notice. + +"You are doing a very stupid thing. You have a shocking wound in your +left arm, caused by the tooth or the claws of a dog; and instead of +having it treated properly, all you do is to pump upon it." + +"Halloa!" cried Tom Erricker, "a dog. I wouldn't have that for a +thousand pounds. George, how could you play me such a trick? You told me +it was a pitchfork." + +"I told you nothing of the kind. I simply said nothing whatever about +it. It can concern nobody but myself. And I will thank Mr. Stoneman, and +you, too, to attend to your own business." + +"It may be no business of mine, perhaps," the stockbroker answered +severely; "but it is the undoubted business of any intimate friend of +yours, and most of all that of your family. Such behaviour of yours is +not true manliness, as I daresay you suppose, but foolhardy +recklessness, and want of consideration for your friends. And what does +that come to but selfishness, under one of its many disguises?" + +Tom chimed in to the same effect, even going so far as to ask me what my +father and mother could do without me, even if they survived the trial +of seeing me smothered under a feather-bed. But when both my friends had +killed me of rabies to their entire satisfaction, I showed them in very +few words how little they knew about what they were talking of. For I +had done for myself all that could be done, as well as any doctor could +have managed it, and now there was nothing for it but cold water, and an +easy mind, and trust in Providence. + +As soon as Tom Erricker heard of Providence, he began to yawn, as if he +were in church; so I begged him to go to bed, for which he was quite +ready, while I had a little talk with our tenant. + +"How did you hear of this affair?" I asked, hoping for some light upon +other matters; "none of our people know it. They make such a fuss about +a dog-bite, that I was obliged to keep it close. I will beg you to do +the same, if you wish to oblige me." + +"There is nothing I wish for more than that." Stoneman drew his chair +over as he spoke, and offered me one of his grand cigars; and I was not +above accepting it, with my knowledge of his feelings. "I have your +permission to call you _George_. I will do so, now that your bright +young friend is gone. When I think of the reports that reached me--but I +will say no more. A fine young fellow, no doubt, or he would not be a +friend of yours." The vision of Tom Erricker at the mirror brought a +smile to his firm lips; but for my sake he suppressed it. "Now I want to +talk to you seriously, George. And you will not take it as a liberty, +knowing my very warm regard for--for you." + +"You may say what you like. I shall take it kindly. I am well aware that +you know a thousand times as much of the world as I do." + +"And a very poor knowledge it is," he replied, gazing at a cloud of his +own smoke. "When the question is of deeper matters, the wisdom of the +world is a broken reed. And yet I want to bring it into play just now. +In the case of another, that is so much easier; just as any fool can +pass judgment on the labour he has never tried with his own hand. Excuse +me, George, if I speak amiss, I do it out of good-will, as some of them +do not, but to show their own superiority. To cut the matter short--I +know all about--no, not all, but a lot about your new friends down in +the valley." + +"They can scarcely be called my friends, if I require to be informed +about them." My mind had been full of them, although it was clear that +they cared not to hear any more of me. + +"You are surprised, perhaps, at my knowledge of what occurred the other +day. That was by the purest accident; for I am not the sort of man to +play the spy. You know that, I hope. Very well, I took the liberty then +of inquiring for my own sake, and that of the neighbourhood, who these +mysterious settlers were, and I knew where to go for my information. +Like most things, when you get nearer to them, there is no real mystery +at all. The only wonder is that they can have been there so long, +without attracting notice. If the country had been hunted, as it used to +be, when people could afford to keep up the pack, they would never have +been left so quiet. The parson of the parish, as a general rule, routs +up every newcomer for church purposes, no matter what his creed may be; +and I know that they seldom give much start even to the tax-collectors. +But the parson of that parish is a very old man, and has no one to look +after him, and the country is very thinly peopled. Well, they seem to +have bought the place for an old song, so that nobody can interfere with +them. And they soon put it into better order--" + +"But who are they? And what are they doing there? And how long do they +mean to stop?" + +"Don't be in a hurry, my good friend. There is plenty of time for +another cigar. Pipes you prefer? Very well, fill again. However, for +fear of being knocked on the head, I will resume my parable. Nothing can +be done without paying for it. That is the golden rule in England, and +everywhere else upon this planet. And wherever money passes, it can be +followed up. The strange thing is that these people seem to care very +little about concealment, though they are not sociable. What their +native language is, we do not know, though they seem to be great +linguists. French, German, Russian, Arabic, and I don't know what else, +and some of them very good in our beloved tongue, the hardest to learn +of all the lot. They are of Eastern race, that appears quite certain, +though neither Jews, Turks, nor Armenians. But what they are here for +seems pretty plain--forgery!" + +"Ridiculous!" I exclaimed, though without showing any wrath. "They are +people of high rank, I am sure of that. Political exiles, refugees, +Anarchists, or even Nihilists--though I cannot think that. But as for +forgers--" + +"It scarcely sounds nice; and yet I have little doubt about it; and the +police have come to that conclusion, and are keeping a sharp eye upon +them. For what other purpose can they want a mill? And a mill which they +have set up themselves, to suit themselves. The old water-wheel they +had, and the cogs and all that, left from the old corn-grinding time; +but they have refitted it for quite a different purpose, and done almost +all of it with their own hands. What for? Plain as a pikestaff--to make +their own paper, and get stamping power, and turn out forged notes, +foreign of course, Russian rouble, the simplest of all." + +He had made up his mind. He was sure of this solution. He had no doubt +whatever. Ah, but he had never seen the majestic man who met me, much +less that beautiful nymph of the shrine! + +"Stoneman, all this sounds very fine." I met his smile of confidence, +and as it seemed to me of heartless triumph, with a gaze of faith in +humanity--which some people might call romance. "But there is not a word +of truth in it. What inference does a policeman draw? The worst he can +imagine--grist for his own mill. They make the world a black chapter, to +suit their own book. But I have no motive. What motive could I have, to +make out that people are better than they seem? I tell you, and you may +take my word for it, that this little colony, of whatever race it may +be, has no evil purpose in coming among us. I might even go further and +say that I am sure of their having an excellent object, a noble object, +some great discovery, perhaps surpassing all my brother's, and something +that will be of service to entire humanity." + +"Money, to wit. You know what the last great forger who was hanged, +before we left off that wise plan, what he said when exhorted to +repentance, 'You make money for yourself, sir, I make it for the good of +the public.' No doubt they take that view of the case." + +"Very well, you take a lesson from them, and improve the morals of the +Stock Exchange." + +The stockbroker smiled very pleasantly, as one who was thoroughly at +home with that old joke; then he took up his gun, and marched off for +the Hall, leaving me to make the best of things. + +Feeling how small are the minds of mankind, even the best of them, when +they listen to the police, and knowing that I could not sleep as yet, I +went once more to the gate at the top of the yard, and gazed over the +wheat which was to lie low on the morrow. Although I had just received +proof of friendship, from two very nice fellows better than myself, +which should have encouraged me to think the best, sadness came into my +heart, and a sombre view of life depressed me. There are two things only +that can save a man from deep dejection occasionally. One of them is to +have no thought whatever, except for affairs of the moment; and the +other and surer is to believe with unchangeable conviction that all is +ordered by a Higher Power, benevolent ever, and ever watchful for those +who commit themselves to it. That atom of humanity, which is myself, has +never been able to sink to the depth of the one condition, or soar to +the height of the other. So there must be frequent ups and downs with +ordinary mortals, gleams of light, and bars of shade; and happy is the +man who can keep the latter from deepening as his steps go on. But who +am I to moralise? + +Enough that any fellow worth his salt must be grieved and lowered, when +suspicions arise, concerning those of whom he has formed a high opinion. +How much worse, when his own judgment owns that things look rather +black, and memory quotes against his wishes more than one such +disappointment. If it were so, if those who had made so deep an +impression on me were skulking rogues and stealthy felons, no wonder +they had not cared to ask what became of the stranger, who by remarkable +presence of mind had saved the life of their valued warder, and then +with a modesty no less rare, had vanished before they could thank him, +if they ever had the grace to intend it. "All the better," I said to +myself, with the acumen of the wisest fox that ever entered vineyard, +"even if all had been right, it never could have led to any good; and +see what a vast amount of work is coming on all at once, with no one +else to do it! And all the time is there any one but myself to see to my +young sister's doings? Here is this fellow Stoneman sweet upon her, +wonderfully sweet, quite spoony--who could have believed it of a +stockbroker? What do I know about him? Nothing, except that he has +endless tin, and spends it certainly like a brick. Is he worthy of her, +and if he is, will she even look at him? Rather a romantic girl, too +fond of her own opinions, and yet a little prone to hero-worship. She +might fall in love with some hero in London who hasn't got a +half-penny--halloa, what can that be, winding in and out so, through the +wheat?" + +The moon, now very nearly full, was making that low round of the sky +which is all it can manage in August, and seemed rather to look along +the field than heartily down upon it. The effect was very different now +from that which Tom and I had watched. For the surface of the luxuriant +corn, instead of imbibing and simpering with light, was flawed and +patched (like a flowing tide) with flittings and hoverings of light and +shade. And along a sweep of darkness near the shadow of a tree, there +was something moving stealthily like the figure of a man. + +For a moment or two, I did not enjoy that calmness of mind which is +believed (by Britons) to be the prerogative of Britons. The period of +the night, and the posture of the moon, and peculiar tone of things not +to be told, as well as some dread of a mischief to my brain--through +what had befallen me recently--took away from me that superior gift +which had enabled me to beat the bull-dog. However, I might just as well +not have been afraid--as we generally find out afterwards--for the other +apparition, whatever it might be, was ever so much more afraid of me. + +"What on earth are you about there?" I shouted bravely, when this +welcome truth came to my knowledge. "Can't you stand up like a man, and +say what you are about?" + +In reply to my challenge an undersized figure scarcely any taller than +the corn arose, showing a very strange head-dress and other outlandish +garments, and a loose idea generally of being all abroad. "You are the +little chap I saw the other day," said I. + +He nodded his head, and said something altogether outside of my +classical attainments; and then he pulled forth from a long coat, whose +colours no moon, or even rainbow could render, a small square package, +which he lifted to his eyes. With a rush of my heart into the situation, +I seized him by his collar, or the thing that represented it, and +twisted him over the gate; and he looked thankful, having some fear +perhaps of English five-bars. + +In half a minute, I had this little fellow in my den, where he trembled +and blinked at the light, and then grinned, as if to propitiate a +cannibal. And I was pleased to see that he had pluck enough to put one +hand upon the hilt of a little blue skewer which he wore in his belt, +and then he looked at me boldly. With a smile to reassure him, I offered +to take the missive from his other hand. But that was not the proper +style of doing business with him. He drew back for a pace or two, and +made the utmost of his puny figure, and then with a low bow stretched +forth both hands, and behold there was a letter in the end of a cleft +stick! Where he found the cleft stick is more than I can tell. At the +same time, he said _Allai_, which turned out afterwards to be his own +name. + +"Sit down in that corner, little chap," I said as graciously as if he +knew English. "And make yourself at home, while I get on with this." +Perhaps he was out of practice in the art of sitting down, for instead +of accepting the chair I offered, he clapped himself in some wonderful +manner upon a hassock. But it was impossible for me to attend to him +much, until I knew what he had brought. + +Now there was nothing particularly foreign about this. It looked like an +ordinary English letter, except that the paper was not like ours, and +the envelope was secured with silk, as well as sealed. But the writing +was the daintiest that ever I did see; and I longed to get rid of that +"darkie" in the corner, whose eyes flashed at me from the gloomy floor. +And his hand was playing with his _kinjal_ all the time, for so they +call those deadly bits of steel, without which they never think their +attire complete. Being unaccustomed to be looked at so, I could not +enter into my fair letter as I wished; though that little fellow would +have flown up to the slates, before he could get near me with that +hateful snakish thing. And to tell the truth, I did him wrong by any +such suspicion; for there could never be a more loyal, honest, and +zealous retainer than Allai. "Here you are," I said, addressing him in +English, though well aware now that he was none the wiser; "here's a +drop of good beer for you, young man. You take a pull at that, while I +write my answer. Ah, you won't get such stuff as that in--well, I don't +know where you hail from; but all over the world I defy you to get +anything like it." + +Allai gave a grunt which I took for acquiescence; and leaving him to +enjoy himself, I wrote a few lines and enclosed them in a cover. Then I +found a bit of sealing wax, and sealed it very carefully, and fixed it +in the cleft wand, and handed it to Allai. + +"You go straight away, quick-sticks, with this, and don't you lose it, +or I'll break your neck. Why, I'm blest if the pagan has drunk a drop of +his beer! Can such a race ever be brought up to date? Why, he takes it +for virulent poison!" + +The young savage had poured my good ale upon the floor, and was soaking +the point of his dagger in it. He had put the glass to his lips no +doubt, and arrived at the sage conclusion that here was swift death for +his enemies. However, he possessed some civilisation as to the meaning +of a broad crown-piece, which in the fervour of my joy I set before him. +To a rich man it would have been well worth the money, to see the glad +sparkle of those black eyes, and the grin upon those swarthy cheeks. +Suddenly with a deep salaam his slender form turned and was gone like a +shadow. + +And then I was able at last to dwell upon this very beautiful letter, +which might to the outward eye appear to convey not a token of anything +more than "Miss Mary Jones presents her compliments;" but to my deeper +perception, and hopes higher than any telescope may carry, it showed the +sky cast open at the zenith, like a lily, and a host of golden angels +letting down a ladder for me. For no longer could I hide my state of +mind, or disguise it from myself. Henceforth I shall be open about it, +though hitherto ashamed to say half of what I thought, while I had such +a little to go upon. But here is my key to Paradise. Let every man judge +for himself, bearing in mind that he never can be wise until he has been +a fool seventy times seven. + + + "SIR,--My dear father, Sûr Imar, of Daghestan, has been injured + very greatly by your alien conduct to him. Your actions were of + high bravery, and great benevolence to us. But when we desired very + largely to inform you of our much gratitude, we could not discover + you in any place, and we sought for you vainly, with great + eagerness of sorrow. And then, for a long space of time, we made + endeavour to find out the name of the gentleman who had done us so + great a service, but would not permit us to thank him. We are + strangers here, and have not much knowledge. After that, a man who + possesses three goats pronounced to us that he understood the + matter. According to his words, I take the liberty of letter, + entreating you, if it is right, to come, and permit us to see to + whom we owe so much. And my father is afraid that the gentleman was + injured in the conflict with a furious English beast. If, then, + this should have happened, he can remedy it, as perhaps you cannot + in this country. I desire also, if it is right, to join my own + entreaties. I am, Sir, Yours very faithfully, + + DARIEL." + + + + +CHAPTER IX + +STRANGE SENSATIONS + + +"Yours very faithfully." Oh, if that were only written in earnest, +instead of cold convention! To have, faithfully mine, the most lovely, +and perfect, entrancing, enslaving, poetical, celestial--tush, what word +is there in our language? None of course; because there has never been +anything like it until now. Gentleness, sweetness, gracefulness, purity, +simplicity, warmth of heart, gratitude for even such a trifling +service--all these were very fine things in their way; but away with +them all, if they want to tell me why I love my darling! Because I +cannot help it, is the only reason. It must be so, because it is so. +Surely this is their own fair logic, and they must feel the force of it. + +All this jumped with reason well, and was plainer than a pikestaff. But +the path of true love still was crossed by one little bar, without a +sign-post. In the name of the zodiac, where was Daghestan? + +Man had not quite hatched board-schools yet; though already, under the +tread of Progress, incubating of them. Having been only at a public +school, and then for two years at Oxford, no opportunity had I found for +hearing of Modern Geography. That such a thing existed, I could well +believe, from the talk of undergraduates, whose lot it was to cram for +competition of a lower kind. I had been a prefect at Winchester, and +passed my little-go at Oxford, and might have gone in for honours there, +though very likely not to get them. But in all this thoroughly sound +education, I had never dreamed of Modern Geography. I could have told +you, though it is all gone now, the name of every village in +Peloponnese, and of every hill in Attica, and the shape of every bay and +island, and a pestilent lot of them there was, from the Hellespont to +Tænarus. But if you had asked me the names and number of the counties of +England, and other wild questions of that sort, I should have answered, +as a friend of mine did, who got an open scholarship at Oxford, and then +went in for something in London, "There are about half a hundred, more +or less; but Parliament is always changing them." And this man got the +highest marks in the geography of that year; because the examiner was a +Welshman, and therefore laid claim to Monmouth. + +But wherever Daghestan might be, I felt sure of its being the noblest +country (outside the British dominions) of all the sun could shine upon. +Moreover, it sounded as if it had no little to do with the Garden of +Eden. Ispahan, and Teheran, and other rhymes for caravan, had a gorgeous +oriental sound, as of regions of romance, inhabited by Peris, and paved +with gold and diamonds. And the glow that flickered through the wheat +that day, as the mellow fountains danced before the blue half-moon of +sickle, was warmer than an English sun can throw, and quickened with a +brilliance of heavenly tints, such as Hope alone, the Iris of the heart, +may cast. + +"Farmer Jarge, here's nuts for you. What do you suppose I have found out +now?" + +This was that lazy fellow Tom, sprawling in the yellow stubble, with his +back against a stook, and a pipe in his mouth, and a dog's-eared novel +on his lap. We had knocked off work for half an hour in the middle of +the day, just to get a bit to eat; and I was not best pleased with +Erricker, because of the difference between the noble promise of the +breakfast table, and the trumpery performance in the field. + +[Illustration: "_Sprawling in the yellow stubble._"] + +"Get away," I said; "you can talk, and nothing else. All you have found +out is where the beer-can is; you are not even worthy of your bread and +cheese." However, I gave him some, and he began to munch. + +"Won't you laugh, when I tell you about this? And it upsets all your +theories that you are so wonderfully wise with. I must have heard you +say a thousand times, that it is only a fool that ever falls in love." + +"You never understand a thing that anybody says. There are limitations, +and conditions, and a whole variety of circumstances, that may make all +the difference; otherwise a man would be a fool to talk like that." + +"Fool to do it? Or fool to talk about it? You seem to be getting a bit +mixed, friend George. It's the stooping that has done it. By Jove! I +couldn't stand that. Nature never meant me for a reaper, George. And you +may thank the Lord that I did not cut your legs off. But what do you +think 'Stocks and Stones' has done? And you can't call him a fool +altogether. Head over heels, 'Stocks and Stones' has fallen in love with +our Grace!" + +"_Our Grace_, indeed! Have you a sister of that name? If you should +happen to refer to my sister, I will thank you to call her 'Miss +Cranleigh'! Is there anything this fellow does not meddle with?" + +"Mr. George Cranleigh, Mr. Jackson Stoneman aspires to the hand of Miss +Grace Cranleigh, daughter of Sir Harold Cranleigh, Bart. Is that grand +enough, Mr. Cranleigh? And if so, what do you think of it?" + +What I thought of it was that there scarcely could have been a more +unlucky complication than was likely now to be brought about by Tom's +confounded discovery. It was not in his nature to hold his tongue; and +if he should once let this knowledge escape him, in the presence of my +father and mother, or worst of all in that of my sister, it would be all +up with Stoneman's chance of marrying Grace Cranleigh. And as to binding +Tom to secrecy, as well might one blow the kitchen bellows at a +dandelion ball, and beg it not to part with a particle of its plumage. +On the spur of the moment, I said more than facts would bear me out in, +when they came up at leisure. + +"Don't tell me, you stupid fellow. How many more mare's nests must come +out of your eyes, before you see anything? But if you must take in such +rubbish, just do this, Tom, will you? Keep your eyes wide open, my boy. +You know how sharp you are, Tom. But not a word to any one, or it would +spoil your game altogether. By the by, where is Daghestan, Tom? You are +such a swell at geography." + +"Daghestan! I seem to have heard of it, and yet I can't be certain. +Persian, I think. No, that is Ispahan. Tut, tut, what a fool I am!--of +course I know all about it. Why it's in the United States, a prime place +for scalping and buffaloes." + +"No, you old muff, that is Dakota. Quite another pair of shoes. I don't +want to disturb the Governor, or I could find out in a moment. Never +mind, it doesn't matter; and here we go to work again. Now what is the +sweetest smell, do you think, in all the world of farming? Not a great +over-powering scent, but a delicate freshness through the air." + +"I should say the hay on an upland meadow, when it begins to make. Or +perhaps a field of new bean-blossom. I never knew that till this year; +but upon my word it was stunning." + +"No, the most delicate of all scents is from the clover first laid bare +among the wheat where it was sown. No blossom of course; but the +fragrance of the leaf, among the glossy quills that sheltered it. But +come along; if you can't swing hook without peril of manslaughter, you +can bind, or you can set up stooks, or earn your keep some little. Why, +Grace is worth a score of you! Poor Tom, is your finger bleeding? You +must come harvesting in kid gloves." + +"I will tell you what it is," said Tom, after keeping his place among +the binders for about five minutes. "I am a thoroughgoing countryman, +and I know a lot about farming; and you know how I can jump and run, and +a good light weight with the gloves I am; but this job beats me +altogether. 'Pay your footing, sir, pay your footing!' You'll have to +pay for my headstone, George, if you keep me on much longer. How you can +go on all day long--but I want you to do something for me, and by the +Powers, I have earned it." + +He wanted me to promise, in return for all his labours, to give up my +plans for the evening, and present myself at dinner-time for the +ceremony at the cottage. This, though a very simple business, must be +done in the proper form; and then it would be my duty perhaps to offer +to take a hand at whist, and be ready for the wearisome wrangle, which +even well-bred people make of it. But I had nobler fish to fry. + +"Tom, I can't do it. You like that sort of thing; and my mother is +delighted with your sprightly little tales. Go and put your brave +apparel on. Everybody admires you; and you love that." + +He knew that he did. Why should he deny it? The happiness of mankind is +pleasure, though it passes without our knowledge, because we never can +stop to think of it,--as a man in a coach sees the hedges race by; and +if it comes to that, where may you find true bliss so near at home, as +in being pleased with your own good self? Our Tom had a happy time. +Nothing long tormented him. He carried a lofty standard with him, and +flopped its white folds joyously at little gnats and buzzing bees; and +he never failed to come up to it, because that standard was himself. +"What else could it be?" he says to me. "And that is why everybody likes +me." + + + + +CHAPTER X + +UPON THE GROUND + + +Alas! to come down from those pleasant heights, if ever I did attain to +them, to the turbulent dissatisfaction with oneself, and contempt of +every creature in the world, save one, which lonely love engenders! +Never had I seemed to myself so low, so awfully prosaic and +unpicturesque, as when I was trying to make myself look decent that very +evening. Since then I have learned that even pretty girls, who are roses +to thistles in comparison with us, are never quite certain at their +looking-glass that another touch might not improve them. And what did I +behold? A square-built fellow, with a stubby yellow moustache, and a +nose fit for the ring,--or to have a ring through it,--a great bulky +forehead, like Ticknor's bull-dog, and cheeks like a roasted +coffee-berry. The only thing decent was the eyes, firm and strong, of a +steadfast blue, and the broad full chin that kept the lips from drooping +in a tremble even now. Proud as I was of my Saxon breed, and English +build and character, in the abasement of the moment I almost longed for +a trace of the comely Norman traits. "As if any girl could love you!" I +exclaimed, in parody of that handsome Tom's self-commune. + +In for a penny, in for a pound. Without a trial, there's no denial. +Handsome is that handsome does. Beauty is only skin-deep. And so on--I +laboured to fetch myself up to the mark, but it was a very low one. The +neap of the tide, or the low spring water,--which goes ever so much +further out,--was ebbing away on the shores of self-esteem as I entered +the glen of St. Winifred. Tom Erricker would have descended, as if the +valley and its contents belonged to him. Heaviness of heart may +sometimes visit even a healthy and robust young man, living the life +intended for us, working in the open air all day, and sleeping on a hard +palliasse at night. Heaviness and diffidence, and clownish hesitation, +and fear of losing precious landmarks in a desert-dazzle. Surely it were +better to turn back before they can have seen me, set the sheepish face +to the quiet hill, and thank my stars that not one of them yet has +turned into a comet. + +Sadly was I perpending this, slower and slower at every step, while the +shadows of the trees grew longer, and the voice of birds was lower, and +the babble of the brook began to sink into the lisping of a cradled +child, as the draught of the valley hushed it; and falling into harmony +with all these signs, my breath was beginning to abate me, when along a +trough of sliding mist like a trysting track for the dusk, appeared the +form of my friend _Kuban_. Courage at once arose within me, and spirit +of true patronage. To men and women I may be nought, but to him I am a +hero. Lo, how he licks my hand, and whines, as if he had never seen my +like, and would never believe it, if he did! He longs to roll upon his +back, and offer himself a prostrate sacrifice. But he knows that I +should be vexed at that, because it would not be safe for him. The +labour of his great heart is to show me all his damages, and make me +understand that, but for me, he could not display them. What with love, +and what with fear, and the utter unsettlement of my mind, down I went +on the grass beside him, and took him paw by paw, to feel how much of +him was still existing. + +Now if I had thought of it in the coldest blood--if there still were +cold blood in me--there was nothing in the world I could have done so +wise as this abasement. What says Ovid in the "Art of Love"? Many low +things, I am afraid, that no Englishman would stoop to. But if that +great Master arose anew, to give lessons to an age of milder passion, +probably he would have said to me, "Water those wounds with your tears, +my friend." + +My eyes, being British, were dry as a bone; but upon them fell, as they +looked up, the lustre of a very different pair, like bright stars +extinguishing a glow-worm. And the glory of these was deepened by the +suffusion of their sparkle with a tender mist of tears. No blush was +lurking in the petal of the cheeks, no smile in the brilliant bud of +lips; pity and gentle sorrow seemed to be the sole expression. + +I dropped the dog's great legs, and rose, and with all the grace that in +me lay--and that was very little--took off my hat, and made a bow, the +former being of the bowler order, and the latter of the British. + +"No, no. Please not to do that," she said, "it is so very grievous. +Forgive me, if I am sad to look at. It always comes upon me so, when I +behold things beautiful." + +"But," I replied, being quite unable to consider myself of that number, +even upon such authority, "it is I that should be shedding tears; it is +I that behold things beautiful." + +"It was of the dog I meant my words,"--this was rather a settler for +me,--"and the beautiful tokens he manifests of gratitude to the kind +gentleman. And we have been desiring always; but the place we could not +find. It is my father who will best speak, for he has great talent of +languages. He was hoping greatly that you would come. I also have been +troubling in my mind heavily, that we must appear so ungrateful. It is +now ten days that have passed away. But we could not learn to what place +to send; neither did we know the name of Mr.--but I will not spoil it, +until you have told me how to pronounce." + +"_Cranleigh, Cran-lee_; as if it were spelled with a double e coming +after the letter l," said I to her. While to my all abroad self I +whispered, "May the kind powers teach her to spell it, by making it her +own, while she looks like that." + +For sometimes it is vain to think, and to talk is worse than lunacy. Her +attitude and manner now, and her way of looking at me,--as if I were +what she might come to like, but would rather know more about it,--and +the touches of foreign style (which it is so sweet to domicile), and the +exquisite music which her breath made, or it may have been her lips, +with our stringy words--I am lost in my sentence, and care not how or +why, any more than I cared how I was lost then, so long as it was in +Dariel's eyes. + +If Dariel's eyes will find me there, and send me down into her heart, +what odds to me of the earth or heaven, the stars, the sun, or the moon +itself--wherein I am qualified to walk with her? + +Possibly that sweet Dariel saw, but could not comprehend my catastrophe. +She drew back, as if from something strange, and utterly beyond her +knowledge. Then she cast down those eyes, that were so upsetting me; and +I felt that as yet I had no right to perceive the tint, as of heaven, +before the earth has glimpsed the dawn, which awoke in welcome wonder on +the wavering of her face. See it I did however, and a glow went through +me. + +Who can measure time when time acts thus? _Kuban_ arose, as if his +wounds were all a sham, or as if we at least were taking them in that +light, and hating--as a good dog always does--to play second fiddle, +turned his eyes from one to the other of the twain, in a manner so +tragic that we both began to laugh. And when Dariel laughed, there could +be nothing more divine, unless it were Dariel crying. + +"Oh, how he does love you, Mr. Cran-lee!" she exclaimed with a little +pout, pretending to be vexed. "What a wicked dog he is to depart from +his mind so! Why, he always used to think that there was nobody like +me." + +"If he would only think that I am like you, or at any rate try to make +you like me, what a blessed animal he would be!" This I said with +pathos, and vainly looking at her. + +"I am not very strong of the English language yet. It has so many words +that are of turns incomprehensible. And when one thinks to have learned +them all, behold they are quite different! To you I seem to speak it +very, very far from native." + +"To me you seem to speak it so that it is full of music, of soft clear +sounds, and melody, that no English voice can make of it. It is like the +nightingale I heard when first--I mean one summer evening long ago; +only your voice is sweeter." + +"Is it? Then I am glad, because my father hears it always. And he knows +everything I think, before I have time to tell him. And he can speak the +English well,--as well as those who were born in it. Seven different +languages he can speak. Oh, how he is learned! To hear me talk is +nothing--nothing--folly, trifles, nothing more than deficiency of +wisdom, and yet of himself he thinks no more, perhaps not so much as you +do." + +"I think nothing of myself at all. How can I, when I am with you? Yet a +great many different people think highly of me, and I do my best to +deserve it." This was no vain word, although it is not like my usual +manner to repeat it. + +"I am glad of that," she answered simply, looking with kind approval at +me; and I saw that her own clear nature led her to believe everything +she heard. "That is the proper way for people, and as the good Lord +intended. But how long we have been discoursing, without anything to be +said, while the dusk of the night is approaching! It is my father beyond +all doubt whom you have come by this long road to see. And he has been +desiring for many days to obtain the privilege of seeing you; not only +that he may return his thanks, but to learn that you did not receive a +wound; for he says that the wound of a dog is very dangerous in this +country." + +"Yes, I did receive a wound, and a bad one rather,"--how mean of me it +was to speak like this! Although I was telling the simple truth, for +there was a deep gash all down my left forearm. "But I would gladly +receive a hundred wounds, for the sake of anything that you loved. For +what am I? Who could find any good in me, compared with you, or even +with _Kuban_?" + +But this fine appeal to the tender emotions did not obtain any success +that time. If the pity, so ignobly fished for, felt any tendency to +move, it took good care not to show itself in the fountains watched by +me. + +"Mr. Cran-lee speaks much from his good-will to please. For there must +be good in him, even to compare with _Kuban_, if a great many people +think highly of him, and he does his best to deserve it. But is it not +the best thing to hasten at once with this very bad wound to the one who +can cure it? Let us waste no more time, but go at once to meet my +father." + +There was no getting out of this; and I said to myself that Miss Dariel +was not quite so soft after all. What had she told me about herself? +Nothing. How much about her father? Very little. And here was I being +towed off to him, when I wanted to talk with her, study her, make way +with her, find out whether there was any other villain in pursuit of her +marvellous attractions,--in a word, make my best love to her. + +But this was the very thing she would not have at present; and I felt +like a man tumbling out of a tree, through making too lofty a grab at +the fruit. So I fell into the opposite extreme of manner, to make it +come home to her that I was hurt. This was another mistake; because, as +I came to understand long afterwards, the feminine part of mankind is +never struck all of a heap, as we are. If you will only think twice, you +will see that it never could be expected. For drop as we may--and the +ladies too often call upon us now to drop it--the sense that is inborn +in us, of a purer and higher birth in them, which they kept and exalted +by modesty--even if at their own demand we let fall every atom of that, +and endeavour to regard them as bipeds on a wheel, with limbs rounder +than our own,--I say that we ought to try still to regard them as better +than ourselves, though they will not have it so. And what could say more +for their modesty? + +I looked at Dariel, and saw that she was not thinking of me at all, +except as a matter of business. And fearing to have gone too far, I +tried to behave in every way as a well-conducted stranger. This put her +into a friendly state of mind, and even more than that. For it was now +her place to be hospitable; and I displayed such bashfulness, that +believing her father to be the greatest man on earth, she concluded that +I was terribly afraid of him. + +"You must not be uneasy about meeting him;" she spoke in a voice as +gentle as the whisper of the wind in May, when it tempts a young lamb to +say "Ba!" "I assure you, Mr. Cran-lee, although he can be very stern +with persons at all wicked, to those who are upright and good, he is a +great deal less austere and rigid than even I am. And I am afraid that +you have discovered much harshness in my character, for you appear to +dread a walk with me." + +I had fallen behind as we approached the door, partly to show my +humility, and partly to admire the grace and true perfection of her +slender figure in motion. English girls may have lovely figures, but +none of them can walk like that. + +"No," I said after some delay, to make her turn her head again, and +repeat that look of penitence; "you have been as kind as I could expect, +perhaps more kind than the ladies of your country are to a mere +stranger." + +If ever I deserved a good hearty kick, and too often that has been my +merit, here was a solid occasion for it. She stopped and spread both +hands to me, and looked at me with her clear chin raised, and trembling +lips, and soft dark eyes, whose radiant depths appeared to thrill with +tender sorrow and self-reproach. What eyes to tell the tale of love, to +the happy man who shall inspire it! + +No dawn was there now of any warmth, but light alone, the light of +kindliness and good-will, and the tranquil beams of gratitude. What more +could I expect as yet, though myself in such a hurry? + +"What a beautiful place! I had no idea that it would be like this." + +I spoke as we stood within the wall, for the maiden now seemed timid. +"Why, I must have lost my wits altogether, when I was here the other +day, for I do not remember a bit of this. What a wonderful man your +father is! What taste, and skill, and knowledge! But it must have taken +him many years to bring it into this condition. It was nothing but a +pile of ruins, inside an old ruinous wall, at the time when I used to +come home from Winton. And how beautifully it is laid out! I should like +to know who planned it. Why you must have quite a number of men to keep +it in such order. It is almost like a dream to me. But how rude I must +appear to you! Though really if the light were good, I could sit here +for an hour together and like to look at nothing else but all this +perfect loveliness." + +She had come quite close to me as I spoke, with a bright smile of +pleasure on her face,--for I warmed my description knowingly,--and as I +said _perfect loveliness_, I think she knew where I found it. For she +turned away, as if to look at the distance I was praising; and being in +rapid chase of ever so trifling a thing to encourage me, after the many +mistakes I had made, I tried with the greatest delight to believe that +she did that to rob me of a conscientious blush. But the wonder of all +these zig-zag ways, when a straight solid man tumbles into them, is that +they tussle him to and fro, a hundred times as much as they upset a +slippery fellow whose practice is to slide in and out at pleasure. "Oh, +for the wits of Tom Erricker now!" was the only thought of things +outside, that came to me in this crisis. Then again in a moment I +scorned that wish. For a strong heart from its depth despises surface +gloss and frothy scum. + +"What is the proper expression for me? I see your noble father in the +distance. How shall I accost him?" That I used such a word as +_accost_--which I hate, but no better word would come to me--shows the +state of mind I had fallen into; not about him, but his daughter. For +the great Sûr--whatever they might mean--I did not care a fig as yet, +and in fact felt rather annoyed with him. But it was of the utmost +moment now to make her prize my deference. That she did, far beyond the +value, and smiled at me with a superior light. + +"In his own land he is a prince," she said; "not as those Russians call +everybody; but a Prince of the longest generations. He, however, makes +lightness of that; for he must have been the same without it. I have +read that you are proud of your English race, which comes down to you +naturally. But my father is purer than to dwell upon that. He allows no +one to call him _Prince_. And I never call him anything but Father. We +have not many names in our country. He is Imar; and I am only Dariel." + +Before I could go further into that important subject, I found myself +looking up at the most magnificent man I ever saw. + + + + +CHAPTER XI + +SÛR IMAR. + + +Although it may seem very wonderful to those who have never been in that +state, nevertheless it is quite true, that in this condition of my +feelings, the magnitude of no man was a question that concerned me. Let +him be taller than the son of Kish, or wiser than Solomon the son of +David, with supreme indifference I could scan the greatness of his body, +or even of his mind. If Shakespeare had marched up to me, at that +moment, with "Hamlet" in his right hand, and the "Tempest" in his left, +I should only have said to him--"My good sir, are you the father of +Dariel?" + +But the beauty of goodness has some claim too, although more rarely +recognised, because so rarely visible. Sûr Imar's face invited love as +well as admiration, not only when his glance was resting on his gentle +daughter, but even when he had his eyes on me, who was longing all the +time to steal her. And I put on a manner whence he might conclude that +it had never occurred to me to look at her. + +But Dariel was above all thoughts of that, as much as I wished him to +be. + +She rose on her purple sandals, which I had not observed till then, and +kissed her dear father, as if she had not seen him for a month; but I +suppose it is their fashion, and he glanced at me as if he meant to +say--"Nature first; manners afterwards." Then he looked again with some +surprise; and her face, which could tell all the world without a word, +seemed to say to me--"Now be on your very best behaviour." + +I was afraid she would use some foreign language, but her breeding was +too fine for that. + +"Father, at last we have the pleasure to see and know the kind +gentleman who was so very brave, and who did us that great benefit. You +behold him; and his name is Mr. Cran-lee. Mr. Cran-lee, you behold Sûr +Imar." + +Being still in the skies to a certain extent, I longed for a hat of +greater dignity, to make a better bow withal; but still I stood up as an +Englishman should, in the presence of the biggest foreigner, until he +knows more about him. I have thought sometimes that as every player at +chess, golf, or billiards, knows almost at the first contact when he has +met his better, so we (without any sense of rivalry, and without being +ever on the perk about ourselves) by some wave of Nature's hand along +the scale of her gifts to us, are aware, without a thought, when we come +into converse with a larger mind. Not of necessity a quicker one, not +peradventure a keener one, possibly one that we could outdo, in the game +of chuck-farthing, now the highest test we have. + +This foreigner made me no bow at all, though I expected a very grand +one; he took me quietly by both hands, and said, "I am very glad to know +you. Will you do me the favour of coming to my room?" + +The light of my eyes, and of his as well,--for that could be seen in +half a glance,--vanished with a smile; and I followed my host through a +narrow stone-passage to an ancient door, studded with nails and iron +fleurs-de-lis. That solid henchman was standing on guard, whom I had +seen before, and known as Stepan; and inside lay that other mighty dog, +of whom I had seen but little as yet, _Orla_, the son of _Kuban_. The +room was not large, but much loftier than the rooms of an old +dwelling-house would be, and the walls were not papered nor painted, but +partly covered with bright hangings, among which mirrored sconces were +fixed, with candles burning in some of them. Stepan soon set the rest +alight, so that the cheerful and pleasant aspect of the whole surprised +me. But against the walls were ranged on shelves, betwixt the coloured +hangings, metallic objects of a hundred shapes, tools, castings, +appliances, implements unknown to me, and pieces of mechanism, enough to +puzzle my brother Harold, or any other great inventor. But although +they were not in my line at all, I longed to know what they were meant +for. + +"One of the great and peculiar features of the English nation," my host +said, with a friendly smile, and slow but clear pronunciation, +"according to my experience is, that they never show much curiosity +about things that do not concern them. A Frenchman, a German, an Italian +would scarcely have cast his eyes round this room, without eager desire +arising in his bosom to know what the use of all these things may be. +Even if he were too polite to enquire, he would contrive to fill me with +some conclusion of a duty to him--the duty of exposing to him my own +affairs. With you it is entirely different. You do not even entertain a +wish, you are free from all little desires to learn what could not in +any way be your own business." + +All this he put not as a question, but a statement of facts long proven. +Whereas I was pricked internally with a very sharp curiosity. Could he +be chaffing me? I almost thought he must be, so far were his words from +describing my condition. But on the other hand it would be too absurd, +for a foreigner to attempt to chaff an Englishman in his own language, +and at the first conversation. So I tried to look as if I deserved the +whole of his compliments, and more. For I never like to think that a man +is chaffing me; not even one of my own nation, and of proper rank to do +it. Two bad turns of mind at once ensue, contempt of myself for being +slow, and anger with him for discovering it. + +"That is all a trifle," continued Prince Imar; for so I felt inclined to +call him now, to console myself for having such a cut beyond me--"But I +did not bring you here for a trifle, Mr. Cranleigh. You Englishmen think +very little of yourselves. Not in comparison with foreigners, I mean; +for when it comes to that you have much self-respect. I mean with regard +to your own bodies. You detest what you call a fuss about them, such as +the gallant Frenchman makes. But, as this has happened to you on our +behalf, you will not deny my right to learn what it is. I am not a man +of medicine, but I have been present among many wounds. Will you do me +the favour of allowing me to see what has happened?" + +It would not be right for any one to say that I had fallen under this +man's influence. No doubt I did that, when I came to know him better. +But as for any abject prostration of will, on the part of any healthy +and sane man to another, at first sight, and through some occult power, +some "odylic force," and so on--let the people believe in that, who can +do, or feel it. Nevertheless I showed him what had happened, because +that was common sense. + +And he took it strictly as a thing of common sense. "You have done the +very best that could be done," he said, after looking at it carefully; +"it is a bad rent, even worse than I expected, and there will always be +a long scar there. But it will not lessen the power of the arm, if there +is no other mischief. One thing is very important to know. Of the two +dogs, which inflicted that wound?" + +I told him that I could not pretend to say, having been in the thick of +it between the two. And it had not occurred to me to think it out since +then. But remembering all I could of the ups and downs, I thought it +more likely that his dog had done it, having been so much more up in the +air, while the bull-dog fought low, and was striving to grip upward. +Probably _Kuban_ was making a rush at his foe, while I tried to get him +by the neck. + +"I hope with all my heart that it was so," my host replied very +cheerfully; "for then we need have no fear of any bad effects. There is +no venom in the teeth of our noble mountain breed. But you will leave +yourself to me." + +This I did with the utmost confidence, and while he was using various +applications carefully and with extraordinary skill, I ventured to ask +in a careless tone--"Of what mountain race is _Kuban_?" + +"Is it possible that you do not know? He is of the noblest race of dogs +from the noblest mountains of the earth. A wolfhound of the Caucasus." + +Sûr Imar's voice was very sad, as he dropped for a moment the herb he +was using, and fixed his calm dark eyes on mine. For the first time then +I became aware that the general expression of his face was not that of a +happy man, but of one with a sorrow deeply stored, though not always at +interest in the soul. He was very unlikely, in his proud quiet way, to +enlarge upon that; but of the common grief he spoke, with less heat and +much greater resignation, than we feel about a railway overcharge. + +"I am banished from the land where I was born. Of that I have no +complaint to make. If I had been on the victorious side, perhaps I +should have done the like to those who fought against me. Perhaps I +should have been obliged to do so, whether it was just or otherwise. +That question cannot have any interest for you; and I owe you an apology +for speaking of it. But I am so grateful to the hospitable land which +receives me as if I belonged to it, and allows me to go anywhere without +a passport, that I wish every Englishman to understand that I shall +never make mean of their benefit. Will you do me the favour of tasting +this? You have borne much pain without a sign. It is Kahiti, the choice +wine of the Caucasus, made within sight of Kazbek." + +Where Kazbek was, or what Kazbek might be, I had not the least idea +then, though I came to know too well afterwards; but in fear of hurting +his feelings, and perhaps his opinion of myself, I looked as if I knew +all about it. And as he began to pour out a pinkish liquid from an old +black bottle, with a fine smile sparkling in his quiet eyes, I could not +help saying to myself--"He deserves to be an Englishman." He was worthy +also of that crown of bliss, and came uncommonly near to it, when he +praised his liquor, as a good host does, with geniality conquering +modesty. + +"If you could only make this in England!" he exclaimed, after drinking +my health most kindly; and I answered, "Ah, if we only could!" with a +smack of my lips, which meant--"I hope we never should." + +"Is this scratch likely to require further treatment? Or can I manage it +myself now?" My question recalled him from some delightful vision, +perhaps of grapes blushing on the slopes of some great mountain, perhaps +of the sun making a sonnet of beauty, perhaps of his own honeymoon among +them, with the lovely mother of Dariel. It was rude of me to disturb +him; but why, if he wanted true politeness, why not send for a certain +nymph to taste her native Helicon? + +"_Orla_, come and show your teeth," he said; "now, Mr. Cranleigh, his +teeth are the very similarity of his father's. That is the one that +inflicted the wound, the right canine; quite different would have been +that of the bull-dog. You need have no alarm. Shall I give you a--what +call you it--written testimony, to set your family at ease? What? Have +you never told them? Ah, but you take things with composure. It is +therefore all the more necessary for me to administer the proper +measures. I shall require to see you in three days from this, and then +at least once a week for the following two months." + +Oh, what a chance, what a glorious chance of improving my acquaintance +with Dariel! Of course I could not expect to meet her every time, still +now and then--and as for that big Stepan, I warrant he knows what a +crown-piece is, as well as little Allai. With admirable self-denial, I +contended that such visits never could be needful, and that it was out +of the question to spare so much time, etc., etc. But the great +Caucasian stopped all that, by declaring that unless I trusted him +entirely, and obeyed him implicitly, he should consider it his duty to +inform my friends, that they might place me under strict medical +treatment. Thereupon, what could I do but consent to everything he +required? Till with many directions as to my own conduct, he led me as +far as the door of _Little Guinib_, as he playfully called his snug +retreat, and showed me before closing it behind me, how to obtain +entrance at any time by pressing my hand against an upper panel, and he +gave me leave to do so, as he said "Good-night." + +"No stranger would dare to enter thus, with _Kuban_ and _Orla_ loose +inside, but you have made them both your faithful slaves. Good-night, +and the Lord be with you." + +Now, though a Briton may be, and generally is, a very loose-seated +Christian, only gripping on his steed when he is being taught to ride, +or when he has to turn him into Pegasus, he is able to stand up in his +stirrups high enough to look down upon every other pilgrim. When the +Prince opened that bottle of wine, I said in my heart, "Hurrah, this +great father of Dariel cannot be a thoroughgoing Islamite;" and now +when he committed me to the Lord, instead of any Anti-British Allah, a +strong warmth of the true faith--which had been languishing, until I +should know what Dariel's was--set me quite firmly on my legs again. +Thus I went upon my way rejoicing, and the beautiful ideas that flowed +into my mind were such as come to no man, except when deep in love, and +such as no man out of it deserves or cares to hear of. + + + + +CHAPTER XII + +IN THE BACKGROUND + + +Surely as the world of night goes round, with clusters of stars +thronging after one another, and loose wafts of vapour ever ready to +flout them, and the spirit of dreams flitting over us, without any +guidance of mind or matter, so surely will the dawn of our own little +days bring new things to us, which we cannot understand in the clearest +light of our wits beneath the sun. And of this I must give an instance +now, sorry as I am to do it. + +My sister Grace (the very sweetest girl, always excepting one of course, +that ever tied a hat-string), what did she do but take a little touch of +Cupid, without knowing anything about it? She denied it strongly, and +hotly even; as a Swiss hotel-keeper abjures scarlet fever. But I +insisted the more upon it; because it was quite picturesque to see Grace +Cranleigh in a passion. I found it worth while to go as near the brink +of a downright lie as a truthful man can step, without falling over, in +order to rouse and work up this dear girl, till she actually longed to +stamp her feet. There was a vivid element--the father calls it gold, and +the brother calls it carrots--in her most abundant locks; and if you +could only hit upon a gentle strain of chaff, which must have a little +grain left in it, and pour it upon her with due gravity, she became a +charming sight to a philosopher. + +Her affection was so deep, and her character so placid, that a sharp +word or two, or a knowing little sneer, produced nothing better than a +look of wonder, or sometimes a smile that abased us. She made no +pretence to any varied knowledge, or power to settle moot +questions,--though she would have known where Daghestan was,--and as for +contradiction, her tongue was never made for it, though her mind must +have whispered to her often enough that brother George's words outran +his wits. In spite of all this, it was possible to put her in a very +noble passion, when one had the time to spare. And it certainly was +worth while for the beauty of the sight, as well as for increase of +perception concerning the turns of the feminine mind. The first sign of +success for the most part was a deepening of the delicate and limpid +tint that flitted on the soft curves of cheek; and then if one went on +with calm aggravation, that terrible portent, lightning in the blue sky +of the eyes, and a seam (as of the finest needlework of an angel who +hems her own handkerchief), just perceptible and no more, in the white +simplicity of forehead. And after that (if you had the heart to go on), +no tears, none of that opening of the dikes, which the Low Country +quenches an invasion with, but a genuine burst of righteous +wrath--queenly figure, and all that sort of thing, such as Britannia +alone can achieve, when unfeeling nations have poked fun at her too +long. + +Filled with a spirit of discontent, and a longing to know how girls +behave, when they are beginning to think about somebody,--for Dariel +must be a girl, as well as an Arch-female-Angel,--I contrived to fetch +Grace to a prime state of wrath, the very first morning after her return +from London. And I assure you that I learned a lot of things by that, +which served me a good turn in my own case. A woman might call this a +selfish proceeding. But what is love, except self flown skyward, and +asking its way among the radiance of Heaven? + +"This is a nice trick of yours," I said, with a careless air and an +elderly smile, "to go waltzing about in hot weather with young Earls, as +if you thought nothing of your brother hard at work." + +"I have not the least idea what you mean, brother George. I am thinking +of you, George, wherever I may be. I never see anybody to compare with +you." + +"Thousands of much better fellows everywhere." True enough that was, +although I did not mean it. "Brilliant young men in gorgeous apparel. I +am not fit to hold a candle for them." + +"Then hold it for yourself, George, as you have the right to do. And for +all of us as well. For if ever there was an industrious, simple, +unselfish fellow--" + +"I never like to hear about that, as you know. The little I can do is +altogether useless. I only want to hear about the romantic young Earls." + +"Young Earls!" exclaimed Grace, with an innocence so pure that it +required a little mantle on her cheeks; "I fear that you have not been +looked after properly, while I have been away, dear George; or else you +have over-exerted yourself. Coming home also so late at night, several +times, they tell me! Continuing your labours for our benefit, nobody +seems to know exactly where! Such frightful work makes you quite red in +the face." + +If that were true, all that I can say is, that the idea of being brought +to book by a young girl like this, was enough to annoy the most superior +brother. But to let her see that was beneath me. + +"I have thriven very tidily, while you have been away. My buttons never +come off, when I sew them on myself. But you know well enough what I +mean about young Earls, and for you to prevaricate is quite a new thing. +What I mean is about that young milksop of a fellow who writes verses, +makes sonnets, stuff he calls poems--fytte 1, and fytte 2, enough to +give you fifty fits. Lord Honey--something. What the deuce is his name?" + +"If you mean the Earl of Melladew, the only thing I regret, dear George, +is that you have not a particle of his fine imagination. Not that you +need write poems, George; that of course would be wholly beyond you; but +that the gift of those higher faculties, those sensitive feelings, if +that is the right name, makes a man so much larger in his views, so very +superior to coarse language, so capable of perceiving that the universe +does not consist of men alone." + +"Sensitive feelings! I should rather think so. He has got them, and no +mistake, my dear girl. Why the year we licked Eton at Lord's, I happened +just to graze him on the funny-bone with a mere lob, nothing of a whack +at all for a decent fellow; and what did he do but throw down his bat, +and roll about as if he was murdered? What could ever be the good of +such a Molly-coddle?" + +"It comes to this then. Because you hurt him sadly when he was a boy, +you are inclined to look down upon him for life. Nice masculine logic! +And you nearly broke his arm, I daresay." + +"Scarcely took the bark off. But I'll break something else, if I catch +him piping love-ditties down here. I should have hoped that you would +have shown a little more self-respect." + +"Well, I don't quite understand what my crime is, George. And to fly +into a passion with anybody who dares so much as to look at me! That is +all Lord Melladew has done. And even that seemed too much for his +courage. I believe if he had to say boh to a goose, he would call for +pen and paper, and write it down. But your anxiety about me is quite a +new thing. Is there any favoured candidate of yours down here?" + +How sharp girls are! This was too bad of her, when I was doing my utmost +for her good. The twinkle in her eyes was enough to show that she +suspected something; and if she found it out, all up thenceforth with +the whole of my scheme for her benefit. + +"Yes, to be sure there is," I answered in some haste, for if I had said +no, it would have been untrue, for I thought more highly every day of +Jackson Stoneman, whereas Lord Melladew might be soon pulled down as we +were, and through the same ruinous policy; "where will you find a nicer +fellow, or one more highly esteemed (at any rate by himself), than my +old friend, Tom Erricker? And when the tinning business comes to you, +Harold will invent you a new process every day, until we are enabled to +buy back all our land. Though that would be a foolish thing to do, +unless he could find some new crop to put upon it. I cannot see why you +think so little of Tom Erricker." + +"Do you think much of him, George, in earnest? Is he a man to lead one's +life? Would you like to see your favourite sister the wife of a man she +could turn round her finger?" + +"Confound it! There is no such thing as pleasing you," I spoke with a +sense of what was due to myself, having made the great mistake of +reasoning. "All of you girls begin to talk as if you were to rule the +universe. No man is good enough for you, unless he is a perfect wonder +of intellect. And then if you condescend to accept him, his mind is to +be in perfect servitude to yours--yours that are occupied nine minutes +out of ten with considerations of the looking-glass." + +"Can you say that of me, George? Now with your love of truth, can you +find it in your conscience to say such a thing of me?" + +"Well, perhaps not. And for excellent reason. You have no need to make a +study of it. Whatever you do, or whatever you wear, it makes no +difference; for you are always--" + +"What? What am I? Come, tell me the worst, while you are so put out with +me. What are you going to call me now?" + +"The sweetest and the best girl in the world." I should not have put it +quite so strongly, except for the way she was looking at me. But it was +too late to qualify my words. Before I could think again, Grace was in +my arms, and her hair in a golden shower falling on my breast. "After +all, this is the best way to reason," she said with a smile that +contained a world of logic; and I only answered, "At any rate for +women;" because it is not for them to have the last word always. + +However I had not changed my opinions, and did not mean to change them. +For Jackson Stoneman, whom I had at first repulsed and kept at a very +stiff arm's length, was beginning to grow upon me,--as people say,--not +through any affection for his money; so far from that indeed, that the +true reason was, I could think of him now without thinking of his money. +When we first know a man of great wealth, especially if we happen to be +very short of cash ourselves, we are apt to feel a certain shyness and +desire to keep away from him; not from any dislike of his money, or +sense of injustice at his owning such a pile, but rather through +uneasiness about ourselves, and want of perfect certainty in the bottom +of our hearts, that we may not try--like a man who steals his gas--to +tap the "main chance" behind the meter, and fetch a little into our own +parlour on the sly. And even if our conscience is too brave to shrink +from that, we know that if we walk too much in amity with this man of +gold he will want, or at least he ought to want, to pay the piper who +besets every path of every kind in England; whereas it hurts our dignity +to be paid for, except by our Uncles, or the Government. + +But supposing Jackson were to become a member of our family, what could +be more inspiring and graceful, as well as delightful, for him, than the +privilege which must fall to his share, of endeavouring to please his +relatives? And looking at the matter from a point of view even more +exalted, I began to perceive the course of duty very clearly staked out +for me. And the conversation above recorded made it doubly manifest. My +sister had neither admitted, nor denied, that this young Melladew had +been attracted by her, while she was staying at her sister's house. She +had spoken of his courage with some contempt; and any perception of such +a defect would be fatal to his chances with nine girls out of ten. But +Grace had her own little pet ideas; and to shoot with swan-shot at a +swarm of gnats is better worth the cost than to reason with such girls. +They are above reason; and there's an end of it. + +To pass from all this to the things one can see, it was either that very +same day or the next, that I came away out of the harvest-field, just +for a morsel to eat and a pipe, in a snug place under the fringe of a +wood, where a very small brook, fit only for minnows and grigs, made a +lot of loops and tinkles. Two or three times I had been there before, +and in fact was getting fond of it, because I believed, or as good as +believed, without knowing every twist of it, that this little water in +its own modest way never left off running until it reached the +Pebblebourne; and after that it must have gone a little faster, till it +came to the place where Dariel lived. + +Possibly if I threw in a pint bottle, after scraping off the red +pyramid, who could say that it might not land at the very feet to which +all the world they ever trod upon must bow? + +Encouraging these profound reflections, I sat upon the bank, and pulled +out my pocket-knife, being a little sharp-set for the moment, and aware +of some thrills in a quarter near the heart. There was very little more +to be done that afternoon, the week having ripened into Saturday, when +no man of any self-respect does more than congratulate himself upon his +industry; and on this point few have a stronger sense of duty than the +cultivator of the soil of Surrey. No matter what the weather is, or how +important the job in hand may be, his employer may repose the purest +confidence in him, that he will make off with holy zeal, right early on +a Saturday. + +Therefore when I heard a step behind me, I knew that it could be none of +our "enlightened operatives;" not even Bob Slemmick would pull his coat +off at that hour, though he would sometimes stop long enough to put away +his tools. Correct was my reasoning, and with pleasure I beheld the +active figure and expressive countenance of Mr. Jackson Stoneman. Not +that every one would like this man, or care to have very much to do with +him. Universal benevolence was not by any means the polestar of his +existence, neither was it his chief employment to saunter amicably in +the Milky Way. Butter for his bread, and that the very best butter, had +probably been the main quest of his life; until his good stars brought +him down into our county, and toward our Grace. He was even beginning to +relax his mind, while he braced up his body already; and we thought that +a year or two of our fine air would bring a lot of hard gold out of him. + +"Glad to see you again. Somebody told us that you were off for the +Mediterranean." In this careless manner did I shake hands with this 70 +cubit and 20 carat Colossus of gold. There is humbug in all of us--even +in me. + +"Well, I was thinking of it," he replied, as he sat down beside me, and +stretched his long legs, trousered a thousand times better than mine, +though I knew which had most inside the cloth; "but after all, what's +the good of foreign parts?" + +Knowing but little about them as yet, and believing that he might +traverse many thousand leagues without finding anything to come up to +Surrey, I answered very simply, "You are quite right there." + +"But isn't it disgusting, that in your native land, you can never make +anything go to your liking?" + +This was very difficult for me to answer. I could not get along for a +thousand wicked reasons--Free-trade, Democracy, adulteration, +sewage-butter, foot-and-mouth complaint, living wage for men who have no +life, and all the other wrong end of the stick we get. + +"What I mean has nothing to do with your ideas," he continued as if all +my ideas must be wrong, just when I was hoping that he began to see the +right; "for Constitutional questions, I don't care twopence. It has +become a race of roguery between both sides. Don't look savage, George, +you know it as well as I do. Your party would do anything to get into +power again. When the bone is in their own mouths, will they even try to +crack it? But I have not come to talk all that stuff. I am under your +directions in a matter nearer home. Are you going to play fast and loose +with me, while your sister is being truckled away to an idiot of an +Earl?" + +If my mind had not been very equable and just, I must have had a quarrel +with him over this. And if he had looked at me with any defiance--but +his gaze was very sorrowful, as if all his hopes were blasted. + +"Jackson," I answered in a rather solemn voice, having sense of my own +tribulation, and I saw that he liked me to address him thus, though the +name is not purely romantic, "you are not a bit worse off than any other +fellow. Do you suppose that nobody has ever been in love before? You +look at things from such a narrow point of view. Consider how much worse +it must be for a woman." + +"Well, I wish it was." His reply upset my arguments; I found it very +difficult to re-arrange them on that basis. + +"So far as that goes, I can get on well enough," he proceeded as I +looked at him sensibly; "I shall feel it for years, no doubt, but +still--but still the blackness and the bitterness of it is this, that +such a girl, such a girl as never before trod the face of the earth, or +inhaled the light of the sun--" "Don't get mixed," I implored, but he +regarded me with scorn--"should be sold, I say sold, like a lamb in the +market, to an idiot, just because he has a title!" + +"You will be sorry when you have offended me," I spoke with +extraordinary self-control, taking a side glance at my own case; "for I +don't come round in a hurry, I can tell you. But you really don't know +what you are talking of. My father and mother have heard of no proposal, +neither have I. And as for Grace herself, she despises that milksop as +heartily as I do." + +"George Cranleigh, I have not known you long; but this I can say without +hesitation, and I should like to see any man deny it, you are the very +noblest fellow that ever--" + +"Trod the face of the earth, or inhaled the light of the sun. And why? +Because I happen to agree with you. Ah, Jackson, allow me to improve the +moment. Is there any human praise that does not flow from the like +source, from the sense that the other fellow thinks as we do, and the +subtle flattery of our own wisdom, and concurrence with our wishes." + +"Shut up," he cried with a smile, which must have procured him much +lucrative business in the City; "what has Farmer Jarge to do with +moralising? But are you quite sure of what you said--that she despises +him heartily?" + +"Unless anybody runs him down, she never has a good word to say for him. +He will be here upon some pretext or another; but you need have no fear. +I see exactly how to treat the case--to praise him to the nines, and +exalt him as the paragon of all manliness, and self-denial, and every +tip-top element. And then to let her observe him closely, to see if he +comes up to that mark--and behold she finds him a selfish little funk! +That is the true policy with women, Jackson Stoneman." + +The stock-broker looked at me, with puzzle in his eyes, which were ever +so much keener than mine, and had a gift of creating a gable over them, +like a pair of dormer-windows with the frames painted black. + +"Bless my soul, if you wouldn't do up our way!" he said; and what higher +praise could be given to a man? "Friend George, you are a thousand times +sharper than I thought. But all I wish is fair play, and no favour; +except of course favour in a certain pair of eyes." + +"You shall have it, my dear fellow, you shall have it. If only you will +keep yourself in the background, and do the most benevolent things you +can think of, without letting anybody know it. Your money is the main +point against you with her. Could you manage anyhow to be bankrupt?" + +"That comes to most of us in the end," he replied, with a sigh, which I +did not like at all, but hoped that it was rather of the heart than +pocket; "if that were so, George, would you still take my part?" + +"Not unless my sister were really committed. But if she had set her +heart upon you, Stoneman, your wealth or your poverty would make no +difference to me; and I am sure that it would make none to her." + +"What more could a man wish? And I am sure you mean it. Come what will, +I will play my game in an open and straightforward way. We must never +try any tricks with women, George. Bless them, they know us better than +we know ourselves. Perhaps because they pay so much more attention to +the subject." + + + + +CHAPTER XIII + +SMILES AND TEARS + + +If any one has followed my little adventures only half as carefully as I +have tried to tell them, he will see that the time had now come and +gone, for my second visit to St. Winifred's, otherwise Little Guinib. +And I would have set forth what happened then, if it had been worth +mentioning. But except for the medical treatment received, I might just +as well have stayed away, for I never got a glimpse of Dariel; and her +father was in such a sad state of mind, that he scarcely cared to speak +at all. Being a most kind and courteous gentleman, he begged me to make +due allowance for him, for this was the anniversary of the most unhappy +day of his life, and in truth it would have been better for him, if he +had died before he saw that day. One of the worst things of being a +gentleman, or of having high-culture like Miss Ticknor, is that you must +not ask questions, or even hint at your desire to know more, but sit +upon the edge of curiosity in silence, although it may be cutting you +like hoop-iron on the top-rail. And this feeling was not by any means +allayed, when I saw the great henchman Stepan in the court hanging his +head, and without his red cross; and when with the tender of five +shillings' worth of sympathy, I ventured to ask him to explain his woe, +his only answer was--"Me no can." + +But when another week had passed, and my next visit became due, the +hills, and the valley, and everything else had put on a different +complexion. It was not like a sunset when the year is growing old; but +as lively and lovely as a morning of the May, when all the earth is +clad in fresh apparel, and all the air is full of smiling glances at it. +There came to my perception such a bright wink from the west, and so +many touches, on the high ground and the low, of the encouragement of +heaven to whatsoever thing looks up at it, that in my heart there must +have been a sense it had no words for--a forecast of its own perhaps +that it was going to be pleased, far beyond the pleasure of the eyes and +mind. And in that prophecy it hit the mark, for who should meet me at a +winding of the path, but Dariel herself, no other? Dariel, my darling! + +As yet she knew not--and I shivered with the thought that she might +never care to know--in what lowly but holy shrine she was for ever +paramount. But a little blush, such as a white rose might feel at the +mark H. C. in an exhibition, answered my admiring gaze; and then I was +nowhere in the splendour of her eyes--nowhere, except for being +altogether there. + +But with no such disturbance was her mind astray. Alas, it was "all +there," as sharp as the wits of the last man who wanted to sell me a +horse. And she did not want to sell me anything; only to keep her +precious value to herself. What a shame it is to leave things so that a +poor fellow never knows how to begin! But that was not her meaning. In +all her lovely life, she never meant anything that was not kind. + +"I am not quite assured," she began, after waiting for me to speak,--as +if I could, with the tongue in such a turbulence of eyes and heart!--"it +is beyond my knowledge of English society, Mr. Cran-lee, to be confident +that I am taking the correct step, in advancing in this manner to +declare to you the things that have come into my thoughts. But if I have +done wrong, you will pardon me, I hope, because I am so anxious about +very dismal things." + +"I assure you," I answered, with a flourish of my hat which I had been +practising upon the road, "that it is of the very best English society. +If we dared, we should insist upon it upon every occasion, +Mademoiselle." + +"You must not call me that, sir. I am not of the French. I prefer the +English nation very greatly. There has only been one name given to me +by my father, and that is _Dariel_." + +"It is the sweetest name in all the world. Oh, Dariel, am I to call you +Dariel?" + +"If it is agreeable to you, Mr. Cran-lee, it will be also agreeable to +me; for why should you not pronounce me the same as Stepan does, and +Allai?"--oh, that was a cruel fall for me. "Although I have passed most +of my life in England, and some of it even in London, I have not +departed from the customs of my country, which are simple, very simple. +See here is _Kuban_ and _Orla_ too! Will you not make reply to them?" + +How could I make reply to dogs, with Dariel's eyes upon me? Many fellows +would have been glad to kick _Kuban_ and his son _Orla_, to teach them +better than to jump around emotions so far above them. But not I, or at +any rate not for more than half a moment; so sweetly was my spirit +raised, that I never lifted either foot. Some of Dariel's gentle nature +came to strike the balance; for I may have been a little short of that. + +"Good dogs, noble dogs, what a pattern to us!" I had a very choice pair +of trousers on, worthy of Tom Erricker,--if his had been ever +bashful,--and in another minute there scarcely would have been enough of +them left to plough in. + +But the joy of my heart--as I was beginning already to myself to call +her--perceived at a glance the right thing to do; and her smile and +blush played into one another, as the rising sun colours the veil he +weaves. + +"If Mr. Cran-lee will follow me, a step or two, I will show him a place +where the dogs dare not to come." + +"Follow thee! Follow thee! Wha wud na follow thee?" came into my head, +with a worthier sequence, than ever was vouchsafed to Highlanders. + +"Where the dogs dare not come"--I kept saying to myself, instead of +looking to the right or left. The music of her voice seemed to linger in +those words, though they have not even a fine English sound, let alone +Italian. But my mind was so far out of call that it went with them into +a goodly parable. "All men are dogs in comparison, with her. Let none of +them come near, where ever it may be, except the one dog, that is blest +beyond all others." + +"Are you a Christian?" The question came so suddenly, that it sounded +like a mild rebuke--but no, it was not meant so. The maiden turned +towards me at a little wicket-gate, and her face expressed some doubt +about letting me come in. + +"Yes, I am a Christian," I answered pretty firmly, and then began to +trim a little--"not a very hot one I should say. Not at all bigoted, I +mean; not one of those who think that every other person is a heathen." + +I had made a mull of it. For the first time I beheld a smile of some +contempt upon the gentle face. And I resolved to be of the strictest +Orthodoxy evermore. Feeble religious views did not suit her. + +"Christian! I should think so," I proceeded with high courage. "There is +scarcely a church-tower for ten miles round, that has not been built by +my ancestors." Possibly this assertion needed not only a grain but a +block of salt. + +But Dariel was of good strong faith, without which a woman deserves only +to be a man. She opened the gate, and let me in, so beautifully that I +was quite afraid. + +"You must not be frightened," she said, with a very fine rally of +herself, to encourage mine, "it is the House of the Lord, and you have +come into it with your hat on. But you did not know, because there is no +roof." + +No roof, and no walls, and no anything left, except the sweet presence +of this young maid. I took off my hat, and tried to think of the Creed, +and the Catechism, and my many pious ancestors, if there had been any. +And I almost tumbled over a great pile of ruin stones. + +"We will not go in there, because--because we are not thinking of it +properly," she pointed, as she spoke, to an inner circle of ruins, with +some very fine blackberries just showing colour; and suddenly I knew it +as the sanctuary, in which I had first descried her kneeling figure. +"But here we may sit down, without--without--it is a long word, Mr. +Cran-lee, I cannot quite recall it." + +"Desecration," I suggested, and she looked at me with doubt, as if the +word had made the thing. "But you do not think it will be that, if I +speak of my dear father here?" + +I was very near telling her that we think nothing of such old monkish +ruins, except to eat our chicken-pie, and drink our bottled beer in +their most holy places; but why should I shock her feelings so? Little +knows the ordinary English girl, that when she displays her want of +reverence for the things above her, she is doing all she can to kill +that feeling towards herself, which is one of her choicest gifts. + +"Dariel, you may be quite sure of this," I replied, after taking my seat +upon a stone, over against the one she had chosen, but lower, so that I +could look up at her; "a place of holy memories like this is the very +spot especially fitted for--for consideration of your dear father. Some +of my ancestors no doubt were the founders of this ancient chapel, so +that I speak with some authority, upon a point of that sort." + +All content has a murmur in it, according to the laws of earth; and +within a few yards of my joy, the brook with perpetual change of tone, +and rise and fall of liquid tune, was making as sweet a melody as a man +can stop to hearken. But the brook might have ceased its noise for +shame, at the music of my Dariel's voice. She gave me a timid glance at +first, not for any care of me, but doubt of unlocking of her heart; and +then the power of a higher love swept away all sense of self. + +"My father, as you must have learned already, is one of the greatest men +that have ever lived. There are many great men in this country also, in +their way, which is very good; but they do not appear to cast away all +regard for their own interests, in such a degree as my father does; and +although they are very high Christians, they stop, or at least they +appear to stop short of their doctrines, when the fear arises of not +providing for themselves. They call it a question of the public good, +and they are afraid of losing commerce. + +"But my father is not of that character. The thing that is recommended +to him by religion is the thing he does, and trade is not superior to +God's will. Please to take notice of this, Mr. Cran-lee, because it +makes him difficult to be persuaded. And now he has told me quite lately +a thing, which if he adheres to it as he always does, will take him +away, will extinguish, and altogether terminate him." + +She turned her head aside, that I might not see the tears that were +springing upon either cheek, and a cloud of very filmy lace, from the +strange octagonal cap she wore, mingled with the dark shower of her +hair. + +"Oh, no, oh, no! that shall never be," I answered, as if I were master +of the world; "oh, Dariel, don't let your beautiful eyes--" + +"It is of my father and not of myself we are speaking, Mr. Cran-lee. And +you are surprised what reason I can have for--for inviting you to give +opinion. But it is not your opinion for which I make petition, or not +the opinion only, but the assistance of kind action from you, if you can +indeed be persuaded. And before that can be accomplished, I must expand +to you things that you may not have been informed, concerning my father, +you know, do you not?" + +"Nothing, or very little except what you yourself have told me. I know +all about Daghestan of course,"--so I did by this time, or at least all +that was in the Cyclopædia,--"and that your father has been a very great +man there; and I can see that he has been accustomed to authority and +probably to wars, and that he is worshipped by his retainers, and that +he has some especial purpose here and prefers a private life, but is +kind enough to give me admission because of my accident; and after that, +let me see, what else do I know? Why nothing at all, except that he has +wonderful taste, and sense of order, and the loveliest +dau--door-painting I ever beheld; and after that--" + +"Door-painting of great loveliness! I do not remember to have seen that; +my father has never concealed from me--I will ask him--" + +"Door-nailing is what I should have said, of course, Fleur de Lis +flourishes, classic patterns. But what is all that in comparison with +him? A man of majestic appearance, and a smile--have you ever beheld +such a smile?" + +"Never!" cried Dariel, with great delight, "but I expected not that you +would already be captured with that demonstrance. It shows how good he +was to be pleased with you, for he is not taken in with every one. But +now please to listen, while I tell you, so far as my acquaintance of +your language goes with me, what the condition is of circumstances +tending about my father. Only I know not the half of it myself, for he +fears to make me so solicitous; and it would not be just for me to ask +questions of people of the lower rank, in whom he has placed confidence; +though Stepan could tell me many things if he thought proper, and I have +proved to him that it is his duty. + +"My father is the Prince, as they call it in most countries, though he +never takes it to himself, of the highest and noblest and most ancient +of the tribes belonging to the Lesghian race. The great warrior Shamyl, +who contended so long against all the armies of Russia, was of the +lower, the Moslem division of the ancient Lesghian race, which is of the +first origin of mankind, and has kept itself lofty as the mountains. + +"But when all the other tribes fell away, with treachery and jealousy, +and bribery, and cowardice, and Shamyl himself was betrayed in his +stronghold, my father, who had been called to take the place of his +father who died in battle, at the head of the Christian and higher +division of the race, could not prolong the war. Not that he was +vanquished, that could never happen to him; but because all the +Mohammedans, who had made what they call a holy war of it, would not go +on under the command of a Christian, and they showed themselves so +treacherous that they betrayed him, for money no doubt, of which they +were too loving, into the hands of the Russian General. Every one +expected that he would be destroyed on account of the bitterness between +them, and the many times when he had been victorious. But the Russian +Commander was much pleased with him, from the nobility of his manners, +and treated him very gently, and finding that he was a Christian and +descended from English Crusaders, according to the red cross which we +always wear, as the badge of our lineage against the Moslem tribes, he +obtained permission from Moscow to release him upon very generous +conditions. His great extent of property was not taken from him, as was +done to most of the other chiefs, who had fought so long against Russia, +but was placed in the hands of a kinsman as his steward, and he was +only banished for fourteen years, until there should be no chance of +any further war. + +"My father made the best of all these things. He collected all the +relics of his patrimony, and travelled to many other lands, and then +settled in England, having learned while a boy in the 'City of +languages,' where he was educated, to speak the English language as well +as many others, German, French, Italian, Russian, Arabic, almost every +tongue, for which he has a talent not granted to his daughter. But above +all, he loves his own Lesghian words; and the rest of his life, if he +ever goes home, will be spent for the education of the Lesghian people. +He will never conspire against Russia any more. He says that the tribes +of the Caucasus are made up of every race under the sun, are always in +conflict with one another, and speak, I forget how many languages, and +have, I forget how many forms of religion, whenever they have any +religion at all. But though he sees all these things, and is of the +largest mind ever vouchsafed to a man, he is filled in his heart with +perpetual longing to be among the mountains of his early days, and to +finish all his wanderings in his first home. The fourteen years of his +exile will expire very soon; and then what a joy there would be for him! +I also long, more than it is possible to explain, to see the most noble +land the Lord has ever made, though I only behold it in dreams +sometimes, according to his description. For although I was born in the +noblest part under the shadow of Kazbek and in the most magnificent Pass +of the earth, from which my name is taken, I was but a babe when my +father took me with him." + +"If it must be so, if you must leave England," I asked with a very grim +smile, for what on earth would become of me without her, and I did not +even belong to the Alpine Club, "why should you be so unhappy about it? +I fear there is no one in this country whom it would pain you much to +leave. I fear that you find all English people rather dull, and cold, +and uninteresting, and you will be too glad to be quit of them." + +"I hear that they are cold, but I do not perceive it." Her glance as she +said this was beyond interpretation; could it mean any cruel check to +me? "They are the first nation of all mankind, my father has declared +to me, many times; but of such matters I have not yet arrived to think. +The thing that makes me full of fear about going from this safe land is, +that though the people may be dull and cold, as you do describe them, +among them there is law and justice, and the wicked men are hanged +whenever they require it. But, alas, my father says that among his noble +people, no one can be sure of that." + +"Dariel," I exclaimed with amazement, having made up my mind that her +nature was all softness and all sweetness, "surely you would never wish +to be sure of anybody being hanged." + +"I would never go to see it, as the people do in England, and I am not +at all convinced that it ought to be done here. But in lands where the +law of men's lives is revenge, even upon those of their own family, what +else is there to prevent them from committing murder? And that which +terrifies me from all pleasure of seeing the land of my birth consists +of that. Our family, the highest of the Lesghian race, have not that +most wicked rule of blood-revenge; but all the other tribes around them +have; and I am in the most dreadful alarm that my father has done +something to make him subject to that barbarous, abominable, +horrible--oh, what shall I do? what shall I do?" + +Once more, I made offer to administer to her the kindest and softest +consolation; but she turned away sobbing, yet concealing it, as if it +could be no concern of mine. And this made me feel--I should be sorry to +say how. + +I believe that there is a bit of sulkiness in love, even with a man; and +perhaps a large lump in a woman, because they are obliged to let it +grow. At any-rate I held my tongue. If her ladyship did not think me +worthy of her confidence after all I felt, perhaps there was somebody +else who deserved it. I knocked my stick against my trousers; and it +almost seemed to me, as if I should like to whistle, if I mattered so +little to the wind and sky. + +"You are offended! You are angry with me!" cried Dariel turning round, +as if she were the larger part of me recoiling upon all the littleness. +"But I cannot tell you what I do not know. Everything is so dark to me." + +Now whether it was mean of me, or noble, depends upon the right view of +the case; but before she could repent of being kind, I got hold of her +hand, and kissed it so as to assure her of my forgiveness. Then the +loveliest colour ever seen on earth arose in her face, and in her eyes +there was the sweetest light just for a moment, and then she trembled, +and I was afraid of myself. + +By mutual accord we dropped that point. But I knew that she felt for the +first time in her heart that the whole of mine belonged to it. Crafty +love and maiden fear combined to let that bide a while. + +"I fear that it is too selfish of me, and too great trespass upon your +good-will," she said without looking at me again, "if I ask you to help +me in this matter. But you do admire my father, I think. Nobody can meet +him without that." + +"He is the noblest and the grandest man I have ever had the honour of +speaking to. I wish that I could only do something for him. There can be +no trespass on my good-will. Only tell me plainly." + +"This is all I know, and I dare not ask more, for it is not considered +good to tell me. There is one day in the year of great sorrow and +bitterness, through something that has happened in my father's life. It +is something that he himself has done, though no one could believe that +he would ever commit a sin. Last year, and every year before that until +now, I was away and saw nothing of it, being under education with good +ladies of great learning. But now that is finished, and it was not +possible for the tribulation to be concealed from me. Long before that I +had known there was something of very great misfortune and calamity to +us; but I have never been permitted to hear more about it; and how can I +learn, of whom can I enquire? Stepan knows, I am almost sure of that; +and perhaps Baboushka does--but as for telling me--it appears that with +our people, the young maidens are kept out of reach of all knowledge; +but I have been brought up in England, and it is not curiosity, Mr. +Cran-lee, you must not be in such error as to think that I have +curiosity. It is anxiety, and love of my dear father, which any one of +any age or nation has a right to; and if he is to go back into that +land of danger without my knowing what I have to dread, or what to save +him from, how can I be of any use? He had better have no daughter." + +"Shall I go and ask him all about it? He may think what he likes of me; +if it will be of any good to you. No, that is not exactly what I mean. +What I mean is, that I will take any row upon myself." + +"I can scarcely understand what the English is of that." Oh, Dariel, can +even you tell fibs? "But if it is anything, Mr. Cran-lee, of a proposal +unpleasant to you, and offering unkindness to my father, it is the very +last thing I would desire you to do. And what would become of you, when +he regarded you, as he has the power of doing to those--to those--who +show him what you call impertinence? What I was thinking of was quite +different to that. And though it would give some trouble, which I have +no right to seek from you, there could not be anything unbecoming in it. +I thought of it last night, when I was in such sorrow that I could not +sleep with any happiness. My father has one great friend in London, a +gentleman known to him in our native land, and who was a great part of +his coming to this country. He understands everything of our situation +here, and I have seen him several times. My father has told me to make +application to him, if anything should arise, beyond his own assistance. +The gentleman is not of our own rank of life, because he is of commerce, +which we do not understand. Nevertheless he is very wealthy, and nothing +can be more respected than that point in England. He is now entitled +Signor Nicolo, because it is better among the nations with whom he has +dealings with the precious stones. But by birth, and of language, and +the ways of thinking, he has always been an Englishman of the name of +Nickols. And he is of an integrity beyond all common foreign names. He +resides in the best part of London, mentioned by your great Shakespeare, +and still called Hatton Garden." + +"And you would like me to go and see him?" I enquired with the greatest +alacrity, perceiving a good chance now of discovering many things still +mysterious; "Dariel, it shall be done to-morrow. Don't talk of trouble, +I beseech you." + +"It is not only that," she answered, already assuming her right to my +services, which women are never very slow to do; "but also the +difficulty that Signor Nicolo will have to perceive in what authority +you come. It is not as if you bore any message, or power of enquiry from +my father, for he would not wish at all that I should so employ myself. +And if you do this for me, Mr. Cran-lee, you must bear in mind that my +dear father will perhaps be much displeased that it has been done; and +then although he is so just and righteous, he will inflict the whole of +the blame upon you, because he can never find any fault with me. And +then perhaps you would never come here any more." + +"Oh, that wouldn't do at all!" I exclaimed, hoping that I saw a little +sadness in her eyes; "I shall put old Nickols under a frightful pledge, +penalty of his very biggest diamond, never to let that cat out of the +bag." + +"He is not old Nickols. He is quite a young man, very clever, and very +agreeable. And he has promised to do anything in the world for me. +Signor Nicolo is a gentleman you would be much delighted to converse +with." + +"Now you must know much better than that," thought I, "the more +delightful he is, the more hateful to me." However, she did not seem to +catch that clue; but went on, as unconscious as the wire in the air is +of its own significance. + +"The last time he was here, I told him of my ancient ruby cross, the one +which I wear most frequently, when I come to pray for my father here. It +has been preserved in our family from the period of the Crusades; when +the noble prisoners, escaping to our mountains, converted our tribe from +idolatry, and married the fairest of the maidens. Signor Nicolo desires +much to see it; and I will lend it to you, Mr. Cran-lee; and then he +will know that you have a right to ask concerning the questions of my +father. And the great question that you go to enquire of is this, +whether he can go back to the land belonging to him, without the +greatest peril to his own dear life." + +"It is my determination," I replied, with some infection of her freely +imported English, so sweet was the voice conveying it, "not to leave +this matter now, until I have got to the bottom of it. Is there any +other Prince, or Jeweller, or Crusader, whose ins and outs I ought to +know, before I can deal with him properly?" My wrath grew as its tongue +rolled on; and what tongue but our own can tell it then? + +"There is another gentleman who has expressed a desire for a knowledge +of our position here, and a little interview with me," she spoke as if +she lived without any dogs, or walls, or river, and I resolved at once +to make _Kuban_ and _Orla_ as savage as _Grab_ himself was; "but him I +have not as yet beheld at all. And he is a Prince, as you suppose so +well, possessed of great power already, even while he is so young, +because of his courage and noble appearance, and desire to die for his +country. He is a cousin of mine; and I have heard--but my father is most +righteous in whatever he proposes." + +She dropped her beautiful eyes with a blush; and it was lucky that she +did not see me grind my teeth, for verily I must have looked--however, I +controlled myself. "What's the fellow's name?" was the only thing I +said. + +"Prince Hafer, the Chief of the Ossets," she answered, looking with +great surprise at me. + +"Ossets! If I don't make bones of him," I muttered; "but pardon me. Can +I have the cross at once? I cannot go to see your dear father to-night. +Important business--I had quite forgotten. But yours shall be the first +attended to. Oh, Dariel, Dariel, I must be off, before I say anything to +vex you. Send Allai to-morrow night, and you shall hear of that young +Nickols." + +Probably she thought I was mad, and she was not far wrong, if she did +so. She gave me the cross, to get rid of me perhaps; and I snatched her +hand and kissed it, and was out of sight in no time. + + + + +CHAPTER XIV + +THE RUBY CROSS + + +In all matters of love there is a vast amount of luck. That there is of +course in all human affairs, as far as we can interpret them; but what I +mean is a larger element of luck than in any of our other miseries; +unless it be the still finer conflict, and far more enduring one, for +money. Any one might have concluded, as I did, that it was all up now +with every little hope I might have nursed of winning the favour of +Dariel. Yielding to a sudden rush of jealousy, I had quitted her hastily +and almost rudely, and broken my appointment with her father. It was +true that her calmness and perfect indifference were enough to provoke a +saint--if he ever falls in love; but how could she know that? Though +certainly she ought to know it, if she ever thought of me in at all the +proper vein. "What a fool I am! It will serve me quite right, if she +never even condescends to glance at me again," I thought, as I wandered +about in the dark, after going home at a great pace upon the wings of +rage; "and just as I was getting on so nicely too! What is the use of my +going to see that Nickols? A rogue no doubt, almost sure to be a rogue, +for sticking a foreign tail on to his name. No doubt he cheats them of +their diamonds and rubies. That is why he wants to see this cross. Worth +a lot of money, I dare say. What an idiot I must be, to even think of +that, when I remember where it has been so often! Oh, Dariel, Dariel! +When I first saw your beautiful, enchanting, ravishing, +idolatrous--idolised I mean, confound it all--who could have imagined +that I should ever hold this badge of your faith--this symbol of your +own high-minded, lofty-souled archetype--pish, there is no word to come +near her! But, oh, shall I never come near her again?" + +To cut short all discussion, I found myself in a frightful state both of +head and of heart, and ready to do anything to bring matters to the +crisis. Accordingly I said to Slemmick, who was in his right mind now, +"Just look after things to-day; I'm obliged to go to London." He +grinned, and I knew that he would be a tiger to any man lying down under +a rick. + +As yet my conceptions about jewellers, diamond-merchants, and the like +were little more than a confusion of the Arabian Nights and Bond Street; +so that it seemed to be quite a mistake when the policeman in a little +dingy street pointed out a very common-looking house as the abode of +Signor Nicolo. There was nothing to show that it contained as much as a +paste shoe-buckle or a coral pin, and it struck me that if diamonds were +tested there the light must proceed from the jewel itself. But perhaps +it would be lighted up by Koh-i-noors, Stars of the South, and other +glorious luminaries. + +Not only the house but the inhabitants thereof appeared to be sadly in +need of lighting up. How many times I rang, or at any rate pulled the +long handle, I will not pretend to say; but at last an old woman, not at +all too clean, showed me into a small square room, remarkable for +nothing except that one end appeared to consist of polished steel. My +card was taken upstairs, and presently Signor Nicolo himself appeared. + +"Upon important business!" he said. "Ah, yes! Mr. George Cranleigh. Ah, +yes, ah, yes!" He was rather a handsome little man, about forty years +old, with dark eyes and complexion, wearing a black velvet blouse, +gathered in with a belt, and a red scarf under it. Apparently an +Englishman who desired to pass as a foreigner, and having a considerable +share of Jewish blood might do so without much trouble. Whether his +perpetual "Ah, yes"--which I shall not repeat half as much as he +did--had first been assumed in imitation of some foreigner or had struck +root into his tongue, as "You know," "Don't you see?" and other little +expletives are wont, it is beyond my power to say. + +"And this you have brought me. Ah, yes, ah, yes," he proceeded when I +had explained my purpose, "to certify that the Prince desires me to +impart to you all my knowledge concerning him. The rubies are very fine, +and the trinket very ancient. They would not be set in silver +now-a-days. But I do not perceive in them, Mr. Cranleigh, you will +excuse my saying so, any message from the Prince to that effect." + +"You mistake me, Signor," I answered with some warmth, for the man's +affectation annoyed me, and I longed to call him "Jemmy Nickols," as his +God-fathers and God-mothers meant him to be called; "I said nothing +about Sûr Imar, who makes no pretence to be called a Prince,"--that was +a little rap at Jemmy,--"it is his daughter who has sent me to you, +because she is most anxious and miserable about her father. What she +wants to know is this--can he return to his native land, from which he +has been so long banished, without incurring very great danger? You can +tell me or not, just as you please. The question lies between you and +her. She has always believed you to be her true friend. She cannot come +to see you herself, of course, and her father might be angry if she +tried to do so; and he would know your hand if you wrote to her. It +appears to me that she has a right to ask." + +"Ah, yes. She has a right to ask; and more than that, it is her place to +ask, that she may know how to act about it. On the other hand, the point +for me is--have I any right to tell?" + +I began to respect the man more, as I perceived that he really wished to +do what was right, but scarcely saw the way to it, through some little +complication. "Signor, I am not in any hurry," I observed. + +"Ah, you cannot understand," he said, as if I had no power, even if I +had a right, to put my tongue in; "it is no reproach to you; but a young +man who has never been among such things ought to thank his good stars, +and keep out of them. You English are so stiff, you can allow for no +ideas. You think that all the world must have the same right and wrong +as you have." + +"Now, Signor Nicolo," I replied, with admirable self-control, for I +began to know all about him now, by the lights that break in as we go +on in the dark, "if ever there was an Englishman, you are one." He +looked at me steadily with eyes almost too dark for a pure-bred +Englishman, and then seeing that I meant to make him proud he became +proud, as he ought to be. + +"Ah, yes!" he said first, from the force of habit, and then he went on, +as became his birth-right. "Sir, I am an Englishman, and as proud of it +as you are. But we are not popular among the smaller nations, because +they have a lower standard. We give them everything in the way of trade, +and they have not the calibre yet to enter into it. And I am very much +afraid that they won't have that, till they have taken every farthing +out of us. In spite of all lessons, we carry on still, as if all the +world were full of our own ideas. And what comes of that? They believe +through thick and thin that our only ambition is to rob them. My +business lies chiefly on the Continent, and therefore I am Signor +Nicolo." + +Feeling the truth of this sad state of things, I took the hand he +offered me. It was not his fault, but that of our blind rulers, that to +do any business he must be of foreign blood. Still it was a new light +shed upon me, for hitherto my belief had been that people unlucky enough +to have to live upon the land, had to bear the brunt of that British +suicide endowed with the catch-penny name Free-trade. + +"Now, I am in this difficulty," continued the Signor, still employing +the gesticulation he had learned; "on no account would I offend Prince +Imar,--a Prince he is, whether he likes it not,--while on the other +hand, I may be guilty of his death, if I stand upon scruples. And that +would be a very poor requital, for I owe him my life, and am proud to +owe it to a man so great and magnanimous. Crotchety perhaps, as all +great men are, and sometimes even more than that; but take him all +round, such a man as you won't see in a long day's ride, Mr. Cranleigh." + +"That is the opinion I have formed of him. A man of the first magnitude +in body, mind, and character. As yet I know very little of him; but one +is struck with such a rarity at once, just as----" + +"As I might be with an enormous diamond. But I am surprised to hear you +say that you know him so little. I suppose he keeps himself very much +to himself, down there. It was I who arranged that place for him." + +"I do not even know whether he has any visitors. None from our part of +the country I believe. But I saw no signs of secrecy about the place. It +is naturally very lonely and secluded, and out of the line of the more +important roads. And he has as good as told me that he was busy about +something that he did not wish to talk about. It is suspected in some +quarters that his business is the forgery of Russian rouble-notes." + +"No, you don't say that! What a people we are! Ah, yes, ah, yes! I have +been on the Continent for some weeks, or certainly I must have heard +that grand joke. And they will make a raid upon him soon with a +search-warrant I dare say. Oh, I would give something to see that! Tell +them to keep the dogs in. I know what they are. And the policemen would +shoot them as soon as look, for doing the very duty they have to do +themselves, only doing it with a little more sagacity. Don't forget +that, Mr. Cranleigh. I wouldn't have those dogs killed for a thousand +pounds. There is not a dog to compare with them in England. I knew their +grandfathers in the Caucasus." + +Hereupon I told him, just to help my case, how lucky I had been by a +very simple stratagem in saving the life of that glorious _Kuban_ from a +low beast of a bull-dog, and he laughed, and said "Capital! I should +never have thought of that. By the by, I know something of your brother, +Mr. Cranleigh. He has very nearly made a diamond, and he came to me +about it. Upon my word, I thought at first that he had succeeded, until +I threw my test-light on it. It was the nearest approach that has been +accomplished yet. I dare say he told you all about it." + +"Not a syllable. He never does, unless it is to try the effect upon me. +He has the lowest possible opinion of my intellect. He has monopolised +the brains of the family. But he is glad enough to come to me for more +substantial things." + +"Ah, yes! I see. But he will astonish the world some day. What amazed me +about him was not his inventive power--though that must be very great, +of course--so much as the quantity of pluck he showed, at any rate I +should call it so. You would have thought it the turning-point in a +young man's life, to know whether he had solved the great problem, or +failed; but his hand never shook, it was as steady as mine now, and his +colour never changed, he was as cool as any cucumber--the last one I +bought was as hot as ginger. And when I said, 'No, sir. Not quite yet,' +he made me the most beautiful bow I ever saw, and walked off, leaving +the work of months with me." + +"That is Harold all over. But he will never do any good. He is always on +the brink of success, but never in it. And if he ever does succeed, all +he'll say will be just this--'Oh, any fool can do that,' and never think +of it again. However, I must not go on about him. Time is getting on, +and I ought to be at home again. What answer shall I take to Miss--Miss +Prince Imar?" + +"Do you know what Dariel is?" Nicolo was smiling in a genial manner at +my levity. And then he said, to crush it in a truly British manner, +"Dariel is the heiress to the throne of Georgia. She has the pink eagle +on her left shoulder." + +"But there is no throne of Georgia now," I answered, quite uncrushed, +for she might have been heiress to the throne of all the stars, without +mounting any higher than she already was with me; "the Russians have got +Georgia, and who shall ever turn them out?" + +This will show how I had got up my subject. A month ago Georgia, for all +I knew or cared, might have been the property of our former George the +Fourth, or still the prize of victory for Saint-George and the Dragon. + +"You take things as quietly as your brother Harold does. Ah, yes! it +must be in the family, no doubt. But I give you my word that it is true, +Mr. Cranleigh. Not that her father is a Georgian though, he belongs to a +higher race, the Lesghians, and the highest tribe of the Lesghians. All +the others, such as Shamyl, are Mohammedans. Dariel's mother was the +Princess Oria, the last representative of Tamara, the celebrated Queen +of Georgia; and she was carried off from Tiflis--it is a most romantic +story; I can't tell you a quarter of it. But there was some frightful +tragedy--bless you, they are always having tragedies there--and the long +and the short of it is, that Imar has incurred the blood-feud. You may +be sure that he never ran away from it. He has the greatest contempt and +loathing for all such horrible heathenism. After the capture of Shamyl +all hope of resistance was over, for the Mohammedan tribes fell away, at +once. Shamyl's chief hold over those fierce races had been his position +as Imaum, which confers divine command over those who belong to Islam. +Ah, he was a gallant Chieftain, but cruel sometimes, ah, yes, ah, yes!" + +"And your share in these adventures, Signor? You must have carried your +life in your hands. It seems as if there can be no danger in the world, +without some brave Englishman being in the thick of it." + +Jemmy Nickols threw his blouse open and showed a fine broad chest, which +he patted. "You are right there," he said, "it generally happens so. Ah, +I was an active fellow in those days, and afraid of nobody but the +Devil. And you may be sure, there was plenty of Him there. Ah, yes, our +nation is always on about its sailors; but to my mind the landsmen are +every bit as good. However, it was business that took me there, and not +any pleasure in hardship. + +"I had to make my own way in the world, and was tired of sitting on a +stool in London. So I got a commission from the firm to Amsterdam, my +father being one of the partners, and there I heard of something which +sent me across Europe to meet a Russian merchant at Odessa. I found him +quite a young man and very enterprising, which was not very often the +case with them in those days. We became good friends, and he told me +that he had heard from a brother of his, a Russian officer then serving +against Shamyl, of a wonderful discovery of emeralds they had made among +the mountains of Daghestan. My knowledge of jewels was greater than his, +and he made me an offer which I could not resist, to pay all expenses, +and give me all benefit of Russian protection, if I would join him in +the search for this treasure; and if we found it, 25 per cent of all net +proceeds. + +"This was a wild-goose chase, you will say, but what young man of spirit +is not a wild goose? We had a rough time of it and repented every day of +our folly, but still went on with it. The Russians had an enormous +army, spread far and wide, and whenever we could keep near them we got +on well enough, but where we had to trust ourselves to native guides, +with the help of some interpreter, it was scarcely ever safe to close +our eyes. Let me see, it must have been in 1858, towards the close of +Shamyl's long defence. It has often been said that the allies should +have landed a large force in Western Caucasus, to help him during our +Russian war. But it would not have done a bit of good. He was far away +in the Eastern chain, and it would have been a stiffish march to get +near him, I can tell you, and when we were there, we could have done no +good. People talk of Caucasia as if it were a nation. I cannot tell you +how many tribes there are; but for the most part they hate one another, +and they speak about seventy languages, and cannot write any one of +their own. How could you ever make a Nation of them? Russia might have +conquered them a century ago, if she had been in earnest about it; and +it is the best thing that could possibly happen to them now. Some little +law and honesty, without any real oppression, is ever so much better +than a lot of murderous freedom. And pretty freedom! Why, in many of the +tribes, the women have to do all the work, while the men lounge about, +or rob their neighbours. My opinion is, Mr. Cranleigh, that we talk a +lot of rot about civilization. Nature won't have it everywhere; and she +shows what she means, by the way she marks the places. And the worse +they are in all common sense, the closer the natives stick to them. + +"Well, we got a taste of the country, and the people that therein do +dwell. My poor friend did not live to tell of it, neither should I, but +for Prince Imar. It was in a rocky hole where you said to yourself, +'Never shall I get out of this, and it must have been the Devil that got +me into it,'--when suddenly a score or two of thundering savages jumped +out from the solid crag almost, and blocked all the horrible place both +ways. I am not at all sure that they meant to hurt us; and I dare say +they would have been satisfied to strip us, and rob us of our arms and +money, and send our guides to the right about. But unluckily my Russian +friend lost his head, and sent a bullet into the crowd in front. I +cannot tell you, any more than he could now, what happened in the rush +that was made on us. Only that my dear friend lay dead upon his back, +with his eyes upon the little blink of sky above the chasm, and that I +like a fool fell upon him to protect him, when nobody could harm him any +more, and a big fellow was going to give me my quietus when another man +twice his size sent him spinning. All the others fell away, for he had +come among them suddenly, and I heard them muttering 'Sûr Imar.' + +"'No Englishman shall come to harm, when I can help it. This gentleman +looks like an Englishman,' he said, and I never was more ready in my +life to acknowledge that. The rest of the lot could not make out what he +meant, but they put down their weapons and looked at him. To cut a long +story short, he took me to his own mountain-castle, and treated me as if +I had been an invited guest, and I never knew such hospitality in all my +life. I stayed there a long time, for it was not safe to travel; and +there I saw the most beautiful lady that ever trod this earth. Her +daughter is very beautiful; but you should have seen the Princess Oria, +if you want to know the utmost that the Lord can do in the construction +of the human race." + +"Don't talk to me," I said, for I could not quite stand this; "you are +like the rest who always talk of the past as superior to the present. +But I beg your pardon, pray go on." + +"I have seen a great deal of the world. Ah, yes!" continued my new +friend Nicolo; "and I have come to this conclusion, from all the +instances within my knowledge--no very beautiful woman ever lives a life +of happiness. I don't mean pretty girls of course, and all the fair +women of ordinary charms. I mean the exceptional, the wonderful +creatures, of perfect and enthralling loveliness, of whom there are not +six in a century. They are as rare as a brilliant of three hundred +carats; as yet I have only seen one, and that one was the Princess +Oria." + +"Then how can you argue about them all?" I enquired very reasonably. +"You mean from history, and all that, I suppose. But what became of that +wonder of the world?" + +I should have known better than so to speak, when he was inclined to be +pathetic. But absurd as it may seem, I was jealous of Dariel's own +mother, when quoted against her. + +"Alas, that is more than I can tell," he replied without heeding my +flippancy. "I only know that it was pitiful, pitiful, something to make +all who heard of it shudder. Prince Imar was a most cheerful man, full +of life and spirit, even in the thick of blows and danger, when I had +the honour of being his guest. Not a sign of jealousy about him, +introducing all friends to his lovely wife,--which is not the custom +with the Moslem tribes, of course,--pleased that a comrade should share +her sweet smile, and proud that she should be admired. And as for her, I +believe she adored him. Insignificant as I was, I believe that she +preferred me to many grander people, simply because I was never tired of +singing his praises, and because I owed my life to him. They cannot have +quarrelled, at least I should have thought so; neither can she have +betrayed him. One never can be certain, where a woman is concerned; +otherwise I should have thought it utterly impossible. And yet what else +is there that can at all account for it? She perished most sadly, there +is no doubt of that. And I dare not even mention the subject before him. +Even Dariel knows not a word about it." + +I could well understand that a man's most intimate friend would shrink +from such a subject, and Nickols was not at all likely to be very +intimate with Sûr Imar, though he might have proved a valuable agent. + +"Was there any Dariel in those days?" I enquired, though I might have +concluded from her age that there was not. + +"No, there was not any Dariel yet. But there was a fine little chap, +about a year old, and how well he could run! I have had him on my lap, +many a time. What was his name? Oh, Origen. Those people save their +friends a world of trouble by being contented with one name. But now I +have told you all I know, Mr. Cranleigh, or all that can be of +importance. And of course you will not speak about it to any one. Every +one has a right to his own privacy, and our friend insists upon a +private life. He might have been the lion of a season if he had liked, +with his romantic history and noble appearance. Ah, yes, ah, yes! but I +fear I must hurry you, or ask you to call again. We hold a meeting at 3 +o'clock, of a Syndicate they call it--horrible word--about a big find in +South Africa. In return for my information, I beg you to let me know if +anything is threatened down there; and to do your utmost, if you have +any influence, to keep them from returning to the Caucasus. He has +plenty of money. Why can't he stop here, and have the sweet Dariel +introduced at Court? There is a very great man indeed who would be only +too proud to manage it." + +"Plague them all!" I cried, as he began to fidget, "how many more great +men, I wonder? But did you ever get those emeralds?" The "plenty of +money" made me think of this. + +"Never saw one of them. Never got so far. And what could I do, when my +friend was killed? Very likely they are there though. I shall look them +up some day, perhaps, if I can hear of that Russian officer. But most +likely not worth finding. Pale emeralds fetch very little. Good-bye, +good-bye! Don't forget one thing. Have the dogs chained up, for fear of +the police making holes in them." + +"Oh, you are not afraid of the dogs making holes in the police?" I said, +while shaking hands with him. "I should be sorry to have to fight +_Kuban_ and _Orla_, with a police-staff." + +"So should I. But you may depend upon it, when they make a raid of that +sort, expecting a big capture, and stout resistance, they will not come +down without fire-arms." + + + + +CHAPTER XV + +SISTER _v._ SWEETHEART + + +There had not been, so far as I could recollect, anything that could be +called even a tiff--if such a wretched syllable can find its way into +the heaven seventy-seventh--between the lovely Dariel and myself; but on +the other hand I had left her rather more abruptly than courtesy would +warrant, because of the grievous tranquillity she displayed in speaking +of a fellow (a Prince Hafer, as she called him), who possessed almost +every hateful merit, and was eager to bring it in, to cut out mine, by +some underhand and undermining fraud. What had I done to be treated like +this? Was there no claim established on my part? Was it nothing to have +come down the hill that evening, at the risk of my neck and Old Joe's as +well, and then to put up with a strained conscience for a month, and +then to catch no fish every day, for it might be a week of hook and +barb, and then to run a frightful risk of hydrophobia, and then to let +my duty and the business of the farm--however, there was not much to be +said about that; but what had I done that no message came, that I should +be left to cool my heels, without even a distant sigh in token of some +little anxiety about me? + +"Send Allai to me to-morrow night," I had said as plainly as possible, +"and you shall hear all about young Nickols." It was no young +Nickols--that was my mistake, or my jealousy had rejuvenised him; but +that could not alter the intention. + +Was it to be supposed that Dariel, the gentle, and sensible, and +simple-hearted Dariel had taken offence at my hasty departure, and +resolved to have no more to say to me? + +I passed a very anxious and uncomfortable time, endeavouring vainly to +turn my whole attention to the doings and the interests of other people, +who certainly had a strong claim upon me; but still a certain feeling +would arise in my kindest and largest moments, that it was scarcely just +on my part to neglect with such severity my entire duty to myself. Who +was farmer Bandilow, who was Lord Melladew, Jackson Stoneman, or even +sister Grace, that I should have no one to think about but them? Let the +whole parish, and the county too, rush into the Union, and break stones, +or be stone-broken, by means of this new crack; but love is immortal, +Love is Lord of all; what had I done to make him hold his blessed tongue +like this? + +I strode about, and strove about, and let everybody know that when I was +put upon I could stand up against it; and my dear sister Grace, who had +ideas of her own, such as I had spoiled her into when she was my +childhood's pet, was beginning to smell--oh, vile metaphor!--a rat; +because I would not always do exactly what she wanted, and once I had +the courage to tell her, that there were other girls in the world +besides Grace Cranleigh. Her state of mind at this was enough to prove +to mine, that the great truth thus pronounced was a good one for the +world; and I venture, with some tenderness, to intimate as much. But how +much better for me, as for every man so placed, if, instead of using +tongue, I had plunged both hands into my pockets--a proceeding which +puzzles and checkmates the female race, because they cannot gracefully +do the like--and then had walked off with a whistle, which adds _pari +ratione_ to their outer insight. + +"Then I am right," said Grace, catching her advantage, as a girl always +does, before it is even on the hop; "there is some sly girl, without the +sense of right to come and ask me what I think of it, who has laid her +snares too cleverly for my dear brother George, my only brother, I might +say. For Harold is too far above us in intellect to be counted as one of +the family. Oh, it is so sad, so sad and cruel to me!" + +"Explain yourself," I answered, hitting by a fluke on the very best +thing to be said to a girl, because she never knows how to do it. And +what had Harold done, to be set in the sky, like that? + +"You know what I mean well enough. Too well, George, I can see it in +your face. Now can you look at me in your solid old way, as I have every +right to demand, for even you will own that, and assure me on your +honour that I am altogether wrong? That there is nobody wanting to come +between us. That I am still number one--'A1' you used to call me; but +that sounds like slang; and I don't understand the sea. Am I number one +still, George?" + +"Let every tub stand upon its own bottom." I was not taken altogether by +surprise, as she intended; for I had expected this for a long time, +knowing how sharp our Grace was. I could scarcely have said a more +appropriate thing; for my sister had her stiff linen apron on, bustling +about with it, as she did in the mornings, to attend to the dairy and +the poultry, and all that. And being of a noble English figure, she had +not pulled her waist in, as she found it her duty to do at one o'clock. + +"I am not a tub, George. It is very unkind of you to use such +expressions about me. I don't care what you say in fun, you know. But +when it comes to serious talk--but I dare say _she_--oh, you could span +her with one hand." + +"My dear sister," I replied, because I saw some sign of glistening in +her bright blue eyes, and knew that it was all up with me, if that +should come to drops; "I have never told you a falsehood, and I am not +likely to begin. Harold may have all the intellect of the age; but can +you say as much as that of him?" + +She shook her head, and made a face, which enabled me to smile at the +superiority of his mind. "Well, then, I will tell you--there is a little +truth in some of your imaginations. Though not at all as you think. +Quite the opposite extreme. A great deal too good for me, too perfect, +too lofty, too beautiful, in every way too angelic." + +"It is quite unnecessary to tell me that." Grace might have shown more +refined feeling than this. "But one naturally wants to know more about +such an example to all humanity." + +"No doubt. But you must curb your curiosity, my dear; and imitation on +your part would be hopeless; you have got all this out of me by much +perseverance; that implies patience, which you will have to exercise." + +"Now can you suppose for one moment, George, in spite of all your +self-confidence, that I would put up with such a thing as this? That an +abstract idea of some divinity is to be my entire knowledge of my +brother's choice?" + +"I wish it could be otherwise, my dear child," I replied, with a warmth +that should have satisfied her; "just for the present it must be so. The +whole thing is very strange, and complicated with many things most +unusual. I am not a free agent, as the lawyers say; if a mysterious +thing of some importance comes to my knowledge confidentially, am I to +pour it forth to everybody? You would be the very last, I am quite sure, +to tempt me to anything dishonourable." + +I looked at her impressively, and felt certain that such an appeal must +silence her. She thought a little while, and then looked at me; and some +flicker of a smile, which I could not altogether help, set her off +again, as if I were only talking humbug. + +"You called me a tub just now; and this perfect and wonderful creature +that lives in the clouds is superior to all the Angels, but even a star +may look down into a tub, as they showed us the eclipse last summer. On +the other hand, the tub may look up at the star; but, George, can it +talk about the star? Come, that is a very sound argument now. You can't +get out of that, do what you will. You are bound to tell me everything, +darling George, by the force of your own reasoning." + +No other relative but a brother could have held out against such coaxing +ways. She came, and sat upon my knee, and touched me with a run-away +glance (as a child does to a child before any cares come between them) +and then brought the hollow of her temple into mine, as if to say--"How +could I run away from you?" And then with the freshness of her sweet +hair falling round me (which brought into my mind at once our joyful +romps together) she knew a great deal better than to visit me with +sentimental lips, though they were quivering--for what man cares to kiss +his sister, except upon her forehead? But she, being up to all devices, +found I had a button off; and in the very place where it should have +been, which happened to be very near my heart, there she laid her +fingers trembling, and began to reproach herself instead of me. + +"None of that!" I said, with the powers of logic coming to my aid; +although I defy any father, grandfather, or uncle to have so got out of +it. "Everybody knows how good you are. Well, well, do anything you like +with me." + +"Now if it had only been somebody else, somebody who never can know +everything about you, as your favourite sister does, would you have +called her a humbug, George--to use one of your own sweet expressions? +Or would you have said, 'Yes, you have a right to know, you ought to +know everything about my affairs. I should be unworthy of the name of +man, if I kept any secrets from you, my dear.' And then what a help you +would have, as soon as ever--" + +"As soon as ever I had told her all about myself! How you do mix up +things! But this curiosity of yours is useless. I am compelled to +maintain strict silence, until certain important events have taken +place. Until--" + +"Why, it must be at least a Princess!" Grace exclaimed, jumping up, and +clapping her hands, and then walking, as if she had a ten-yard train +behind her; "we must all be kept waiting, until the impending vacancy of +the throne occurs." + +[Illustration: "_Why, it must at least be a Princess._"] + +"Exactly so," I answered; for after that bit of impudence, and her look +of contempt at the ceiling, she deserved to be driven to Bedlam by the +goads of curiosity; "how clever of you! There is a throne in question, +and one of the most ancient in the world. Well, I never should have +thought you could hit the mark like that!" + +"I won't ask another thing. I would not hear it, if you told me. No, no, +not for Joe!" Oh, what would have Tom Erricker have thought, if he had +heard the dignified Grace thus indulging in slang? "I am not going to +have my head chopped off, for prying into State-secrets. Who is the +Prime-minister? He was to have taken Elfrida into supper, the other +night, but he didn't. Still I can apply to him, not to have my head +chopped off. George, don't attempt to tell me anything more. +Self-preservation is Heaven's first law. But I don't see how this +parish will be large enough for us. Ha! I see it now. How very stupid of +me, that is what the Earl of Melladew is come for. Closeted--is not that +the right expression?--closeted with his Royal Highness, Prince George +Cranleigh, for some hours! You see that nothing escapes me. But I must +be more cautious." + +"No hope, sweet child, of putting me into a passion. And if nothing +escapes you, why should you ever ask a question?" + +This was enough to floor even a girl of the highest abilities, for +nearly half a second; and as they seldom give more than that time to +their thoughts, a man may almost calculate upon the skedaddle of his +sister, unless she has at him again within that period. Not so with his +wife, she will stick to her guns, having bigger ones, and knowing how to +work them. Grace skedaddled, as consistency required; but with a popgun +over her shoulder. + +"Alas, that we should have to watch my dear brother! He is so good and +soft--they will be sure to take him in." + +At this I was exceedingly annoyed. So much so that, if dignity and +triumphant reason had allowed, I would even have called her back at +once, and challenged her to explain her words; which (as I said before) +is the last thing they can do. However, upon second thoughts I found it +wiser to leave her to herself, which would be a miserable self; when +reflection, which is a liquid operation with every true woman, should +have set her straight again. + +But, thanks be to the Lord, who has made us real men, and given us power +to exert our brains, without pit-pat of the heart to distract them at +every pulse! Although I was not in the calmest mood for thinking, +because I had never had such a row with Grace before (and she was a +darling soul, whenever she let her mind come afterwards), nevertheless +my road was clear enough before me. "If I am to be watched," thought I, +"and everything is to be put upon a business footing, the sooner I +assert myself the better. I have talked rather big perhaps, because she +provoked me, and I am bound to have something to show for it. I will +strike a stroke at once. I will go and see my Princess." + + + + +CHAPTER XVI + +INTERNATIONAL ELEMENTS + + +But, alas, this was easier said than done, like most things in this +world of words. When I had put myself into choice apparel, with hat and +tie exhibiting my College colours--which we should have carried to the +head of the river, if fate had not swept me from the New College +boat--and when I had impeached that fate again, for not affording me my +brother Harold's face, yet resolving to brazen it out, had appeared +inside the lower door of St. Winifred's stronghold (which I knew how to +open by the owner's counsel)--instead of finding things in their wonted +peace, orderly, picturesque, in statuesque repose, at a glance I +descried a very warlike change. + +There was Stepan with a long gun, and cartridges enough in the bandoleer +on his braided frock to account for all the civic force, as well as half +of Aldershot; and behind him a score of fellows no less martial. Both +the gigantic dogs were loose, and equally resolute against invasion; +even little Allai was in a clump of trees, with a dagger as long as +himself in both hands, and his white teeth ground against all Albion. + +In the name of wonder, what could be in the wind? Just like my luck of +course it was, at a most important moment, to hit upon something far +more momentous to the very people I was come to move. + +"Good Stepan, I pray thee to communicate unto me the signification of +the matters I behold." For I knew that this trusty Caucasian had picked +up a bit of our language, and preferred the long bits. He rolled his +fine eyes, which were big enough for mill-stones, and in his still +bigger mind revolved the sounds which had vainly reached his ears. "What +are you up to now?" I amended my enquiry; and having heard the milk-boy +say something to that tune, when they declined so much of heaven in his +cans, he bowed his head magnificently, and said, "All right." + +This is the first consolation found by a foreigner in our language. It +is courteous to ourselves as well, and shows confidence in our country. + +"What a fool you are!" I cried, with a Briton's low ingratitude; and +then I saw the stately figure of Sûr Imar coming towards me. This king +of the mountains looked as calm as if he had been girded with ancestral +snow. There was no sort of weapon in his broad white belt, and no menace +worse than a hospitable smile upon his large fair countenance. He took +me by both hands, with a tenderness for the left, which proved how kind +his memory was, and led the way to a seat beneath the ivied wall, and +looked at me as if he liked me. + +"I have been expecting you for many days," he said; and nothing but a +little turn of voice just here and there could have led one to suppose +that he was not of English birth; "why have you never come to show me +whether I am a good physician?" + +I gave him all true reasons, that I had been away, and occupied with a +number of home cares when at home, and I spoke of my parents in a way +which he approved; and then I was led on by his kindness so that I asked +whether he was quite at leisure. + +"Even more than usual," he answered with a smile. "We have stopped our +little operations for the afternoon; because we have been admonished by +a kind friend that some little attack upon our place may be expected." + +"Well, you are a cool hand!" was almost upon my lips; but a glance at +him prevented any personal remark. He was not the sort of man to be +dealt with thus. But I resolved at least to be straightforward with him. + +"Sûr Imar, I must not come here under false pretences. The fact is +simply this, and I wish to tell you first, for no blame can possibly +attach to her, and I have not told her of it. But I love your daughter, +Dariel." + +He looked at me with some surprise, but no sign of resentment; and I +met his clear gaze firmly, trying at the same time to look braver than I +felt, for he took a long time before he answered. + +"Ah, you little know what you are bringing upon yourself. For the sake +of your friends you must overcome--you must put it down at once; before +it gets stronger, quench it. For the sake of all who love you, and all +your hopes in life, you must conquer it, abolish it, annihilate it. You +are a man of strong will, if I have any knowledge of the English face." +His tone and manner were of friendly advice, rather than of stern +forbiddance. + +"I know my own mind on this subject," I replied, "and nothing will alter +it. Whatever the consequence may be to myself, I shall go on unless +there is fear of harming her." + +"There is fear of harming her, very great fear of it. Perhaps you have +the right to know. That depends upon yourself. Tell me, for I am at a +loss to understand, how long this has been, and how it can have +happened; for surely it is of short opportunity." + +"That is true enough, and too true;" for although it had been going on +with me for months, there had not been half the opportunities I longed +for; "but it has been growing very rapidly, Sûr Imar, although there +have been so few interviews, and the first of them quite a one-sided +one. In fact I have had very little chance as yet--one occasion I lost +altogether, and I did not make the best of another. Oh, no, I have +scarcely had any proper chances yet." + +"Be thankful that it is so, my friend. It will be my duty to prevent +their increase." Dariel's father smiled at his own words, with a sense +of humour which I did not share. "But just have the kindness, for I have +the right to know, to tell me how there can have been any interviews at +all. My daughter has been brought up in England mainly, and resembles in +many points an English young lady, rather than a Lesghian; but----" + +"It has never been any fault of hers at all. Altogether my fault, what +little fault there has been. But I hope, if you don't encourage me, Sûr +Imar, you will take good care not to let anybody else." + +"That is rather a surprising demand;" he spoke so gravely that it was +my turn to smile at the modesty of my own request. "Because you are +prohibited, all the world must be so. But tell me how you fell into this +sad mishap." + +"That I shall never consider it, Sûr Imar, however hopeless my prospect +may be. Already I feel that my life has been exalted, my standard +elevated, my character in every way----" + +"I am sorry to hurry you, Mr. Cranleigh, in the course of your +self-congratulations; but some invasion of our refuge may be expected +now at almost any moment. And afterwards there may not be good +opportunity of speaking." + +Thereupon I told him, as briefly as I could, how my admiration first +began, and how it had become entire devotion, in spite of the niggardly +occasions it had found, and that now I set before me but one object in +the world, and cared not for obstacles, denials, scruples, opinion of +others, or perdition of myself--in for it I was, and go through with it +I would. Then he stopped me, as if I spoke at random. + +"Did you begin it, sir, in this lofty manner? Were all these fine +sentiments already in your mind, when you peeped through the hedge at my +daughter?" + +"Sir, you exaggerate that small proceeding; and I am not a bit ashamed +of it now," I replied, "because of the glorious results it has +produced." + +"I am a little inclined to think that I hear a thumping"--in my heart +there was one of the biggest thumpings ever known, as I defied him thus, +and he disarmed me in that manner. "Is it the arrival of your Civic +Force?" + +The Peelers, the Coppers, the Bobbies, there they were, beyond all +doubt; and I believe that I shall pay the Police-rate--our tribute to +the powers invisible--for the rest of my life without a growl, because +of the moment of their knocking at that door. + +"Stop, sir," I shouted, as the Prince was marching off, in his leisurely +style--for nothing ever made him hurry--"there is one thing I have +forgotten. Fasten up the dogs. I was ordered especially to tell you +that; otherwise the poor things may be shot." + +"Dogs must take their chance in a conflict of mankind. But I leave them +to you, Mr. Cranleigh." I knew not then that the true Caucasian is never +brought up to love animals, and I wondered to find him so unjust. If a +man likes to rush into a conflict, well and good. But to let a dog +sacrifice himself to loyal feeling, appears to me unrighteous on the +master's part. So I ran for my life, and caught _Kuban_ and _Orla_ (who +would have rushed point-blank at the muzzle of a cannon), and with much +difficulty, and some help, thumped them into their kennels. + +Meanwhile the kicking at the upper door, and the shouting of hoarse +voices, and the hoisting of coned heads between the ivied battlements, +were waxing every moment; and so was the ferocity of the warriors +inside, who had not enjoyed a fight, perhaps, ever since they came to +England, the country of policemen, who mainly beat white gloves. But the +master of the place ordered all his henchmen back, and made them stand +their murderous guns against the peaceful ivy. + +Then he swang on its pivot the bar of the door, which had been +readjusted since Slemmick dashed through, and throwing it wide he stood +among the foes, and spoke. + +"This is a very great commotion you are raising. Is there law in this +land, that such things are allowed?" + +We beheld a large force of constables outside, as if much resistance had +been expected; and some of the mounted police were present to intercept +any runaway. "Sir, there is law in the land; and under it I hold a +search-warrant of these premises, with orders to arrest all persons +here, in case of certain discoveries. Sergeant, you will see that no one +leaves the place, without my permission. Now, sir." + +Exhibiting his warrant, the chief officer fixed keen eyes upon Sûr +Imar's face, and scanned with stern suspicion the tranquil smile and the +very peaceful aspect. "To the mill first! To the mill at once!" he +shouted, with some show of temper, being annoyed, as I could see, by the +calmness of this reception. "Sir, will you have the kindness to inform +me, why the mill is not at work, as usual?" + +"It was scarcely worth while, when I expected you, to begin work, and +then be interrupted." + +"You expected me, sir? What the devil do you mean?" cried the officer, +as one in a fury. + +"For some little time," Sûr Imar answered, with one of his most majestic +bows, "I have looked forward to this pleasure; but until this morning I +could not be sure of the hour most convenient to you. But according to a +proverb of your country, 'better late than never,' sir. The mill is at +your service, and all that it contains. I have also provided some +refreshment for your men. Not such as I could wish, but what you call +'rough and ready.'" + +"And you have laid it out in the mill! The very place we were to have +broken up! Of course, you have had time to clear everything away. It is +a farce, sir, a farce, to carry out our orders now." + +"It would be that at any time, for you never should have received them. +There is in this country, though the constitution is the noblest in the +world--which generally means the least corrupt--very imperfect +communication between the working departments. Perhaps you will +encourage your men to search; while I am proving it needless. That would +be of a piece with your other arrangements. That is not your style of +business? Nay, but feeding is. I perceive that your men have walked far, +good sir. I entreat you to let them recruit their strength. Stepan, +bring two more chairs this way. Gentlemen, I hope that you can manage +roast-beef cold. If the date had been more definite, we could have shown +more hospitality." + +"These things are beyond my understanding," said the officer, gazing at +his men, who stood strictly at attention, with eyes very right for the +great sirloin; "I have never been more astonished in my life. Will you +give me your word, sir, that no one shall leave the place? Then I see no +good reason against a little refreshment, while you are explaining this +strange state of things to me. Members of the Force, all fall to! Ha, +what perfect discipline!" + +I scarcely know when I have been more pleased, in my little way of +regarding things, than I was at that moment to see everybody converted +from the track of war, as one might say, to the course, or (as might be +considered even better, when the fork takes its place as the knife's +better half) the chairs--the comfortable dining-chairs of peace. Gallant +as any known soldier on the globe, which can show more varieties of them +than of soil or climate, is the true British Peeler in quest of +promotion; and these were all picked men, as they soon began to prove; +and a warm sense of Providence arose within me, at the privilege of +seeing them pitch into the victuals, instead of storming Caucasus. + +"I am not intelligent of British manners," quoth Sûr Imar to the chief +officer, "as if I had the honour, sir, of belonging to your island. But +so far as a foreigner may understand your race, I trust that they will +make progress now." + +"Like a house on fire," replied the officer, with a bow, and perhaps +some inclination to do better with his lips, than discipline as yet +encouraged. "Sir, I understood that you were going to show me +something." + +"Sir, in my native land we have a manner, suggested perhaps by the +rigour of the climate, of producing a savoury broil at short notice. +Measures to that effect were taken upon your first application at my +door; and if you will do me the honour of coming to my room, I would ask +for the advantage of your opinion on that subject. I trust that Mr. +George Cranleigh will join us." + +"Mr. Cranleigh! Is this Sir Harold Cranleigh's son?" the officer +enquired, and a very gentlemanlike expression, which had been dawning on +his austere features, became established there for the rest of the day. +"After you, sir. After you!" with a bow that did credit to the Force, he +protested; and soon he held his own in a spirited discussion upon the +most effective form discovered for a carving-knife. + +"Well, sir, what report am I to make?" he asked, in a very proper frame +of mind, when now there was little left, and still less wanted; +"according to instructions, made strict search of suspected premises, +encountered no resistance, found nothing in contravention of the law, +but excellent dinner prepared for us. Embraced the opportunity, +according to precept and example of superior officers; found no +occasion to take any one in charge, and know no more than we knew +before." + +"You shall know more than you knew before. You shall not return without +perfect satisfaction as to the question which brought you here. You have +exhibited the common-sense, the self-restraint, and the consideration +which English officials alone display. You perceived that it would be +what you call a farce, to search the suspected premises, when you found +that your visit was expected. But the gendarmery of any other country +would have wreaked their anger and disappointment upon the suspected +objects. They would have shattered my machinery, sir; and that would +have been a heavy blow to me. I have naturally been indignant at the low +suspicions entertained of me. Otherwise I would have routed them, by +referring your chiefs to the Foreign Office. One word there would have +saved all this trouble. But now you shall understand this mighty secret; +and so shall Mr. Cranleigh, if he cares to know it." + +With these words our kind host left the table, and crossed the room to a +large cupboard, which he unlocked, and took from it a box containing +things that jingled. This box he placed between us with the cover off, +and we saw a quantity of small metallic objects, of very queer forms and +various construction, like pieces of a Chinese puzzle. Sûr Imar stood +regarding us with a smile; for he saw that neither of us was a whit the +wiser. + +"Those are the products of my mill," he said; "no very portentous +secret; but it might be fatal to my object, if my little scheme were to +find its way prematurely into the public Press. Therefore, I will ask +you, Mr. Officer, not to enter this in your report, though you are at +liberty to mention it in confidence to your chief. Mr. Cranleigh, I am +sure, will not speak of it at all, if I put it to him so. Now, what do +you call these little things?" + +"Couldn't guess to save my life," the officer replied, as he fingered +one or two; "artificial insects, spiders, tadpoles, shrimps, or +dragon-flies--no, that won't do; I give it up, Sir Imar." + +"I know what it is," I said, not by any stroke of genius, but through my +brother's workshop; "it is all of it type, of some queer sort, but what +the metal is I have not the least idea." + +"Type it is, as you perceive. But to what language it belongs, I doubt +whether even the British Museum could tell you. For the very simple +reason that nothing has been printed in that language yet. It is type of +the Lesghian alphabet, the first that has ever been cut, or cast, or in +any other manner fashioned. Our language is a very fine one, infinitely +the finest of all the forms of speech in the long tract of mountains. +But nothing in it has been printed yet. We are obliged to have recourse +to Arabic, if we desire to publish anything. And not only that, but the +children even of our noblest families have not the least idea--Officer, +I see that you are pressed for time; but if you had leisure to see me +work this press, not with those castings, but the larger form, the +capitals in fact, the coarse capitals, which we turned out first,--for +we had to feel our way,--I am almost sure that you would agree with +me--" + +"I am sure that I should, sir. No doubt about that. I never saw anything +so beautiful in my life. But we have exceeded our time, Sir Imar. Thank +you--well, I will taste a toss of that liqueur. Upon my word, you know +the right thing all round! Sir Imar, your best health! Trappistine is +not a patch on it. Beg pardon, Sir Imar, for having hit your gate so +hard. I am not quite a literary man myself, but am able to allow for all +in that way situated. Good-bye, Sir Imar, and if any one encroaches upon +the freedom of the Press, for the folk about here are not like us, just +one line to Scotland Yard--a cigar, sir? Yes, it will enable me to +think. And I shall take that young fellow's horse back to the station." + +Sûr Imar sat down, while I went to see them off; and outside the upper +door they gave three cheers. "Wonderful old chap! Grand old cock!" the +officer said to me as I offered him a light; "English Aristocracy not a +patch upon him for cooking a dinner or for languages. But as mad as a +March hare; what a pity! Don't he know what is good, though? Mr. +Cranleigh, attend to me. A man who can do French things to satisfy an +Englishman--that's what I call international, and no mistake!" + + + + +CHAPTER XVII + +PEPPERCORNS + + +Before I went away, which I was obliged to do without even a glimpse of +Dariel, her father very kindly put this question to me, "Do you really +wish to know more, my friend, of the scheme which has brought me to this +lonely valley, and kept me occupied here so long, in the hope that I may +be of service to the race which has trusted and loved me, but received +from me as yet no better reward than disaster and war? You are eager to +be told? Then if you can come on Saturday, when the work of the day has +been accomplished, you shall hear, not of that alone, but of things +which have befallen me, from which you will perceive most clearly that +the greater the distance preserved henceforth between Mr. Cranleigh and +all Caucasians, the better it will be for his welfare and that of all +his relations." + +Now it is useless for me to trouble anybody, even if anybody would be +troubled, with all the wild thoughts that came into my head, and all the +sad things that would not let my heart alone, as I went with this burden +of doubt to bear. It must not be supposed for a moment, because I have +chanced not to touch upon the matter, that I had cast away all sense of +duty to my relatives in this adventure. The home, and the farm, and the +welfare of the family had not been impaired by a single penny, through +what some might call the distraction of my mind. Only let every one +attend to business, as I had never failed to do all this time, and what +a different place the world would be! And as for disturbing my father +and mother, with any description of what had happened to myself, when +the chances were that all of it would come to nothing--that would indeed +have been a wicked thing to do, in spite of all their preference for +Harold. + +So clear was I from doubt upon that score, and all my proceedings had +been so blameless, ever since that casual "peep through the hedge,"--as +Dariel's father called it,--that instead of any squeamishness or +self-reproach, I had two points to dwell upon of maltreatment to myself. +Why had I been sent to London on a special errand, and then deprived of +all chance of completing it? And again, had I been told of that hateful +Prince Hafer, and purposely goaded into just wrath against him, simply +that I might break forth into rude behaviour, and so be dismissed as a +savage, who could not control himself before a lady? + +That supposition was too wretched to be borne with, not for the low +esteem of me it implied, but rather on account of the paltriness imputed +to the highest, and noblest, and loveliest of her sex. Against all that +my truer mind revolted, and my own experience did the like. But men have +a trick of saying such small things about women (when the feminine back +is turned), partly because they think it lofty so to speak, and partly +because of the poets and sages who have set them this example, and +partly (a very small part, let us hope) in right of their own +experience. And these things come into a man's lower mind, when +depression sinks it in the mud-deposits of the heart. + +"Halloa, George Cranleigh! What a blue study you must be in! Don't I +carry a light at my fore-peak? And if you can't see it you might smell +it." + +It was rather dark as I came near home, after that interview with the +police, and the trees at the back of the Hall were thick; but I might +have seen Stoneman and his cigar, if I had been at all on the lookout. +"Come in," he went on; "I waylaid you because I want a chat with you +most uncommonly, and they told me at your den that you were gone this +way. Fishing again? No rod this time! But perhaps you leave it at some +farmhouse." This man had his little faults; and among them was a trick +of suggesting a handy fib, and then smashing it, if adopted; the which +is not a friendly trick. "Not been fishing, eh? Something better, I +daresay. Well, come in here; I want to show you something good, and the +wonderful fellow who does it." + +This was as dark as the sky itself to me. But I followed him, for he was +a leading man; and in little matters I submit my steps to theirs. +Verily, on this occasion I did not walk amiss. For when we were in +Jackson Stoneman's little crib, such as any man of nous, with a big roof +over his head, is fain to keep for his own better moments, there was +something which no magnificence can bring home into the simple human +breast. Who is the most delightful writer of our race, since Heaven took +Shakespeare away in hot haste, when his hand was too close on the Tree +of Life? The answer, although so long in coming, comes louder, as every +year adds to the echo--"William Makepeace Thackeray." + +That man of vast brain, with the fresh heart of a child, would have been +pleased to see what I beheld; and his tender touch only could have +touched it off. A bright fire was burning in a low, plain grate, there +was not a whiff of smoke throughout it, and in front of the red clear +glow, at a distance nicely calculated, stood a beautiful machine with +its back to us. Kneeling on the rug was a long-sided man, so intent on +his work that he never heard the door, with a silver spoon (once +apostolic perhaps) in his right hand, and a long slender crook in his +left. What he was tending could not be seen as yet; but a glorious +fragrance held possession of the air, and wafted a divine afflatus to +any heart not utterly insensible. Sûr Imar's broil was not a patch upon +it. + +"Ach! it is to spoil everyting dat you are here." The artist frowned and +grunted, without getting up, as Stoneman introduced me. "My name is +Hopmann; but dese bairds, what will dere names be, if I interrupt?" + +Peeping in over the lid of the alcove, which had an enamel lining, I saw +four partridges hung skilfully from hooks, with a swivel to each; so +that every bird might revolve with zeal, or pause with proper feeling, +as his sense of perfection and of duty bade him. While in the tray +beneath them, some clear brown gravy was simmering, with a beaded eddy +where the basting trickled. In and out among them, the silver spoon was +gliding most skilfully and impartially, administering a drip to each, +as sweetly and fairly as their own dear mother did it, in their happy +nest. But instead of their dear mother, alas, it was not even an +Englishman who was tending them, but a German doctor with a very red +face, gazing most severely at them through big silver spectacles. "Not +you look! Not you come near!" this gentleman cried, as he gave me a +push, in return for the bow I offered him. + +"Come in here, George," said Stoneman, with a wink at me. "Let him +alone, and I will tell you all about him. He is the best fellow that +ever lived; but you will never get it out of his head that almost +everything we do is wrong." + +"Everyting, everyting! Not almost, but everyting the Englishman do +wrong," the Herr Doctor shouted, as Stoneman led me into the next room, +where a snug supper-table was set out for the three of us. + +"Rather a queer customer, isn't he?" said my host; "but I have known him +more than ten years now, and got ten times as fond of him every year. He +is the kindest-hearted fellow I ever came across; and there is scarcely +anything he cannot do. He is well-known in London; he might be Professor +of this, that, and the other. But he has not a particle of ambition, +though he values his profession mightily. He is fond of money, of +course; but chiefly for the sake of his widowed mother, and two sisters +whom he supports. You know that old Chalker of Cobstone Hill went the +way of all flesh last month, leaving a large practice, all abroad. Well, +I persuaded Hopmann to take to it, for they were paying him shamefully +in London, for a lot of work at one of the hospitals. He has only been +here about a fortnight yet, but he is sure to get on; he must get on; +nothing comes amiss to him. And I want you to help him, wherever you +can: you need have no fear, he is quite tip-top--too good a great deal +for a country practice. But he would never do in London; he is too +honest--sees through any humbug in a moment, and would tell the patient +so, though he were of the Royal family. But you should see Hopmann with +some old woman, who will never say 'thank you,' or pay him sixpence. +That is what I admire in a man; and that tells for him too in the end, +you may be sure. But come along, he is calling us, and he will be in a +fury, if we let all his beautiful cookery spoil. All right, Hopmann, hop +along, old fellow. A metal dish apiece for us, piping hot." + +"And ze last baird, he stay here and keep hot himself! And he become ze +property of ze first gent zat is ready. Now, Mr. Cranleigh, you tell +truth! You never taste bartrich before. For why? Because you cannot cook +them in this land. You take away everyting that gives what you call ze +flavour, that penetrates ze whole system of ze baird. Ach! I will cook +again for you, you shall see. Shackson is not half so wise." + +I was fortunate enough to please him, and not in words alone, for the +effect of my bit of lunch had quite worn off. In a very short time (as +happens now and then when two men widely different in their main lines +meet) our little corners, which are the clinging points, had fitted very +nicely into one another; and I longed to know more of the man, because I +knew so much of him already. For who cares to get nearer to a man who +keeps his distance? + +"Hopmann is a queer fellow in his way, but in a very good sort of a +way," said Jackson Stoneman, as we two filled our pipes, and he lit his +half-a-crown cigar, which I would not have smoked for half-a-crown; "I +am glad to see you enter into each other's merits. Now, will you fall in +with a little plan which I have conceived for the good of us all? My +German friend is an excellent shot. He can knock a bird over, as well as +he can cook it. He was out with us on the first, when George Cranleigh +would not come. Two or three swells were inclined to laugh, but he very +soon turned the laugh on them. Garrod said that he never saw such a +hand, which was not very graceful to the man who pays his wages. I have +not yet found anything that Hopmann cannot do." + +"Shackson, there are two tings vot he cannot do. He cannot ride very +well ze horse, and he cannot listen to his own braises." + +"Never mind, he will very soon learn both accomplishments, and then he +will be absolutely perfect. But we have a little campaign in view for +the day after to-morrow. We have only been round the outskirts yet, we +have not touched the best part of the shooting. Herr Doctor, will you +come with your 16-bore, that wiped the eye of several of our thundering +twelves, and show us straight powder on Thursday?" + +"I vill only come on ze onderstandings of before--that all ze bairds I +do shoot shall belong to me, to take home." + +"You shall carry off, and cook with their trails in, every blessed bird +you knock over. And now about you, George. I have never seen you shoot, +but I hear you are very good. Are you afraid to try your hand against +this mighty German?" + +This put me a little on my mettle, as was meant. Not that I ever cared +to shoot in competition; for that, as with fishing or any other friendly +sport, to my mind kills the enjoyment. Moreover I had refused Stoneman's +invitation, from a sort of pride--a very false pride it might be--about +walking by his leave upon land that had been ours. And I had taken no +certificate this year. + +"I'll tell you what I'll do," I said. "I won't bring my gun, for I have +taken no licence, and I would not shoot without. But I'll come and work +the dogs for you; they know me as well as they know Garrod, and I shall +enjoy it quite as much." + +"But Hopmann has taken no licence, either. As if any one would dare to +ask you about that, for shooting round here! I should like to see them +ask him even, when he is with me." + +"For me it is to my conscience so,"--the German had a great gift of +winking both eyes, through his spectacles, with rapid alternation; "I am +not a subject of this realm. I make game of ze Game-laws." + +However, I was not to be persuaded; and when the day came, there were +guns enough without mine, and far too many, as it seemed to me, for a +free beat and small enclosure. Luckily there was no covert-shooting yet; +but one or two of the dogs had most narrow escapes, and I was obliged to +interfere sometimes, and declare that I would walk them all back to +kennel, unless the men tried to be more careful. One dog was my own, a +very handsome lemon-and-white setter-bitch, who dropped to shot almost +before you could see the smoke; and yet somebody put a shot through her +ear, though I did not find it out till afterwards, or home she would +have gone, whatever they might think at losing the best of the bunch, as +one might say. + +For there were six guns, sometimes close together,--a dangerous affair +for a country like that, even when every man knows his neighbour, and +each is an experienced and careful shot; most Cockneyfied too, for the +look of the thing; and I had a great mind to keep away from them. But +Stoneman would not hear of that; he had invited Lord Melladew, so he +said, purely as a compliment to me, and how could I refuse to come with +him? To this I could make no reply, being taken up with my own affairs +to such a degree that I was not at home concerning other people's +doings. The young Earl of Melladew was staying at the "Bell,"--which +used to be called the "Cranleigh Arms," until we went down in the +world,--and there he had his valet, and artistic outfit, and all his +large ideas, in the long room with the magnificent view, where our +tenant used to dry his onions. Now I am the very last to say a word +against people who have gone up in life, by merits which have been +denied to us. The first peer had proved himself a fine man of business, +and made an exemplary fortune by lucrative Army-contracts during the +Crimean war. If he compressed some dead cows in his hay, and compelled +his old sheep-dogs to serve their time still by posthumous fidelity in +the form of mutton,--as war correspondents on very short commons were +ungrateful enough at that time to aver,--all those and greater errors he +had redeemed by having a grandson as unlike him as possible. + +This young nobleman (for so he might be called) had many very excellent +and amiable points. He was gentle, generous, and upright, more eager to +please than is altogether safe, except in a very rustic neighbourhood; +and even less conceited and affected in his manners than a young man of +good looks, fair position, and literary tendencies ought to be, for his +friends to consider him natural. Everybody in our village said that +without Farmer Jarge to certify it, they never could have taken his +Lordship for a Lord; though, considering the Boards, and the Hyænas this +and that, and the Parson that couldn't turn his coat-tails up till a +secondary motion put him into his own chair in the Vestry, there was no +call for any one to feel surprise if the great folk came down, and made +the little ones go up. Lord Melladew also was enthusiastic as to the +delights of country-life, and the glories of British industry; and this +helped him much with my sister, who never could understand why we should +be starved by foreign produce, when the land, and the people, and the +sky above our heads were exactly the same as she could remember always, +and there was as much to pay for everything as ever. + +But our young nobleman proved most clearly, with an elegant sonnet in +the "Cobham Comet," entitled "Sit down to your own desserts," that +prosperity was to return to our land, and the Frenchman and Belgian be +blown away by volleys of grape and apple shot from the bulwark of +Britain at Farmer Bandilow's farm. Half a million fruit-trees would be +planted in October, and ten million bushels of apples, melons, peaches, +plums, grapes, pine-apples, apricots, pears, &c., would confront the +poor foreigner next August if he dared to attempt a landing. + +My father was scarcely so sanguine, but said, "Let them have their try, +George, if rich people find the money. Things can be no worse, and some +poor fellows may find employment for the winter. Perhaps Mr. Stoneman +will take it up." + +Stoneman, however, instead of doing that, showed an unaccountable +contempt and bitterness, not only towards the scheme itself, but all who +took any share in it. There seemed to be something in the matter that +touched him far more closely than any question of agriculture. Was it +Lord Melladew's long sojourn at the "Bell," and his frequent visits at +our cottage? Even now, with this young man his guest for the day, and +behaving most inoffensively, the grim stockbroker marched on in such a +manner, that I thought it my duty to remonstrate. "You haven't shot him +yet," I said, as we stood behind the others, "because it is not dark +enough. But if he gets peppered in the dusk, I shall know whose pot it +came from." + +Stoneman gave me a grin, and behaved a little better, and did his best +to be polite at luncheon-time, and after the narrow shaves of the +morning things went on more carefully; for the men who knew nothing +about a gun had now learned to be afraid of it. Until, with the sun +getting low behind a wood, we came to a bit of gorse-land having a steep +fall towards a valley, favourite harbour for a fox, in the days when my +chief business was such pleasant sport and jollity. There were narrow +rides cut through the furze down hill, and across them tussocks of +welted fern, and strigs of moots that cropped up again, after the +fuelling had been cleared. + +"Why, this is the place where the yellow bunnies live," said Stoneman, +as he opened a gate for us, and we stood on the crest of the furzy +slope. "I know a man, and a clever fellow too, who has offered a guinea +apiece for them. He has given up business, and set up his staff in a +wild part of Wales; and there he is going in for a breed of these yellow +rabbits. He has got a big name for the fur, and expects to cut out +Chinchilla with it. I have heard of our golden bunnies lots of times, +and seen some of them once or twice. Shall we get a sample for him, and +then offer him live bunnies, if he jumps at it?" + +All agreed cheerfully to this, and the dogs were taken up, while the +men, peeping down the steep ridges, got a shot or two at any of the +coney race who might be dining carelessly. Then, as all of these proved +to be of the common grey sort, Garrod's boy was sent home for a couple +of rough terriers, to run the furze thickets, while the guns should +watch the rides, for two or three yellow fellows had skipped away +unscathed. + +That boy took a long time in carrying out his message, and when he came +back with his father behind him, the dusk of September was settling in +the valley, while a wisp of silvery vapour stole along the brown +halberds of the gorse, and the russet clumps of bramble. But the +hillside now was ringing with the merry yelps of dogs, or the squeak of +some puppy in a tangled grip, while the low covert ruffled, or was +channelled here and there, with the sway of some resolute terrier hot in +chase. + +This holiday had been a rare enjoyment to me, though crossed with +anxiety now and then, among so many barrels governed less by experience +than excitement. Most of all, as I said, about Lord Melladew, who strode +along so poetically, clad in green velveteen, beautifully made, but +terminating unluckily in very smart buff gaiters short and +spruce--concerning him I had prayed all day that he were safe back in +the onion loft. Not that he carried a gun to his own disadvantage as the +reckless do, neither did he fire at random, but was well content, in the +manner of the public, to shout according to the hit or miss. + +"Shut up all," I called out sharply; "too dark, too dark! I expect to +see at least a dog shot, every moment." + +A dog indeed! If I had said a man, and that man a live Earl--for bang, +bang, went the guns, just as if I had never spoken, and four or five +puffs of smoke, as if the hillside were on fire, rose from the avenues +poor bunny had to cross. "Yellow! Did you see, Shorje? yellow as ze gold +is!" The German doctor shouted as he pointed down a ride. "Shackson shot +too, but ze rabbit is to me. I will have ze guinea. Ach, mein Gott!" + +Instead of a rabbit giving the last kick of death, what did we see +half-way down the slope but two buff coneys flying ever so much faster +than any coney ever flew before, each flashing in front of each other, +as if father fox were after both of them. "I am blowed if it isn't my +Lord," cried Garrod; "the foreigner have shot him morshial!" + +"Vat you know, ze clods-having-to-hop-by-night-as-well-as-by-day fe-loe? +But keep your business, good fe-loe. If I have put ze shot in, I can +pull him out again. You shall see." + +Guns were laid aside, and the doctor left there (for he seemed to make +nothing of peppering a lord, in comparison with basting partridges), and +down the steep pitch we raced after the Earl, who with a long start was +going like the wind. Do all we might, we could not get near him, until +he was brought up by a heavy post and rail, where the Dorking road winds +along the bottom. There he struck his chest, and in spite of being +winded, did no small credit to his lungs, by a power of shrieks that +rent the valley. + +"What a coward!" cried Stoneman, who had kept up with me, though we both +had "gone croppers" once or twice. "He is all there for holloaing, at +any rate!" + +But the worst of the business was yet to come. As we drew a pull of +breath, before rushing to the rescue, we heard a sudden clatter in the +road below, then we saw a wild dash of something dark, and a woman lay +on her back under a low tree. I leaped the rail fence, to which the Earl +was still clinging, and there lay my sister Grace, in her riding-habit, +while the sound of the runaway pony's hoofs came clanging round the +corner. + +I lifted my darling sister Grace, and set her against the hedge-bank, +and my heart went out of me, as I knelt and whispered to her. If it had +been even Dariel, could my terror have been so terrible? I pulled her +riding-gloves off, and found a penny in them, the change the dear frugal +soul had taken from the last turnpike gate she paid. And then when I saw +her sweet kind face as white as a shroud, and the bright eyes closed, +and the long black lashes that I used to vow she dyed--when I wanted to +put her in a passion--lying upon the waxen cheeks, without caring a dump +what any other chap might think, I lifted up my voice and wept. + +[Illustration: "_Her sweet kind face as white as a shroud._"] + +"Shush, shush, don't be a fool, Shorje," said some fellow, pushing me +away; "ze gairl is only what you called shtunned. All raight, all +raight, in ten skips of ze vlea. My tear, I am ze dochtor." + +I went across the road, and stood by Jackson Stoneman, who was standing +as firm as a rock, and pretending to play with the whip he had picked +up. "Look here," I said, "she will never pay another pike." + +"Take a turn with me, my dear fellow," he replied; "Hopmann will get on +better without us. My housekeeper's mother lives round the corner. +Though the Lord knows that if all we want is a woman-- Lord Melladew, I +am so sorry for your little accident. You mustn't wear yellow spats, the +next time you go shooting. Garrod will help you to your inn, and the +doctor will come, when he has seen to this more urgent case. Garrod, let +his lordship throw all his weight on you. Stop a moment. Send your boy +at full speed to 'The Bell,' and order their low four-wheeler here. He +is not to say why, for fear of frightening Lady Cranleigh. And let him +take that villain of a pony to 'The Bell.'" + +In less than an hour, I had the great joy of hearing that Grace was +quite conscious, and had no limbs broken, nor any other injury that a +few days would not cure. When the pony bolted at the shrieks and kicks +and swaying figure of his lordship, a branch across the road had swept +my sister from the saddle, but luckily it did not strike any vulnerable +part, unless the part that often wounds a man is such. In a word it was +her lump of hair, or what ladies call their _chignon_, into which she +was obliged to coil her tresses tight for riding, that received the +impact of the too obtrusive tree. But I scarcely knew what to conclude +about the doctor, or Stoneman himself, who had been so uneasy about a +young Earl hanging out so near our Grace, when, as sure as English words +were ever uttered by a German, I heard Hopmann whisper this condolence +to himself--"Zat was ze graidest shot as ever I did make. One fire, +leetle bepper, bring me down two bagients." + + + + +CHAPTER XVIII + +A LOVEBIRD + + +Thus again, without any effort of his own, was the clever stockbroker +quit of rivalry; for although the Earl did not leave the village for +some weeks, he was not in a condition to do much poetic wooing, even if +he could have found a partner. And this was not the only good result +from that serious double accident; for the necessity of daily enquiry at +our cottage became so pressing, and Stoneman so gallantly rose to this +occasion, that the stiffness and coldness which had hitherto marked my +mother's reception of him could no longer be maintained, but glided very +quietly into goodwill and gratitude. All of us began to forgive him, +more and more, for the crime of not belonging to an ancient county +family, while the merits of his affluence almost drove us to maintain +them against his own indifference. + +"You go along," I said, for I had come to know him now, and could talk +of his cash without tapping at it; "you know as well as I do, that the +first consideration with nine out of ten of us is--Money." + +"I am afraid it is," he answered, as he stopped to make a bow, across a +thousand cobblestones, to my sister, who was descending from the sky no +doubt to attend to her milk-pans, and to know of nothing else; "I am +afraid it is, with those who have not got it; and there is a great deal +to be said for them. But I should be ashamed if it were so, with those +who have obtained it. Moreover, it would be contrary to human nature, +for does any man value a thing that is his own? As long as it seems +beyond his reach, it is all that is lovely and charming; but the moment +he has reduced the _chose in action_, as the lawyers express it, into +possession, all its glory is gone, till he loses it again." + +"Very well. There is your _chose in action_ over there." I pointed to +the dairy window. "I shall take care to tell her how you mean to +estimate her, if ever she becomes your property." + +"For Heaven's sake," he cried, while he caught me by the sleeve, as if I +were going straightway to denounce him, "don't suppose that such impious +doctrines apply to--to the one exception of all human laws." + +"I am afraid that they do, and ever so much quicker than they apply to +money. But once more, when are you going to try your luck?" + +For he had pestered me perpetually about his feelings now, and I had +advised him not to be in too much of a hurry. I felt that he was further +on than I was, in acquaintance with the lovely object; for he must have +had about thirty opportunities, to my three, counting dog-dialogues and +everything. But he had not done half so much as I had; and women are +wise enough to take one deed deeper to the dear heart, than a hundred +thousand words. In fact, it is difficult to get that out again, if done +by a man of the right age and manner, and if they were sensitive just +then with fright. The thought of this bore me up against friend +Jackson's flowing opportunities, and made me an impartial critic of his +work. + +He looked at me uneasily, when I brought him to this point; and all his +experience in "carrying over," and contingoes, and settling days, and +whatever else they call it, was of very little use to him with such a +ticklish stock. + +"Come in here, George," he said; "how am I to talk, as if it were a +question of exchange and discount, when I see her bright hair dancing in +the sun like that? But let me look. Don't say a word, until she goes +away." + +"Here are two cart-saddles and a pair of blinkers, and a truss of clover +hay. If her young spring-carrots can dance through all that, they must +beat Berenice's and Helen's of Troy. Don't be quite a fool, Jack. You +ought to know that girls can't abide being stared at with their slops +on. They have got a finer word for it--peg something, in the novels. +But Grace never gets herself up for a rustic surprise, like those +fashionable dairymaids." + +"I should hope not indeed! She is nature itself. And all nature is +sweetest in the morning. But there is not a spark of poetry about you, +George. All that has gone into the female line. What would I give, to +see you frightfully in love!" + +The piercing glance he gave me completely turned the tables; but I +pulled him back so briskly that he came home to himself; for he was got +up very bucklish in some Volunteer apparel, on his way to a swell +rifle-meeting; and it may be imagined that he longed for Grace to look +at him, almost as much as he longed to look at Grace. However, that was +no concern of mine. He returned very modestly to his own affairs, and +sat down where he could not see the window. + +"Has she said anything about me lately? Does she seem to have the least +idea? You know how I have tried to keep myself in the background +according to your advice, which was most kindly meant. But meanwhile +other fellows have been making play. Thank God, we have settled +Melladew; I was most afraid of him. Coronet, and sonnets, and a head of +curly hair. Foremost of her sex although she is--but, no, what am I +talking of? Her mind is far too lofty. When I behold her in her graceful +simplicity, like an Angel ministering what they get out of the cows--but +allow me to hang that cart-saddle on the other peg, George." + +To my vexation there was Grace again, standing in the doorway, with a +great spoon in her hand--for a type of the greater one not so very far +away--giving a taste of some white stuff to old Sally, who was stooping +a hunchified back to save spilling. To see the light poise of the +youthful figure, and the merry smile while the white froth was tilted +carefully into that ancient mouth, little would you think that within so +short a period, all this bright life had missed the grave by half an +inch. + +"Thank God!" whispered Stoneman. "How little heed we take of their +goodness, George! All men in comparison ought to be killed." + +"Not a bit of it," I answered. "Perhaps Melladew ought. He couldn't +have made more row if he had been kilt, as an Irishman is being always. +But perhaps he could not help it; for it is his nature to." + +"In any other case I should not have blamed him much, though it is not +altogether perhaps the style of Englishmen. But one thing we always +forget--how intensely some people feel what to others is a flea-bite. +And the ankle is a very nasty place after all, though the shot only just +broke the skin, Hopmann says. You heard him claim the shot? Well, now he +puts it upon me! However, he is quite welcome, for the tale might go +against him with his 'bagients.' Ta, ta! I'm off to enquire for my lord, +and I always let him know where I come from. Won't Hopmann make a fine +thing out of this! I have lent him a trap and a man, to make the most of +it. The man drives like a fury and calls out to everybody, 'Can't +stop--very sorry--let them all know--the poor Hearl, he is in such +hagony!' Hopmann's new letter-box is full already, and his hat is a +hoarding of turnpike tickets." + +"What a friend you are! What a friend to have!" I exclaimed, as he +jumped upon his highly polished horse, for Grace had tripped away with a +little turn of neck, which meant, "Wouldn't you like to come with me?" +And Stoneman was hoping to get another glimpse from the saddle over the +palings. Ay, and he did so too, as the light in his eyes made clear to +me. + +A firm friend is likely to be a faithful lover, and a true husband when +the gloss is off the love; but whether Grace had any sense of this, or +even thought at all about him, was more than I could say at present. +Quick of perception as she was, it seemed almost impossible that she +could have failed to observe his attention, or it might be called his +entire devotion to her. Yet when I tried her with a lot of little +dodges, such as a brother must have at command, if he wants to keep time +with his sisters, she never turned a hair--as the sporting people +say--and she looked me out of countenance sometimes, as if I were +inferior to the female race. Knowing what she was, I was unable to +suppose that there could be any depth in her beyond my understanding, so +I said to myself, "Let her mind the milk. What can a sweet girl desire +beyond that?" + +To do good, to be kind, to be always cheerful, and to find their +happiness in making ours--that was the proper thing, when I was young, +for the rising generation of the better sex. Of our faults they must +have no knowledge, but be as hard as possible upon their own; and in +that particular they had every help from their own sex, whose time was +ripening into criticism. Somehow or other they have changed all that, +and flung themselves far into the opposite extreme. + +Nothing could have made me dwell upon such little things, unless there +had been one of them that was all the world to me. And while I was +endeavouring to explain my sister to the clearest of my understanding, +and blaming her for my failure, there must have been some other purpose +behind, which was even more than brotherly. I was able to give very good +advice to Jackson Stoneman, and he was quite right in adopting it; but +that masterful inaction did not seem to suit my case. What might be +going on even now--that was the great point for me to ascertain--in a +matter beyond all discretion or cold comfort? Saturday was come; and I +had been attending, with a grandeur of benevolence beyond all praise, to +a love-affair deeply interesting, but in which you might call me a +spectator only. Surely my own state of puzzle was enough, without trying +to make dovetails of another pair. + +Therefore, as soon as I had paid the men, at three o'clock that +afternoon, which was the proper time, I saddled Old Joe, and without a +word to Grace, who might think what she liked--let her mind her own +affairs--off I set for St. Winifred's valley, where I knew an old shed +that would entertain the horse. Let this old fellow get enough to eat, +which he might pull from the hayrick, and all time, all friends, any +fatherland would be just alike to him. + +The days were drawing in very fast, and although the sun was on the +shoulder of the hill, the sense of autumn and of night impending had +taken the cheer and the warmth away, and saddened the dignity of the +trees. My heart was beating fast, yet low, as I hurried down the slope +from the lonely shed: fast with some foolish jerks of hope that any +corner might show Dariel; yet low, as every corner went its way, without +any sign of my darling. When I came to the ruined chapel, and peeped in, +discovering only solitude, so flurried and tremulous was my condition--a +most unusual state for me--that the Lesghian chief, if he saw me thus, +might fairly think that some mischief from the old wound was at work +inside. To recover myself and appear before him in a decent manner, I +crossed the brook by a fallen tree, and wandered into the gloomy wood, +where the old approach had lost its way; and here I lingered so long +that dusk was deepening into darkness when I crossed the lonely stream +again. + +Fearing that Sûr Imar might suppose me to be careless, and having +recovered my self-command in right of much moralising, I entered by the +lower door, and walked across the grass towards the quarters where the +people lived. All was quiet, dull, and foggy, darker than the land +outside, and damp enough to give love itself a touch of rheumatic fever. +Most of the men were gone, as their happy fashion was on Saturday, to +fetch good things of victualling--for no cart came down the valley--and +other delights, which we are so glad to deny to one another. + +As I passed by a low ruined wall in the fog, I heard a click as of some +iron latch falling to, or flung to carelessly. This drew my attention +that way, and then a swish like the swing of a heavy cloak followed, and +then I saw a tall man coming from an angle in the wall that had a roof +to it. At the moment I was walking rather fast, and if I had continued +at that pace, my elbow and the stranger's might have struck one another; +for he was also walking fast, and his course--to use one of Slemmick's +words--was "slantindicular" to mine. He had not yet descried me, by +reason of the wall, and feeling that he had no right on these premises, +I drew back, and let him get in front of me. For I was never at all +comfortable about things here, since my interview with Nicolo. + +Keeping my distance carefully, I followed that man towards the +buildings, while I tried to make out enough of him to learn his rank and +age, and anything else that could be known. If he were to turn and +resent my vigilance, gladly would I have it out with him; for a little +fight, even if I got the worst of it, would have been a comfort to my +bruised spirit then. But the fellow never turned, and seemed to be quite +indifferent whether there was any one to heed him. As for his +appearance, I could make out very little, except that he was not an +Englishman. Dark as it was, I could have sworn to that; whether by his +walk, or dress, or figure, or what else, I cannot say; but at any rate +he was a foreigner; and I could almost answer for it that on his hip was +swung a sword, which would have made short work of me, had he been so +desirous. + +Instead of entering the passage of grey flint which led to the +households of the colony, the man I was following turned to the right, +where the wall curved in towards the upper door. _Kuban_ and _Orla_, who +dwelled for the best of their time in this part of the premises, came +forth and looked at him without a single sniff; and then lowered their +tails, and crawled away. "What a villain he must be!" thought I; "they +know him, but would rather not even speak to him." + +But the impression he had made upon them was far beyond this. To my +surprise, they condemned the entire human race for the moment, reasoning +(as we must have taught them to do) from the particular to the +universal. For when I passed and held out my hand, not a word would they +have to say to me, which perhaps was the better for my safety. Then as I +followed with my temper rising, and resolved to bring the man to book as +he unbarred the door, what did he do but with one great vault gain that +coign of reconnaissance where the watch-dog loved to sit, and plunge +from it into the world beyond, with some strange headgear shown between +the battlements, and then a clank of hard metal, and a heavy flap of +ivy. + +I have often been surprised, as every man must be, who lives to full +growth upon this wondrous earth; but this time my astonishment went +quite beyond its powers. Every one had always taken me for a great +jumper, but, to save my life, I could never have done that. I stood, and +looked up into the darkness of the sky, as if for some witness to +confirm my doubtful eyes; and then a deep conviction of the existence of +the Devil--which philosophers in mutinous ingratitude deny--came to my +aid, and calmed me with the sense of duty which his name inspires. And +now the two dogs, breathing calmly again, and with their tails +high-masted, came to apologise for that trimming which even they had +learned towards their dearest friend. Here was something genial; and I +forgave them, because I might have done the same, if touched with equal +insight. + +"I will get to the bottom of this," thought I, "though the scoundrel has +put the wall between us." For I knew not at all how to open that door, +even if it seemed desirable. With a quick step, therefore, I retraced my +course, while _Kuban_ and _Orla_ came after me, sniffing my track with +happy puffs, to be sure of something wholesome. Keeping clear of the +dwellings, I went back along the wall, to investigate the corner from +which that demon of mystery had emerged. What superstition can there be +in a Winchester and New College man, who has eaten for the Bar, and +knows something of Stockbrokers, and as much as is good of Solicitors? +But it is better to avoid such subjects now. + +Both dogs lay down at a certain spot, where a narrow track just visible +across the grass began; perhaps they were forbidden to come further down +that way. But I went on, treading gingerly, until I was stopped by a +pair of wire-doors. It was rather dark still, but not so murky as it had +been, for the moon began to lift herself a little through the mist. As +her faint light came glimmering over the black wall, I began to see what +the little structure was, and how it was sheltered and protected +overhead. Dariel had told me that she was very fond of birds, and had +some beauties of her own; and no doubt this was where she kept them. Now +if that hateful fellow with the strange headgear came out of this +enclosure, as appeared too manifest, it was equally plain that he must +have been inside it; and what could he be doing in this aviary so late, +unless the fair owner herself were there? + +My wrath and indignation knew no bounds. If I were being treated in this +perfidious way, what steps could be too strong or too insidious, if +they led to the confusion of the traitors? Though the dogs were as +silent as if they were carved in stone, I went back to them and +threatened them with quick and painful death, if they dared to enquire +into my proceedings. Then by a little reconnoitring I found a corner of +the netting which formed the outer fence, from which I could see into +the inner room, which had been impossible from the gate. I could have +opened that gate perhaps, but not without noise enough to attract +attention; and now I could see as well as if I were inside, for the +wire-mesh made no difference. + +At the end of the room which was nearest to me, and only a few yards +from the corner I had found, sat Dariel herself, with a purple cloak on, +or a mantle, or jacket--I never know the proper words, and it makes no +difference, except to women. Of the colour, I could not be sure by that +light; except that it was deep, and rich, and grand, and her white neck +shone forth it, like a hyacinth from dark tulips. There were two candles +burning on a rustic round table, and she, with her forehead gleaming +softly, kept her left hand partly closed, while the other hand went +round and round as if it were winding something slowly upon some little +object which I could not see; for around it fell the shadowy tresses +which had so often baffled me in quest of a sweet glance from her eyes. +Every now and then, I caught a glimpse of a very delicate and straight +nose (the beauty of which has never been surpassed), and once or twice +there came into view the perfection of a chin, a soft harmony conducting +from the roses of the lips to the lilies of the neck. All this was very +lovely, and my heart was wild about it; though my mind was fierce the +other way, that none was ever to be mine. For whom had she arrayed +herself in that homicidal beauty? + +But while I was grinding my teeth and wrinkling my forehead into +wire-work, she softly turned her gentle face, and my rage was gone as +darkness flies when the quiet moon arises. There were great tears +rolling, and wet eyes beaming, and the pity of a world of sadness +speaking in the eloquence of a silent mouth. Also with love's +vaticination I seemed to discover terror there, and the call for some +strong form to shield her from troubles and dangers menacing. "There has +been no flirtation here," thought I. "What a jealous fool I am! In this +there must be some dark distress. How could I think so of my Dariel!" +And when I beheld the next thing she did, my self-reproach grew deeper. + +For she opened the curve of her left palm, slowly and softly in fear of +rash release, keeping the fingers of the other hand in readiness for +repression; and there I saw, with his green fluff panting in a velvet +cradle, a small bird of bright plumage, with enquiring eyes regarding +her. He seemed to know her for his best friend, and though taken aback +by misfortune, to trust this member of the human race to do all that +mankind could do for him. + +Made of hard stuff as I am, I do not feel ashamed to say, that the pity +which is in all of us, drew straws from the candle and made bars along +the mist, when I saw what the girl I loved had done. That poor little +bird had a broken leg, newly broken by violence, and Dariel had been +gently binding the splintered shank together, with cotton wool and a +reel of silk, as I could see on the table, and a strip of cane from a +chair hard by; and now she was shaking one finger at him, to let him +know that fluttering is no remedy for affliction. + +But why did she cry so? She ought to be smiling and looking glad, when +the little chap's mate flew down so kindly, and perched on the reel of +silk to comfort him, and then fluttered round and round him with her +wings drooped down, and a tenderness of cooing which almost set him on +his legs again; for they were a pair of what are called "lovebirds," of +whom, if one hops the final twig, the other pines into the darkness and +dies. So at least the story of the bird-men goes, although that excess +of fidelity may be beyond the faith of other men. + +Tell me not that love is blind. It has the swiftest of all sight. It +flies to its conclusion straighter than the truest lovebird. I saw why +Dariel could not smile at the success of her own skill: the tears on her +cheeks were not of pity only, but of anger at human brutality. That +fellow had done it, that miscreant whom even the dogs of his native land +abhorred--Prince Hafer had broken the pretty lovebird's leg! A rapid +conclusion of mine, but the right one; as became manifest, before many +days had passed. + +Blessedness and bitterness at once possessed me. Would she ever accept +such a wicked beast as that? And when should I have the delight of +breaking--not his leg, that would not be half enough, but the haughty +head that he was carrying so high? I felt the black fury of the Caucasus +itself rising in a breast of the quiet Surrey stock. Cruelty to anything +that lives is loathsome; but cruelty to a little trusting pet, lent us +by the Father to teach us loving-kindness, and that pet the darling of a +sweet and gentle maiden! One more look at her--she has put him to his +roost in a soft warm corner where he can make no pretence to hop, but +the partner of his pain can feed him. + +But I must be off, for I dare not intrude upon her quiet sorrow, and +perhaps I had no right to watch her as I did; but I meant no harm, and +the pretty sight has been a lesson of goodwill to me. Now for her noble +father's room! I ought to have been there long ago. What will he say to +me? But whatever it may be, what I say of his beautiful child is +this--"She is more than any angel; she is a tenderhearted woman." + + + + +CHAPTER XIX + +TO CLEAR THE WAY + + +The manners and customs of that little colony, or settlement, or camp, +or whatever it should be called--for I never found out the right name +for it--differed from ours very widely, some better no doubt, and some +worse perhaps. For instance, who could blame them for their rational +practice of leaving hard work to Occidental races? They did a stroke or +two when they could not help it, just to keep their bodies sound; but +the chief and commander, as we too expect, had to carry through with his +own hands the hardest part of everything. But another custom of theirs +appeared to be of more doubtful wisdom; for instead of having set hours +for meals and accomplishing them sociably, as well as with some +regularity and sense of responsibility, every man was allowed to eat +what he liked, when he liked, and where he liked. The natural result was +this--you could never be certain of finding a man with his mouth in +condition to answer you. How they got food enough to be at it so +perpetually, was for a long time a mystery to me, especially as they +dealt so little with any of the farms or shops around. Not a man of them +was ever seen in our village, and as for the very few women in the +camp--Baboushka, and Mrs. Stepan, and some who did the washing--not one +of them came out of her white cocoon, though brought up very largely as +Christians. + +This statement is in its place, to show why the man, whom I revered, was +still in a position to command my reverence. If he had been subject to +feminine irruptions, to which even the greatest men are liable, all his +devotion to the highest enterprise might have failed to secure his +equanimity. But he had contracted upon reasonable terms with a vast +Universal Provider, and he only had to pay the weekly totals in advance, +and send to the place of delivery, once or twice a-week, according to +the temperature. Thus everybody found himself fed to the utmost of his +nature, and most of them preferred canned victuals; though something +more British had been required for our Police. + +That evening, when I entered Sûr Imar's room, after leaving his daughter +among her birds, the first thing I did was to watch him very keenly for +any sign of anxiety or excitement, such as he might be expected to show +if he had been just visited by that abominable Prince Hafer. What right +had I to identify the man I had seen with the one of whom I had only +heard? And even if that conclusion should prove right, by what process +could I tell that there was nothing good about him? Yet in my mind there +was no shadow of a doubt about either of those points, and I looked at +Sûr Imar as if he must acquit himself of some contagion before I could +enjoy his society. But he met me quite as usual, without even +complaining of my unpunctuality; for he was a man of such dignity that +he suspected nobody of slighting him. + +Whatever he might be doing, or of whatever he might be speaking, there +was such simplicity, and largeness, and straightforwardness pervading +it, that one seemed to fall into it and follow, instead of doubting, and +querying, and perpending. And his gentle and friendly and kind steady +gaze brought all that was good in one to meet him, and drove away the +dirty streaks of our nature, to hide themselves under their own mud. + +"I have been considering, my dear young friend," he said, as he took and +held my hand, and I felt ashamed to leave it in so warm a place, after +all my cold suspicions, "about my behaviour to you the other day. +Nothing unkind was intended, but unkindness is often done without that. +You told me that you loved my dear, and now my only child. I should have +received that with more goodwill, whether it suited my own views or not. +For my manner then, I beg your pardon." + +I answered that nothing in his manner then, or at any time since I had +known him, could be taken by any gentleman as uncourteous or +inconsiderate. I had told him what was the main object of my life, and I +felt that I was right in doing so; and although I could scarcely hope +for his approval, being a poor man and of no high rank, I had done what +seemed to me to be the proper thing, instead of coming as his guest upon +false pretences. I spoke plainly, and he answered nobly. + +"Of rank I have not so much regard, as of the man who bears it. Neither +do I think that wealth confers any high condition on its owner. In too +many cases it lowers him. You will believe me when I say that neither of +those questions causes my regret at what you told me. I live for only +two things now--the happiness of my darling child, and the improvement +of the noble race to which I happen to belong. I have also bitter +wrongs, and the happiness of my life snatched from me. The love of +revenge is in Eastern blood, and a very hard force it is to overcome. +You of English race cannot enter into that, because it is not born in +you. But I know what the indignation is, when the sense of justice +rises." + +His quiet eyes flashed as if his heart was roused by the words it had +given way to. And glad was I, not to be the man presented by it in the +portraiture of memory. + +"Why do I admire the British race?" he continued, with his better tone +recovered; "not for their energy and manliness alone, not even for their +love of freedom, and great spirit of truth and justice, but most of all +because they alone of all the nations I have mingled with are born +without this cursed taint of savage and vile vindictiveness. If a man +wrongs you, you have it out with him. You thrash him, if nature has +enabled you. You vent your wrath upon him, and you go your way. The +world is large enough for both of you. If you hear of his misery, and +woe, and death, you only say, 'Poor fellow, there may have been more +good in him than I thought.' But with us of the Eastern and the Southern +blood, that blood is turned to poison by a deep and bitter wrong. By the +grace of God, and the grandeur of our Christ, I have struggled long +against this birth of Satan in me; but even now I have not overcome it, +utterly and for ever, as a larger mind would crush it. But what has this +to do with you? A great deal, if you have really set your heart upon my +daughter. Are you sure that you have done that with true English +strength and thoroughness? No passing whim, no delight of the eyes, as a +flower or a picture catches them; but a power that will last as long as +you do, and longer than the earthly part of you?" + +No fellow likes to be cross-examined thus; and to tell the plain truth, +I had scarcely gone into myself in this awful manner. But I soon +perceived that he was speaking rather at the prompting of his own +remembrance, than of set form and purpose for probing me. So as the +picture arose before me of Dariel and her little bird, I spared no word +that I could think of; though none were half strong enough, none half +staunch enough; nothing that came to my lips had any right to go out as +if it spoke for me. Truly I had not been so touched by the piety, +mystery, exalted beauty, and lovely maidenhood of my love, as I was by +the sight of her tender self indulging her loving nature. + +"I am satisfied about that, my friend," her father said, when I began to +be ashamed, as we ought to be, of all our higher feelings; "and I know +enough of you to be sure that you have a strong and steadfast mind. I +have not spoken of your friends, because you have never invited me to do +so. That obstacle, if there is one, is your consideration, more than +mine. But the obstacles on our part are of a very different nature. Of +English ladies I know not much, though I had the honour of being +introduced to some of what you call the high society, when I came first +to this island; and they seemed to me to be endowed with virtues well +adapted to their beauty. But they have to contend with this great +danger--they are allowed to choose their own partners in life, whenever +the money is abundant, before they have attained good intelligence. With +our daughters this is not the case. The parents make a wise selection +for them, sometimes even dispensing with much revenue, when there are +great qualities to compensate." + +"We never go quite so far as that," I said, "unless the lady behaves in +such a way that it is impossible for us to help it." + +"But I have been surprised to find," he continued, with a smile which +left me doubtful whether it were of paternal pride, or of that quiet +humour which he sometimes showed, "that my daughter seems to take most +kindly to the modes of thought and the greater independence which the +ladies of this country have permitted to themselves. It may be in the +air, or it may be in the nature; but I am often quite astonished at the +sayings and doings of my Dariel. She has been brought up by a lady who +is partly of English birth, and for a month or two with English +children; but still her unusual style of judging for herself is amazing +and terrifying to our elder women, who being of a different rank--and +that reminds me, if my daughter has a fault, and I suppose she must +have, it is, Mr. Cranleigh, the pride of birth. Not an ignoble fault, +but still a very serious one, especially as it can never be expelled. + +"Through her mother she is of higher birth than I am, though not of more +ancient lineage perhaps, as I happen to be one of the Kheusurs. But all +these things you cannot understand, even if you wish to do so, without a +knowledge of my long sad tale, which I have not told as yet to any +person living. Even my daughter has not heard it, and I hope she never +may; for it would serve perhaps to do mischief to her young mind with +anxiety. The Lord governs all things on earth; all of our race begin to +feel that, when their little strength is stripped from them. But you are +too young to see things so; and never has the tale of one man's life had +any effect upon another's, unless it were to lead him into wild +adventures, easy to talk about, hard to go through. Be content without +them." + +I looked at him with some hesitation. Would it be kind of me, even if I +had the right, to put him through all these griefs again, which had +changed him from a bold young Chief, primed with excitement, and peril, +and love, into a quiet exile, and a Christian moraliser, a founder of +type with hard blue hands, and oh, saddest fate of all, an experimental +Publisher? No, it would be a cruel thing, a selfish call upon sad +memory, a mere abuse of large goodwill, and a vile advantage taken of an +over-tender conscience. With these finer feelings, I almost said, "I +entreat you, sir, not to tell me;" when the Spirit that hates the human +race whispered to me that there has never been a man, and probably never +will be one, who cannot find pleasure in talking of himself, however +dark the subject. And why should I doubt that it would do him good, as +soon as he got into full swing? + +"The last thing I could desire, Sûr Imar, would be to renew your +troubles." There was no humbug in these words of mine, as there was with +the pious Æneas; for as the Lesghian Chief sat down and leaned his head +upon his hands, he reminded me of my father's look, when his money came +to nothing; moreover, I saw in his face a large resemblance to his +daughter's in her sorrow over that pet bird. "It would be a terrible +trial to you. But until I know more, I am all in the dark. Perhaps you +will think it over, and whatever you do will be certain to be right." +For the more he reminded me of my sweet one, the less could I bear to +worry him. + +"This is very good of you," he said most kindly, "and it doubles my duty +towards you. I am ashamed of this weak and foolish feeling. You have a +right to know all my history, and you shall, if you will come to-morrow. +It is too late now for me to begin to-night, and I have a little duty to +discharge. On a Saturday night we always thank the Lord for His care of +us throughout the week. You belong probably to the Church of England. We +of the Kheusur tribe have our very simple forms, handed down through +ages, from the same source as yours perhaps. We have our little service +at noon on Sundays. Would you like to be with us to-morrow?" + +Nothing could have been more to my liking; and as it happened, there was +no fear of disturbing our home arrangements, for my father was laid up +with a slight attack of gout, and my mother in close attendance upon +him. So in a few words it was settled that after attending their +service, of whatever kind it might be, I should be allowed to hear the +history of the Lesghian Chief, which was much more than the first +promise I received. Knowing that now I should have full light thrown +upon all the strange things which had so long engaged my attention and +curiosity, and what was infinitely more than that, upon everything +connected with Dariel, I rode home that night in a glow of excitement, +tempered at intervals with nervous dread. For I might hear things that +would place a bar forever, or a gulf, betwixt me and my love. + + + + +CHAPTER XX + +NOT FOR SALE + + +But when I had fed my good horse that evening, and bedded him +comfortably as he deserved, returning with a hock of cold bacon to my +den, and a jug of ale which I needed sorely, there I found my white deal +table, just where I was going to lay the cloth, covered with a canopy +and tissue-fringing of gold too bright for the candle-light. + +"Who has brought this beehive here and stuck it on my table?" I asked +with a tone of wonder and vexation; for I had quite enough to do with my +own affairs just now. + +"Did you ever see a beehive of this colour? Then I should like to know +where they got the straw from?" + +Grace had lifted her head, and was passing both hands through the curls +of which she was so proud that she cared not what we called them, and +her cheeks had a rich, unusual flush; and there was some new brightness +in her eyes as well, bright enough always, now too bright, with +unsettled weather in the depth beyond the blue. I saw that there was +something up, but left her to begin it. + +"George, have you taken it into your head, not to care a straw for your +sister any more?" This was exactly what I expected; but I looked at her +with innocent astonishment. I put down my bacon and my jug of beer, but +drew back the cloth, to leave room for her arms, and then gazed at her +with some dignity. + +"Oh, you need not be afraid. I am not going to cry over it," she +exclaimed, with the usual ingratitude of girls; "in fact I feel much +more inclined to laugh. You have been trying to sell me, to sell your +own sister! Can you not imagine, George, that I am not for sale?" + +"Look here!" I said, for this was coming it too strong; "you have got +into some tantrums, some feminine delusions. I have not had a bit to +eat, I don't know when; and I must recruit the inner man, while you come +to your senses." + +"Poor thing! It cannot be so very deep in love, or it would be satisfied +to live on air. But don't they feed you where you go, dear George? Well, +that does seem inhospitable. And they must be rich people, or you would +not go so often." + +This was almost more than I could stand. However, I kept up my dignity, +remembering that the more impudent a girl is, the more she "climbs down" +afterwards. "Your very good health, my dear child!" I said, and then +observed her through the glass which formed the bottom of the tankard. +Now I say that she was a very sweet young woman, and a worthy wife for +the best man that ever lived, not to lose all self-command at this; for +the loveliest creature ever born cannot flatter herself that she looks +well thus. + +"You want to make me cry, but you won't do it. And once for all, just +understand this little point. I don't care a rap--as you elegantly +express it--what airs you put on to exasperate me. Because I am certain +that you understand me, George. All the very small things you say--and +you have a low gift of walking under your own feet--all of them--what I +mean is, none of them have the smallest effect upon my poor mind. In the +first place, I am not clever, any more than you are. And if I were, I +should only use it to make you more and more fond of me, instead of +endeavouring to make you feel small. But, oh, George, I never thought +that you would scheme to sell me!" + +"All this is Abracadabra to me," I replied quickly, in fear of a +torrent. For when a girl tells you that she won't cry, you may almost +always see her fingers getting ready for her handkerchief. + +"How innocent you look! But just one little question. Did you not send +Mr. Stoneman Jackson to propose to me, this very evening?" + +"Nothing of the sort. And as if you did not know his name! I have not +even seen him, since that day when you were cutting such a shine in the +sun, as the frugal, virtuous, and lovely milkmaid. That is what has +fetched him; not your stupid brother." I owed her a cut or two, as +everybody will perceive. + +"George, you are cruel, even more than crafty. As if I did anything so +low as that! But will you assure me, upon your honour, that you did not +encourage him to--to try what he has been trying?" + +"Not only that, but I did all I could to damp him off, so far as such a +dry fellow could be damped. I told him to hold off, while the Earl was +in the running." + +"There was no Earl in the running. This is too bad of you. It was only +the walking that Lord Melladew went in for, and I am sure he meant no +harm by that." + +"Well, he made the running fast enough, when they peppered his gaiters, +and some one else did the tumbling. But I told Jackson to hold off, for +I was sure that he had no chance yet. He is a decent sort of fellow +enough in his way; but what chance could he have against a belted Earl, +and a gaitered Earl too, who can shriek in sonnets? Poor Stoneman could +scarcely put thumb to rhyme with mum; and mum he should have been, +though it is rather hard upon him. Never mind, he can find some other +girl, when he gets over it. I heard of a Duke's daughter who was wild to +catch him. But he is much too hard hit, to think of any one for years." + +"One of Mr. Erricker's tales, I daresay," said Grace, with a little sigh +of sympathy, as I fetched a sham groan for my poor friend, "about that +beautiful Duke's daughter. As if any girl with any self-respect would +allow herself to be talked of in that way! And as if Mr. Stoneman would +permit it for a moment! However, you seem to have thoroughly discussed +my case. Did you settle what my pin-money was to be? Oh, George, George, +will you never understand how very different we are from you? I did +think I could have respected Mr. Stoneman; but when I find out that he +has been to you, trying to buy me like a colliery share, or not even +that, for it is all divorce now--to take me on lease like a cottage or a +stable,--oh, I see why you took me for a beehive now; but you'll find +less of honey than of sting in me, when you buy and sell me by the pound +like this." + +What a fool that stockbroker must have been to mention my name in the +matter, for it was sure to set her off upon this sort of tack! However, +it proved afterwards that she, being perfectly calm, while he was in a +frightful flurry, had extracted from him with the greatest ease +everything she cared to know, till she came with the usual leaps and +bounds of feminine reason to the wrong conclusion--that I had suggested +and worked up the whole affair. + +"Now go to bed, my dear child," I said, perceiving how vain it was to +argue now; "I have business to see to, and even you can scarcely expect +me to be swallowed up in your affairs, when you make a point of +disliking this man, because your own brother likes him." + +That little turn was almost worthy of her own ingenuity. She looked at +me with a twinkle, because it was so like what she herself in my +position would have said, and then after wishing me good-night, she +added-- + +"But I never said a word about disliking him. There has scarcely been +time enough for that as yet. Women very seldom form those sudden +prejudices. That they leave for the lords of creation." + +As she vanished with this very poor miss-fire, I began to put two and +two together, and arrived at the conclusion that the stockbroker's case +was not altogether hopeless. She had not come to care about him yet +perhaps; but now he would be in her thoughts more often; and if he kept +his distance, and looked downcast, and did a lot of good among the poor +with strict orders to have it kept secret, and caused general uneasiness +about his health; above all, if he could only be bankrupt,--without +losing his cash, which of course would never do,--I could not see why he +should not have a Mrs. Stoneman, who belonged to an old Saxon family, +and had gold enough in her heart and head to do without any in her +maiden pocket, and who was blest with a brother of the name of George. + + + + +CHAPTER XXI + +VOICES OF THE VALLEY + + +In the calm air of the Sunday morning with the brook going gently by, I +came to the entrance of the hoary ruins wherein I had first seen Dariel. +A chapel with lines of grey flint only, to show where once the sacred +walls had risen, and nothing but the soft sky for roof, and mortar and +moss for pavement. Stepan, as big as a pulpit, but more mute, stood +close by expecting me, and led me along a ferny path, and dusted a stone +to sit upon, with a noble quietude. But when I asked him--"What am I to +do?" he took it for our national salutation, and answered "like a house +afire, sir." So I gave it up, and resolved to act according to the light +of nature, and the behaviour of the others when they arrived. Only if +there came a great procession of images, as I expected, nothing should +make me depart from the proper demeanour of a Briton. + +However I was not called upon to assert the great Reformation. A more +simple, quiet, and impressive service I never witnessed anywhere; and +although there was no roof overhead, and little enclosure on either +side, the view of the sky, and the passing of the wind, and the sense of +antiquity around us were in harmony, as it seemed to me, with the +conditions of humility, and mortality, and hopefulness. The strictest +Puritan could have found fault with little except the red crosses worn +by all the congregation, and a few triangles and wreaths of white +flowers. And the man who can find any fault with these must consider +himself too faultless to worship any other being. + +First came the women, only seven or eight in number, veiled not very +heavily, and cloaked in cheerful raiment. And the last of these was +Dariel, looking as if she had never dreamed of anything uncelestial, +while the loveliness of her figure gleamed through the folds of her +flowing mantle; even as the flexure and the texture of an agate glisten +through the cloudy pretext of their coat to hide them. "Who shall +understand these things?" thought I, "there is no one on earth fit to +approach her; yet the Lord cannot have meant her to be always by +herself." And then I thought of Hafer--Prince indeed! Prince of +darkness, and nothing else--and I looked about, with anything but +religious peace inside me. However I could perceive no sign of any +wickedness high or low; and every heart except my own sang a grateful +and worshipful tune to the Lord. + +Even to me it was a quiet and devout proceeding, when Imar (not as one +who preaches to a crowd of animals below him, but like a man speaking to +and on behalf of men--not abject, though beneath a cloud) began the +simple offering of our love, and trust, and loyalty. To me it was +grander than it might have been to those who could criticise it; for I +could not object to anything, because I did not comprehend a word. +Nevertheless it did me good, inasmuch as it did the others good; and if +a man lives in himself alone, he will not find much good there, I fear. +And when they began their final hymn of high thanksgiving, and hopeful +trust that our Maker will not be as hard upon us as we are upon one +another, the sound of great rejoicing--which our Christians never +indulge in--filled the valley, and went up the heights, such as we are +bidden to gaze at, while we stick to the dismal hollows. I knew that I +was only of a dull prosaic order, but felt for the moment above myself, +with the other fellows lifting me. + +However absurd it may appear to those who are always at one level of +self-made dignity and--something else--true it is we all were moved, as +no formality can stir us. Stepan had a mighty voice, and more than his +throat was in it; then Dariel cast by her veil, and her beautiful lips +were trembling, like a wild-rose quivering with petals half-open over +some melodious stream. I thought of the time when I had first beheld +her, and my love was not of this earth alone. + +When all were gone, and I was thinking still what prigs we are, and +cowards too, who suppose that there is one way only of getting near our +Father, that humble man who had been our priest came up to me, and spoke +sadly. I saw that he was down at heart, and full of doubt about himself, +and wanting higher comfort than a man like me could give him. But I +could not guess, until he told his melancholy story, why he should be +thus downcast, after doing his utmost for the benefit of others. I had +not known what the service meant, but saw that it had been simple, +solemn, and free from all rant and false excitement; and this I ventured +to express. + +"Come in, my friend, and have some refreshment. On Sundays all the men +dine together," he said as he led me inside the door, "and we will have +something with them. I fear that you found it difficult to keep from +laughing at the sight of such an astonishing set of hats, and scarcely +any two alike. We copied them first, I sometimes think, from our highest +and most fantastic peaks; but art has outdone nature. In truth they are +a motley lot, but there is not a false heart among them." + +I had seen nearly all of them before, on the day of the police invasion, +but not as now in their best apparel, a strange and interesting sight. +Some of them had wondrous coats, frogged and braided, and painted and +patched, and ribboned and laced, and leathered, and I know not what, +with coins, and baubles, and charms, and stars, and every kind of +dangle; and two of them wore Russian uniforms far advanced in years, and +captured perhaps in the days of Shamyl. But their faces, though covered +with beards and freckles, could not be called savage or ignoble; and +though one or two bore a swarthy aspect, some were as fair as +Englishmen. I could well believe that there might be truth in the +tradition of their tribe, that they were a separate race, distinct among +the myriad mountain strains, having the hot oriental blood refreshed and +strengthened from the Western founts. They regarded their Chief with +patriarchal loyalty and deference, but no servility or cringing; it was +his pleasant duty to maintain them, and theirs to work for him, to a +rational extent. Whatever they had was his, so far as nature allows +such partnership; while his property enjoyed the privilege of +ministering to their welfare. + +"They have done well," said the Chief to me, while I was revolving these +things slowly; and hoping that his daughter might appear at last to +grace the feast; "they will go and wander in their gardens now, and have +the pleasure of sitting in their native form." + +"Which is something like that of a hare," I replied, without calling to +mind that it might seem rude; but he smiled, for he never took offence +unless it were intended, which is a most sagacious rule. And he +proceeded with his inference. + +"The fact that they are coming without much pain to the use of chairs +and benches, when commended to them by a good dinner, tends to prove +that they are of a high and naturally docile race. But come to my room, +and have a glass of Kahiti; and then we will go forth into the wood, and +you shall know all that has come to pass in the life of a man not so +very old yet, but with all his best years behind him." + +He smiled, and I looked at him still in his strength, still comely and +sweet of temper, a man with almost every gift of nature, but not endowed +with happiness. And his smile was not that of a jubilant heart, which +has tried and can trust its own buoyancy; but rather of the calm mind +which flows in, to level all the tumult, and to cover all the ruin. I +thought to myself that I must come to that, if Dariel went on, as she +seemed to do, and kept out of sight without a word to me. + +But after a bottle of the Chief's light wine--a dozen of which would not +have turned a British hair--I had the presence of mind to fill my pipe +and pouch with some very fair tobacco of the mountains, and to follow +him over a clever little bridge of his own construction into the heart +of the grey old wood. There we sat upon a mossy log, and he poured out +his story, while the sunshine came in slants sometimes, and I wished +there had been more of it. + +I cannot repeat Sûr Imar's tale with any of his self-commanding +strength, much less convey the light and shade of a voice alive with +memory of whatever the soul has suffered. However, to the best of my +belief, the import of his words is here. Feebly, but never falsely, +have I set down his remembrances. Only his foreign turns of language +have escaped my memory; and he must tell what he has to tell like an +ordinary Englishman. Which means without long words, whenever short ones +serve the turn as well. + + + + +CHAPTER XXII + +IMAR'S TALE--WAR + + +"That which I have always admired in your nation, and that which has +made you what you are, under the guidance of the Lord, is your natural +gift of self-command. The race to which I belong has always been very +scant of that great quality; and this fault has been from age to age the +cause of misery and conflict. Not that we are by any means so turbulent +and vindictive as other tribes around us; for we almost alone are +guided, when in our proper state of mind, by any sense of Christianity; +most of the others who call themselves of that creed, such as the +Ossets, Imeritians, and barbarous Suans, have made a strange jumble of +the true faith with Mohammedanism, paganism, and even stark idolatry. +But the Lesghians, with whom we have most to do, and who claim us as of +their affinity, still are of Islam, and mainly of that bigoted and +aggressive form of it which is known as Muridism. Even so, they are +nobler, braver, more patriotic, and loyal to their chiefs, as well as of +finer presence, and greater activity and industry than most of their +neighbours on the west and south, who suppose themselves to be +Christians. + +"My father, Sûr Dadian, as hereditary Chief of the Kheusurs--a tribe now +dwindled from its former strength--commanded for many years their +division in the army of the gallant Shamyl. Our people did not share of +course that fury of Islam, and blaze of the crescent, which scorched the +Russians by the thousand out of the dark ravines of Daghestan. +Nevertheless we stood up for ourselves, with the muzzle of a gun at +every elbow of the rocks; and if all the sons of Islam had been as +faithful to their great Imaum, as the Cross was, the Russian flag would +never have waved over Guinib, in Shamyl's lifetime. + +"The Russian plan was to press us hard, throughout the summer and +autumnal months, with ten men perhaps to every one of ours; to encourage +us most benevolently to sow our land and tend it, and then to rejoice +and renew their strength with the pithy marrow of our corn, and the +juicy fibre of our flocks and herds. A man loves his country on the very +same principle on which he loves his mother; but if he can never taste +what she is like, he might just as well have a step-mother. Neither was +this the only loss of satisfaction year by year. Our men, as I have +heard them tell, when I was old enough to join them, felt even worse +than their own privations the rich gain of the enemy. To sit on a rock, +just out of shot--as many a dauntless Avar told me--with glacier water +for his drink, and nothing but mast on his tattered lap, and to see a +hundred fat round fellows, who had come into his land quite lean, +laughing and joking at his own door, with the milk of his best cow at +their lips, and the kids of his flock coming up to them in sniffs from +the fires where they were roasting, this he assured me--and I could +quite believe him--turned his empty digestion into bile, and the love of +his native land into a hollow ache. And this very feeling, in a higher +form, cost my dear father his valiant life, and left me and my sister +orphans. + +"You may have heard of the defeat and slaughter of an entire Russian +column, under the great Prince Dorougoff, which our gallant mountain +forces, with my father second in command, accomplished most effectually. +Everybody knows what glory and renown accrued to the stout Imaum through +this; but all of our men who were present declared that my father +deserved the main credit. The Emperor of Russia had grown impatient, and +sent impetuous orders that his army should advance at once into the +heart of the defiles, and crush the rebellion--as he dared to call it, +though we never had been his subjects--at one mighty blow, and for ever. +The Commander replied that he would march His Majesty's army in, but +never would march it out again. And according to that answer, so it +was. Our men became tired of slaughter, although they had many a long +year of suffering to avenge. + +"As might have been expected, the mountaineers grew careless after this +great victory, and left many of their passes open; for the stubborn foe +had recoiled, and appeared unable to do anything more until the +following season. My father went home to see to his affairs, and to +secure a new supply of rifles, for he had brought from Koorbashi a score +of those skilled workmen of Genoese descent, who for accuracy and finish +can hold their own with the best gunmakers in the world. All Shamyl's +best troops were armed with weapons procured from these admirable +artisans, and the clumsy muskets of the Russian force were quite unfit +to cope with them. Stepan has one of those Koorbashi rifles, which you +would find it hard to match in London, either for beauty of design or +for excellence in shooting. But alas they were all muzzle-loaders, or +the Caucasus might have been Caucasian still. + +"Karthlos Tower, where our family had dwelled for many generations, +takes its name from that same descendant of Noah who founded Mischel; +and standing on a mountain plateau, with chasms abrupt and vertical +cleaving the land to immeasurable depths, it is safe against all adverse +powers, except treachery and famine. Among the labyrinth of ravines no +stranger could ever find his road; and if chance at last brought him to +the winding access, discretion would hurry him shuddering away. For many +a black muzzle would look down upon him, and if he escaped all those, a +score of yellow ones would confront him at the final crest, and of +tenfold size,--brass artillery from Koorbashi. + +"It was growing dark in those cloven depths, though the sun was still +hovering upon the upper world, when my father rode round the last sharp +jag at the foot of the ascent to Karthlos. The survivors of his +war-dwindled force were only a few yards behind him, lounging on their +tired horses, and scarcely caring to keep up the burden of their +homeward song. Then when their leader was round the point, they heard +the roar of a heavy gun, swinging like a wing-flap from wall to wall, +and departing in the distance, like an echo climbing stairs. They +spurred to know what it could mean, and they found Sûr Dadian dead on +the neck of his horse. + +"I had not seen my father more than half a dozen times, so far as +childish memory goes; but he was always kind and loving, and very gentle +with us. We had lost our mother before we knew her; and Marva and +myself, twin children, had been sent from home, we could not tell when, +to be educated at Tiflis. There our father had some old friends, and +being so seldom at home, by reason of this perpetual war, he had done +the best he could for us. I was placed in the German town on the left +bank of the Kur, and under the care of a learned man, famous even in the +"City of many tongues" for his knowledge of all useful languages. He had +several English pupils, and admiring Shakespeare as the Germans do, he +made us almost as familiar with English as if we were born to it. But +Marva, my sister, had her education in the school of a French convent on +the other side of the river. Twins as we were, and pining long at this +unnatural severance, the force of events, and the power of education, +drove us further and further apart, until the early divergencies of +tastes and dispositions became so hardened and widened that our mutual +love was vanishing. + +"The murder of my father--for it could be nothing else--occurred in the +autumn of 1852; but it was not known in Tiflis until three months later, +for the city had long been in Russian hands, and Shamyl's victorious +troops allowed very little communication. Even when known, it was kept +from me, for some time longer, as I have reason to believe, by order of +the College authorities. At last I knew it by a letter from Shamyl +himself, or written by his orders--for he dispensed very largely with +literature--which it took me a long time to make out, for I had almost +forgotten the Avar tongue. How he smuggled it to me, I know not; but at +last I understood it to this effect. + +"'Young Imar, the son of Dadian. The Russians have slain thy father in +cold blood. Thou art now the Chief of the Kheusurs. Thou art not of +Islam; but if thou hast any blood in thy body, come without delay, and +have thy just revenge upon the accursed heathen. Shamyl, the Imaum.' + +"What youth of spirit and health and strength could hesitate for an +hour? I had many Russian friends at Tiflis, and all of the higher rank +made light of the barbarian tumult, as they called it, among the distant +mountains. They begged me at least to wait until the truth of the +Muridist outlaw's words could be properly established; for they said +that he could outlie a Greek, or even an Armenian. But I broke from them +all, bade farewell to Marva, and in shorter time than space required, +presented myself to Shamyl. + +"That Hannibal of the East was now at the acme of his fame and power. +Though not of great stature, or winning aspect, or even exemplary +cleanliness, he possessed and exercised that gift of forcing the wills +of others into the channel of his own, which makes a man's course +historical. He had piercing eyes, deeply set and overhung, and a swarthy +complexion, and strong harsh features, enlivened sometimes with a smile +conveying a boyish and rudimental sense of humour. But let any one rouse +his temper, and the Demon of the Mountains, who haunts the crags of +Kazbek, could not rave more furiously. It was this, and not cold +inhumanity--as strangers to our race imagined--which drove him into +those brutal acts which disgraced the name of Avar. Whether he believed +in his Divine Mission to restore the glory of Islam, and extirpate the +infidel, or whether he laughed in his sleeve at that most useful +delusion, I never could decide. As a Christian, and a well educated +youth, I thoroughly disdained such stuff; but while contemning the +Muridist and the Imaum, I fell more than behoved me perhaps under the +influence of the patriot. For I was but eighteen years of age, and as +yet quite a child among men of action, though foremost of the students +in philology at Tiflis, and even in bodily strength and activity equal +to the best of them. + +"My presence at first was of service to the cause, only as securing the +assistance of my tribe, who had no share in Islam, and would have +deserted very promptly without my presence among them. But before long I +proved myself a valuable recruit, and was advanced to a command among +the scouts; upon whom in that war of surprises and sudden encounters +much depended. Although I hated and scorned the religion of our Chief, +I shared his patriotism, and admired his valour and genius, while often +wondering at the forbearance he showed to an 'unbeliever.' This I owed +to his sense of honour, as I learned long afterwards, inasmuch as he had +promised my father, his old companion in arms, that he would never make +any attempt to convert me, if I were allowed to join him. Then suddenly +he fell in my esteem, for I found out that he had lied to me. + +"So zealous had I been in military matters, and so eager to qualify +myself for command, that for two years I never went home to Karthlos +Tower, the proper abode of our race. I never cared for form and fuss, +and the earthly division of God's children into two creations--the +high-born and the low-born half--for perhaps there are more who knew +their Father in humility, than in proud estate. + +"In my youth I never thought of such things, to which convention drives +us, but simply divided the men around me into hearties who would fight, +and poltroons who ran away; and of the latter there were but few. The +Steward at the Tower had supplied me with all that I wanted in those +rugged times; and in the hot vein of my patriotism, a crust and an +icicle seemed enough for a soldier to subsist upon. But now I was +compelled to return to Karthlos by a strange thing which had come to +pass, while I was intent upon war alone. + +"Marva, twin-sister of mine, and in childhood dearer than my little self +to me, had defied all authority; and when that did not avail, had +outwitted it, and vanished from the Convent-school at Tiflis. And my +first news of it was a strong demand for her portion of the patrimony, +from the man who had run away with her. This was the Chief of an Osset +tribe, who had never joined in the war, but waited for the final issue; +in which even we who kept it up could have little confidence, unless the +great Powers in the West, now at enmity with Russia, would send us +speedy and effectual help. And I knew that this Osset Chief had been a +hereditary foe to my father. + +"His name was Rakhan, which is, I believe, of Tartar origin; and he +showed signs in character and in features too of kinship to that +widespread race. But his father had been of pure Ossetian blood, and now +he was acknowledged Chief of a certain wild, and semi-Christian tribe. +We had never had much to do with them, although their villages lay near +us on the West; for the Russians kept a fortified post between us, where +their main road crosses the mountain-chain, and we scarcely regarded +them as brother Christians, though that did not prevent us from having +plenty of private feuds with them. And now this man of an inferior race, +and a poor one too--for they throve principally upon goats--had dared to +make up to my twin-sister, and marry her, and demand her heritage! + +"And this was not the worst of it, for as soon as I entered Karthlos, my +good Steward, Kobaduk, a very faithful servant, told me that beyond any +doubt Rakhan, the Osset, had compassed and probably with his own hand +committed the murder of my father, Sûr Dadian. I replied that the Imaum +himself had assured me that the Russians were guilty of that crime, and +this had impelled me to quit all friends and hurry without going home to +Bodlith. But he spat on the ground, as our peasants do, when they hear +of a black deception, and soon proved to me that the Czar's troops were +guiltless; and not only so, but that Shamyl the Tartar--as he was +frequently called in contempt--knew as well as Kobaduk did, that there +was not a Russian within miles of Karthlos, when that cowardly shot was +fired. Moreover, the foremost of my father's men who had spurred along +the defile, made oath that he saw a white globe whirl away where the +crags broke apart in the distance, and he put his jaded horse to the +utmost speed, all in vain among darkness and precipices. Now every one +knows that no Russian soldier, and the Ossets alone in our part of the +range can be found with that hideous head-gear flapping, a sheep-skin +puffed out into a ball at the top, like a great white onion at the end +of a stick. And there was other evidence as well as this. + +"My twin-sister, my only near of kin, for my father had no other +children--was I likely, although she had acted thus, to rob her of a +single copek? Nay, rather would not every one of mine be at her service? +At the same time, could any son endure that his good father should be +robbed not only of life but also of a third part of his property by a +scoundrel of inferior race, who had stolen his daughter for that very +end. Thereupon I was compelled to believe--for charity is by St. Paul +described as the greatest of Christian virtues, but he does not appear +(though a native of Cilicia) to have travelled in the Caucasus, as Peter +did, otherwise never could he have retained enough of that virtue to +describe it--young as I was, the conviction grew upon me that Prince +Rakhan, the Osset, had murdered my father, Sûr Dadian, because he had +refused him his daughter Marva. Instead of answering the letter +therefore in which he demanded his portion, I set forth with a few +troopers well armed to pay him a visit in his stronghold at Zacca, near +the fountains of the Ardon river. + +"Some parts of our own land are desolate enough, but this country where +the Ossets lived had scarcely a tree to make the world look living; and +having had no war in their neglected places to civilize them with the +passage of guns, they seemed to be quite outside all knowledge. Yet to +my surprise, they looked down upon our race, which we for generations +had been wont to do to them; and with better reason, as all others will +admit. We rode very fine Khabarda steeds, which are the best of all the +Caucasus, but we were obliged to leave them in the bed of a little +snow-river at last, and appear at the entrance on foot, as if we +expected to be shot at. + +"Nobody shot at us, chiefly perhaps because few of them had learned the +way to shoot; but there was not one of them who required any lessons in +the art of staring. And to think that such people looked down upon us! +All their houses had hideous towers, as if their lives were spent in +looking out from the tops; and my heart went low, as I thought of my +lively and lovely sister Marva, who had been brought up like a French +girl almost, extinguished and deadened among such clods. And I had not +even the chance of learning how she liked the lot she had cast for +herself. Perhaps she may have seen me from some tower--for they have +narrow loops instead of windows--but she never showed her face to me, +nor sent me any message. + +"We shouted, and made noise enough to fling all the rocky echoes into a +Babel of dispute with one another, and if we could have found the butt +end of a tree, we would have made a rush for it and rammed the heavy +gate. At last a surly fellow put his head out at a loophole, and rubbed +his eyes as if we had broken his repose. I did not understand their +language then, though I came to know it afterwards; but some of my men +made out this delivery--'Sons of the Evil One, ye shall not rob us. The +noble Prince Rakhan is far off; but we will fight until he returns. Ye +will be slain by thundering guns, unless ye cease this uproar.' + +"We could not believe that Osset robber; for the people of the village +had told us that the Chief and his bride were both at home; but I tore a +leaf out of my order-book, and wrote a letter upon it, and handed it up +on the point of a lance. It contained no insolence, though that was +rumoured afterwards, but only these words which a man of honesty would +have met according to their intention. 'Sûr Imar to Prince Rakhan. If +you will come to Karthlos, bringing with you the relics of St. Anthony, +and upon them swear that you have had no hand in the death of my dear +father, I will deliver to you all the portion of my sister Marva, and +add thereto my own present to her, and acknowledge you as a brother.' + +"This I signed with some hope of better feeling; for I knew that they +had in this savage place no small piece of St. Anthony, and having three +men who could make a cross, I secured all three as witnesses; and then +we marched away from this inhospitable desert. But the worst of the +business was not over yet, for when we returned to the spot where we had +tethered our horses very carefully, not one of them was there except my +own, and he was loose, but ran to me. Him alone those Ossets had not +stolen, because he could bite as well as kick, and would let none but +his master handle him. We ran back to the village, but there was not a +soul there, except a few children yelling. All these we put into one hut +far apart, and then set fire to all the rest. But being of stone they +burned very unkindly, and having no time to make a good job of it, we +shook the Ossetian dust from our feet, and made off in hope as well as +fear of having all the mad savages after us. + +"How, among a people thus divided, could there be any chance of solid +resistance to a mighty nation like Russia, acting in unity, and able to +replace every man killed with a dozen just as good? There was not a +tribe among us that would join its neighbour, for any other purpose than +the plunder of a third; and when this was carried off, the victorious +pair were sure to have another fight about the booty, before they were +half-way home again. A quarrel was now set up between my people and +those of Prince Rakhan, which would probably last for generations; not +so much about my father's murder--for that was a matter of suspicion +only, and chiefly concerned his next of kin--but about the theft of +those well-bred horses, and the firing of that worthless village. And +when I received a letter of insult in the Georgian language, from the +man who had so injured me, the only thing that surprised me was his +ability to write it. For though he spent much of his time at Tiflis, +whenever he could scrape up coin enough, it was not for the purpose of +improving his mind, even if he had any to embellish. That problem +however was speedily solved; for the writing was my sister's. + +"'Imar, son of Dadian. Twice hast thou wronged me, thy brother in the +Lord. Thou hast robbed me of my portion of thy father's goods, and thou +hast set fire to my wealthiest village, destroying men, women, and +children. Though thou art now a great man of battle, and strong among +the strongest, so that thy name is as that of Minghi Tau, yet shall that +mighty head be fetched down, and those strong hands shall feed the dogs +of Kektris. The only hope left thee of escaping this destruction is if +thou sendest to the glacier of Gumaran, before the snows fill up the +valley again, gold and cattle, and household goods, according to the +number herein set down, which is far less than thou owest me, and will +not make peace between us for the village thou hast destroyed. But this +if thou doest, I will pray for thy repentance, and thy sister whom thou +hast robbed will permit thee to look upon her face again. Rakhan, Prince +of the noble Ossets.' + +"There was also another signature, broken and crooked, as if the hand +had been seized in another, and compelled to shape the name of _Marva_. +Then I hoped that my sister had not turned against me in her heart, +though constrained by her fierce and wicked husband; and I ordered the +messenger to wait, and fed him with dainties that he knew not how to +handle, while I preserved my temper even against the insult of that +address. For now I was entitled to be addressed as _Sûr_, of which we +think more than the common word _Prince_; for it is a designation of +warlike rank, imported from the furthest Orient, and ascribed to none +but a Chief who has led his tribe into battle with a foreign foe. +Scorning to show anger, I wrote thus-- + +"'Accursed murderer of my father, and serpent robber of my sister. Thou +hast piled up a mountain of lies, so vast, and of such deadly blackness, +that the snow of thy guile cannot cover them. A man of lower rank than +mine may descend into the filth where thou grovellest, and strive to vie +with thee in vermin. But I will leave thee to the Lord, who heedeth the +smallest thing that He hath deigned to make. Yet that my sister be not a +widow, one thing I will say to thee. Let not the right bank of the Terek +be tainted by thine evil-smelling body. Lest, for the sake of those whom +the Heaven valueth, it be plunged into the bottomless bog. For verily +there are foul reeks of Satan, sent by his malice to corrupt the air.' + +"Now this was not intended as an offering of peace--though many people +took it altogether in that light, not from the moderation of the +language only, but because I sent not the wonted double dagger with +it--but simply as an overture of justice, in language not too mealy, and +an opening for reconciliation. For Marva, my sister, I felt many pangs, +a hankering which I endeavoured to repress, a tenderness of the younger +days, when neither could have the skin broken without a burst of tears +from the other's eyes. But we have to get harder as we go on, and the +hold of soft love on our little thumbs grows slacker; and even sweet +twins (who have tumbled into one another's arms, and rolled over with +rollicking, till no one could tell which was which of them) must begin +to close palm, and even shut fist, to the kisses of each other. And with +all this affection heavy on my mind, and a good guard left upon the +steeps of Karthlos, I returned for the summer to Shamyl." + + + + +CHAPTER XXIII + +IMAR'S TALE--LOVE + + +"Perhaps you have gathered from my words already some idea of the +character of Shamyl. An idea, and not a perception, was all that his +dearest friends could have of him, because he had no dear friends at +all. And yet he was a man of warm nature, and kept nobody at a distance +from him; neither was there any haughtiness, though abundance of +rudeness, about him. Men put up with the latter, and even like it (when +shown to their friends) and talk pleasantly about it, and the little +ruffle passes over, every one expecting that his friend will be the next +to get it. But cold universal arrogance makes the greatest of +mankind--if such can show it--universally detested. + +"I believe that Shamyl was by nature kind,--though he did some +abominably brutal things,--and that if he had not taken into his head, +or had it put there by flatterers, that Allah had breathed into him the +breath of Mohammed, he would have been one of the noblest, as well as +the purest perhaps, of patriots. Peace be with him, for he was at least +sincere, which cannot be said of all leading minds, and he understood +other men at a glance, though he may not have looked very much into his +own man. + +"I fear that it may be ungrateful on my part not to speak even more +highly of him. For he took a great liking to me in his way, although I +was not of his creed; neither did I pretend to any personal hatred of +the Russians, who are generally very kind of nature,--more so perhaps +than we are,--and only did their duty in shooting us straightforwardly. +Neither did I pretend to any special love of him, but carried out his +orders as a soldier should, unless they were worse than even war +demands, in which case I told him to seek elsewhere. Therefore I was +surprised, as much as any man acquainted with him could be surprised, +when he took me aside one day and said: 'Sûr Imar, I have an important +mission for thee, which I would intrust to no other. Many of my officers +are rough and wild, and have no command over themselves with women. My +son is a prisoner with the Russians; and I have a noble scheme for +recovering him, and perhaps a hundred thousand crowns to boot. But it is +a dangerous enterprise, and must be carried out with proper delicacy to +ladies.' + +"This was a very high compliment to me, being still a young man in the +fervour of my days; but the Captain had heard of stern actions of mine, +when some of his men had shown rudeness to those who could not take up +arms to protect themselves. + +"'Thou hast the best horse in the army,' he continued, with his deep +eyes fixed upon my glowing cheeks, as the spirit of adventure began to +rise, 'and there is not a stronger man among us, neither one to surpass +thee in activity. All this will be needed, and boldness too, tempered +with skill and discretion. I would go myself, for the work is worthy of +me, but I cannot leave the camp just now. My design is to carry off from +their summer encampment all the ladies of the Russian and the Georgian +Court. Not a hair of their heads shall be harmed, and we will treat them +as princesses, but hold them for the ransom of my dear son, and a good +round sum for the military chest. The Powers of the West have been +stingy to us, when we might have done them excellent service; but we +will make the Russian bear supply a little grease for our bullets; for +the ladies are of the highest rank. But the whole scheme fails, if even +one of them should be ill-treated.' + +"This was the only point about which I felt uneasiness; but he gave me +permission, and even clear orders, to shoot on the spot any man who +misbehaved. And when he allowed me to take fifty of my tribe, as well as +fifty chosen men of his, my only anxiety was to start as soon as +arrangements could be made, and before any rumour of our plans should +get abroad. For I knew all those southern stretches of the mountains +well, and that perhaps induced him to appoint me in command. + +"He told me that trusty friends near the Georgian capital had informed +him that the early summer heat had made the city in the deep hollow by +the river almost unbearable for ladies of the north; and therefore the +wives and daughters of the principal Russian officers, together with the +noblest of the Georgian women, had been sent to a cooler spot among the +hills in the healthy district of Kahiti, celebrated for its vineyards. +Little expecting any danger there so far from the Lesghian outposts, +they were lodged in a pleasant place under canvas, guarded by a scanty +detachment of Cossacks, most of whom had been invalided from the war. +Pounce upon them suddenly, and what could they do but scream? Even this +they would not do very long, according to Shamyl's opinion, but soon be +happy when they found themselves made much of, and enjoy the romance of +the situation, and the high price put upon them. This prediction, to my +surprise, proved wonderfully correct; for many of the younger ladies +permanently added to the beauty of our country and the quality of its +inhabitants; while those who preferred restoration declared that they +would have no higgling about them,--if their husbands attempted to +cheapen their price, let them even remain among the gallant men who put +them at a higher figure. But this is a later matter, and I only mention +it to show the good feeling we created. + +"Litters, and light carts, and other conveyances were sent in advance of +us over the worst places, with orders to wait in a valley we described; +and with all the best horses we could procure, we set forth at sunrise +one summer morning, so as to traverse the most dangerous part of the +journey in good daylight. We rode very leisurely to keep our horses +fresh, until in the afternoon of the second day, we halted in a hollow +of the lower mountains to make a good meal, and learn more exactly where +the encampment of the ladies was. Here were a hundred of us, all good +horsemen, and accustomed to despise the enemy,--not for want of courage, +but for want of wit. In courage they were quite our equals, for they +never seemed to care much about their lives; but when briskness and +readiness turned the issue, the vigour of the free man could upset the +bulk of serfs. This we had proved a hundred times against the weight of +numbers. + +"Being in command of this dainty enterprise, and having to prove that I +was not too young, which always puts a youth upon his very finest +mettle, I took all the precautions of an old commander. Ordering all the +others to keep close, and having only Stepan and the best of our guides +with me, I proceeded very carefully afoot along the course of a stream +from the hills, which had worn a deep channel. We knew where the ladies +ought to be; and though a man must not rely too much on that, sure +enough there they were by the dozen. Their encampment was pitched upon a +very pretty knoll, not more than a long eyeshot from the nearest bend of +the watercourse we crouched in. I put my red plume between my knees, and +watched them, being surprised at the beauty of their dress, and the far +greater beauty of their figures. The proudest radiance of the Russian +Court was there, and the softer charms of Georgia; and I was glad not to +see those lovely faces, which it would be my duty to bedew with tears so +soon. + +"Having counted their tents, three of which were royal, and made myself +sure of their position, I left all those beauties at their tea outside, +with the sunset casting their shadows down the slope, and saying to +myself, 'Where will you have your breakfasts, Mesdames?' stole back with +my two comrades, to make ready for this prize. Stepan, who was always +full of strong ideas, and never confined them to himself, did his utmost +to convince me that the wisest plan was to let all these houris go +snugly to bed, and then catch them up as they were in their first +slumber, and whirl them away on our saddles. But I could not bear to +think of this outrage on their modesty; and one figure in a silver pink +dress was in my mind,--the youngest and the loveliest of all I had +descried. Therefore I made ready to descend upon these ladies before +they should begin to retire for the night, which they would not do until +they had supped well and probably played their games of cards. + +"We had little fear of sentries, for there were not more than a dozen, +and no sign of any horse-patrol about; and even of the few fellows +lounging round the tents, and ordered to keep at a proper distance from +them, we got rid by the old device of sending a boy on a donkey with a +flagon of vodka on either side. They showed their alacrity by robbing +him of these, and then retiring to their hut, with the officer on duty +to take first pull. When the moon was up, and we rode softly over the +sod of alluvial ground, the only challenge we received was the screech +of a Russian drinking-chorus round the corner of the trees. Without +firing a shot, or disturbing a dog, we surrounded the camp of the fair +ones, and called upon them to surrender. At the same time we entreated +them to prepare in silence for their departure with us, if they valued +the lives of their guardians. + +"This exhortation was of no effect. Amazement and terror quite overcame +their natural discretion, and we found it impossible to parley with +them. So great was the outcry that we stood aghast, till those faithful +Cossacks came running, or rather staggering to the rescue, which +restored our power of action. We bound them in couples to convenient +trees with some ropes we had brought for the purpose; and then as the +ladies still declined to join us, we wrapped all the most important of +them in their cloaks, and placed them on our horses. In this they +assisted us to some extent, by kindly disclosing the rank of each other. +Thus we obtained all who were of any value from a financial point of +view, twenty-two of sterling substance; and at their entreaty and +assurance of amendment we took a domestic for each of them, and turned +our horses' heads towards the glen where the vehicles awaited us. + +"My instructions were to leave no room for doubt as to our possession of +six Princesses, whose names I will not give, because most of them, I +trust, are still alive, and none the worse for their captivity. Enough +that they were of exalted rank, and in command--as the Russian ladies +contrive to be--of the Commanders of the army opposed to us. Therefore, +before we started, I stood upon the terrace in front of the tents, with +our horses pawing the turf, which was almost a novel treat to them, and +the white moon making a picture of us. And there with great deference +and courtesy, I called over from the list provided me the names of their +incomparable Highnesses, the Princess O----, and the Princess D----, +&c.; and each of them made answer according to temperament, and sense of +resignation to the will of Heaven. Then I gave the word to start, and +remained the last, to bring up the rear as in duty I was bound. + +"But suddenly a slender and timid figure came gliding, as if in the +haste of despair, from the shadow of a tent, and stood close to me. It +was the lovely maiden in the silver-pink attire, and she drew her veil +partly aside, and glanced in the clear moonlight at my face, and then +dropped her dark eyes, and then lifted them again with quivering tears +like a suppliant--'Oh, Captain, am I to be left behind?' + +"'Lady, have no fear,' I said very gently, and half afraid to look again +at her; 'you shall not be left unguarded. But tell me who you are, the +fairest and the youngest of so many.' + +"'Alas, sir, I am not worth money now,' she answered with her white +hands clasped together; 'there is none of my race to pay ransom now. +There is not even a wealthy friend, to help, or to shelter Oria.' + +"'The Princess Oria, the lily-bud of Kajori, the last of the Royal House +of Georgia, to which the race of Rurik is a mushroom! Princess Oria, I +do you homage.' + +"As I made her a low salute, which I would not have offered to the Czar +himself, she turned away as if she would not see it, and a soft sob made +me feel afraid. This was not one of your haughty mesdames, who let the +men fancy that they carry them by storm, while they laugh in their own +proud breasts, with knowledge that they are the Masters, as soon as they +like. I could hear the Princess D. in the distance, rating the man who +carried her on the cushion provided in front of him, and I knew that he +had a bad time of it. + +"'What are the commands of your Royal Highness?' I asked, with an +emphasis on the title, which she alone of the proud bevy could claim. +'Behold, I am proud to be your slave.' + +"She rose to the remembrance of her childhood, when she had been made +much of, as the last descendant of Queen Tamara; and then her pride +melted into a flood of tears, and the sense of helpless maidenhood. She +tried to say something, but it only came to sobs. + +"'Trust yourself to me,' I said, 'I cannot leave you here at the mercy +of drunken Cossacks. I am Sûr Imar of the Lesghians, not a Moslem, but a +Christian. By the body of Christ, none shall harm you, while I live.' + +"There was no time for further adjurations. She bowed her beautiful +head, and drew down her long veil, and in a moment the love of my life +was in my arms, and on the soft pillow in front of me, with my horse at +full gallop, in the broad stretch of the moon. Like an image of marble +she lay before me, and I touched her as if she were an image of glass. +The troopers were astonished when we overtook them, but they knew better +than to say a word, or down they would have gone, Russian Princess and +all. For I was not in the cue to stand insolence. Having given my orders +I kept in the rear, grudging even the moon between the bars of shadow a +glimpse at the figure in my precious trust. But no man can think of such +things, and then tell them. For, they only come once in the nightmare of +life. + +"Shamyl was delighted, when we brought him his fair prisoners, and he +did his very best in his peasant style to be courteous and polite to +them. As the leader of the expedition I had the privilege of introducing +them; and it was really a fine thing to see how they behaved to him, and +he to them. He gave himself airs which made me smile; and before so much +rank and beauty--infidel though it might be--he forgot for the moment +that he was the Prophet of the Lord. And as for the ladies, although +they were bound in consistency to abhor him, not only did they forego +the attempt, but all who had rank to make such a claim decent, insisted +upon having a lock of his hair. + +"In a word, the Princesses were all so happy, when by means of a flag of +truce they had received from their friends a large supply of raiment and +other luxuries, that the hope of getting a first-rate figure for them +was endangered. Instead of frantic adjurations, and despairing +outcries, their letters now were full of bright descriptions and gay +narratives; and proud as we were of their good opinions, we could not +afford them to that extent. It became needful on this behalf to send the +fair captives to a duller place, to some desolate spot, where even a +woman could not contrive to see much of the world. Darghi, in the depths +of Daghestan, and far away even from the echoes, was a place of so lofty +a character that the fashions of the Ark were as valid as the latest +announced from Paris; and thither I was ordered to conduct these ladies, +for the creation of discontent among them, the scenery being beautiful, +but sparsely populated. And if the love of Nature were by any means as +potent in the Russian breast as the English ladies now declare it to +have grown in theirs, perfect happiness should have been the lot of +these fair Princesses. There was nothing to disturb them, beauty reigned +on every side; and beauty should have reigned within. + +"But alas that human nature never, at least in its feminine state and +form, finds satisfaction in the outward type! Among the rugged +mountains, and with frequent shift, and much discomfort, these fair +creatures had been bright, and cheerful, and perilously amiable. A flag +on a rock, or a drum at the corner, or the flash of a helmet in the +hollow, was enough to send their active minds into fifty pleasant +flutters. But here they had no stir of war, no delightful dreads to +rouse them, only the depths of lonely peace, and the repose, for which +they had so often sighed. For a day or two, they tried to enjoy it, and +spoke of the pleasures of their childhood, and roved about in cotton +jackets as if they were longing to be peasants. Our duty was to defend +them only, and never interfere with them, so long as they kept within +certain bounds; and we gave them no cause to complain of us; but +endeavoured to do our duty well, as sentries of so many money-bags. + +"Strange as it must appear, there was nothing that irritated them more +than this. They could not bear to be regarded in that light, and being +too proud to come out of it themselves, what did they do but send their +maids--they may not have meant it, but so it came to pass--to produce a +flirtation among my men. Precautions had been taken (as we thought) +against any process of that sort, by detailing for this custody only +grizzled veterans, who had wives at home, and could not understand a +single word of Russian. But this, though a step in the right direction, +did not go quite far enough; and several of our villagers beyond the +prime of life behaved in a manner more appropriate to their sons. So +that I found myself compelled, in the proper discharge of my office, to +use increasing diligence from day to day. For one of the Russian ladies, +being the mother of two little girls, had obtained permission to bring +her favourite French governess, as lively a girl as ever lived, and +acquainted with half-a-dozen languages. This Mademoiselle de J----,--for +I will show her the same consideration as her wealthier comrades,--was +perpetually forming little plots of the wildest and most romantic kind, +for the escape of all the captive band. With a view to that, she took +upon herself to inspect me closely, every time I came to a little gate, +newly put across the pass, by my special orders, which had created much +offence inside. There was no other way, by which these ladies, who now +placed every confidence in me, could manage to get away at all, without +perpendicular motion; unless it were the narrow winding passage leading +into a sombre wood, and there I had 'Wolves!' painted up in great +Russian capitals, so that few feminine eyes had the courage even to look +at the signboard. And this is how it should be with them. For we do not +wish them to be like us. + +"I was trying to get out of that condition of the mind, into which I had +been cast by a very few words, and still fewer glances from that lovely +Princess Oria, whom I remembered as a very little maiden leading some +procession, when I was a lad at Tiflis. If ever any boy has any heart to +lose, when it ought to be gone upon play and mischief, mine had taken a +sally out of me at sight of that young darling, trying to walk in a +stately manner as she had been instructed, and resolute to bring her +soft innocent self to the stiffness of the great occasion. How I had +longed to lift her up among them and shout--'This is your Queen, if you +had a spark of courage. Behold the pink eagle on her shoulder!' + +"But now it was a very different thing. The duty of an officer in trust +was laid upon me, and if the men of Georgia would not stand up for their +race, what had any outer tribe to do with it? The main point before me +was to conquer foolish yearnings, and behave as a figure made of steel +and leather. And without the interference of that glittering little +governess, the rapture and the anguish of my life would not have been. + +"I came down the narrow pass one evening towards dusk, to see to the +posting of the sentinels, and to receive any message from the ladies, +concerning their welfare and their general ideas; for they were +beginning to write very craving letters and entreaties that would move a +heart of stone, to husbands and fathers who were made of money, to +rescue them from this seclusion. All these we forwarded, and Shamyl +calculated that every letter would be worth to us a thousand roubles on +the average. But money was not in my thoughts at all, and even the sense +of duty fled, when I saw through the bars not the French woman only, but +a figure very closely veiled, and endeavouring not to be seen in the +twilight of a rock. + +"'Poor little soul! She will die, she will die;' said the lady from +Paris, with a very light sigh, as if with the thought that we must all +do that. 'Those fat Princesses, what is it then? They are punishing her +to the death. Poor little one! But why do I speak to Monsieur the +Commander? Monsieur the Commander will rejoice in that occurrence, +because the poor little one is not endowed with gold. Alas, it is so +everywhere, except in France!' + +"'Young lady, allow me to enter. It is my place to see to the safety of +you all. I have not entered after sundown hitherto. But stand aside, +lady, or you may be harmed.' + +"She saw that I would break the gate open at a thrust,--for we allowed +them to lock themselves in at night. 'Monsieur the Commander, how +imperious he is!' she exclaimed with a wicked smile, as she turned the +key. I thanked her, and then put my arm across the passage as the other +young lady seemed about to fly. 'Pardon, fair Princess, but I cannot +have it thus,' I said, with an attempt to look official; 'I am not your +warder only, but your guardian. You trusted yourself to my care that +night. A thousand Shamyls shall not take you from me. Can you not trust +yourself to me again? Have I given you reason to regret it? I have +longed to be with you every moment; but have I ever dared to approach +you?' I spoke in her native language, which was very delightful to her +ears after so much Russian. + +"'Speak then with good courage, thou silly child. Tell the brave +Commander all the insults piled upon thee by the proud and fat +Princesses. Alas, good Heaven, there they are calling me again! Who +would not think that I was born to be their slave? Brave Commander, the +time is now for thee.' With these words away ran Mademoiselle de J----. + +"Then Oria spoke, without shrinking from me, and her voice was as clear +as the melody of a river when the Winter has released it, and the Spring +is on its banks. + +"'Sûr Imar, thou hast been very good to me. If I placed no confidence in +such a kind defender, never could I hope to be defended any more. But +now I am safe among all these great ladies; I am not one of those who +shriek at every shadow.' + +"'To that I can bear witness,' I answered very softly, to remind her of +the night when she lay upon my horse; 'but what can I do, if the +Princess will not trust me?' + +"At this gentle reproach all her generous nature sprang forth, like the +sun in a tempest. She threw aside her veil, and came close to me, and +was not afraid to fix her eyes on mine. 'Sûr Imar, is that faith +enough?' she asked, as she gave me her soft hand long enough to last for +many an hour of dreaming. 'It is all I can ask for the present,' I +replied, and she turned away her face, but not her form. + +[Illustration: "_She turned away her face._"] + +"Fearing to bring her into contumely among her proud companions, whose +voices we could hear not far away, I retired from the gate with the +proper martial tread; but not before I had obtained her promise to meet +me on the morrow at the foot of the winding passage into the black wood; +but she was not to venture up the path, until she saw me there; for +truly there had been a wolf prowling near it, according to the children +of the peasants. Therefore I had taken care to keep our golden ladies +from risking ten thousand good crowns perhaps apiece to the cause of +freedom (which they were ready to embrace, as soon as they knew both +sides of it), by venturing into those gaunt and lonely shadows, where no +man could hear them while being devoured. + +"In this assurance I had every hope of treating confidentially the +position of the Princess Oria; and if that desirable wolf would only +form number three at the interview, who could say what might come of it? +But even his youngest cub, if he had any, might have regarded me with +contempt, if he had seen the condition I was in, while waiting for the +footstep of my love; for they look at such matters in a less submissive +way. + +"Unworthy as I was of the joy I then attained, even the pleasure of +remembering it would be justly taken from me, if I lowered it by any +ordinary words. For any one else it seems enough to know that after some +talk of affairs in general, and trifles we pretended to be full of, my +beauty, my darling, my gift from Heaven, my own and my only love +confessed--that I was as much to her as she could be to me." + + * * * * * + +At this point, the Lesghian Prince became unable to proceed with his +narrative. I felt that I should have been ten times worse, if I had won +and then lost his daughter. So I grasped his strong hand, which was +trembling not a little, and hoping that soft memories might subside to +gentle sympathies, departed with my love for him increased, and my +reverence not diminished. When I saw him next, he had gathered up his +courage, and was a little ashamed of his own breakdown. And he tried to +tell the rest of his sad story, as if it were the sorrow of a cousin or +a comrade. + + + + +CHAPTER XXIV + +IMAR'S TALE--PEACE + + +"Happiness appears to me to resemble the black eagle of the mountains +more than the fair dove of the proverb. Restless and swift of wing, it +flutters, scarcely long enough for a hover, over any home of ours, and +even then too high for us to be sure that we have seen it. Not until it +is gone, can we believe that it has been with us; and we know in our +hearts that to look for it destroys the chance of seeing it. + +"Shamyl was in a rage that Oria dared to pledge her faith to me, without +consulting the 'Mountain-lion,' as his flatterers now called him. +Whether he hoped to make money of her, or what other reason he may have +had, I will not pretend to say. But when by means of my good service, +and without the loss of a single man, he secured all those fair prizes, +and thus recovered his favourite son, not to mention an excellent sum in +cash, and good wives for some of his officers, the least he should have +done in my opinion was to smile and pour his blessing upon the union of +Oria and Imar. Instead of that, on the very day when the last of the +Russian ladies left the lonely recesses of Darghi, he sent a score of +his bodyguard, without even the courtesy of asking my consent, to escort +the Princess Oria to his own headquarters. + +"Bad breeding here made a great mistake, as it usually does among +gentlemen. For if he had sent his orders to me, as the officer to whom +he had intrusted the captives, I should have felt myself bound to obey +him, however much against my liking. But being treated in this rough +manner, which the Avar Chief was too fond of employing, I threw off at +once my allegiance to him,--which was not that of a tribesman, and had +been already encroached upon a little too uncouthly. For at present he +was quite prosperous, and seemed well able to hold his own,--though the +enemy had begun already their new plan of campaign, by which they +prevailed in the end against him,--so that there could be no dishonour +in leaving him with his glory. If the Russians had been pressing on him, +I would not have quitted him; though nothing would have made me leave +the Princess at his mercy. For when she confided herself to me, what +things I said, and what vows I made, and what contempt I truly felt for +every human being who thought lightly of such loftiness! Those officers +who came with Shamyl's orders, were as faithful as could be to him; but +ten times as many would not have availed to march my Oria eastwards. + +"'This lady goes with me,' I said, 'she will be my wife in three days' +time, just when you rejoin the camp. I will give you a letter to that +effect to the inspired Commander. My men also will come with me; and if, +as the General, he has any need of them hereafter, they will be at his +service. You know that I do not speak in vain.' + +"They all knew that, and many no doubt wished that they also were +homeward bound. They went one way, and we the other; and the sons of +gloomy Islam heard the songs of our rejoiceful faith borne back to them +through the mountain passes, by the soft air from the west. + +"For three or four years after that, I led a very peaceful life, happy +in the perfect love of Oria, and the esteem of my faithful tribe. Being +thoroughly versed in mountain war, we made ourselves respected by the +badly armed and undisciplined races to the westward and the north of us. +If they attempted an inroad, as their manner was, upon us, for their +sakes we regretted it, but for our own were gratified. Because instead +of plundering us of our honest crops and cattle, they always lost their +thievish own; so that we grew very comfortable, and poverty was unknown +among us. We sternly repressed all robbery, and to afford an abiding +lesson to neighbours of lax principle, we deprived them of the means of +outrage, placing these under our own control. At one time the numerous +Osset tribes, far beyond Rukhan's rule, promised to join him in the +plunder of our prosperity. But before they could mature their +contradictory ideas, we passed with a chosen band through their only +fruitful places, obtaining many specimens of things we cannot cultivate, +and leaving them so much to talk of that they fell with one accord upon +one another. So that they were compelled to send a humble petition to us +for seed, as soon as the sun came back again. + +"These little matters kept our arms from rusting, and our bodies from +torpor. We injured no one who did not require it, and we taught them to +abstain from injury. We encouraged literature in every village +possessing two men who could read, and within ten miles of Karthlos +Tower there were five or six poets growing. All this I mention not by +way of vaunt, but to show how much can be accomplished, when the mind is +easy. + +"But alas before these great reforms had taken solid root with us, the +final advance of the Russian forces hurried us to the war again. Shamyl, +the gallant patriot, who had for a generation baffled the power of a +boundless empire, was at last being crushed by weight of numbers, and +worn out by perpetual blows. By forcing his scanty troops together, and +closing the defiles around them, the stubborn invaders now had him in a +grip, like a wolf blocked in his own den to starve. He called upon all +who had shared his successes to help him in this last resource; and loth +as I was to leave my happy home and peaceful villages, honour and good +faith must not be starved by our prosperity. + +"My sweet wife, who had never admired the great Captain as the Russian +ladies did, prayed and wept and coaxed in vain; she brought my two +children, the boy and the girl, to show me that I ought to think of more +than mere abstractions. Innocent flesh of my own flesh, and tender bone +of my own bone, and eyes more bright than any star in all the sky of +glory, what had the 'Wolf of the mountains' done to make me love him +more than these? I stood at the gate with my arm around her trembling +form; and my beautiful boy, just three years old, clung to my leg and +kissed my knee, and the little baby always wise, who now has come to be +Dariel, looked at me through her mother's hair, with the sparkle of the +brighter world babes come from still unquenched by earth. What was pride +to me, or glory, if I could not find them here? But love has never yet +sufficed to keep a man contented. He grows ashamed of living in it; and +his manhood argues that if he lets his darlings wrap it all in warmth +and softness, it will soon cease to be worth their care. I put my wife +and children by, with a prayer to the Lord to protect them, and went to +do my duty. + +"How often I looked back, and thought--as all I loved grew further +off--that a man's first duty is to those who cannot live without him. +Moreover, that I should be punished for casting eyes upon and longing +for stirring rather than steadfast life. Badly begun, and sadly ended, +was to be the rule of it. At the outset thus our little band (familiar +as they once had been with every twist of the mountain-chain and every +tangle of the gorges) had managed, by living in peace so long, to get +their memories confused. And even when they hit upon the way, they found +it stopped by Cossack outposts at the very points that we used to guard. +But after many a climb and crawl, we contrived to rejoin the brave +Imaum. + +"I was admitted to him at once, and saw by the weariness of his eyes, +and the looseness of his attitude, that he knew it was all over. He was +sitting at a table with the lamp behind him, and his shaggy head thrown +backward, so that the light played down the furrows of his heavy +forehead, as from below one sees the moon glistening down a wrinkled +steep. With his usual scorn of ceremony he did not rise, but grasped my +hand. + +"'Imar, thou art a man,' he said, with his guttural voice, such as all +the Avars have, now a little tremulous. 'If all had been as true as +thou, I should not look like this to-night. It is Russian gold that has +conquered us. To-morrow I surrender.' + +"This was such a shock to me, that I could not reply immediately. Not +that I cared for the cause of Islam, to which he had been devoted; +neither did I detest the Russians, or dream that we, with so many races +all at feud with one another, could ever form a nation. But I felt as +any true man would feel, a reverence for this dauntless hero (who had +held his own so long against resistless odds) and sorrow at the close of +a career so grand. + +"'I have fought a good fight. I have held the faith. I have not striven +for my own glory, but in the cause of God most High. If it is His Holy +will to forsake us, there is no more for man to do.' + +"It was useless of course to argue with him. A man at all open to +argument would not have done much against Russia. And when I met my few +surviving friends among his gallant officers, they told me that his last +defence was gone, his force reduced to four hundred men, and all his +inaccessible retreats cut off. The enemy had blocked him in his last +hole; for his own life he cared little, as he had proved a thousand +times; but the few who still remained faithful to him, and were ready to +die at his side, surely it would have been a mean requital to drive them +like sheep into the butcher's yard. Therefore must he yield at last. + +"We were talking dismally about all this, and saying that the mountains +would never again be fit for a gentleman to live in, when I received +another call to Shamyl's room, and had another interview with him. He +had spent some time in prayer, and been rewarded with a holy vision from +on high, so that his eyes were full of fire, and his countenance shone +with happiness. One would scarcely believe that gloom and ferocity so +often darkened that wondrous face. + +"'I have received the word of the Lord, the holy voice of Allah, to whom +be all praise and glory! Imar of the Kheusurs, it is not for thee to +hear it, being but an outer infidel. It is commanded that thou shouldest +depart from among the chosen warriors of heaven, that they who bear +witness be of the true faith. If thou and thy men can escape, behold it +is my duty to aid thee. And verily I rejoice, for thou hast been a +faithful friend to us.' + +"If he rejoiced, I could tell him of some one who rejoiced a +hundred-fold, to escape a Russian jail and exile from his wife and +children, even if his life were spared; of which there was no certainty, +after the many atrocities committed by my very noble friend. Perhaps it +was not magnanimous on my part to decline--if good luck should allow +it--the glory of being shot or starved for the sake of the beloved +country. But a lot of cross tangles came into that question. Was it my +country in the first place? If it was, should I help it by quitting it +so? And again, would that beloved land show equal love to me when gone, +by attending to my belongings? No land I have heard of has ever done +that. Therefore I showed my love of my country, by deciding to remain +inside it. + +"'Commander of the Caucasus,' I said, knowing that he liked that +appellation, though he never commanded half of it; 'a revelation such as +thine is not to be disregarded. But how is it to be carried out? By many +devices, and some fighting, we have made our way to thee. But the foe +hath closed in at our heels. Our little band could never hope to pass +the Russian lines again. Thrice hast thou come to life again, when the +enemy proclaimed thee dead. But this is beyond even thy resources.' + +"He smiled, with the pleasant smile of a man who feels himself +underrated. 'Imar, it is not that I am beaten in the powers of the +mind,' he said, 'but never was there mortal born, and filled with the +breath of the Lord from birth, who could vanquish the love of gold in +men. The son of Manoah could not do it; neither even our Great Prophet. +I, who have gifts from Heaven also, suited to a weaker age, am beaten by +that accursed Power. It is gold alone that hath vanquished Shamyl.' + +"Believing that this upon the whole was true, I left him to his sad +reflections. But presently he raised his head again, and looked at me +with his old grim smile. He spread out his woolly arms, and spoke with a +large mouth quivering. + +"'Knowest thou that I could carry off every man of my four hundred left, +and laugh at the Russian beleaguerers? This night I would do it, and let +them smell for us in the morning. But to what effect? To kill a Russian +is no dinner. All the passes are closed against us, and all our villages +occupied. The winter is nigh; we should be no more than hungry wolves +upon the mountains. But thou art young, thou hast a home to go to, and +art not of our religion. Take thy faithful fifty, and go this night. My +son will show thee how. No more.' + +"That was the last I saw of Shamyl, and this much I will say for him. +He never sent any man to face a peril which he himself would shrink +from, neither did he fight for his own ambition, or hide in his turban +one copek. The Russians behaved very generously and even nobly to him; +and in the quiet evening of his days he may have looked back with sorrow +upon his barbarities against them. + +"Our little band had never shared in any of those atrocities. Therefore +it would be better for us, if we could not escape capture, to fall into +the hands of the foe as a separate detachment, than to surrender with +the General. And this was my reason for attempting an escape, rather +than any fair prospect of success in such a situation. But strange to +say, by means of a tunnel in the cliff unknown to the enemy, and then +some most perilous scaling of rocks--such as Englishmen delight in, but +a native of the mountains prefers to do by deputy--and then some +midnight rushes through blockaded passes and defiles, we contrived with +the loss of two men only to regain our own abodes. But more than a month +had thus been spent after we quitted Shamyl, in wandering, fighting, and +lying close, going out of our way for sustenance, and being driven out +of it by enemies and tempests. With 50,000 men to stop them, not a horse +to help them, no supplies to start with, and no village-folk to provide +them, nothing but the fruit the bears had left, to keep body and soul +together--even veterans of Shamyl's training might have been proud to +force passage thus. + +"Alas that we ever achieved it! For my men's sake I am glad, of course; +but for my own, I would that God had seen fit in His mercy to lay me +dead by a Russian gun, or stretch me frozen on the mountain side!" + + + + +CHAPTER XXV + +IMAR'S TALE--CRIME + + +"It was late of an October afternoon, when my heart, which had been low +with hunger, hardship, and long weariness, began to glow with hope and +love, as I stood at the bottom of our Karthlos steep. There was no +fusilier on guard; and the granite steps and groins were choked with +snow; but I sent my followers to their homes, as was only fair to them, +with orders to come to a sheep-and-goat supper, if their appetites +remained, when they had embraced their families. Then I sounded the +great horn, fogged with cob-webs, hanging above the lower gate, and with +only my faithful milk-brother Stepan, and one other trooper who belonged +to our old tower, breasted the rugged and crooked ascent. + +"'How wild with delight will my Oria be!' I thought, as I laboured +through the drifts, for there had been no opportunity of sending any +letter. 'How lonely she must have been, sweet soul, and trembling with +hope of a word from me!' + +"But when we reached the upper gate, there was no one even there on +guard. The brazen cannon once kept so bright were buried in winding +sheets of snow; and even the terrace before the door, which it was a +point of hospitality to keep clean-swept for travellers, was glittering +with untrodden drift. We were all in such a ragged and savage state of +body, that I had ordered my two men to go round to the entrance for the +maidens, and meant to do the same myself, unless my darling met me. But +now, in my fierce anxiety, I thrust the main doors open, and stood in +the hall, which was cold and empty. No sound of my wife's step, no +patter of little feet, no welcome, no answer, no gladness anywhere. + +"Doubt and terror kept me standing there; but I shouted, in hope of some +great mistake--'Oria, my wife, my wife!' And then, upon the chance that +she might be out--'Orry, my little son, my boy!' + +"My call rang along the passages on either side, and up the stairs, and +shook the plumes of mountain-grass, which she had placed in the vases; +but neither wife nor child appeared; and in my famished and haggard +state I fell upon a chair, and my heart began to beat, as if it would +leap out of me. Then I saw a tall and stately lady, in a dress of +velvet, and with a serpent of white fur wound beneath her jewelled +bosom, coming down the gray stone staircase, with her eyes fixed on me, +but not a word of speech. + +"My voice failed me, as it does in a dream, when a sword is pointed at +one's throat; but the lady came and stood before me, and a child was +clinging to her dress. She looked at me with some surprise, and contempt +for my ragged condition, but spoke as if she had never known a tear. + +"'Imar, art thou not in haste to embrace thy twin sister Marva? The +wrong thou hast done should not destroy all memory of the early days, +when hers was thine, and thine was hers. I am prepared to forgive thee, +Imar, in this time of tribulation.' + +"'To forgive! I never harmed thee, Va;' I answered, using her childish +name, as I always did in thoughts of her. 'But none of that now. Where +is my wife? Hath any one dared to injure her?' + +"Weak as I was, I leaped up from the chair, and it would have gone ill +with Marva--for what is a sister compared to a wife?--if she had showed +signs of flinching. But she gazed at me with a quiet disdain, as if I +could not command myself. + +"'I have not touched thy precious wife. I have not even set eyes on her. +She hath done the injury to me, that is worse than theft of goods and +cattle. Yet have I come hither, to do the duty she hath forsaken, and +comfort her deserted husband from his mad adventures, while his +treasure of a wife, his Royal Princess Oria, heiress to a hundred +thrones, is enjoying herself at the hot springs in the world of fashion +and luxury, with my noble husband Rakhan.' + +"What I said, or did, or thought, I know not--perhaps, nothing. The +world was all in a whirl with me, and perhaps I fainted, in my worn-out +state. It does not matter what I did. From the strongest man in the +Caucasus, I was struck to the level of the weakest child. Even my twin +sister, with a woman's petty spite inflamed by jealousy and bitter +wrong, had some of the echoes of childhood roused, and thought of the +time when she loved me. + +"'It is the part of a fool,' she said, meaning it for large comfort, 'to +be so wild about a woman, and the phantasy that they call love. When I +was a child, I believed in it; and to what has it brought me? To cast +away my life upon a man, who swore that I was all the world to him, and +believed it perhaps, while I was new. But lo, in a year he was weary of +me, because I made too much of him. Hath Princess Oria done that? Nay, +or thou wouldst be weary of her. Tush, what careth she for her lord? And +why should he take it to heart like this? There are plenty of women in +the world, my brother; and the more their husbands make of them, the +less will they return it. I am the one that should lament, not thou. For +I have lost a man, but thou a woman only. My husband will come back to +me when he is weary of thy Georgian doll; and I shall be forced to +welcome him. But thou, such is the law, thou hast it at thy pleasure to +be free.' + +"'Talk not to me,' I said, for this was salt rubbed into my gashes; 'go +and get me food, that I may recover a little of my strength. And then, +_thou also shalt be free_.' + +"Many a time have I wondered whether she knew what I meant by those last +words. If she knew it, she said nothing, but marched away in her stately +style, dragging by the hand her child, who had been staring at my face +all the time, as if he had never seen a man before. Marva's own servants +brought me food, and I knew not what it was, but took it, not for life +so much as death--for death of Rakhan, the adulterer. + +"Some sleep as well was needful to me, before I could accomplish +that,--sleep to restore the power of thought which seemed to have left +me imbecile, as well as the vigour of my jaded body. No further would I +enter my own house, but collected some rugs and bearskins--for we had +not even a bourka left--and was about to throw myself on a couch, when +Marva's little boy came dancing, half in fright and half in glee at his +own self-importance, with a crumpled letter for me. That she should send +it by such hands is enough to show how she was changed. I saw that it +was from my enemy, and by the light of the one lamp they had brought me +read the words that follow:-- + + + "'BELOVED BROTHER IMAR,--As thou hast given me to wife a beggar, + and a shrew to boot, it is but just that I should have a share of + thine to comfort me. She is soft and young and fair; and I have + taken such affection for her, and she for me, as the nature of + women is, that I will not charge thee for her clothes and lodgings + for at least a twelvemonth. Then if she hath a son, she shall + remain another twelvemonth; for Marva's child, though strong and + stout, is dumb from birth, and cannot be accepted therefore as + Chief Prince of Ossets. Son of Dadian, this relieves thee of the + cares that oppress thee most--the lust of money (which hath made + thee play the rogue), the peril of subservience to thy wife, which + overtaketh weak mankind, and the fear of having more children than + thine avarice would make welcome. Thou hast robbed me of good + substance; I relieve thee of light stuff. And even that, if thou + carest to lay claim, thou shalt have again without any charge. Thy + sister I leave to thy care meanwhile. She hath never had share of + her father's goods; and even thy greed cannot deny her meal and + milk, till her tongue grows mild. Her raiment is with her, and will + last until I am ready for her again. Unless thou dost relax of the + robbery thou hast rejoiced in for five years now, and givest her + the garments of her mother, as well as the third part of her + father's goods. Thy wife sends her duty to thee, and bids me say + that she likes thee still, but loves the man who hath his arm + around her, and doth not leave her to pine alone. We shall pass a + month at Patigorsk where the hot springs tend to warmth of love. + And then if thou hast aught to say, we shall not shut thee out + again, after doing this for thy benefit. Thy good brother RAKHAN, + Prince of the ancient Ossets.'" + + + + +CHAPTER XXVI + +IMAR'S TALE--REVENGE + + +"In the morning I arose with all my strength renewed, and the sense of +wrong as cold as stone, and keen as steel throughout me. My brother +Stepan was at my side, for he had come to watch me, knowing what I had +endured, and fearing that it might outdo my sense of life. I smiled at +him; and he saw that I would smile, until I made others weep. Not a word +was said between us. My wrongs were hotter in his heart than in my own; +for I felt doubts about myself, and he had none. By the sacred custom of +our tribe, which is a very ancient one, he was bound to hold my welfare +even dearer than his own. When the eldest son of the Chief is born, and +old enough to shape his lips, he is sent round to the nursing mothers of +the tribe to suckle. Whatever babe is placed with him at one breast, he +at the other, thenceforth their lives are more than twin--for twins may +often fall out and fight, as did myself and Marva, but never those +milk-brothers. Stepan's mother was the first to whom I paid my duty in +that tender way, and Stepan's arms were twined in mine; and nothing +could sever our hearts thenceforth from the allegiance of boy twins. + +"As I would not enter the inner chambers, where I had been so happy, +Stepan led me to the bath, and fetched another suit of travelling +clothes, and everything I wanted, not forgetting a trusty sword and a +pair of heavy pistols. Then we had breakfast, and set forth without a +word to Marva. My children even I durst not ask for, fearing to hear +that their mother had carried them into my dishonour. + +"But luckily my good horse _Ardon_, who had borne me through many +adventures, had been left at home when I last set forth, and was +neighing for me in the road below, for none but a mule or mountain-pony +could clamber up the steep access. Our vehicles also we kept below, +using hand-litters to the gates of Karthlos, for ladies or feeble +travellers. And thus we three set forth on horseback, with provisions +for three days--myself, and Stepan, and the other trooper who had +returned with me from Guinib, a faithful and brave fellow who is with me +now, named Usnik. Others would have joined us in the valley, but I would +not have them. Enough of disgrace already. + +"The roads, or tracks as you would call them, bad enough at any time, +were now at many places blocked by heavy and windy snowfalls; for the +season was come to the middle of October, and winter had set in early. +Any one who sees not much of such things, and might be in a mood to +consider them, would have found no small delight in the grandeur of the +world around. But all that I could think of was the bitterness and +baseness of the human race that breathed therein; and when we had passed +the post-house (where I kept my troika for long journeys) and learned +that the Princess had taken my carriage three days ago, when the weather +was fair, and ordered the driver to proceed with all possible haste to +Patigorsk, my last hope fell, and before me rose only the fury of +revenge, and then the despair of a desert life. + +"To that town, whose name was now poison to me, where dissolute Russians +came to revel, and vile Circassians to sell their daughters, the journey +from Karthlos in the best of weather was a matter of three days; and now +with the road so cumbered, and the buffet of thick snowstorms often +dashing in our faces, it seemed as if a week was likely still to find us +struggling vainly. But about noontide of the second day, being on the +northern fall of mountains, and within the boundaries of Ossetland, we +came to a fork of the torrent channel which here served for a roadway, +and we knew not whether to go right or left. As for any guidance the +chance was small, one traveller in a winter week was enough for such a +road as that. The harvesting of the tissue-grass between the crags was +over; the neatherd, the shepherd, and the goatherd had long driven home +their charges. We knew not what to do, until one of us espied a little +drift of smoke among the pine-trees on the ridge, and I sent the hardy +Usnik on foot in that direction, while we rested the horses and awaited +his return. By this time the wind had dropped a little, but a white +vapour rolled in and out the crags and forest, as if a giant lay +snorting among them, and the air felt like the breath of death. Stepan +strode up and down, when he had tied the horses, slapping his bosom to +keep himself warm; but I sat upon a rock, and cast my eyes upon the +ground. I was thinking of what I had heard from an Englishman, who had +been our guest at Karthlos. He had told me of the savage gaze of Prince +Rakhan, at my then beloved wife, when he met her at our summer-feast of +roses, when I had been called away from home. + +"'Why, who comes here on this evil travelling day?' cried Stepan, +turning suddenly. 'My lord will have company, I think; but not of the +kind he delights in.' + +"His dark look showed me that there was something to be met, and, +leaping to my feet, I beheld a company of horsemen advancing towards us +by the road upon our left. They broke through the drifts by twos and +threes, which was all that the track in its widest parts admitted; but +the one who rode first rode singly, and he was a big man, stern and +swarthy. The slope they were descending showed us a score of men, +well-armed, behind him. + +"'Behold they are too many for us! Let us fly up the other road.' Stepan +loosed the horses as he spoke. 'They will kill my lord, and then where +is our revenge?' + +"'What matters my life to me? Whoever they are, I will not fly. But why +should they desire to kill us, Stepan? They look not like bandits; and +they are not Russians.' + +"'Nay, but they are worse than either. They are Ossets of the Karai +Khokh, who go either side of the mountains. Their Chief is dead, and +they are Rakhan's children now. Rakhan rides first in this handful.' + +"'Rakhan shall have speech with me,' I spoke, with the heart of my +spirit rising, as the Lord has granted it to rise when He has beaten +down the body. 'Rakhan is welcome! I will salute him.' + +"The man had been out of my sight so long (not only because of my +service with Shamyl, but through his own avoidance of me) that I did not +know his face for certain till I met his eyes. Then I felt sure what my +duty was; as God himself ordained it, when He made man to be true to +woman, and woman true to man, and their children to spring of their own +loins,--there was no choice left me but to slay this man, or be slain by +him. + +"Having this within my mind, and being calmer than I can be now in +looking back upon it, I stood across the narrow track, and took the +horse that Rakhan rode by the head, and gazed at Rakhan. He was amazed +at first, and the colour of his great black eyes turned paler, and he +fumbled for a pistol, without daring to take his gaze from mine. I would +not speak, but I struck his hand up with a flip of mine. The lips that +had sullied my dear wife's should have no sort of speech with mine. He +tried to regard me humorously, as a man who thinks woman his slave +blinks eye, when the question is about her; but the sparkle of his gaze +died under mine, like an ember with the sun on it. + +"'Get off thy horse, Prince Rakhan,' Stepan shouted, with his big arm +laid across. 'The time hath come for man to man, instead of lying with +another man's wife.' + +"Rakhan made pretence to smile, and to leap from horseback lightly. +'What a stir to make about a light-of-love! Fool that knows not what a +woman is! Stand back, my sons; this is not for you.' + +"The Ossets took their orders gladly. Every savage man loves to see a +fight. They leaped from their horses, and squatted in the snow, and +filled their pipes, and kindled them. + +"There was a clear place close at hand, with a ring of black cedars +round it, and room inside for stepping to and fro, if life and death +required it. I threw off my furs, and so did he; and we stood against +one another. + +"'Hold! Is this what you call fair duel? His sword is three inches +longer than mine,' Rakhan shouted, and I saw that it was just, although +I had not dreamed of it. I threw away my blade, and took Stepan's,--a +common short weapon, stout and broad. + +"'One thing before I slay thee, Imar,' said Rakhan, with his bright +Genoese on guard; and I saw that my sword was as nothing to his. 'Young +man it was I who slew thy father; and now, by the same hand, thou shalt +die.' + +"Before the words were finished, he advanced upon me, taking the +coward's advantage, as he hoped, of striking me when stricken with that +shock. But I just drew back for a moment; and then, when he made sure +that he had me, and the point of his weapon flashed into my breast, up +flew his steel, like the sparks of a flint, and my short strong blade +rushed through his heart. He gave me one glare, and he lay between my +feet, with a gurgle of blood spouting out upon the snow. + +"'Go home to the Devil that made thee,' I said, 'and commit adultery if +thou canst, in hell!' + +"Then Stepan drew the lids upon those toadstool eyes, and gazed at me +with terror; for there are times when the God that made us takes us out +of His own knowledge with the passions Himself has placed in us. Stepan +thought that I would have slain him too, for doing this ministry to the +dead; but he did not understand me. I was quiet as a lamb, and would not +have resisted if any one had seized that bloody sword and driven it +through my own heart too. + +"'Is there any one among you men,' I asked, coming out into the road +before them,--'any milk-brother of Prince Rakhan, who feels a desire to +encounter me? I am weary now, and he will have fine chance. Or he can +shoot at me, if he likes.' But they smoked their pipes, and hugged their +knees together, and glanced at their horses, as if they loved their +backs. How different it would have been with my own tribe! + +"In this stir I was forgetting about Usnik and his message. 'The first +half is finished. Now for the second!' I shouted to Stepan from +_Ardon's_ back, as I spurred him up the track by which the Ossets had +descended. 'This must be the way to the Princess Oria.' For what else +could I suppose after meeting Rakhan there? + +"But the Ossets, who were departing by the road which had brought us +hither, said something to Stepan, and he fetched me back, and pointed to +the track upon our right hand. At the same time Usnik returned from the +fire in the wood, and the result of his inquiry agreed with what +Rakhan's retainers had declared. Patigorsk could be reached by either +road; but the one on the left was blocked for wheels, and would soon be +closed to horses. If I wished to follow the course of the troika, the +road on the right was the one to choose. Moreover, at about three hours' +distance, it passed a summer-house, or hunting-lodge, belonging to the +Osset Chief, but at this time of year unoccupied, where, if we could get +no further, as appeared too likely already, we could shelter our horses +for the night, and kindle fire for ourselves. Patigorsk was the place I +wanted, and I took what seemed to be the best road to it. + +"As we three set forth again, with our horses looking considerate,--for +these are better endowed than we are with knowledge both of sky and +ground,--a little toss of white softness met us, harbouring into our +eyes and beards. The ears and forelocks of our horses pricked themselves +with a glittering fringe; and then their manes were like a fountain, and +the bow of the saddle became an arch. Presently we could see nothing at +all, but left it to them to find the way, which they did without any +complaint, not even making a merit of obedience. I let the bridle fall, +and wished that I could only submit to God, as these good creatures do +our will, and never even seek for thanks. + +"We went on thus, with the snow-cloud thickening, and black rocks or a +bough of pine jumping out of the white against us, when suddenly my +horse pulled up, and his chin was striking something. He seemed to know +it, and so did I. It was the black rail of my troika, in which we had +enjoyed so many a summer jaunt, in the days when my Oria loved me. The +carriage was standing in the middle of the road, but there was no Oria +in it, neither any other human being, nor even a horse in front of it. +The cushions were gone: the contents were snow. + +"'Her Highness must be close at hand,' cried Stepan, leaning over it, +'and yonder is Rakhan's pleasure-lodge. God grant that the wolves have +not gotten her!' + +"'One wolf hath had her; but he will no more;' I answered, with my heart +on fire through all the snow that froze my breast. 'Thou, and Usnik, +hold the horses; I will see to this myself.' + +"Then I stamped on the road, and shook the snow off, and saw that it was +red with my own blood where the dead man's sword had touched me; and +following the shelter of some trees, where the streaks of the storm went +by me, I stood at the door of a house built of logs, with plaster +slabbed between them. Thrice I knocked with the hilt of my sword, +without drawing it from the scabbard, while I felt that the crisis of my +life was come--the time that comes only once, thank God, in His +creature's three score years and ten. + +"'How soon thou art back! How glad I am! This is so kind and faithful of +thee.' It was Oria's voice, and I ground my teeth. She expected her new +love, Rakhan. + +"Then she drew back the bolt, and stood before me, glittering in all her +perfect beauty, but pale as a ghost at this surprise. 'My lord!' she +gasped, for she was always timid; and I said, 'Yes, thy proper lord.' + +"Her hand went to her heart, as if it were failing her in this +amazement, and she spread the other arm to me; but I drew back and gazed +at her. 'Never touch me more,' I said; and her soft eyes fell before the +flash of mine. + +"'What have I done to enrage thee, Imar? Thou hast never spoken to me +like this? I have left thy roof. But how could I help it? I have done +what women may not do. But it was only for thy sake--and oh, my lord is +wounded!' + +"'Yes, through thee. But what is that?' I stretched my scabbarded sword +across, as she with a rush of tears approached. 'Thy paramour lies dead +for this. And what art thou? Liar, adulteress, Zanska.' + +"That last is the lowest word that can be used to any woman. She gazed +at me for a moment with a look that will never leave me, and then in a +low clear voice she said,-- + +"'It is enough. No woman of my race must hear that name from her lord, +and live.' + +"She bowed her head, as if receiving the sentence of death submissively, +and then walked slowly towards the inner room. At the door she turned, +and waved her hand with a proud and calm farewell to me. I knew what it +meant, and sprang towards her, but my scabbard struck the door-post, my +feet were cased in ice and snow, and I fell on my back in the outer +room, as a flash came from the inner. + +[Illustration: "_At the door she turned with a proud and calm farewell +to me._"] + +"'Help, help! My lord will bleed to death! Lady Oria! Baboushka!' The +voice was not Stepan's, but Kobaduk's; and I felt my boiling blood run +cold. + +'What dost thou here? What have I done?' I shouted, rising clumsily, for +my wound had burst forth through the fall. 'Old man, thy mistress hath +shot herself. What dost thou in Rakhan's service?' + +"'Nought have I to do with Rakhan. Sûr Imar knows not what he saith. +Baboushka and I have been with the lady, all the way from Karthlos, till +I went to yon village for food for us.' + +"I fell against the wall, and stared at him. Then Stepan stood also in +the doorway, and his voice was like the moan of death. + +"'It is true, Sûr Imar. The troika hath broken down at this gate. The +Princess Oria hath never seen Rakhan; neither came she to see him.' + +"I laughed, I shouted, as at some fine joke. 'I see, I see my sweet +mistake. He came not from her; he came to seek her. Ah, but he met the +wrong one; the wrong one it was, and yet the right.' + +"What matter what I did or said? Henceforth in all my life, what +matters? And when it is over, can I be saved? If so, it will be for +Oria's sake. Thank God that she knew before she died, slain by the +weapon which she had brought to protect her honour,--and Rakhan would +have tasted cold lead, I trow, if his miscreant scheme had entrapped +her,--by the mercy of God, she knew in that short hour the hellish fraud +which slew her. + +"The bullet had not touched her heart, and she passed away as a flower +fades, drooping from some inward harm. My pistols were left in my +holsters, but I loaded Oria's again, that I might not be slow to follow +her, the moment she could not see it done. But she opened her eyes for +the last time, when they seemed to have lost all sight of earth, and she +tried to lay her hand on mine, with deep love looking back upon me +through the cloud of Death. + +"'For Orry's sake, for babe's, for _mine_,' she whispered with her +latest breath. + +"I pledged my word; but how often was it almost beyond my power to keep! +And one of my pledges was lost already; when I got home--to my desolate +and wretched home--there was only my baby Dariel left, to link me to +this altered world. Marva was gone back to her Osset tower, and it +seemed better so; for I had brought her husband's lying letter, handed +me by Kobaduk, and purporting to come from her. To wit, an urgent +summons for my wife to fly to my bedside and nurse me through a +dangerous wound at Patigorsk. This letter I meant to place on Marva's +lap, and ask if she were privy to it. I hope not, I pray not; for it +would be almost too black-hearted, too treacherous for the worst woman's +revenge. I hope she believed that Oria, whom she always hated, had left +home through her own desire, to meet Rakhan in that festive town. For a +woman has not strong faith always in the virtue of other women. To her +own faith she will be true; but she doubts about theirs too shrewdly. +Women of the common sort, I mean. My Oria was too sweet for that." + + + + +CHAPTER XXVII + +IMAR'S TALE--EXILE + + +"You understand from what I said, that my only son was gone as well, the +eldest born of our fervent love, to whom with a pleasant conceit I had +given the name of 'Origen,'--born of Oria. The other was named from the +place of her own birth, arriving unexpectedly, when we went in the +troika to see the great post-house just built by the Russians on their +grand new road, which cuts the great mountain-chain beneath the towering +peak of Kazbek. + +"Unnatural it may seem, and sluggish, and even an abject thing to those +who have never lost their courage; but when I was carried up the steps +of Karthlos, with the body of my wife on the other litter, and the +carpenter ordered to remember my length in the boards he was cutting out +for her,--for we are a thrifty race, holding fast the hide when we have +lost the horns,--and I managed to say at my own threshold--'Let me see +my babies'; behold there was only one brought to me, and she could not +walk, nor say 'Dadda,' as babies of every language do. + +"Nevertheless, without excuse, she took my liking as of right, lying so, +and smiling at me with the faith of baby eyes, and the beginning of a +clever nose, and pink lips parted like a berry, as if I had a breast for +her. + +"'Sweetie, it is thy father, not thy mother,' the woman who bore her +said, 'and if he hath no breast for thee, his heart shall be all the +nigher. Sûr Imar, this is all the Lord hath left thee for thy home and +heart. Gather thy life up, for her sake.' + +"I saw the likeness of her mother in her, and she came into my helpless +arms, and laid her soft face in my beard, and played with the bandage +round my wound. And they say that she spoke her first word thus; but +women must not be trusted, when their imaginations move them. + +"As soon as I was able to think more clearly, I asked for my boy, +Origen. They told me, as soon as they thought it safe, that on the +second day after my departure, the very day of my fatal deeds, the poor +little fellow, scarce three years old, was killed through his own high +courage. My sister, who reigned in the Castle now, had given orders that +he should be kept apart from her own child Hafer, and in the top rooms, +where the nursery was with a separate staircase to it. Perhaps she +desired that even in childhood there should be no acquaintance between +the offspring of Oria and her own. But my little Orry was as strong and +active as an average child of twice his years, and he could not endure +to be cooped up thus. He contrived to get out of a loop-hole, and thence +to the head of the outer staircase, and so upon the table-cliff behind +the house, where he ran frolicking among the snow. This rock is +perpendicular upon all its southern face, and the dumb child Hafer, +seeing Orry's delight, ran out to share it from a lower door, while his +mother was away upon some business, with only two trusty servants. + +"Soon one of our women heard my boy shouting, and laughing at the other +child who could not shout; and instead of tempting them in with a +sweetmeat, the thoughtless girl ran after them. Of course they ran away, +and before she could catch them, both vanished over the brink of the +cliff, where a crest of snow obscured it; and verily she was afraid to +go back to the house, and tell what she had done. She concealed herself +behind the corner, and left others to find out the loss. But it was not +very long unknown, for Marva was coming along the ravine upon her return +to Karthlos, in the teleka which had brought her first, and which she +kept at the posting-house. She saw the two children lying there after +their fall of two hundred feet, her own child unhurt in a pile of snow, +and my little darling on the rocky floor, with his poor head dashed to +pieces. + +"For her bitter turn against me, I forgave her, when I heard of her +tenderness to my poor child. It is at such times that the greatness of +a woman's nature shows itself. Happily she knew not as yet of my +encounter with her husband, which must have been taking place just then, +but forgetting all her grievances against me she took both little ones +into her carriage, and drove at all speed to the posting-house. There +she ordered a private room, and allowed no one to come near them, except +her own Baboushka, while she sent to a village five miles off for the +only doctor to be heard of. He came as soon as he could, but she had +abandoned all hope by that time, as any but a woman must have done long +since, and there was no one to receive him. For Marva had sent her own +child home in dread of the effect upon his little brain, and at night +she appeared at the gate of Karthlos, with the baby heir cold as a stone +in her arms. His pretty red cross, and his green velvet dress, and above +all the billows of his golden hair still flowing from the linen swathes +of Death--when the women saw these they bewailed the child of Imar and +of Oria, almost as if they had lost their own. Before my return, he was +buried in our little churchyard of the glen; and his mother lies beside +him. + +"I have told you a melancholy tale; but when the Lord has tried one +child beyond His other children, and almost beyond the strength +vouchsafed to the best of them to bear it, something good shall be yet +in store; and happiness may spring up again, though pleasure be but a +memory. And the soul that has passed through rough affliction and the +long cold shadow, is led more kindly into the paths of shelter, and +content with quietude. + +"I have done enough of harm, my friend. I have broken up two households; +I have wasted half my tribe in war, and slain a good few Russians. These +you may slay by the thousand, without checking the supply of them; you +are only guilty of their blood, and the tears of those who loved them. +But my own losses taught me what it is to make others desolate. And the +rest of my life, please God, shall go to redeem the wrongs of wrath and +war." + + + + +CHAPTER XXVIII + +SANGUINE STILL + + +When the Prince Imar's tale was told, and I thought of all he had been +through, I could not find it in my heart, or even in good manners, to +crave explanation of certain points which had not been made quite clear +to me. For any such inquiry might appear to proceed from a hankering to +hear more about his darling daughter. He had enjoyed, beyond our chance, +a quantity of romantic love; and though he might not be hard on mine, +remembering his own tender time, and allowing for like state in others, +on the other hand that lesson might have taught him how to look at this, +before it went too far to stop. And it is not in the gift of men, or at +least of such as I am, to be certain how a brother man may take what +seems so clear to self. But while I was buried in these thoughts, he +spoke again quite cheerfully, and as if he had understood them all, but +would not blame me for them. + +"From what I have said, you will perceive that I have now two things to +think of. The first, and dearest, is my own child, the daughter of the +blameless wife, whom I lost through my own madness. The other is my duty +towards the people who have been so true to me; who can be raised by one +who knows them, to a better and more peaceful life, and the first +condition of happiness the rule of Christianity. We have had the name +for ages; but we have never known the meaning; of which you too must +wait to learn till sorrow has washed the eyes of pride. + +"That vile blood-feud, the curse of the mountains, the cause of a myriad +murders, could not exist if we were more than mere ticket-porters of the +cross. Therefore I am doing my best, without aid of your good societies, +which would get into trouble with Russia at once, to print 10,000 +copies of the New Testament, in the Lesghian tongue. In a short time now +my period of exile, fourteen years, will expire; and the rest of my life +will be given up to the spread of good-will amongst us. Thus alone can I +hope to have done some good to balance my evil deeds. But the difficulty +of the thing is this. Not a man in a hundred of us can read, and perhaps +not a woman of all the race. To meet this I am preparing primers, +horn-books, alphabets, all the rudiments; and I shall set up a school in +every village. It is too much for one short life, but at least I can +begin it, and when once begun, it will go on, for the Russians will not +stop me. The Russians have been very good to me, and they hate the rule +of Islam, which is warlike and implacable. The Commander of the Caucasus +is a man of great humanity. If he could have done as he liked, I should +have received at once a free pardon; and as it is, my revenues have +never been confiscated. He knows that I would be the last to attempt or +join in another insurrection. There never was a chance, since time +began, of a great Caucasian nation. We are split into about seventy +tribes, and each loathes all the others. Young as I was, when I joined +Shamyl, the folly of it was clear to me; and my father perished not by a +foreign but a neighbour's hand, as usual. That may be my fate also, +especially when I attempt reforms. But if so, I shall have done my best +to redeem a life of violence." + +As I looked at him, I could wonder no more that Dariel thought so little +of all other men compared with him. Here was a man, one might well +believe, who never knew what fear was, suspicion, falsehood, meanness, +envy, or even the love of money. It had been the sense of justice only, +and no greed or jealousy, which had led him to reject the demand of +Rakhan, his father's murderer; whence all the disasters of his life +ensued. And it seemed to me that if ever there had lived a man of honour +and kind heart, who deserved the favour of Heaven and the reverence of +his fellows, it was this man long oppressed by some mysterious curse of +destiny. + +My voice was trembling with something more than regard for my own +interests, when I fetched him back from his great ideas, which were +ever so far above my scope, to the matter which concerned me most. + +"Sûr Imar, I am quite small of mind, and would rather receive than do +good things. And of all the blessings of the blessed world, you know the +one that I value most." He smiled a little, for his face was always +ready to yield to gentle turns. + +"My friend, I know what your desire is. You want to rob me of my one +delight. But I feel myself safe for a long while yet. I rely upon many +obstacles. In the first place, will your own discretion and judgment +bear you out in wishing, even if you had my consent, to connect yourself +with a race of such dark fortunes and sad calamities, and crimes as +well--for crimes they are? And perhaps there are more before us. I have +told you my tale, to show you this. I believe not of course in any +heathen conceptions--Até, Nemesis, Ananché, or what not? But who can +deny that there is an inheritance of evil quite beyond our power to +explain?" + +"That may be so. But my one prayer is to be allowed to risk such +penalty." + +"You speak like an Englishman," he answered, looking at me very gravely; +"other men equally brave would decline, through the force of +superstition. But I have only begun my objections yet. For instance, +what would your own friends have to say about this question? You have +not mentioned it yet, I suppose, as nothing was likely to come of it. +But without that, you must know pretty nearly how your friends would +take it." + +I answered in so many words that they left me to follow my own judgment +now; that while things continued as they were, it would be wrong of me +to forsake them, as they could never get on without me; but that a +change for the better might be expected now with all confidence, for +England was sick of that farce so ridiculously called "free-trade," and +then the land might feed her sons again, instead of giving them nothing +but a weedy grave. + +"It is the standing joke of Europe," he replied; "there is nothing to +compare with it in history. Your benevolence is of the highest order, +because so purely unconscious. But it will require another generation to +restore your sanity, unless you have a war that blocks your supplies; +and then how simple! That man who can fast for forty days may challenge +the nation, when war is declared, and outlive them all, though they eat +all they can get. But let me not interrupt you." + +What is the loaf compared to love? The dealers and the middlemen have +the chief pull of the former. Turn me into a Radical, if the labourer +gets an ounce the more for his fourpence, than he often did of old, when +his right hand stood him in good stead, and his Saturday night was +certain. But a foreigner is allowed to show the common-sense, which an +Englishman is hooted down for hinting. + +"We shall never be as we were," I said, "we shall always be poor, Sûr +Imar. And I am only a younger son. If it is your duty to repel me for +that reason, I have nothing more to say." + +"We will not part like this," he answered, feigning, as every man should +do, to be blind when another man is moved; "there are many things in +your way, my friend; but I will not make the worst of them. You have my +respect and liking, which I do not give to every one. But in spite of +all I have gone through or perhaps by reason of it, I have some romance +about me still. You say that you love my daughter, and I thoroughly +believe it. But does she love you?" + +"I have no reason to think so yet. What right have I to hope for it? She +is far above me in every way. But if you do not forbid me--why I could +try--I could try my best, you know." + +It was almost more than he could do to look with becoming gravity at the +sadly waning phase of hope depicted on my countenance. He smiled, +because he could not help it. And I smiled, to keep time with him. + +"You are honest, at any rate," he said, "and that you have been from +first to last. Of English modes of wooing, I know nothing; and they are +not like ours. But this strikes me as an unusual thing; though perhaps +all you ask is what you would call 'a fair field and no favour.' You +shall have it, as far as I am concerned; though I will not pledge myself +afterwards. But remember that in a month or so, we return to our native +mountains." + +This was awful news to me; and I seemed to have no fair chance left. +Moreover I felt very deep alarm concerning that Prince Hafer, Dariel's +cousin, about whom I had heard so much, and of whom I had seen too much +already. Was he the son of that terrible woman, Marva--Sûr Imar's +sister--and that hateful man, and horrible plotter, Rakhan, Prince of +the Ossets? I had longed to ask his Uncle Imar for more particulars, +about him, and especially what he was doing here, but my courage had +failed me on that point. Alas that he was no longer dumb; and if he had +fallen 200 feet in his childhood, no wonder that he could jump 10 now; +for Nature always strives towards a balance. And if he could not jump 10 +feet in height (which perhaps is more than any man even of the mountains +has achieved), it was plain enough that he would prove a very awkward +customer, whenever my sense of the gross injustice inflicted by his +presence should urge me to attempt by hand or foot his desirable +removal. But one thing I might ask, as I thought, without showing any +impertinence, or reviving painful memories. + +"Your sister, the Princess Marva, sir? I hope she continued to show +good-will, and afforded you some comfort before you were banished from +Daghestan. She herself remains there, I suppose?" + +"Not in Daghestan, but in Ossetia, which lies to the west of the great +Russian road that marks the division of the Mountain-range. No, I cannot +say that she showed any sisterly feeling towards me, except the true +sorrow for my child of which I spoke; and perhaps no woman who witnessed +a scene of such distress could have helped being touched. But when I +heard of her tender behaviour, and remembered that old scruples were +partly removed by the death of the offender, I sent her all that she +could claim, and much more, of her inheritance in goods and chattels. +But it is impossible for her, as long as she continues Rakhan's widow, +to show much affection for me, though I may hope that she has it in her +heart. For unhappily that most fiendish and accursed institution, which +I hope to begin to extirpate, by the spread of the Gospel and of +education--the blood-feud is set up between us. By marriage she is an +Osset, and among the Ossets she holds sway, like a petty Queen almost. +Although she cannot have any vindictive feelings against me, after all +her husband's behaviour to both of us, she must respect their customs, +and not show herself too friendly. Therefore I take it as unusually kind +and good on her part, that knowing how soon my time expires, she has +sent her only son, Prince Hafer, to congratulate me, and to offer an +ancient residence or Court-house of the Ossets, which stands very +conveniently, for us to occupy on our return, till Karthlos (which is in +a sad condition) can be put into good repair. That I call a true +extension of the olive-branch; and it is the more remarkable to one who +knows as I do that this infernal code, for I can call it nothing else, +is supposed to be doubly binding when it inures betwixt near relatives. +Blessed are they that never heard of it. No flight of time, no acts of +kindness, no natural affections avail against it." + +"It is horrible indeed," I said, "and nothing can be more un-English. We +are the most sensible race in the world, as well as the most +straightforward. 'Have it out and be done with it,' is our rule; no +steel, no lead, no poison; but a fight with what the Lord has made." + +"You also have your brutality, I fear. But it is not my place to talk of +that, after all the kindness I have received among you. And you are wide +awake to all your own virtues, so that I need not insist upon them. Is +there anything more you would ask me?" + +"Nothing, Sûr Imar. And I may have seemed to trespass already on your +patience. But I have a brother who is wonderfully clever in all +mechanical and chemical affairs. May I bring him to see your +type-stamping process, and other beautiful devices? They are out of my +line altogether; but he would appreciate all of them. And more than that +he is gifted, as you are, with the faculty of languages. He is the +genius, and I the dunce. May he come? He has nothing to do with the +Press, and will not even talk of what he sees." + +"It will give me great pleasure to see such a man;" my host replied most +courteously. "There is no secrecy about my work, beyond this--if your +journals spoke of it--and they speak of even smaller matters--it might +get into some Russian paper, and my little ideas would be quenched at +once. Russia does not encourage education, outside her own narrow +grooves. But if I could only begin unforbidden, probably I might go on +for years. You see how sanguine I am still." + +"And your nephew will be of great service, no doubt, as his mother is so +friendly. In his early days he had no power of speech I think you told +me. But that comes sometimes rather late in life." + +"I do not think that I spoke about it; because I had no knowledge. His +father mentioned it in that fatal letter. But before I left the +mountains I was told that an operation at Tiflis had relieved the child +of the tongue-tie; and now he seems to be in many ways a fine specimen +of the Caucasus. He cannot speak your language well, though he has +picked up a little of it, and he is not very fond of your nation. But if +your brother is a linguist, possibly he might get on with him. And I +should like to try the experiment. When will you bring your brother? But +tell him not the story of my life, as I have told it to you. It is a +thing I never speak of, without a special reason." + +"You may depend upon me, Sûr Imar; I know the favour you have done me, +and the reason for it. There are few who would have gone through so much +pain, for the sake of almost a stranger. But I know not when I can bring +Harold. He is a most uncertain fellow. Nobody can ever tell where to +find him. He says it is the beauty of his character. But I hope that I +may come before he does; or it will be a bad look-out for me." + +"You may come to see me every day, my friend, and I shall be pleased to +see you. But if you meet Hafer, be on your guard. He has the rough +manners of the mountains still, and has not seen the world, as I have." + +Thus I was obliged to leave it. Not at all to my liking; yet with no +right to complain of any one. This Lesghian Chief had laid me under a +very great obligation, by overcoming for my sake his natural reluctance +to recall a past so full of pain, and in such bitter contrast with the +present conditions of his life. As a nation we make little of the debt +which a foreigner incurs to the hospitality of England. The guest, +moreover, is too graceful ever to inflict on us the pain of seeing him +overwhelmed with gratitude. But this Lesghian Chief had formed what was +perhaps a romantic view of the greatness of our policy, and a liking for +us which is, I fear, by no means universal. This I hoped to work with +diligence for my own advantage; as our Government used to do, as long as +it still subsisted. + + + + +CHAPTER XXIX + +LARGE AND LONG VIEWS + + +Sûr Imar had spoken of happiness as resembling a mountain-eagle in the +brevity of its visits, and the speed of its flight away from us, rather +than the gentle dove whose nest is always near our roof, while the +cooing of her soft content pervades the summer evening. And probably he +was right enough as regards his own race and country, where all is +rugged, strong, and fierce, and a pious life too often means pure +impotence for robbery. + +But if he only could have seen my father of a sunny morning, sitting in +his little room, with the red cloth on the table, and the drawers of his +cabinet pulled out, and his choicest coins laid gingerly with their +faces tilted towards the light, and a chamois leather, and a box of +powder, and a tiny bottle of acid to be used most sparingly--that Chief +of great stature, and still greater mind, would have perceived that +bliss may come with the downy plume of the dove, as well as the swoop of +the eagle's pinion. For here was an ancient gentleman, who had never +known flash and clash of steel, or the rush of hot blood upon frozen +snow; but had only been damaged by the rapid fall of grain, and no +longer had the spirit to cry out at that; yet in the evening of his days +found pleasure in the coinage of the past, when the currency failed so +painfully. Often he shouted for his wife or daughter, to share some +great discovery, some new interpretation of his magnifying glass, or the +lens of imagination, over some battered disc, resembling the plate which +our blacksmith clamps red-hot on the nose of a vainly squealing porker. + +Then was Sir Harold's pleasure at the acme and the apex. What delight is +perfect without something to find fault with? And the fonder one is of +the poor short-comer, the sweeter it becomes to correct the loose idea. + +"This indeed is frightful, my dear Grace! Will you never know an old L +from a T? And how often must I tell you, that they run the other way? +There's a tangle of your hair coming in the light again! If you want to +be of any use, which you never can be, do go and cut off at least three +quarters of it. One would think that girls were made of nothing else but +hair. Show me any mops and frizzles, on a feminine obverse. Look at this +fascia! I'll get you one to-morrow. You fetch it round tightly, and then +you cut off all the rest. Unless you like to bunch it, as a jockey does +a horse, I shall speak to your mother about it. Nothing shall be done +that you dislike. But you see for yourself how becoming it is?" + +"Lovely, oh, lovely! I am wild about it, father. But the lady has no +nose. Is mine to come off too?" + +"She has had a nose, and as good a one as yours. It is the mere accident +of attrition. But here comes George! What can George want now? He knows +that I never should be interrupted, with all these drawers open. If any +rival Numismatist--I am sorry to say there is no honesty among them. +Even the people at the British Museum, when I lent them for comparison, +kept back three most valuable--the gems, the gems of my whole +collection!" + +"Well, sir, I don't blame them. It was for the instruction of the +nation." I knew that my father was even more proud than indignant at +this fact--if fact it was, and he had long ago made it one, by telling +it at least twice a-day. "But I don't want to disturb you, sir, and I +don't often do it. Only there are two things that I am bound to consult +you about immediately, if you can spare me a few minutes, without having +to put more important work aside." + +My father sighed; for he hated business, as he had good cause to do, +while Grace walked away with a lofty air, like a lady denied the +franchise. Finding myself rather nervous, I began in a craven manner +with other people's business. + +"Bandilow wants to know, sir, whether he may break up half-moon meadow, +and plant it with apple- and pear-trees. He says it is the only chance +of his being able to pay his rent, next Lady day." + +"But, my dear George," Sir Harold replied, while he spread a silk +handkerchief over his coins, lest the atmosphere of business should +corrode them, "does the silly fellow expect to realise a fruit-crop +betwixt this and then?" + +"Very likely he does, for he has found an apple on a tree he planted not +more than two years ago; and the Society for the Promotion of British +Fructiculture has sent him a coloured print of apples bigger than +turnips and brighter than prize carnations. And you know what Lord +Melladew did for him; they would not advance him any money,--in fact, he +had to subscribe to them,--but for a 'nominal price' they supplied him +with a list of fifteen hundred kinds----" + +"Oh, I don't want to hear any more about that! I should have some faith +in it, if they put their own money into it, instead of being paid for +persuading other people to invest in it. However, it is no concern of +mine." + +"Excuse me, sir, but I think it is. In a sort of sideway, at any rate. +You would not like an old tenant, whose family has held under ours for +at least three centuries, to be robbed by private folly of the little +the public mania has left him. I know the climate of Surrey pretty well, +and there are very few better in England. Last May, the mercury stood +below freezing point at six in the morning, no less than eight times; +and twice it was eight degrees below. Have we any fruit-bloom that can +laugh at that? You would not like an elderly man like Bandilow, with a +large family dependent upon him, to be ruined, would you now? And he is +already in arrears of rent?" + +"Certainly I should grieve at that, and throw him off every farthing, +little as we can afford it. But my dear boy, you make the worst of +things, and you are sadly obstinate; which, perhaps, is a family +failing. Men of tenfold your knowledge have proved that the only remedy, +and a very easy one, offered by Providence itself, for the present +starvation of agriculture, is to take to horticulture. If wheat will not +pay at 30s. per quarter, fall back upon apples at a pound a bushel. And +then there is jam, a glorious scheme." + +I saw that all reason was in vain. Lord Melladew had got hold of my good +father, and tip-top prices upon West-end counters had been quoted for +orchard average. It was useless to say another word. But who ever ceased +on that account? + +"If the wheat crop is precarious, I should like to know what the fruit +crop is. Two years in three give a fair crop of grain; scarcely one in +three of fruit. If we turned every field into a broom of trees, would +even the present low prices hold, in the years when there was anything +on them? The fruit might roll on the ground and rot, whenever the season +was plentiful. Englishmen cannot live on apples; and jam is only fit for +children. But do as you like, sir. Do as you like." + +"George, I am guided too much sometimes by the way in which you look at +things. You have formed very strong opinions, and there may be something +in them. Nothing is more wonderful to me than the difference in +character betwixt you and Harold. Harold looks at a thing all round, and +is never quite sure about it. But you make up your mind without looking +at all, and I defy anybody to move you." + +"I have made up my mind, sir, about another matter, which I came to put +before you. And though I am not to be moved from it, I do hope that you +will take my view. But is Bandilow to have his way?" + +"Certainly," my father answered with a pleasant smile, for he had formed +the most erroneous opinions about me; "is no one to have his way, but my +son George? It is only fair to let a tenant crop his land as he thinks +best, unless he injures it permanently; and especially such a man as +Bandilow, who has stuck to us, when all the others dropped off. And +there is another reason. Many of the newspapers, loving, as some of them +seem to do, to stir up ill-will among Englishmen, keep on declaring that +the landlords form the chief obstacle to the improvement of land. The +thing is absurd. You might just as well say that if you borrow a +hundred pounds of me, I must long for your bankruptcy, lest you should +repay me. What landlord would not be delighted if his tenant could make +£50 an acre, as these people say? I only wish this fruit-craze could +last." + +"Father, you are right. What a blessing it would be, if they could only +fetch it round! Let us hope for the best, as they do. And now for the +other question, all about myself; and I hope you will take the same +liberal views. But it is a long story. Have your easy chair, and your +little glass of mead that stops the cough. Well, Harold did some good in +recommending that. You never get the cough as you used to have it." + +"Harold is a very clever fellow," my father said, after a sip or two; +"if that boy would only stick to something--or if I could make a blend +of you two--well, well, we can't have everything." + +"That is a righteous law for us; but it ought not to apply to you, sir, +whose wishes are so moderate. For instance, I want a thing that I shall +never get. May I call Mother in, to hear what it is?" + +In this there was wisdom, gracious wisdom, such as we are inspired with +sometimes, however foolish we may generally be. For whatever opinion my +father might form, he would have my mother looking at him, and then she +would be sure to give a glance at me, and the experience of years would +be belied unless she gave utterance to a conclusion not directly +counter, but sub-contrary, hypenantious--if such a word is +pardonable--to the view which her husband had ventured to form without +waiting for her suggestion. For they had grown so much alike, that both +of them doubted about the joint-stock wisdom; as we all despise +home-produce. + +Seeing myself in the right way thus, while indulging in all due +deference, I did my very best to let them know that I had striven after +things above me. My father was ready to concede that point; but my +mother could not conceive it; and was eager to branch out into a long +discourse, about all the great people akin to us in body, but in mind +not as yet awake to it. My father joined me in abbreviating that--though +at such a time it was hard measure--but he heard the old Grandfather +Clock strike one; and if mother got wound up on that chain, the +hour-hand might go round the dial before he got any luncheon! Therefore +he spoke decisively. + +"What we have heard from George is not altogether what I expected. +Everybody knows, though he seems to imagine that nobody ever dreamed of +it, that he had found some attraction among those very strange people +that live in the dell. Who they are, or what they do there, it has never +concerned me to inquire. When strangers come into a neighbourhood, and +desire to keep themselves to themselves, no English gentleman would ever +think of obtruding himself upon them. They may be very estimable, and +even of very high rank in a foreign way, as George supposes. But when +they pack themselves up inside a wall, without even a bell, or if they +have one with only fierce dogs to answer it, all we can do is to leave +them to the Police, or the Government, or the Newspapers. The right of +asylum is sacred in England. Of Continental intrigues we know nothing, +and we refuse to be mixed up with them. Even with a Radical Government +in power--my dear, you quite agree with me?" + +"In every word that you have said, my dear. But when our George, without +asking his mother, goes out of his way to make strange acquaintance, and +people who pretend to look down upon us----" + +"You have no right to say that, my dear. We must not think that they are +so absurd. They have the highest opinion of this Country, as of course +they are bound to have, except as to our one great mistake. And there, +if I understand George aright, Prince--what's his name, Mari? It sounds +like New Zealand, but at any rate his views do him very high credit. He +spoke of Free Trade with very fine contempt; I think you told me so, +George?" + +"Sir, he could not find any word strong enough to describe our folly. +And the testimony of an outsider--but you never use such language, sir." + +"No, I leave that to younger people, who may live to see the worst of +it. But this gentleman must have great perception, as well as much +integrity. You think that he draws a large revenue, and this young lady +is his only child." + +"My dear, you forget how they live out there," said my mother, who was +above lucre, and my father as well too superior to show it. "Who can +tell how many wives they have? And their laws not too respectable, I am +half afraid, upon such points." + +"I was very well up in Geography once," my father replied with a smile +at her, "I could construe some of Prometheus vinctus, and I have a coin, +with the rock and the chain and the vulture, but the Titan has been +eaten to nothing by time. It is extremely valuable; yet the British +Museum failed to steal it. That Prince comes from the very same spot. It +may have been struck by his ancestors. George says that they come in a +direct line from Noah's own great-grandson." + +"In that case, indeed, who are we to talk of our own children? Who, +indeed, are we?" My mother glanced upward, as if to watch the whole of +creation sliding. "Although to a reasonable mind the Heptarchy is as +much as one requires to be sure of. But I should like to see that girl, +George." + +"Stop," said my father, "I am not a sceptic; Mama, you must not set a +bad example. I had my little doubts about the Ark, I must confess, until +so many people attacked it, among them a Bishop of our Church, who +continued to enjoy his income. If he was in earnest, he scarcely could +be honest, and in that case, who would listen to him? And if the Ark +rested upon Ararat, that would be the neighbourhood to know all about +it. I will not contradict Prince Maori." + +"But it is the girl I care about;" my mother made a great point of the +tempers of young women. "George is so peaceable, and he never argues. I +cannot risk his happiness with a wife who may be descended from--from +even the females mentioned in the Bible." + +"My dear mother, what a hurry you are in. The young lady does not care a +fig about me yet. And I am very much afraid that she never, never will. +Only I thought that I had better let you know." + +"This sort of thing has never happened to you before, and that is very +greatly to your credit, George." My father looked stealthily at my +mother, lest her conscience should involve her in some misconstruction +here. "But we must talk it over first, your mother and myself. We could +have no idea that such a thing was happening on our property, I mean--of +course, what used to be ours. It seems to be departing from the proper +way so much, and the practice of the family. I am sure there are plenty +of nice girls round here." + +"I am not so sure of that," said my mother, rather quickly, and giving +me a signal to leave the rest to her; "English girls are not at all as +they were in my time. They have dropped all their modest looks and +delicacy. They talk slang, and they speak without being introduced, and +they call one another Jack and Jemmy, and they let young men give them +pairs of gloves, and they come into a room with both arms swinging; and +as for their dresses, and the way they do their hair----" + +"Your opinion upon all these points, dear mother, has influenced me +beyond all doubt, even more than I was aware of. But you must remember +that Dariel is also of the most ancient English lineage, gone by quite +as much as you could wish--Crusaders, probably our Richard the first, +and some of his devoted paladins. What can be nobler than to carry on a +peaceful crusade of education, literature, Christianity----" + +"They could never do that without plenty of money," said my father, a +man as free from mercenary views as ever tried to raise a shilling. "And +you spoke of some emerald mines, I think. But we must be careful, very +careful, and insist upon verifying everything, quite independently of +their reports. Let me see! I have met the Russian ambassador--but no, +there have been two more since then. However I am not without influence +altogether." + +He waved his hand for me to go, and I slipped off, after a good kiss +from my mother, who always gave way to the sentimental vein, when my +father fell into the financial. And sure enough our finances were of a +pensive character just now. My duty was clearly to allow my dear parents +plenty of time to discuss me from my birth up to the present moment; and +finding myself just a little in the fidgets and unfit for steady work, +off I set through the park to our old house, to inquire whether Stoneman +happened to be at home. For he had taken his holiday, and was come back; +and so far as one could judge him by his looks and walk, he found +himself better suited in his native land than elsewhere. + + + + +CHAPTER XXX + +IN THE QUIET PLACES + + +"Gone to the City, sir," said the man, who opened the door which I knew +so well, and it had a few reasons for remembering my childhood, +impressed or indented upon its lower panels; "but he wanted to see you +particular, Master George; and he will be home by two o'clock. I was to +send down, and ask you to step this way by two o'clock, if you could any +way spare the time, for he thinks to have a bit of a treat for you." + +How small are our natures! I was pleased with Biddles for making a "he" +of his master; when at every breath it would have been "Sir Harold," +while we could afford his livery. A fine old Englishman was this, full +of pure feeling, and in heart disdainful of gold in comparison with +rank; though compelled by his stomach to coerce the higher organ. "How +is your little Bob, Biddles?" I asked; and it was better than +half-a-crown to him. + +Before I had time to pick more than fifty holes in the stockbroker's +taste as compared with our own, in came the man himself, full of high +spirits, and alive with that vigour which the sparkling metal gives. Any +man must be a cur who can snarl at a good friend, for enjoying the +marrow-bone, which has dropped betwixt his paws. Jackson Stoneman was +not without his faults; but it would have been mean to make them greater +than they were, just because he was able to pay for them. + +"Just the man I wanted--the very man," he said, as if I was worth all +the Stock Exchange; "what luck I have had all day! And you are come to +crown it. Here, you shall have my new Dougall, and I shall shoot with my +old Lancaster." + +"What a deuce of a hurry you are in!" I answered, for his mind could +give me ten yards from scratch at any time. "I am not come here to +shoot. I have no time for such trifles. I want to have a serious talk +with you." + +"Who do you think looked at me over the palings?" he spoke as if he had +quaffed a fine Magnum of Champagne, although he was a man of very great +discretion. "Over the palings, my boy; and after putting me down so the +other day! I assure you it has quite set me up again; though I am afraid +it was only an accident." + +"You may be quite certain of that," I replied, for he wanted a little +quenching; "she went to get the last of the globe-artichokes, and of +course when she heard a horse she looked up. Old Sally looks up whenever +any one goes by." + +"I tell you there was no looking up about it. Globe-artichokes are as +high as any woman's head. You are not going to put me down about that. +And she kissed her hand to me. What do you think of that?" + +"If you took off your hat, she could do no less to a kind friend of her +mother. My affairs in that line are not flourishing. But I don't want +another fellow to be made a fool of, Jackson. Can't you try to show a +little common-sense?" + +"Grapes sour, George? Well, I am sorry. But I fear you have not invested +well, my son. What are those foreign girls? Do you think I would ever +look at them, with a ghost of a chance of a thorough English maiden? +When it comes to an English girl, you know where you are, and no +mistake." + +"All this is below contempt," I answered, for he had taken altogether +the wrong tone with me. "Let me hear no more of such stuff; we are not +boys. What is it you want me to shoot?" + +"Well, that is a gracious way of putting it, when I offer you a chance +anybody else would jump at. Guy Fawkes' day not come, and behold three +woodcocks marked down in the Pray-copse!" + +"I don't believe a word of it. They never come here yet. The earliest I +ever shot was on the fifteenth. But if you can swallow it, I don't mind +going with you." + +"Well said. And back to dine with me at six o'clock. No scruple about +certificate in this, though to my mind the woodcock is the best of +British game. We'll call for the spaniels at Ponder's cottage. Best foot +foremost!" + +It was a bright autumnal afternoon, after a touch of white frost, and +against the sky every here and there some bronzy leaf would swing and +glisten like the pendulum of a clock at winding time. But most of the +foliage now had finished its career of flaunt and flutter, and was lying +at our feet in soft brown strewage, or pricking its last crispage up, +where a blade of grass supported it. While at every winding of the +meadow path (which followed the hedge like a selvage), how pleasant it +was to see afar the wavering sweeps of gentle hill, and plaits of rich +embosomed valley, with copse, and turnip-field, and furzy common patched +with shadow. It made me bless the Lord at heart for casting my lines in +a quiet land, where a man beholds no craggy menace, black rush of blind +tempests, bottomless gulfs, unfathomed forests, and peaks that would +freeze him into stone. For the people that live there must be in a wild +condition always; to tremble at Nature's fury, or to shudder at her +majesty, or look around on all that wraps them up, with desolate +indifference. + +I glanced at Stoneman walking briskly with his gun upon his shoulder, +and death to at least a dozen woodcocks in the keen flash of his eyes; +and I said to myself--"Please God, I will take a game-certificate, next +August; there is nothing like a good day's shooting to save one from +blood-thirstiness." + +"Jackson, my boy!" I said, with the refrain of a fine old Yankee song +arising in my memory, "you have been over half the world; but have you +ever been in the Caucasus?" + +"No, and don't want;" he answered shortly, "get robbed enough in London +village. But they strip you naked there, I hear, and send you down a +waterfall. Shamyl did it to some young chap, who might have set up +against him." + +"That is a fiction of his enemies. The Avar Chief was dry in his manner +to strangers; and who can wonder at it? But he never harmed one of his +own race. I wish we had a few such patriots." + +"Very well. You start the band. You are qualifying well, with all those +Egyptian fellows in the valley. But George, you are much too good for +that. There are pretty girls in every caravan; but we don't jump over +the broom-stick with them." + +Dariel and a broom-stick! Indignation may flash as fast in the meadows +as in the mountains. "You idiot! You talk like an utter cad," I cried; +and he being quick of temper too, stood his gun against a tree, and +looked at me. I set my gun by the side of his. "Let us have it out," was +all I said. + +But a gleam of reason came across him. He might have polished me off, +perhaps, though he would not have found it very easy, for I was the +heavier of the two, and in tidy rural condition. "What rot this is!" he +said, lowering his hands. "If you like to have a good smack at me, you +can. But I won't hit a fellow with Grace's eyes." I knew that he had +meant business, and that there was no white feather in his nature. + +He begged my pardon, and we shook hands; and I felt just a little +ashamed of myself, although when I think of what he said, I see no +misbehaviour on my part. + +Without another word, we dropped the question, and went on to look after +the woodcocks. We crossed the long "pray," with the keeper and three +spaniels coming after us, and whether it was that Jackson's hand shook +after menacing "the eyes of Grace," or that mine was extra steady +through that firm assertion of Dariel, it came to pass that I knocked +over both of the birds that we put up, when they were sailing away from +Jackson's gun. The other longbill saved his bacon, by keeping it out of +human eyes. These lucky shots, and the pleasant walk, and very fine +behaviour of the dogs--who were children of the animals I had loved and +chastened, in the better days both for them and me--put me into so noble +a frame of mind, that after an excellent dinner and a glass or two of +Port wine with the violet bouquet in it, I up and told Stoneman my own +love-story; for I knew that the whole of it must come out now. + +He, being pretty much in the same condition, though without anything +like my excuse for it, listened as if he had never heard anything half +so surprising and engrossing, and inspiriting. In fact, he seemed to +take the whole of it as applicable to his own case, though it was beyond +my power to perceive even the faintest analogy. His was an ordinary +love-affair with nothing remarkable about it, unless it were that money, +which is the usual obstacle by its absence, was the obstacle here by its +presence. But in my case money was the last thing thought of. Sûr Imar +had never mentioned it; and as for me, I only hoped that Dariel might +never own a shilling, because then she would appreciate my few +half-crowns. And I still possessed her ruby cross, and meant to keep it, +until it should be mine by legal right. Ah, who can spy any chance of +that through all the gloom impending? + + + + +CHAPTER XXXI + +PIT-A-PAT + + +"She didn't say that she could never care about me," replied the +stockbroker, when I asked him what he thought. "If she had, you wouldn't +see me here now. I should have been off to the real Rialto; for I've got +a first-rate fellow in the Avenue now." + +"Jackson, my inquiry was about my own affair. I want to know what you +think of my chance there." I looked at him severely, for this +inattention was too bad. + +"Well, and I gave you a parallel. We are almost in the same boat, I +should say; though yours is a sort of savage canoe, full of Oriental +fish-tails, no doubt, and liable to Vendetta, and many other frightful +nuisances. To your young mind all that too probably increases the +attraction. But to my mature views, there's romance enough and to spare, +in a quiet English maiden,--sweet, gentle, affectionate, +firm-principled, and not too sure of her own mind. Are they to be +despised, because you can speak a civil word to them, without having a +bullet through you? George, there is more romance really, where you know +how to behave, than where you don't." + +"Can't see it," I answered, "can't see it at all. Is it poetry to take +up your spoon for pea-soup?" + +"Poetry be hanged!" cried Jackson. And as it was only my brother who +went in for it, when I never could make a blessed rhyme, why should I +stand up for the Muses, who had never deigned a glance at me? +Nevertheless, I was slightly shocked, for every man is, or ought to try +to be, a little above the common mark, when he thinks he loves something +even better than himself. And to be above the common mark is getting on +for poetry. + +"You go your own way, and leave me to go mine." I spoke with that +elbow-lift of the mind which resembles what coachmen used to do to one +another, when they met on the highroad, and did not want to raise the +whip. "You will see, Jackson, if you live long enough, that I shall have +a better time than you will." For I knew that Grace needed a very light +hand; though girls had not got their mouths just yet, half as much as +they have now. + +"The Lord only grant me the chance of it!" he replied, with the happy +rashness of young men. It was not for me to speak against my sister; but +I knew all her little ins and outs, and I daresay she thought that she +knew mine. + +"Let me come down to your happy valley," he continued, with that +contempt of my ideas, which I always leave Time to redress, and have +seldom found him fail to do it. "I want to see this perfect wonder. Why, +Shakespeare himself can have never created any heroine to compare with +her. It is out of possibility, my dear George. Bless my heart--Imogen, +Portia, Miranda, Rosalind, Juliet, Ophelia--no, she was weak--Sylvia, +Helena, half a dozen others rolled into one, down in that little hole! I +want to see her, that I may learn to despise the best English girl ever +born; or try to pretend to do it, if she won't have me. Do you suppose I +was born yesterday?" + +When a man carries on like this, you may say what you like--though you +are Solomon's Mahatma--without getting a spark of wisdom into him. I +longed for Tom Erricker, who could always float on the top of a flood, +because he was so light; and in a weak sort of way I had wanted him +often, not to unload my mind upon him--for you might as well trust your +watch to a floating bladder--but to see him look buoyant, when my mouth +was full of brine. But Tom had been summoned by his electroplating +parent to fall in love with a very nice young lady, whose father made +dish-covers fluted in the rough. Those people had some shooting, and Tom +thought that he could shoot. At any rate, it was better for him than the +Bar. + +"You shall not come near my happy valley,"--it would never have done for +me to encourage this,--"remember what you said of the hero who lives +there. You took him for a forger, or a ticket-of-leave man." + +"Well, I don't care a fig what he is, so long as he gives you +satisfaction. But about Grace--I tell you I won't wait. If she kissed +her hand to me, is not that enough to show--I shall be there to-morrow; +but you must not let her know." + +"Not to-morrow, Jackson. Why, it is her butter-day. And if she could +ever cut up rough, I believe it would be the butter, at this time of +year." + +"Not a bit of it. Nothing would ever make her peppery. And she is sure +to be at home, and up in your part of the premises. That is where she +looks the most enthralling. But don't let her know, for the world, that +I am coming." + +It was fair that he should have his own way at last, after giving Grace +a luxury of time to think about him, since his offer was made about ten +days ago, when she put all the blame of her shilly-shally upon me! See +how differently I did everything. + +The following morning I gave her a hint--for my duty was to her first, +and long afterwards to Jackson--that peradventure somebody in the course +of the morning might turn up, to have a look at me in the harness-room; +but she took the greatest pains not to understand me, and even put a +particularly simple jacket on, of buff-coloured linen smocked with blue, +and a delicate suggestion of retiring fronds--almost like a landscape of +forget-me-not and lady-fern. But the shade of it was nothing in +comparison with the shape, inasmuch as the latter was our Gracie's own; +and everybody knows what that means. Only she herself had not the least +idea about any part of it. All she cared for was to get on with her +work; so she kept all her body and arms in motion, as if she were intent +upon throwing shadows. + +When the butter was coming forth, crowned with glory,--which the +cleverest dairymaid may doubt about, as she has to do sometimes with a +little pat or two inside her,--and the long slab of enamelled stuff (for +we could not afford white marble) was tilted so that every golden patin +could crisp itself without encroachment, and Grace, like a miser telling +his moidores, was entering the upshot upon a white slate hanging by a +scarlet ribbon, and pondering in her heart with the scales behind her, +whether she had tried to cheat any one more than the good of the family +demanded, suddenly a riding-glove was waved inside the door, and its +fingers went about like bananas on a string, because there was no flesh +inside them. + +"Can't have you now, Joe," Miss Grace cried, with a presence of mind +that could only be surpassed by the colour presented on her cheeks; +"come again in half an hour. I am calculating now." As if old Joe +Croaker had ever even seen a glove! + +"I won't say a word, if I may come in. Oh, do let me come in and be +calculated too. If I may only sit upon a pan upside down, or anyhow, +quite out of sight in the corner. Oh, what a sweet place! I could live +upon the smell of it. But I won't even go near the lace-edging of a +pat." + +"Mr. Stoneman! Is it possible? This is one of my brother's proceedings. +That I cannot even finish a few pounds of butter! George has done many +inconsiderate things--but this seems beyond even his temerity!" + +"Miss Cranleigh, I give you my word of honour that I have not even seen +him for the day. In fact I came to look for him, to say 'Good-bye,' +before I start for Venice. One never knows when one may come back again, +you see." + +"Of course not. There are so many lovely things out there. The only +surprising thing to me is, that any Englishman who can afford to travel +spends so much of his time in this commonplace country." + +"But you don't mean that! I do hope, Miss Cranleigh, that you have not +so low an opinion of your own dear countrymen. And the dearer ones +still, your own countrywomen! Foreign girls are all very well in their +way. But who with a pair of eyes in his head----" + +"You have seen more of them than I have, Mr. Stoneman. But everybody +seems to say that they are most delightful. And even my poor brother +George,--but I forgot,--forgive me, I am not supposed to know anything +of that." + +"But I do. I know everything about it," that treacherous stockbroker +whispered: can any man be loyal to his best friend, when in love? "What +a lucky chance that you should speak of that!" + +"Excuse me, Mr. Stoneman; but I never spoke of anything. Only when a +mystery is dwelling in one's mind, about one of those who naturally are +the dearest to one, and when one's parents do not condescend--you see +what I mean; though I really mean nothing." + +"Precisely. And with such swift intelligence as yours! It is not for me +to hint at my own weak ideas--such a thing as that I never do. And when +no one in the family cares a fig for my opinion----" + +"It is not at all fair of you to say that." Grace cast down her eyes, +and then turned away in the most bewitching manner. The stockbroker +jumped up from his brown milk-pan; but she looked at him, and he sat +down again. + +"Be careful, Mr. Stoneman, for I am afraid it has a crack. Sally says +they cannot make them, as they used to do! But as I was saying, both my +father and my mother are thoroughly aware of all your good-will. And +there is not a tenant on the property, I am sure----" + +"How can I think about the blessed tenants? Though of course I try to do +my duty to them. But oh, do give me a little taste of butter after +that." + +"Am I a rogue, that I should dare do such a thing? Twenty-two pounds +there, and not a pennyweight to spare. And old Mrs. Ramshorn made a fuss +last time. After a cigar, how can you taste? Your taste must be very far +from perfect." + +"My taste is absolute perfection; and that is why--what I mean is, why I +enjoy this most exquisite result. But a coward is ever so much worse +than a rogue; and to shrink from the test is cowardly. I could never +have believed it of Miss Cranleigh." + +"Very well. But you shall pay for what you eat. I will take it from one +of your own pats, that are going to the Hall in half an hour. But you +must not blame me if it is not first-rate. Slemmick, the cleverest man +we have, says that there is a leaf coming down now, which gets between +the blades of grass, and it is useless for the cows to blow at it, for +it makes a point of getting into their very finest butter. George calls +it nonsense. But what right has he, when Slemmick was brought up so much +more out of doors?" + +"Slemmick is sure to know most about it. A man who has never heard the +names of things, always knows most about them. Therefore do let me give +true judgment on the butter." + +"Then you have never heard the name of butter!" + +"Oh dear, oh dear! you leave one less than a shred of the soundest +argument," was the reply of the infatuated stockbroker. "Reason" would +have been the noun to use, after a twelvemonth of matrimony. + +"Now you must understand," said Grace, in the flush of that triumph of +intellect, "that nothing ever tastes its best, when taken out of its +proper course. No metal should ever be used with fresh butter. This is a +blade of hard white wood, I quite forget the name of it. But I can +easily find out. Let me run and ask old Sally. You can't wait? Very +well, then I must cut it short, and tell you when you come back from +Venice. But to think that I made all of those, and the ready money they +will fetch!" + +She dropped her eyelids just a little, and spread one palm above them, +as if the dance of pleasure in her eyes required veiling; and then she +finished her sentence. "It is a lovely place, I hear. How nice it will +be, to be there! How much you will enjoy yourself!" + +"You are quite wrong there," replied Stocks and Stones. "I expect to +have a most wretched time. What do I care for the Stones of Venice? I am +not going to please my very miserable self. You know why I am going, +Miss Cranleigh." + +"Mr. Stoneman! How should I know? I have not the very smallest idea!" +Oh, what a dreadful story, Grace! And did you make it better or worse, +by a blush, and quick palpitation of the guilty breast that harboured +it? + +"Then I am going for this cause. There is somebody in this country who +has got me entirely underfoot, and tramples on me every day. There is no +cure for it, but to run away. I have no spirit left. My eyes are always +on the ground." + +"Indeed! Well, I have not perceived that. But if you have no will of +your own, what else is there for you to do? But it seems so un-English +to run away. You are not weak, Mr. Stoneman. My brother says that you +are very strong. And he would be only too glad to help you. He is too +fond of what the reporters love to describe as personal violence." + +"If it were a man, I might have some hope, even without such a champion. +But when the tyrant is a lady, and the most perfect of her sex, one +against whom it is impossible to rebel----" + +"This does you the very highest credit. And it is so unusual. A great +friend of mine, and such a sweet girl, quite adores her stepmother. But +men--though I know so little of them--but I fancied that they were apt +to feel a kind--a kind of prejudice. Narrow, no doubt, but violent." + +"It is worse than fifty stepmothers. My step is a quiet, sweet-tempered +woman; and I wish that I saw more of her; but she seems to prefer her +own relatives. Now, as if you did not know what I mean! What did I tell +you the other day?" + +"A variety of things. And what did I tell you? And didn't you say very +clearly that you liked me all the better for my objections?" + +"No, no. Come, that is a twist! I said that I respected your objections, +but thought them extremely romantic, and would live in the hope of your +trying to get over them. May I sit upon this tub, and reason with you? +Oh, how I wish I was a dairyman!" + +"My brother George is in love with a lady," said Grace, who never saw +the way to miss the very worst of jokes, "who will want a lot of +practice before she can sit down. What on earth will he do with her when +he gives a dinner-party?" This was a thoroughly vulgar error, as I have +shown most distinctly above. + +"Poor George, what a fool he is making of himself! But no brother of +yours could ever be a fool. Forgive me: for the moment I was forgetting +the great mental powers of your family, Miss Cranleigh." + +"You need not call me that, unless you wish it. I mean at least--you +need not call me that, so often. After all that you have done for us, it +sounds so formal." + +"Bless your kind heart! what have I ever done for you? But Grace is what +I should love to call you; Grace, Grace, and nothing else. Unless I +might add another word, beginning with a d----" + +"All words beginning with a d are bad. But there can't be much harm in +Grace, that I know of. Only you shouldn't say it very often." + +"Oh dear, no! Not more than every time I breathe. Very often is +superlative. And so are you. And therefore I am to say it, every time I +say you. So I will; am I not a worshipper of the Graces?" + +"You must not say it, every time you say me. And I made a dreadful slip, +as you must perceive. I wasn't thinking for the moment. And surely you +would never dream of taking an advantage----" + +"Now come all they that wish me evil; all they that against me have +imagined a vain thing----" + +"What else are you doing yourself, if you please? If you would only +allow me one moment to explain----" + +"In the name of the Lord will I destroy them." + +"Oh, Mr. Jackson Stoneman!" + +She looked at him in doubt of his ferocity, or sanity; and he, in high +spirits, clapped his heels on the floor and sprang up, and began to draw +nearer. "No tub will do for me. I must have a throne. I am the King of +the City, and of Surrey. Grace Cranleigh has proclaimed it." + +"Truly you are in a great haste to crown yourself. She has never done +anything of the kind. But if to make an ell out of half an inch is +kingly----" + +"If I did that, I will soon put it right. Let me make half an inch out +of the ell now." + +"No, no! I insist upon your staying where you are. There is a little +door going out, between these two pans; and unless you are quite +sensible, you will see no more of me." + +"How can I be quite sensible, when I see any? Oh, Grace, Grace, you +cannot conceive what a relief to me it is, to be able to utter your +name, with a joy, with a pride, with an ecstasy inconceivable!" + +"Mr. Stoneman, you are upon the Stock Exchange, and a certified +dealer--is not that the proper term? Very well then; you don't deal with +any property, until you get it." + +"Don't we, though? Oh, Grace, if we did not, where in the world would +our business be? But I don't want to talk shop now at all. I want to +talk something far outside of that." + +"Shop-windows, perhaps." And then her heart reproached her, as it ought +to do with one who has made a flippant stroke. But he had overdone his +hit with her as well, and had the sagacity to wait for her remorse. + +"I did not mean anything rude," she said, edging her own tub a little +nearer, while the forget-me-nots on her bosom danced like flowers on a +river, when the mill-stream lifts; "I say things I ought not to +say--what I mean is, I say things without meaning them." + +"Whatever you say is the sweetest of the sweet," he answered with a +sigh, that made his waistcoat keep the tune; "and it is right to remind +me of my distance, Miss Cranleigh; because I was taking liberties." + +"I defy you to say such a thing to me again. You have not the least idea +what I am like, when--when I feel that I have been unkind." + +"Let me know what it is like," he whispered, "when--when you feel that +you are getting kind again. O Grace, Grace, how I do love you!" She +looked at him softly, and her blue eyes fell; and then she spoke +submissively. + +"Now don't pretend to say it; you must not pretend to say it--unless you +are quite certain. Shall I tell you why?" + +"I say it a thousand times, and I will spend my life in saying it. You +know it as well as I do. Certain indeed! But tell me why?" + +"Only that I should feel it very much indeed, if I were not sure that it +is perfectly true." + +There were tears on her cheeks--the true playground of smiles; neither +did they look out of place, for there was not much sorrow in them. + +To reassure herself, she whispered something altogether repugnant to the +spirit of the Stock Exchange, silver, and gold, and even jewels. But +that blessed stockbroker knew the quickest way to close transactions. He +swept back a mint-worth of ductile gold from the sapphires whose lustre +was tremulous with dew, and he gazed at them gently, tenderly, +triumphantly, yet not without fear and diffidence. "All this committed +to my charge?" he asked, with the other arm defining the flexuous +circuit of his future realm. + +"It may be a very poor investment," answered Grace; "but one thing is +certain--what little there is, is entirely a genuine article." + +[Illustration: "_What little there is, is entirely a genuine article._"] + + + + +CHAPTER XXXII + +A PAINFUL DUTY + + +It is all very fine for those fine people who can carry on like that. My +sister Grace gave ten thoughts to every pound of her own butter, for one +she could spare to every thousand pounds of Stoneman's money. A great +weight of cash hung against him at first, in the scales of honest +affection; but goodness, and kindness, and manly conduct, and +bashfulness--thriving rather shyly in "the House" perhaps, but sprouting +more freely in our fine air--had gone down plump against the adverse +weight of a metal which we seldom find too heavy. Yet people should keep +their felicity quiet; even as a cat (whose name may be akin to it) +should purr before the fire, instead of squealing on the chimney-pot. + +But Jackson went aloft, and began to look down upon me, to whom he owed +everything, as he surely must have known. He chaffed me about my +Oriental Princess, a subject not only too lofty for him, but exceedingly +painful to me just now. For I felt myself out in the cold, as it were; +and with all due allowance for exalted spirits, there is such a thing as +good taste; and there is, or ought to be, such a thing as sympathy. And +the deeper a man is down in the hole of love, the more should the fellow +at the top desire, and strive (without hooking him in the back) to wind +him up to bank again. However, I never let them hear a groan, but +endeavoured to content myself by meditating on the comparative grandeur +of my own position. + +Grace was all pity, and flutter, and excitement, and very tender +interest about my state of mind, and laid down the law, like the Lord +Chief-Justice in some very complicated Liquidation-suit. But when I +said to her point-blank, "Very well; as you have it all so clear, let me +drive you in mother's pony-trap; and then you will make it all right for +me with Sûr Imar, and with Dariel," to my great disgust her answer was, +"I am quite ready, George--if dear Jack thinks it proper." + +"Dear Jack, indeed!" I replied with undisguised contempt, for Stoneman +had persuaded her to drop the "son"; or perhaps she had made him his own +father. At any rate, they had found out between them that "Jack" was of +higher rank among the novelists than his offspring had as yet attained. +However that might be, he was her Jack-of-all trades now; and I, who +once did everything, must be proud of second fiddle. + +That settled all interference of theirs. And, in truth, I would not have +let her interfere if a thousand dear Jacks had sanctioned it. In the +flow or ebb of his own affairs, let every man paddle his own canoe. + +Inspirited thus, I made up my mind that if Harold did not appear right +early, the proper thing for me would be to pay my visit without him, for +the master of the place had clearly said that I might call upon him at +any time; though that would be of little comfort to me, unless I might +call upon his daughter too. And here I confessed myself quite at a loss, +being entirely in the dark as to the social usages, and the tiptop tone +of the Caucasus, which must be in a position to look down upon ours. But +I said to myself, "Shall extreme humility bring me to so low a pass, +that a savage young Osset--whatever that may be--shall trample on the +British flag? That a swaggering bully who scorns noble dogs, and breaks +the legs of lovebirds, shall scare a young Englishman from his true +love, and carry her off, and disdainfully treat her, as Rakhan his +father behaved to his mother? Where is my courage, or sense of right, or +even manly compassion, that I should permit such a sacrilege as that?" + +Not only was I warmed by these large reflections, but touched up also by +the little prick of thorns, which the May-bloom hedge of another +fellow's love-nest sometimes administers to the plodder in the lane. So +I came to this practical conclusion--take the bull by the horns, and +have it out with him. For this gallant purpose, forth I set about two +o'clock of a November day, with a little drizzle in the air, but not +what an Englishman would call a real fog. + +Perhaps I may have mentioned, though I will not be too sure, that a +little trifle of a brook arises, among the few fields which we still +kept in hand, and contrives to make its way, without venturing upon +noise, but accepting every zigzag that any hedgerow offers, down the +trend of land that goes away very mildly, until it gets view of a +valley. And then there are thickets, and corners of halt, and windings +of the little water, and flat beds strewn with the season's leaves, +where birds of the neighbourhood, or of passage, find an agreeable +change of diet, or of rest when their wings are weary. And a man with a +gun may get a very pleasant shot, if he probes this sweet home of theirs +warily. + +Even the tiniest brook ever seen must lead to something larger; but +according to the lie of the land, this runnel must wayfare long on its +own account, before it meets the Pebblebourne. Woodcocks are apt to be +somewhat capricious birds. Sometimes we never heard of one almost +throughout the winter, and the next year, perhaps, it would come into +their heads that there was nothing like a happy Surrey coppice. This +year they had taken that correct view of us, and our duty was to make it +final. So I whistled for my favourite spaniel _Bess_, and with my old +breechloader on my arm, set off for a roundabout walk towards St. +Winifred's. If I had the luck to bring down a long-bill, perhaps a fair +creature might immortalise him. + +After a long rough trudge through fern and swamp and briary thicket, I +heard the murmur of a larger stream, which could be no other than the +Pebblebourne. Daylight began to fail, and the mist was deepening in the +valley, so I took a short cut towards the ancient walls with my little +offering provided. A woodcock, a leash of snipe, and a widgeon were more +than I had expected, and a pheasant or two would have borne them +company, if it had been lawful. + +Suddenly from a little glade of covert a frightful sound invaded me. It +was not like the cry of a cow for her calf, nor that of a dog with a +cart-wheel on his tail, nor even the fitful palinode of a cat upon the +roof, suffering deep remorse of love. But if there be any organ capable +of combining a wail, a bellow, a shriek, and a yell, with a howl and a +moan, and a few other indications that all is not perfect bliss here +below, that instrument must have been doing its utmost in the dusky +copse before me. My pet spaniel little _Bess_ slank away behind my +heels, and covered her eyes with her ears to exclude such an audible +vision of the Evil One. But a man alone, or at any rate a member of the +human race alone, could compass an effect so horrendous. My blood ran as +cold as the water in my boots, and if I had stopped to think for even +half a second, right-about-face would have been the order. + +But real curiosity must never stop to think. With a few rapid steps I +was over the low stile, and stood in the tangled enclosure. Like the +shrillest fog-screecher that has ever been invented, that sound led me +unmistakeably, until I saw a little dark man struggling for his life +against victorious bondage. He was corded to a tree no larger in the +trunk than he was, so that it just filled the hollow of his back; his +wrists were tied behind it, and his feet being lifted high enough above +the ground to deprive him of all leverage, the publication of his sorrow +was the sole resource. The last light of day was rolling, rather than +flashing, in his helpless eyes; and the cruel distortion of his +anguished face might have foiled his own mother's faith in him. And his +yells were not those of our language, which can assert itself, even in +our outcries. + +My impulse of course was to rush forward, and succour this poor victim; +and I went for it at once, although I saw that two strong men sat gazing +at him. One of them was tall and dark, and a foreigner all over; while +the other was bulky and big of limb; and both were jeering pleasantly. +With my gun on the left arm, I pulled out a knife, and rushing between +them before they could rise, cut the cords of the captive, and eased him +down on my shoulder, and lo, it was Allai! + +He uttered a guttural something, altogether beyond my philology, and +picked up his pet little jingal from the moss, and was off like a hare, +before I could speak. When I turned round, a man stood on either side +of me, but not quick enough to grasp my arms. I jumped back, so as to +get the tree in front, and cried, "Fair play, you rascals! If you want +to taste an ounce of shot apiece, here it is at your service." + +The tall man turned away, as if that proposal were not much to his +liking. But the other stood his ground, and spoke, as if he knew that I +would not fire. "Who are you? What's your business here? Mind your own +affairs. We were only having a bit of fun." + +"Well, and so am I. It is quite as good fun to scare two scamps, as to +bully a helpless little devil." + +"Right you are," he exclaimed with a laugh, which made me think better +of him, for he could not know that I had drawn my cartridges when I left +off shooting; "but we are not scamps, young man; we were performing a +painful duty." + +"You said it was a bit of fun just now. At any rate I have stopped it. +And if you find that a grievance, I will put down my gun and meet you. +But only one at a time, mind." + +"What an obliging man you are! And you stand nearly six inches over me. +My friend would have a better chance with you. But he does not +understand 'the box.' You have spoiled our day's work. Who are you?" + +"I have a right to ask that question first. I am in my own +neighbourhood, as you can see. But you are a stranger, and doing strange +things. Tell me your name, sir; and you shall have mine." + +"Fair enough. I am Captain Strogue of the British Pioneers,--not ashamed +of my name, and not likely to be, though it is better known all round +the world than at home. You think me a coward for tormenting a small +chap. It only shows your ignorance of that race." + +"It is not brave to torture anybody, Captain Strogue. But that is no +longer my business. My name is George Cranleigh, well known about here. +What I have done I would do again, and so would any other Englishman." + +"Likely enough. But it is unlucky, and you may have done a world of +mischief. However, I bear no grudge against you. Some day perhaps you +will be sorry for it. But where the deuce is the--why, hang me upside +down, if he has not vanished!" + +The Captain seemed eager to do the like, and it was not my place to stop +him. He lifted his brown hat to me, and was gone, leaving upon me the +impression of a man, resolute, testy, adventurous, excitable, and +perhaps unscrupulous. + +As to the other man, although he had not presented himself distinctly, +what other could he be than Hafer, the son of Imar's sister Marva, and +now the Chief of the Osset tribe? Although I had not seen his face that +night when he left Dariel weeping (neither had I seen it plainly now), +the figure and carriage and style of dress were quite enough to convince +me. Even in the dark there had been something about that fellow--or +Prince, as some would call him--and about the moral smell of his nature, +unpleasant, to use the mildest word that I can think of, to my plain and +simple elements. He might be the better man of the two, more kindly, +more trusty, more lovable, and of a higher stamp in every way. Never +mind; I had not the least desire, though he were all that, to resemble +him. And Providence, having made us as we are, cannot take it amiss if +we are satisfied. + +"I shall have a good look at him some day," I thought, "and then I am +sure to feel that I was right. I can have no prejudice against him, +merely because he has dared to look at Dariel. She, who takes so long to +see what I am, is not at all likely to be carried by storm by this +fellow's olive complexion, and fine nose, and black eyes, and sable +moustache, and all the rest of it. Why, he is a brute, and nothing else, +however handsome he may try to look! I can scarcely believe him to be +that noble man's own nephew." + + + + +CHAPTER XXXIII + +TREMBLING + + +However, these great reflections did not save me from being in a rather +nervous state when Stepan, who was most obsequious now,--if such a word +may be used of such a steadfast hero,--showed me into Sûr Imar's room. +And before he raised the curtain, he whispered in best English, "Milord, +me good friend to milord now. Allai worth dogs, dogs, all right a +hundred dogs." I pressed his hand, because he was thus cultivating our +dear language. + +"It is long since I have seen you," Sûr Imar began, with his kind and +cheerful but never joyful smile. "I began to fear that you had taken +amiss something of what I said the other day. It is difficult at such +times to consider one another. But all right, as Stepan says. He is +becoming quite an Englishman. Did you notice the fogle, as you call it, +this child of the Caucasus has picked up somewhere? It is the envy of +all our encampment. What a simple-minded race we are! But that is a +material to work upon for good. And soon we shall be among the heart of +it again. What will my daughter think of her native mountains?" + +"But surely," I answered in a melancholy voice,--"surely you will not +take her to that frightful place--I beg your pardon, to all that world +of grandeur--when everything is frozen, and there is not a place to sit +upon. When there is not a flower, not a blade of green grass, nor even a +tree that is not a hump of snow. You may find it very nice; but young +ladies--Sûr Imar, have you thought about her constitution?" + +"My young friend, I have; and it is as sound as mine. There will not be +much society; but has she any here? From all that I have seen of it, +and I lived some time in London, society means pretence, affectation, +jealousy, littleness, stale slang instead of humour, slavish imitation, +contempt of fellow-creatures, and cowardly blindness to the afflictions +of this earth. My daughter has no taste for such a life as that." + +He appeared to me to speak too strongly, and too much from a primitive +point of view; and all who set up such a standard as that are impatient, +and apt to exaggerate. But it was not for a country Lubin to vindicate +the ladies, and I was in haste to deal with nearer considerations. + +"Perhaps you will be angry with me," I said, "but you have told me so +much of yourself, that you will not regard it as a liberty. Are you +sure, sir, that you do not imperil your life by returning to people so +revengeful?" + +"As certain as a man can be who knows their obstinacy, and the power of +long tradition. And who would wish to harm me now? My sister made much +for a time of her wrongs about the marriage portion; but her wicked +husband's public vaunt that he had slain our father, and my surrender of +all her share as soon as she was a widow, must have taken the sting from +that. And as for Rakhan, and his death, could she prefer a faithless +husband to her own twin brother?" + +"Well, you know best, sir. But is there not a son of that same Prince +Rakhan, 'Hafer' you called him the other day, who may feel himself bound +by that fiendish law, even if his mother rejects it?" + +"Yes, and I hope to introduce him to you. A young man of what you call a +rough and ready nature, the natural produce of a rugged land. Too +free-spoken perhaps, and apt to give offence to those who dislike strong +convictions. But I hear that among his own people he is beloved, and +admired beyond all example, for his justice, mildness, and unbounded +generosity. The Ossets are not what you have in this country, advanced +and experienced Christians. On the contrary, it is a painful fact that +the larger half are idolaters; and of them, and of the Christians too, +not one in ten is far off from a thief. This makes them thoroughly +worthy of the deepest British interest. In going round the globe so +much, you never care about any race that is beginning to get better. +Your own, for instance, is nothing to you. You can hope for the best +about them; and believe that the Lord, who governs the earth for the +benefit of the British race, will make it all right for the worst of +you. Upon that point you have no misgivings, any more than you have +about any others, when you feel yourselves summoned to improve the +world. But my duty is upon a very small scale, and is limited to my own +people." + +Great as my reverence was for Sûr Imar, it was difficult not to suspect +that some adverse influence had been at work with him. Hitherto he had +always expressed a genial admiration of our race, which had produced on +my part a corresponding respect for his uncommon powers of insight and +freedom from foreign prejudice. "You have taken a turn against us," I +replied with some warmth, and looking at him as I had never looked +before; "time will show who is right, Sûr Imar." + +"My young friend," he answered, "you are quite mistaken. I am not +leaving you through my own wish. Such quiet days I shall never know +again, and such kind respect for my privacy, even with ten feet of snow +round my walls. For the sake of my countrymen I must go. That I cannot +do much is quite certain; but I hope to start them on a better course. +For years, as you know, I have been preparing, and my first chance of +trying it is come at last. Am I likely to speak ungratefully of the only +land on the face of the earth that would receive me, without a thousand +mortifications and annoyances? Why, even your tax-collectors have been +civil." + +This was a climax of approbation which amazed, and by power of contrast +puzzled the warmest asserter of national virtue. "Surely you cannot mean +that!" I exclaimed. But romantic as he was, he nodded. + +"Now, as you charge me with distrust of England, and I may have said +some ungracious things," he spoke with a smile almost as bright as +Dariel's, "show your forgiveness, my dear friend, by coming with me into +my daughter's room. We are beginning to put up our little possessions, +for the journey to a rougher place. How many thousand times shall we +regret the halcyon days in this quiet little vale! But come and have a +cup of coffee." + +"I am not fit to go into a lady's room. I have got about a pint of +water in either boot. They are warranted waterproof, and so they won't +let it get out again." + +"We'll soon put that to rights. You should wear arabas. Come into this +passage, and Stepan will see to it, and bring you a pair of my sandals. +I will be with you again in a minute." + +While the faithful henchman was pulling off my boots, which was no small +tug for even his great arms, his mind was evidently in a condition of +still more strenuous exertion. She--if the higher portion of our +composition lays claim to the higher half of gender--was struggling and +rolling and flopping about (being over-bulky for lighter process) in +quest of some fugitive English word, earnestly courted, but wickedly +coy. + +"Milord, put on more smoke, more smoke. Yes, yes, more smoke, else be +too late. Me good friend to milord now. Wicked mens come every day. But +milord smoke, smoke, smoke." + +He puffed with his lips and panted, as if to impress me with the need +for a vast fumigation. "I want a pipe sadly, my friend," I replied; "but +how can I have it in a lady's room?" + +The Lesghian stared at me, and stroked his beard, and shook his head +angrily, as if he had found it empty. "Stepan fool. No say, no say," he +exclaimed as he made off to fetch the slippers; but I am afraid that I +heard him mutter, as he turned the corner, "Inglese, dam languidge; dam +languidge, Inglese!" In a minute, however, he returned, with a broad +smile lighting up all his battered countenance, as if he had found what +he wanted in the sandals. + +"Me know now. Stepan big fool. Milord put on shteam, shteam, shteam! Go +ahead! Who's afeard? Won't go home till mornin'? The gal I left behind +me. Nancy is my darlin'! Milord know now." + +"I am blest if I do," I endeavoured to reply; but he would have no more +quenching. In the triumph of philology his dignity was lost; and I saw +that he must have spent at least a day in London. "Is the Caucasus come +to this?" I asked, and was glad to see my host return. + +Stepan stood up, and shut his mouth in the curtain of his beard, like a +casement closed under the ivy, and looked at me, as if there had never +been less than a mile of moral distance between us. In the name of the +Lord, where does sham end? But I had to do a little on my own account. + +Dariel's room! I had never been in the shrine of my divinity till now; +and when I was there I could look at nothing except her entrancing +presence. She was resting upon something--it might have been a cloud, +for all that I could tell about it. The soft light fell upon the +sweetest face that heaven itself ever shone upon; and I tried to speak, +but no words came; neither could I look upon her as I longed to do. If +she had been too much for me out of doors, what possibility was left me +here? + +"My child," said her father,--for she too was silent, which emboldened +me to steal an ecstatic dream of the petals of a blush-rose fluttering +on her face,--"my child, I have brought our kind friend, Mr. Cranleigh, +who has placed us under so many obligations, to say good-bye, or at +least good-night; for I hope that we may see him again before we leave. +We have taken you a little by surprise, I fear." + +"But it is a pleasant surprise, dear father. I was a little--what is the +proper English word?--melancholy? No, I can never be that with you. But +sorry, perhaps,--out of spirits, is it so? We have been so happy in this +very tranquil rest." + +"It is true," replied Sûr Imar, as he turned to me; "perhaps we shall +never have so smooth a time again. It is like the beginning of a new +life to us. But Dariel knows that we must not think of our own comfort +only." + +"No, but of our lives--of your life, father. What does it matter to me +where I go? But we are travelling from a land where you are safe to a +country of savages, where there is no law, but everybody burning to kill +everybody else." + +"A pretty description of your native land! It is the air of this +country, Mr. Cranleigh. My daughter has breathed it so long that she +believes that there is no other excellence under the sun. We know that +it has some such effect upon the natives. But why should it be so with +a little foreign girl? Dariel, my dear, I feel ashamed of you?" + +"Oh, how much better does he know than that!" the loving daughter +exclaimed, as she placed both hands upon his shoulders and her face +among his beard, whose dark cascade spared a silver rill or two to +glisten through the sable of the young abundance; and thence she looked +at me with a snug composure, as if to ask, "What do you want with +passion? This is affection, if you please. This is all that a sweet girl +needs." And then she very calmly stroked his moustache up, and put her +lips to his, and kept them there, till I could almost hope that he might +prove to have taken a taste of garlic. But perhaps if he had, it would +have been all the same to her. + +"You see what our manners are," said the father, with a laugh; "we have +not quite attained the proper self-command, I fear." And then I had my +revenge; for Dariel blushed as if she had done an outrageous thing, and +whispered, "Oh, I beg your pardon!" + +It was a lucky thing for her, perhaps, although a sad one for poor me, +that her father was so close at hand; else how could I have controlled +myself? For, being a little repressed, she turned the ardent appeal of +her eyes on me, quite as if--quite as if I had been a member of the +family. And when I smiled, not reassurance only, but most loyal +encouragement, what did she do but glide away from papa, and sit down by +the visitor! + +"Oh, Grace, you are graceful enough," thought I, "for yourself, and for +any stockbroker. But if you want to know how to sit down, you must come +and see Dariel do it." For she had told Jackson, and he in his lunacy +thought it too good to be kept to himself, that her brother George, if +he got the wife he wanted, would be obliged to put her through a course +of chair-drill before he could give a dinner-party! + +How I trembled to find myself sitting at her side, indoors, unhurried, +with the sanction of authority, civilised, waiting for a cup of coffee, +watching the turn of her exquisite hands, nettled by the dancing of the +clustered hair, which drew a veil, always at the most provoking moment, +over the lustrous speech of those myriad-flashing and yet ever gentle +eyes, as the filigree of some crafty jeweller tempers and deepens the +delight within! What was there for me? Could a common sort of fellow, +with nothing but rough truth and deep worship to commend him, dare to +suppose that he could ever get in there, and be cherished as the owner +of the heart that moved the whole? + +I assure you that I made a great fool of myself; though such an +assurance is superfluous to any man who has ever earned his salt. I had +just enough sense left to say "Yes" or "No," with a "Please" in a deep +breath now and then, and a "Thank you" that took away breath altogether. +Dariel, who was as fit as a fiddle--how those low expressions spoil +one's most exalted moments!--saw with her ill-timed serenity the +confounded tumult of my system; and, as she told me in the wiser days, +felt ashamed of herself for enjoying it. Ah, me! it is not often, in the +little square-round of human life, that we get tossed over the +boundaries thus, with the profundity of misery struggling with the +sublimity of ecstasy. + +"My dear young friend," said the tranquil Lesghian, who had let his eyes +follow the lines of his beard in amiable serenity, though there must +have been a stealthy smile under it, "few things are more gratifying +than to have one's own productions valued by those who understand the +subject, and speak without prepossession; especially when the producer +has departed from general usage, and carried out his own opinions. You +are really sure that you admire----" + +"Admire is too weak a word, Sûr Imar,"--my eyes were still upon the +charming result of his system of education,--"worship, love, adore, +enshrine----" + +"We will put it on the labels of our tins, as soon as we have a London +agency. But only your initials, as your friends might not approve. I am +always at a loss for those strong, expressive words of your language, +which now survive only in advertisements. My dear, put them down in your +tablets; I defy any soap to surpass them. G. C. worships, loves, adores, +and enshrines the coffee of the Caucasus. I am not enthusiastic, Mr. +Cranleigh; but next to education and the spread of Christianity, I trust +to the civilising effects of commerce, which your nation insists upon, +perhaps even more strenuously than the other two great agents. The +Russians have introduced the growth of tea, and I heartily hope that it +may answer. But knowing the genius of our people, which certainly is not +inclined to persistent toil, I have come to the conclusion that coffee, +which requires less constant attention, would have a better chance upon +our Southern slopes, where the summer is long and the heat intense. I +wish I could have seen your brother Harold, that universal genius, about +it. The preparation which has so impressed you is not from our native +berries yet, only from the slopes near Tiflis. But I hope we shall have +our own in a few years' time. And then my discovery comes in." + +For all that I knew to the contrary, I might have been drinking +bilge-water flavoured with tar and stirred with marlin-spikes. But I +grasped his hand with emotion, and said, "No words are adequate, Sûr +Imar." + +He must have known as well as I did--or what would be the good of his +having ever loved his Oria?--that confusion was far too weak a word, and +fusion itself not strong enough to describe the condition of my brain. +Till Dariel, with one precious glance of reserve and soft sympathy--as +if her father really must not claim to be the only one having any +knowledge of me--bowed for me to move a little; and oh, she quite hung +over me! For, being so stupid, I had not moved; and stupidity gets the +prize more often than the cleverest volatility. "Darling!" I whispered +through her hair; for her father was gone to his coffee-grinder, to +secure some more of my adoration. And Dariel only whispered "Hush," with +a quiver, but no repugnance. + +"Father," she said with pure presence of mind, as he looked round from +his grinding, "my senestra is a little out of tune; but Mr. Cranleigh +will allow for that. He is kind enough to wish to hear me sing; and he +thinks that my voice is rather agreeable." + +"He is right enough in his judgment there. But what opportunity has he +ever had of hearing it?" This question made me tremble when I thought of +my first offence; but the nymph answered very bashfully-- + +"You remember--the day, dear father, when you invited Mr. Cranleigh to +attend our little service. We all sang in our quiet way; and he was kind +enough to be pleased with it." + +"How could he be pleased? They do their best; and I am always proud to +hear them. But, my dear friend, it is a frightful noise that drowns my +child's soft melody. Englishmen who have travelled among our mountains, +tell their countrymen that all our voices are harsh and cackling, +guttural and disagreeable. Some may be so, but not all, and in my +opinion few of them. I am not a judge of music, but I think my child +sings beautifully." + +"Oh, father, you have spoiled it all. Mr. Cranleigh will expect wonders. +And all I can do is so simple; only it sounds nice to me +because--because I feel that I mean it." + +"Then your voice must be of your own tongue. She can sing in English +very sweetly; but never with the expression which her native language +brings to her. Mr. Cranleigh says he would like best to hear you in your +own language, dear; though he won't understand a word of it. That +ancient lay of Inkulluk, I like it as well as any. The words are +nothing; but the melody has a tinkle like a mountain-stream, which +modern music seldom has. We call it the song of the stork, although +there is very little about them in it. If you like it, you shall have a +prose translation, and perhaps your brother will put it into verse, for +you tell me he has even that accomplishment. Now try that simple little +song, my dear." + +The lovely maiden, thus exhorted, smiled as she cast back her hair, and +upon the white rise of her breast laid a musical affair of some dark +wood, having divers strings and curves. Lute, zither, mandolin, +tambourine, lyre, it was none of those, and I knew not, neither cared +what it was, only to watch her swift white fingers dancing like +snowdrops inspired by the wind, and her lips like rosebuds tremulous. +The words were nothing but sounds to me; yet I knew, by the power she +gave to them, that whoever could bring them home to her would have no +cold-hearted wife to wed. And this is what Harold made of it:-- + + + THE SONG OF THE STORK. + + "When the veil of the mountains is lifted by Spring, + And the voice of the water saith--Winter is past: + When the stork from Armenia plies her glad wing, + And the ibex lies down, without fear of the blast; + With a heart that is warm as the nest of a dove, + In the bend of the valley, I wait for my love. + + "When the splendour of summer makes spangles of snow, + And lights with red lilies the gloom of the glen; + While the forest is flushed with azalea's glow, + And the melody of fountains floats through it again; + With a heart that is true to its nest as a dove, + On a lawn of sweet roses, I wait for my love. + + "When the tempests of Autumn have turban'd the peak, + And the gray shadows hover above their stronghold; + Yet the fruitage still lingers--a faint purple streak, + And the ripe corn embroiders the breastland with gold; + Though my heart may be quailing at the storm-clouds above, + Like the harvest, it answers the sunshine of love. + + "When the mountains are turned into caverns by snow, + And the heavens are black with the fury of cold, + When the spectre of Rakhabat stalks to and fro, + And the gaunt wolf is howling alone on the wold; + With the ice-crags around us, and the avalanche above, + My love shall not shiver in the breast of his love." + + + + +CHAPTER XXXIV + +REJOICING + + +When I was going home that night, a very strange thing befell me, which +but for the mercy of Providence would have left me nothing more to say. +Although there had been very little chance of making sweet speeches to +Dariel, because her father would not leave the room, yet her rich clear +voice thrilled through me so that I scarcely knew what I was doing, and +resolved to put all upon the cast at once, rather than flutter, and +quiver, and tremble till some swaggering foreigner rushed in. + +Modest I was; and think no harm to confess it, having never had chance +to grow out of it, by any fat manuring while my roots were young. Humble +I was; and who would not be so, unless he were fool enough not to know +the difference between a mere hulking clodpole and the exquisite +perfection of the Maker's finest work? Timid too I may have been; and +who can be surprised, when even a stockbroker trembled at our Grace? But +as for my being a jelly-fish, could any such creature have done what I +did? I held the hand of my darling as long as I dared at the corner of +the passage, when her father was looking for a lantern, and I said with +an audacity which frightened me as soon as I had time to think of it, +"To-morrow I must know my fate. Will you be in the chapel, about three +o'clock? Or any time, any time; I will wait for hours." + +"What can make you ask me such a thing?" she answered, and I said, +"Don't you know, Dariel?" And she drew back, and whispered, "I will +try--if my father has no objection." + +Now it was the thought of this that sent me in a most exalted yet +highly disordered condition of mind upon my homeward course. If order is +heaven's first law, as some one says, the entire code must be suspended +when the human race is in its most heavenly state. To me the earth was +nothing; and the stars alone and the distant sublimity of the sky had +any claim of kindred. Leaving _Bess_ (who was very tired) to the care of +Stepan, with a careless toss I flung my gun upon my right shoulder, and +strode forth into the darkness. + +Suddenly, as I was marching on a ridge of moorland about half a mile +from the camp, I received a most shocking whack under the right ear, as +if somebody had struck me with a big hockey-stick; and at the same +moment a flash of broad fire started up, and then a roar from a clump of +bushes just beneath me. How I saved myself from falling is more than I +can tell, for I staggered very heavily, and my head went round. + +I cannot remember at all what I did, much less what I thought in this +frightful amazement, though afterwards I tried to make it out more +clearly. But I must have kept hold of my gun, although my right hand was +jarred and tingling with it, and then I must have leaped into the bushy +hollow, without time enough to realise the peril. And I shouted, which +was a most stupid thing to do; but I know that I shouted, because one of +the first things that fetched me to myself was the sound of my own +voice. But there was no one for me to lay hold of, or to let drive at +with the butt of my gun. The place was all silent and empty, and I saw a +great star shining through the naked twigs from the crown of the ridge I +had been crossing, and I knew that I had been shot at by the advantage +of that star. + +To the inhabitants of a lawless country this may be little to dwell +upon; but never having been among such crooked lines of action, I knew +not what to make of it. My blood ran cold at the enormity of the thing; +but without further reasoning I pulled out a brace of cartridges, which +I ought to have done before entering the hollow, and slipped them into +my old breechloader. Then I found that the right hammer would not move, +and began to perceive what had happened. There was no time to go into +that question now. With the left hammer cocked, and the muzzle level and +ready for a snap-shot--though probably my nerve would have failed me at +a fellow-creature--I searched every yard of the thicket, and then the +gully which led to a little watercourse below. The night, having only +that big star to help it, was so dark and baffling that a dozen men +might have slipped away without leaving me any the wiser; and the only +trace vouchsafed to me was a rustle of some bushes at the bottom of the +slope where a hedge ran along. At this I brought my gun to my shoulder, +for I might just have peppered a man down there, and that would have +been a caution to him. However, on second thoughts, I did not fire, for +by this time I was quite cool again, and the blaze might have brought +another bullet at me before I could pop another cartridge in. So I +marked the spot very carefully, and hurried home with gratitude. + +And truly, when I had lighted both my candles, and taken a good draught +of ale to refresh me, I perceived that my escape had been marvellous, +and I knelt down and thanked God for it; though I have never been able, +as many persons are, to believe myself the main shareholder of Divine +protection. A heavy bullet had been fired at me with accuracy +undeniable. And it must have dropped me as dead as a stone, passing +upward into my poor brain, if my own good trusty gun had not been on my +shoulder. Happily for me the lead had struck the lock-plate just above +the trigger, and failing to enter the steel of course, had glanced +upward and passed through the brim of my hat, cutting a groove in the +crown as well, but touching never a hair of my head. My right ear was +red as a radish from the jar of the stock against it, and the spring and +tumblers of the lock were jammed; but I soon put them to right again. + +What cowardly and cold-blooded miscreant could thirst for the life of a +harmless, quiet, and unpretentious fellow thus? No enemy had I, to the +best of my knowledge, in all the wide world, for the simple reason that +I never wronged, insulted, or looked down upon anybody; and whenever I +could not get on with a man, I let him go his way, while I went +mine--unless he brought a pole across my shins; and even then, if he was +sorry, I forgave him. But one thing was very clear to my mind, when I +had lighted an eager pipe, and dwelt on it (sliding along the gentle +slope, where a blue cloud routs black vapours), that no Englishman ever +would have crawled like that, to pot a brother Englishman. + +Then I thought of the sneaking shot from the gun of Rakhan which had +killed Sûr Dadian, when he was returning full of joy to his ancestral +castle; and the thing became almost as plain to me as if the sunlight +had been poured on it. Captain Strogue would never have done it; a bravo +he might be, but not a Thug--if there is any meaning in any man's eyes. +But the tall dark fellow, that son of Rakhan who would not come up to +look at me, Hafer, who was come to fetch Sûr Imar, he was the miscreant +who tried to shoot me. + +Sometimes I have a deep vein of discretion, though nobody else perceives +it, and I always feel myself below my proper level, when I work it. But +a man who has just escaped foul murder by a hair's breadth, and may meet +the like to-morrow with the turn of the hair against him, must--unless +he is weary of his life--take some thought of his actions. And I felt by +no means weary of my life, but kindly and warmly in love with it, when +certain glances made it sparkle, like a dewdrop in the morning. Not a +word must I say to any one about that dastardly attempt, unless it were +to the faithful Stepan, who might cast some light upon it. He had warned +me; perhaps he knew that some one longed to do away with me. He would +take it as the natural outcome of my intimacy at the camp; and now he +approved of "milord's" suit, and urged him to put more steam on. +Probably he knew why those two villains had lain in wait for poor Allai, +and were trying by torture to make a traitor of him. And Stepan had +clearly some reason of his own for keeping his master in the dark about +it. Moreover, he was struggling with the English language, manifestly +for my benefit. With this resolution I went to bed, and dreamed neither +of thickets, nor bullets, nor bravoes, nor anything else that was nasty; +but only of sweet Dariel singing the song of the stork like a +nightingale, and coming with white wings to my window, where I caught +her with a pair of reins. + +By this time Grace was in such a state of mind about her noble +stockbroker, that brother George might have fifty holes in his hat, or +in his head almost, without the loving sister coming to brush, or darn, +or even poultice them. Of this I made no grievance, but went so far as +to be unaware of it; and when her conscience began to work, I showed her +that I had bought a thimble, and she called me a heartless molly-coddle. +"Never mind. There are better girls than you who can appreciate me," I +answered with a superior smile, and she flew into a passion. Such is +feminine jealousy. They want to love some new-comer better, yet we are +not to know it, or to feel the difference. + +Most heartily I wished poor Jackson Stoneman only half as good a bargain +as he fancied he had made of it; for the blindness of a man in love is +to others quite ridiculous. And I knew that although Grace was blessed +with many of the merits he had inspired her with, no one else could +think her fit to hold a candle to Dariel. Yet for the world I did not +wish to hear any one praise my darling, unless it were her father or +myself; for it was our business only. + +Upon my way to the sacred place where my destiny was to be settled, +being much before my time, and longing to divert my mind (which made my +legs feel trembling), I turned aside to search the covert which had so +nearly proved my doom in the darkness of the night gone by. If I had +been as nervous then as now, nothing could have saved me, for the shock +of the blow must have thrown me down, and the enemy would have leaped up +and dispatched me. Even as I had been full of glorious thoughts, and +striding in full pride of strength, probably I should have lost my +balance, if my left foot had been foremost. And now in the broad +daylight I was half afraid to examine the dingle. But I had brought my +gun, that loyal friend, now as fit for work as ever, and both barrels +loaded with duck-shot. If that miscreant's gun had been loaded so--but +those thundering villains are no sportsmen. + +At once I discovered the place where he had crouched, and a comfortable +lair he had made of it, less than twelve yards from the path by which +he expected me. But the ground being strewn with leaves, wherever it was +not covered with grass or tangle, no footprints could be descried, +either there or further down the dingle; and I was at the point of +abandoning my search, when a little brown disk, like a piece of stamped +leather, attracted my attention. It was hanging on some twigs about a +yard from the ground, in a line between the lurking-place and the spot +where I had been when the bullet staggered me, and at first I took it +for a large, thick leaf. And a leaf it was, but not of any tree or shrub +that I had ever met with; and I perceived that it was streaked with +black, and smelled very strongly of gunpowder. Beyond any doubt, it had +been used as a patch or wrapping for the leaden ball that was meant to +send me to another world, and parts of it were scorched or singed by the +explosion. I could even see the impress of the iron cap belonging to the +heavy ramrod, by which it had been driven down the rifle-barrel, and on +the other side might be traced the convexity of the bullet which had +been enclosed. What leaf could this be? It was thicker and tougher than +any English leaf I knew, as well as different in shape and texture. +Tearing a fibre from the cleanest part I laid it on my tongue, and was +surprised by a strong and peculiar aroma. After packing it carefully in +a letter from Tom Erricker which happened to be in my pocket, I went on +my way towards the ruins of the chapel, having made up my mind to +inquire at Kew, where I knew a noble botanist, what tree was likely to +produce that leathery and spicy foliage. + +But this and every other thought of things around me and of myself were +far from any mind of mine,--if mind at all remained to me,--as I sat +upon an ancient stone begirt with fern and lycopod, and sandalled with +soft moss rosetted here and there with ivy braids. All such things are +soothing; and there also seemed to be a tranquil air, proceeding from +the memory of holy monks, who never pretended to be better than they +were, because they saw no need of it. Hereupon I began to fear, as a few +dead leaves went by me, that I should not have appointed this cold and +holy spot for speaking of a turbulent affair like love. But, without +another word, I was strengthened greatly; the very argument against me +took my part. True love is a sacred thing, as the Lord Himself ordained +it; and a place of ancient reverence, with the sky alone to roof it, +suited well for that which is the loftiest of the human state. + +Perhaps the maiden had some thoughts a little like my own, but better, +larger, and less tumultuous. I was not in a fit condition to know +exactly what she did; and I even pretended to know less than eyes and +heart brought home to me. I only knew that she was there, and for a +little time I felt afraid to wish for any more than that. + +She, to my delight and glory, trembled, and tried to look away, as if +she shared my fear, but begged me to let it go on a little longer. Then, +as I caught her hand, and raised it very gently and reverently, good +manners compelled her to show surprise, and to cast an inquiring glance +at me. "Don't go," I said. "If you only knew--but I never shall be able +to make you know." + +"It would not be right for me to go, when my father ordered me to come." + +"Because he knows why. And he gave me leave to say what you know +already. Oh, Dariel, what is the good of talking? You know all about it. +Ever since that blessed moment, when I first caught sight of you----" + +"Through the bushes and across the water? Or was it when you saved +_Kuban's_ life?" She looked at me very gravely, as if the time made all +the difference. + +"Both, both; and a thousand times since. And it must go on for ever. You +can't understand it; of course you can't. But I can understand nothing +else. Oh, Dariel, don't be hard upon me. I know that you are the wonder +of the world, and that I am nothing but a very common fellow, not half +so worthy to look at you as the short-eared owls in your ivy----" + +"I am very fond of owls," said Dariel; "they are the wisest of all +birds. But I never saw them sit and look at me." + +"Then they are fools, and I'll do it for them for ever. But oh, if I +could only make you see for a moment how I love you! Don't laugh at me, +Dariel. Don't do that." + +"I am sure that I never laughed at all. How can you think that I would +be so wicked? But I will confess, if that will be quite sufficient, +that I think--that I have been persuaded considerably, Mr. Cranleigh, +that you--that you like me." + +"Like you, Dariel! what a wretched word! Can you look at me, and fancy +it no more than that?" But she would not be taken at any disadvantage; +though she turned one ear towards me a little--as if ears could hold no +agency for heart or lips or eyes. + +"Now listen to me for a moment," I said, creeping close to that ear, +which was a masterpiece of shell-work, and filigree curves, and chasing; +"tell me--just say--have a little kindness, say whether you think you +could ever like me." + +"Yes, I will say; I will not conceal. I think that I could like you very +well; because--because----" + +"Because what, Dariel? That I may do it again, and go on doing it for +ever." + +"Because, because--it is just for this reason," all the glory of her +eyes flashed on me, "because you are so much afraid of me." + +"Am I?" In a moment she was in my arms, and I had the sweetest revenge +ever known for an imputation of cowardice. And she, whether carried away +by my love, or by her own sweet gratitude, looked at me with a glow of +light, like the gates of heaven opening, and drew me into fresh ecstasy, +and whispered, "Do you love me?" + +Such a time is the date of life, for ever to be dwelt upon; but never +spoken of, unless it be with the only one who shared it. And I would +never have touched upon it, but left all those to take it home, who in +their time have been so blessed; unless I were bound to let them see how +much I had to go upon, in my obstinacy afterwards. Dariel loved me! Who +was I, to be rapt by such a miracle? And who of mankind should take it +from me, as long as the heavens continued? + +"Let us kneel, and thank the Lord," my darling said, with coy reproach +of my impetuous transport; "here where first you saw me, George. If He +has meant us for one another, He will be vexed if we do not thank Him." + +I followed her to the place that once had been of holy rite, and there +she took my hand, and knelt upon the plinth of the old sanctuary, and +made the sign of the Cross upon her breast and forehead, and spoke some +words in some sweet language, and then arose and offered me both hands, +and I kissed her lovely brow, and met her loving eyes bedewed with +tears, and said, "You are mine for ever." + +She bowed her head, as if to say, "I am well contented with it;" but +when I drew forth that ruby cross of hers which I had kept so long, and +offered to place it on her breast, as it was when I first beheld her, +she shrank away, and her cheeks grew pale, and she trembled so that I +felt compelled to throw both arms around her. "What is it, my darling? +My own love, what has scared you so?" I asked, drawing the red flash +from her sight. + +"You know that I am not too wise. You do not want me to be wise; oh, +George, I have no strength of mind; I cannot bear to be taken from you." + +"I should like to see anybody do it," said I, guiding her craftily to a +less exalted place; "but why has this little thing frightened you so, +when you must have worn it a hundred times?" + +"Because there is a most sad tale about it, which I will tell you some +day. But even without that I must not wear it, according to the rules of +the family; unless--unless--a thing that would grieve you heartily, I +hope, George--unless I cease to care for you. No maiden must have this +on her heart, when her heart has ceased to be her own. Shall I tell you +a little secret? That was why I lent it to you and never asked for it +back again, as soon as ever I began to fancy--not to be too sure--but to +be uncertain whether--oh, you know my signification, George!" + +"When you doubted, sweetest sweet, whether you might not be beginning to +think in your angelic heart of a worthless fellow, whose name is +George." + +"What language to use of such a pair! If you abuse one, you abuse the +other. Do you see what English I speak now? I could not talk like this, +when first I met you. How do you think I learned to do it?" + +"Dariel, how should I know? Your voice would make any language sweet. +Your father has the gift of tongues. He speaks better English than I +do. No doubt it has come down to you. And you have been with English +teachers." + +"Yes. But they made me speak French more than this. They thought that +the air would teach me English. And my father always talked to me in our +own language, such as I sang to you last night. But when I began to have +George in my mind, and to fancy that he was getting fond of me, I +changed all that. Comprehend you now? I made my darling father speak +nothing to me but the English. And I shall be angry with myself, if you +have not observed the improvement." + +At this proof of her lovely love, I said and did--no matter what. Never +since the world began has any man been so beyond himself. Such things +are not to be described. And I never would have gone back thus, to give +any one else an idea of them, if I could have won that glory, with no +anguish afterwards. Every man must be in glory, when his true love loves +him. He knows that he is not worthy of it; and that makes the triumph +nobler. + +She might lead me where she liked. A man is never like a flower--unless +it be a tobacco-flower, which only blooms in the evening--but he has +always been like grass; and grass (if you watch it carefully, and mow it +very seldom) has a gift of turning to the sun, like most of us who +manage it. My sense of beauty was so vast that I could not get to the +end of it, and strove to teach her every item of her own perfections. +But she arose, and took my hand, and said, "Let us go to father. A +little bit of wisdom will be good among all these wonders. But I only +wish that I owned them all; because they would all belong to you." + +Sûr Imar received us with a loving smile. I thought that he had never +looked more grand. Dariel knelt to him, while I held her hand; and if I +could have knelt to any man, I would have done so then to him. But the +knee of an Englishman goes down to none except his Maker. + +[Illustration: "_Sûr Imar received us with a loving smile._"] + +"So be it," he said, as he kissed her forehead; "may the Lord bless both +my children." + + + + +CHAPTER XXXV + +A RACE OF PLATERS + + +Of the 26,250 days (which, after due allowance made for the little +jangles of the sun and moon, are the up-cast of our living-time +according to the wise man) that sage complains that no one produces +anything exactly like the produce of its brother one day old. If it were +so in the almanac of Solon, what can be expected now, when every day is +supposed to achieve a long stride in advance of all previous ages, +clapping their laurels on its own pert head? So have I seen a pretty +little dear, with her hair upon her shoulders, dash out in front of the +village mile-race, at half a skip from the winning-post, and scream out, +"I have won it." + +To me, in my quiet slow-go pace, it would have been more than enough, if +the morrow had been content with its yesterday, and backed it up in a +friendly style. But instead of that, it only cared to indorse the safe +corollary--"All in all, a human creature is nothing more than accident." +Accident to wit, just out of luck, according to the word there used, +which bears no merry meaning. Perhaps this on the whole was my disgrace; +for a friend's good luck should be one's own. + +But could I put Tom Erricker in the most romantic scale of friendship +(such as the Romans cultivated) against the heavenly Dariel? Those +Tusculans knew not such love as ours; because they had no such girls to +love. However, let Tom have his say. + + + "BELOVED GEORGE,--You are my best friend, the only one that + understands me, in this smiling vale of tears. You may not have + heard from me for some months, because I have had the finest + shooting I have ever yet been blest with. It makes one despise all + the partridges and pheasants, tame fowl of a lower order. Grouse, + my dear boy, and blackcocks too, and we heard of capercailzie! Tell + old Stocks and Stones, who was so stingy about his rabbits, that I + blow my nail at him, as the poet says. But that is not half of it. + The grub--the grub--George, you never came across the like. I am + seven pounds heavier than when I came down, in spite of walking off + two pounds per diem. The wind seems to blow it back into you. And + you make it up at dinner-time; and then you have cigars, such as + you never put between your teeth; and then half-a-dozen lovely + girls, all ready to scratch one another's faces, to draw you for + their pal at billiards. And did not I show them a dodge or two? + + "But that reminds me that I had my choice; and I chose like the man + who put the broom across the walk. I might have had beauty; I might + have had fashion; I might have had wit, though I hate it in a girl, + because they soon give you the worst of it. And I might have had + noble birth; but that would never do, because she might be nasty + about the forks and spoons, at the height of the most festive + enterprise. She was very sweet upon me for as much as three days; + and my aunt, who has £80,000 to leave, was wild to have a Lady + Frances Erricker. But my Lady Fanny made a wicked slip about the + new process, that the Governor has given five pounds for, and + expects to clear five thousand by it; and it was all over with her + chance. She repented with many tears, and I forgave her, but could + not see my way to put her on again; for her outside value was about + a thou.; and she would cost more per ann. than that to keep. + + "Well, I was just putting on my blinkers for another trot in single + harness, when a little thing comes round my nose, and looks at me, + and strokes my ears, and, by Jove, it was all up with me. Oh, she + is such a little Venus, George! Small, as all the true sort are; + but no mistake about her. Every time you look at her, you say to + yourself--This is a girl; not an Amazon, nor an owl, nor an + owl-faced Athenè, nor even the one who changed her sex, every time + she struck a serpent. I may be wrong about that; never mind, my + Loo will never want to be a Louis. In plain unvarnished fact, she + is a duck, and that is what you want of them. Swans are not for me, + nor eagles, least of all a cormorant. Her sweet name is Louisa Box; + and I said a pretty thing to her. You know my little knack that + way. I said, 'Loo Box, you have boxed my compass, and fetched it + all to looward.' She could not quite take in my point, for no girl + ever knows north from south; but she said, 'Oh, Tom, you are so + clever!' while some of them would have boxed my ears; and Lady + Fanny longed to do it. + + "To cut a delicious tale too short, Louisa Box--who has £20,000 on + the nail, which is not to be sneezed at, with tin going down--and + Thomas Erricker, of Middle Temple, are to be joined in holy + matrimony, at 11 A. M. next Saturday, and the devil take the + hindmost. I have been up to London for new togs, but could not get + an hour to run down to you, and I know what a rumpus you are always + in. This you will excuse of course. But I rely upon you, mind (and + if you fail me it will not come off), to put yourself into your + best array, and be best man on Saturday. You must come by the train + which reaches Sheffield, 7.45 P. M. on Friday. I will meet you at + the station, and we will have a blow-out at the Governor's, and I + will put you up to everything. And it would be kind if you would + call at old Puckerpant's before you start, and bring my vestments + with you. I have paid his bill; so that you can swear at him. + + "Now, my dear fellow, this is a solemn matter. I feel the vitality + of holy matrimony; and I trust my old pal to back me up. Last night + I had a spasm in the plaster on my chest. I am not so strong as I + was at College, and I shall never pull through it without you. You + are a sneak, if you desert the Tom who has done so much for you." + + +Any one of lofty altruistic soul, or even decent fidelity, would vote me +a very paltry fellow, for doubting what to do in a case like this. It +seemed an atrocious thing of Tom, and a pestilent piece of luck for me, +to take me two hundred miles from home, at this very crisis of my +life,--just when I meant to compel my father to call upon Sûr Imar; or +if that could not be done, to bring sweet Dariel to see my mother, whose +kind heart she would captivate. Then I would show her to Grace, and +perhaps at some leisure to Jackson Stoneman; and look what becomes of +their pride and their Saxon infatuation, after that! Was this and every +other delightful plan to be put off, nobody knew how long, for the sake +of a headlong cash and love-affair concocted by Tom Erricker? I was sure +that my sister would agree with me, for she always had made light of +Tom, and I vowed to my reluctant self, that the decision should be left +to her. What then was my chagrin and wonder, when she said, "You are +bound to go, George!" And I fear that she wanted me out of the way, +because I would not kow-tow to her "Jack!" + +The terrible results of this sudden start have strengthened me for ever +in my solid judgment, which for the moment I was much inclined to +slacken under the arch spell of St. Winifred. Listen deferentially to +feminine opinion, but never let it go beyond your ears; until you have a +good wife of your own. She will know how you look at things, and shape +her wisdom to suit yours, and go beyond your own conviction in the +certainty that you are right. And then she knows that she has done it +all, whenever everything turns out well. But if, peradventure, it all +goes amiss, she is the last one in the world to make it bad for you. It +is your place then to take the blame on your own clumsy shoulders, and +think scorn of outside results, while you have one true breast to +comfort you. + +These thoughts were far beyond me yet; for a young man believes himself +wondrous clever, and airs his conclusions about womankind, as a boy +blows his bubble, or a child upon the grass his ball of dandelion-seed. +And this was just the very thing Tom Erricker had always done; and I had +thought it very fine, until I met my Dariel. But now I felt disgusted +with him, and his Loo of £20,000 and all that snobbish frippery about +his togs. However, I must make the best of that and him. + +To the life of my life I sent a line, as full of love as I could make +it, with any room for common-sense behind. And then off I set for all +that humbug, show, and sham, and breakfast-speeches, women up to date +with tears, and men beyond it with champagne, lovely bride with lips +too sweet for margarine to melt inside them, bridegroom in tepid waxwork +form, and looking for courage to his mother, whose mind dwells over his +weaning. + +All this was there, and a great deal more; and it seemed to me that my +dear friend (who had lost his wit, and his wits as well) deserved our +finest sympathies; though the girl was a harmless and good little thing, +who wondered how her Tom could have thought so much of me. + +But if ever there were kind and warm people on the face of this +cold-complexioned earth, these Yorkshire folk might fairly claim the +warmest place among them. Not for hospitality alone (though in that they +were beyond abundance) but also for solid good-will without sham, and a +hearty power of liking any one who met them frankly. There was something +about them altogether different from our Southern style; stronger and +deeper, and more true in the way they stuck to what they said. Also I +found them very eager to have large and liberal views of their own in +abstract questions of politics; and if they made mistakes, it was--so +far as I could follow suit--from contempt of shilly-shallying. I went +among them, with the tags of my Tory armour tied, hooked with steel I +ought to say; and though they could not pull any of it off, they made +the whole suit more flexible, and airy, and elastic. + +Alas, that I had so brief a chance of expanding under the broadcloth! +None of them could unsettle me in what I was brought up to. But having +an equitable mind, and being worsted generally in argument, I began to +see that the strongest principles may go too far in their own strength. +There was one old man of mighty aspect, and immense benevolence, who +must have brought me beneath his mantle, in three more nights of looking +at me. I felt his influence, and feel it now. + +But whether for any good or harm, all this was cut short suddenly. After +Tom and his bride were gone, with the usual showers after them, all the +guests and many more came together at Silver Hall, the abode of the +ancient Tinman, as Tom in his impudence called his father. For why; it +had been arranged among them to have the wedding-dance out there, with +more room for enjoyment than Sir Benjamin Box could minister. And I was +beginning to count my time, for I meant to go by the midnight train; and +clumsy dancer as I am, there were several very nice girls indeed, who +did their best in a charming way to make me do my best as well. +Especially there was Tom's younger sister, as pretty a girl as need be +seen; in a formal mood of the masculine mind, "Miss Argyrophylla +Erricker." Her mother had paid a poor Oxford man a guinea for invention +of that name; and she was worth it, though everybody called her "Pilla." + +It was a lucky thing for me that I had not seen Pilla too early in life, +for I know not where I might have been. This very pretty girl was also +of a very romantic tendency; which, with a little wit to quicken, and +sweet brown eyes to sweeten it, stops you, in your course, like a double +water-jump with a hurdle of furze between it. You pause to think; and +you pause for ever. I had heard of her a hundred times from Tom, but had +never imagined that she was so nice; for he spoke of her with that fond +condescension which made her look up to him as a mighty hero. And now I +had to take care what I said, as she always got back to him at every +other breath; and a great stretch of verity was needful on my part, to +respond to her view of his merits. But this made me like her all the +more, and I wished more than once that my sister Grace, who certainly +possessed much more occasion for it, were gifted with an equal amount of +this lovely philadelphia. + +How many times I danced with Pilla is a great deal more than I can say; +but it was very far from being to the exclusion of everybody else, as +people were found to say afterwards. She, as the daughter of the house, +was bound to pay proper attention to the guest who had come so far to +please her brother, and would have to leave so early. And, for my part, +I could not forget the duty of warm friendship to my dear old Tom. Every +time she came back to me, I thought that her rich brown eyes grew +brighter, and I told her how much they resembled Tom's, although +infinitely more expressive. And she found me improving so fast in my +steps, which had fallen into sad neglect among the furrows, that I +feared to fall off again, if I failed to make the most of so rare a +chance. But as to making love to her--what love had I to make? All my +rights and dues of that were signed, sealed, and delivered to another +lady--of a different grade altogether. + +But away went all a man's thoughts of homage to anything but humanity +when, after I had said "Good-bye" to Pilla, and seen my bag come down +the stairs, and was casting a wrapper around me, while the cabman +thumped himself betwixt the doors, the sweet little creature ran up to +me again and tried to speak, but only mumbled, and would have gone down +with her chin upon the floor, if I had not stretched both arms to catch +her. Upon them she lay, like a lamb upon a rail, with all her body +quivering, and the helplessness of her slack head thrown against my +dancing waistcoat. + +"What is it, dear child?" I asked in vain. All she could do was to +spread one hand towards a big door; and then that hand fell, and she was +all long hair and pink muslin. "Is there a woman here?" I called out, in +terror of a fit, as I kept her from the floor; and a woman of great +substance rushed up and caught her, and glared at me, as if I were a +villain. "Poor lamb! Poor darling! The bad wicked man!" "Did you see how +he swept her off her feet?" There were half-a-dozen handmaids now; and I +left poor Pilla to them. + +[Illustration: "_A woman of great substance rushed up and caught her._"] + +Then seeing how stupidly quick they were, I went to the door she had +pointed at, and with heavy misgivings entered. It was a large high room, +with a lot of gilt about it, and gorgeous books sprawling upon stamped +leather; but the gas was turned down, and the light of the fire +flickered with gushes of shape and shadow. + +There was another and a darker shadow there. A dead man lay in the deep +composure of a most luxurious chair; his head had fallen back against +the rich morocco; and the fire that played on his dull wan eyes should +warm no part of him any more,--Theophilus Erricker, a man who had made +his fortune, in the rush, and kick, and pell-mell of life--by fair play, +no doubt, when the rules permitted; and with kindness to his fellows, +when so be it, the facts went the right way for him. + +It was strong hospitality, and quick heart now, which had brought him +to this sad extreme. Throughout the day, he had been doing too much for +a man of his legs, and years, and weight, as several persons told him. +But the old man kept up to the height of young time; and when Sir +Benjamin Box (an alderman of substantial yet melancholy order) entreated +him not to dance so much, stout Mr. Erricker challenged him, though Box +was ten years his junior, to jump over a dining-room chair with him! And +thus he carried on for hour after hour, dancing, and slapping old +friends on the back, and running about among the pretty girls, like a +waiter who has to subsist upon tips; and ever so much rasher than that +man is, because he was stirring up his intellect, to the same high scale +as his body. What wonder then--with his doctor called away to a wealthy +confinement, and his good wife too busy to frown at him--that he +verified the warnings of those who knew, but could not at such a time +remind him, that he had all but created a vacancy in the Town Council +last Easter Monday, through juvenile impetuosity? + +What an awful crash of buffers, in the midst of headlong gaiety! Even to +me, so new a friend, it seemed to sweep aside all thoughts of self, and +plunge it in the great tide of human fate, that pitiless gulf-stream, in +which we cannot even endeavour a course of our own, but are whirled +along like a dollop of froth, or a shred of pop-weed among other weeds. + +Being (as a young man ought to be) entirely without experience of the +sudden tragedies of life, perhaps I overdid my sense of duty in a case +like this. If so, I erred on the better side; and in spite of all the +sad home results I say that I would do the like again, whether others +would do as much for me, or not. Right or wrong, I could not bring +myself to leave these unhappy people without any friend to help them. My +services were but small of course; and yet as it happened there was no +one in the house to be more efficient. The family lawyer had left the +town, after seeing to the marriage-settlement; the execution of the will +was committed to Tom and his mother. Tom was away on his wedding-trip; +and his mother, in delicate health for some years, had now broken down +entirely, and left her daughter to do the best she could. Only on one +point the widowed mother still had the courage to insist. Whatever came +of it, her son should not be called back from his honeymoon to the +coffin of his father. He had set off for Italy, or the South of +France--I forgot which it was for the moment--nothing but a telegram +could stop him; and no telegram should be sent. + +A miserable time it was indeed. The lawyer's junior partner came; but he +was a young man without self-reliance, regardful of nothing but legal +forms, and desirous of nothing but to please Miss Pilla, who could make +a flexible stalactite--if such a thing there be--of him, by every +crystal tear; and she having therefore little faith in him, all he did +was to cast the burden of every doubtful arrangement upon me. + +"The old man will cut up finely, sir," was the most practical of his +remarks to me; "no expense must be spared on his funeral. Under the +widow's instructions--poor thing! you must now act as quasi-executor. +The Corporation will not be pleased, unless everything is carried out +A1. And if I may venture upon a private sentiment, it will all tell up, +sir; it will be a sound investment, with an eye to the welfare of the +business." + +Then Sir Benjamin Box came in, and put his hat upon the very chair in +which the Master of the house had breathed his last, and spake below +breath impressively. + +"Saddest thing I ever knew, in all my life! We shall never look upon his +like again. My dear Sir George, what a lesson for us! But to jump over +chairs, at his time of life! And eighteen stone, if he weighed an ounce. +I, who am comparatively active--but we will not reproach him, when he +cannot reply. Fine thing for Tom though; can you give me an idea? You +are the acting Executor, I believe." + +"I am not an Executor at all, Sir Benjamin. And I am no Sir George, but +plain George Cranleigh. I am doing what little I can, at the request of +the ladies, and their lawyer. But you are more nearly connected, and if +you would only take it off my hands----" + +"No, no, thank you. That wouldn't do at all. I never could stand a house +of mourning. My own heart is ticklish; this has given me quite a turn. +But you are young, sir, you are young. My deepest sympathies to the +afflicted ladies." + +He was off with so light a foot, that even the ghost of the poor +deceased would have found itself too heavy, if it ever came to finish +the jumping-match. And then Argyrophylla glided in, looking like a +silver aspen leaf in a coil of black ivy, as she took my hand. + +"Oh, Mr. George, what a hateful old man! I heard what he said, and I saw +him run away. And my brother has married his daughter! Cowards, how they +fly at the very thought of death; and when their time of life should +make them so glad to know more about it! But you are not like that, are +you? Though it must be most sadly distressing for you. To attempt to +thank you would be so absurd and hopeless. How proud my brother must be +of such a friend! If I live to be eighty, I shall never forget you. But +I came to tell you two pieces of good news, if there can be such a thing +as good news now. Dr. Golightly has called upon the Coroner, and got him +to dispense with an Inquest, as the case had been medically treated +before. And then Aunt Gertrude is coming to-morrow, and she will bring +Selina Petheril, who was at our school at Brompton." + +Of Selina Petheril I knew nothing, but this Aunt Gertrude was the +relative from whom Tom had great expectations; and her arrival made +things much better, and relieved me of some anxiety. She approved of all +that I had done; but I found it impossible to leave the house with any +security that all was right, until the third day after the funeral. I +had written to my sister, and heard from her once or twice, so that +there could be no uneasiness at home. But of my dear friends in the +valley not a word had reached me, though among all those dismal duties +my thoughts had been with them constantly. + +It is not for me to pretend to say whether I acted well or ill. But to +one thing I can pledge my honour, that no small motive and no tender +claims of beauty in distress detained me. If Pilla had been the plainest +girl in the county of many acres, my behaviour would have been just the +same. I never said a word to her that was not of the purest pity and +good feeling; neither did she think twice of me, except as a willing and +warm friend. There is nothing in me to attract any girl; and even if +there were, any man who imagines that a loving daughter in deep +affliction would set up a flirtation with a stranger, the same is a bad +man, and proves it by measuring women by his own low mark. + +However, no more of that. Enough that when we heard by telegram that Tom +would be at home that night, I took the mail-train to London, and got +home at breakfast-time on Sunday morning, having thus been absent just +nine days. + + + + +CHAPTER XXXVI + +GONE, GONE, GONE + + +A small and well-measured breakfast-party, with the tea and the bacon +and eggs provided, to expectation and experience, should not be +disturbed by the sudden irruption of a rough, unshaven, crumple-shirted, +and worst of all, unfed young fellow, who cannot remember when his last +meal happened. Therefore I only sent word of my arrival, and went for a +swim in Stoneman's lake, as my custom was throughout the year, while +Sally was preparing me some bread and milk. But while I was getting +through this, and thinking of putting myself into church-going gear, my +sister Grace ran in, and embraced me, as warmly as if I were on the +Stock Exchange. + +"Oh, George, I think you are so noble," she declared, as if she had +found me at last too large for her understanding, "to stay away so many +weeks"--I had not been away for a week and a half, but let her have a +girl's arithmetic--"simply for the sake of other people's affairs, +without even appointing anybody to look after your own, all that long +while. I thought that I was almost as unselfish as anybody ought to be. +But I am not sure that I could quite have done all that." + +"You don't understand things, my dear girl," I replied, with that +superior tone which used to have a fine effect of closure upon the large +feminine parlance. "I knew that hay was going up, and that Mr. Joplin +would have to put five shillings on to every pound he offered me in +October." + +"Hay indeed!" she exclaimed with scorn. "George, it is sweet hay--sweet +hay--sour hay! And you have not made it, while the sun shone." + +"Speak no more in parables. Speak plain English. What in common-sense +are you driving at? There is no hay in the county to beat ours. And I +defy any rain to have got into the ricks." + +"But suppose the ricks are all clean gone. Oh, George, how stupid you +are at metaphors! But if they are gone, without letting you know--oh, I +never could believe that, of foreigners even! And after all the great +things you have felt for such great people!" + +"Out with it!" I said, while my spoon went dribbling. "You mean to tell +me, I suppose, if plain English can ever be got from a girl, that Sûr +Imar, and his people, have left the neighbourhood." + +"His people indeed! Well, if you can take it in that lofty spirit, you +may as well know everything. I was quite afraid of telling you. But men +are all alike, at least old Sally says so--though what she can know +about it, the poor old soul----" + +"When did it happen?" I asked quite calmly, for I wanted no pity about +it; least of all from a girl who had never entered into any proper view +of the question, because I never chose to run and gush to her. + +"That is more than we can tell. They must have packed up very quickly, +unless they left all their dogs and diamonds behind them. But we only +heard of it yesterday, through Slemmick, who had it from Farmer Ticknor. +That seems a little rude, considering that you were to have taken me +down so soon, to fall at the feet of the Lesghian Bandit. But of course +we must not judge them by our own ideas. Perhaps, as we had never called +upon them----" + +"They would not have troubled their heads about that. They look at +things from a higher level. But perhaps they might have sent a boy to +tell me, if they had found any time to spare. My dear child, in a +quarter of an hour I shall be ready; and then we will go to church +together." + +Let any man tell me what else he would have done, and I shall be much +obliged to him. Not that it could help me very much, for such a thing +can scarcely happen twice to any fellow; but that I should like to +compare his view of it with what went on in my own mind. Nothing is +easier than to talk, when you see the thing a long way off, or (which is +even better) only read about it, or give a bold verdict without a +glance; which is the wisest course of all. + +All that I can say about my part, is that reason did not count for a +halfpenny in the business. Pride (which is often a matter of temper, or +self-esteem set up to crow, but when it arises in a modest nature is the +proper power to keep it sweet)--pride said to me: "I am well aware that +you never stuck up for being humble. You hate any fellow that goes in +for that, because you believe him a hypocrite. And so he is, ninety-nine +times per cent; the one per cent being a true Christian, a quantity +altogether negligible. You are not up to that mark. But you are a +self-respecting Englishman. Show it, my fine fellow, by whistling at +people, who have not known you better than to snub you." + +I listened to this, and it all seemed true, as beyond all doubt it ought +to be. And I went through everything so well that Grace (who was +watching me with tender interest, to learn perhaps how the Stockbroker +would take it if she vanished out of his investments) did her best to be +pleased for my dear sake; and yet for joint-stock sake afforded me as +cold a kiss, when she said good-night, as any man insisting on the +abstract woman can hope to receive from the concrete. + +This alone was enough to show me that I was on the wrong tack +altogether. Women are delightful in their talk, if nobody contradicts +them, about their finer nature, and purer standard, and higher mission +to ennoble us. All this we acknowledge, and should feel it more if they +said less concerning it. But the worst of it is, that if any man regards +them as they demand to be regarded, he may stand with his back to the +wall while they go by. + +Now a man, however dull-witted he may be, has sense enough to know that +in any nice point touching his behaviour to the better half of life, a +member of that half can show him what to do far better than he can +discover it. Nothing could be clearer than that Grace despised the +haughtiness and the hardness which she herself would have shown in her +own case. "How her eyes would have flashed!" thought I--and then came a +vision of other eyes, gentle, true, deep-hearted eyes, sad with some +dark mystery perhaps, compelled to keep their tears unseen; but +wavering, jiltish, deceitful--never. And then I began to recall her +kindly, and found it very comforting. + +For when the sweet face came before me, with the soft radiance of those +eyes, and the play of those lips that trembled lest they should open +themselves unduly, and the movement of a heart that wondered whether it +wanted itself to be understood, and a multitude of other little +waverings which a man is too dull to interpret,--when all this came home +to me with unknown power (because I wanted it and nothing else)-- + +"Away with this stupid pride!" said Love, clinging to my breast, and +whispering; "the Power that made mankind made me, and ordered me never +to be far off in the worst of your tribulations. But I must have faith, +as even He requires in all His dealings with you. I have offered you as +fair a chance as ever was given to a clumsy mortal,--the loveliest +creature, a child of my own, as much too good for you as I am. Because +the Wicked One has raised a mist, in his loathing of human happiness, +are you fool enough to be untrue to me, and shut your blear eyes, and +never open them, until nothing is left worth looking at? Go your own +way. I have plenty of finer fellows to stand by me." + +Though he may not have said it so distinctly--and he is not the fellow +anyhow that should talk about a mist--it produced the same effect upon +me. I felt myself, after a little thinking, very many cuts above Jackson +Stoneman and his slippery stuff among the pats of butter. His love was +as sound as a roach, and as merry as a grig; and he was welcome to it: a +thing like a bleak that flits under a film of the water, and jumps at a +midget, and so becomes fit to make pearl of Paris. + +When the striking-weight of a clock is too heavy, it slurs the hours +with such a tug that you cannot even count the strokes; and to me, with +that heavy weight upon my heart, time went by untimely: slowly, heavily, +and sluggishly, if ever I began to count the ticks; but out of all +proper chronology, at periods when I kept no eye upon it. Moreover, I +had a number of little things to see to, which had been neglected in my +absence, so that it was Tuesday afternoon when I stood at the door of +St. Winifred, and wondered whether she had fallen back into rust and +ruin once again. The old wall fringed with ivy looked like a billow with +a ruffled crest before the white comb breaks from it, and the slumber of +the valley was not shaken by groan or shudder of the water-wheel. No +smoke was rising from the buttressed chimneys which had been repaired +and pointed, neither was there any sign of life, or sound of the harsh +Caucasian gabble in which many idle souls delighted. + +In short, the settlement (which had been so long the puzzle of the +neighbourhood, and the blessing of the rate-collectors, for Sûr Imar +paid always every penny put upon him) was gone, vanished, a vision of +the distance; a pleasant resource for the memory, when not too +conceptive at dinner-time; a fact that would fade into a legend soon, +and find matter-of-fact disproving it. + +If I had not been reduced by this time to a meritorious humility--which +I meant to keep up, let it suffer as it might--it would have gone hard +with our language to forego one of its strongest and briefest words, +which the weaker tongues try to pronounce against us, but condemn +themselves by the effort. Being of the purest English birth, and +therefore (as even our enemies admit) an embodiment of justice, I stood +still, and made allowance for all of lesser privilege. They have quite +as much right to their own ideas as the largest of us have to ours. And +it is our power of perceiving that which has made us beloved throughout +the world, or at least by as many as can understand us. Or if they be +few, whose fault is that? + +While I was full of these quick thoughts, and exceedingly sorrowful over +them, lo, two streaks of yellow on the dark-green grass, and the +self-possession of Albion was wellnigh rolled over in its own tricks. +_Kuban_ and _Orla_, as mad as March hares, threw all their wild welcome +upon me: kisses, and licks, and the hairiest embraces, and the most +lunatic yells of delight; if ever there has been true love, here was the +prime of it to knock me off my legs. + +Any one may laugh at me and all my pride; for the whole of it went to +the dogs in a jiffy. I am blest if I could help a gleam of moisture that +made it difficult for me to see the loyal love in eyes that never told a +lie. "You dears!" I cried, "you faithful dears!" and they would scarcely +let me say it before they were smothering me again, and then they rolled +on the ground as if they had got no legs, and then they jumped up and +looked at one another to be certain of their facts; and then with one +accord they made the valley ring with glorious shouts of joy, and the +dead leaves tremble on the lonely trees. And behold, they had roused a +great figure of a man, who came from a door where I had trembled like a +leaf, and put his hand over his eyes, and gazed at me, as if he had +never seen a man before. And then a little figure ran almost between his +legs, and I halloed to Stepan and Allai. + +Stepan showed a warm desire to embrace me, which proved that to him I +was guiltless as yet, while Allai put both hands on his head, and bowed +almost to my gaiters. Now if I could only make these fellows understand, +and then get them to do the like to me, I should learn all about this +sudden flitting, for the smallest of the Lesghians had always seemed to +be in partnership with the greatest. + +But alas! what a conflict of languages we had! I think it is St. James +who dwells with great eloquence upon the many miseries we suffer from +the tongue; he has not, however, described for us one of its most +diabolical conditions, when it cannot hit upon the word it wants, and +flies into a fury of perplexity with itself, and indignation at the +stupid ear that keeps it so in limbo. Stepan tried English, and that was +very bad; then I tried Lesghian, but that was much worse. He could see +that I wanted to know why his master had broken up their English home so +suddenly, and without so much as a word of farewell; but all that he +could do towards telling me was to shake his head, and make a great +noise in his throat, and box the boy's ears for laughing at him. Then +something not altogether devoid of true insight occurred to him, for he +shouted in a mighty voice, "Stepan dam fool!" and gave Allai some order, +which sent him to the buildings like an arrow. + +Something had occurred to me also, so often are ideas simultaneous, and +while the messenger was gone, I took that leaf of which I have spoken, +from my pocket-book, and handed it to Stepan. He looked at it with great +surprise, and then put it to his lips and on his forehead, and then tore +off a fibre and tasted it. "Adul! Adul!" or some word that sounded like +that, he repeated frequently, and did his utmost to show me that he felt +great curiosity about it. Upon this I pulled out a pencil and drew a +rough sketch of myself being shot at, taking poetic licence to show the +bullet in the air and the leaf dropping from it. Also I tried to +represent a man crouching in a bush and popping at me, and although not +a glimpse had been vouchsafed me of the villain on that occasion, I +allowed imagination to indue him with the plumed hat of Prince Hafer. +This I had no right to do; but surely a little liberty is pardonable +with a gentleman who has taken a shot at one in the dark. At any rate +Stepan fell in most briskly with the inference of this costumiery, and +seemed rather pleased at the confirmation of his own moral estimate and +foresight. + +Until I began to think, I was surprised that he should be so calm about +that black attempt to annihilate me; but remembering what he had been +through, I let him take it according to his nature. He liked me, he +approved of me, he thought me a good Englishman; and yet it would have +been no more than the finish of a bear-hunt to him to have carried me +home on the hurdle I jumped, when I went to the rescue of Allai. And I +looked at him, with some disappointment. + +"Enemy!" he said; it was the word that had long been hanging in his +windcrop; and now he was so delighted with it that he said it three +times over. "Good Englisk; dam enemy. Stepan see all--all right, dam +enemy!" + +His wondrous baldric (better smocked with cartridge-loops than a +parish-clerk could show of plaiting on his Sunday front, in the days +when his wife was proud of him) bulged on his mighty chest with the +elation of this grand discovery. And then he said, "Bad man, bad man!" +in a manner which appeared to me too abstract and philosophical. "No +doubt you consider it very fine fun," I replied with some warmth of +feeling, but the knowledge that he was no wiser. + +Then up ran Allai, at a speed which made him resemble a hunted +grasshopper, and I took from his claws a sealed letter, and looked at +them both, in disdain of any hurry. "This will keep," I said very +quietly; for though they knew not the meaning of my words, they might be +asked afterwards how I received it, and they should have no flurry to +report. So I put it in my pocket, like a Briton. + +Stepan, and Allai, and one other man not equally well known to me, had +evidently been left to finish the packing of some of the heavier goods, +and the bales of books which had been printed, and to take them, as well +as the beloved dogs, perhaps by some slower route, and rejoin their +master by arrangement. I knew that Sûr Imar had long been preparing to +move, when his period of banishment expired, but I was sure that he had +no intention of departing so suddenly, when I had seen him last. Stepan +contrived to let me know that the luggage was going by a smoker in a day +or two from London pond, as he called it; and having no further business +there, I took leave of him and Allai. The Lesghian giant was dignified +and impressive in his long farewell, and gave me his blessing--as I +supposed--and his invitation to the Caucasus. Also this comfort--"Enemy +gone. No more shoot good Englisk," which was some relief to a heavy +mind. But little Allai, and the two dogs--I could scarcely get away from +them, so loving and so sad were they. The short November day was +darkening, as I left the valley, where I had found so much wild +happiness, and so much deep sorrow to humble me. + + + + +CHAPTER XXXVII + +LOVERS MAKE MOAN + + +Now when I had read Sûr Imar's letter, which I hastened to do by the +light from the west at the very spot where he had told his tale, there +was nothing (at least to a clay-headed fellow) affording definite answer +to the questions which concerned me most. The first of these was--why on +earth had my friends broken up and departed so hastily? And the +second--no less of a puzzle to me--what had I done to give fatal +offence? All Sûr Imar wrote was this, wherein I found that although he +spoke our language so well and fluently and with better command of it +than I have, he was not quite so familiar with the mysteries of our +spelling. But let that pass unheeded. + + + MY DEAR YOUNG FRIEND,--So I desire to call you still, because I am + old, and an old man has learned that he must not listen to + everything, neither yield without proof to assertions which + contradict his own experience. My belief is that you are as full of + honour as I was at your time of life; and it is always most hot in + the young, until they are taught that justice is the first thing to + be aimed at. And I have a firm belief from my observation of you, + that any mistake you may have made was caused by the influence of + the moment, and without any intention to do wrong. + + I am grieved that I shall have no opportunity of meeting you again + in England. We are obliged to depart at once, having heard of an + adverse incident, which threatens all my prospects of success. + Probably we shall never meet again; and perhaps you will not desire + it. But Englishmen go everywhere, even to the inhospitable + Caucasus; and I would try to prove to you that the epithet is + undeserved, if you would afford me the chance, and show that you + still think kindly of your old friend, + + IMAR, the Lesghian. + + +Vexed as I was with painful wonder as to the charge against me, I could +not help admiring the large and peaceful nature of this man. He thought +that I had wronged his child, the hope of his days, and the heart of his +life; and yet not a bitter word did he employ, nor even show a sign of +scorn. Not in vain had he passed through the mill of tribulation. By +loss of faith in woman's goodness, he had lost all the delights of love, +of family bliss, and home, and comfort for the residue of his time on +earth. And the lesson it had taught him was to doubt of evil in mankind, +or at least in those whom his friendly nature led him to approve and +like. Oh! why was not his daughter of an equal trust and largeness? Not +a word had she sent me, not even one reproach, which might have told me +that her heart was sore. If after all her knowledge of me, all the proof +which her eyes alone must have rendered to her mind, one lying tale, +whatever it was, had been enough to scatter to the wind all her faith +and all her love, then none of it was worth having. So I reasoned, and +yet in vain. The stronger my conviction grew, the less was I convinced +of it. My heart was all with Dariel still; and let the mind argue as it +would, had logic ever looked at her? Any cold dribble may be crystal +clear; but the current in the veins of man should be warm and red and +glowing. + +Under that sudden cloud could I rest without looking up to inquire what +it was? All I could do was to guess and guess; but I had no guilty +conscience, which is the quickest of all conjecturers. If for one moment +of charm, or caprice, any lure of the eye, or bewitchment of a smile, I +had gone astray from my one true love, the memory would have come up at +once, and suggested to my shame that I was served aright. But there had +been nothing of the kind. I had only done what seemed at first the +simple duty of friendship, and after that sunk my own delights in the +stress of deep affliction. If for this, and no more than this, I was to +be treated as a scoundrel, I had a right to know who had put that twist +upon it. + +Therefore, on the following day, I took an early train to London, and a +cab from the terminus to Hatton Garden, and found Signor Nicolo +finishing at leisure a delicate and skilful breakfast. He received me +very kindly, and unpinned the napkin from his Italian velvet coat, and +offered me a glass of something fine, which proved a great deal too fine +for me. My impatience seemed to please him, and he was in no hurry to +allay it. And his first words seemed to me to contain some rather +impertinent assumption. + +"The great point is to be calm, Mr. Cranleigh. To be quite calm, and +look at things quietly--ah, yes!" + +"I scarcely know what you refer to, Mr. Nickols. What is there to +prevent my being calm? I am simply come to ask about some friends, as +a--as a matter of business. You were kind enough when I was here +before----" + +"Come, come now. This won't do. We are not having a deal for a diamond. +I know all about it, as well almost as if I had been in the thick of it. +Ah, yes! But you find yourself bothered, don't you?" + +"Certainly, I don't like it much," I answered, as his black eyes flashed +at me, and a merry smile lifted his long moustache. "I did not expect to +be treated thus. And I was strongly attached to Sûr Imar." + +"And to _Kuban_ and _Orla_. Ah, yes, I see! And to Stepan and Allai, and +all the rest. What a pity there were no ladies there! You might have +become attached to them as well." + +"I call it very kind of you to spare me so much time," I answered rather +stiffly, for I would have no vulgar chaff about Dariel; "I was almost +afraid of encroaching upon business." + +"Duke of K---- at eleven o'clock, Serene Highness of L---- at twelve, +King of the Malachites at half-past; and a bigger swell than all of them +put together to a devilled bone at 1.30. Therefore we must touch the +point. You want to know why our interesting friends have bolted so +suddenly; and still more, why they did it without ta-ta to you. That +last point I am not clear about, though I have some shrewd suspicions. +But I think I can tell you why they made a brief adieu to the +neighbours who never came near them. You will acknowledge that they +could not be expected to stand on ceremony there." + +"You have got the stick by the wrong end altogether," I broke in, for +the sake of justice; "we let them alone, for the excellent reason that +we knew they wished to be let alone. No Englishman ever endeavours to +push through a gate that is always bolted. Our neighbourhood took no +notice of them, because it was known from the very first that they came +there for that purpose. And living in a wilderness of ivied ruins----" + +"You appear to have turned against them, even more than their behaviour +warrants. But for all that, Sûr Imar is a really great man. He looks at +things differently from you and me; and it is not for us to judge him. +For, like all men who go in for what we don't care about, he is set down +as a crank, a dreamer, a man with a tile off, a fellow you would like to +toss for sovereigns with, and everything else that a cad of the gutter +pities and sucks up to. But I can tell you that the Lesghian old man, as +the idiots would call him at forty-five, may defy a Polish Jew to cheat +him. For I don't call it cheating a man, when he knows it, and lets you +do it, because he scorns you and the cash alike. When you cheat him you +are like a man who steals his house-water from a horse-trough, and you +deserve to get glanders for it. But what I call fine cheating is to get +twice the value of a thing out of a wiry old screw, whose money is his +life, and his life all money. Oh, yes! There is some joy in that." + +Signor Nicolo rubbed his hands, and then put them into the feeling of +his pockets, with a warmth of some rich memory--not very old, I daresay. + +"But you would never do such a thing as that?" I asked, with a little +doubt quivering in the question. "You would be far above all such +ideas?" + +"Would I? Of course I would, when I couldn't get the chance. And I would +never get the better of a real friend, beyond twenty-five per cent at +maximum. And he would make seventy-five on that at the West End. But +when a man I hate with a fine religious strength, comes here to get the +best of me, screwing up his mouth, and looking righteous, and as +cordial as a stewed Spanish onion--'oh, dear, how lovely! A little flat +in the culet--would be perfect but for that milky spot below the zone,' +and so on; for what did the Almighty make a man except to chisel such a +curmudgeon? Ah, yes, I have done it a hundred times, and hope I may be +spared to do it a thousand more. It is not for the money, it is the +intellectual triumph. Everybody knows what I am. Come to me fairly, and +I treat you fairly. Must have my living wage, of course. But no more, +unless you try to rob me. Then you have got the wrong pig by the ear. +And it's the very same thing in love, Mr. Cranleigh. Have you tried to +take a rise out of Dariel?" + +This would have made me very angry with at least nine people out of ten. +But I knew that I had a queer character to deal with, and that he meant +no harm, but only to get to the bottom of the matter. So I told him that +if there was anything of that sort, I thought it was rather the other +way. And then I was quite in a fury with myself, for putting it as if +she could have done a shabby thing. And I praised her ninefold, and +could have gone on for an hour. + +"You are all right," he said, "that is clear enough; you are as +infatuated as a Goddess could require. We have all been so, some time or +other. But you should have seen her mother, ah, yes, ah, yes! Signora +Nicolo cannot bear to hear her name, though she ought to be grateful, +for it kept me good, and plunged me, I do believe, into matrimony. A +sweet woman never knows the good she does, any more than an impudent +flippant one can measure her own mischief. For the sake of that noble +Oria, as well as of Sûr Imar, who saved, my life, I would go anywhere +and do anything, to be of service to Dariel. And for her own sake too, I +can tell you, for she is a most charming creature, though a little too +soft, like her father. Ah, that's where the mischief will come in! How +can you save a man from himself? After all the lies he has suffered +from, and the wreck of his life--I know all about it now, though I +didn't when I saw you--would you believe that he is spoonier than ever +about doing good to those cursed fellows? Saving their souls! Why, +they've got none; or if they have, what are ours to be called? As +different as quartz from opal, which are much the same thing though in +different form. And as for their bodies, they are big enough already, +and dirty enough, and as hard as nails. Let them all kill one another, +is what the Lord intended, and Nature does her best to help him. Why, +the country ought to belong to us; we could do some good with it. It +should have been ours long ago." + +"No doubt of that," I replied, for that seems to be the duty of every +land; "I knew that Sûr Imar meant to go, and for years he has been +preparing to civilise his people; but what has made him go so suddenly?" + +"Well, I think it was through a tall young fellow, who has been prowling +about for a long time. 'Prince Hafer' he calls himself, Prince of the +Ossets, who are next-door neighbours to these Lesghians, when they have +any door at all, I mean. I won't pretend to know much about him, but +what I have heard is rather shady. He bore a most wonderful reputation +among his own niggers, if I may call them so, for the Ossets are rather +a dusky lot--never had there been such an Angel seen; too good, too +benevolent, too holy. But Apollyon, the Prince of this village of ours, +has been too many for our Mountain-Chief; and he has carried on rarely +at the Hotel Celestial, and other sparkling places. If he had not been a +Prince, they would have had him up at Bow Street; but he talked about +Russia, and they thought he was too big. Moreover, our noble Policemen +saw that there was nobody likely to interpret him; so they took it out +in coin, according to the custom of the Country. He paid for a mirror +and three electro-plated pots; and with mutual esteem they parted. But +what a fiend of a temper he must have! For he never gets drunk to make +us sponge him with our tears." + +"That is most unjust on his part. I have seen him twice, and nearly felt +him once. But never mind that. I shall square it up, some day. I beg +pardon for interrupting. But how can Sûr Imar ever listen to him?" + +"When you are as old as I am, Mr. Cranleigh, one thing alone will +surprise you. To wit, that you were ever surprised at the folly of the +wisest of mankind. But I have no time for a homily. You want to know how +I have learned these things. Have you ever heard of a certain Captain +Strogue?" + +"Yes, and I have seen him. And I formed a strong opinion, though all my +impressions seem worthless now, that Captain Strogue is a man of honour. +In his own way, I mean, and according to his views." + +"Not a man who would try to pot you in the dark? I believe that you are +quite right so far. Strogue is a man of honour, according to his lights. +But, alas, an inveterate gambler; and that saps the foundations of +honesty. God made honesty, and man makes honour, and shapes it according +to the fashion of the day. Strogue has been here, he has sat in that +chair, with his head in his hands, and shivering; for he is also a very +hard drinker. I am well known all over Europe, as a purchaser of fine +diamonds. Strogue had given an I. O. U. the night before for £500, which +he could not redeem. He had been fleeced, and he knew it too well, by +paltry little all-round dealers, hucksters at the very bottom of the +trade, who have only one test for gem from paste. If your brother Harold +were a bit of a rogue he might have a fine game with them. But Strogue +had the wisdom at last to come to me. Poor fellow! He has a very fine +nature. He absolutely burst into tears, when he saw all the value he had +thrown away. 'Signor, I am very hard up,' he said--which is just the +right way to begin with me, though the very worst with any other in the +trade; 'this is the last and the best of my jewels. A good judge has +told me it is very fine. Unless I can raise £500 to-day, I shall have to +put a pistol to my head. How much will you give me for this affair?' + +"I examined it well, though a glance was enough. Then I tested him as to +his ownership, to keep him on the tenterhooks, as he richly deserved; +and then I said, 'Captain, I will take it, at a thousand pounds. But +only upon one condition.' You should have seen his eyes. It was a +lamentable sight to discover such joy in the face of a man, who had done +such wonders in his better days. 'My condition,' I proceeded, for he +could not speak, 'is that you shall sign a pledge prepared by me.' +'Anything, anything you like,' he answered; and in two minutes he had +signed an undertaking upon his honour to abandon every form of +gambling. Whether he will keep it is another question; but so far he has +kept it, and I think he will hold fast. That is what I call doing good. +And the stone was well worth the money." + +I thought that it would have been still more beneficent, if the stone +had not been worth the money. But who could expect that, and of whom? +Signor Nicolo looked for praise, and I gave it warmly. + +"But you did not pump him, on the strength of it?" I asked; and meeting +an indignant glance, I qualified my question. "What I mean is, you did +not exactly endeavour--your duty towards Sûr Imar, and your desire to +protect him from the schemes of that other fellow did not induce you to +inquire, I suppose, what this pair of rogues could be driving at? I am +not sure that I should have let him go without that." + +"To a limited extent perhaps I did," Signor Nicolo answered with a +candid smile; "not that I put any temptation in his way to make him turn +traitor to his master. But simply that casually, as things came about, +he cast away in some degree that cowardly veil of caution, which is +always so abhorrent to our better feelings. Nine people out of ten would +have cross-examined him. But I did nothing of the sort. Only from some +things he let slip I gathered a fair general idea of the game those two +are playing. Or rather that other fellow; for to Strogue it can make no +difference, unless the bargain is--no play, no pay. Hafer's game is to +get possession of the lovely Dariel, as you must have suspected long +ago; not for her beauty--those fellows out there pitch-and-toss for that +kind of thing--but for the start it will give him, in the universal race +of robbery. You must not be mild enough, Mr. Cranleigh, to suppose that +you have seen any sample of the Caucasus in the noble Sûr Imar, and his +sensitive daughter, or even in the model henchman Stepan. If the camp in +your valley had been of the general type, you would not have had a sheep +left long ago, much less a cock with a crow in his throat. 'Ragamuffins' +is the proper name for most of them. And although these Lesghians, take +them all in all, are about the pick of the basket, you would be in the +wrong box altogether, if you took them for sweet innocents. They are +simply under their chieftain's thumb; and by ancient tribal law, he can +chop off their heads when he pleases. This keeps them in order; and they +pay for their milk, instead of lifting cattle. Prince Hafer, however, is +not under any fealty to Sûr Imar. So far from that, his great aim is to +be Lord of the Ossets, and the Kheusurs too, and Karthlos Tower, which +is a noble place, and might defy an army for a twelvemonth. Hafer is +cunning, but has too much temper; and worst of all, he has not steered +clear of the many traps set by civilisation for a young savage with his +pockets full. He has fallen among a bad lot, a company of young rakes, +contemptuous of women, and yet thoroughly in their power." + +"What! would he venture near Dariel, after being in such vile company? +We have heard that he was almost too good to live. She gave me so grand +an account of him, that I thought it was all up with my poor chance. But +what a falling off is here! The Prince of all virtues, the paragon of +modesty, the hero of all chivalry--and now he won't even sham! Can you +explain it, Mr. Nickols?" + +"No; that's no business of mine. Nature does it. But I shall hear more +about it soon, and get a flood of light let in. In London you never know +anything well, from hearing such a lot about everything. But it is not +quite the same in the Caucasus. You don't hear much there; but you +attend to it. And now you will be surprised to be told, that after so +many years of hearing next to nothing of that part of the world, and +never seeing one of their celestial peaks, except in a dream, I am +likely to know more about them than when I lived there. Ah, if I hadn't +got a wife, and three daughters,--and I have let out so much, like a +jolly fool, that they won't have French stuff on their birthdays,--I +should be ready to be off again; though I could never do the _djedje_ +now; and the love of sport is not in me, as it is in all true-born +Englishmen." + +He looked regretful, and perhaps remorseful against his mingled +parentage; for there was a vein of the Israelite in him, which saddens +and deepens the outlook, without showing any sport, except a gold disc +to shoot at. + +"Never mind," I answered him, though sorry to have to do it; "you get +your little excitements, in your way. And although they are not like +ours altogether, they pay ever so much better in the end." + +"Let us come back," he said, thinking in his heart, perhaps, that he +could do very well without my sympathy; "my proceedings only bear upon +your case in an odd sort of way, which may come to nothing. You remember +that I told you of my Russian friend, whom I met at Odessa, twenty years +ago, or more. Through him I first went into those savage parts, where he +lost his life; and it was a narrow shave that I survived to tell of it, +for which I have to thank Sûr Imar. You may have forgotten, but I think +I must have told you that my Russian had a brother, an officer in the +army then closing round the forces of Shamyl. Very well, who should call +upon me a few days after I told you about that, but the very same +Russian officer, now second in command of the Caucasus Division, General +Stranglomoff himself. He was in London, about some military business, +and knowing my intimacy with his poor brother, he did me the honour of +calling to hear some particulars of the sad occurrence. I described it +as well as I could; and then he said, brushing up his English, as I +brushed up my Russian, whenever there was a gap between us--'I am not a +jeweller, Signor, and of precious stones I have not any knowledge; but +place thine eyes upon this, is it good?" He wore a white glove of soft +rat-skin, and upon it was the rich green light of the finest emerald I +have seen since I was at Warsaw. + +"'Plenty, plenty, twenty, fifty--ten, a thousand! I pray you to accept +this pebble, Signor, for my brother's sake,' he said with a very +graceful bow; 'he was taken away through these, and I desire no +advantage of them.' And with that he shed a tear, which made me think +how much we undervalue that fine race. There is no kinder-hearted man on +earth, and no more perfect gentleman, than a Russian of the highest +order. + +"Well, sir, I sent my own nephew out--Jack Nickols, a wonderfully plucky +fellow; not much eye for a stone; but sure to stick to his orders, and +tell you the truth. If you can't be satisfied with that, good-bye to +your chance of keeping anybody very long; for the sharp ones will soon +begin to rogue you. Jack is as good a bit of English Metal as you could +pick up from the lias to the granite. And not too clever. In fact, Mr. +Cranleigh, you remind me of him, at every turn." + +I bowed very deeply at this lovely compliment, with a glance which I +meant to be ironical. But Signor Nicolo was too busy with his thoughts +to perceive the stern justice he had done me. + +"Emeralds are going up," he proceeded, as if I were one of them, "and I +should not be surprised if the true grass-green became the rage for the +next few years. There are only three gems that will always hold their +own, diamonds, rubies, and sapphires. The rest go up and down, according +to the fashion; and emeralds have been unduly in the shade. But now they +are worth looking after again; and my nephew is the boy to do it. Hit or +miss, he will do his best; and we have made an arrangement with the +Russian General, under which he is bound to back him up. Jack is not +very strong at letter-writing, and the post is not too brisk out there. +But he has been on the spot for some time now, and he has made a very +good beginning." + +All this to me was little more than cold and cloudy comfort. Here was +the winter close at hand, the winter of the frosty Caucasus; the friends +I loved become strangers to me, and lost to my sight among savages; my +own fair fame in some mysterious manner assailed and blasted; and the +only hope of further tidings, or redress, yet visible lay in the chances +of a roving jeweller's commission! Nickols might take it all quite +calmly. His heart was set, and cemented--as one might almost say--upon +precious stones, and hard enough, as it seemed to me, to grind them for +trade purposes. But in my impatience I wronged him there. + +"You must try to make the best of it, Mr. Cranleigh," he went on, as if +he understood my thoughts. "You have been horribly slandered, no doubt; +and the sweet young lady has swallowed wicked lies, all the more readily +because she is a sweet young lady, and for that reason credulous and +jealous. But there are a lot of things in your favour still, if you +will let me set them before you. I have not the least idea what you are +charged with, any more than you have. But whatever it may be, the charge +will grow fainter, and the faith in it weaker, as time goes on; and the +inventor of it will become more hateful. Probably Hafer has invented it; +and even while she listens to it, her heart will turn against him. I +know what a good woman is, because I have had to deal with them. A man +who runs women down, is either a bad lot himself, or a most unlucky +fellow. Moreover, she dislikes that cousin of hers, if he is her cousin, +for his violence, and roughness, and haughty ways. All that will +increase, when he gets home again, and contrasts all their hard and +uncivilised life with the luxuries and joys of London. She will turn +against him more and more; and her father will never compel her to marry +against her wishes. Moreover, there is likely to be some time yet before +his schemes come to a head. My young savage has overthrown his cast, or +that of his mother Marva. In his urgency to get them back straightway to +the land of the mountain without the flood, he has sent them round by +St. Petersburg. He insisted so much on the peril they were in of losing +all their Lesghian rights, that Sûr Imar resolved, very wisely as I +thought, to assert them at headquarters. So Stepan and others were left +behind to take the heavy goods straight to Poti perhaps. This was a +floorer for Prince Hafer, and he gnashed his teeth, which he dyes +yellow; for he is the Devil, and no mistake, when he can't have his own +way. You don't consider me a suspicious man, Mr. Cranleigh, do you?" + +"A little too much the other way; as is the case with all fine natures," +I replied, according to my thoughts; for he was evidently taking my part +now. + +"In that case, listen to my firm belief. I am not at all up to the tone +and style of what those mountaineers do now. And of course I may be as +much behind the age, as Sûr Imar wants to be in front of it. But to my +mind men are men always, and you can't improve them suddenly. A lot of +sham comes in with some races; but not with stubborn chaps like these. +Sûr Imar may print a million copies of the Sermon on the Mount; but it +won't go down with them. Or it goes down, and never comes up again. You +may as well pour gold into a cesspool. My firm belief is that this +Prince Hafer intends to get our noble friend out there, marry his +daughter, and then shoot him, and combine that heritage with his own. +Ah, yes!" + +Nickols had a very quiet and even pleasant manner of imparting the most +atrocious thoughts, that could ever drive another man out of his mind. I +looked at him to ask whether he could mean it; and he smiled and +answered, "You may take it for a fact." + +"But his own sister, his twin sister, the darling of his +childhood--Marva! How could all such wickedness go on without her +knowledge? It is impossible to imagine that she would allow it." + +"She sent her son to England for that very purpose," Mr. Nickols +replied, in a tone of deep conviction. "It may not sound sisterly; but +it is true. There is the blood-feud between them. That they have been in +the womb together only makes it deadlier. I know what I am talking of." + +If he did--and he spoke as if it were an ordinary matter--I can only be +certain that I did not. My brain was quite stunned with such horrible +ideas; and I almost felt as if Dariel herself would be too dear, at the +price of any connection with such vile and blood-thirsty savages. Then I +felt bitter reproach at blaming a sweet, gentle darling for what she +could not help; and after providing for quick communication, I hurried +away, with my heart in a whirl. + + + + +CHAPTER XXXVIII + +BLACK FRIDAY + + +In whatever condition a man may be placed, under the will of Heaven, +there is generally something to alleviate it, if he seek perseveringly; +and always something to aggravate it, without any exertion on his part. +In my present trouble I had several consolations; and the best and +sweetest of them was the kindness of my sister Grace. She had leaped, +without looking for any signal, or even any ground to jump from, to the +solid conclusion that her poor brother George had been treated most +cruelly, shamefully, shockingly, and if there be worse than this, put it +on the pile. And yet she never spoke of it--never at least to me (though +she may have filled the world with it to her beloved Jackson)--but let +me know her sympathies by a silent lift of cover, as a large and capable +ham-boiler does,--when a tin saucepan would have blown its top off. A +man loathes sympathy if he is of English race; nothing irritates him +more than for other fellows to come prying down into what goes on inside +him. Even to his dearest friend, he does not stretch out his heart, like +a washerwoman's line; what may be inside it is his own concern; and, +like a gentleman, he must not be too curious about that, so long as it +leads him into nothing mean. All I can say is that I never felt inclined +to be savage towards the female race, because one of them had +disappointed me. And the beauty of it was that I could not hold one +spark of rancour against her. The great generosity of love was in me; +and all the fault I had to find went abroad among her sex, but never +touched herself. So do jilted poets wail about all other women, but +acquit the one they love. + +But Grace showed her sympathy more delicately, according to her sex and +education. What pleased me most in her behaviour was that she never +brought her own little whiffs of love--and lovers are always having +either whiffs, or tiffs--into her placid pretty interviews with me. She +even broke out against her own sect, now and then--for the women had +begun to make sect of sex even then, as they feign to do now +altogether--and expressed a contempt of them, which any man would have +been extremely rash to acquiesce in. She meant it for the best, and I +was much obliged about it; but not the faintest fibre of my heart was +put in tune by it. + +Then all of a sudden it became the duty of my life to comfort her. One +evening, getting on for Christmas-tide, I was sitting in my beloved den, +after a rather hard day's work, as glum as a Briton can wish to be, but +soothed by my pipe, and the smell of saddles, when in came Grace very +quietly and kindly, but without saying anything at first, as if I were +too busy to notice her. She began to sweep a trifle of tobacco-dust +which had dropped on the table contradictorily--for I am a wonderfully +tidy fellow--into the pink cup of her palm; and then she went and put +something straight that was straight enough before for any man; and then +she pretended not to hear me, when I asked--"What is the matter, dear?" +for I knew as well as a thousand sighs could have told me, that she was +in trouble; and being up to every trick of hers, I was sure that her +eyes were full of tears, although she would not let me see them. + +"Butter returned on your hands again?" I suggested in a feeling tone; +for there was an old lady, quite a double patent screw, at the further +end of the parish, who was never tired of boasting--as old Croaker told +us more than once--that her butter was made by a baronet's daughter, yet +sent her such messages as no Duchess would think of sending to her +dairymaid. "Returned on my own hands," Grace seemed to mutter, and I let +her take her time, unable as I was to make this out. Then without caring +properly where she might be in the narrow little room, she hit upon, by +force of a gleam from the fireplace, that very same cracked and spotted +looking-glass, in which my friend Tom had admired himself. With +infinitely better reason--however feminine and wavering--Grace Cranleigh +might have regarded herself, and defied any one (except Dariel) to peep +over the snowy shoulders. But instead of pride, what came? I know not. +Only that I flung my pipe away, and had my darling sister in my arms, +where she cast away all pretence, and would have spoiled any waistcoat +that was not worn out. + +"He--he--he," she sobbed. And I said--"What he?" and she answered "him," +as if there was only one man in the world, though he might go into fifty +cases. "Jackson?" I asked. But she would not have it even at such a +crisis. + +"My Jack," she declared, looking up at me, as if every George was +rubbish; "my own Jack--will you never understand? And when I was getting +so fond of him." + +"Getting indeed! Why you have thought of nothing else, for at least +three months. You have made too much of him; with the usual result, I +daresay." + +"Oh don't touch me! Don't come near me! No wonder your Dariel ran away. +You have not the least sense of noble things. What have I done, to have +such a brother?" + +"There must be a crack in the family," I said, as she cut away into a +Windsor chair, and fixed all her soul on the fire, as if it were the +only warm thing left on earth. + +"Wonderful, wonderful," I pursued my own reflections, till she should +come round. + +"And you don't even seem to care to ask what it is he has done to me!" +Grace began to show her pretty nose over her left shoulder, while I +snuffed the candles, and began to fill a pipe. "Though you know the high +opinion I always have of your opinion." + +"You had better not say a word about it," I answered in the kindest +manner; "no doubt it is the usual thing. You told me that all men were +alike, till you made such an idol of poor Stocks and Stones. Now you see +that he is just like the rest of us." + +"I have long ceased to hope for any greatness from you; but I did expect +some fairness," my sister spoke as if I had not allowed her to say a +word all this time: "you know that I cannot argue, George; or at least +you pretend to think so, which comes to the very same thing with a man. +Then how thoroughly ashamed of yourself you ought to be, as soon as you +can spare me time to tell you the simple truth. Mr. Jackson Stoneman, +the gentleman you with such admirable taste and such lofty humour call +'Stocks and Stones,' is not tired of me, as you kindly imagine. In fact +he thinks more of me than ever. If you had only seen his face----" + +"Don't cry, my dear child. Now don't cry any more. I am very sorry if I +misunderstood you. But how could I help it? You do take such a time. +What can be his reason for behaving in this manner?" + +"Because he is ru--ru--ruined!" She never was much of a hand at crying; +but this terrible word, and her effort at it, served as the cord that +brings down the shower-bath. "Hoo--hoo--hoo!" she went, and it was no +good for me to say anything. "Oh that Dariel were crying for me like +that!" was the thought that came into my selfish heart. "I should not +mind being ru--ru--ruined, if I could only hope for that!" Then Grace +got better, as girls always do, if you let them have their cry out. + +"What makes it so--so distressing, so heart-breaking, is that the whole +of it has been through me--through me, whom he chose without a single +penny--me, who had nothing more than poverty to bring him, poverty, and +faith, and a very ordinary mind! And then, not content with that, I must +do my best to rob him of every farthing of his noble fortune. Perhaps +one of the wealthiest men in the world, until he set eyes upon unlucky +me. Oh George, it will never be in your power to understand my pure +contempt for money! Yet you ought not to rob anybody of it; and I have +robbed the noblest man that ever lived of every penny, every penny!" + +"In the name of the forty thieves, and Morgiana, and the man they cut +into four pieces, how can you have done all this?" I asked, being +certain that there never was a girl more reasonable, yet remembering how +the wisest of them love a little speculation. + +"To anybody but you, George, it would be too self-evident to require any +explanation. Why will you drive me to a thing so painful? Do you mean +to say that he does not love me?" + +"Better than his life, I believe; and better even than his money. But +how does that bear upon the matter? They don't quote love upon the Stock +Exchange." + +"Oh George! And you think you are a business man!" Grace smiled +gloriously through her tears, possibly through her triumph over me, +probably through the joy of my assurance. "Can anybody do two things at +once? Could my Jack attend to ups and downs, keep his whole mind intent +on Argentinas, contangoes, fundangoes, holdovers, and holdunders, and +even unspeakable Turks with fifty wives, when the whole of his pure +heart was down here? Why he only went up about once a-week, if he could +get me to go out nutting with him." + +"Alas, I see. Neglected business. Left understrappers, and dashing young +clerks, and trusty old codgers with pens behind their ears to stick to +the stools, while he made sweet hay. But there must be something more +than that." + +"You turn everything into vulgarity, George. And you are capable of +laughing at the most sacred things. But there was more than that, and a +great deal more than that. You may have heard him speak in his grand +confiding manner of a man named Franks, who has been with him many +years. He has promoted him from place to place, and trusted him with +almost everything; and I do believe that Franks had no intention of +doing anything crooked. And he spoke in the most enthusiastic terms of +me, though of course they never mention such a subject in the office. +And when Black Friday came, as you know it did, through some very stupid +error of the Government, Jack only laughed at first, except for the sake +of some dear friends of his, who were hit rather hard; it appeared so +ridiculous to suppose that a firm like his could be affected. But there +proved to be something, I cannot quite understand it, although I keep my +books so clearly that I know every farthing owing to me, something, some +involvement, some terrible affair, which will force him to give up the +Hall, and the shooting, and the pedigree Butterfly cows, and even me." + +"Don't let him do it. Don't hear of it for a moment. You will never get +such another fellow;" I exclaimed, as she turned away to wipe her +glistening cheeks. "He'll come round as right as a roach in the end. You +didn't let him off on that tack, I hope?" + +"As for letting him off, dear George, is he a trout that I should treat +him so? He is not like a slippery fish for a moment, but a deep-hearted, +true-hearted, wonderful man. Why his conversation is as different from +yours--but I will not depreciate you, unless you go against me. Only I +should like to know how I can help myself. When a gentleman says--'I am +truly sorry, but I can't have any more to do with you'--oh dear, oh +dear, what can any lady do?" + +"Lay hold of his coat, and say, 'None of that nonsense! I am the best +judge of that question, and I have settled it the other way; unless you +put up the bans within a month, you must favor me with the address of +your Solicitors.'" + +"Don't laugh at me. I have never laughed at you. I did tell him over and +over again that the money could never make any difference to me, and +indeed that I was very glad, except for his sake, because then nobody +could ever say--but he talked of the duty of a man, and so forth, and +the crime of allowing me to sacrifice myself, and a Cranleigh the wife +of a bankrupt, and I don't know what else, for I broke down then, and he +was obliged----" + +"Of course he was--any amount of physical sustentation, as the reporters +call it. But leave it to me, my dear. Where is he now? Too late for him +to go back to London, I should think. But I wonder he didn't come to see +me." + +"He did. But you were not to be found. Oh George, I am thinking of every +one of us. What shall we do? The Hall will be thrown upon our hands +again, at a time of year when you would as soon live in a hearse. And +Harold has made another of his great hits, which always cost a hundred +pounds, and never produce a penny. How often I wish that I were like old +Sally, without any pedigree Butterfly blood, and allowed to go and rout +my husband up, just as Mrs. Slemmick is!" + +"She routed him out from the root-house, last week," said I, being glad +of any frivolous turn that might bring the dry colours into the rainbow; +"she believed that he was gone for ever, without leaving his wages in +his Sunday waistcoat pocket, and Snowdrop Violet Hyacinth just wheezing +into the whooping-cough. But no; she underrated the nobility of man. He +had tucked up his legs on a big flower-pot with a pipe in his mouth; and +his heart was so full that he was going without breakfast. Are women +alone to be considered faithful?" + +"You mean that I am worse than Mrs. Slemmick." Girls never take the +moral of the proverb aright. "Very well, I daresay I am. But I will +never tuck my feet upon a flower-pot, and wait to be coaxed home, when +the tea is getting cold. There is something very large in the character +of Slemmick, and he shows it by his confidence in feminine affection. At +the same time, it does appear a little small of you, to quote Mother +Slemmick against me. She is married, and cannot help herself." + +"Hear, hear!" I cried, leaving her to put the point to it; which she did +with a blush, and a very cheerful smile. Then she gave me a kiss, to +make up for little words; and I set out to see what I could do for her. + +I found the poor Stockbroker looking stock-broken, and sitting on a hard +chair, with his long legs crossed. + +"Off for the Mediterranean?" I asked; and he said--"Bay of Biscay, or +Bay of Fundy. Going to the bottom anyhow." + +"Rot!" I replied, with less elegance than terseness. "Don't try to make +me think that you would ever throw the sponge up. I know you a bit +better than that, Jackson Stoneman." + +[Illustration: "_'Rot!' I replied, with less elegance than terseness._"] + +"Would you like me to be a thief, George Cranleigh? If I choose to be a +thief, I can slip out very lightly. But if I prefer to be an honest man, +there is very small chance of my doing it." + +He told me in a few words what his position was, owing to a panic which +had ended in a crash, through the roguery of a few, and the folly of the +many; and how his own firm had become involved in thoroughly unsound +transactions, mainly through his own inattention and his confidence in +a very clever fellow, who had cut things a little too fine at last, as +very clever fellows nearly always do. + +"We must lose a quarter of a million," he said, "even if we pull through +at all, which is more than doubtful. All depends upon to-morrow. But it +is not for myself that I care, George. It is for your darling +sister--the best, and the bravest, and the most unselfish girl--why she +wanted to stick to me through everything! She behaved as if it could +make no difference between us." + +"I should hope so indeed. I would disown her if she did otherwise. Did +you think that she was going to have you for your money, Jackson?" + +"I am not quite so bad as that, you may be sure. Still you must excuse a +modest fellow for thinking his money the best part of him." Here I was +glad to see one of his old dry smiles. "But the point of it is this, as +you know well enough without my telling--I can have nothing more to say +to Grace, who was worth all my cash, and my credit, and ambitions, and +everything except my conscience to me." + +"That is all very fine, and very lofty in its way," I answered with a +superior smile, which refreshed him, as it was meant to do; "and among +City people it may hold good, or the big world of the Clubland. But no +sound Englishman takes it so. You don't suppose that my father approved +of your going in for our Grace, because you then were a wealthy man, I +should hope." I spoke with strong confidence; but perhaps the strength +of it was chiefly in my voice. + +"God forbid!" he replied with horror; while I tried not to doubt that +God had forbidden. "No, I am well aware that Sir Harold disliked it from +the first, and Lady Cranleigh even more. It was nothing but the goodness +of dear Grace. And that makes it such a frightful thing for me. Why, +that Angel was ready to stick to me, like--like a brick, if I only would +allow it. A man who knows the world would never believe it for a +moment." + +"Then he must know a very bad world, and be a worthy member of it. What +do you suppose I would have done to my sister, if she had been mean +enough to shy off, because of your misfortune?" + +"How can I tell, George? You are one of the most pig-headed fellows +going. But you could not have been angry with her, for not being quite +as stubborn as you are." + +"Jackson, this is what I would have done. I would have taken the +mane-scissors that hang above my mantel, and shorn off her great crop of +hair to her ears. No gold for her there, if her heart were all +pinchbeck." + +Stoneman looked at me with outraged feelings. "Not even a brother could +do that," he said, "brutal as brothers by nature seem to be. But without +any humbug, George, do you really mean that you wish it to go on?" + +"If I did not, I should be a wretched snob. It was not for money that +you wanted Grace; and you insult her by fancying that she wanted you for +yours." + +"All this is very pleasant doctrine, and an edifying parable for little +boys and girls;" the Stockbroker had a peculiar trick of showing his +keen eyes as if in a gable, when his mind was puzzled or excited; "but +it would not hold water, George, either in a court of honour, or a +council of wisdom. Grace is entitled, both by birth and beauty, and I am +sure that I might say by intellect as well, to a position which high +rank alone, or wealth on her husband's part, can secure. High rank I +cannot give her. Wealth I could have given. But the prospect of that has +vanished, and with it vanishes all my hope of her. Oh that she had only +thrown me over! I could have got over it then. But not now." + +"Now look here," I said, as a Briton always calls attention to the +knock-down blow he is delivering; "all that would be worth listening to, +if it had anything to do with the matter. But, as it happens, my sister +Grace doesn't care a flip about position, any more than I do, or you, or +anybody else with a ha'porth of common-sense. We value the opinion of +good people; and we like money for the comfort of others, as well as +ourselves. But as for that mysterious affair you call 'position'--the +more you poke your head up, the harder cracks you get on it. Grace will +be contented with whatever pleases you. That holds you together, and you +never slip away. People who have only got a lawn enjoy it a thousand +times as much as a lord enjoys his park. And a man who loves his wife +does not want to lose her among a thousand men and women he has never +heard of, all pushing about to please themselves, and sneering at them +both, by way of gratitude." + +"You will make a fine domestic character, George, if you only act up to +your theories. I shall never forget your true friendship and noble +behaviour in this matter. I shall take my own course, however, as I +always do. I know what is right: and you may talk for ever. There is +only one voice that could move me, and that one shall have no chance of +doing it (even if desired) for her own sweet sake. But everything will +depend upon to-morrow; if things are as bad then as they have been +to-day, there will be no escape for me. Grace shall never be a +bankrupt's wife. If her sense of honour urges it, mine forbids. And it +is not only honour, but common-sense, my friend. Your family has fallen +in the world too much already. It shall not be dragged lower by any +connection with a defaulting Stockbroker." + +His face showed no sign of emotion now; and I owned to myself that from +his point of view no other course was possible for a man of honour. +Whether his point of view was right or wrong, is quite a different +question; but in spite of all my reasoning, I have very little doubt +that I should have done as he did. + + + + +CHAPTER XXXIX + +FRANGI, NON FLECTI + + +"Jack is getting on like a house on fire," Signor Nicolo wrote in an +envelope enclosing a rather grimy letter, which I received on the +following morning; "he has not had a classical education, and so you can +always make out what he means. Specimens to hand confirm his opinion. +Perhaps I shall go out in the spring. Could not stand the cold there +now. Come and see me whenever you think fit." + +When this was put into my hand, I was ready to start for London, having +promised to meet Stoneman outside the Exchange, at one o'clock. This had +been my own proposal, for one can never be certain how a man may take +great ups and downs of fortune; and although I had not much apprehension +as to Stoneman's fortitude, it seemed to me that a good friend should be +at hand and do his best for him. So I read the letter of young Jack +Nickols, on my way to London-Bridge, and found it very straightforward +and simple; and who cares for spelling after that? The rising generation +gets on very well without it, and a thousand school-boards do their +utmost to destroy its memory. + + + "Never did see a place so mountanious,"--this young fellow said, + where I first began to read, for the Signor had kept the first page + in his pocket, or leather bag, or steel safe, so far as I could + tell--"you never get up to the jag of one knife-grinder, before you + have got to fetch your wind, and grind your bones for another. The + Alps is nothing to it; they goes up gradual, and is ever so much + smaller to my mind. And you don't get big chaps here to shove you + up and keep you straight. These fellows cackle at you with a horrid + voice, and they squat in a ring and stare at you, if you want to go + up any clumsy sort of peak, and they tell one another that all + Englishmen are mad. But they are as sharp about the rhino as + Petticoat Lane crossed with a New Cut costermonger; and you can't + bring them to book, as you can a thief at home. You have to do it + all through a chap who knows their lingo; and you can't make out + what he is saying to them, and you can't be sure, without your + revolver ready that they won't stick their skewers, which they call + jingles, into your spine, without letting you look round. I had a + poor time of it at first; but they seem to be getting now to make + me out. + + "When you come to know them, you might find worse fellows; for I + cannot call them treacherous exackly. They would skin you to your + spare-rib, if you let them have the chance; but they won't stick a + knife into you, until you aggravate them. I am getting rather thick + with some of them, by making out a little of their crack-jaw words, + though there seems to be no end of them. But talk about jaws, I + need not tell you, as you have seen too much of them. There was a + man in Yorkshire, about fifty years ago, who could get through a + lamb, and then three quarters of her mother. But one of these + fellows would eat the whole sheep first, and then take her little + ones for desert. But you must remember that their sheep weigh less + than ours, and I like to see a man make a hearty dinner. But it is + hard lines to pay him for the sheep; and then let him come to dine + with you, as he must do, so that you never get a taste of it. + + "However I am not complaining. The country must be beautiful, when + the snow lets a fellow look at it, and you think the more about it, + because it is out of sight. Tell Rosa that the girls are not a + patch upon her, and she would laugh to see how they put their hair + up. The men are not refined enough to think much of the women; but + make them wear swabs upon their faces, and the insects are + tremenjious in the summer-time. We have got more than we can do now + to keep any road clear to get at the pocket where the stones are, + just a soft place between two tremenjious rocks; down comes the + snow again, and you could scarcely find it out, unless you leave a + black tar-pole sticking up, and then you must fix it wonderfully + firm, or you won't find it in the morning, for the wind does blow, + I can tell you. We shall have to knock off for three months, I am + afraid, and where am I to go to all the time? The Russians are not + half bad fellows, only some of them too pious when you come to know + them. Only you may be glad of that sometimes, because when they go + to say their prayers, you get the best place by the fire. I don't + care for quite so much tea myself, and I have not tasted a good bit + of tobacco for a month. But everybody says that when some great + man, who has been living for several years in England, and I do + believe I have heard you speak of him, when he comes back they say + he will change everything, all the thieves of the mountains will + begin to say their prayers, and nobody will stick his best friend + for nothing. If this can be managed, it will be a true excelsior. + + "But you remember what the people said, the year we went to + Yarmouth; and it is out of the question for me to say what I would + give to be there now. They said, and you could not deny it when you + wanted a bloater before they came in--'Sir, we lay ourselves out to + oblige all the gents that come from London, but we cannot make a + red herring swim.' I could not see exactly how they meant it, but + it is just the same thing in the Caucasus. + + "For a long time I could not see my way to be sure of not being + struck at any moment. But I got over that idea, as we must, if we + mean to get on anywhere. I will not say that my life is sacred now, + as people express it in London; but ever since the popular opinion + began to identify me with the Devil, through their ignorance of + English manners, I have had a much better time of it. Tell Rosa, + that in spite of uncommonly rough victuals, I weigh seven pounds + more than I could pull, when she came to see me off at Wood-Green + station. Nobody ever weighs anybody here, for after all they are + not cannibals; though I told her so, to make her kiss me. But the + steelyard I brought goes to half an ounce, and has saved me a lot + of money. And tell her, if you think that it won't be too + encroaching, under the peculiar circumstances, that I am not quite + turned into the Devil yet, though she might say so if she could see + me; and even if the climate had done it, an Angel like her need not + be afraid of him. Hoping to come home with a sackful of emeralds, + believe me, dear Uncle James, your most affectionate nephew, + + JOHN NICKOLS." + + +At the bottom of this very vague and disjointed, but as it proved +afterwards too true description, Signor Nicolo had written in pencil: +"Rosa is my eldest daughter; but I shall have to put a stop to it." + +"My noble countrymen!" as Sûr Imar used to call them,--it would take a +long time to fetch them up to that mark, according to this English boy's +account, and the enthusiastic chief could not begin too soon. It +appeared to me that as many generations as he could trace from Karthlos +would scarcely be enough to restore them to the level of antediluvian +"culture." No wonder that he was in a hurry to begin; and if I am doomed +to wait for the completion of his task, _erit altera quæ vehat Argo_, +there will be another ark on the top of Ararat. And sure enough, here is +another Babel to begin with! + +For in the absorption of the thoughts above recounted, I found myself +caught in the whirl and crush and uproar of a crowd as wild as any +savage land could show. A crowd not of paupers but well-dressed people +roaring and raging and besieging the portals of the Stock Exchange. +Battered hats, and coats in tatters, fists thrown up, but unable through +crunched elbow to come down again, faces black with choking wrath, +wherever the brown mud peeled from them, grinding teeth and cursing +lips, and chests that groaned with the digs they took without any chance +of returning them--I thought of Lord Melladew's father and the bullock +compressed into his clover-hay. Only let me keep outside the pack of the +central squeeze if possible; for once in there, no strength of man could +get me out or let me out. So I put up my knee, which was a dangerous +thing to do, for if I lost my feet good-bye to me; when a gentleman, +with whom it would have been a joy to dine--so comely, and well-liking, +and well-to-do was he--being unable to get at me with his fists, let out +at me with language I had never heard the like of. I attempted no +retort, for he had already got the worst of it, and without any +knowledge how it came to pass, except that there must be more luck than +wit in shoving, here I was with my clothes still pretty sound, outside +the drum of squashed figs and squealing pigs. + +But another poor fellow was not so lucky. "Let him go, slide him on, +he'll be dead in half a minute. Serve him right. No, no. How'd you like +it? Don't tread on him, more than you can help." It was a solid man upon +the ground, but likely to be hollow, before ever he could be an upright +man. I had got a short knob-stick in my hand (which I always carried, +since my faith in human nature had waned through that dastardly bullet) +and in the most blundering and selfish manner I set the knob against my +breast and the stub-end foremost, and charged into the lump of figures +across me. Considerable yielding, and heads running into heads, and +yellow waistcoats sloping like sheaves of wheat in shock, and big boots +toeing up at me, and a hail of blows in flank--it is impossible to say +how I got on. But there must have been a hollow place somewhere in the +mass, for they fought into a lane, and allowed me to lay hold of a pair +of yellow shoes, or at least they had been yellow, and tow out the +prostrate body on its back, and feel it for the signs of life or death. +"Ain't dead yet," said a hoarse and husky voice; "never fainted in my +life, and don't mean to do it now." + +I admired the pluck of this poor fellow; for indeed he was in a +frightful mess, and another half-minute must have silenced him forever. +With the help of a bystander, who only cost a shilling, I was able to +get my trodden friend across the street, and into a double doorway, +where a score of people came and stared at him. "Well, if he ain't a +tough 'un. Cut the poor bloke's collar. Stand him on his pins, and blow +to him. Give him a drop of brandy." Advice poured in on every side, more +freely than assistance. + +"Don't you know who I am, you fools?" The injured man sat up with the +aid of one hand on the stones, and gazed defiantly. "All over the world +I've been, but never saw such cursed idiots. Captain Strogue, sir, of +the British Pioneers." + +He glanced at me with hazy eyes, which told of many strong waters, and +would tell of many more, if Heaven permitted; and then he tried to bow, +but a pang in his chest took the grace from that salutation. "All right! +Down the alley, three doors to the left." + +He shoved away all who pressed forward to lift him, but allowed me to +help him with his knees still hanging, to the place he had indicated. +And sure enough everybody knew him there. + +"The Captain, the Captain, the bold British Captain! He have been in the +wars, and no mistake!" Out came the landlady and the barmaid, with tears +in their eyes--for he had promised to marry both--and an ancient potboy +with all his wits about him brought a rummer and a teaspoon, and stirred +up something hot. "That's the physic, ma'am," he said; and the lady +smiled and offered it, and met with no refusal. + +In a word, Captain Strogue was in the right place now, and after helping +to bestow him snugly upon a horse-hair sofa in a small back room, I was +at the point of leaving, when he put up one hand and stopped me. + +"Owe you my life," he said; "not worth much now, but has done a deal of +service to civilization. Near St. Paul's, ain't we? That's where they'll +put me. Know your face very well, but can't remember." + +He seemed to be dropping off into a doze, having finished his strong +potation; but I told him my name and where I had met him, for I was +eager to be off to keep my time with Stoneman. + +"Don't be in a hurry, sir; you have helped me, and I can help you. +Strogue pays his debts. Somebody else will find that out." His eyes +shone fiercely, and he pressed his knuckles to his side. "Widow Lazenby +knows what I am--don't you, ducky?" + +"Oh, Captain! And at such a crisis!" the landlady murmured, after +looking round to be certain where the barmaid was. "But, sir, he have +described himself. Wonders he have done, without wondering at himself." + +It is a righteous thing that men of such achievements should have their +reward, where it is sweetest. Fame they may never get, for that is all a +fluke; gold they scarcely ever gain, because they are no grubbers; love +they cannot stop to grasp, and see but savage frames of it; rank they +laugh at, having found it the chief delight of black boys; but to get +his grog for glory, and his victuals for victory, is the utmost any +English pioneer can hope of England. + +"Cranleigh, you can go," said Strogue, for his manners were not perfect; +"you are involved in this little shindy, and you want to know all about +it. These thieves shut shop at one o'clock on a Saturday, some one told +me. But if you will come back by two, I shall have set this rib by then, +and have rump-steak and oysters. Join me, without any ceremony. I owe +you a debt, and you shall have it." + +I had seen too many strange things now to be surprised at anything, as I +might have been six months ago; and it was plain that this companion of +the hateful Hafer meant to do me some good turn at a private +opportunity. So I promised to return by two o'clock, and hurried to +Stoneman's business place, avoiding the crowd that still was yelling at +every approach to the House of Mammon. "Bless you, sir; it is nothing at +all compared to what it was yesterday. Ah, that was something like a +row!" a big policeman told me; "there was fifty taken to hospital, and +the barriers snapped like hurdles. Why, there ain't been half-a-dozen +ribs to-day. You can't call that no panic." + +Neither did I find any panic at Jackson Stoneman's offices. A stolid old +clerk was putting things away, and evidently anxious to get home to +early dinner. He told me that his principal had been disappointed at not +meeting me, and concluded (as the train had been in long enough) that +something had occurred to stop me, and so had departed on his own +account. When I asked how things had gone that morning, old Peppersall +eyed me with some indignation, as if it were impossible for anything to +go wrong with a firm so stable and majestic. "Well, how did the senior +partner look?" I asked; and Peppersall replied: "He was a bit put out +about a sixpence that rolled off a desk in room No. 8, till it turned up +under the wainscoting." + +"You'll do," I said rather rudely, for this rebuff was not too +courteous, and he stared at me as if there could be any doubt about his +doing. "That is the sort of fellow for a business-man, instead of any +new young manager"--was my reflection, as I strode with good heart +towards the rump-steak and oysters. + +Captain Strogue had been sponged and darned and brushed and polished +up--so far as he was capable of polish--by skilful and tender hands, and +was sitting in a brown arm-chair, as bolt upright as if his ribs had +thickened, as a barn-floor does, by the flail of many heels upon them. +"Keep 'em like that," he said, "for about two hours, and fill up well +inside, and it stands to reason that they must come right--can't help +themselves. Doctors? None of them for Bat Strogue. The only doctor I +ever knew was any good is down your way now, a queer German cove. Say +grace for me, and carve for me, and fall to, my son. Take me for your +guest; and you might have a more squeamish one." + + + + +CHAPTER XL + +TWAIN MORE THAN TWIN + + +In spite of all anxiety, it was impossible to be anxious for the moment, +in the company of this extraordinary fellow. Doubt is the most hostile +and hateful element to all human pleasure; and doubt was at once kicked +out from the society of Captain Strogue. Certainty stood in its place, +as firm as--well, I might say as firm as Strogue's own nose, for I can +think of nothing firmer. Short and thick and straight it was, like a +buttress to support his bulky forehead, and keep his bright and defiant +eyes from glaring into one another; for they had a little cast towards +it. Certainty also in the strongest point of all--that whoever you might +be, or wherever you had been, never till now had you come into +contact--or collision, if you liked that sort of thing--with a member of +your race so far above all little weakness, and yet so ready to +participate in it, if you would pay the bill for him, as your new but +true friend, Bartholomew Strogue. + +"Imar is an exceedingly fine chap," he said, as he lit a long clay pipe, +after a dinner which impressed me with the truth that the more a man +sees the more he feeds; "you are too young, friend Cranleigh, to have +any powers of reflection. But you may take it from me, that there are +only two ways now of being fit to consider yourself a fine chap. Of +course I don't talk of nincompoops, who think themselves wonderful +always. What I mean is in common-sense; and there you can only be above +the ruck, by despising the human race, as I do; or loving it, as Imar +does. I have found nothing in them to admire, though I have seen the +inner side of many celebrated men; and as for loving them--well, I +suppose the Lord puts that into you, and bungs up your eyes. The man who +can do it is the happiest of his race, and a great deal too good to be +left among them. No fool can do it; for a fool always goes by facts." + +"Sûr Imar is the largest-minded man I ever knew," I broke in upon +Strogue with some indignation. "He looks at the best side, as all good +people do. He likes human nature, because he judges by himself." + +"Contempt is at the bottom of it. Amiable contempt, if you like to call +it so. The contempt of an equitable mind, that knows the faults of its +owner, and loving them, makes allowance for the like in others. Bless +your heart, Cranleigh, I like people well enough; but I despise them, +because I despise myself. Come now, that is fair play. I am not +argumentative; no man of action ever is. But that view of the case is a +puzzle to you." + +"Not a bit," I answered, with a smile of modest triumph; "you despise +mankind, because you think they are like you. Sûr Imar loves them, +because he thinks they are like him!" + +"Bravo! I like a man who tries an honest rap at me. Bat Strogue never +takes offence at truth, because he very seldom gets the chance. But I +did not fetch you here to argue with you. I believe that I can be of +service to you, very good service, such as you have rendered me; though +perhaps you would not have pulled me out, if you had known who it was +you got hold of?" + +"Yes, I would; and with all the greater pleasure. I thought that you +were a decent Englishman; though I saw you in very bad company, that +day!" + +"A decent Englishman! One of the most celebrated travellers of the age! +Such is fame. Wait until my book comes out. I might have been the lion +of the season, if I liked. What are S. and G. and L.? What have they +done in comparison with me? However, let them have it for the moment. +Bad company, Cranleigh? You are quite right there. Many scurvy tricks +have I been played; but none to come near what that blackguard has +done. The fool, the besotted fool he must be. I was told you were far +away in Yorkshire, and engaged to be married to a lady there. Nothing of +the sort? If I had known that, I would have come down to see you. He +thinks he has got everything his own way; and he has thrown me over on +the strength of it. Much more than that--much worse than that. Oh, what +a pretty mistake he has made! Nobody ever fooled Bat Strogue yet, +without paying out for it. Things are gone far, very far, my friend; but +we may be even with them yet. I see things now that I never dreamed of. +But tell me first of your own share in them." + +I told him briefly what had happened to myself. How after winning a +pledge for life from Dariel, and the approval of her father, I had been +suddenly called away to the wedding of my oldest friend, and had been +kept there for several days by the sudden distress of the family. Then +as soon as I could get away without inhumanity I had hastened home, and +been utterly astonished to find the valley empty, and no message left +for me, except that cold letter from the man who had been so kind. And +then I told him also what I knew from Signor Nicolo, and his black +suspicions as to Hafer's object. + +"It is impossible for them to be too black," Strogue replied with an +ominous smile. "Sûr Imar's life is not worth the lump of sugar melting +under this glass pestle. Hafer's heart is vile enough, but a viler +heart, and a brain ten times as resolute and as deep as his, are set +upon poor Sûr Imar's death. I see it all now with the help of what you +tell me. I took it in quite another light before. There is one thing +still that I cannot understand. I fell out with that miscreant first, +because I found that he wanted me to lend a hand to get you put out of +the way, as if I were one of his tribesmen. What puzzles me beyond +everything is that he never tried it." + +"He did try it, and a very narrow shave I had. It was the very night +after I saw you with him." Then I told Strogue the particulars of that +cowardly and cold-blooded attempt, and Stepan's conclusion about it. + +"It is impossible to doubt it. The murderous sneak! One thing I can tell +you, young man; that marriage of your friend has saved your family the +expenses of your funeral. Two days more in that part of the world would +have sent you to your last account. He would never have shot at you +again; such is their superstition, that he believes you invulnerable by +bullet; but he would have put a long dagger into you, springing from a +corner in the dark. At that game you would have no chance with him, even +if you were on the outlook. You are stronger than he is, I daresay; but +he is the most lissome fellow I have ever met, and I have handled a good +many twisters and skippers in the way of savages. And to think that I +should be almost trodden into dust, like the emmets in a hymn I used to +learn, by a trumpery lot of common cockneys. It was contempt of the +enemy that did it, a thing that generally ensures defeat. None of that +now, that won't do now. Cranleigh, we shall have to do all we know; and +the chances are that it will never be enough. It is not for Hafer, so +much as that fiend of a woman, who stands behind him. One of the worst +that ever walked this earth, and that is no small order, I can tell you. +A bad woman is blacker than a man, as many shades as gas-tar is than +Stockholm pitch." + +"But who is it? Who is it? You have hinted that before. What woman in +the world would hurt Sûr Imar, who looks upon them all as angels, in the +reaction from his great mistake?" + +"I will tell you who it is, by-and-by; and you will be surprised a +little. But first a few questions; and very important. The luck has been +terribly adverse. Most of all in this, that I should not have known, +until it was too late to stop him, the scoundrelly schemes of this +Hafer, and his abrupt cut-and-run. But if I have made a mistake, so has +he. Bat Strogue is hard to beat, young man; though he thinks so little +of himself. But now, first of all, is there any chance of catching +Stepan? He is a thick, of course; as all faithful servants are. You +could not make head or tail of him; but I know their scabby lingo. Do +you know what ship he goes by?" + +"Not I. The fact is that I was quite upset, and felt that being so +thrown over I had no right to pry into their arrangements. All the heavy +goods were going by some cargo-steamer. Blackwall was on the +canvas-wrappings. That is all I know about it." + +"Then we are too late for that. Those heavy boats sail on a Thursday. +But the one point in our favour is that Sûr Imar goes first to +Petersburg. He has good friends there; but in spite of that, if I know +anything of Russian ways, it will take at least three months for him to +get a stroke of business done. And he will not want to take his daughter +to her new surroundings, when the furious winter rages there. His +enemies thought to settle him, this side of Christmas, and have three +months to gorge him and hide the spoil, while all the passes are blocked +with snow. But they have overplayed their game, and they never dreamed +of that stroke of his, which may give us time to save him. He has no +idea of their plot, of course, but has acted with his usual simplicity. +One more question--can we obtain any idea of what goes on there, through +Nickols, or any of his jolly miners? I am sorry for them. What a dance +they will have on Kazbek, with frost-bitten toes! But they can't get +away now, that's one comfort." + +"How can I tell? I know nothing about communication with those deserts. +That is more in your line, and you know the country." + +"There are not many countries beyond my knowledge," the British Pioneer +replied, with a gaze as if the whole world lay before it; "but even I +cannot always quote all the breaks and jerks of wire and post. However, +I can easily find out. They were laying a line to Kutais, I know; but I +don't know whether it is working, and if it is it won't help us much, +when all the tracks are impassable. One more question; young man, excuse +it, but are you still nuts upon that lovely girl, who is too good for +any but an Englishman? I don't hold with matrimony, mind. So you need +not mind saying if you have slipped off." + +"I wish she were equally nuts upon me," I replied with a glance of +contempt, which should have pricked him. "But she has vanished without +even a good word. I shall never hear anything more of her." + +"Stuff! Remember--'faint heart,' etc. She has been humbugged with lies +about you. And I know the pride of all that race. You shall have her +yet, if you show pluck; and you won't be like yourself, if you fail +there. But you want to know who the dark enemy is, the one who is +resolved to have Sûr Imar's life, as well as everything else that +belongs to him. Very well, it is his own twin sister, Marva." + +"What! Marva, the widow of Rakhan, that rascally Prince of the Ossets, +whom Imar very justly slew! So justly, that even he felt no compunction. +Marva, who knew of her husband's falseness!" + +"That's the woman, and a nice specimen she is. I know one or two fine +things about her, from what Hafer, her own son, let out. Ah, she is a +deep one. It is a lucky thing for Imar that she sent Hafer, instead of +coming to manage the whole affair herself." + +"You forget one thing, Captain Strogue," I interrupted, for this view of +the Princess did not tally well with Sûr Imar's own account. "She pitied +him, there can be no doubt about that, after his terrible calamity, +though as yet she did not know the worst. She pitied him, and proved it +by her distress at the death of his little boy Origen. And when a woman +once lets pity in, there is no room for malice in her breast. I read +that the other day, in a very great writer." + +"I don't know anything about that. I only know that she hates him. All +the wreck of her life she ascribes to him, because he would not pay her +portion. She has been brought up very differently from him, you must +remember. And when she was so kind about that poor little devil, she had +not the least idea that her husband that very day had fallen by the hand +of Imar. Very likely she loved her husband all the more, without knowing +it herself, for his behaviour to her. Some women do, there is no +question about that; and there is queer morality in the Caucasus. She +hates Imar, with all the power of her heart, which is anything but a +weak one; and even if she loved him, she would be bound to kill him; for +the blood-feud is between them." + +"You talk of it as if you were counting coppers; whereas it makes my +blood run cold, cold and then hot, as if it boiled with a shudder." + +"Ah, but I have seen the world," said Strogue. + +"Very well, then tell me this. In the name of common-sense--if such a +faculty is known among such brutes--why did not Hafer put a bullet or a +dagger into Imar, as he has had fifty chances and more of doing, instead +of taking a steady but unlucky pop at me? Explain that, Captain, if you +can." + +"Nothing is easier, friend Cranleigh. In the first place, he is not the +one to do it, without ruin to their scheme; for though he might marry +Dariel, after that there would always be something between them. And +what would make it useless for him to do it, is that the blood must be +shed, as you might say, for the sprinkling of the doorstep. To kill him +in England would not count, because nobody would be sure of it. Hafer +might have made a hit, but he could not have scored it, and the revenues +would not have fallen in for years." + +"It makes me sick to hear you talk." I had no intention of being rude; +but to see this man making balance of lives, as a grocer puts chocolates +into the scale, was beyond my gifts at present. "Strogue, you make me +hate you." + +"My dear boy, you should not do that. I admire fine British indignation; +and I had a lot of it at your age. I am not free from it now, by any +means. But it must be governed and guided, when we deal with inferior +races. A Frenchman never discovers this, and therefore he cannot +colonise. He lets out his natural ardour at brutality, while we +accommodate ours, and fetch it into better purpose. You must not suppose +that I sympathise with a savage, because I do not shoot him." + +I begged his pardon; for I knew nothing of such things. And he made +allowance for my outburst; while I thought that I would rather play the +French than the English part, in such a case--which was far from my +usual sentiment. + +"You need not make a fuss," he said, "all these things are an allegory. +The wisest of men has been young and green at some time. Bat Strogue is +not the boy to sing for starch in bibs and tuckers. Cranleigh, you may +look at me, and some day you will tell your grandson--'Ah, you should +have seen Bat Strogue! An Englishman of the old sort he was. Forty-six +inches round the chest, and not a lie to be found in him.' Give me your +hand, young man, I like you." + +It occurred to me--so mean our nature is--that the brandy-and-water, +which he quaffed like milk, was beginning to perturb a spirit even so +ubiquitous. But his gaze was clear and bright as it had not been in the +morning, and his voice impressive. + +"You have only to go home, and wait. I have a friend who is on his way +at this moment to St. Petersburg. I shall telegraph to him to-morrow, to +keep his eye on Sûr Imar. He will have no trouble about that, the man +being so conspicuous. I shall know when Imar thinks of leaving, and then +we must look sharp indeed. You want to save him; so do I. And more than +that, to blow to pieces the plans of this vile Hafer. He has treated me +infamously; I will not bother you with that now. He little knows what +Bat Strogue is. I might have starved, but for Jemmy Nickols. Just for +the present I am in cash; but money never sticks to me. If the sinews of +war fail, I shall not scruple to ask your help, though I know that you +are not a millionaire, George Cranleigh. But I am a man of honour, sir. +Though not a swell, I am no sponge. And I have some chance of a good +windfall which is keeping me in London now. 'Never say die,' is my +motto, sir; and if I get what I ought, I will lend you a hundred pounds +as soon as look at you. Strogue is of Yorkshire family, sir, and a +Yorkshireman always does what he says. But that Hafer is a cur, as mean +a cur, and as fierce a cur, as was ever begotten by Cerberus. He made a +scoundrel rob me of five hundred pounds, by false cards; as I found out +just too late, and they split the swag between them. A burglar is a +trump in comparison with them; and he has taken out young Petheril +instead of me. Cranleigh, do you ask me why? Then I'll tell you in two +words; because he can get him cheaper, sir, and because he has got no +principle. Strogue must travel like a gentleman, as he is by birth and +behaviour, and all that; Strogue maintains his rank, sir. You try to +shove him into any skunky corner to save a few copeks in passage-money, +and he lets you know--ay, you soon find that out, and you won't forget +it in a hurry. But this fellow Petheril, that's his name, he would make +any skunk's hole skunkier; and you wouldn't care to touch him with a +pair of tongs. And another reason I can tell you too, Petheril doesn't +know the little things about that beauty of a Marva, which have come to +my ears, though I never saw her. Shows what my reputation +is--'Bartholomew Strogue, The World,' would find me from any post-office +in it. Though when you send me a hundred-pound note, it would be as well +to be more precise. But I am not proud of that; it is a nuisance to me. +I open a hundred letters, when I find myself in the humour, and there is +not a penny in one of them; but they all want me to do something." + +Fearing that he was becoming inclined to go off on the rove, as great +travellers must, and being in a hurry about Stoneman and Grace, I asked +him to say in a few words how Prince Hafer came under his charge in +London. + +"Simply because of my taking a little turn into the Caucasus," Captain +Strogue replied, as if he had gone off into a side-walk in some +Hampstead villa garden. "I was tired of the monotony on the northern +side of the Caspian, where the people are too much alike, with plenty of +barbarous customs; but when you have seen one, you know them all. There +is not the variety which can be found in the mountain regions only. In a +very rugged land, the human race cannot get so confoundedly chummy as to +take the variety out of them, like peas in a pod perhaps a thousand +miles long. The Caucasus is quite a small affair, compared to the Andes, +or Himalaya, or half-a-dozen other mountain-chains. But it beats them +all in this, that it was peopled earlier, or at any rate more thickly. +And there the fellows are; no two lots at all alike; and if it was the +cradle of the human race, as the ethnologists used to tell us, it was +lucky that we tumbled out of it. Mind, I don't run them down; there are +some of the noblest samples, so far as the body is concerned, that you +could find on the face of the earth. And many of noble intelligence +too, but with little chance of increasing it. As a rule, they hate work, +both of body and of mind; and without proper work, we all relapse into +monkeys, or advance into devils. You say, 'Strogue, then which are you?' +You were longing to ask it, but too polite. Very well, Cranleigh, I am +neither. I have done as much hard work as any man living. And I hope to +do more, if my life holds out, although my joints are getting rickety. +But my rule is--either work, or play. And I never mix the two together." + +"But," I inquired, to bring him back to the point, for he seemed to be +rather fond of talking about himself, "what was the reason that Hafer, +if he was sent to fetch his uncle back, was not despatched to the camp +at once, the old place in the valley, I mean, where his countrymen had +taken up their abode. That would have saved all the London expenses, and +the need for a guide and interpreter, and a lot of other trouble, as +well as kept him out of mischief." + +"True, my son; but it would have ruined the whole scheme. Hafer's nature +would soon have shown itself, for his temper is simply horrible; kinjals +would have flashed in the Surrey sun, and no Dariel would there have +been for him. Even as it was, he contrived sometimes to make himself +unpleasant to her. You remember our catching your little friend Allai, +and putting some strain upon his loyalty? That was to learn a few useful +facts from him, especially one about the lady and her father, and some +points as to your proceedings. If you had not interfered, we should very +soon have succeeded, for there is no great power of endurance in them. +No, no. His mother knows too well what Hafer is, to quarter him on a +quiet gentleman. And he never would have stood it. He came here to have +his fling, quite as much as to carry out her plot--and a jolly wild time +he has had of it. There is no steady love in a man like that, any more +than there was in his father Rakhan." + +"Foul scum of the earth, low blackguard! How dare he come near Dariel?" +For the moment I lost my self-command. "How can I wait, Strogue? Am I to +sit and count the time, while Imar and his daughter are going to their +doom? Why not set off for Petersburg and try to keep them there? Or at +any rate warn them, and go back with them, if they must go, and face +that wicked woman and her despicable son. That seems to me to be the +better plan by far. It would cost a lot of money; but I would beg, +borrow, steal--" + +"Won't do. You must follow my directions. In the first place, you forget +what a cloud you are under. Probably Sûr Imar and his daughter would +refuse to see you if you followed them. Or if you got over that +difficulty, would they listen to your story? You know nothing about +Marva's scheme, except through me, and I have no proofs. It is all +suspicion, or inference from little slips of Hafer's and so on, and what +I have heard since he departed. Mind you, I know it, as well as if I saw +it; but there is nothing I could lay before Imar, to convince him that +his sister intends to have him murdered, and to make her son the Master +of Karthlos, and Chief of that branch of the Lesghians. Be in no hurry, +my good young friend. I shall prick you up quite soon enough. It is the +jerking that spoils everything. We were a nobler race five hundred years +ago than we are now; because we took our time to think, and mind kept +time with body. These fellows also take their time. They learn it from +the way the snow falls; and they know that the snow tells a deeper tale +than fifty thousand thunderstorms. In the Caucasus a tragedy--and they +have no such thing as comedy--goes into ten acts at least, and lasts for +generations." + + + + +CHAPTER XLI + +A CROOKED BILLET + + +Once I saw the solid keeper of a well-known elephant (a grand mass of +sagacious substance, gentle, good, and amiable) try his hand among the +monkeys, creatures in their way as worthy, but of different fibre. These +too knew what kindness is, and had their sense of gratitude, but could +not stop to dwell upon it, and let it ripen in their hearts. The keeper, +accustomed to slow ways, and leisurely though deep emotion, exerted all +his charm of eye and benevolence of whistle, and offered baits to +cupboard-love, and even deigned to winsome ticklings of places not too +hairy to be touched by human tenderness. He gazed with zoologic pride at +the manager of the monkeys, who was putting a new lash on his whip; then +his glory flew into a shriek, for his thumb was bitten in twain, and a +jabber of general joy endorsed it. + +So it is too sure to be with any man, who drawing reason from her higher +sources, applies the product of his skill, even in homoeopathic doses, +to that irrational creature--love. Strogue had no idea of the meaning of +that word. A traveller gets too-far abroad, too loose, and large, and +vague, and shifty, shallow with glancing instead of gazing, skimming the +world instead of letting it cream. Therefore to me there was scarcely a +crumb of comfort in all his assurances; and the only thing to stroke the +long anxiety the right way of the grain, and smooth its tissue, was to +keep on steadily with the labours of the day. And when these can be +carried on out of doors, under the sky, and (if so I may say) with the +eyes of the Lord smiling down on them, it is not to the credit of any +young man, if he kicks about under his blanket and groans, when the +night makes all things equal. Unless he has bodily pain, I mean--which +is another pair of shoes, that can never be unlaced by any effort of our +own. + +Moreover, to see one's dearest friends escaping from some black +distress, and coming back to their usual cheer, and jokes, and pleasure +in the world around, takes or ought to take a lot of lead out of our own +handicap. Although my sister had never been by any means painfully +sympathetic with my misfortunes in the way of love, I was candid enough +to feel that this might be because I had never asked her. Such an +affection as mine was far beyond her understanding, a thing too holy to +be discussed by any girl with yellow hair in love with a member of the +Stock Exchange. But I quite forgave her all short-comings, the moment +she fell into real trouble, and I wiped her eyes almost as softly as if +they had been Dariel's. And this renewed our deep attachment, which had +lost perhaps some little of its warmth, when she took to finding virtues +in that marvellous Jackson Stoneman, which she had pronounced a hundred +times to be sadly deficient in her brother. However they revived and +flourished now; and I was not so mean as to ask how they came back, but +was proud of their possession. Let us take all the credit we can get, +from people who are fond of us; there will scarcely be enough to plug +the holes our other brethren pick in us. + +Stoneman, too, having turned the corner by the narrowest of shaves, with +the paint shorn from his shaft and felly, but his box and axle as sound +as ever, was much improved for the present by the increase of humility. +Or perhaps it would be more correct to say, by the birth of that quality +within him; for if it had existed heretofore, it had been so true to +itself as to recoil from all recognition. Except of course in his first +love-time; for if a man cannot be humble then, Lucifer is no match for +him. It is needless to say that the losses of the firm were spread from +mouth to mouth at any figure that occurred to the imagination, long +before the senior partner himself could lay a loose measure along them. +But he managed to stick to the Hall and the Park; though he gave up his +yacht, and the hounds, and other enjoyments now too costly, and at +Grace's urgent order clave to money-making all the week, and left the +love for Sundays. + +There was even some little talk about my throwing up the plough, and +harrow, pitchfork, flail, and stable-bucket, and quitting in despair the +land that had now become too honest to maintain mankind. To wit, I was +to join our Jackson, not as a partner (for the solid reason that I had +no capital), but as an agent, an assessor, or I forget what they called +it. My father wished it, and so did my mother, and every one except +myself; and I was doubting whether the sense of duty to my relatives +ought not to outweigh my own tastes and wishes, when all my thoughts +were upset again, and all my mind unsettled, by a letter just as +follows:-- + + + "DEAR SIR,--I must seek pardon for neglect or carelessness about + something. But it did not enter my thoughts at first, that the + letter enclosed belongs to you, or perhaps to the lady to whom it + was written. And we have been on the railway, or at sea so much, + and in strange hotels, that I could not procure it from my boxes. I + hope that it is of no importance; but I now perceive that I have + been guilty of a sad want of attention, which may have caused blame + to fall on others. If so I beg to be pardoned by them, for I had no + intention of retaining what could never belong to me.--Your + obedient servant, + + "DARIEL, daughter of IMAR." + + +The letter enclosed, or rather the note, was one of several little +billets, in which I had answered questions from Tom Erricker's sister, +Argyrophylla, during that most melancholy time, when there was no one +else to support her. She behaved, all through that terrible period, in a +faultless manner; such as even Dariel herself would have found it hard +to equal. Argyrophylla was just as mournful, just as trustful in the +Lord and the depth of heartfelt sympathy, just as determined to overcome +her own feelings for the sake of others, as the nicest girl that was +ever born, and therefore has to deal with death, could be. Any man who +could be cold to her (with her father just dead, and her mother scarcely +more than alive enough to moan) deserved to be screwed down, I say, and +find no one at his funeral. But I never care to defend myself. It is +clear enough what any one must think of this, being told that it was all +about some crayfish soup, which was more for the lawyer's delectation +than for mine:-- + + + "MY MOST KIND AND THOUGHTFUL PILLA,--What matter for such trifles + now? Remember that all I care about is to be of service to you. It + would have been a weary day but for that consideration. Do exactly + as you feel inclined, but how happy I should be if you would come + down to dinner. [This I only wrote that I might try to make her eat + a bit, because she would not even take her gruel.] For the sake of + the many who love you, think a little of yourself, if a heart so + unselfish has the power. You must never speak as if I wished to be + elsewhere, unless your desire is to grieve me. You shall hear what + the lawyer has done for us by-and-by; but his chief wish is to + please us. You know quite well what mine is.--Ever yours, GEORGE + CRANLEIGH. + + "P. S.--The canon most readily promised to officiate." + + +Now that such a simple letter, written when the cloth was laying, and +the room grown shadowy, yet full of thoughts of dinner-time--for Pilla +through her tears took care to keep the kitchen-jack alive--that a few +kind words like these of mine should start up as wilful enemies, is a +proof of that which men like Strogue might take into some dry coil of +brain, having filled it more with the study of mankind than with +converse of their Maker. To wit, that whenever any human being yields to +the goodwill towards his fellows which has been implanted in him, he is +making a fool of himself, without doing a bit of good to his brethren. +Let Strogue think so, if he likes, and prove it by a thousand instances; +he will not get me to believe it, or at any rate to act as if I did. + +And here you will find, if you go on, that it was not so even in my own +case. At first it looked very bad indeed, and I made a grievance of it, +as any but a perfect man must do; and him I have still to meet with. How +on earth could that hasty note, written only for comfort in profound +distress, and with the warmth one feels for affliction, have fallen into +the hands of some vile enemy, who had used it to destroy my Dariel's +faith in me? Over and over again I read the words I had scrawled in a +hurry; and the more I pored over them the more distinctly I saw what +they might mean to Dariel. One most unlucky reference too would quench +any doubt she might try to cherish. In my brief account of that sad +affair at Sheffield, I mentioned, or should have done so, that Mr. +Erricker's old and trusted solicitor was gone from home at the time of +the sudden calamity, and his place had been supplied by a junior +partner, a peaceful young man, who would never take the lead. His only +anxiety was to keep within the possibility of mistake; and this (as the +widow was so ill, and entreated me to act for her) compelled me to be +content with legal sanction rather than counsel. But Dariel knowing +nought of that, or of the affliction in the house, would naturally +conclude that the lawyer was come to arrange for my marriage with poor +Pilla. "Well, this is a kettle of fish, and a kettle of devil-fish," I +thought; "but one great joy there is--my darling has not thrown me over +through a toss-up." + +All my love (which had never been away, longer than I could live without +my heart) came back with a rush of double power, and a wild condition +prevailed with me. That cold letter of dismissal bore no date of time or +place, and afforded not a trace of the writer's whereabouts or +intentions, except that it bore the post-mark of Dresden, and a date now +four days old. Sûr Imar had told me more than once of his love for art, +and deep regret that his stormy life had allowed him no acquaintance +with it. Also he had shown me a very ancient--daub I should have called +it, but for the subject--supposed to be a portrait of our Lord on panel, +which according to legend had been brought by St. Peter when he came to +preach in the Caucasus. Although he was not sure of that tradition, the +Lesghian chief attached no small importance to this heirloom, and was +anxious to compare the face, or as much of it as could be descried, with +some of the first presentments, or conceptions, to be found in Europe. +He was gifted very richly, as all great men are, with the power of +moving slowly, not only abstaining from all attempt to rob Time of his +forelock, but also offering that old robber plenty of leisure to tug his +own. Thus the father of Dariel might stray through many a gallery, +museum, and cathedral, before he reached the Russian capital; and +wherever he was, there beyond a doubt would be his beloved daughter. + +With this belief, I lost no time in going to see Strogue again, at least +to hear what he had to say, though I expected little comfort. The place +to which he now belonged, though it seemed more truly to belong to him, +was that ancient tavern "The London Rock," so called perhaps in +transcendence of the London Stone, which was not far off. An +old-fashioned, overhanging house, with windows like the stern-galleries +of a veteran three-decker, and a double door with big brass fittings, +and glass panels glancing; the whole withdrawn as with an inner meaning, +and prim sense of private rights, even from the organ-grinder, who +dictates to the alley, and the babies who tripudiate, with tongues that +can keep time, whenever dirty feet are weary. Strogue had seen all the +world almost, and was come back to the beginning of it, smiling at the +glee of childhood through the majesty of a placid smoke. + +You never could take that man aback; perhaps because that sort of thing +had been done to him once too often. He sat in a hooded chair of state, +with a long pipe casting garlands of the true Nicotine forget-me-not, +like a floral crown for his emerit head; but his legs were in front of +him as they ought to be, and the day being still in its youth, no car of +Bacchus had begun to jingle through the calm realms of baccy. Or at +least, there was only one cool tankard, and the crown of froth was gone +from that. + +"How is the rib?" I asked in my usual stupid way, for all enquiry was +out of place in a paradise so tranquil. And then I proceeded still more +ineptly by begging him not to be disturbed. + +"What rib?" enquired Strogue, with as much surprise as he could +reconcile with his dignity. + +"Why, the rib that was broken the other day," I answered, with some +sense of trespass on his constitution. + +"I remember now; and I call it very kind of you to think of it. But I +understand my own inside, and can very soon put it right again. How are +you getting on with your love-affair, my boy?" + +I did not see my way (as people always put it now, when they don't want +to do what you want of them)--I did not see the fitness of discussing +Dariel in this draught of echo, and with the bar in the background +clinking pots and mumbling chaff. + +"Hold my pipe, while I get up," the Captain said magnanimously, for his +feet were on a leg-rest, and it was very good of him to move; "I never +take anything so early in the day; but I don't judge the juniors. Come +along, and bring my pewter." + +When he had led me to an inner room, which appeared to be his sanctum, I +told him what had happened, but could not by any means bring myself to +show him Dariel's letter. And he did not ask for it; with all his +bluffness, at heart he was a gentleman. + +"Cut up rough, of course," he said; "would not have been worth her salt, +if she hadn't. Only two things are added to our knowledge. One that they +have been at Dresden, and the other that Hafer has been at work with +that musk-rat of a Petheril. He sent him to Sheffield after you; that is +plainer than a pikestaff. He could not have gone on his own hook; for he +knows nothing of English ways, and very little of the language. He found +that I would not do his dirty work, and so he took up with that +blackguard. And cleaned me out, sir, cleaned me out! That is where I +shall never forgive myself, until I cry evens with him. Would you look +for any green lines in Bat Strogue, a tyke who has been round the +world?" + +He stared at me so fiercely that I could scarce help laughing. Then he +laughed at himself, and said, "All right, by-and-by. You go and see if +Jemmy Nickols has heard anything. I can tell you one piece of good news. +I told you what I was in London about. It has turned out ever so much +better than I thought. Those confounded lawyers would not let me have a +copper. But I put the enemy's lawyer at them; and by Jove, sir, I expect +to get five thousand pounds. Not in a lump, mind; that would be too good +for an unlucky son of a gun like me; but a thousand by the end of +January, and the rest when some business in Yorkshire is wound up. So I +need not come down upon you for a penny; and more than that, my boy, I +will pay the piper, and you can pay your share, when your ship comes in. +We will have a grand time among the niggers. Don't thank me, or I'll +never forgive you. You have done me a good turn, and I'll repay it. Bat +Strogue is a Christian, because he backs his friends up. But he doesn't +hold with forgiving his enemies. He will have Hafer by the hip, and you +shall see it. Stop a moment; you know some great swells, don't you?" + +"One or two people of title I know. But none of them are in London yet. +I could write to them, of course, if that would do as well." + +"That never does as well. But they will soon come back. Parliament meets +rather early this year. And we must not expect to stir a stump till +March. My friend at Petersburg is not a great gun; of about my own mark, +but not of my distinction. Bless you, I can go to Court anywhere, and +plenty of bowing and scraping; but a tankard of malt is worth all of it. +If you could get a line under cover from a friend to our Ambassador at +Petersburg, he would pass it on to Sûr Imar when he gets there, and you +might make it right with your lady-love. I suppose that never occurred +to you. Strogue knows the way to go to work. What do you think of that, +my friend?" + +"I think it is a very good suggestion, and very kind of you to think of +it. If I had not been in such a hurry, I daresay it would have occurred +to me." + +"Not likely; but Nickols might have thought of it. And I daresay he +knows great guns too. All those diamond-mongers do. You will manage it +easily one way or another, and the sooner you do it the better. It will +put a spoke in Hafer's wheel, but not the one I mean to put. Ask Nickols +what sort of a winter they are having out that way. It might make a +great difference to us. They very seldom have it as ours is, generally +the very opposite. We are having it mild, so the chances are that they +have got a stinger. All Azof was frozen up, and a good bit of the Black +Sea, the last time I came that way, and in London and Paris there had +not been one day's skating. However, you keep ready." + +This was the very thing I meant to do, as soon as ever I could get the +chance, and pick a little money up, for it was not likely that I would +let the Captain bear the charges. With many thanks to him, I took an +omnibus, and had a short conversation with Nickols. As soon as he had +heard my story, he approved of Strogue's suggestion, and quite agreed +with him that we should both be ready to start as soon as we could do +any good. At the same time he said that there was not much chance of any +mischief for the present, and he doubted whether Hafer had even returned +to his native country yet. It was much more likely that after his taste +of the sins of high civilization, which must have gone far to destroy +the zest for dull Caucasian villainies, he would hanker for another +sparkling draught, before going home to be frozen up. And now he had +Petheril with him, to guide and interpret all sweet baseness. + +"Petheril! where have I heard that name? Not only from Strogue, but +somewhere else," I exclaimed, but could not remember. + +For the rest, Signor Nicolo knew little, except that his nephew Jack was +getting the rough side of British enterprise. His last note was short +without any sweetness, unless it were a waft for Rosa, to whom he was +all the more faithful, while frozen. + +"All been snowed up ever so long," he was tersely graphic with his +middle finger blue; "nothing to do, and less to eat. How I wish I had +only stopped away! Saved our lives with a goat that was frozen to death, +but had to eat him stiff, for the fire was frozen too. Tried to think +of mutton at Simpson's in the Strand; but imagination not warm enough. +Snow is white, and emeralds green. Shall never see anything green again, +unless it is gangrene in my toes. But you know that I never do +complain." + +"True enough," said the Signor, as he warmed the letter that he might +not take a chill from it, "my nephew never does complain. But sometimes +he exaggerates, and that made my daughter like him. I shall not let her +know a word of this, or she might put some of the blame on me. I know +that it is sure to be cold out there, when you go too far up the +hillside. However, let us poke the fire up. You look rather chilly, Mr. +Cranleigh. Rosa knitted him two pairs of mittens; but perhaps he put +them by for keepsakes. Boys are so confoundedly romantic. But the wind +has changed since yesterday. Strogue is the only man I know who +understands the weather. He would warm poor Jack in no time." + +"You had better send him out with another pair of mittens," I said, with +some natural indignation. But the Signor had a pleasant gift of deafness +to anything that twined against his twist. + +"I shall see Strogue from time to time," he continued very comfortably; +"there is a great deal of good in that man, when you get over his little +oddities. And I am heartily glad to hear of his coming into property. +Probably he will not drink now so freely; because it would be his place +to pay for it. I know a fine fellow who was saved like that, when you +would not have given twopence for his life. However, your course is +clear, Mr. Cranleigh. Patience--what is it about the mulberry leaf? You +should certainly write to St. Petersburg at once. Your brother-in-law, +the Earl of Fitzragon, is sure to know some one who will do the needful +for you. Or if not, I think I could manage it. You have been very lucky +in falling in with Strogue, a man of great natural powers in his way, +and very wide observation. Allow me; your coat is a little on the twist. +You shall hear from me, if anything turns up. Ah, we want a little frost +to kill the slugs, though we don't want to live upon frozen goat." + + + + +CHAPTER XLII + +FAREWELL, SMILER + + +In proof of the critical, exacting, and thankless nature of the noble +Briton, my father used to tell a little story savouring perhaps of the +fable. Three excellent gardeners and botanists, representative of our +"three islands"--as a learned Frenchman calls them--were searching some +torrid mountain slope, as travellers for a great London nursery. When +ready to drop with heat and thirst, for they had missed their supply of +water, they chanced upon a vine in a sheltered spot, bearing three fine +bunches of ripe grapes. Like good men and just, they tossed for choice; +Paddy coming last, as his destiny decrees. His bunch was gone in no +time, skin, stones, and stalk, while John Bull proceeded with a calm and +steady munch. Sandy, however, stood contemplating his,--the finest +cluster of the three,--holding it against the burning sky, with its dewy +purple glistening like amethysts of ice. "Arrah, then, why don't ye ate +it?" cried Pat; "if ye can't, it's meself that knows the bhoy as can." +"Hoot, toots, mon, a' was joost conseederin'," the Scotchman replied, as +he held it out of reach, "what a bonny boonch she wud a' been, gin I had +only had the loock to come along aboot twal' weeks bock wi' my theening +scissors." + +Perhaps I was not quite so hard to please as that. But instead of being +grateful for the many strokes of luck vouchsafed in my present strait, I +did nothing but grumble at all that went amiss and growl at the heavy +roll and everlasting lurch of time. However, let every man act according +to his nature, or his own perversion of it; but I was not going to be +beaten thus. It would never do to leave the chance of obtaining some +news from St. Petersburg to a casual traveller, like Strogue's friend. I +must try to learn a little more about that. Therefore, as I would not go +to Lord Fitzragon, it came into my mind that really I owed some amends +to Lord Melladew; not for the peppering of his spats (for I had not even +used a gun that day), but for my tolerance of such a stupid business, +and the absence of wrath in my sorrow for it. The Earl had employed his +lame time in writing a fine poem upon Russia, which had received a +little private circulation; and a cultivated Russian, who had seen the +poem, pronounced it the finest thing in the English language. Without +going to that extent, I knew that his lordship was now a "Persona grata" +(which means properly a welcome mask) at the Court of the Northern +Universe. + +When I met him at his club by appointment, for he was still in some +terror of his mother, he showed himself as cordial as any young man who +operates mainly with his intellect can be. "We never have mutton-chops +here," he said, glancing along me, as if I were a hedgerow, with the +side-look that comes from living always in a street; "but the view from +the window is pleasing, George; and I can show you spots quite +historical." + +"Much obliged. But history is no good without age; and our own affairs +are no good, when they get it." + +He saw that I was going to be a plague, and he sank into a gimcrack +velvet chair, which was handicapped too heavily, even with such weight +as his, and he waved his hand for me to do the like; but I found a thing +like a music-stool having more satisfactory understanding. + +"How I have longed to be down your way!" Conversation with him reminded +me always of holding a skein of tissue silk for a lady to wind while you +bob your thumbs. "Any sign of spring, George? Willow catkins? +Elder-leaves?" + +"No, nor yet younger leaves," I answered gently. "Lots of frost to come +yet, I daresay. Lovely time for fruit-growers--cut their noses off in +May." + +"I hope not. That bugbear must have been exploded. If I come down to see +the budding year, dear George, could you--I mean, could you tell me +where to go? I want to write a paper for the R.H.S. I began one on the +Kentish pear and apple bloom last year, with a County Council lecturer +who came down that he might be certain which was which. But the wind +chopped round suddenly, and we got snowed up, and naturally all the +fruit failed that season. But the year before that, there would have +been a splendid crop, except for that gale on the 1st of September; I +daresay you remember it. When I went to make an estimate of the saving +to the country by growing its own fruit, with my usual luck I could find +no proper specimens. The walks were so strewn with green fruit that my +feet were too tender to get along among the heaps, without two men with +brooms in front of me; and even so I could scarcely get upstairs that +night. But how is our good friend Bandilow?" + +"Becoming rather nervous, I am afraid. His family did their best to keep +it from him about that other poor grower towards Godalming, who made +that frightful application of his gooseberry-knife. But poor Bandilow +had a sharpish tiff with his mother-in-law, as he could not see his way +to keep her; and the cruel woman sent him full account of the inquest, +with the lunatic doctor's evidence, and the balance-sheet of several +years' jam-boiling, underlined in crimson ink. He told all the parish at +the Bell-tap on Friday, that the only plantation he should ever make now +must be in a box, and grow up into a stone." + +"I hope not, I trust not most heartily," said the Earl, brushing his +eyes, for he was very tender-hearted. "But let us turn to more cheerful +subjects. I feel sadly upset about it. Let us have a glass of port." + +After that he appeared a little stronger, and gladly undertook to +forward any letter of mine to a friend of his who was attached to our +embassy in Russia, and he felt no doubt that as soon as Sûr Imar +appeared in that capital, it would be placed in his hands. Without +losing an hour I wrote my letter, and left it in his charge, for there +could be no harm in being too early, whereas it would be fatal to all my +hopes, if I were even an hour too late. + +My letter was short, and not too cordial; for really, when one came to +reflect upon all the circumstances, my Lesghian friends had scarcely +allowed me fair play, or so much as a chance to right myself. No man can +be sure what he would have done, in a case which has not hit him in the +breast, although we are very fond of talking so. Nevertheless, when I +put a bit of spirit into my own consideration of myself, I could not +help thinking that I would have given any one who fell into a sudden +cloud of dust with me, more opportunity to clear the dirt away, and a +fairer chance of asking from whose chimney it had come. + +For weeks and weeks, I kept on waiting, looking out for anything that +might throw light on the whereabouts of my wandering friends, but +obtaining disappointment only. The mildness of the winter continued +here; but a bitter frost prevailed in Eastern Europe, and the Danube was +frozen over at the Iron Gates. Strogue heard from his friend at St. +Petersburg that the ice on the Neva was six feet thick, and they could +scarcely keep the railways open. And Signor Nicolo was compelled to hope +all he could about his nephew Jack, and comfort his daughter Rosa with +tales of a cat who lived three months in a snow-drift, and the horse who +got into a hay-rick near Durham, and ate his way out again when the +thatch began to drip. But he told me in confidence that he never was +more pleased to have a bad leg than when Jack's mother came to see him. +For sweethearts, being young, may shortly take up with another; but a +widow with one child has locked up all her reason in him. + +However, there was this advantage in the long suspense and waiting, that +it gave me time to make all preparations leisurely, and get the money +ready for a costly expedition. The cash I could have had from several +quarters; Nickols, Strogue, Tom Erricker, and Stoneman, now beginning to +recover from his troubles, all in the kindest manner offered to advance +me a good round sum. But wonders, when they once set in, are like boys +playing leap-frog. Over each other's back they vault, and then down they +drop with hand on knee for a taller one to top them. And surely now came +the tallest one that ever rolled in at a tithe-barn door, or struck the +lintel of a giraffe-house. + +Hitherto I have felt throughout that every word must be believed exactly +as I tell it, not on the faith of my character only, but from internal +evidence. This has made me careless perhaps; but now I mean to be very +strict, confining every vocable to its first intention, and every +numeral to its precise notation. For if any other person had related as +follows, my interjections probably would have made him knock me down! + +The days were beginning to pull out a little, and the wind was gone +round to the east--as it always does, when too late to be of service for +skates, or wild ducks, or golden plovers, but in good time to kill all +bloom and foliage--and having had my bit of bacon in my Privy Council +Office (as Grace now called the harness-room), I was dwelling on my bad +luck; than which there is no messuage more insanitary for any man to +inhabit. When in came my brother Harold, with his hands in his pockets, +and his usual slouch, and soft melodious whistle. I had wanted him many +times, when I could not find him, especially to show him to Sûr Imar; +but now I could see little chance of turning him into any value. + +"Not fool enough to want a fiver, I suppose," he said without offering +to shake hands, for if ever there was a careless fellow about forms, +here you had him. + +"To have one to spare is what you mean to say. If a man is a fool who +wants a fiver, I know a very clever fellow, who is a great fool always. +But he can't get it out of me. _Nulla bona._" + +"George," said my brother in that slurring tone, which means that any +care of pronunciation would be wasted on the muff before you; "you can +have some, if you like. But don't let me force it upon you, George. +There are several other fellows after me." + +"In that case," I answered, simply for his benefit not my own--for I did +not expect to see anything worth counting; "that old tobacco-jar is +empty; out with it, and let me put the top on. Is it from the sneezers, +and the Local Board?" + +"Who ever got a penny from a Local Board? If I could invent a machine +to do that, I should beat the great man in America. My sneezers, as you +call them, will be household words, when reason has a voice in +sanitation. But this new discovery is of a million times the value, +because it is for the destruction of mankind. It will kill a thousand +men, before they can call upon the Lord; and there will be no pieces +left for the Devil. I had scruples at first, because of the wholesale +carnage, and some of the victims might deserve to live; but the +kindest-hearted man alive, and the chairman of five or six humane +societies, ridicules that objection, and has taken shares. At the first +blush it may seem too strong a measure; but when you know that it puts +an end to war, you are reconciled to a few harsh moments." + +There is a certain sound, enjoyed more often by bankers and brewers than +by delvers of the earth, a silken harmony of thoughtful notes, silvery +and sensitive, suggestive also of golden tones yet mellower. Seldom, +alas! do we find it thrilling through the music of our spheres. Once +heard, it is never forgotten; and now I heard it murmuring in my +tobacco-jar, as it flowed from the lyre of my brother's fingers. + +"Hold hard!" I shouted. "What the deuce are you about? You villain, you +have been forging! I was sure you'd come to that. But I doubt whether +even Free-Trade makes it honest." + +"Nice gratitude," he answered, "when it is all for you. One would think +that you alone had the gift of making money. But it would take you a +long time to make that, my boy. Now help yourself. Don't be shy." + +"Harold, you have worked hard for this." As I spoke, I regarded my elder +brother with respectful sympathy, such as he never had inspired until +now; "and I cannot perceive that I have any right to make a hole in your +hard earnings. Do you think that I would do anything so mean? But how +much do you suppose you have dropped into that jar? If you heartily +desire to make me a little present--" + +"Perhaps there may be about two-fifty there. They got up a company, you +see, to work my patent Slaughter-ball. That makes everything +straightforward. The investors throw in, to get other people's money, +and it is their own look-out about keeping their own. But peg away, +George; peg away." + +"You are indeed a noble fellow." I spoke heartily and generously; when +the facts come to this, between two brothers, how can there be either +grudge or greed? "But you would only run through every penny, my dear +brother. The wisest thing probably would be for me to secure for you +some five-and-twenty." + +"You had better take larger views. But I leave you altogether to your +own devices." He jerked a chair over, and put his heels upon the hob, +and whistled to the modest fire, with his back toward me. + +"Fifteen, twenty, twenty-five," I said, "thank you heartily, my dear +fellow, I call it very kind of you." He gave me a nod, without stopping +his whistle, and that made me look into the jar again. + +"Well, there does seem to be a jolly lot. I have a great mind to go a +little further down. In all probability, you would only waste it, +Harold." He gave me two nods this time, as if to say--"I will not deny +it, if you take that view." + +"Fifty would be quite as well, while one is about it. Forty, forty-five, +fifty. Ah! you may not see me again for months, my dear fellow; even if +I ever come back alive. I am going to the most dangerous part of the +world, where they stick a thing into you they call a kinjal. Harold, we +have always been fond of one another, although we are so different. +Well, fifty then; but only as a loan, mind." + +"I tell you what," he said, turning round and looking at me with +resolute authority, "I am your elder brother, George, and know more of +the world than you do. In fact, you are nothing but a farmer; and even +the Government, stupid as it is, can make game of a farmer. Now if you +don't take a hundred pounds, as a gentleman and a brother should, you +may go to the Devil, and how shall I ever see you again, while you are +there? So take your choice, and have done with it." + +[Illustration: "_'I tell you what,' he said, turning round and looking +at me with authority._"] + +How could I part with him on such terms? And it struck me suddenly, +that if he were going to knock over all the human race, or at least the +non-British branches of it, nothing could stand him in better stead than +to be able to say that the first-fruits of his discovery had been used +to set a true Briton upon his legs. With a grateful heart I left him at +least a hundred and fifty pounds of his money, reminding him at the same +time of that duty towards our parents, which he alone now would have the +privilege of fulfilling. He promised to leave at least fifty pounds for +that; and then he went into particulars about his "astrapebolia," as he +called his discovery for visiting mankind with a human touch from +heaven. This I could not understand, and therefore make no pretence to +remember it; for my brain is not mathematical. Only I know that he +pleased me by a promise that he would always keep behind the guns, when +he sent them into action. + +He went away suddenly as he came, being always of the comet order, but +as lovable as the evening-star, whenever you could get hold of him. And +when I had clapped a patent padlock on the first product of his genius, +a dark terror seized me that my only brother, so endeared to small +people like me, by his largeness, might be tempting Providence too far, +and meddle too freely with fulminates, just as they began to pay. I +longed to write to him upon the subject; but no post ever knew where to +find him. + +Then I was suddenly called away from vague apprehensions to perils at +arm's-length, and even closer than that--blows eye to eye, and cheek by +jowl, and tooth to tooth, such as a peaceful Englishman would never +face, if he could help it; but must take as the will of the Lord, when +they come. Sith it will no better be; he is sorry for himself, and does +his best to make his enemies share his dejection. + +In token I need only say that when I was going on peacefully, sore at +heart with outraged love, but too proud to allow it to be mentioned, and +girding myself for the work of the spring and that duty to the earth +which a farmer must discharge even in despair of recompense--a dirty +yellow envelope was put into my hand, as I came home with two faithful +horses as tired with dragging as I was with guiding, but all of us ready +for the manger. I leaned against _Smiler's_ sweaty chest, which looked +as if lathered for shaving, and read the words which took me away from +all smiling operations, almost forever. + + + "Sudden news. Fear to be too late. All gone crooked. Tidal train + to-morrow. Meet me at Charing, 12.30, all packed. BAT STROGUE." + + +Short notice indeed for so long a journey, and not a word said about +passports. But I concluded that the old traveller would see to that +matter for both of us; and having long since prepared my friends, and +arranged home-affairs for a sudden departure, I was almost glad to +exchange suspense for even headlong action. My father was kind enough to +say that he would do the best he could without me; and Stoneman would +even have come with me, if his business could have done without him. My +mother was just what a mother should be, faithful, tearful, hopeful, and +my sister Grace implored me to forgive sayings and doings on her part, +which I had long ago forgotten. Everybody went on as if I had no chance +of being seen alive again, and yet expressed a world of confidence in +the care which Heaven would take of me. + + + + +CHAPTER XLIII + +THE LAND OF MEDEA + + +In the days of yore, whenever any new pestilence or distemper fell from +heaven upon the sons of men, the first thing to agitate the human mind +was a strong and bitter controversy. Chiron, the son of Philyra, and +Melampus of Amythaon, instead of attacking the common foe, fell +pell-mell upon one another, maintaining or spurning their various +doctrines--contagion, infection, epidemism, conduction by water, by +earth, by wind--until they were driven to run away headlong, or lie down +forever. Such questions surpass our understanding. But one malady there +is, contagious, infectious, endemic also as well as epidemic, grandly +contemptuous of pill and bolus, sticky as a limpet, while as slimy as a +slug, and the name of this blessed disease is--"The Blues." And the +beauty of it is, that everybody who has got it believes that he alone of +all the people in the neighbourhood is free from every atom of a symptom +of it. + +As his luck, or perhaps mine, would have it, Strogue was in the blues, +when he came to Charing Cross. He received me with a grunt, and would +say nothing, except to be down upon the cabman, and the porters, and +shove his way along as if there were no English language. This is a very +useful way to go to work, whenever you can be quite certain that you are +the biggest fellow in the place, with no one to try to think otherwise. +But unless there is money right and left behind it, at a big railway +station it does not succeed. + +"You are not among the niggers yet," I said, being always polite to +everybody, and indignant at not being allowed to speak, while his voice +rang along the glazing. But he deigned me no answer, not even a glance, +but shouted out "Third Class! Where the devil are you driving to? Have +you never seen the Chairman of this Line?" The porters were too +wide-awake to do anything but grin, and touch their caps ironically, and +then he said "First Class," whereupon they all believed him. + +Not a word however would he say to me, though we had all the carriage to +ourselves at starting; so I took him at his humour, and went to the +other window, and drowned all my anxieties in "The Money Market." +Possibly his heart was heavy about the landlady of the "London Rock," or +the barmaid thereof, or the daughter of the Boots, if a maiden there +were in that capacity; or perhaps a traveller even so well-seasoned +could not bid adieu to his native land once more, without emotions +honourable to his head and heart alike. Then the contagion of his low +spirits began to spread around me, like the influenza vapour; and if he +had tried to talk, I should not have cared to answer. + +Such tacit respect and mutual affability of silence do more to endear +two heavy-witted Britons to one another, than a folio of flippant words. +Strogue was kindly pleased with me, and I thought well of Strogue, when +our lofty regard for the sea-sick passengers, as we had a rolling time +of it, opened, as with one accord, the valves of communication. "Give us +a light, old chap," said the Captain, as he clapped me on the back; +"come out of the sulks, and talk a bit." + +After all the temper he had shown, this was rather ludicrous; but I let +him put his own interpretation on it, for he was in this predicament for +my sake, quite as much as to please himself. But strange as it may seem, +we both avoided all important subjects, until the question of route +compelled us to consider them. Then I told him that money need not stop +us, only mine must be put into proper form in Paris; and then we +discussed the whole question. + +It seems that he had ordered this sudden start by reason of something +that came to his knowledge only on the previous afternoon. In St. Paul's +churchyard he encountered quite by chance, according to his view of it, +a man well known through his travels in Central Asia, and most +interesting account of them. Strogue took him back to the "London Rock," +and there entertained him hospitably, for a traveller has generally +acquired the power of feeding upon any wayside bench. By and by the two +great wanderers came to a subject pretty sure to be handled by them, but +never with unanimity. Strogue thought highly of the classic charms of +the fair Ionian ladies; but Sir Robert B. called them a brown and skinny +lot, and declared that there was not a girl of any Hellenic race fit to +walk beside a maiden he had seen at Athens, not more than a month ago, +and who was said to be of old Caucasian lineage. Knowing that the ladies +of the Caucasus are not much addicted to travel, the Captain began to +enquire into this, and although he had never met Dariel, and had seen +Sûr Imar at a distance only, his friend's account left him in no doubt +whatever that the pair he had been so vainly seeking, by letters to half +the capital towns of Europe, were in Athens at the end of February. Not +only did the description tally with all he heard from me and Nickols, +and that scoundrel of a Hafer, but also Sir Robert, while making +enquiries about the beautiful stranger, had been told by some facetious +Greek that she was worthily named indeed, the daughter of Himeros, of +love, of passion, of delight, and yearning. And again he had learned at +the hotel, where they were staying, that their journey to St. Petersburg +had been prevented, or at any rate deferred, through the extreme +severity of the winter surpassing any season within memory. This I could +well understand, for I knew Sûr Imar's dread of bad weather, not on his +own account but lovely Dariel's. + +Father and daughter were still at the ancient centre of civilization, +when Sir Robert left it, and their intentions were unknown to him. But +he was inclined to think, from certain purchases which he saw them +making, that they were more likely to be on their way home than to +proceed to Russia now, and if so there could be little doubt that they +would make their way first to Constantinople. Therefore it seemed to be +our proper course, though beset with much doubt and perplexity, to +betake ourselves at the utmost speed to the Turkish capital, and try to +intercept them there, or if too late for that, to follow them. For +everything now would depend upon time. In a few more weeks the golden +sun would have captured the mountain parapets, and begin to swing open +with summer light the bars of the steepest citadels; and then if Sûr +Imar were a day before us, what chance of overtaking him? And his foes +were not likely to hold much parley, when once they found him in their +hands. + +Out upon it! Who could imagine such a crime overlooked by the Power that +rules the world? A loyal confidence possessed me for a while, that +Heaven would protect its noblest produce, the few who ever think of +looking up to it, from the venom of its abject spawn. + +"It will never do to take it in that light," said Strogue, though he +always attributed his own escapes, which had been manifold as well as +narrow, to celestial perception of his merits; "no, you must never trust +to that cock's fighting. Sometimes it will, and sometimes it won't. And +where are you then without your revolver? And one thing you overlook +altogether; setting aside all holy motives--which those fellows take +revenge to be--when a savage wants your property, does he dwell upon +your character?" + +"Then they ought to be all exterminated. What are the lives of a +thousand savages, in comparison with that of one great good man, who +lives only for their benefit?" + +"If you kill them, what good can he do them?" Strogue asked, being +always more captious than logical. "Imar is in front of his age; and the +age makes martyrs of fellows of that kind and leaves the future to make +saints of them, if their ghosts turn up, within memory. Our business is +to act, and not to argue. Now look to your luggage, my boy, and the most +important part of it is firearms." + +So we took our course along the chord of Europe by abominably slow +lines, whenever there were any; and at last without any line at all. It +gave an Englishman the tingles to see everybody crawling, as if time +were a tortoise with the gout, and the hours the produce of a coprite +beetle, which he slowly travels backward to bury. The slowest man on our +farm, after eating two days' dinner, was a swallow with a nest to feed, +compared to any one I saw throughout the east of Europe. + +There was a little more vigour at Constantinople, and plenty of fellows +with fine pegs to stir, if they could only see the use of it. But as for +any briskness, and punctuality, and eagerness to get a job and do it, +the loafer who stands by the horse-trough on the green in any Surrey +village would have his hands out of his pockets and stand on his head, +before their eyes were open. And yet we are told every day of our lives +that it serves the British farmer right to starve, because he has no +activity! + +We had spent two days without any possibility of avoiding it in Paris, +and but for Strogue it would have taken me twice as long to make the +needful arrangements; and now we lost four days in the City of the +Sultan, making search for our friends in all probable quarters, and +procuring what was indispensable. Without obtaining any further clue, we +set forth on the 10th of April, by a poor little steamer very badly +found, for a place called Poti at the mouth of the Rion, one of the four +chief rivers of the Caucasus, formerly known as the Phasis, whence the +bird, whose lustre shames the glories of the golden fleece. + +Strogue had shown in very early days the quick force of his genius by +running away from school, and defying pursuit, and beginning earnest +life in a wherry. "You are picking up the lingoes very smart," he said, +as we churned the muddy waters; "but I can't stand affectation, George, +and I won't have the old Ark called the _Argo_. Besides, she never came +here in her life; she drew a deal too much water. She went to pieces on +Ararat, I tell you, and Satan took her upper deck and put it on top of +Elbruz. Why? Why, that people might go against the Bible, as they are +only too glad to get an excuse to do. And he put about a story that she +grounded upon Elbruz, which she could not have done from the shape of +it. No, no. Holy Writ is what I stick to, and as long as I do that, the +Lord will always stick to me. I won't hear another word about it." + +However, though he would not have the Argo even mentioned, he made no +objection to the golden fleece; in fact he confirmed it, having seen +some gold in the upper waters of the Rion; and as for Medea, when I told +him all her story, her treachery, incantations, murder of her brother +and even her own babes, he became quite excited, and vowed that she must +have come to life again as the Princess Marva. Upon that I begged him to +tell me all he knew about that extraordinary lady, for I had never +understood from her brother's description that her nature was +particularly fierce and unforgiving, though she certainly behaved in a +cold and distant manner, when she informed him that his wife was gone. +But that might arise from nothing more than the sense of the wrong she +herself had received through her faithless husband Rakhan. And would a +ruthless woman feel such emotion at the casualty to another person's +child? + +"Not knowing, can't say," the Captain answered in his favourite short +style; "but you must remember that I have not heard that story as he +told it. And another thing, he was not there to see it; for he was far +away settling that other fellow's hash,--and his own too by being in +such a blessed hurry. But I have got a very shrewd suspicion, my boy; +you will laugh at it, I dare say, and there certainly are some things +that pretty nearly knock it on the head. What do you say to this? +Suppose it was her own child that was killed, and that she contrived to +change them, fearing that she would never have another, and so would +lose her position altogether. For among those Ossets, as I have been +told, the childless wife of the chief must eat humble-pie at every +corner, and is apt to be superseded after six or seven years. And she +might have other motives too for getting Imar's heir into her +possession." + +"The idea is ingenious, but most improbable," I replied after thinking +for a moment. "Not that she could not have done it, for there was no one +to observe her, except her own nurse, whom she could easily silence. But +her own conduct now proves that it cannot have been so. Shows that she +had not gone for that game, I mean. They may be a lawless lot, everybody +says so; but even your Medea would never send a man to marry his own +sister." + +"I hope not. It is too horrible to think of. Though it might be part of +her hideous scheme for revenge. I tell you, Cranleigh, it is but a very +stale thing to say, that a woman of the lowest depth of woman's +wickedness is as far beneath any man's deepest pitch, as a good woman is +above his highest stretch. I don't go by what they tell you in the +books. I have seen a big lot of men and women--civilized as they call +themselves, and savage; the latter on the whole more trustworthy; and +you know that I never dogmatise. Only a fool does that: and though I am +an ass very often, especially when I yield to my feelings about right +and wrong, you can't call me altogether a fool--now can you?" + +"Captain Strogue," I answered warmly, perceiving that he asked for it, +"fools are always numerous enough. But if you are one, I wish that they +were universal." And in saying this I was no hypocrite. + +"There is not such a thing as a wise man now," he proceeded, after one +quick glance, which showed that he liked my testimony. "We don't want +them. They would never suit the age; and so the Lord abstains from +sending them. The two or three last, who pretended to come, spent all +their energy in scolding, which shows that they were not the proper +stuff. But about this Medea--is that all you have got to say, to show +that she is not trying on this little game?" + +"No. I have a much stronger argument than that. No one could imagine for +a moment that Sûr Imar, the most benevolent man on earth, could be the +father of a hateful, spiteful, low-minded scoundrel, such as Hafer is." + +"You have put it fairly. No one would imagine it; and therefore it is +the very thing that may be true. I am not a scholar; but such things +have been, and will be again, while the world endures. From bodily +likeness you may reason more than from the greater things you cannot +see. I have never seen Imar close at hand; but they are both tall, +strong men, straight, well-built, and active. Imar is fair you say, and +Hafer dark. That proves nothing." + +"It is a vile idea, and I will not listen to it," I replied, with some +inward sense of outrage on our race; "I have never seen Hafer for a +close examination, and am not sure that I could swear to him, if he +stood before me now. But from the glimpses I have had of him, I know +this--he is as different from the grand Sûr Imar, as a blackberry bush +is from a Muscat vine." + +"Yet the one may be grafted on the other, I believe. The difficulty is +not concerning that, George Cranleigh; the difficulty is about the +woman's motives. Prove that it would suit her purposes to bring such a +horrible affair about, and the horror of it is no obstacle to the fact. +What makes me doubt my own suggestion is, that I cannot see how the +scheme would work for the benefit of Madame Marva. All other objections +on the score of human nature, or what human nature ought to be, are as +nothing to the will of such a woman. Remember that she has a double +object--to make herself the Queen of both the tribes, and to avenge her +husband's death." + +Wicked, and ruthless, and inhuman, as the sister of that lofty and +noble-minded man might be, I could not bring myself to believe her +capable of any such horrible design. But the misery, agony, and anxiety +for the pure and innocent Dariel, and her father already so cruelly +tried by the dark decree of Heaven, also my deep and abiding fury at +bloodthirsty treachery, and the terror of being too late for the rescue, +all together these drove me to the verge of madness, when the rotten old +hulk they called a steamer yawed to this side and to that, and quivered, +and rattled, and groaned, and the decrepit engines panted, and the +craven crew fell upon their knees and wept; and it was announced in +three languages, that we had done miracles of daring, and must tempt the +Lord no longer, but thank Him for saving us from our own valour. The +Rion was in such high flood that we must cast anchor, and wait for three +days outside the Bar, till the rush of snow-water subsided. + + + + +CHAPTER XLIV + +THE LAND OF PROMETHEUS + + +There are thousands of people (Englishmen especially, and Germans +universally) who would find terrible fault with me--if they ever heard +of it--for the absence of calmness and self-command, which I ought to +have helped, but couldn't. Taking myself, as it ought to be, and always +is in theory, I must have gone out of it, without asking leave, or even +knowing that it took leave of me. Others, who have been in the like +condition, and perhaps they may be counted by the million, will freely +allow for all I did, and all I said--which was a great deal worse. Even +Strogue, though acquainted with many languages, and tolerant of all +their excesses, admitted at last that there must be a power in our own, +beyond all foreign scope. + +"You never use a wicked word," he said to me; "or at any rate none that +could be scored against you, by any angel that understands our tongue; +and yet you contrive to put things in such a way, that I would rather +not stand by you in a thunderstorm." + +That of course was rubbish; for I spoke most mildly, and if ever I used +a strong expression, the sound of my own voice hurt me. I was trying, +throughout the long trial, to be of the large mind, which I admired so +much whenever to be found for certain, in any human beings within my +knowledge; and these being unsatisfactorily scarce, I went back to the +many I had read of, in my early days at Winchester, and did my utmost to +believe in them, and shape myself accordingly. + +But this was of very little help to me. Epaminondas, Timoleon, even the +grand Aristides, and the Roman who sacrificed his own son, were nothing +but shadows on a cloud, while I was the shivering form inside it. +Strogue himself was limp and grim, and could not see how to get out; and +it was not in his mouth to talk of angels, unless it was to give them +more to do. He might say what he liked, but he tried my temper, a great +deal more than I trespassed upon his. Moreover he had made a very +serious mistake, and one which would probably prove fatal. If we had +only gone straight to Odessa, instead of losing time at Constantinople, +we might have been at Kutais a week ago, supposing we had caught the +proper steamer. This he could not for a moment deny; and all he could +say was, that as I knew so much more about it than he did, although I +had scarcely heard of this part of the world before, the best thing +would be for me to command the expedition, and conduct it entirely in +the English language. But I pointed out to him that my remarks must not +be distorted in that manner, and that all of them were intended as +compliments, though he had not for the moment perceived it. Upon this he +came out of his anger, and said that every allowance must be made for +me, and that if he were fool enough to be in love he should have carried +on worse than I did. + +At the same time he announced, when at length and at last we had got our +_podoroshno_--or something like that, which cost a lot of money at +Poti--that from what he was told about the condition of the passes, his +plan of the route must be abandoned, and we must go first to Tiflis, +though far to the south of our proper course. There we should get into +the great Russian road, which cuts the main link of the mountain-chain, +and find a course open in almost any weather, and vehicles of some sort +to be had for hire. Moreover it was not at all unlikely that our +Lesghian travellers might be there, waiting for the spring to tempt them +home. + +For people in haste and having baggage, any railway (however vile and +utterly profane, both in itself and all its consequences) is better than +the best carriage-road, or horse-track, likely to be found in the same +direction or anywhere near it. So we took to the new line (the wonder of +the age, to all Oriental intellects, and made as nature requires by +Englishmen), and instead of leaving it, as Strogue had first intended, +at Kutais, or further on, we followed its rugged course throughout to +the "City of languages," as the world calls Tiflis. + +Until the weather becomes too hot this is the usual residence of the +Commander-in-Chief of the Caucasus, and Strogue suggested that we should +call upon him, so as to start well with the authorities, in case of any +violence being done or suffered by us among fierce tribesmen, who might +not look at things as we did. For what could two men, even though of +English birth, avail among so many? Strogue himself spoke Russian very +fairly; and even I could make out a little by this time, after taking +much trouble, and undergoing a crick in the hinges of both jaws, for in +certain conditions of the human mind nothing seems too arduous. + +His Highness Prince L. received us most politely, and at the Captain's +request allowed us the privilege of a separate audience; for if it +should once get wind among the tribes of the upper Terek that we were +coming to meddle with their affairs, they were likely to show us nothing +more than loop-holes studded with rifle-muzzles. The Prince, who was a +very fine and handsome man, listened attentively to Strogue's account, +and then (after telling us that he feared Sûr Imar was already in the +net and beyond our reach) he took a course which puzzled us altogether, +and made us look rather foolish. + +"Gentlemen," he said with a pleasant smile, "observe that I do not +question the accuracy of your account. In fact I believe every syllable +of it, and it confirms my own opinions. But unless you have brought me +attested depositions, or are prepared to make them from your own +knowledge, and recent presence on the spot, I have no power to do +anything. Have you any such evidence to lay before me?" + +Strogue shook his head, and I was compelled to do the same. "We did not +intend to apply to your Highness," I said in the best form I could +muster; "that was only thought of afterwards, lest we should do anything +against the law." + +"It is fortunate for you that you have applied," he answered not +unkindly. "You are doing nothing against our law by entering the country +with our passports; but you are defying tribal laws, and outraging all +their customs, by interfering with the private affairs of their ruling +family. Have you at all considered what the result of that is? Captain +Stronger, you have travelled on those mountains. Did you find +encouragement to treat the people thus?" + +"Your Highness, the conclusion I arrived at was--the further I keep away +from all of them, the better." + +"It was wise. It shows your great abilities. The same conclusion is +mine; and I regret that we have been obliged to embody them. But if we +had not done so, it is certain that you would. But for years we must +deal very carefully with them. All we endeavour is to keep some sort of +order, and encourage them to try to live without much thieving. Work +they will not, even for the four months, which is all the time many of +them could work, if they tried. Gentlemen, your sympathies are wasted in +such quarters." + +"Your Highness, I should like to shoot them all; and probably in your +position we should have done it." Strogue had not travelled for nothing, +and he held up his thumb for me not to contradict him. "You are the +great civilizing power, as England begins at last to acknowledge. We did +not come here with the audacity to think that your Highness would help +us in a private matter which does not concern your authority. But we +know that this Lesghian chief, although he was compelled to side with +Shamyl in his boyhood, and has paid the just penalty by long exile, is +now the warmest friend of your great Empire. The object for which he has +returned is this, to bring the barbarians into peaceful ways, and make +them good Russian subjects, able, and at the same time glad, to pay good +taxes. This gentleman with me, of the highest English family, is an +intimate friend of Sûr Imar, and he will confirm every word I have said. +Speak up, Sir George, and tell his Highness what you know." + +"How many times more am I to be Sir George?" I muttered to myself in +English. And then as the Prince's eyes fell upon me, I said very +bravely, "It is so, your Highness." For everything was true, except +perhaps about the taxes. + +"And will the Commander-in-Chief allow," cried Strogue, getting stronger +in his eloquence, "a faithful and fervent Russian subject to be murdered +by barbarous Ossets, the most cantankerous and anti-Russian tribe +remaining in the Caucasus?" + +The Captain made a true hit here. The gorgeous decorations rose on the +ample bosom of the Prince, and his strong eyes flashed, as if in battle. +But a Russian of high rank keeps his head, and he answered rather +formally. + +"As I said before, I cannot interfere. But in case of any savage tumult, +I will give you a letter to the officer on duty in the Kazbek district, +which you will not present unless needful. And now, gentlemen, I wish +you well. You must bear in mind that you go with your lives in your +hands, and we are not responsible. There is a little band of your +countrymen on the northern side of Kazbek, who hold our permission to +quest for minerals. Two of them were frozen to death last winter, +through their own imprudence. But that has not prevented more from +coming, in the manner of your country. You may find them of service to +you in the matter of supplies. Farewell." + +We took our leave with many thanks, not daring to put any further +questions, although we concluded that he knew more than he saw fit to +tell us. An officer brought us the promised letter, and looked at us +very curiously, as if we were even more insane than the English race in +general. I wanted Strogue to question him; but he said that it would be +a breach of etiquette, and might set the Commander against us. So we +made our bows, and went back to our inn, which was one of the queerest +places ever seen. + +And this reminds me that I may have been expected to say something about +the many noble and wonderful sights of our long and tedious journey. But +the plain truth is, that they passed me by, without leaving any clear +impression, or even creating the interest which at any other time must +have swallowed me. I looked upon the grandest scenery of the world, +without even thinking of its grandeur, caring for nothing but to leave +it behind, as another obstacle gone by. Scarcely would I even lift my +eyes to the majesty of giant Tau, or peak that towered in dazzling white +(like the hand of God spread on the heavens), or the sombre awe of +mountain forest, deep with impenetrable gloom. Yet in after times all +these came gliding along the slides of memory, and now and then they +stand and hold me, when I want to think of something else. + +But what we had to think of now was to get along the roadless roads from +Tiflis into the black abysses and white steeps of the mountain range. +Many of the passes still were blocked, although the strong sun scorched +our skin, and the road was swamp or flood, whenever it was not crag or +boulder. Strogue, being accustomed to such doings, took them with grim +philosophy; and I cared little what they were, except for the delay they +caused. The Prince most kindly sent a couple of Cossacks for our escort, +and we had four men with their hired ponies, as well as an interpreter, +for Strogue might often be at fault even with the Lesghian tongue, and +we might visit places where that and Russian were of small avail. + +So bad was the season, and the ways so roundabout and rugged, that not +until the 3d of May did we enter the deep defile which leads to the foot +of the crag of Karthlos. We threaded the narrow pass, and looked up at +the fearful heights, from which those playful children fell, when +frisking on their little legs among the treacherous snow-drift. And then +we saw the rocky elbow of the dark ravine where Imar's father Dadian +fell to the stealthy shot of Rakhan. The lonely gorge, where a man felt +half afraid to provoke an echo, seemed to be formed by nature for the +darkest deeds her sons can do. While the pale slant of declining +sunshine, webbed with quivering vapour, here and there came partway down +the walls of rent and jagged rock, but nowhere reached the bottom. There +was not a sound to make us think of life in this unfathomable grave; +even the Cossacks shuddered mutely under the gloomy chill of awe. + +"Thank God!" cried Strogue, when one of our horses, less romantic than +the rest, or lulled by power of contrast into a dream of clover, set up +a lively neigh, which rang like a peal of bells along the chasm; "my +son, thou shalt taste oats for that. This old hole never used to +frighten me. The 'London Rock' must have spoiled my nerves for rocks +that have got no chimneys. Here we are, George; let me see if I can +blow. I used to know how. Or you try, if you like. You are more of a +huntsman." + +We had stopped at a place where a steep, narrow channel cut the north +wall of the gorge at right angles, and a battered old horn of great size +hung from a staple at the rocky corner. I made a sign to him to blow, +and blow he did, to such effect that the tattered grass, hanging here +and there on either side of the chasm, shook as a matted cobweb shakes +when a stag-beetle tumbles into it. In the midst of the solemn +desolation, and my own profound anxiety, I could not help laughing at +the Captain's face, as his great cheeks puffed with the rush from the +lungs, and his fat chin went into plough-lines, and his grizzled +eyebrows into gables over his wet projecting eyes. + +"Laugh at me?" he said; "then do it better." But I could not do it half +as well; and we all looked vainly up the steep ascent, whose winding hid +the house from us--no one came, neither any answer, nor sign that we had +moved the air. Suddenly it occurred to me, how poor Sûr Imar had stood +where we were standing, and blown that very same horn in vain, with the +flush of bright hope, and the glow of home, on the day that broke his +life in twain. Some men are content to accept the tricks of others and +of fortune; not from their own want of power, but because of their +contempt of it. + +Strogue, who was not by any means of this too lofty order, glared and +stamped, and shook his fist at all the void magnificence from which he +could get no response. "Up we go," he said at last, "if the mountain +won't come down to us--but keep your revolver ready." + +One of the Cossacks came with us, according to his orders; the other +stayed with the horses and their owners in the trackway. The ascent was +easy enough for any one not encumbered with four legs, though the rope +that skirted the worst places was cut away, or worn out by time. And +then we mounted some big steps, with a slush of snow upon them, and +struck a heavy ring of brass upon a great gate of some dark wood. The +mansion, or tower, or whatever it should be called, rose large and lofty +before us, gazing with a dull and ancient aspect down a wilderness of +craggy clefts. For about a third part of the year the scene must be all +majesty, and for the rest all melancholy, even with life inside it. But +now it appeared as if it did not care for any outlook; winter or summer, +good or bad, could not matter much to it. + +"Nobody at home. They don't keep bailiffs in this part of the world," +said Strogue, "or I should think some of those lovely fellows were +having their steak in the kitchen. Down, George, down behind the +parapet, or you'll never wear a hat again!" + +Like an accomplished traveller, the Captain ducked his head out of shot. +But I was too slow and stupid, and had caught the despondency of the +place. "Fire away," I said, "if you can strike a light; I don't believe +that you can hit me." + +Want of faith is infectious, and the silver mop behind the rail, on +which was resting a long brown barrel, arose very slowly, and behold, it +was the uncovered head of a very ancient man! Long white hair flowed +down his shoulders and over his breast, and I heard a hollow sigh. "Blow +me, if it isn't old Kobaduk!" cried Strogue, who was taking a cautious +peep; "don't be in a funk, George; he knows me. Hold hard, old fellow, +and keep your powder dry." + +The old gentleman seemed to be in doubt about his eyes, till the Captain +went down a flight of steps and round towards the kitchen-entrance where +the ancient watchman stood. Then a few words of Lesghian passed, and +Kobaduk leaned his gun against the rail, and flung his wrinkled arms +round the thick form of Strogue. + +"Is he coming? Will he never come again?" That much I could make out +among his many trembling words. "Is old Kobaduk to die without seeing +him? without ever hearing his voice again?" + +Then he tottered to the corner of the steps, and spread his hand over +his brows, where the sunset struck through the glare of snow, and he +leaned on the ramrod which he had picked up, and gazed, with his +wrinkled eyes casting forth a bushy sparkle, down the lonely passage +from the road below. "Take it easy, old chap," shouted Strogue; and he +answered, "I am too old to take it easy." + +Thereupon his long beard fell lower on his breast, and his lips, which +were far out of sight behind it, mumbled some sadness which we could not +understand, and he shuffled his feet to be sure that they were there, +and made off for the kitchen-door, without another sign to us. + +"Hospitable I call that," said Strogue; "the poor old beggar doesn't +know what he is about. But we must put up here, willy, nilly, for the +night. We will make him rout up a bit of grub, and stir the dregs of his +ancient brain." + + + + +CHAPTER XLV + +AMONG THE GEMS + + +The Cossacks had discharged their duty now, after seeing us into +friendly hands, and in the morning they rode off to rejoin the +detachment at Tiflis. We sent a letter of thanks by them to the Russian +Prince, for although we had not been molested, we owed our exemption in +all probability to the presence of the uniform. We had passed through a +district especially delightful, even among their many happy +hunting-grounds, to the heart of the only men among these mountains +[unless it be the foreign gunsmiths, and a few of the timber-dealers] +who have a profession and practise it with any decent diligence--I mean +the gallant brigands. But they must not be quoted as a real exception to +the rule of sovereign indolence; because they are not true Caucasians, +otherwise they could never get through half of the robberies they +accomplish. + +The rest of us spent a whole day and two nights at the poor deserted +tower, partly to refresh our horses, which were sent to the post-house +down below, and partly to consider our plans, after receiving from the +ancient steward the feeble light he could contribute. Although he had +recognised Strogue so suddenly and with such affection, he forgot him +entirely, and with equal speed, until we began to talk in English, and +then he broke forth with the declaration that our language was sweeter +to his ears than the murmur of a hive of bees breathing their last among +their honey, or the first music of the waterfall that has broken the +chains of winter. + +When Strogue translated this to me, I felt some gratifying surprise; for +our language is not so wonderfully mellifluous, or melodious; though +our voices are not such a cackle as theirs. But the old gentleman soon +revoked his claim upon my gratitude by explaining, as interpreted by +Strogue, that the words indeed were strange and hideous, like the sound +of a saw on a flinty rock; nevertheless, he loved them always, because +they brought to his mind the years that had unrolled day after day, as +bright as the rising of the sun, and as smooth as a lake at the foot of +the mountains, where no wind comes blowing. + +I could not quite see what his wits were driving at; but Strogue, who +had very little reverence for anything, from seeing too much of all +things, sang out, "Signor Nicolo?" and Kobaduk took it to his heart +(which works much longer than the brain does), and came up to us, and +touched both of us, with a shrivelled finger, upon either chest. "It is +the name of the happy time; the time of the beautiful lady, and the +noble lord, and the lovely babes; and nothing to do but to laugh and +eat." + +"And sleep," I suggested in his own language; and that completed his +round of perfection, for he sent up the roots of his beard in a grin, +and said, "Thou hast hit the mark." And then he sat down upon a swab to +do it. + +"Very fine, old codger, but beyond his time." Strogue gave him a tender +poke with a stick, to make sure that he was not shamming; "we used to +have faithful stuff like this in England; but education has vanquished +it. He is sure to have a wife about twenty years old. Let us go in and +stir her up. The wives are nothing but head-servants here. They are not +sentimental, but they can cook, which is the highest duty of the +female." + +My feelings were shocked; but I left them so, because victuals alone +could relieve them. The faithful retainer had overdone himself by that +sudden outburst of decrepit hope. But he had got a young wife, which I +thought too bad, until she proved the contrary by making us very +comfortable, with a number of hot little barley-cakes, and some grilled +kid flesh, which put a shine upon our faces. Then she poked her ancient +husband up, and he came and fed, and played the host, and made runaway +knocks at the time-worn gates of his memory. + +The worst of it was that we could not be sure how much truth, and how +much fiction, or at any rate confusion, issued from that antique +repository. The older the thing was, the more it might be trusted--a +truth which holds good with the bulk of modern work. Whenever we brought +him to recent affairs, and the state of things now existing, he shook +the silver tissue over his bright black eyes, and stared at us. "Kobaduk +forgets, too long ago," was his chief perception of yesterday. However, +we fetched him nearer date, by speaking of the Princess Marva. + +Then the old man trembled, and turned his head away; and his fingers +(which looked like empty bean-pods) fiddled at the cartridge loops which +hung, like the smocking of a Surrey parish-clerk, on the quivering of +his sunken breast. + +"For the sake of God, who made us all," he mumbled; and although he had +been feeding well, his wife offered him some brown bits in vain. "Let +him be," said Strogue, "perhaps he'll have more pluck to-morrow." + +But it did not seem to be so at all. He went up a ladder to bed that +night in a loft that reeked of onions, and he dragged his old gun after +him; but how he got his crooked knees up the rungs, and how he failed to +shoot himself in the stomach, were difficulties not to be explained even +by the miraculous powers of habit. "The old cock will come down like a +lark to-morrow," Strogue prophesied, as the trap-door banged. But larks +are more famous for going up, and the Captain's prediction was about as +correct as his reference to natural history. + +"What a set of funks these people are! Is there no one here to tell us +anything?" we exclaimed almost with one accord, on the evening of the +following day, the only one we spent at Karthlos. We had asked at the +post-house, where Sûr Imar used to keep his horses, and we had tried +Mrs. Kobaduk the fourth, and a grandson of the steward who hung about +the house, and a woodcutter who came home sometimes, and a fellow called +the huntsman, and everybody else we could come across. Most of them sat +down and stared at us, and feigned not to understand what we meant; and +then when we put the interpreter at them, all they would do was to +shake their heads, and stretch their lazy hands westward. As for old +Kobaduk, if he was like a lark, it was one who has a skewer through him; +and all we could get him to do was to show us where the Princess Oria +and her baby lay. + +Alas, what an end for the loving and lovely, the passion of a warm life +cold in dust, and the sad shadows creeping along the sadder grave. But I +knew a heart in which she lived still, and a life as lovely as her +own--were these to share her fate, or have a doom yet worse, and not +even be restored to her in the silent home of death? + +"I'll tell you what we will do, my boy," Strogue said to me after supper +that night, and after we had puffed and spat and stamped at the noxious +vapour of the native weed (which we should have to come to in the end, +unless our own end spared us that), the frightful stuff, grown badly, +and cured worse, which they dare to call tobacco; "this is a very grand +place in its way, and the tradition of good victuals lingers still +about. But the fragrance of the past is not enough for a man getting on +in his forties. Hardships I have endured by the hundred, and could do it +again like Elijah; though he only went forty days, which is nothing to +my record. But you must understand, my son, that the fun of it is not so +evident, when a man has got into napkin ways, and wants to lean back in +his chair, and think of the things he has done, instead of doing them. +Don't be in a wax, George, I am not thinking of cutting the expedition. +Bat Strogue is made of too good stuff for that, and he means to have his +little revenge as well. Only he must keep his headquarters somewhere +within hail of the jack-spit. That sound has become of importance to +him, and his nature is not ungrateful. The world is not made of love +alone, or precious little there would be of it. Listen to the words of +wisdom. Men who work hard must live well. Miners work hard, therefore +they must live well. I never learned logic, but that sounds square." + +"Very well, I am not going to controvert your logic. But how does it +bear upon the present state of things?" + +"Thus, thou wooden-headed Saxon. Nicolo's fellows are at work again. +That much I found out yesterday; and you know the Prince as good as told +us so. Kazbek is their diggings, a pretty large district, but not so +extensive as Elbruz. It will be easy enough to find them out; then we +hear a civilized tongue again, and get something civilized to put upon +it. Here we can learn nothing; there we may get news. In the morning let +us start for Kazbek." + +I was only too glad to have it so. For although not belonging to those +up-and-down natures, which are either at the zenith or the nadir, I +found myself many pegs below the proper mark, among all this great +breadth and vast height, with nothing to touch, or lay hold of anywhere. +If Strogue was lost in sentimentality of stomach, which had been +regarded with an excess of feminine tenderness at the "London Rock," I +could feel for him heartily--though nobody might think it, through the +affection of an organ of my own, which is not so far distant as the +poets do imagine. So I said, "You are right. We will start again +to-morrow." + +This we did, and our spirits began to rise, as we left that grand but +ill-fated place behind. From a rise of the mountain-track we saw it, +magnificent in its dark command, and vastly improved by the distance. +And then we struck into the great Dariel road, the causeway of the +Caucasus. This we followed as far as the Russian fort, where we +presented ourselves, and our letter from the Commander-in-Chief, and +were entertained most hospitably. The Colonel was as kind as man could +be, and showed no reserve or reluctance in answering most of our +questions. My experience is too small to be of any value; but Strogue, +who had seen a great deal of Russian policy and management in the vast +tracts added to their empire, always maintained that the common talk +about their grinding tyranny is jealous exaggeration; though they can be +very stern and hard when they meet with savage treachery, even as we +ourselves have been. + +And now this officer, a very capable, active, and intelligent man, told +us plainly that his orders were to hold himself entirely aloof from all +the private feuds and quarrels among the mountain races, unless they +revolted, or refused to pay their very moderate taxes, or were guilty +of open violence, or outrage upon travellers. He had heard of Sûr Imar, +as still the legitimate chief of an important tribe, for many years an +exile now, but regarded kindly by the Government, and still in receipt +of the larger part of his revenues through a Russian agent, who had been +appointed upon his kinsman's death. But of his return or present +whereabouts he knew no more than we did. + +Then we asked him about the Princess Marva, and he smiled mysteriously. +"We don't talk of her so freely," he said, as Strogue still pressed him. +"She is a lady of very strong will, and has given us some trouble. But +we hope that she is improving now, and her son is a pattern of +excellence. If he would only take the command, which according to his +rights he should have done long ago. But he is mild and submissive, +though endowed with great abilities. Many of the village headmen are +indignant that she does not retire, for he is beloved, while she is not. +But we never interfere in such matters; we let them settle their own +successions. Only in case of absence, such as that of Imar--" + +"But Hafer himself has been long away," I interrupted him in some +surprise, and with faulty words, which made Strogue smile, but the +Russian was more courteous; "he has been for months in England." + +"Of that I was not aware," the officer answered, after some reflection. +"But the winter has been the worst ever known, and almost all the passes +blocked, except those we kept open. But, gentlemen, as I said before, we +do not interfere in private matters. You are going on, you told me, to +that place upon the mountain, where certain Englishmen with our +permission are in search of minerals. They may know more about such +matters; for I believe that the lady has demanded payment from them, and +does not recognise our licence, though Kazbek is not within her +boundaries, or certainly not that part of it. If you will take my +advice, which I offer simply as a private friend, and one who admires +Englishmen, you will trespass as little as possible upon the domain of +Madame Marva. I hope for the privilege of entertaining you, upon your +return from the mountain." + +This was plainly our dismissal, and his horse was waiting at the door +for him. So as the sun was still high in the heavens, and the weather +very favourable, we resolved to try to reach the mine that night, or +rather I should say the diggings, for it had not attained the dignity of +a mine, and was not very likely to do so. We took a young goatherd for a +guide, and leaving our horses at a hut, set forth in search of the +emerald-hunters. + +Although we had no very great height to ascend, for the diggings were +far below the summit, and there was a fair track nearly all the way, and +a rope laid along the worst places, it was close upon sunset before we +reached the magnificent gully where the miners had their camp. They were +just leaving work for the day, and marching almost like a squad of +soldiers to the cells they had scooped for their dwelling-places under +the shelter of an overhanging crag. Each of them carried a rifle on his +shoulder as well as a strong iron rod with a crook at the end, and a +tool something like a spud, and a hammer with a long peak of steel. The +captain, or master, or foreman, came last in the file with nothing in +his hands but a deep tar-pot, and he proved to be Mr. Jack Nickols, a +sturdy young man with a round red face, active, resolute, and profoundly +contented with his own endowments. + +"Halloa! Haven't you got a word to throw at a brother Englishman?" +Strogue was sadly short of breath, but still capable of indignation, as +these twelve or fourteen men regarded him with some suspicion, and not a +token of hospitable emotion kindling in their bosoms. "We are not come +to steal your dirty stones, or to set up shop against you. We are of the +highest English birth, cousins to two Dukes, six Marquises, and a good +round dozen of Earls. And what will touch you up more, my boys, if you +are driven against nature to be Radicals, we have got three pounds of +fine tobacco left; and if you are good, you shall have half of it." + +This was an outburst of "Altruism," as the people who ought to be in +Bedlam call it, which found no echo in my breast (because we were +beginning to smoke our ashes), but set up an irresponsible rub-a-dub in +theirs. + +With one accord they all turned round; though bound for their suppers +(as their mouths would have frankly declared, if sure of having more +than they could do with), still they proved their higher value, and +their sense of the fine arts--such as we cultivate now with +picture-frames on Sunday--by stopping and pulling out empty pipes, and +dropping their thumbs from the barrel to the bowl. + +"Plenty of time," said Captain Strogue, who was up to all those little +things; "fine fellows all of you; but you don't get a whiff till I know +more about you. The laws of Great Britain hold good all over the globe, +because they are righteous. You may shout in vain for Bacco, as the +heathen gods did in their time. I am not a man of many words. We have +had to smoke a lot of poison ourselves, and not a blessed son of a gun +among you tastes a shred of the genuine weed, till I have got all I want +out of you." + +I thought that they would have turned crusty. But such misgivings showed +that I did not understand my countrymen. An Englishman can put up with +everything but humbug. Bar that, and he begins to think of you. + +"I want a young fellow called Jack Nickols, the nephew of my old friend, +Jemmy Nickols," Strogue went on with louder shouts, as he saw that the +men were taking to him; "you are a rough lot, and you know it. But I +have been round the world seven times; and take you as you are, I would +rather have you than any other fellows I have ever come across. You are +no wonders, mind you; but you know what's what. And more than that, you +do it." + +This was rather vague, though it sounded so precise. And I whispered to +the Captain, "You are as good as John Bright." But he shoved me with his +elbow, while his eloquence went down. Then the young man with the +tar-pot came up mildly, in the presence of a larger spirit, and said, +"Captain, you must be the celebrated traveller;" and Strogue looked at +him augustly, and said, "Young man, you are right." + +After this it is impossible for me to tell the glorious night they made +of it. They had spent all the time, when they could not work, in making +themselves more comfortable; and all the starvation they had been +through was avenged upon itself by its own power. I have seen a good +deal of eating; and Strogue had both seen and done a great deal more; +and the voice of travellers is unanimous that the Caucasian native +acknowledges no superior in that line. It is not for me to contradict +them, but the impression I formed that night, and with my own mouth +confirmed it, was that the British settler can in that, as in less +important matters, adapt himself to his environment. The sheep of the +mountain are but small, and we furthered nature's ordinances by making +six, or perhaps I should say seven of them, smaller still. For the +valleys were spread with the verdure of spring, and it covered their +saddles with sweet white fat. + +"One little slice more," Jack Nickols said; "this is the best of the +batch, I know. What would we have given for a cut out of him last +winter! But we were obliged to leave this place altogether. Forty feet +deep the snow was here, and not a bit of firing to be got for love or +money. You heard that two of us were frozen to death; but we never lost +a man. We set that story going, and it did us a lot of good, and choked +off another lot who wanted to come here. We have got it all to ourselves +at present, and mean to keep it. You saw my tar-pot. Capital plan. An +invention of my own. We have scarcely gone underground at all as yet. We +scratch the crannies, and the dribble-places, and I stand by and watch +every fellow. Wonderfully honest, and all that, no doubt; but just as +well to look after them. Every bit of green they find, I drop it in the +tar. They can't get it out again, even if they could find it, without +telling tales on their fingers. Nine out of ten are not worth keeping; +but we have got a few real beauties. There is one stone I wouldn't take +a hundred pounds for, and a lot worth more than fifty. I'll show you +some of them by daylight. It's the flaws, the flaws that murder them." + +"We don't know anything about stones," replied Strogue, "and I would +rather look through a good green bottle than all the emeralds that ever +came from Peru, or wherever they get them. What we want to talk about is +quite another pair of shoes, and I know you will help us if you can. We +gave you that letter from your uncle. He will be out here this summer if +he can. But we cannot wait for that. We must set to work at once. When +the rest are gone, I will tell you all about it." + +"We will go outside, if you don't mind. I can show you a very cosy place +where we do our cooking, and the ashes warm the rock all night. Let us +have our pipes there, and leave the tag-rag here." + +We followed him gladly to the open air, and sat upon some bear-skins in +a snug alcove of rock, with the stars shining on us, and the embers of +the fire doing better service still. And here we told young Jack Nickols +all our story, a great part of which he must have known already. + +"You will never go home alive," he said, "if you are going to meddle +with that woman. Let her have her own way. She always does. What right +have you to conclude that she wants to murder her own twin-brother? It +is likely enough, mind, from what you say, and in fact I have little +doubt about it. But for all that, you don't actually know it, and if you +did you are not the Russian Government. Let her alone, for God's sake." + +We told him that this was the very thing we had sworn to ourselves we +would never do; and that he must stand by us, like an Englishman, and +like his uncle's nephew. "Stand a long way off more likely," he replied, +"though I don't call myself a coward, and I hate that woman. But I will +try to contrive something, and let you know to-morrow." + + + + +CHAPTER XLVI + +QUEEN MARVA + + +Discovering nothing of any kind, concerning Sûr Imar and his daughter, +after they had quitted Athens, we made up our minds that the proper +course was to pay a visit to the Princess Marva, and try to get some +inkling of her plans. It was not very likely that a couple of clumsy +fellows, like Strogue and my humble self, would prove a match, or even a +serious check, for a subtle and ruthless woman, commanding a reckless +tribe, and probably well informed of all the plans of her unsuspicious +victims. So that if we appeared in our own characters, or even let her +know that we were here, our days in this land, or indeed in any other +visible except to the eyes of faith, were likely to be brief indeed. + +But for the sake of those who mean well, and desire fair play on the +whole, whenever it leaves a chance for them, Providence has been +gracious enough to lay down one universal rule--that every wicked person +has some special weakness, some nick in his black shell for the +oyster-knife of justice; so that a simple and straight mind, like +Strogue's and mine, may find its way through, and turn the whole to +righteous uses. + +"I have hit the mark," Jack Nickols said, when he came home to breakfast +with his tar-pot; "when the sun comes up these rattling peaks, instead +of down over them, is the time to think. I could not see things clear +last night, though you know how little I take, Captain, compared with +anybody else about. But when the sun came up from under to me, my +brains, which are bright now and then, began to work. I thought of you +snoozing in the ashes, and I resolved to do my best for you." + +"Go on, my son," said the Captain kindly, with the tolerance of a +gentleman who is offered lager-froth, instead of solid Bass; "there is +no doubt that you have fine ideas. A man who turns out so early picks up +something." + +"Then what do you say to this?" cried Jack. "You might roll over fifty +times, till nine o'clock, as old gentlemen do in England, and yet never +find it occur to you. That Clipper of the mountains"--"Cleopatra" was +the word in his mind perhaps--"is a terrible oner for money, they say, +and we have had a tip or two to that effect. Till we paid her toll, +though it is robbery downright, a bullet used to come from some black +corner, and my very best hand had a sample through his hat. One must +expect that sort of thing of course, in an out-of-way part of the world +like this; but luckily they have never been at Wimbledon. I came very +near the Queen's Prize once; but I told you all about that, last night. +These beggars won't give me a chance. Never mind, it will come some day. +But they haven't tried to pot us, since we paid toll. Now why shouldn't +you go upon the same tack? Go to Her Majesty, as an opposition company, +and offer a premium over our heads." + +"Upon my word, you are a clever fellow," said Strogue, looking at him +thoughtfully; "I fancied so when I saw the tar-pot. But, Jack, my dear +boy, is there any foundation, anything for us to go upon?" + +"Yes, there is. And we can make much more of it. I can promise you an +interview with the tigress, if you will offer to put stripes of gold on +her. You know what those confounded Germans are. No sooner do they hear +of any English enterprise than they want to go one better and collar it. +They come in, and hoist us out, and get the cream of all our sweat. +There was a tremendous man of science, Herr Baddechopps, or Baddechumps, +or some such name, poking about here with spectacles last autumn; I have +got his card, and you shall have it. We put a rope round him, and two +men at either end, and swept him down the hill faster than he came up, +and we promised him the loop round his neck if he came back; for I can't +stand their jealousy of everything we discover! You go and tell Marva +that we have got the place too cheap; that it all belongs to her, and +you will pay three times the royalty. Take a notary with you, but sign +nothing." + +"George, I am up for trying it, if you are," said Strogue. "What is the +name of her place--Gomorrah? Doesn't sound very inviting, does it? But +the lady won't hurt us, if we leave our cash behind. We can get there in +three days, you said last night. Let us beard the tigress in her den. I +have never been quite in that part before. There is no such thing as a +road, of course. All the better for that sometimes." + +Nickols advised us to take no horses, lest we should be murdered for +their sake; but to hire a guide, and a tent, and half-a-dozen of his men +(whom he would try to spare), as well as our own interpreter, and a +Tartar or two who were always hanging about the Russian fort. Thus we +should be ten or twelve in number, all well-armed, and capable of giving +a good account of some thirty Ossets, if they took our expedition +roughly; for they are not good shots, and their guns are very poor. + +We spent that evening in consultation, receiving many hints from our +young friend, who would have been glad to join us, if the state of his +work had allowed it. But his mate, as he called him, was away, and so he +could not well leave the diggings; moreover, there would have been some +danger that he might be recognised, which would prove fatal to our case +at once. Yet he promised to help us with all his force, in any great +emergency, if we could only give him notice in good time, and this was +of no less value to us than a troop of Cossacks. Meanwhile he would send +to make inquiry at Vladikaukaz, the chief town on the north, which +travellers from Russia would be almost sure to pass, whether our friends +had been heard of there. And so, with many thanks, we left him for the +present, and spent a day at Kazbek village, preparing for our visit to +the Princess Marva. + +Against so fierce an enemy, and with so good an object, our stratagem +for obtaining an audience was fair enough; but to use the German +professor's card seemed to me far beyond the most elastic stretch of +honesty; so I threw it into the fire, to save argument, for Strogue +took a different view of the case. "You may take the lead, and you may +call yourself a German," I told him resolutely; "I am a silent partner, +and it does not matter who I am. The lady speaks better French perhaps +than you do, and certainly much better than I do. You do all the +talking, and I nod my head. Cator is drawing up the rough agreement, +which we submit for her consideration. The beauty of it is, that if in +her greed she even gives a nibble at the bait, we can dangle it ever so +long before her, and are sure to find out something of what we want to +know. Cator must put it as vaguely as he can, and leave the royalty +blank for us to fight about." + +Cator was one of Jack Nickols' men, a sharp and well-educated youth, who +had been in a lawyer's office, but found a lack of bracing qualities in +the air, and left his stool in search of them. And now we gave him a +double fee to prepare a document and enact the lawyer's clerk at our +interview, for men of law were almost as rare as men of medicine in +these parts. A formidable deed it was, with half-a-dozen seals to it, +and we wrapped it round a straight black horn from some sheep or goat of +the mountains. + +The roads were bad, being over-metalled by the melting of the snow. For +the roads are the river-courses, and when nature lays too much water on, +it is not easy to get along them, even the right way of the grain. And +our course now was against the grain, towards the head springs, or +mother glaciers of the river Terek; which would have conducted us, when +in a proper mood, but now knocked us back again, with a gruff and grey +adversity. Neither was there anything for the eyes to spread their rims +at, and make light of all the discontent of legs and back. All was dry +rock, except where it was wet with dribble, or dirty with reek of thaw; +and there was scarcely a tree to wipe the air, or show what way the wind +came. + +Nevertheless we strove along, following our guide, who cared much more +about putting his own feet right than ours. For these men are not like +the Alpine guides, whose loyalty is more to them than money. At length, +on the third afternoon, we stood before a strange place, which I cannot +describe, nor even give a rough idea of it, unless I may compare it with +a great pile of big dominoes, set at any angle, some on end, and some on +edge, on the top of a black pillow bolt-upright. And this was the +fortress of the Osset Queen. + +We sounded a trumpet, but received no answer. And then we made a +rub-a-dub on a goat-skin drum, which was hanging on a stump for +visitors. And when we left off, we heard a screech of metal going +rustily and heavily upon its hinges. Then a muzzle, as big as a small +church bell, came out, and we thought it was all up with us. + +But Strogue, like a brave man, waved a white handkerchief on the screw +of his ramrod, and we pushed the interpreter foremost, though it +required three men to do it. What he said was beyond me altogether, +though crowded with illustrious but anxious words. And if words were +ever known to afford relief, it is fair to acknowledge that they did so +then. The great muzzle which commanded all our bodies, so that to fly +was hopeless, sank upon its pivot--or whatever it might be--and a +ladder, which had been out of sight behind a buttress, came sliding down +the base to meet us. "One man first" was the order from the loop-hole; +and every one of us quite admitted his friend's claim to precedence. +"Can die but once," cried Strogue; "here goes." Upon which I felt my +cheeks burn, and said, "Let me." But he answered, "No, you shall come +next, my son." + +The Captain went up heavily, with the scroll upon his back, and the +four-chambered "bull-dog" in his left breast-pocket; and we saw two men +receive him on a narrow parapet, and he waved his hand to us to indicate +all right. Then he vanished round a corner, and we waited for some +minutes, having found a little shelter where it would take some time to +shoot us. We assured one another very strongly that if anything happened +to Captain Strogue, we would not be satisfied with avenging him, but +would have the whole place down, and a British fleet in a position to +rake all the Caucasus, when to our great relief he appeared again at the +head of the ladder and shouted, "Three more fellows may come up now." +This time, I was the foremost to run up. Not that I was really afraid +before; only that I waited to know what the others thought, as a man of +modesty and deliberation does, when the circumstances are unusual. Cator +followed readily, and so did another of Jack Nickols' men; but the +interpreter said that we should find him more useful at the bottom of +the ladder. "She is a stunner, and she has got a stunning place," +Strogue whispered to me, as he led us through a dark passage into a long +low room; "she beats the Begum all to fits." + +What Begum he meant I could not tell, having heard him speak of several +whose hearts he had broken in his early days. But if he meant some +regal-looking woman, he was not beyond the mark in his comparison. For I +had never beheld one so stately and grand as the lady who now received +us with a slight inclination, reflected by the polish of the black +walnut table before her. She was sitting in a chair of purple velvet +with a leopard's skin thrown over it, and her dress was of soft maroon +brocade, with white fur trimmings at the neck and wrist, and a gold +chain flowing upon her full broad bosom. There was not a wrinkle or a +spot to mar the shapely column of her neck, or the firm sleek comeliness +of her face; and her eyes, if there had only been some sweetness in +them, would have been as lovely as they were splendid. Her complexion +was darker than Sûr Imar's, and the lineaments more delicate, so that +her face excelled his in perfection of form, as the feminine face should +do. But as to expression, the gentler element was by no means in its +duty there; for the aspect was of one who scorns, mistrusts, and repels +all fellow-creatures, and sees the evil in them only. + +"These, then, are the members of your company, Herr Steinhart,"--she +addressed herself to Strogue, after one flashing glance at each of us, +as we entered, and her French pronunciation was a little too good for me +to follow all of it, though she did not infuse much nasal twang; "and it +is your opinion that I am deluded by those who are working my mines at +present?" _My mines_ indeed, how grand! I thought; what would the +Russians have to say to that? + +"I never speak ill of the poor," replied Strogue, "and we must make +every allowance for the British audacity, your Highness. All cannot +afford to pay as we can, for the reason that they have not our enormous +capital at command. We always find it the wisest course to treat the +landowners liberally. We make no pretence to be better, more honest or +more generous, than those Englishmen. Your Serene Highness, although so +young, has had sufficient experience of the world, to know that all men +are by nature rogues." + +"My faith, but it is true! How seldom, though, have the men the good +manners to acknowledge that! Rather do they not put the fault upon the +more simple and righteous sex?" + +"Your Serene Highness," Strogue answered gravely, seeing that this title +was not ungrateful, "the ladies perceive at once that they are grossly +wronged; but they are too magnanimous, too regardless of gain, to +remonstrate. You, for example, how much do you care? You have ample +revenues from your sovereignty, and things that occur on the back of a +mountain are of small account to you. Nevertheless the right is right, +and it ought to be defended." + +"And the right shall be defended, when it is my right," said the lady; +"I am not accustomed, as you well observed, to the smaller business, +Herr Steinhart; but those who defraud me suffer for it. Make your offer, +if you please, more intelligible." + +This was the very thing we did not want to do, having no offer of any +kind to make. But Strogue had gone far enough, and wide enough, to know +that a question is answered best by another question. + +"Is it possible that your Serene Highness will oblige us with the amount +which those arrogant Englishmen have been in the habit of contributing +to your lofty revenues? We are a wealthy company, but we cast away no +money." + +"It is just," she replied, "and my desire is for justice. This is what +they pay me now. But they would have to double it for the coming year. +The trumpery sum of two hundred roubles. With you I will not treat for +less than a thousand, and for one year only at that price." + +"Your Highness is very just and moderate," said Strogue, while I turned +away to hide my indignation, and sadness, that a woman so magnificent +should stoop to such a lie; for I knew that Jack Nickols had paid her +only twenty roubles, to last for two years, as she had no title there +whatever. "But your Highness will pardon me for mentioning that we have +heard a rumour, perhaps an absurd one, that a brother of yours, a great +Lesghian chief, who was banished by the Russians, is now returning to +his country, and may claim his rights over that desolate spot, and +finally establish them. In that case our lease from your Serene Highness +might not be so valuable as we were led to hope." + +A deep colour flushed, or I might say flashed, into the clear dusk of +her cheeks, and a brilliance into the darkness of her eyes. Then she +placed the long oval of her smooth plump hands (which reminded me of +Dariel's, but were half again as large) on the black walnut wood before +her, and gazed at the Captain, till he scarce knew where he was. Then +she turned her eyes on me, with contempt subduing anger. + +[Illustration: "_Gazed at the Captain till he scarce knew where he +was._"] + +"If you think to defraud me by such pretences,"--as she spoke she rose, +and her head towered over the dumb-foundered Strogue's, and Cator's +also,--"it would have been better for you, if you had remained at the +foot of my hospitable ladder. As to the chances of Sûr Imar's +interference, you shall have the evidence of Prince Hafer. His signature +also you shall have. I will produce him to you." With swift yet +dignified steps, she left the long gloomy room, and we stared at one +another. + +"Better cut and run, if they have left the ladder there," Strogue +whispered, for several men now occupied the doorway; "it is all up, if +Hafer sees us. I made sure from what they told us that he was miles +away. What's the good of four of us?" + +"They can shoot us all the easier, if we run," I said; "let us have it +out here, if it must be; this thundering walnut table makes a grand +breastwork. After all, they may not want to fight us." + +"We can settle at least half-a-dozen of them;" Cator's eyes shone with +legal pugnacity, "four Englishmen can lick a score of Ossets." + +"Not if they are like that man," said the fourth of us, Tommy Williams, +pointing to the door, which was not a door (as the old joke has it), +neither could it be a jar, but looked more like a bed-curtain. The +lintel was appointed for men of good stature, and I had passed beneath +it without much bend; but the young man, who made his entry now, was +above any moderate stature of mankind, as he promised in breadth to +out-do them. In a flash of thought, Sûr Imar stood before me, as I first +beheld him. "Has that woman killed him, and is this his spectre?" I +asked myself, as I fell back, and stared. + +Dark as the room was, another moment showed me the excited wandering of +my wits. This was not Sûr Imar's face, but one of similar comeliness, +without his resolution behind it. A gentle, pleasant, large, and kindly +countenance as his was, but with very sad placidity, and no strong will +to enforce its lines. The face of a man who can be trusted to do you no +wrong, and never to stop any other man from doing it. Like that of the +friends we value most, when our little world goes smoothly. + +He came to the table, behind which we had posted ourselves for a +desperate stand, and there he bowed very gracefully to us, and then +looked round for his admirable mother, as if he were quite at a loss +without her. Strogue, in his polite way, asked in English, "Who the +devil are you, sir?" The young giant looked at him, and shook his head, +like a stranger to our fine language. "No fear; he won't fight," the +Captain cried to comfort us; and we all took our hands from the triggers +in our pockets. + +His golden curls were waving still--for he had the finest crop that I +ever did see--and he was looking at us calmly, and as we thought with a +sweet and hospitable intent, when back came the lady almost with a rush, +and tokens of fury on her too expressive face. She had not meant her son +to come in without her; and we smiled among ourselves, as we thought how +he would "catch it," by and by at any rate, if not in our presence. +However, she controlled herself, and introduced him grandly. + +"Gentlemen, this is my son Prince Hafer, who will add his signature to +mine, to remove all your hesitation, if the terms you propose should be +suitable. Also he will confirm my declaration that my brother Sûr Imar +will raise no claim to the valuable mines you propose to rent from me. +The Prince is capable of speaking French; though not perhaps with my +facility. Your concession, which I have perused, is in French, but the +amount of your payment is not yet stated. It will be useless to say less +than one thousand roubles, five hundred of which must be paid in +advance. Herr Steinhart, I am not a lover of money; but I must insist +upon my son's rights. Do you consent to the sum I mention?" + +Strogue looked at me, and then at Cator. Intending no business, but only +a sham for the purpose of seeing the lady, and hearing something about +her brother, he was taken aback at this close issue, especially the +demand for a large payment on the nail. Moreover, his mind was in sad +confusion, and so was mine, I must confess, about the existence of two +Prince Hafers, while we durst not even hint at any explanation. But +Cator was quicker, and more ready with a quiddity. + +"Your Highness," he said, "as the legal adviser of this wealthy company, +I may say that we shall not object to the rent you reserve, nor to the +prepayment, which to us is a trifle below consideration. Only I should +take a note of guarantee from your Highness, and also from Prince Hafer, +against interference on your brother's part. That will have to be +embodied in this instrument, which moreover has not as yet the necessary +stamp. You have already given us your full assurance. If the Prince in +my presence will add his, according to your proposition, I will put them +into legal form." + +"Bravo, Cator!" cried that stupid Strogue in English. "Did you speak, +sir?" asked the Princess. "Your Serene Highness, I am afflicted with a +cough," the Captain replied, with his hand before his mouth. + +"My son," said the lady, looking steadily at Hafer, "oblige me by +sitting down in that chair. It is one of my afflictions, gentlemen, that +he is not always in strong health. But he is the delight of all our +tribe; so amiable, so just, so generous! Now," she continued, with her +back towards us, so that we could not see the expression of her eyes, +"assure these gentlemen, my dear son, of your certain knowledge that +Prince Imar will never set foot upon Kazbek again." + +"I have no knowledge. I have never seen him. His doings are unknown to +me. I cannot affirm at all where he is." As the Prince spoke, in French +rather worse than my own, he began to tremble violently, and his eyes +turned away from his mother's face. + +We saw her place one hand below her solid breast. And then she said, +coaxingly as we thought, "The poor dear, what an affliction it is! But, +my son, you can give us your firm belief that he will never tread the +mountain of Kazbek any more." + +"He will never tread that mountain any more," the young man replied in a +low sad voice; and then he broke into a torrent of tears. + +"Excuse me, gentlemen. It is most grievous. From a child he has suffered +from these heart-attacks. Oh, the unfortunate mother that I am!" As she +spoke, she was leading him out of the room; and we drew aside +respectfully. + +Before we had time to discuss this scene, her ladyship returned with +some tears in her eyes, which made her look strangely beautiful. "I +thank you for your most kind sympathy," she said, "and will not detain +you any longer. If you will put all into proper form (for even in +trouble such things must be seen to), and return with the 500 roubles +and the deed, if it may be this day-week, I will grant all your desires. +Till then, farewell." + +With silent salaams we took our leave, and were shown forth, not from +the rock-front of the castle, but through a narrow passage, or gallery, +cut in the crag, and provided with iron doors. And the Ossets who +conducted us could not be tempted to open lips, or to make a sign. + + + + +CHAPTER XLVII + +WOLF'S MEAT + + +Thus far Cator, the attorney's clerk, had proved himself the most +sagacious and quick-witted of our party; though Captain Strogue would +have been amazed and indignant to hear me say so. And now, when we had +rejoined the rest of our little expedition, and all were recruiting the +inner man (or the middle man perhaps he is, body being first, stomach +second, and mind--when found, third portion), that sprig of the law came +up, with a bone between his teeth, and begged the Captain and myself, +who were feeding from the outside tops of our hats, to go a little +further round the elbow of a crag. There he asked us what opinions we +had formed; and when we had taken our seats, we said: "None at all; +except that we are all bamboozled." + +"No doubt about that. But how, and why?" He answered with a mysterious +look, which we were inclined to smile at, not having known him long +enough to be sure of his prophetic gifts. "A lot of things have occurred +to me, which may be very absurd of course, and it is not likely that all +are right; but I am pretty sure that some are. Shall I tell you, and +hear what you think of them?" We lit our pipes, and nodded to him, and +smiled at one another. + +"To begin with, then, I suspect most strongly that her Majesty, the +Devil's wife, for so she deserves at least to be, has got her brother +under lock and key somewhere, snug enough, and at her mercy, if she owns +such a quality. Did you see what she touched, when she went to gag, and +at the same time to cram, that poor young fellow, whose will she has +crushed out of him by years and years of bullying? Perhaps you could +not see where you stood; and she did not think that I could. But I saw +the tips of her long fingers playing with a key which was in her belt--a +mere household key of course--but enough to remind her unlucky son where +his poor Uncle was, without much chance of ever coming forth, but in his +coffin. And I caught a glance of his which proved that he understood her +meaning, and might soon have the same thing for himself. And then you +saw how he broke down; for he is a very tender-hearted youth." + +"By Jove, it sounds uncommonly like it; I was so taken aback," said +Strogue, "at seeing another Prince Hafer in the field, and so different +from my Simon Pure, that I could not notice small things much; and +perhaps it was the same with Cranleigh. There is some abominable villany +at work, and we shall be too late to stop it. I would like to insure +friend Imar's life for ten thousand at five thousand premium. Go on, my +son, thou speakest well." + +"Another thing, according to my lights. He is not in that queer old +place at all, Gomorrah Castle, or whatever they call it, although there +are plenty of black holes there, enough to starve a regiment man by man. +No, he is away to the North at present, perhaps on the other side of the +mountains. You saw the big window that faced the North, more like a door +than a window it was. Well, every time her brother was in question, and +especially when she was fingering that key, she gave a quick glance +through that window, very likely without even knowing it. People who +gesticulate much often follow it up in that way. When they speak of a +distant thing, they glance in that direction, if they can see it, or +anything anywhere near it; and there was a great double-peaked mountain +covered with snow, like a white mitre, stuck against the sky in the +North. And if her brother had been in the castle dungeons, she would +have made us go down the front ladder again, instead of getting a wink +of back premises." + +"Upon my word, this boy is wide-awake, considering how little he has +seen yet of the world. Cator, like Cato, thou reasonest well. Go ahead, +my son, we hearken thee." + +"You see, Captain," said the young man, feeling abashed in the presence +of such renown, and doubtful about some chaff in its palm; "you see, I +should never care to offer you advice. It might be in place with Mr. +Cranleigh here, because he is only a young beginner. But you know what's +what, I should say, ever so much better than I do. But as you tell me to +go on, I will. Her Serene Highness intends to make away with her +twin-brother, on Monday next." + +"Come now, come now! I can stand a great deal, Cator. And none of your +butter-Scotch--no, you are a Shropshire man, you say. Whatever you are, +it won't make that go down. Why, Old Moore, and Zadkiel would be nothing +to you." + +"Captain, I will tell you what I go by, and then you'll be able to judge +for yourself, whether I talk bunkum, or good sense. I have been in these +parts for a twelvemonth now, and I ought to know something of these +blessed natives. There are no two lots of them quite alike, any more +than two mountains or two valleys are. But there is not a pin to choose +among them in the matter of laziness. Poor beggars, they can scarcely +help that, I dare say, frozen as they are for half the year, and roasted +for the other half. Well, about here the manner is to keep three +holidays, Friday, Saturday, and Sunday, just as if they did anything on +the other four days. These Ossets about here have no religion of any +sort worth speaking of. Some call themselves Christians, some +Mahometans, many are simple idolaters; but all are full of superstition, +as such people must be. All they do in the religious way, is to stick to +their fasts and festivals, particularly the festivals. And their great +festival of the year finishes up next Sunday." + +"What the deuce has that got to do with it?" Strogue enquired +impatiently, for the sun was beginning to slope along the valley, and we +had ten miles to go to the next covered place. + +"Everything, if you will hear me out. That festival goes on for three +weeks; and during that time it is not lawful to follow up even the +blood-feud. But on Monday, it will be the proper thing to stick and stab +all who are waiting for it. And what makes me think that this little +game is on, according to institution, is that we have not seen a living +soul, except an old woman and a child or two, in the miserable villages +we have come by. Why? For the very simple reason that every noble savage +who can swing a dagger is off for this great act of faith on Monday; to +see the death of the head of the clan avenged." + +"I won't believe a word of it," I exclaimed, meaning no rudeness of +course to Cator, but scouting the possibility of such fiendish +abominations, after all I had heard of the great man's lofty hopes and +pure ideals. + +"To me it seems likely enough," said Strogue. "I have been among fellows +who would eat their mothers, and serve up their own babies for a +garnish. We have none of that sort to deal with here; and the men of +these mountains, taking them all round, are an indolent rather than a +cruel lot. Quarrelsome of course, and hot of blood, but most loyal to +their chiefs, and very generous sometimes. It is the blood-feud that +makes devils of them; but how can they help that? It is their test of +honour, ever since they came out of the Ark with the raven. What we have +got to do is to act exactly as if all our friend Cator suggests were the +fact. Thursday to-day; there is little time to lose, even if we can +catch it up at all. We shall want every son of an emerald of you; and +you must fight like sons of the Emerald Isle. By Jove, what a ripping +turn-up it will be! Right about face, quick march for Kazbek!" + +It was all very well for him, and Cator, and the rest to take things +lightly thus. They could not be expected to feel much concern for the +Lesghian Chief, or a Lesghian lady even more adorable. And as for +Strogue his main object was less to rescue Sûr Imar, than to wreak his +own vengeance upon Hafer--that is to say the London Hafer, the one who +had leaped the ivied wall, and shot at me, and robbed the Captain, by +some blackleg's process, of £300. + +But I (with my warm affection and deep pity for the father, and +passionate love of the daughter) could see no adventurous joy or fierce +delight in the issue impending. I wanted no revenge, no compensation for +anything done against me. Hafer the genuine, and Hafer the counterfeit, +might settle their claims to the title as they pleased; even that most +malignant and awful woman--if she were as black as she was painted--the +Princess Marva might live her life out, and give the best account of it +when her time came; if only she could be kept from harming her relatives +so innocent. There must be in her motives something more than we could +see. Revenge alone for the loss of a husband, with whom she had lived on +the worst of terms, and who had wronged her on the tenderest +point--that, and the time-worn grievance about the refusal of her +marriage-portion were not enough to drive her to such a horrible and +unnatural deed as--unless we wronged her most shamefully--she was now in +cold blood designing. There must be some other strong motive too, some +great temptation of self-interest, some of that stern, sour stuff which +drives us out of the hive that should be sweet to us. + +No man knows what he does or thinks (unless he can keep himself separate +from the thoughts of all around him, which requires a wonderful nature) +when his legs go along with the legs of other men, and he has to swing +his arms accordingly. There was no sort of march among us; for we had +never been even of the Volunteer Force (except myself, and that only +made me critical, without any help in it), and if we had wanted to show +the Caucasus any sense of drill, we could never have done it, even if we +had known how. By order of the rocky way, or of rocks without any way +among them, we could never march two abreast, or even three in file with +decency. All we could do was to get along, and admire one another's +clumsiness. + +Then we came to a place with a sudden gap in front, and nothing but the +sky beyond it. A cleft in the crown of a rugged ascent, with spires of +black rocks right and left. And there on the saddle-ridge that we must +pass, a gaunt and wondrous figure arose, whether of man or of beast, and +wavered against the grey mist of the distance, and swayed. Two long +arms, like a gallows out of gear, or a cross that has rotted with its +weight, struck up; and having been severely tried already we were much +at a loss what to make of it. There was good light still, and we were +not to be frightened, as we must have been after sunset; but the +Interpreter being always nervous turned round, and exclaimed: "She has +sent the Devil, the Devil himself, to stop us." While he spoke the long +figure fell down on its knees, and swung its lank arms, like a windmill. + +"Hold hard! Don't fire!" Strogue shouted sternly, as some of our men +had brought their guns to bear. "Idiots, it is nothing but a poor lost +man, a fellow without a bit of food inside him. George, let us go and +see what he is up to." + +I was ready to go anywhere and do anything in my present state of mind; +and when we came up to him, our poor brother mortal fell upon his face, +and put his hands upon our feet. He muttered some words which we could +not understand, and then he opened his mouth, which was very large, and +pointed down it intelligibly to the slowest comprehension. + +"He may be the Devil, but he wants some grub," Strogue shouted back to +our company, who were still looking towards us doubtfully, for people +become superstitious, without intending it, in these wild places. Then +Cator came up, with a barley-cake in one hand and his rifle in the +other. The unfortunate starver took no heed of the weapon in his +extremity, but stretched his shrivelled arm across the muzzle, and tore +the cake from Cator. In a moment it was gone, almost without a munch; +and then he stared at us, with sun-scorched eyes projecting from their +peel like a boiled potato,--and groaned for more, crooking his fingers +like prongs of a rake. We shrank from him so that he might not touch us. +But for the blood he was covered with we should have taken him for a +skeleton; and but for his groans and nakedness we should have passed him +as a scarecrow. + +"Don't be in such a hurry, old chap, or you'll do yourself more harm +than good," Strogue suggested reasonably. But even if the other had +understood, it would have made no difference. He spread his face out in +such a manner that there was nothing left but mouth; as a young cuckoo +in a sparrow's nest, when his stepmother cannot satisfy him, squattles +his empty body down, and distends himself into one enormous gape. Then +Tommy Williams came up laughing, with his hat full of broken victuals; +and the Captain, who understood the subject, said: "Not too fast, or +he'll fall to pieces. And pour down a little whiskey to soften it." + +When the poor fellow came round a little--and flat enough he had been +before--to our surprise he proved himself an exceedingly brave and +well-intentioned man. In fact, if he had been otherwise we should never +have found him there. A barbarian he appeared at first, but that was +appearance only, and under the stress of misfortune, although he +belonged to a race which is the most barbarous of the Caucasus. When +through our nervous interpreter we began to understand him, we soon +perceived that it was our good luck as well as his own, which had +brought him to us. And much as at first we grudged the time expended in +this humanity, we soon came to see that it had been well spent, even for +our own purposes. After such a fast, and then such feasting (prolonged +in even more than due redress), it would have been most unfair to expect +many words from him prematurely. We clothed him a little, for he was +stark naked,--and so hairy a person I never beheld,--and then we cut the +tight cord knotted round his waist, from which even famine had not freed +him; and then we made a litter--for he could not walk--and carried him +to our night-quarters. Luckily there was no foe in search of us, or that +miserable sufferer's groans and snores must have told our whereabout to +every echo. He surprised us again by an eager call for supper, but none +would we give him, until he had splashed for a quarter of an hour in the +glacier stream. Then we fed him again, and clothed him fairly, and a +decent and reputable man he looked, though going down the vale of years. +And his tale was interpreted as follows. + + + + +CHAPTER XLVIII + +USI, THE SVÂN + + +"I am Usi, of Ushkul, in the country of the Svâns; Usi the Bear-slayer +was my name, as long as I lived among them. The custom of the country is +that as often as a female child is born, any youth of the village who +looks forward to his need of marriage may come to the cradle and hang +his own bullet around the neck of the infant, and from that time she is +pledged to him, and he must marry her when she is old enough. When I was +a stripling, the wife of our Priest produced him their fourteenth child, +a daughter; and I was the first to go in at his door, and bespeak the +young creature for myself. But as fortune ordained, the damsel proved +deaf and dumb, though in other ways quite useful; and I very justly +refused in the presence of all the village to marry her. And this I did, +when she was ten years old, allowing her plenty of time for others, who +might esteem it to their pleasure and advantage to possess a wife +without a tongue. But the very next day, when I was watching the maize, +a bullet came through my hat, and lodged in a tree behind me; and when I +dug it out, behold it was my own with the fancy pattern on it, with +which I had betrothed myself ten years before. To that I need not have +paid much attention, but that the Priest had nine well-grown sons, and +it would be the duty of all these nine in succession to lie in wait for +me, and endeavour to shoot me through the head. The eldest had been too +near the mark for me to believe without rashness that the other eight +would fire in vain; so I took my good mother's advice, which she gave me +with many tears, and left my native place for lifetime. Neither was it +safe for me to dwell in any of the villages for miles and miles around, +because we people of the Svâns had suffered from want of food for the +last two years, and had been obliged to take all the loaves, and corn, +and cattle of our neighbours within three days' journey; and so we were +out of favour with them. + +"On this account I was compelled, having borne a strong hand in those +forages, to keep myself away from spots where I would have settled +gladly. At a distance I saw beautiful maidens, over the tops of the +raspberries; but whenever I desired to draw near them, there was sure to +be a father or a brother, whose cow or whose sheep had been beef or +mutton to me. And those people bear such things in mind, not being +generous as we are. And thus I went along the valleys, feeding on the +fruit, wherever the bears had left a tail of it. Then going further +towards the rising sun, which is the strength of all of us, I came upon +a man who carried a kinjal on a gun-mouth. + +"In those days, I could jump as high as I could put my hands up; and +being surprised by his pointing at me, I did it to give him time to +think. This made him think more of me than I deserved, and instead of +shooting me, he asked in what land men could jump so. I could not +understand at first, though he did it with all his fingers; because we +had kept ourselves apart from other people, whenever we could live +without our neighbours' goods. But I was always considered the foremost +of the young men for understanding, and I contrived to make out what he +meant, and to do a thing which is much harder--to make him know what I +meant. He was a soldier of the great Imaum, desiring to shoot Russians; +and as soon as we made out one another, he showed me the notches on his +gun, and I counted forty-two, and he said every one was the good corpse +of a Russian. This made me long to do the like, though the Russians had +never shot at me, but my own friends had; and my soul arose to look +along a gun at any stranger, even as it had been done to me. + +"Others came up, and when they found how straight my barrel was, and +what it was famous for doing among the bears, the Captain said, 'Thou +shalt do it, my lad, with the bears that eat our people.' And so I was +put into Shamyl's army, and for many years enjoyed myself. I have shot +three Russian colonels, and small officers by the dozen; and I could +have shot the Commander once; but his daughter was by his side, and I +stopped my finger when it was on the crook, with my mind upon my mother. + +"Twelve years I fought under Shamyl, and did so much good that as often +as a great man came on the Russian side, it was my place to put a stop +to him. If you come across any of our old men now, and say to them, +'What about Usi the Bear' you will see their eyes sparkle, and hear them +say, 'Not one among us could compare with him for sending a Cossack to +the devil three-quarters of a verst away.' Alas that I shall no more do +it! The times are not as they used to be. + +"Then there came a man who was the noblest of all the sons of men to +look at that ever the red sun shone upon. Imar, the son of Dadian, +Master of the Western Lesghians, stronger than an Auroch bull, and +gentler than a suckling woman. His father Dadian had been mighty, and a +lord of men; but Imar was as the Saint Christ that stands in gold among +the images of clay. Though I was not of his tribe, I craved to be put +into his troop, and whatever he did Usi was never far away. Until the +war came to an end, and all who were not shot or starved went home to +their own mountains. But I dared not go to Ushkul yet, and had forgotten +how to live without a rifle in my hands. Then Imar, the son of Dadian, +took me, and beholding in me an honest man, and the surest with a long +gun of all whom he had proved in battle, he appointed me a little place +on the northern slope of Kazbek, to keep the wild beasts from the crops, +and the wolves who had thriven by means of the war from eating the +helpless children. As long as he reigned I had a hut in the forest, and +twenty-five kopeks a week, and all the timber I could cut, and a wife +who behaved very softly to me, and bore me several children. + +"Then the Russians spread their hands along the mountains and the +valleys, when there was no longer any power of men in arms to stop them, +and they put a tribute on every house, and they sent away all the +leaders of the men who had fought against them, and among them the Lord +Imar, to a little island in the West which had never been friendly with +them. My money was cut down to ten kopeks; but I had my cattle and sheep +and goats, and all the things that I could grow or shoot, until that +Princess Marva came, the widow of Rakhan Houseburner, and claimed the +command of everything. I would not rebel against the sister of the man I +had loved so much, and she said that she sent him all the money to keep +him in his exile, and for a long time people believed her. Until a great +man of authority was sent to us from Russia, to see to the forests and +the revenue, and he told us that the lady had never sent a kopek to her +brother, but that the Russians very justly allowed him most of his +revenue, because he had friends of clever voices and power in high +places. Then the Princess said that I defied her, although I had never +said a word of lies, and she sent fierce men to turn me out; but I had a +little powder left, and my eye was straight though my hands are old, and +I made two of them fall as dead as bears, and the rest flew away, like +the shadow of a cloud, when the wind is blowing. + +"But a week after that my house was burned, while my wife and I were +fast asleep; and I lost the gun that shoots so straight, though I think +it must be in the ashes still. My little daughter, nine years old, died +in the stream we put her in to relieve her of her death-pain, and the +other damsel and both my boys were hurt by jumping into the fir-tree. +The hair of my wife's head was scorched so that I had to put a +sheep-skin on; and the doctor said that if I had been a smooth man, I +never could have worn a shirt again. But people were good, and I had +shot a bear, which was hanging on a tree unmelted; and when you have +such fat to rub you, you can cure anything outside. + +"Ossets, and Lesghians, and such races might think none the worse of +Marva for treating them in that kind of way; but Svâns, such as I am, +have never abandoned their bodies and their goods to the authority of +any one since the time of the great Queen Tamara, none of us can tell +how long ago; and although I might not be a true Svân now, yet the +nature of the race abode in me. Then, while I was thinking, I heard a +thing which stirred me like the trumpet of the great Imaum,--Sûr Imar +himself was coming home to take his proper place again, and do good to +his people. Great joy was spread among the Lesghians; but the Ossets +went against the thought, because he had too much strength of law, and +had grievously wronged them of the many goods flowing in to their +dwellings from robbery, for the short time he governed at Karthlos. It +was said, moreover, that Queen Marva, as she loved to hear herself +called, would now have no chance of holding fast her manifold +encroachments, fruitful valleys which she had stolen, and flocks and +herds, and timber-trees, and crag-sides where some strangers pay her for +hunting stones which they can change for gold. + +"Now I will tell you a little thing; and it is the wisdom of the wiser +days. There are two sorts of bears which prowl and devour in the +corn-land and the forest; the big brown bear called _Michael_, who +destroys the crops and the fruit-trees, but is glad to run from an +unarmed child, unless his body is wounded; and then there is another +bear, not so large indeed, but black with a white frill to its bosom. +This animal we call _Michaina_; and a wise man flies from it, unless he +can slay it at one shot; because it will rush upon him in the dark, and +tear out his intestines. And our fathers have left word for us through +many generations, that the brown bear is the form in which bad men on +earth have been condemned to come back to it and see the harm they did; +when some of it has been stopped by death. But the black bears are the +wicked women, still going on in wickedness, not so often met with as the +evil men, but a hundredfold to be dreaded, being black to the depth of +their hearts and souls. And this black bear Queen Marva is. + +"I had no house in the forest now, and no place left me in the world +better than any other; and it mattered little to my flesh what became of +all great people. I had my wounded children, or as many as remained of +them, to carry on my back sometimes, or sometimes to run and pull me on, +according to the power of our courage. And my wife, when I grieved about +her hair, which had brought men in office to admire her, said that +without it her head felt lighter, and begged me not to accept another +woman, with no hut of my own to bring her to, and no meat to put into +her. Why she asked me such a thing--when I had never thought of it, and +was going along in a steadfast way, with a child on either +shoulder-blade--only the Lord, who made most of the women for our good, +can tell us. + +"Sir, and honourable gentlemen (who have saved my life upon a hair), +when I was a boy my teaching was to believe in the Devil only, and to +pray to certain images that knew the way to appease him. But now I have +been among wiser people, who look up to the sky, and think that it was +made for good as well as evil. And whether that be true or false, I have +found the people who think thus a great deal better than the dark +believers." + +At this point the poor Svân broke down, and shed a flood of tears after +a long sad gaze at the mountains as if he had no home now, and at the +sky as if he had no hope there. We gave him a little more nourishment, +for we saw that his tale was coming towards us now; and then he wiped +his eyes, and set them sternly, and cast self-pity into the fire of his +wrongs. + + + + +CHAPTER XLIX + +THE EYE OF GOD + + +"Seven days agone I was seeking in the woods, together with my wife and +little ones, with the worst of the winter past behind us, and kind roots +shining above the snow (which had smothered all of them for months), and +pith of growth as good as corn, to be found by those who are used to it; +for the desire of our hearts was only to keep a spark of life in them, +until we might get to places where mankind grows corn and grinds it. For +I had heard of an ancient friend, the best man I ever knew to fight, +when it came to axe or kinjal, though he never could shoot afar like me; +and his name was Stepan, the Lesghian. For a number of years he had been +away, following his master's fortunes; but lately he was come back, they +said, bringing household goods to prepare for him. + +"Then in the dark woods, as we crept along, weary and hungry and trying +vainly to comfort one another, we beheld a company of well-fed people, +riding in the timber-track below, which we had been afraid to occupy. By +the white sheep-skins upon their heads, we knew that they were Ossets, +men of Queen Marva's bodyguard, whom she had chosen from all the tribe; +even as the great Imaum had riders of the Avar race continually faithful +to him. At the head of them rode the young Prince Hisar, as wicked a +young man as ever drew breath; and behind them came a score of footmen, +rejoicing in cruelty, and haters of the Lord. + +"'Go you on, my child,' I said to my wife Rhada; 'in the morning I will +be with you by the great red pine;' so I left my family in the hands of +God, and putting dust upon my head, like an old man seeking alms, I +fell in with the rear of that sprawly-jointed troop, and none of them +knew that it was Usi. When a man calls for alms in the name of the Lord, +his brethren are happy to escape expense by letting him walk with them, +as if they heard him not. And so I went on with them till night, for I +wanted to know what their wickedness was; and I sang them sweet verses +which they could not understand, and they gave me some scraps to keep me +quiet. Then from a boy who was pitiful to me, perceiving how much of the +world I had seen, when the flesh-pots hung upon the crooks and bubbled, +I learned what the meaning of this armed troop was. They were coming +with a strong force by order of their Mistress, to make a hearty welcome +to her brother and his daughter upon their return to the native land, +from the place where the Russian steam-road ends at the Northern plain +of the great mountains. All had been settled that Sûr Imar and his +daughter should come from Vladikaukaz in a hired troika, and be received +by their loving sister and aunt, at a place appointed; and there they +must leave the great Dariel road, and be conducted by her to Karthlos, +with great rejoicing and affection kindled. But why were all these men +thus armed? Not as for travelling only? Why did they carry ropes and +chains? Why was there not a Lesghian among them? and why was there no +sign of the Princess, eager to embrace her kindred? Loving Sûr Imar as I +did, I resolved to go on, and understand these things. + +"On the following day, the Ossets drove me from among them with many +blows; but I cared not, since I had renewed my strength with plentiful +waste victuals, and a warm sound sleep. For I could watch them none the +worse for being outside of their wicked troop, and by this time I well +knew what they meant. So I followed them to the great Russian road, +towards which the forest track whereon I found them led; and there they +encamped on either side. There were steep rocks around them, full of +black caves and crannies, and without much risk I crawled up into one of +these, so that I could see all these warriors and the road beyond them, +without any risk of their seeing me. + +"Before I had been there very long, a three-horse carriage came up the +road, followed by two carts piled with goods; and the young chief rode +to meet them, and much salutation might be seen, and the carriage and +carts were unloaded and sent back again, so that only Sûr Imar--for I +knew his gait and stature even at that distance--with a young lady, and +two attendants, a man and a woman, stood in the road. Hisar no doubt had +assured them that the Princess was close at hand with vehicles well +prepared to conduct them home. But it seemed to me that the Prince and +the lady were looking to this side and to that, and gazing at every +corner, as if they expected some one who ought to have met them, but was +not to be found. And suddenly I thought that they were looking out for +Stepan, Imar's milk-brother and most faithful friend. And I wished with +all my heart that he were there, or could even be advised of his lord's +return. + +"Sir, and honourable gentlemen, I will not deceive you by speaking as if +I had seen the shameful things that happened, almost before one could +think of them, to the great Chief and his daughter. For they were led +very politely into a dark narrow valley that slopes from the road, and +cannot be discerned at all from it. And a torrent, that rushes along the +lower end, goes by with such an uproar that an army with drums might +scarcely be heard at the mouth of it. They were led there perhaps on +pretence of a hospitable meal such as I would with joy pursue. But in +sad truth it was to overthrow them by means of ropes, and loops, and +trees, for Sûr Imar was known to be the strongest man in all the great +army of Shamyl; and although he might now be unarmed and defenceless, it +would be easier to master him by fraud than force. And although I saw +not the doing of it, the old head sees more than young eyes sometimes; +according to an ancient tag of ours, 'The grey bush looks round the +corner.' + +"They came not back into the wide strong road, for fear of Cossacks or +other gapes; but went along the forest ways of rock and slough and +waterfall; and through my old experience in the turn of war--for Shamyl +was fox, wolf, and lion in one--it was easy enough for me to keep in +their track, without giving them any smell of me. They had my old +commander strapped on poles across two horses, which must have been +great pain for him, and would have torn a loose man in two; but I never +heard him speak a groan, although they passed through hollow places, +where the misery of a man sounds loud. The fair damsel had not her +senses with her, being of softer substance; and cruel as they were, they +bore her gently upon a litter of slender wood, not desiring to hurt her +yet, and having perhaps later occasion for her. Some of them jested +about her beauty, till the violent young man rode back, and sent their +loose mouths sprawling on the rocks. He means to keep her for himself, I +trow. + +"When the sun was getting low, and but for my memory of honest warfare, +and the love of an old soldier for a kindly leader, I must have dropped +away through weariness, the feet of their horses struck on softer +ground, and behold they were entering a fair green valley, on the +northern breast of Kazbek, where the sun strikes not from on high, but +twinkles along the rocky passages, when the slope of the earth invites +him, in the morning and in the evening time, like a low flight of +arrows, such as I have seen when the Svâns were mighty bowmen. Wherefore +this valley is never parched up, as they are on the south of the +mountains, but is covered with moss, like the breath of night, and soft +with trickling moisture. And the learned men say that an ancient race, +who had come through the gates of Caucasus, having conquered the whole +world all around, set up their last pillars here, and desired to go no +further. And the masonry of giants is there to prove it, such as no man +can make when the world grows old. + +"Here that troop of brigands--for such a name is almost too good for +them--opened a narrow door in the cliff, which cannot be seen from every +place, because dark rocks encompass it. What they did there I cannot +tell, for I durst not set foot down the valley, and there was no getting +near it in time from above, so as to look down over them. I could only +discover that some went in, stepping as if with burdens, while others +were left on guard outside. By and by, I heard a clanking like the swing +of an iron door, and presently all, or as I thought all, the riders came +back, and with laughter and singing, and the young chief Hisar at their +head, made off by the track which leads home to their village. + +"Then I did a very foolish thing, which has all but cost me my life, +without being of any use to Sûr Imar. If I had counted the men on +horseback, which I might have contrived perhaps to do, though it would +not have been very easy, I should have learned that they were not all +gone, but that two were left on guard. Descrying no horses tethered in +the valley, and knowing that the prisoners could not escape, I concluded +rashly that all the Ossets were gone, at least for the present, and that +I might safely spy all around, and perhaps even try to let Sûr Imar know +that I would do my best to save him. So I hastened with some care, but +still too boldly, along the foot of the cliff which rims the valley, so +as to endeavour to approach the door. For the shadows were wiping out +the shapes and colours of a man, or a bush, or a rock standing still; +while the soft moss and herbage took away the fear of sound. + +"Looking out winkingly in all directions, like a man of the chase who +has espied the Tûr, at the end of the valley in the clouding of the +dusk, I beheld a company of little rocks, jutting from the soft land, +and standing in jags, like an old man's teeth, across the butt-end, +where the dungeon began. In and out of these I crept, going very +stealthily, as if I were dealing with a Cossack outpost; but the +mischief of it was that I had no gun, only the dagger that everybody +has; and this one was more like lead than steel, having come to me cheap +in my distress from some city in the west called _Brummerum_. By +breathing upon it many times, I was doubtful of its temper, but never +thought how much it would betray me. + +"Among those jags of rock I stood, watching the face of the cliff +beyond, and the deep withdrawal of the iron door set in the granite +masonry of some nation as old as Noah. And I said to myself that with a +good ash-trunk, and Stepan, and myself, and a score of strong men to +charge at it like a battering-ram, stout as it was it would perhaps give +in. There were loop-holes also on either side, to give air and a little +light sometimes, and I ventured a low breath of whistle in a soft and +friendly tone, to ask whether anybody might look forth, though there was +no width for a fox to squeeze through. But the whole of my wisdom only +proved what a fool an old soldier is sometimes. + +"For a loop was thrown over my head from behind, and then two strong +men had hold of me. I managed to twist with one arm free, and struck +with my dagger at one of them. But instead of making any hole in him, it +came back on my wrist like an osier, having met with his metal +cartridge-belt; and then they pulled me off my feet, and I lay like a +sheep with his legs tied. I thought they would have cut my throat +outright, for my head fell back the right way of it, and one of them +whipped out his knife to do it; but the other cried out about the holy +season, and then put his arm across. So they satisfied themselves with +binding me with cords that cut into my flesh; and they carried me +through the night, shaken up with pain; and I knew not where I was, till +I came back to myself through necessity of lying to Queen Marva. + +"But as my evil fortune fell, there happened to be among the Ossets, +another old soldier of Shamyl, and one who had never served under Sûr +Imar. This man knew me, and told the Queen who I was; and but for the +holy time she would have crucified me then and there. 'Religion forbids +us to slay the wretch,' said Marva, with a glance of blackness, 'but +doth not forbid to make wolf's meat of him.' + +"Three days ago I was fastened to a rock with the big rope round my +body, and my wrists and ankles corded, so that if any wolves came by +they should have no trouble with me. But the Lord commanded only one +wolf to come, and he was overtaken with great wonder at the sight; and I +had the courage to keep silence, and gaze at him, as if demanding what +he meant by being there. Seeing me naked and so hairy, he could not +understand such an animal; for I could no longer stand upright. Then, as +I never flinched nor moved, he sheathed his teeth, and turned his eyes, +and his tail began to quiver. I kept my eyes fixed on him steadily, and +my face as firm as the crag behind; until with a little whine of doubt +he drew in his nostrils, and dropped his tail, and trotted off to +consult his friends, and perhaps he has taken his family to look for me +this evening. A monstrous wolf he was in truth, and as hungry perhaps as +I could be. + +"For two days I had been numbed, and parched, and struck by the sun and +the moon so much, that instead of any brave time of thought, I had only +leaped and raved and yelled, and dashed myself about in vain, tearing my +skin in strips, and cutting gashes into my purple flesh, and making +holes all over me. + +"But the moment that wolf was out of sight, I was seized with a cold and +shivering dread, so that I could see the naked hairs of all my body +quivering. Death I knew that I must have; and death had seemed a +reasonable thing, when I gave it to another man who was trying to do the +same to me. But to see myself being crunched alive, to feel those yellow +fangs pulling my strings out, and that long tongue lapping up my +blood--let me die before he came again. Surely I must have strength +enough left to burst the veins of my neck and die. Were there any rocks +within my reach so rugged and sharp that I might fling one of my leading +blood-pipes down, again and again, till it should burst? I flung out my +legs, and strained my length, like a chained dog clawing for a bone out +of reach, in search of some blade of flint keen enough to saw my gullet +or windpipe through. + +"But what did I descry wedged firmly in a little cleft among them? A +long brown eye, which I could see into, curdled with coils of different +colours, as regular as a bulb cross-cut, centred with vaporous waves, +and hooped with rings of white, as the rind encloses some dark wood. +Then a spring of hope like the sparkle of a star flashed into the +clouding of my mind, for this is the stone[1] which we call the 'Eye of +God.' It is stronger and keener of edge than any flint, luckier to man +than mother's milk, and harder than steel of the Genoese. + +"Instead of straining, twisting, and wriggling, to release my corded +wrists, which were lashed to the rope at my waist so tight that I could +not fetch teeth nigh them, I began to saw the cord below the clench of +my thumbs upon the stone of God. The agony of it was terrible; but at +last I rent my hands apart, and as soon as the blood returned to them, +with teeth and flint I contrived to sever the rope that strung me to +the rock, and to hobble to a brook to drink. The rest you know; three +days have I borne of agony, starvation, and the stars and sun. The Lord +God--if there be One in heaven to look down upon His own wicked +works--spit my blood into that woman's throat!" + +FOOTNOTE: + +[1] Probably the Agate. + + + + +CHAPTER L + +TWO OLD FRIENDS + + +The Svâns are a strange and peculiar race, declared indeed by the few +outsiders who have ever seen them and come back, to be the most original +of mankind. And Usi proved at least that much, by showing some rudiments +of gratitude. + +Although he had managed to tell his tale, with failure of words, and +gasps for breath, and rolling of his eyes when the agony came back, poor +Wolfsmeat was not fit for much, except to be laid in a soft and shady +place, consoled with tobacco and cordials, and continually asked how he +felt now. We soon understood what he wished to say, even without the +interpreter, for he had picked up small pieces of divers tongues, by +being so long among the mountain troops. More than once we feared that +he would never bear up from the pains and privations he had undergone; +but he said that he should be unworthy of the name of a Shamylid, or son +of Shamyl, unless he could starve for a week, without showing immoderate +signs of hunger. If the signs Usi had manifested, after only three days, +were moderate, no wonder that the big wolf turned and fled from a +countenance so expressive. + +Strogue, and Cator, and myself, who might now be called the three +leaders, sat late into that night, discussing the story of this patient +sufferer. What chance had we of being in time, even if we could raise +force enough to prevent the murder in cold blood appointed for next +Monday? All the fighting men of this tribe of Ossets in the Upper Terek, +and the Ardon valleys, would probably be mustered there to carry out the +execution. Cator had often heard of the place so clearly described by +the injured Svân, and he told us that these wild folk called it the +"Valley of Retribution." From Usi's account, it was plain that Marva was +making a tribal revenge of it. Her brother would be tried and condemned +by the tribe, in expiation of the death of their former chief, Prince +Rakhan. Him she had hated and scorned perhaps; for she was not of the +sweet kind of women, who look at their wrongs with dewy eyes; but +according to the Osset creed her duty was--blood for blood, and soul for +soul. Strong in her own dominion now, she might drop all that, if she +saw fit, and cry, "Bygones be bygones." Every man of the tribe (being in +his heart most loyally afraid of her) would have joined all his cousins +in lamenting, that the days were not as they had been; that nobody had +the courage now to keep up good old customs; and yet, however right +one's own mind was, what could one do, but as the others did? And then +to sigh, and cast a glance at Heaven (that forbears to fall upon us) and +light another pipe with some remorse, but plenty of sentiment to make it +draw. + +This was not for us to do, in a state of things beyond all understanding +of any man not in the thick of them; and a thousandfold worse for him, +if he is there. Nothing is more pleasing than to hear a man tell the +story of some touch-and-go adventure he has been through. If he is an +Englishman, he is sure to be self-ashamed about it, and describe himself +as much more frightened than his slow system gave him time to be. But +whoever he is, you may depend upon it that he will put into the +narrative a lot of things which never occurred--till afterwards. And I +am afraid that I shall do this, when I try to tell how we went on, +though I mean to tell everything word for word, which ought to be the +same as fact for fact. + +But lo, at the very outstart, indignation cripples one! We know that it +is sure to go too far, and to put things into darker colours than clear +truth has cast into them. In dread of this, a truthful man draws back, +and takes too weak a brush. + +All of us were put upon that sense of wrong which stirs us up to think +less of our own poor lives, and more of that great power which the Lord +has planted in us (though He has not always worked it out), to show that +we are something more than the brute creation round us. The sense of +justice, and good will, and love to those of our own kind, and hate of +all that wrong them. Even if Sûr Imar had not been the man he was, and +Dariel's father, I would gladly have risked my life--if time were +allowed me to know what I was about--rather than let such inhumanity +triumph among human beings. Strogue and Cator were of the same mind, and +the rest of the miners found that a little excitement would not be +amiss. The worst of it was that they were inclined to underrate the +enemy. To them it seemed sound argument that a dozen Englishmen could +larrup, almost with their neckties, thirty or forty of such fellows as +they were like to meet with. Even if there had been truth in that, and +it would be most ungrateful on my part to disparage them, what would +they do if they had to encounter perhaps a hundred men all well armed? +Therefore we must increase our force, and that without loss of a minute. +To call for Russian interference would be vain, for they had no +brigade--even if they would have used it--that could be brought up in +three days' time. We must act for ourselves; as the rule is laid down +generally for poor Englishmen, because they are so few, yet always +called upon to meet so many. + +Strogue struck the proper note. Of savage people I knew nothing, save of +Income-tax Commissioners, who charged us twice upon our land,--once for +our crime in owning it, and once for the profit which they alone were +able to make out of it. But the Captain said: "These men will fight. And +they fight quite as bravely as we do, only with more passion in it. To +beat them, we must have man for man, or something very near it. The only +plan is to find your friend Stepan, and all the fellows he can bring. +That poor beggar who is groaning in his sleep seems to know where to +find him. He will not be able to walk for days; but he can tell us where +to go." + +We had searched in vain, as I may have said, for any sign of Stepan near +Karthlos. That was one of the things which made us sure that treachery +was at work; for if he had travelled with the heavy goods, straightway +home, as his orders were, he ought to have been at Karthlos long ago, in +spite of the terrible winter. But no one seemed to know where to find +him, although a rumour was spread abroad that his master was returning. +There was, however, every prospect now of discovering him and those +other retainers who had been with the Chief in his exile, for Usi could +not have been so long the forester or huntsman of that district without +knowing where to find all the principal members of his adopted tribe. +What could be finer justice than that a fiendish plot of fratricide +should be discomfited chiefly through the brutality of its conceiver? If +that tortured victim could but recover the use of his swollen limbs, we +might push along towards the Lesghian valleys in time to rouse the tribe +on the Saturday night. But to carry poor Usi was a sad, slow drag, and +to go without him would be useless, even if humanity allowed it. + +"Bear's grease!" was his perpetual moan; "Oh, that men valued the +precious bear's grease! If the good Lord would send me only half a pound +of bear's grease, I would leap like the Ibex, and dance like the Tûr." + +Then, as if to show that Heaven itself had taken a turn in our favour, a +most unusual thing came to pass, although at the time I was very far +from being at all surprised at it. But those who knew the country said +that such a thing scarcely ever happened, and all of our little company +might live to be ninety, and keep eyes like twenty, without ever seeing +such a thing again. However, I can answer for it, and was not at all +disturbed by it. + +We came, walking heavily yet tenderly, and like men who (if they were in +England) would go to their chemist and ask him whether he had tried his +"Celandine" on his own feet,--we came about the middle of that +day--Friday it was and a critical time--to a corner where two torrents +ran into one another's arms, with as much noise as two Frenchmen make. +There were no trees, not a leaf to break the sun; everything was either +hard or wet; and the light itself seemed to come in gurgles, as if it +were almost giddy with the shining of the water, and the staring of the +rocks. In the loose spread of it, below the rush of the two streams into +one another,--both being buxom with snow on the melt, which affords them +a thickness of suet,--there I saw a great sprawling thing--sprawling at +least it appeared to be, and at the same time splashing. I happened to +be foremost of the file, yet for the life of me, I could not make out +what it was; till Cator spoke over my shoulder thus-- + +"Motherly she-bear, carrying her cub! Economical father wants to kill +it--they always do at this time of year--mother takes a different view. +She will land in a second. Aim behind the shoulder. The kid is fine +eating. If you feel like missing, let me do it for you." + +"Get away!" I answered; "I came first--what have you got to do with it?" +I put up my rifle, but when she landed with wonderful care not to hurt a +hair of the baby in her clumsy mouth, and then looked at it so +proudly--though it was but an ugly little lump--and began to lick the +holy trickle from its newly opened eyes, such a touch of nature went +into my heart, that I would rather have shot myself almost. "Fire, you +stupid!" keen Cator cried. And fire I did, but not at her. For +paterfamilias came down raging, with his coat thrown back on his body, +and his little eyes rolling, and his hairy chin poked out in fury at his +wife's self-assertion. My bullet behind his open shoulder told him that +there might be two opinions about paternal duty, and he rolled like a +log into the swirling torrent, and was washed up on our side a hundred +yards below. Then Usi, the Svân, in a glory of excitement rose from his +litter, and told us what to do; and we cut him out the fat that lies +along the kidney part, and he scrabbled it into his stringy legs, and +fell back again, and smiled at them. In less than half an hour he could +walk, and we had all we could do to keep up with him. + +That night we slept in Kazbek village, which is on the great Russian +road; and we laid our plans for the morrow. Cator was to make rush for +the mine, which he could reach before nightfall, and implore Jack +Nickols to spare us every son of a gun who could handle a rifle; while +Strogue, and Usi, and myself, and others, made every hour of daylight +tell for our race in quest of Stepan. We feared that those vile Ossets +had a short cut across the western mountain, from their village to the +"Valley of Retribution," which would bring them in front of any speed of +ours; and unhappily so it proved indeed. And they must have carried Usi +by that track, when they caught him spying in their valley; although +they gave him small chance of knowing what was time, or where was road. +For the mighty mass of Kazbek lay betwixt the Osset villages, and the +vale which had been for ages hallowed to their horrible revenge. + +At daybreak on Saturday we set forth, in the midst of a miserable +drizzle, which would have made the way as hard to find as it was bad +when found, except for the knowledge of the land which Usi showed. That +son of Shamyl, as he loved to be called, was of infinite service to our +cause. Very seldom did he care to speak, unless he was consulted; and +the bronze cast of his rugged face beneath that hairy thicket showed no +more life than the juniper scrub which we saw on the cheeks of the +mountain. But the quick blue flash of his eyes, whenever we caught them +unexpectedly, was like the point blank spark that comes, when the +lightning is over one's own lawn. Let me not be in that man's +black-books--was the first thought of even the boldest mind, as Strogue +said more than once to me. + +Presently this "Bear-slayer" showed us that he deserved the name of +"Straight-pipe," which he had received from Shamyl. For while we were +halting in a glen to feed, Gator's rifle stood against a rock. We +grudged every moment, and were eating against time, when one of those +great black eagles, which are the grandest of European birds, came +soaring above us at a mighty height, searching the earth for lamb, or +kid, or perhaps a nice babe fast asleep beneath a rock. With Cator's +leave, Usi raised his gun, and he must have been as quick as light, for +the crack of the rifle and the heavy flop of the dead bird on the track +before us, were the first I knew of the matter, although I was standing +within a few yards of him. "That's a grand shot; I couldn't have done +that, although I am not a bad hand," said Strogue. But the Svân was not +satisfied with his work. "I struck him too far behind," he said, "my own +pipe would have done it better. I must get time to search for it among +the ashes." But we could not spare him yet; for he alone could show us +the men we wanted. + +How it may be in the winter I know not, and perhaps no one would care to +know much about it then, but to me, who was used to very reasonable +weather (sometimes dull and sometimes fickle, but scarcely ever furious, +and generally comprehensible), the style of this Caucasian sun, whether +as he asked his way among a crowd of pinnacles, or whether as he mounted +high, strong, and hot above them, or even when he meant to be +compassionate and genial in looking back at his long day's work--all I +can say is, that to a man of Surrey, who lives out of doors nearly all +day long, and can tell you the time within half an hour, whether it be +cloudy or whether it be clear, the climate was incongruous. At home, you +could look up at the sky, and after making wise allowances for the way +of the wind, and the manner of the clouds, and the inclination of the +quicksilver, you could generally say something, which could be explained +away when a little incorrect. But here the only wisdom was to shake your +head, and say the developments are complicated, pressure variable and +conflicting, local showers not improbable, thunder not impossible. As +our Scientific Staff begins to waver, after predicting rain every day, +in a drought of three months' duration. + +That Saturday evening the sun went down (so far as we could get a +straight look at him through such ins and outs), genial, bountiful, a +great globe of good will, squandering gold upon a maiden world of snow, +which it blushed to accept, and yet spread upon its breast. + +"The weather at any rate is on our side," was my cheerful remark to +Captain Strogue; "if we can only find those fellows, we shall be all +right." + +"Don't you be too sure," he said, "there may be a hurricane to-morrow." + +Travelling eastward all that day, we had passed the foot of Karthlos +long ago, under Usi's guidance; for to climb the steep would be waste of +time, as there was no strength of men there now. Then we descended into +another valley, and Usi blew upon a horn, and listened. We heard no +reply, but he heard something, and led us, as the yellow light turned +grey, into a hollow place with huts around it, and out rushed two +enormous dogs, and behold they were _Kuban_ and _Orla_! + + + + +CHAPTER LI + +THE ROOT OF EVIL + + +The amazement of those dogs at sight of me was beyond anything I ever +did behold. They had seen so much of the world by this time, including a +good deal of England, that they had learned to doubt all the evidence +which untravelled dogs wag tail to. They pulled up suddenly, and looked +at one another, with the tawny curls of their ears in a tremble, and the +hackles of their necks thrown back, and every hair to the tips of their +tails quivering with incredulity. Then, like a fool, I pronounced their +names, and the word that brings down the avalanche would have been a +wiser utterance. They flung their great frames and golden crests in one +shock of delight upon my breast, like a harvest-cart dashed against the +rickyard post. Luckily I expected it, but even so was glad to be backed +up by a rock, and there it was impossible for me to speak, all human +emotion being swallowed up in dog. + +However, they soon made amends for that, and the roar that rang from +crag to crag brought every living being out. Foremost of these was our +old friend Stepan, carrying a mighty gun, with Allai peeping through the +loop of his elbow, and four or five more, who had been in our valley, +staring at us over the packing-cases. I shouted to them with the old +salute which they had taught me at St. Winifred's, and they made their +salaams, and sang their welcome, while Stepan enfolded me in his +capacious arms, and Allai hugged my knees and wept. + +"Say nothing till we are inside," I whispered to Strogue, who could +speak their language somehow. It was high time to be prudent now, as +well as prompt and resolute, for it seemed as if the enemy had in every +way outmanoeuvred us; and now, if our project should become known, the +case would indeed be hopeless. "Not a word to any of these people, until +Stepan thinks fit to tell them." + +But I need not have been so particular, for they are as true as steel to +one another, and above all to their Chieftain. Stepan told them, even +before he heard my story out; because swift runners must be sent that +very night to other Kheusur villages, for every fighting man within +reach to join the muster at the foot of Karthlos. And that muster, to be +of any use, must not be later than noon of the morrow, which would be +Sunday. + +Then I told Stepan our side of the story, with Strogue to make it clear +to him; and Usi, without whom we could have done nothing, recounted all +that he had seen, but scarcely spoke of his own woes. + +At this I wondered for the moment, but knew the reason afterwards. +Stepan listened with arms folded, and his great grey head as still as a +rock, while his eyes were harder and less expressive--as it chanced to +occur to me--than the agate which had saved Usi's life. And I noticed +that the wall on which he fixed them was not half so sound and solid, +nor the room itself so neat and cheerful as the old stone ruin occupied +by Sûr Imar's men in England. "Is that all?" he inquired at last; and +Strogue replied, "Yes; and to me it seems enough." The Lesghian dipped +his unshorn chin upon the wooded cataract of his breast, and nodded +courteously, meaning clearly--"Sir, you have been through us, but not to +any purpose among us." And I, as a young slip--in comparison with him, +though old enough now to stand up for my growth--marvelled about dry +roots, and trunks that are all bark, and so on. + +"Hearken to me, and I will use few words," said the loyal Lesghian +slowly, with Strogue explaining for my benefit; "I am getting old, and I +have my daughters, for the Lord has granted me no son, and the babes +whom my daughters have brought forth while I was far away, to dwell +upon. I am growing old, and my strength is only in the standing combat +now. I cannot leap down from a rock and alight with both feet together, +and my arms like willows of steel twined round the enemy. It has been +ordained that a man, as his years increase upon him, should increase +also in bulk and weight, if permitted by fortune to feed well. All the +men of our tribe feed well, because they are just and remain with their +wives, who know how to cook the cattle of their neighbours. None of +those would we ever take, if we could trust them to leave us ours. For +not only are we righteous, but we endeavour to make strangers so, when +their wickedness is not good for us. + +"For my part I have been in foreign places, and learned much of foreign +language, sometimes increasing in wisdom thus. But as yet I have not +found a country fit to be placed by the side of ours, not only for the +fairness of the land, but the goodness of the inhabitants. But, as a man +of truth, I will admit that it is not so with our neighbours. They on +the other hand are breakers of the laws of righteousness, seeking only +the ways of evil, eager to slay all who set them example not convenient. +And now they are in dread of the return of our great Chief, because he +brings justice and virtue with him. Their desire is to slay him, and to +rob him of his goods, and to rule over us who belong to him. + +"Me, who am his brother by the mother's breast, and bound to give my +life for his and all that I possess, they have deceived and cheated by +many lying tricks, and beguiled me, as the mother fox tempts away the +dog to discourses of soft affection, while her children prey upon the +tender lambs. + +"Behold, when I landed from the great smoke-ship, after many weeks of +rolling on strange waters, there came a man to meet me with a letter in +a stick, which he said was by order of the Prince himself, and I and all +my company must obey it. What the tongue says the ear can swallow, and +render to the mind for consideration. But that which the hand has +shaped, in many forms of crookedness, cannot come into the mind through +the passes of the eyes without long teaching, and toiling through a +forest full of twists and turns, which can only be endured in childhood. +Therefore I went to a learned man, and paid him ten kopeks, and he made +it to me the same as if Sûr Imar's voice pronounced it. And thereby I +was commanded to stay where I was, with all my companions, and all the +goods, for the passes were already blocked with snow, until I should +receive another letter, as soon as the spring flung back the gates +between the frozen mountains. The winter was very long, but at last +another paper came to us, through Officers of the Government, as the +letters are sent in England. And I paid another ten kopeks, so expensive +is such learning, and was commanded to come on by way of Kutais and hire +waggons, and get to this village, which is not my own; but not to go +near Karthlos yet, because it was full of workmen. Money was also sent +to me in a note for a hundred roubles, and I was ordered to shoot both +these dogs, if I had kept them still alive. + +"I was sure Sûr Imar had not said that, because his daughter loved them +so; and that made me wonder and begin to doubt, and I said to myself, +they shall see their master, and plead for their own lives with him. +Also I was ordered to remain here, almost as if I were to be in prison, +keeping away from my own village, and all my old friends, and obtaining +food only from the people close at hand, until I should be sent for. And +the reason was that if the Russians heard of all the goods we had, they +would send an officer to take toll, or seize them altogether. This I +thought might be true enough, until the people here declared that the +Russians never do anything like that; and again this made me doubtful. + +"We, who are of the true and never to be called in question faith of +Christ, even as the English are, do not observe these heathen fasts, and +feasts, and rites of superstition, but keep our own most holy seasons as +ordained by the Lord himself. Yet so noble are our minds, that we blame +not those of smaller knowledge, but rather abstain from meddling with +them during the days which they keep holy, although they be not the +right ones. For this reason I remained here yet, resolving to set forth +on Monday, when their profane days will have returned, and to ask among +them the meaning of these things, which I am ordered not to seek among +our own tribe. + +"But woe is me to have learned it thus, with haste and peril and +helplessness! It must be the wicked Prince who has plotted this vile +plan, having taken it straight from the fiery lips of the Evil One. It +is not by any one to be believed that the sister of Sûr Imar, born at +one birth with him, should be as a cauldron of the pitch of hell, while +he is in an alabaster box of manna for the food of the faithful in the +wilderness. By many generations it has been said that a woman who has +not been made of milk and honey must have been fashioned out of gall and +venom; and true it may be, yet how should such things descend from the +mother of Imar? + +"Tell me, then, for now we speak, as I would that we had spoken long +ago, in words that pass into the minds of one another, tell me what +advantage can the Princess Marva look for, from doing that which none of +the women of our tribe would wish to do, or even if she wished it under +the influence of the Devil, would dare to keep in her mind as long as a +baking-shovel in her hand." + +As yet we had not dwelt much on this. The design being manifest, as we +believed, the motive did not concern us much; and in all the hardships, +perpetual effort, and weariness of travelling--such travel at least as +we had to face--the body was always too hard at work for the mind to be +very active, except in attending to it. Strogue looked at me, and I at +him, and each left the other to answer. + +"Friend Stepan knows all the ins and outs of these tribal politics and +family arrangements," the Captain opened his mouth at last, "ever so +much better of course than I do. No doubt her ladyship expects to suck +some benefit out of this murder,--for I don't see what else you can call +it, although there may be a mock trial; but even without that, I always +understood that the duty of the blood feud would compel her, even if she +loved him the best on earth, to hunt him to death with alacrity. You +know that, although the law is not in your tribe, or at any rate you are +free from it, by marriage she is an Osset, and with them it is most +sacred." + +"I have not forgotten that," our host replied, looking doubtful as +became him when even near the verge of argument; "but even if that tribe +kept up its wrath at the death of its chief so many years, the lady, as +I have heard even in England, can do as she pleases among them now. It +is not right, it is not just, it is not as the Lord intended. The woman +should never rule the man; but she will do it gladly, if they lift her +upon the stool, instead of keeping her to the oven. But when she gets +tired of salutes, and praises, and humble words, which ought to be like +ripe figs to her, what she begins to yearn after is money; and life will +be short for those who have it, when she thinks it should be hers." + +"My good friend, my great friend Stepan," cried Strogue, with the stem +of his pipe in the air, as if he never cared whether he sucked it again; +"you have hit the mark better about those blessed females, than I should +have ever dared to try to do. At the _London Rock_ it is just the +same--Landlady, or Barmaid, makes no difference, or the little girl that +wipes the glasses. All eager to go for a celebrated man; but won't put a +tear in the corner of their eyes, till they've peeped into his pockets +on the hook inside the door. That is why none of them can catch me. A +man who has been round the world three times finds the black women +truest to their colour." + +To me this was such hateful doctrine, so low, so coarse, so cannibal, +that I jumped up with a strong desire to send the Captain down among the +packing-cases. But he gave me a sly wink, meaning clearly--"The object +of this is to fetch that fellow out." + +And Stepan came out, with a dignity scarcely to be expected from him. +Some of his words were beyond my knowledge; but upon the whole he spoke +like this-- + +"I have not been round the world three times; and that man is the wisest +traveller who goes through his own self the most. But in all the +countries that I have seen, the women are better than the men, according +to the gifts of nature. Of money they are not half so greedy, and they +have more compassion. Usi, the Svân, will tell you what the father does +to the female babies, when he has too many of them, in the country of +men and women. Straight-pipe, what does the father do then in the noble +country of the Svâns?" + +"He places the little one on her back," the Bear-slayer told us, looking +at the floor, as if he were watching the domestic process; "and he makes +the fire burn brightly. Then when the little one opens her mouth for the +nourishment of nature, he takes the spoon from his bowl of soup, and +fills it with red-hot embers, and pours them into the infant's mouth, +and lo that child calls for no more food!" + +"Hast thou ever beholden a mother who would feed her infant thus?" +Stepan asked the Captain, who looked as if his pipe had grown too hot +for him; and the Captain knocked out his ash, and said, "Give me some +cold whiskey." + +"Lo, the moon is shining on the white peaks now, and the light will soon +flow along the valleys. It is time for me to go," said Stepan, "and +Allai will come with me. I have told the head-man what to do; but the +men here are as nothing. Gentlemen, you are weary. The Lord give you +good rest to-night, for to-morrow we must travel fast. I will bring +every faithful son of the tribe, and meet you by noon at Karthlos." + + + + +CHAPTER LII + +STILL IN THE DARK + + +At midnight we stood by the door of the hut, and watched the broad bulk +of Stepan, and the slender slip of Allai, sliding away into white breath +among the black jaws of the mountains. + +I thought that I had never seen so fair a night, so lovely, soft, and +kindly, offering guidance of bright stars among the pale blandishments +of the moon, opening avenues of lofty hope, compassionate to mortals. +With such glory full in view, and the grandeur of unknown realms beyond, +how could any of those, who have so short a time to dwell below, spend +it, or spare a moment of it, in the trivial worm-casts of rank and +money, which cannot even slime the scythe of death? + +If Farmer Ticknor had been with us--that Ticknor, I mean, who had proved +himself so trenchant a Micaiah to the Official Zedekiah--perhaps we +might not have entered into this rapturous view of the heavens. Or +perhaps it was that we required a lesson. But whatever the explanation +is, the fact came far in front of it. When we tried to get up in the +morning, there was nothing to get up by except time, who sheds no light, +but spends the better part of himself in quenching it. Laden as we were +with sleep, whose freight we had not yet discharged, we said to one +another that a special relief was granted us. It was manifest that human +skill in the record of time had been overruled; the Powers that govern +day and night could not be set at nought by watchmakers. We blew out the +matches we had struck, and rolled on our backs for another snooze, +submissive to the will of Heaven. + +How far we might have prolonged our snores, we never grew wide enough +awake to say. But the soft folds of darkness fell around us still, and +we closed our eyes beneath them, as a child submits to the kisses of his +mother. Then a mighty bellow, and a cackle, and a stamping, and a +shovelful of cold slush thrown into our faces made all of us jump up, +and stare about, and splutter, and every one swear, except, as I +heartily hope, myself. + +It was the old village Starchina, or Starost, or whatever his dignity +may have been, in a state of mind so furious that it was true bliss to +be no linguist. Strogue made out some of his compound curses, but was +too wise to interpret them, or even to accept his own version; until +that most venerable and profane of men saw little advantage in cursing +himself. He flung down the shutter that served as a window, and poured +about a sackful of snow down our necks. + +This might be the manner of the country; but we resented it all the more +for that, and spoke harshly of the place, and of all born near it, until +Strogue sat up on his very hard board, and stared, with his eyes as +close as burning glasses, at the old silver watch, "which a man could +work a ship by," and exclaimed--"By Jove, he is done for now, George! We +ought to have been at Karthlos by this time. However he is safe to go to +Heaven, according to your account of him." + +Even cowardice is sometimes less contemptible than flippancy. But I made +no answer. My rage with myself was too deep to fly off into sparks +against others. What could it matter to Strogue, or Starost, or even to +Stepan himself, compared with me, with me, the snorer? If the noble man +who had treated me as his equal--clumsy clodhopper as I was--and his +daughter (the model of all love and grace) were butchered by savages +to-morrow, upon whose head would their blood lie? + +Upon mine--for my accursed laziness, self-indulgence, wicked gladness to +believe the thing that I desired. + +Then I went out, and looked for the sky which had been so blue, and the +earth which had been so green, wherever it was not brown rockiness. +Behold--there was nothing to behold--as Usi the Svân might have said of +it--but grey thickness, fleecy softness, multitudinous whirl above, and +vast whiteness, promiscuous glare, and slur of dazzle around us and +below. Not what the puzzled world is wont to call a _blizzard_, and fly +shuddering--for that only comes with a bitter blast, and is a mass of +pointed particles--but a genuine downright heavy snowfall (such as we +get in March sometimes, when we are sowing the pea-drill), big flakes, +thick flakes, like a shower of daisies, flinging their tufts in feathery +piles, and smothering one another. "It can't go on very long like this," +says a man who has lost in half-a-minute the pattern of his coat and +trousers. + +Certainly it could not in Surrey or in Kent; but here in the Caucasus it +proved that it could go on, long enough at any rate to bury all the +trackways, and turn jagged rocks into treacherous white rollers. If we +began (in our credulous greed for rest) with failing to know the time of +day, we went on with losing the way; and what was worse, if possible, we +lost the better part of our strength, through sprains, and strains, and +stumbles in the drift. Mishaps of the like sort had befallen the party +recruited by Stepan, although they had not overslept themselves as we +did; and instead of prompt muster to start together at noon from the +foot of Karthlos, we found that it was almost four o'clock before every +one was ready. + +"To do any good, we must travel all night," said Stepan, as he swung his +heavy pack upon his rifle. "To travel all night on a turnpike road is +all very well," Strogue answered; "but who could do it here, my friend? +And sauce for the goose is sauce for the gander. If the snow stops us, +it will stop the other fellows." + +I had indulged in this hope too; but the Lesghian's words were against +it. "No man can say, till his eyes give proof. But the storm came from +the east, and they seldom travel far in the summer-time. Like enough +there was not a flake on the western side of the Russian road. Ha! +Kobaduk, art thou coming too? Thy old limbs will tire, we shall have to +leave thee, even though thou hast that colt." + +We had not climbed the steep to the tower, because time was so short, +and the old steward could not be of any service to us. Therefore it was +a great surprise when he slipped among us from a snowy corner, leading +a rough unsaddled colt, with a strap buckled over his loins to which a +sword was attached on one side, and a rusty old musket on the other. An +English crowd would have gibed, I fear, at the menacing aspect of this +feeble ancient, and even Strogue made no attempt to hide a grin; but the +Lesghians glanced at him kindly, and made room for him among them, and +he plodded on resolutely without a word, like a fatalist come to look +fate in the face. + +Even in a small lot such as we were, and consisting chiefly of hardy +fellows, there must be--according to the varicose vein which runs +through all humanity--three or four at least of softer pith, or +eruptions that arise to the occasion, or some thing or other that goes +amiss. And not having one leg too many among us, or I might say less +than half the legs we wanted, our hard fortune was that the briskest +shank among us--which was not my own, though I did my best, and in +Surrey would have challenged any of them--was obliged to stick fast, +when it got too far ahead, and disguise its own gratitude for a thrill +of rest, by turning on its heel disdainfully. In a word, nearly all our +most excellent men, brave and zealous, and brought up from childhood to +a good stroke of speed after other people's cattle, had lost the best +part of their training, by compulsion--under Russian tyranny--to attend +to their own flocks and herds, instead of lifting their neighbour's. + +Thus it was that we came at last to an elbow of the great Russian road, +which is a noble work, but not by any means such as we should make, if +we had the opportunity; and there we found a sample of what human nature +is. Having surmounted, by wonderful endurance and perpetual rivalry with +one another, obstacles that seemed insuperable, surely we should have +gone on with double spirit, when we came upon a Christian highway. +Instead of that, every blessed man sat down, and thanked Heaven--or in +truer truth thanked himself--for having got along so famously. It was +dark, as dark as one could ever wish to see it, down in this gorge of +magnificence, with the river roaring sleepy thunder, and the snow-clouds +spent, and the stars looking faint. I thought--as an Englishman thinks +by instinct--that men of our own race would not have stopped (at any +rate if there was money in it) and shut up in this sudden style. + +However there was more excuse than help for it; and Stepan and myself, +the two who cared most deeply about the issue, tried to cheer each +other, so far as our mutual misunderstandings reached. + +Then by a lucky chance the gallant miners (whom we should have missed +perhaps, if we had gone on at once) came into our camp, with light +hearts and merry songs, delighted at the prospect of a lively brush; for +so they all regarded it. Jack Nickols himself had been unable to resist +the fierce temptation, and gloomy would be the outlook for any foe who +crossed his sky-line, though I cannot recollect just now his celebrated +score at the "running deer." + +It was terrible to me to find these fellows taking things so easily, not +through any callous inhumanity or indifference, but simply because their +own private interests were not immediately involved. For instance, the +way in which Nickols, and Cator, and Strogue discussed the situation was +enough to sponge out of my heart a great lump of that affection for the +human race without which a man becomes miserable. Weary as they were, +they found it needful to hold some little council, while they smoked +their pipes after supper, having settled that all should take four hours +of sleep if they could get it, and start again when the moon arose. I +sat in a corner and listened to them, refraining from all interruption, +though a great part of what they said was new to me; for if I had +spoken, some heat might have followed my words, and done mischief to all +of us. + +_Strogue._ "I have always had the credit of seeing as far into a hayrick +as any man that ever sucked a coral. But this fiend of a woman beats me +hollow. I can't make out what her little game is." + +_Nickols._ "Well, I can't see any difficulty about it. She wants her +brother's property, and to be the lady of the other tribe too, which she +would be as Dadian's daughter, if her brother Imar were done away with. +She will have him tried for the death of her husband, or get him shot +without trial. Then she has discharged her duty according to the rules +of the blood-feud, and she steps into poor Imar's shoes. To me it is +plainer than a pikestaff." + +_Cator._ "All that looks straight enough, but it won't hold water. You +forget the pretty girl. Imar has a lovely daughter, and she would be the +head of the tribe, not Marva, when his goose is cooked." + +_Nickols._ "That's true enough. But a woman with such a strong mind +wouldn't make much bones of that. Or rather she'd make bones of her in +no time. I am very sorry for that pretty girl. She is booked for a share +of her father's grave." + +_Strogue._ "Naturally I look deeper into things than you young fellows +can. The real difficulty has escaped you both. The woman is bad enough +for anything. I know things of her that I won't tell, at any rate for +the present. + +"But as for making away with her niece, there are two good reasons +against it. In the first place, the Russians would be almost certain to +punish Madam heavily, though perhaps they would not interfere, if Imar +alone were tried and condemned according to the usage of the country. +And then again, even if they let it pass, the Lesghians, who are a very +loyal race, would never accept Marva's rule, when she had slain their +Chief and his daughter. You have got the wrong story altogether, +according to my view of it. Her game is not quite so clumsy, though it +is a very bold one." + +_Nickols._ "Captain, you are one of those men who get the right tip +always. Don't be shy,--that would scarcely become you. But tell us +exactly what you think; although it may be hard to square it with the +higher moralities." + +_Strogue._ "You speak like a fool, as all boys do. But there is no time +to board-school you; and you are getting too old for that rot even. Now +listen to what I have to say, though beyond the present range of your +intellect. I have not dwelt among this mixed lot of savages; I have +simply passed through them in my usual course. You might live among them +till your hair grew white, and know less than you did when it was green. +Why? You are sharp enough in your way, and if you had started with a +humble mind, and kept it open, you might win knowledge. But that is not +fine enough for you. You start with your poor wits already ingrained and +case-hardened with the grease and suet of self-conceit, and nothing ever +sticks to you." + +_Nickols_, and _Cator_, and _I_, in the corner, with unanimous +surprise: "Captain Strogue is the humblest of mankind, and therefore the +most omniscient!" + +_Strogue._ "It is true, my friends; a great home-truth, and you shall +gather the fruits of it. I have penetrated this lady's scheme, and +deeply regret that so fine a woman, one of the handsomest I have ever +seen, should not behave with equal beauty. Having sent her brother to a +better world, she will bring his daughter to the altar as the bride of +her noble son--noble indeed to look at, but unable as yet to say Boh to +a goose. He will be the master nominally of all Imar's fair dominions, +which are as lovely as any in the world, when the snow allows a sight of +them. The real master, of course, will be a certain lady-friend of ours; +for you can see that from his cradle upwards she has cowed that +uncommonly fine young fellow, so that he dare not call his soul his own. +Upon my word I should not be surprised, when she has united these +central tribes, if she threw off the yoke of Russia, and proclaimed +herself Queen of the Caucasus, like a modern Tamara. All that is clear +enough, but the one thing I can't make out for the very life of me is, +why the dickens did she send us that scamp, whose real name is Hisar, +under the name of Hafer? She would not send the true Hafer of course, +lest when he had been away for months, and seen the ways of the polished +world, and how absolutely the children rule their parents, he might be +seized with emulation, and resolve to be master of his own domains, if +not of his own mother--though I am sorry for anybody who tries that. Now +tell me, ye who flatter yourselves that you can see further into a +milestone than Strogue who has beheld so many, what induced this artful +schemer to send Hisar to England in the name of Hafer, when for all that +we can see he might just as well have gone in his own name?" + +_Nickols._ "I was never any hand at crooked dealing, though there is +plenty of it in our own line of business, but none with tip-toppers like +my uncle and me. We have a high character to sustain. Even supposing we +would stoop----" + +_Cator._ "Stow that, Jack, we know it all by heart. But I can tell the +Captain one good reason why the lady's ambassador should be called +_Hafer_. Sûr Imar was bound to receive his own nephew, when he might +have refused to see a stranger. And to take him into their confidence, +and let him know their plans, and so on. All of which has enabled them +to make fools of his faithful retainers, and prisoners of himself and +his daughter." + +_Strogue._ "With half an eye open, I saw every bit of that. But it does +not touch the real difficulty. Dariel is to marry the true Hafer. Very +well, let her, if she likes. He's a young man of grand appearance; and +that reconciles the women to a lot of disadvantages. But if she was +meant to belong to him, why let another fellow get the start with her? +Though women of decent age know better, a girl is sure to be romantic. +She piles wonders of imagination upon the first good-looking young +fellow who suggests how lovely, how lofty, how divine she is. + +"She keeps him at a blushing distance, and looks as if she had not the +least idea where he is, and would turn her head away if he came up. +Bless their hearts, I know them all; though I never let them see it. I +could have had fifty Mrs. Strogues,--for they love a man who knows the +world,--some of them too with cash and houses. But none of that for me, +till I want nursing. Half-a-dozen Miss Strogues here and there, some +white, some black, and some the colour of an orange, or a good Mocha +berry that you can't get now--and they behave all the better to you when +they know that you can do without them. Simple truth, gentlemen. I am +not romantic." + +This was too much for Jack Nickols, who was truly in love with his Rosa. +Too much even for Cator, though he had no love as yet to hold him. Young +Englishmen know right from wrong, though they do the wrong very often. +But they cannot bear to hear it boasted of. But to me, with Dariel in my +heart, purifying and ennobling it, bad as the time was for a row, I +should have deserved no better time, if I had been afraid of it. So I +marched up, and laid my hand upon him. + +"Sir," I said, without a sign of anger,--for such stuff was not worth +it,--"what you deserve, both of men and women, is to die in a workhouse, +with Mrs. Gamp and Betsy Prig to close your eyes. Bad women there must +be, as well as bad men; but tell me which has made the other? I know you +better than to believe that you really think such wicked nonsense as you +talk, for the sake of seeming clever. Bartholomew Strogue is a better +man than that." + +"I should not be much surprised if he was," the Captain answered +pleasantly; "and he can allow for babes and sucklings, who are the +happiest people after all. But come, my friends, I hear the sounds of +sleep, the grinding of the mill of slumber. How those gallant Lesghians +snore! If the Caucasus is the true cradle of our race, sleep must have +lost its silence before language was invented." + + + + +CHAPTER LIII + +A RUTHLESS SCHEME + + +While these men were arguing thus (failing with all their ingenuity, +perhaps, to hit upon the true state of the case) a scene which they +would have been glad to behold was taking place some twenty miles away, +and not far from the banks of the Ardon. Here that river (on its way to +join the Terek below Vladikaukaz) rushes through a rugged and desolate +country on the further side of Kazbek, where the fall of the land is +towards the north, and the long shadows lie in snowy stripes, even to +the suns of midsummer. This was the melancholy spot where Rakhan owned +that hunting-lodge, to which the poor Princess Oria had turned for +refuge, when the snows of autumn blocked the track. Here it was that +Imar (furious at her apparent guilt) found her most unhappily, at the +very moment when the faithful steward--whose presence would have proved +her innocence--was gone to the nearest hut in search of provisions and +help to clear the road. And here it was that she breathed her last, +slain by her own hand, according to the ordinance of her ancient race, +to expiate the intolerable insult of the man she loved and worshipped. + +But now the woman who had caused her death, or led up to it so cleverly +by her own malevolence, felt no misgivings about that. Betwixt twins, +even of the kindest nature and clinging from their birth to one another, +a fungoid growth is apt to spring, as it does in a tree cleft down the +centre, but not allowed to part in twain. Either member of the impaired +union believes that the other belongs to it; and both are ready to close +the grip against all who would divide them. But as years go on, and +diverse attractions draw them more and more apart, each begins to form +and thicken cuticle against the other; at least if they are of equal +strength. And then the stuff that vainly came to close the gap grows +venomous. + +Jealousy, like a yellow toadstool, sprang up in young Marva's heart, +when her brother dared to love another woman better than herself. She +had fallen away from the twinship first by giving herself to Rakhan, +without a word to her brother, and sacrificing to passion all the tender +ties of kindred love. None the more could she endure that her brother +should do likewise; and she would not believe, although she knew it, +that her lover had murdered her father. Then when her husband made a +grievance of Imar's just refusal to pay marriage-portion to that +murderer--unless he would come and take the oath--she made a grievance +of it too, more and more bitter as Rakhan began to make more and more +spite of her poverty. And so it went on, with the crust of sullen temper +thickening year by year, and the faith of married life turned sour by +her husband's faithlessness, until her brother slew the wretch who had +ruined him and outraged her. + +Fair fight it was, and if ever one man has the right to stop another +from his evil deeds below, and give him chance of mercy ere his black +account grows blacker, the one might plead that right, and the other +accept the relief with gratitude. But reason is less than a drop in the +ocean of a tempestuous woman's heart. Marva's ill-will towards her +brother deepened into bitter hatred, and nothing but his exile saved him +from her brooding vengeance. And now she had found a chance of wreaking +her wrath upon him to heart's content, and with the same blow satisfying +her lifelong thirst for wealth and rule. + +Therefore now her black device was on its last bound towards success; +and we, who rejoice in lawful acts, and tricks that can be justified by +solid legal argument, must bear in mind that her scheme was well in +accordance with the local law. + +To save all risk of being late for the ceremony of the morrow, she had +quitted the stronghold where she allowed us the honour of that +interview, and crossing the mountains west of Kazbek by the Ardon +watercourse, had put up at this hunting-lodge, as the only suitable +dwelling near the Valley of Retribution. About seventy armed men of the +tribe, and a dozen village elders had been despatched to the Roman jail +to keep guard, and prepare the trial; while she had only a few men with +her, including the gentle Hafer, and the thoroughly savage Hisar. + +But the lady as yet had no suspicion of our rapid counterplot, which we +never could have formed without the tidings and the help of Usi the +Bear-slayer, whom she had corded to the rock for wolves. And if we could +only have foreseen her sojourn at this hunting-lodge, what a dash we +might have made with the mining force alone and held our haughty captive +as a hostage for her prisoners! But as yet we knew not where she was; +and as to what may here be told it is scarcely needful to observe that +it came to my knowledge afterwards. And often on our road we doubted, in +spite of all we heard of her, whether that any woman in her right mind, +and acting with cool intention, would compass a crime almost beyond the +conception of a man soever vile. Although it was not for the sake of the +horror, but an indispensable part of her scheme, that her brother should +be slain by his own, and only son! + +"Hafer," she said to this noble-looking youth, who believed himself the +only son of her injured husband Rakhan, "at last the time is come for +you to vindicate your father. To-morrow his murderer will be condemned +by the verdict of the elders of our tribe--the men who were faithful to +your father, the great Prince Rakhan of the Ossets. Your father died, as +you know too well, in the assertion of your mother's rights. Your uncle +Imar, my own brother, was gifted by Heaven with no sense of justice. He +was not content with robbing me, your dear mother, of my rightful share +in my father Dadian's inheritance; but when your own brave father Rakhan +vainly made suit after many years to obtain a small share of my rights, +what did your uncle Imar do? You know, you have heard it a thousand +times; he slew your father in cold blood, taking mean advantage of +superior strength. He left me a widow, a helpless widow, with you my +only child almost a babe. Instead of remaining, like a man, to face the +consequence of his crime, and trying at least to make compensation, he +fled to an island in the west called England, where all malefactors are +sheltered and fed. There he lived in luxury for many years, receiving +all the revenues which of right were mine. Now he has returned, without +a word of sorrow to me, to rob me of the little I have tried to save. +You know how hard I have striven against fortune, labouring to keep the +scanty relics of my rights, and to take charge of small affairs that +have chanced to lose their owner. Even you I have been compelled +sometimes to deprive of enjoyments to which your birth entitled you. Is +it not the truth, my child?" + +"Mother, it is indeed the truth. I have often been ashamed of my desire +for more food. And yet it has been a pleasure to me to behold you never +famishing." + +"A barley-cake has been enough for me. There are some who can so deny +themselves. But justice comes to those who wait, and bear their sorrows +patiently. The murderer of your father has, even through his own bad +designs, fallen into the hands of those to whom he owes so long a debt. +We have him beyond all power of escape. To-morrow he will be justly +tried by those who know what he has done. The elders of this noble race, +the race of the white sheepskin, will have him placed before them. He +will be forbidden to poison the air with any lying speeches. His +sentence will be death, and you--according to the law of ages--you are +the man to execute it." + +The young man fixed his large and gentle eyes upon her face, in doubt +whether she could mean in earnest to enforce such a cruel task. Even the +worst of tyrants threatens a great deal more than he means to do; and +when it is a female tyrant, deeds can scarcely equal words, however +strong the whole may be. This youth had received enough of both,--the +blast of words, the lash of deeds,--and a heart that was both just and +tender had confused the brain by pouring vain emotions into it. + +The lady met his eyes with more than the every-day contempt in hers. It +was not in her nature to make allowance for the result of her own work. +Studiously from his infant days she had crushed all free-will out of +him; and yet she scorned him for having none. As fine a specimen of +manly growth as could be found in all the world was towering over her +dark head, tall and stately though she was. She hated him for doing +that, and she scorned him for doing it in stature only. + +"Am I to speak again?" she asked, with a gaze from which his mild glance +recoiled. "I have set your duty before you, Hafer; if you are coward +enough to refuse it, another will discharge it for you; and according to +the ancient laws you will be imprisoned and starved to death. What will +become of Lura then? She will love you, if you are a man. If not, she +will turn to Hisar, who is longing to prove himself more worthy, and all +her beauty will be his." + +"What has Hisar to do with this? He is always seeking to supplant me. +You speak as if I were a coward, because it is not my desire to shed +blood of man or beast; those who have done no harm to me, why should I +do harm to them? Neither do I take heed of words, being brought up with +reproaches daily, which it becomes me not to answer. But of Hisar I have +no fear. It is the feminine voice that scares me, because it has always +held dominion, and is too rapid to contend with. You have never allowed +me to obtain any skill in weapons, such as a full-grown man should have; +neither have I desired to fight, which is worthy of wolves, and dogs, +and hogs. But if Hisar thinks to take my place in the things which he is +coveting, Hisar is of ignoble breed, let him come and make trial of me; +and let Lura come and see it, if her gentle nature does not shrink." + +Hafer tossed his golden curls, and tried to look fierce; but nature had +not gifted him with that expression, neither had practice supplied the +lack. And then he smiled at his own attempt, having much of his father +Imar's vein. No woman, worthy to be called a woman, could have looked at +him without admiration, and pity for all that he had suffered to take +the bold spirit out of him. But the woman who had crushed his life was +enraged at this slight outbreak. + +"Something more than vaunt is needful to establish claim to courage. +Hisar is brave; the maidens admire him, the fighting men are afraid of +him. If thou art too liver-hearted to avenge thy father's wrongs, a +braver youth will take thy place, and do thy duty for thee. It will not +be worth while to starve thee, Hafer, and to listen to thy craven +shrieks. On thy forehead we will brand _Coward_, and expel thee from a +tribe of men. Hisar shall be the Lord of Ossets, with Lura for their +Lady." + +"For the Lordship I care not. Thou hast done thy best from my birth to +make me what thou art not--a woman. Hisar is more to thee than I am, +though he is but a stranger. But he shall never be Lord of Lura; for I +know that she hates him, and he would grind her into dust. For her sake, +I will do this thing; loathsome as it is to me, since it must be done by +somebody. But remember one thing, if I am forced to this--never more +will I call thee mother." + +"Poor fool! Does he think he will have the chance?" she muttered, as he +strode away repenting already in his soft young heart of words that +might have been too harsh. "Child of the detested Oria, better for thee +to have died than led my own dear little one to his death. Thou hast +escaped the precipice, but the Russian mines shall be thy doom. Hisar, +where art thou, my son? Heardest thou what that spoon-pap said? This hut +shall have a golden door, and walls of lapislazuli. Within it Oria slew +herself; and within it her first-born has sealed himself for Siberia." + +Hisar came forth from the inner room, so fateful to Sûr Imar, and for +once his surly face looked bright. Since his return he had thought scorn +of his native land and all therein; but he durst not show his mother +that. + +"Madam, it is nobly designed," he said, "and all in strict accord with +law. Pedrel first, he shall have his wages, for which he has dared to +follow me hither, and to plague me about marriage with his sister. Then +to see that pious Imar fall by the hand of his sanctimonious son; to +explain to that sweet saint what he has done; and then to deliver him to +the Russians to be tried for parricide! It is high time to be quit of +him. He begins to show cheek, as the men of England say. I could have +stabbed him yesterday, if it were not for spoiling your noble scheme. +Oh, mother, the eagles of Rakhabat alone can have brought thee such +counsel from the clouds above! I am clever, and full of great devices, +but never could I have invented this." + +"My child, it is but one of many that have entered into my swift mind. +When I was a girl among the nuns, to pass the winter nights, we used to +relate delightful stories, far more ingenious than this. The difficulty +is not to think them, but to do them, to make a great success of them. +This we have not accomplished yet; but I see not how it can slip from +our hands. So far, things have worked well for us. Even the weather has +taken our part. That spy of a Svân is wolf's meat ere now, and there is +not a Lesghian this side of Karthlos. No fear of that meddlesome Briton, +I trow, or of Stroke, the drunken traveller, who threatened to come +after thee." + +"Would that I could catch them in our valleys, mother! George the farmer +would have small chance then of swinging his gun, and singing psalms +with the angelic Dariel! How I scorn and hate soft women! And they love +me not. All love and liking hath gone to the meek and milky Lesghian +'Hafer;' as thou hast chosen to call him. Therefore, to the Russian hell +with him! But of one thing I would warn thee, much admired and beloved +mother. When we have torn the red cross down, and cast it beneath the +white sheepskin, and filled our belts with the gold of Imar, not long +will I tarry in these dens of rock fit only for the hermit and the +huntsman. Of Selina I am already weary, and soon as my heart is weary +both of Dariel and Lura--since the ancient law allows us twain, which is +less than the wisdom of the Moslem--I shall leave thee to command this +savage race, and take their tributes for me. Yearly will I come to see +thee, and my two devoted wives, when the harvest-time is on, and cities +are too hot to dwell in. But London and Paris, Paris and London, will be +the delight of Hisar." + +The Princess had heard this more than once, and it did not distress her. +She had none to love or plot for now, except this savage Hisar, her own, +but unacknowledged son. Forsooth when Rakhan proved himself both brutal +and faithless to her, and quitted her before the birth of the genuine +Osset Hafer, and wandered with a light-of-love, the outraged wife took +her revenge, according to the manner of the country, by encouraging a +Khabardan chief, a bold and haughty Mussulman. Hisar, born of this +transmontane sally, about two years after the true Hafer's birth, but +before his death at Karthlos, was of necessity kept from sight during +every return of Rakhan. That strong-willed savage, like many others, +allowed unlimited action to himself, but passion only in the passive +form to those who might have saved his soul, if there had been any heart +behind it. + +"Thou art not fit to govern men," the Princess Marva looked at Hisar +with a smile of mild contempt, which would have been anything but mild +to any other woman's son; "but there is time enough to learn all that. +Fierce enough thou art; and that is the understreak of all government. +All the needful frauds will flow into thy noble spirit, when thy truest +friends and warmest loves have shown thee what the onyx is." + + + + +CHAPTER LIV + +THE VALLEY OF RETRIBUTION + + +Usi, the Svân, came up to me, in the first gleam of the morning, when +the valleys were spiral snakes of white and the peaks were horns bedight +with rose, as in a Roman sacrifice. We had struggled and scrambled, by +Stepan's guidance, under the weak help of the moon, until jaded legs and +burdened arms were like branches that droop with their own weight. +Strogue most of all, after resting so long at the fountain of the +_London Rock_, felt need of refreshment beyond the supply, and found +tumbles less cheerful than tumblers. However, whenever we could stop to +feed he was as brisk as the youngest of the party. + +Then Usi, as I said, came round a crag with the light step of a +mountaineer, and touched me on the elbow. I followed him into a piece of +thicket, and there found our interpreter, a man of many accomplishments, +and perceptive of their value. The Bear-slayer carried a long dull gun +of ancient make and heavy substance, with the barrel stained by smoke +and fire, and the carving of the stock turned black. Waving it proudly +he began to speak; and what he said was rendered thus, though +interpretation was growing needless as between his hits and mine. + +"I am a man of piety not common among soldiers, and never yet heard of +among the Svâns. For this cause hath the Lord preserved me from wolves, +and daggers, and Marva. And not only me hath He preserved, but also this +long pipe of Shamyl, this instrument of justice, renowned for laying low +the sinners who have persecuted Usi. From the blazing of fire and the +hands of thieves the Almighty hath restored it for a holy purpose. I +will not boast; that now remains for the young man or the coward. But I +have seen in a dream of the night the proud eyes and the swelling breast +laid low. + +"I have a scheme of my own devising, by which perchance the Lord of +Christians, the greatest officer of Shamyl, and his dear child may keep +their breath. Know you not that the murderers will guard their +dungeon-gate in force, and as soon as we assault the valley, they will +rush in and slay the prisoners? Of what avail will it be then, for us to +pour our strength in after them? Rather let the captain, and his brave +men, lie dark at the mouth of the valley, until the chief who hath +justice in his eyes is brought forth for the death pronounced. +Meanwhile, if there be any man young, and strong, and fearless, to whom +the lives of the prisoners are as precious as his own life, let him +descend and lie hidden in the valley between the murderers and the +prison-gate, with an implement such as I have seen, but know not how to +handle, for it was not discovered in our war-time, a fire-arm which +contains the death of four men in close combat. Also let two men of +straight pipes--I myself will be one of them--lie in the wrinkle of the +cliff, which is behind the prison-gate looking over it, and up the +valley. I know how to get to that hole unseen, for every crag is known +to me. Also we two at the crafty minute can lower from the rocks the man +who is to hide in the valley; if a man can be found bold enough. I have +spoken to this young son of the West, because he is strong and nimble, a +lover of Sûr Imar also, and a worshipper of womankind. But if his +courage abide not with him to go down into the place of death, there is +a young Lesghian of better courage ready to encounter it. But he is not +well skilled in fire-arms. With wisdom have I spoken, as befits a son of +Shamyl." + +The danger thus foreseen by the veteran sharpshooter had long been in my +thoughts. Our attack upon the rear of the enemy, far away from the +dungeon gate, would avail the prisoners not a jot, and only cause their +instant death, if the savage horde rushed at them first, as their leader +would probably command. Some one must be there to face them, at the +first signal of the fight: for the straight course of the glen (which +resembled in shape a drawn-out horseshoe) was nearly a quarter of a +mile in length, and our appearance at the further end would leave plenty +of time to stab those inside. But one man hidden in the glen itself, and +two upon the cliffs above, might check the rush for a minute or two, +until our main force dashed up behind. Yet to have six rifles on the +cliff, and six revolvers in the valley--how much more effectual would +that be, as well as so much safer! + +"Is there no room for more than one to lie concealed near the +prison-gate, and for more than two upon the crag above?" + +When the interpreter put my question, Usi shook his head, and turned his +back upon me, as if he cared to hold no further converse with a craven. +"I would go myself," he muttered, "if I had ever been taught to shoot +with pipes that are no longer than the honeycomb." + +"Hearken unto my words," I spoke in the style of his own oration, "O +slayer of bears, the English heart hath as much endurance and contempt +of peril, as ever was bred in the Lesghian or the untamed Svân. From +this adventure I will not turn back, by reason of terror or the love of +life. Do thou consider these things apart, while I hold counsel with the +Captain of brave men." + +Forty-two of us there were in all, without counting old Kobaduk or the +fluent interpreter,--the one disabled by length of years, the other by +prolixity of tongue. Time had failed us to muster more than twenty-two +Caucasians, and eighteen British miners, with Strogue and myself to make +up the force; but a match as we thought for twice that number of Ossets, +or any other savage tribe. And we had the advantage of knowing much more +about their proceedings than they could know of ours; for Usi (who had +left us the day before to search his burned hut for the celebrated gun) +had made the best of his time in other ways, skirting the highlands +round the valley at a prudent distance, and learning from a goatherd's +boy what the proceedings of the morrow were to be. All these things I +put plainly before Strogue as the commander of the expedition, and he +fell in at once with the Bear-slayer's plan; while Jack Nickols (as the +best rifle-shot among us and a first-rate climber) volunteered to be +Usi's partner in the dangerous enterprise among the cliffs. So we +three, Nickols, Usi, and myself, made every preparation we could think +of, and set off with a quick step right early, in advance of the main +body. + +In some of his tempers, Strogue was a very provoking and irritating +fellow, and he knew it, I think; or he must have known it, whenever he +looked at Bat Strogue in the glass. But now I thought more of him than I +had ever thought before, because he behaved so kindly to me. For it must +be remembered that I had not always put up with his brag, and his +cynicism, and contempt, or pretended contempt of women, and many other +little ways that rasp the quiet Briton. + +"Let Jack Nickols go; don't you go, George," he said to me, I daresay a +dozen times; "what matter if he gets a prod through the lungs? Take a +lot of gabble out of him, if he ever came round again; if he didn't, one +coxcomb the less. He does think Treble X of himself; while you are +always so ready to learn,--it's a pleasure to hold a conversation with +you. And when a man comes to know you, George, he finds you not half +such a fool as he thought! That is my experience at any rate, although I +have seen too much of men to pretend to know much about them. But nobody +need look twice at you, to understand you thoroughly. I am wanted here +of course; but let that cock-headed young Nickols go; nobody would ever +miss him." + +"Captain," I replied with emphasis, for I knew that he loved the +title,--all the more perhaps as being of home-growth,--"should I be +worthy of your friendship if I allowed a young fellow quite a stranger +to the case to undertake my duty?" + +"Well, well! God bless you! I shall never see you alive again. But I'll +make a rare example of the fellow that runs you through, dear George. I +wish I had bought a six-shooter in London; however, the Lord be with +you. Be sure you kill four of them before you drop. That sham Hafer +belongs to me, mind, after all the tricks he has played me." + +This was not encouraging; but there seemed to be no way out of it. +Neither was there any genuine pluck in my volunteering; for as a mere +question of selfishness, Dariel's life was worth to me a hundredfold as +much as mine. Another thing was, that I had never felt sure whether +nature had afforded me a decent share of that British pith, and presence +of mind, and calmness, of which the father reads in the despatch, and +says, "Thank God we are not going down the hill yet!" while the mother's +eyes run over, and the brother wonders whether he could do the like, if +the pinch came to his own short ribs. + +Some people declare that dreams will tell us, when we can remember them, +what our genuine nature is. If so, I have been told both ways; in some +visions, running like a niddering, in others standing firm as a pyramid. +And now I found myself quite at a loss, although my mind felt firm +enough, whether the body would toe the mark, stand steadfast, and act to +orders. + +Happily there was not much time for dealing with speculative terrors, +for we had to keep on at a rapid pace, to do any good with our +ambuscade. The sudden snowfall of the Sunday morning had not been so +heavy on this northern side, but the track was very rough and crooked, +as well as steep and slippery. So that Nickols and myself were ashamed +to find the supple vigour of youth no match for the wiry endurance and +practised precision of that ancient mountaineer. Then, at the crown of a +terrible defile, he looked back, and ordered us to lie close, while he +crept down a narrow channel flanked with trickling combs of snow. + +We were glad to have a breathing time, and Nickols proposed a quiet +smoke; but I would not hear of it, for the vaporous curls might be seen +from below. + +"Wonderful old buffer," Jack whispered with his hand to his mouth; "I +believe he could out-walk us both. I shall take to bear's grease when I +grow old. But I would like to shoot a match with him for his best +bearskin, if the Amazon has not burned them all. By George, I shouldn't +like to be that lady though, with the long pipe bearing upon me. Have +you seen how his eyes flash and his lips twitch at the very name of that +woman? I do believe he has arranged all this for his private +satisfaction. But there goes the signal; we are to creep on carefully. +Mind you don't send a stone down hill." + +Taking our caps off, and stooping low so as not to jut out against the +sky-line, we descended the shallow seam of rock, until we stood in a +stony and briary hollow, as long and as wide as a sawpit. At the further +end, brown Usi lay flat on his breast, and peered securely through a +wattle of budding bush into the depth of the glen below. We joined him, +and found ourselves in full command of the whole of the savage +solemnity. + +A heavy stone chair was planted near the middle of the valley, with a +black tent just behind it. On either side about a dozen dirty but +distinguished greybeards were squatting upon blocks of granite, wearing +the sheepskin head-dress, and the smock with fluted cross-belt, and +holding long white rods, as if in trial or in council. There was no one +in the high chair as yet, but a young attendant stood on guard, +smoothing now and then the pile of leopard-skin thrown over it. Further +up the valley I could see a lot of Osset warriors, lounging in their +usual way, some even squatting down and smoking, and scarcely any two +dressed alike. Reckless fellows, and rough as wolves--it was difficult +to count them; but at a guess I set them down as from eighty to a +hundred, gallant men, no doubt, but looking better trained to rob than +fight. + +"Take it all in; shape it all to know every inch of it in your mind," +Jack Nickols whispered kindly; "now is your time, George Cranleigh. It +may save your life, when it comes to the rush. Did you ever see anything +more lovely?" + +"Very fine for the fellows who are safe up here," I answered less +politely, and knowing (without advice of his) how much I had to think +of. + +But even in that nervous state, one could not behold without thinking +about it, the strange way in which the hand of nature had cut and shaped +and almost furnished a theatre of the mountains here. The sides of the +glen were of yellow rock, or rather perhaps of a dun colour, nowhere +less than a hundred feet in sheer height, or beetling over; while the +level spread of the bottom was, like a frame drawn by a tapestry-worker, +soft and rich and tissued smoothly, only of the brightest green, shot +here and there with play of gold, like a carpet woven of lycopod. Usi +said that the people told him snow would never lie down here, neither +would any coarse weed grow, but only moss and the dews of heaven, for +magnanimous heroes who slept below. And he said that the grey rocks, +standing forth at the broad end we looked down upon, were tombstones, +which had sprung like mushrooms where the Captains of those heroes lay. + +"Imar and the lovely maiden," he said; as he struck his heel on rock, +and Nickols told me what he meant, "are a hundred feet beneath us now. +If you could drive an iron down, it would pierce the roof above their +heads. But lo, one man has been slain already, condemned in the holy +weeks and kept till now. A traitor, and an extortioner, by the black +stake driven through him. The corpse is out of sight from the judgment +yard, though I can see it plainly. By the dress he was of the Western +races, such as you yourselves are; but a small man, weak, and of no +account; perhaps an English slave purchased for his own use by Hisar. + +"Now see, my son, where that horn of rock stands forth. When the wise +men put their heads together, by this rope we will let thee down, if +trembling cripple not thy strong limbs. The fighting men will not behold +thee, because of the folding of the crag; the heads of men that are +white with wisdom will be bowed into that of the wealthiest, while they +whisper to one another _death_. And the woman will abide unseen within +the tent. Therefore do thou quickly thus. As soon as thy feet are on the +moss, cut the rope, stop not to untie it, fall on thy breast, and crawl +into that hole--my finger shows it now--where slab of stone leans unto +stone, and the body of a large heart may lie hidden. I saw it in the +twilight before they caught me; but like a fool I went not in. Within +twenty yards, thou wilt see the iron bars where Sûr Imar will be +shackled to receive the death. Keep thy head below the brim, even as the +salesman scrimps his bushel, and thine eyes as deep as his, when he +seemeth to heed nothing. Thine own strong head and heart will guide +thee, when it comes to stabbing. At the sight or the sound of thy +downstroking we will shoot; and the Captain's force will rush up the +valley. Bear in mind that thou hast chosen this; and death comes only +once to man; and by the God on high, thou shalt be avenged on the +wicked men that slay thee." + +This ought to have been warm comfort to me, according to all great +writers, and the general practice of mankind. But it failed to kindle +one fibre of my system, and I dropped my eyes that the heartless slayer +of many bears, and men thrice as many, might not behold the affliction +in them which he would be sure to take amiss. It was not terror (I would +wish to think), so much as pity for my father and dear mother, and +Grace, and Harold, and the farm, and the horses, and the dogs I loved, +and most of all for Dariel; also a good deal for myself, who went hand +in hand with her in every thought of mine. But the less I thought and +felt, the better; for the time was now to act. + +We crept unseen to the spur of rock which Usi had called a "Horn;" and +there they made the rope fast around my chest, and I passed a +handkerchief round the breech of my revolver, and slung my kinjal and +_toorak_ securely, for I had taken kindly to that native weapon, made of +the long horn of a mountain-goat, laden with lead, and bound with +leather. Then at the proper moment when the judges or the +jury--whichever they were--had gathered in a ring to consummate their +farce, from the lip of the cliff I was let down softly, and lowered so +skilfully in the buttress corner of a crag, that I reached the bottom +with both feet ready, and only a little skin gone from my thumbs. There +I cut the rope, and fell flat among the moss, which grew to the very +plinth of cliff, and wormed my way, with the slab for a screen, until I +dived into the hole at its base. Here I rubbed my knees, which had +received a bruise or two, and began with great caution to survey the +scene. For the little pit into which I had crawled was scarcely more +than a yard in depth, but protected at the top by a smaller slab of +stone, which rested with a wide slope against the upright rock, as the +spur of a wooden fence is reared above the ground, and splayed against +the post, to steady it. + +At the lip of my refuge a grey plant grew with woolly leaves, something +like mullein, and although it had not got much growth yet, it afforded +me precious shelter, when I raised my head to peep around; for it partly +closed the three-cornered gap, between the upright and the sloping +stone. It is not in my power to make a list of all that I saw, being in +so quick a terror; but the things that I was able to twist my neck to +were enough to make me sorry for the colour of my hair. + +In the butt-end of the cliff, which I had just dropped down, I beheld a +wide door of dark metal, and the gleam of it was more of bronze than +iron. What the metal truly was, no man would stop to ask himself, but +rather stand in wonder, and be overcome by the solid mass and magnitude, +and the strength of ancient times. All the sons of Caucasus might have +come together, and done their very best for a century--if nature allowed +them such length of strength--but even with the Genoese smiths to help +them, they could never have built such a door as that. A door I call it, +though I may be wrong; others would take it for a gate perhaps. But +being all in one plane and flat, and having no frame in sight, to me it +was a door, and a marvellous door, beyond our power to make or even to +break open. On either side of it were two long loop-holes, like the +lancet-windows in our church at home, but carved in the solid rock, too +narrow for even a child to squeeze his little shoulders through. And I +knew that in the chambers (quarried thus by Roman steel eighteen +centuries ago), waiting for their doom, were the chief whom I admired, +and the lady whom I loved. + +There was nothing more to be made of that; not even a sign that Sûr Imar +knew what the savages outside were doing. But as I thought of him, +labouring for years, girding up the slack folds of a life, from which +all the gladness of the world was gone, simply for the benefit of these +wretches,--genuine indignation filled me, and I longed to shoot a tribe +of them. This it was, and no true courage, which enabled me to regard +the whole, with a calm heart and a solid head, like the oak, which is +our emblem. + + + + +CHAPTER LV + +AT THE BAR + + +How long those ragged elders carried on with their pretence of trial, is +beyond my power to say. I only know that my joints began to stiffen with +cramp, and to ache with crush, and my brain to hum like a factory wheel. +Even the relief of descrying Usi or Jack Nickols, on the bristly brow of +cliff a hundred feet over the dungeon-gate, was more than they dared to +afford me now; though I tried to persuade myself once or twice that I +espied the glint of metal there. Neither was there sound or sign of life +within the rocky jail, so far as watchful eyes and ears could learn; +while the cackle of the greybeards some fifty yards behind me resembled +a drone of bagpipes enlivened by a cherry-clapper. + +At last I beheld a stately woman advance from the cover of the private +tent and take her seat in the chair of law, to receive the verdict of +her puppets. Then some hypocritical farce ensued, as if she were +shocked, and pleaded with them, and mourned to find them so inexorable. +My heart burned within me, and my fingers tingled to pull trigger at +some of them, such a fierce and dirty lot were they; but I said to +myself, "Let Hisar come, the fellow that broke the lovebird's leg." Then +as if the scene that could not be avoided was unfit for such gentle +eyes, the Princess, with a bow of resignation, retired into the sable +tent. + +I lay close, and drew my head in, while four or five of the fighting men +followed the hoary villain who had acted as chief-justice to the door of +heavy metal sunk in the dark embrasure of the cliff. The old man drew +forth a key as long as a toasting-fork and much bigger, and with brawny +arms thrusting in both directions, and a screech as if from wounded +rock, the valves of the door slid back into their bed, as the damper of +a furnace slides. But one broad bar of metal spanned the opening +horizontally, about five feet above the iron threshold. The Osset +warriors stooped their white head-dresses under this heavy bar, and +disappeared in the gloom inside. That they would not slay their +prisoners there I knew, from Usi, and from Stepan's tales. + +Presently they appeared again with a figure in the verge of sunlight, +towering over their woolly gleam. + +I saw Sûr Imar's noble face, as calm as when he smiled on me, and +blessed me with his daughter. His hands were roped behind his back, his +silvery curls uncovered, and his broad white chest laid naked; except +that the red cross hung upon it, in which he wore some of his dead +wife's hair. Two of the men stretched spears behind him, as if he would +shrink from the steps of death; but he walked as if he were coming to +welcome some expected visitor, bowed his head without a word, and laid +his breast against the bar. There they cast a broad shackle round him +and made it fast behind his back; while a pompous dotard stood forth the +door, and read (or made believe read) the verdict of his brother idiots. +As he finished, my pistol muzzle lay true upon the foremost of them; the +man who first put hand to kinjal would never have put it to his mouth +again. + +Then to my surprise, they all withdrew, cackling in their crock-saw +throats, while that old fiend showed his gums like a rat-trap, grinning +through his rheumy scrub. And the sound of tongues up the valley ceased; +and the blowing of horns, and the shrilling of fifes; and the only thing +that I could hear was the slow beat of a sheepskin drum, to call the +savages to the death, and the rapid thumps of my own heart. + +Listening for the fatal step, I fixed my eyes once more upon the bound +and helpless victim. Perhaps to reduce his well-known strength, or to +lower his high courage, the affectionate sister had kept in his body +just life enough to last till he should be killed. His ribs stood forth, +and his cheeks were meagre, and the eyes looked worn and sunken; but +there was not a sign of fear or flinching, no twitch or quiver in the +smooth white forehead, and not so much as a palpitation in the broad +breast laid against the bar. Like a fool I raised my hand a little and +tried to attract his notice, but he kept his calm gaze towards his foes; +until a low heart-broken wail from an inner cell of the caverned rock +told of a sorrow beyond his own. Then for a moment he turned his head, +and spoke some words of comfort perhaps, or of love and long farewell, +to the one who could not come to him, or perhaps not even hear him; and +I hoped in the Lord of mercy that she could not see her father. At the +thought of that possibility even, hot as I was, my blood ran cold. Could +any woman exist who would set such a sight before a woman? + +Suddenly a glow of deep amazement shone in Imar's haggard eyes. With a +wrench of his mighty frame he shook the steel bar like a ribbon, the +shackles on his chest gave way a little, and his grand face issued from +the gloom of granite into the testimony of the sun. Then the strong +aspect and vivid lines--as firm as the cliff to confront their +doom--relaxed and softened, and grew bright, as if memory forgot its +age, and went back upon its years, to have a play with tender visions. + +"Oria, come at last!" he cried, with a smile to tempt her nearer; "my +Oria sent to call me home! The God, who has done this for me, will take +care of my daughter!" + +Before him stood--betwixt him and me, although I had heard no +footsteps--a tall young figure in a long white robe, timid as a woman, +and as graceful; but with supple strength quivering for the will to man +it. On the left hip hung a heavy sword; but the right hand had fallen +away from the hilt, and the shoulders lay back with the sudden arrest. +"My son, my son, it is just," cried Imar; "slay me, as I slew thy +mother." + +Then the shackled man turned his head away, that his eyes should make no +plea for him, and nature's dread could be seen in nothing but the quiver +of his long arched throat. + +But the young man stood as if carved in stone, with both arms stretched +to his father, unable to take another step, unable to do anything but +wonder. + +But betwixt their gaze a dark form leaped, quivering with fury, and wild +for blood, too ravenous for slaughter to have formed a proper plan of +it. And this was a very lucky thing for me. + +For while he danced between them thus, with his hateful face on fire, in +the voluptuous choice of murder, there was time for me to leap out of my +hole, and get my cramped limbs flexible; not a moment, however, for any +kind of thought, and whatever I did was of instinct. What it was I know +not, nor does anybody else; it can only be told in a whirl as it befell. + +Hisar, I think, made a jump at Hafer, before he saw me, and smacked his +face (as if he had been a child), and tried to snatch his sword, but was +thrust back, and then drew his own, and flew with it at the shackled +Imar's heart. But another was there--thank the Lord in heaven--I caught +the flame of Hisar's eyes on mine, as his blade went straight for Imar's +breast, and dashed it into splinters with my _toorak_. Then he hurled +the stump at me, drew his kinjal, and sprang, as if he were made of +wings, at my breast. I stepped aside quicker than I ever moved at +cricket, and as he passed me he ran against so hearty a whack upon his +wicked temples, that no more sin was concocted there. + +Down he went, like a thistle at the ploughshare, and threw up his long +legs, and lay dead, with a tuft of bloody moss between his teeth. I took +the stump of his sword, which had struck me in the breast, and cut Sûr +Imar free, and hurried him inside (for he was lost as in a vision), and +stood with my revolver in the doorway, ready for the onset of the +fighting men. These being taken with astonishment hung back, as if they +had none to lead them; until the great lady appeared from the tent, to +receive the tidings of her brother's death. + +Marva came forth in her majestic manner (having turned away her face, +perhaps with sisterly compunction), sweeping her black robe along the +ground, and framing her handsome features to the proper expression of +regret. Now the desire of her life was won. Paramount of the Eastern +Ossets, and the Western Lesghians; quit of the brother who had thwarted +her, and his son whom she had stolen for revenge and guile; nothing +remained but to make her own son the heir,--for he was born in wedlock, +though not of it,--marry him to the Lesghian heiress, and herself enjoy +all the power and the wealth, while he took his pleasure in the western +world. She despised all the ignorance and superstition round her too +loftily to act down to it; and perhaps looked down upon herself a +little, as she took her seat in the chair of stone. None the less she +did it with a royal air, more impressive to us from a woman than from +man. + +To recover my breath, and be ready, I drew back in the shadow of the +prison entrance, where Hafer was standing by his prostrate father; and +much as I longed to see all that happened, for the moment I was out of +it. Not that I should have been much wiser even in the midst of them, +knowing nothing of the Osset tongue, which sounds like a chorus of +bull-frogs, bagpipes, pigs under a harrow, a cock in the roup, and a +hooter at the junction, even when the men are calm and keep the women +silent. However, those who understood them tell me that they reported +thus. + +"Oh, lofty lady, mother of thy tribe, widow of the great Prince Rakhan, +the sentence hath been given according to thy will, and carried out even +as the Heaven hath decreed." + +"Wise men, speak not of any will of mine; whatever hath been done is +good and righteous, to establish justice, and avenge the wrong. The barb +of the arrow of the Lord flies straight; never can it fail by any +crookedness of men. Yet the great Prince who has fallen was the nearest +of all flesh to me. I will be content with your testimony. I cannot gaze +upon him." + +"But--but we know not how to say it, so as to mingle truth with +pleasure. Oh, lofty lady, it is not our enemy, Imar of the Kheusurs, who +is dead. Rather is it sorrowful indeed for us to speak. Would that the +Lord had made us liars, when He hath cast the truth into the breast of +evil!" + +"Wise men, what is it? Or am I to call you fools, if ye could not even +execute your own decree aright?" + +"It is no deed of ours. It is a spirit from the tombs, the tombs that +were made before the world itself. Let the high lady come and see." + +She was girding up her long robe while they spoke, and the jewels on her +shapely feet flashed forth. With a gesture of disdain she waved the old +men back, but a score of wild warriors followed her, as she strode +towards the dungeon, to see her brother's corpse. Instead of that, she +stood before the body of her son, and a loud shriek proved that she was +still a woman. From the gloom of my shelter, I saw her proud eyes +aghast, and her arms thrown up, and her tall form quivering. Then she +controlled herself, and looked around. + +"To weep by-and-by,--to avenge him first," she shouted (as they told me +afterwards), and such is the power of another's passion that I felt like +a murderer, and went forth with an impulse of shame to surrender myself. +For I had never slain a man till now. + +"Idiot, get back!" cried a voice from the cliff, the voice no doubt of +Jack Nickols. + +"Slay him,--shoot all of you, shoot, shoot, slay him!" the lady called +out, and herself seized a gun; "shoot him, though it be through my own +body!" + +This order was beyond my understanding; but I saw at least a score of +muzzles looking at me, and I had not even the wit to move. + +"Which will first reach me, the sound or the bullets?" That I should +thus ponder shows clearly enough that fear had overcome all sense of +terror. + +"Now then; cut it short," I said, according to Jack Nickols,--though I +cannot remember a word of it,--and the fellows were surprised, and drew +their clumsy fingers back, and went down on their knees with +superstition. But the Princess Marva drew near to me, and the butt of a +gun was against her hip. She saw that I stood unarmed and nerveless, and +she could not help playing with the joy of her revenge. To be shot by a +woman! I had no power left. I could only stare, and wait for it. + +"But I know him, I recognise my dear friend," she exclaimed in French, +while she fingered the trigger, with the muzzle not two yards from my +breast; "it is the gentleman desirous of my emeralds. Ah, thou shalt +have them! How many? Ten?" + +To prolong my agony, she began to count, with glittering eyes and a +courteous smile, tapping my time on the trigger; and would you believe +that I could not stir, and could only keep my gaze fixed on her? Then +as she cried _Seven_, a white spot leaped--as it seemed to me--from the +palpitant surge of her bosom. Her dark robe opened, and her musket +dropped, as the roar of a gun rang overhead, and the Princess sank, with +her lips still smiling, as dead as a stone, into low-born arms. + +"Usi, the Svân, hath his revenge!" a shrill cry from the crags +proclaimed; "Wolf's meat hath choked the Queen of Wolves." + +Fear fell on all of us, as if the sky had opened; and the warriors +grounded their guns upon the moss, and crowded round one who had an +image on his breast. Then with one accord they began a mournful howl, of +a quality to come from the bowels of the earth, or send all her +inhabitants into them. My presence of mind was restored by this; and +with scarcely a wound I leaped back into my shelter, recovered my +weapons, and determined to die hard. + + + + +CHAPTER LVI + +HARD IS THE FIGHT + + +What right had I to be out of breath, after standing stock-still no one +knows how long, like a cardboard dummy to be shot at? But there seemed +to be a hollow where my heart in its duty should have been staunch and +steadfast; and my brain (having never been wrought up like this) must +have lost its true balance and standard. Otherwise could it have shocked +me to know that a career of cruelty and wickedness was brought to an +ignominious close? + +"Marva is dead," I kept on saying; "the greatest woman of the age is +dead! Not the best, not the purest, not even a true woman. But how grand +was her attitude, and how she disdained me! And now a wretched Svân has +shot her!" + +Let any one despise me as he likes, with reason on his tongue and +humanity in his eyes. For the world at large it might be better to have +such a woman stretched beneath the turf; but a man with his heart in the +right place--which the muzzle of her musket knew too well--could not +help feeling for her grandeur. + +However, it was not for me to lay down the law, or even to stand up for +it against this crew of savages. To keep out of their way was my one +desire, and at first there seemed to be some chance of it, with their +leader a corpse, and superstition frowning at them from the +dungeon-gate. Hoping thus, I stood back in a niche of granite, while a +bullet or two sang along the vault, and I strove to recover the spirit +of a man, by thinking of my country and the luck we have in turning the +corner of situations, where others would lie down and breathe their +last. + +The bar to which Sûr Imar had been bound was still in place; but he was +not in sight, neither could I see his son, the gentle youth sent to +assassinate him. Then I heard the sound of heavy blows, and concluded +that the younger man was striving to release his sister, while the +father lay half-conscious still from brutal cruelty and want of food. +There was none but myself to guard the entrance--for Usi and Nickols had +not appeared--until our friends at the valley's mouth should have time +to come to the rescue. + +Glad was I to think, as I did at first, that the savage warriors, scared +and puzzled, and without a leader, would now hang back; as they had done +when the Lesghian chief brought their Prince Rakhan to account. And so +it would have been, by their own confession, but for the ferocity of one +young man, Karkok the brother of Lura, and the chief friend of that +Hisar whom I had struck down. Karkok cannot have been stirred up by +love, or loyalty, or any other noble motive,--for who could have +regretted Hisar?--but by ambition of the meanest sort, and a dash at the +mastery of the tribe, for he was now the last relative of Rakhan. + +This upstart fellow brought the fighting men together; and they laid +aside the bodies of Queen Marva and her son, in fear of their being +trampled on; and then (with a screech that must have set all the teeth +of the flintiest echo aching) at the prison-gate they rushed, and the +valves being back there was only my poor body between them and the +helpless inmates. + +When I saw those fellows advancing upon me, capering, and flinging hairy +arms about, and tossing white sheepskins, and flourishing long muskets, +beyond any denial I was frightened, and would have given every penny I +was worth to be in my own little saddle-room once more. My hand shook so +badly that the blue revolver revolved without any mechanism; and the +prudence which has been implanted in us all suggested that the bravest +man must value his own bacon. When a friend assures me that I was +gloriously brave, it would be a rude thing to contradict him; but what a +different tale my conscience tells! + +In a word, just presence of mind enough was left me to show that I must +fight it out. To make a bolt of it was useless, for whither could I go? +Anywhere across the cave would bring a bullet into me; and as for +slinking along the dark wall, where would that take me, even if I could +contrive it? Into the very arms of Dariel,--a truly sweet refuge, but +not for a coward. All I could do was to say to myself that the lines +were hard, but the Lord had made them so, and I must trust in Him to +deliver me. + +Whether it were faith, or sense of justice, or the love of woman, or +something far lower than any of these, the brute element inborn in the +sons of men,--no sooner did I see hateful eyes agoggle with lust for +blood glaring at me, and great mouths agrin for a grab at me, than the +like spirit kindled in myself. + +"Blood you shall have, but it shall be your own first," I shouted in +English, and leaped at them from the mouth of the cave, like the demon +of Kazbek. They took me for that great power, and fell back, while a +ball slit the tip of my ear off, and before they could rally there were +two as dead as stones with bullets in their heads, and two more fell +upon them with their skulls cracked by the swing of my _toorak_. "Want +any more?" I asked, having two charges left, and many of them showed the +better part of valour. But a kinjal was thrown at me down a lane of +cowards, and stuck in my breast, and that rallied the crowd. Three or +four made at me from behind, and I know not how it was, but down I went +from a terrible whack on the back of my head, at the very same moment +that I shot their new chief. + +A very lucky shot, and one that governed all the issue. But of that I +knew nothing until weeks had passed, my latest sense being of a white +flash across me, and a plunge into a bottomless abyss of some one, who +might be anybody. "There let him lay," as a great poet says--and never +would he have stood up again, if his skull had been of Norman growth. + +But a mighty champion just in time had rushed into the thick of it, and +scattered a storm of sword-flash, as the lightning fires a forest. Two +ruffians, poised for the final stab at my defenceless body, swung +backward with their arms chopped off, and the blade that should have +drained Sûr Imar's blood revelled in the gore of his enemies. For the +fury of the mild and gentle "Hafer" (now that he had learned his wrongs +and guessed his father's) swooped on those sheep-clad fiends, as a +whirlwind leaps upon a drying-ground of tallow candles. Would that I had +only kept sufficient sense to see, for they tell me that it was +magnificent. Heads that are full of hate should have some of it let out, +and several of the worst were stopped for ever from receiving any more +misanthropy. All who knew anything about it said that Rakhabat himself, +the worst man-hater of all the demons of Kazbek, was seen to come down +with the wings of a black eagle, and enter the vesture of the white +"Lamb-angel." That was the Osset name for this poor Prince; and now +having broken bounds, he proved the irony of his claim to it. For soon +the chief-justice of the court went down, and so did the foreman of the +jury, and a pair of clerks who sought nothing but their living, and +others who had come to see things out without any view to their own +exit. Among them raged "Hafer," like Hector of Troy, with twenty years, +and more than that, of goodness to let out; and no man could shoot +straight at him, because he was in the right, while all their guns were +crooked. + +Nevertheless the force of numbers must have been too great for him,--for +the conscience of Ossets still requires to be formed,--but for the rapid +and resistless charge of Stepan and Strogue, and the Lesghians, and the +miners, down the long valley, and over the moss reeking already with +more blood than it could staunch. At the same moment Usi, the Svân, and +Jack Nickols, who had been hampered by some tangle of the rope, shouting +to their comrades, fell in upon the flank; and the noble tribe of +Ossets, or at any rate that branch of it, split up and fell asunder like +an unroped fagot. There can be no certainty of justice in this world; +but even the races connected with them by the tenderest ties of +co-robbery found it in their hearts, when the facts could not be +altered, to pronounce the only verdict--"Served them right." + + + + +CHAPTER LVII + +BUT NOT IN VAIN + + +In recounting my little adventures--as I am begged sometimes to do--upon +coming to this particular part my general practice is to stop, as if I +had no more to say. Whereas it is only that I want to know in which of +the persons concerned my friends appear to take most interest. And to my +pride, more perhaps than to my credit, their first question always is, +not "What became of you, George?" but "What became of Dariel?" And that +is more than I could tell for many a long day afterwards. + +When the door of her cell was beaten in, she came forth as in a dream or +trance, without any wonder, or fear, or question, possessed by one +purpose alone,--to share the fate of her dear father. In the gloom of +the tunnelled rock she glanced at the tall form of her brother, but the +light even there was enough to show that this was not the one she +wanted. And he, having reason from very early days to give a wide berth +to the feminine form, drew aside gladly for a strange young lady to go +her way without compressing him. + +For this young fellow, Prince Origen, the son of Imar and Oria, the +child who escaped by his fall into the drift (when Marva's genuine Hafer +perished), being substituted for him, and brought up with plenty of +chastisement, and strict privations, and a candid absence of affection, +had never been encouraged to think, or act, or even to feel for his poor +young self. + +What then could be expected of him, when in a moment at one blow the +whole of his world was cut from beneath him, his own identity plucked +away, and not even a quiet corner left for considering who he was, or +how he came to be? In such a case is it surprising that his head went +round so rapidly that he might fairly be said to have lost it? Instead +of attending to his new-found father, he had simply stood staring at the +prostrate form, till moans of despair from that inner cell were brought +to his ear by the chilly draughts of rock. Thereupon he rushed in, and +while I kept the entrance, he used his great strength to such purpose +that his unknown sister glided past him and hurried to their unconscious +father. And truly it was a great mercy for me, as well as a glory to +this grand young fellow, that, instead of waiting longer where he was +not wanted, he ran out at once to obtain fresh air, and get some light +shed upon so many marvels. Rapid action and muscular exertion, for which +he found ample cause at once, probably saved him from congestion of the +brain, and certainly saved me from perforation of the heart. + +For why should I make light of my defeats, any more than extol my +victories, which latter it would be hard to do by reason of their +nonentity? Those Ossets had performed an exploit declared to be +impracticable by all the bravest sons of Wykeham during my generation. +That is to say, they had cracked my skull, which was not a piece of +biscuit china, but of solid and heavy metal, sounder I trow than its +contents. And those who have studied the subject tell me that the +thicker the pot is, which nature has provided for our poor brains to +boil in, the more ticklish the job is to make good the splinters. What +tinker can patch an enamelled saucepan? And a queer saucepan must our +brainpan be, if, after all the smut shed round it and the slow smoke +under it, any steam of self-conceit still has a puff to lift the cover. +Let any man who thinks himself a wonder get a bit of his skull (too +small perhaps for a chick to pick up for the good of his gizzard) +crumbled in upon the brain he is so proud of; and if he has the luck to +meet with a friend who can get it out again, when he comes to know his +own name once more, will he count it worth remembering? + +But as for myself--because perhaps I had never thought wonders of +it--trouble beyond belief was needful ever to make it sound again. When +I came to know the facts--as I did at last--it may appear a singular +result, but as true as I sat up in bed, the salt tears ran into my soup +so fast that they had to give me another basin. Not through any +weakness, as an ill-natured man might fancy, but just because I was so +happy to come home to a world where loving folk were living, and people +better than myself, who wished to keep me with them. + +Perhaps I ought not to talk about it, and yet it seems shabby and +ungrateful not to say how much they had done for me. Here was my sister +Grace, together with her husband Jackson Stoneman, rushing from the +honeycomb of their blue moon among the soft Italian lakes into the +"horrid Caucasus;" and bringing with them by telegraph to Surrey that +wonderfully clever Dr. Hopmann, to whose skill I owe it that my reason +was restored as good as ever it was before, and perhaps even better, for +when it came back it had slept in the dew of humility. + +But the doctor's humility was not increased, neither deserved it so to +be. Because the most eminent physician at Tiflis, a Frenchman of vast +renown, being called in at once by my host Sûr Imar, had pronounced all +surgical operation futile, and declared that the owner of that battered +brain might linger on for weeks, until inflammation kindled, but could +never be better than an imbecile, even if he failed to satisfy science +by ending as a raving madman. + +"Shorge, my poy," were the first words passed by my ears into any +superior part, "now you let your tongue come--very slowly. Put a good +soup at the back of him, then put him in his house quietly, and go to +shleep again." + +"But you haven't finished cooking the partridges yet; and I want to have +the one that is over." + +This cupidity might scarcely seem to prove the possession of high +intellect, yet Hopmann declares that the noblest utterance has never +afforded him so fine a moral. "Zat Frenchman! Vot he know, to talk so +quick? No fear for a prain with a memory like zat. Shorge, they kill +bairds all the year round here. Go to shleep while I cook you four +bartriches." + +For another week he took good care to keep me in a state of body which +wanted no motion of the mind inside it, nor even any quick heart-action, +except at the sight of a knife and fork. But I feel ashamed to say how +long the disabled body was the lord of all, and the nobler elements of +our existence were not allowed even to speak to it. + +"I have dishpelled his shister and his sweetheart off," I heard Dr. +Hopmann say to some one whom I could not see, after he had attended to +my straps one day. "Vot they want? I tell you no. I let you help, +because you not care. His leetle prain stand nothing yet." + +"But I do care, because it was all through me," the reply was in a sweet +low voice, as I caught a glimpse of a fair young lady, dressed in black +and retiring towards the door; "you may have got rid of his sister, +doctor, but there is one you will never get rid of, so you may just as +well give it up. How much longer? And I am sure it would do him good. +Why only yesterday I knew----" + +"Ach, you be off! I am ze master here. We are not in England, where ze +vimmen rule the roast." + +The lady departed hastily, as if she had found that over-true, while the +German bolted the heavy door, and came back with a grin on his solid +ruddy face. + +"Am I never to see any one again," I muttered, for gratitude does not +flourish and abound with a man who has spent two months on his back, +"nobody but a confounded German, who bolts everybody out?" + +"Zat is shoost vot I vant to hear. Shorge, zat proves how you come +round. If you say, 'Dank you, Tochtor Hopmann, you have saved my life, I +shall never forget it, how can I ever hope to recompensh you?' then I +know that your prain is very weak, not fit for healthy Englishman's at +all. But when you call him a 'confounded Sherman,' he know, he see, that +the nation have come up, which is the most obstinate of nature not to +die. All the same, you lie down again. The world go on very well without +you, Shorge." + +It came into my head that this was not quite right, and that as an +honest man I ought to try to stop it; but torpor overpowered my sense of +justice, as it has a right to do, when the case is not our own. "I only +want to know who that lady was," I mumbled. + +"Zat gal was nothing of your concerns," Hopmann replied, as he sat down +by the table, and began to rub some cake tobacco he had sliced; "little +English Fräulein of the name of Pezzeril. Zat bad fe-loe you knock +worse than they knock you bring her from England with a heap of lies, +and make sham to marry her; then he throw her off, and drive long black +stick through her brother, because he haf desire of too moosh money. +Englishmans often make mishtakes zat way." + +"But I want to know about some one else, somebody different altogether, +somebody who never thinks of money----" + +"Ach zen, what fool can it be? Sometimes leetle gal not think of money; +but boys do, vimmen do, men obliged to follow zem." + +"Nonsense, doctor! The men set the example. But you know well enough +what I want to know. I want to know where I am, and all about it." + +The German came over and looked at me, and turned up one of my eyelids, +and then did the same to the other, while he blew his smoke over his +shoulder; and then he said "No fear. Shorge, you are a brick, and your +prain go the way to belong to him. One leetle drop I give you shoost to +clear both ears, and zen I tell you everyzing." + +O double-dyed villain! With my usual faith, I accepted and made the most +of his kind offering; and when I awoke again where was he? Perhaps in a +boat at the mouth of the Rion, listening for the mill-wheels of a +paddle-steamer to grind the slow grit of distance. For a telegram had +reached Karthlos that the vegetable Earl, the good Melladew, lay at the +last twist of our mortal coil internal, through travail on a bicycle +with a County Council lecturer who had taken crab-apples to be +synonymous with crabs. + +When this abandonment was first brought home to me, my behaviour was not +what it should have been. We are all too apt to suppose ourselves +neglected, and doubly so when the system has been lowered, and the +action of the heart restricted. To my shame I confess that a miserable +pessimism--such as manhood should scorn on its own behalf, even without +higher thoughts to lead it--invaded and began to vanquish me. + +"What is the good of anything? All nature is cruelty; all life a curse. +Every one for himself, and for none of us a God. Bitterness, and +contempt of mankind, and a reckless fight for one's own hand,--those +are the only solid things black destiny has left us. There is no choice +before us. As for sense of duty, or the stuff we call honour, or +patriotism, or the absurdity called love----" + +"My dear young friend, my directions are precise and I cannot depart +from them. You may talk as much as you like about flowers, or food, or +sport, or the hills and valleys, or anything in fact that you know +anything about. And while you do that, you may refresh yourself and grow +stronger and stronger with these good things here." Sûr Imar, who had +risen from behind a curtain, pointed to a table which was laden with +fine import of exceedingly attractive fragrance. "On the other hand, if +you insist upon wandering into difficult and unpleasant subjects, which +no man has ever yet made head or tail of, my orders are to anticipate +the inevitable injury to the poor head and enfeebled system by prompt +administration of these two doses." My host laid his hands upon a large +flat bottle nearly full, but with room below the cork to shake up a +profoundity of horrors at the bottom, and a box of pills as big as +bullets. But before he could approach me, my heart and stomach, and +every other organ that can influence opinion underwent a fundamental +change. + +"I did not mean it. You must make allowance. Only think of what has been +done to me. Sûr Imar, you are not a small minded man. You can see how a +fellow gets driven to sing out. Emptiness must bear a great deal of the +blame. I entreat you to look at the matter largely. I am ready to vow +that the world is good, and everything contained in it, except--except +that bottle, and that box." + +"Hasty conversions are not worth much. But from you, George, we accept +anything. I hope to confirm you in the better faith, with these little +proofs that the world produces one or two things not entirely bad; and +after that, somebody--well, never mind, unless you are inclined to be +amiable." + +The chief was now in full Lesghian dress, a very magnificent affair to +look at, stately, and graceful, and impressive; but he proved himself +worthy of apparel even grander, by putting away all disrelishing sights, +and waiting upon me like a hospital nurse, until I could compass not a +dainty morsel more, and then he said, "Shut your eyes, and perhaps you +will have a little dream." + +Was it a little dream? If so, I pray you tell me of a great one. +Expecting nothing I lay back upon the quiet pillows, quite content, as +young men are--for age destroys that comfort--to fancy that the world is +good, and governed by a gentle Lord who waves a hand when we drop our +eyes, that we may try to look up again. When the pride of strength is +crushed, and violence of the will lies low, and a man is able to take +himself at his proper insignificance, sometimes a little flow of calm +glides in upon his nature, so that all is soft and bright, and his +undulations multiply the silver and gold of heaven. + +For behold, as I was gazing with a sweet and tranquil wonder, caring not +to enquire even where I was, or who I was, but taking as it came to me +the good-will of the time, and welcome of the friendly air--behold there +came (as it were a vision, not to be enquired into, but accepted with +the smiles of sleep) the form and face that had never left me,--though +never could I see them clearly,--the presence without which my own +presentment was all absence. + +It was not for me to be certain yet, played with as I had been by +visions that cry advantage of the brain, when even a pennyweight thereof +is gone; neither was I clear enough to indulge in bright aerial doubt, +as adolescent genius may. All I knew was "here I am;" and nature needed +no more proof, when I had given myself a substantial pinch. "Is there +any one here or there at all?" I seemed to say, but could not be sure of +uttering or thinking anything. + +Then, as sure as I am sitting here this day, the last thing that ever I +could have believed was done concerning me and to me. Dariel came, and I +knew nothing, except that here was Dariel. I feared to look direct, or +even glance as if I meant it, being now little more than a lump of +patches, with gingery tufts among them; and fool enough in my heart to +think that love would be ashamed of me. I cannot say another word to +teach any one who does not know, or do good to one who does. At such a +time is there any man, or even any woman, who notices the tint of +cheeks, the curve of lips, and eyebrows, the guidance of the breath, or +even the quick and tremulous enquiries, and lingering watches of the +eye? My love was looking at me thus, with a sad and piteous misgiving, +whether there might be any hope that I was large of heart as she +was,--for now she felt it trembling,--and yet with some cold arm of +pride and maiden fear thrown round it, to hold it back from being +offered till it had been asked for. And I was looking at my love, with +nothing but abasement, that anything I had ever done could make her feel +afraid of me; and yet with some victorious hope that it was because she +loved me. + +"Yes, I do, I do," she said, as if she saw the very thing I wanted to be +sure of. "With all my heart I do. But how shall I make you believe it? +After all that I have done, how can you ever believe it?" + +This made me look about and wonder; for all I wanted was her voice,--to +listen to its soft sweet tones, and feel that it was full of kindness, +and know that it was meant for me; and then to see the smile perhaps +that came so often with her words, and never failed to follow them if +ever they forgot themselves. + +"You are not to me as you were; you think me of no value now, because I +have not been as true, and obstinate of truth against all signs and +symptoms and testimony, as an English lady would have been. If you have +in your mind decided so to estimate me, there is nothing more for me to +say. Only that you must not think, because you will not let me show it, +that I am base enough not to feel the wonderful things you have done for +us. For me it is nothing, for I am not worth it; but for my father, and +my brother, and for stopping cruel wickedness,--and now they have nearly +killed you, so that you do not even know me." + +She had tried to make her meaning clear, by keeping herself a good way +off, and looking at the mountains more than me, and speaking as if her +words came one by one from some type-writer; until the thought of my +mishap and long disablement brought her near. Then I saw how she was +trembling, and withdrawing her hands to hide it, and striving to make +her eyelids proof against the shower inside them. With that the power of +my love arose, and I said, "Dariel, look at me." + +"It is impossible any more, after all that I have done." + +Even while she spoke she did the impossible thing to such effect that I +partook of the miracle. It seemed to me, as I met that soft deep gaze of +boundless love and hope, as if Heaven had now so gifted and endowed me +with the richest wealth, that humble as my powers were, henceforth I +could do anything. + +"I am afraid, I am afraid," she whispered, as she saw my joy. "Love of +my heart, it is not right that you should care for me any more. It is +right for me to love you, and to be your slave for ever. But for you to +hate me, to hate the Dariel you loved once, because she so requited you. +Here you have been worse than dead, worse than dead for weeks and weeks, +after saving all our lives! Through whom? Through me, that could not +trust you, but measured you by my paltry self. But now I know all from +that sly traitor who sent the letter to her wicked brother. Alas, how +wicked I am, too, when he is dead, and she--oh, George, I ought to hate +her, but I cannot, because of her misfortunes! Tell me, George, do you +feel like that? Do you feel that you ought to hate me, because I have +destroyed your poor, poor mind?" + +"Well, perhaps I shall, when you have done it. But not till then, my +Dariel. And I think that Dariel owes me something for her compliment to +my intellect." + +"Hush! My orders are to keep you perfectly quiet and stupid. I like that +very much, because it appears so soft and easy. But I must not take +advantage,--hush! You want to talk; it is not right." + +She laid one sweet soft finger on my lips, and when I closed them, +obedience had its due reward; such as is well known to those who have +been true and faithful, through every doubt and trouble, to the one they +love better than themselves. + +"I am the master now," she said, "and I shall make the love to you, and +you will have to put up with it; because you are so helpless, and +because I have robbed you of all chance of doing it to me, when you +could. But one thing I shall insist upon,--you must not want to know +anything about yourself, or even me, or anything that you can think of, +until your poor mind restores itself." + +Then I said a thing worthy of Tom Erricker, "I will leave myself in +Dariel's hands, if she will take me into her arms sometimes." + + * * * * * + +Being so treated I should have shamed England among races who think well +of her, if I had allowed a mere knock on the head to dwell too much upon +my mind. Strogue came to look at me, and spoke with his usual lofty +confidence. + +"My son, you have done well and wisely. I fell among a tribe on the +borders of Thibet, who make a point of taking out a piece about the size +of half a crown from the skull of every strong male infant. The folly of +the earth goes out, and the wisdom of the air comes in, according to +their traditions. But I was not allowed to verify their views, and I +found more vigour than wisdom there, for they kicked me over their +border. But you may hope the best. Who knows? You may begin to say +something good at last, and we shall know how you got it." + +This was all very well for him, who had not received a single scratch, +and was living now in clover. Let good friends try things for +themselves, and comfort us with their own distress. "Optimism" is a +lovely gift, and comes direct from Heaven, chiefly when the sun shines +on ourselves. But Strogue never listened to argument. "You are the +luckiest fellow," he proceeded, "that I have ever come across. Here you +have had your sister crying over you for days and days, putting her +husband on the shelf, although he is made of money; and then the best +doctor in the world, the only one that ever did any good; and now you +have the loveliest girl ever seen waiting upon you hand and foot; and +more than all without a bit of pain, without even knowing it, you are +made a wise man for the rest of your life, at the age of six-and-twenty. +Stop out here, my boy, stop out here. Your father will have heaps of +money now, from your brother's grand discovery. Sûr Imar has made up his +mind to keep 'Farmer George' for the coffee-growing; you can shoot all +sorts of mountain game, and people the Terek and the Kur with salmon, +and winter at Tiflis or Patigorsk." + +As yet I was not in a clear condition to care where I was, or even to +enquire at all about it, so long as the one my whole heart looked for +came for it to dwell with every day. But gradually (I know not how, and +probably none can tell me) a power, almost as strong as love of the +finest and sweetest of our kind, began to grow in my heavy nature. +Everything is now explained, even when a man knocks his brother on the +head, as a piece of hereditary tendency. To enter that plea appears to +me to cast an ungraceful reproach upon those who have gone before us and +done their best according to their lights which we disparage, and +without receiving any credit for the wonderful goodness we derive from +them. Let me blame no one but myself for that unreasonable pining and +hankering for my native land. + +"Look at the glory of the sky, look at the mountains and the woods," +several people said to me, who never looked twice at them when they +could smell their dinner; "look at the grand peaks robed with snow! Can +you see anything like that in England?" + +"No. But I can feel the things I see there," I used to answer meekly; +"there may be little grandeur in them, but I love the things I know." + +Moreover it came into my jarred and worried mind, that the gentle +satisfaction--the only solid form ever taken by human happiness--is +seldom or perhaps never to be found, when nature is too great around us. +We see perpetual change of form and colour, and a fleeting majesty, and +possibly our puny selves are incited to hopeless rivalry. Or even if +there be nought in that, the sense of danger and wild elements and +powers altogether beyond our control is at enmity with placid thought +and the quiet course of duties; so that it is a sweeter thing, at any +rate for an Englishman, to watch the plough on a gentle slope, or the +cows in a meadow with their hind legs spread ready for the milking-pail, +or the harvest-waggon coming to the rick, than to gaze at all the rugged +grandeur of the Alps or Caucasus. + +"My dear friend," Sûr Imar said, when I tried to make him see it so, +"you were not born here, but I was; and that makes all the difference. I +see no more of majesty, or menace, or sublime oppression, when I look at +a peak growing up against the sky, than you find in a tall poplar-tree. +And behold how calm is your Captain Strogue, a man of the world, who +takes nothing amiss." + +"Because he has no strict sense of right. He will do what he thinks +honourable, which every man judges by his own side-lights. Forgive me, +Sûr Imar, for speaking so. You have your own standard, and you keep to +it; and it is as much higher than mine, as Kazbek is than a Surrey +hill." + +"There you are wrong," he answered gently; "the proof is always in the +practice. And I am proving myself as selfish, and as thoroughly +ungrateful, as if I had always been prosperous. George, you know too +well what I mean. Through you alone, and your wonderful"--it would not +become me to repeat all he said--"I now have not only my life and my +rights, but also a very grand son of my own, whose nature is that of the +sweet one I destroyed; and soon he will help me in the work I hope to +do. Yet I am so mean and small, that I grudge you the one love of your +life, if you insist upon taking her away." + +For a moment, as I looked at him, and perceived the sparkle of tears in +his eyes, although his voice was clear and firm, it came home to my +heart that here was a contest of generosity, wherein it would be ignoble +of me not to show some valiance. But a sense of yearning, and perpetual +loneliness, and an empty life, coupled with a doubt of my duty to the +Power which has ordained true love, proved too much for my nobility. + +"If you really think, Sûr Imar," I began with a dismal voice, "if you +can reconcile it with your duty as a father to keep your dear child all +to yourself--for she has vowed, I may tell you that, fifty times she has +pledged herself never to have any one but me--and of course I know that +I am poor." This was very mean of me, and I never meant to say it; but +love is mean, as well as grand. + +"Then let us settle it this way," he answered, with a proud paternal +smile: "I have been so long in England that I will follow English +usages. Let us leave it to the lady. I will send for Dariel, and she +shall choose between us." + +"I pray you not. It would be such a pain and trial to her." + +As I spoke, he looked at me with a warmth of true affection. + +"George, you love her even more than her own father does," he said; +"you deserve a decision in your favour. But I doubt whether you will get +it. If you do, I resign without conditions. But poverty there need be +none, unless you insist upon it. Mr. Stoneman, your brother-in-law, +entreats me to accept £10,000 for the valley of St. Winifred. Three +railway companies there are, according to his account of it, railing and +raving at one another for the possession of that part of Surrey. They +all declare that such a line can never pay for making, but they would +spend their last shilling upon it, rather than see either of the others +there. Mr. Stoneman is in what you call the bench, the chair, the throne +of the wealthiest of the three; and if he can make purchase of that +track, the rivals will have no chance to pass. I have felt much scruple +about accepting so much for land that cost me so little; the justice of +the matter is not clear to me as a stranger to the English equity." + +"Oh, Sûr Imar," I exclaimed with great surprise, "the largest and +noblest of all the Angels, if he got the whip-hand of a Railway Company, +would be compelled by self-respect to take it out of them, to their last +penny." + +"So I have been told on every side," the Lesghian chief replied with +calm decision; "but I waited for you to confirm it, George. I perceive +that they are the civilised form of the bandit. Well, that sum which +seems considerable to us, though in England you think nothing of it, +will pass at once to my Dariel, as the strict justice of the case +demands. Of that she knows nothing, and if she knew it, her decision +would be just the same. But here she comes, as I arranged." + +The chief window of the sitting-room to which I was now promoted faced +westward over the table-rock on which the great house stood; and further +to the west, beyond deep chasms and dark precipices, arose a mighty Tau, +the rival of Kazbek in this eastern range, and mantled with perpetual +snow. This being flushed with ruddy thrills from the glances of the +evening sun shed a rich tint through the room, as if the rugged +mountains vied with heaven to bring their sweet Princess a tribute of +bright roses. Then as she passed the black walnut panels, which looked +as old as the ark itself, I took it for a good omen that she wore a +dress which I had praised; not such a thing as we see here, but +graceful, elegant, flowing softly, docile, ductile, and yet expressive, +simple though full of harmonious contrasts, zealous--if there were any +hope of that--to enhance the beauty it contained, as a great poet's +thoughts are clothed sometimes in language that transcends themselves. + +She glanced at me as I rose, for now I could stand once more without +giddiness, and by that passing glance she told me that she knew the time +was come, when her long choice must be made. Then she went on to her +father's side, and took both his hands and looked at him, as if there +was nobody else to look at. + +Over her bowed head he gave me a smile, which I interpreted--"Behold the +vanity of human wishes! Be satisfied with Nature's laws. A dear child +loves her father best. Young men may long to rob him; but the Lord +forbids it. I grieve for you. But how could it be otherwise?" + +There was nothing more for me to say. I made the best bow of which a +true-born British back is capable; and with all the dignity left in me +by the beating of my foolish heart, I walked away from both of them +towards a little door which opened on a quiet gallery, where I might sit +down and think it over with myself alone. + +But before I could turn the handle, trembling arms were round my neck, +and a quivering breast arose to mine, and a face that shone with rolling +tears looked up for me to comfort it, and sweet lips whispered close to +mine--"My love, could you believe it?" + +Then I felt myself all right again. The strength that had been shattered +by big Osset clubs, and long prostration, lonely wanderings of bloodless +brain, feeble doubts of woman's truth, and the crush of furious doctors, +all flowed back, and filled my heart and life with the joy of this great +love. + +I led his beautiful daughter back to Sûr Imar, and I said--"You see." + +"Yes, I see," he answered softly. "And there is no more to be said." + +[Illustration: "_'Yes, I see,' he answered softly._"] + + +PRINTED BY WILLIAM BLACKWOOD AND SONS. + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Dariel, by R. D. Blackmore + +*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 42529 *** |