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diff --git a/9983.txt b/9983.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..a6c8e3c --- /dev/null +++ b/9983.txt @@ -0,0 +1,20315 @@ +The Project Gutenberg EBook of Wylder's Hand, by J. Sheridan Le Fanu + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: Wylder's Hand + +Author: J. Sheridan Le Fanu + +Posting Date: November 12, 2011 [EBook #9983] +Release Date: February, 2006 +First Posted: November 5, 2003 + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ASCII + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK WYLDER'S HAND *** + + + + +Produced by Stan Goodman, Thomas Berger and the Online +Distributed Proofreading Team. + + + + + + + + + + +WYLDER'S HAND + + +A NOVEL + +by + +J. SHERIDAN LE FANU + + + + +First published 1864 + + + +CONTENTS + +CHAP. + +I.--RELATING HOW I RODE THROUGH THE VILLAGE OF GYLINGDEN WITH MARK +WYLDER'S LETTER IN MY VALISE + +II.--IN WHICH I ENTER THE DRAWING-ROOM + +III.--OUR DINNER-PARTY AT BRANDON + +IV.--IN WHICH WE GO TO THE DRAWING-ROOM AND THE PARTY BREAKS UP + +V.--IN WHICH MY SLUMBER IS DISTURBED + +VI.--IN WHICH DORCAS BRANDON SPEAKS + +VII.--RELATING HOW A LONDON GENTLEMAN APPEARED IN REDMAN'S DELL + +VIII.--IN WHICH CAPTAIN LAKE TAKES HIS HAT AND STICK + +IX.--I SEE THE RING OF THE PERSIAN MAGICIAN + +X.--THE ACE OF HEARTS + +XI.--IN WHICH LAKE UNDER THE TREES OF BRANDON, AND I IN MY CHAMBER, SMOKE +OUR NOCTURNAL CIGARS + +XII.--IN WHICH UNCLE LORNE TROUBLES ME + +XIII.--THE PONY CARRIAGE + +XIV.--IN WHICH VARIOUS PERSONS GIVE THEIR OPINIONS OF CAPTAIN STANLEY +LAKE + +XV.--DORCAS SHOWS HER JEWELS TO MISS LAKE + +XVI.--"JENNY PUT THE KETTLE ON" + +XVII.--RACHEL LAKE SEES WONDERFUL THINGS BY MOONLIGHT FROM HER WINDOW + +XVIII.--MARK WYLDER'S SLAVE + +XIX.--THE TARN IN THE PARK + +XX.--CAPTAIN LAKE TAKES AN EVENING STROLL ABOUT GYLINGDEN + +XXI.--IN WHICH CAPTAIN LAKE VISITS HIS SISTER'S SICK BED + +XXII.--IN WHICH CAPTAIN LAKE MEETS A FRIEND NEAR THE WHITE HOUSE + +XXIII.--HOW RACHEL SLEPT THAT NIGHT IN REDMAN'S FARM + +XXIV.--DORCAS BRANDON PAYS RACHEL A VISIT + +XXV.--CAPTAIN LAKE LOOKS IN AT NIGHTFALL + +XXVI.--CAPTAIN LAKE FOLLOWS TO LONDON + +XXVII.--LAWYER LARKIN'S MIND BEGINS TO WORK + +XXVIII.--MARK WYLDER'S SUBMISSION + +XXIX.--HOW MARK WYLDER'S DISAPPEARANCE AFFECTED HIS FRIENDS + +XXX.--IN BRANDON PARK + +XXXI.--IN REDMAN'S DELL + +XXXII.--MR. LARKIN AND THE VICAR + +XXXIII.--THE LADIES OF GYLINGDEN HEATH + +XXXIV.--SIR JULIUS HOCKLEY'S LETTER + +XXXV.--THE HUNT BALL + +XXXVI.--THE BALL ROOM + +XXXVII.--THE SUPPER-ROOM + +XXXVIII.--AFTER THE BALL + +XXXIX.--IN WHICH MISS RACHEL LAKE COMES TO BRANDON, AND DOCTOR BUDDLE +CALLS AGAIN + +XL.--THE ATTORNEY'S ADVENTURES ON THE WAY HOME + +XLI.--IN WHICH SIR FRANCIS SEDDLEY MANIPULATES + +XLII.--A PARAGRAPH IN THE COUNTY PAPER + +XLIII.--AN EVIL EYE LOOKS ON THE VICAR + +XLIV.--IN WHICH OLD TAMAR LIFTS UP HER VOICE IN PROPHECY + +XLV.--DEEP AND SHALLOW + +XLVI.--DEBATE AND INTERRUPTION + +XLVII.--A THREATENING NOTICE + +XLVIII.--IN WHICH I GO TO BRANDON, AND SEE AN OLD ACQUAINTANCE IN THE +TAPESTRY ROOM + +XLIX.--LARCOM, THE BUTLER, VISITS THE ATTORNEY + +L.--NEW LIGHTS + +LI.--A FRACAS IN THE LIBRARY + +LII.--AN OLD FRIEND LOOKS INTO THE GARDEN AT REDMAN'S FARM + +LIII.--THE VICAR'S COMPLICATIONS, WHICH LIVELY PEOPLE HAD BETTER NOT READ + +LIV.--BRANDON CHAPEL ON SUNDAY + +LV.--THE CAPTAIN AND THE ATTORNEY CONVERSE AMONG THE TOMBS + +LVI.--THE BRANDON CONSERVATORY + +LVII.--CONCERNING A NEW DANGER WHICH THREATENED CAPTAIN STANLEY LAKE + +LVIII.--MISS RACHEL LAKE BECOMES VIOLENT + +LIX.--AN ENEMY IN REDMAN'S DELL + +LX.--RACHEL LAKE BEFORE THE ACCUSER + +LXI.--IN WHICH DAME DUTTON IS VISITED + +LXII.--THE CAPTAIN EXPLAINS WHY MARK WYLDER ABSCONDED + +LXIII.--THE ACE OF HEARTS + +LXIV.--IN THE DUTCH ROOM + +LXV.--I REVISIT BRANDON HALL + +LXVI.--LADY MACBETH + +LXVII.--MR. LARKIN IS VIS-A-VIS WITH A CONCEALED COMPANION + +LXVIII.--THE COMPANION DISCLOSES HIMSELF + +LXIX.--OF A SPECTRE WHOM OLD TAMAR SAW + +LXX.--THE MEETING IN THE LONG POND ALLEY + +LXXI.--SIR HARRY BRACTON'S INVASION OF GYLINGDEN + +LXXII.--MARK WYLDER'S HAND + +LXXIII.--THE MASK FALLS + +LXXIV.--WE TAKE LEAVE OF OUR FRIENDS + + + + +WYLDER'S HAND. + + + + +CHAPTER I. + +RELATING HOW I DROVE THROUGH THE VILLAGE OF GYLINGDEN WITH MARK WYLDER'S +LETTER IN MY VALISE. + + +It was late in the autumn, and I was skimming along, through a rich +English county, in a postchaise, among tall hedgerows gilded, like all +the landscape, with the slanting beams of sunset. The road makes a long +and easy descent into the little town of Gylingden, and down this we were +going at an exhilarating pace, and the jingle of the vehicle sounded like +sledge-bells in my ears, and its swaying and jerking were pleasant and +life-like. I fancy I was in one of those moods which, under similar +circumstances, I sometimes experience still--a semi-narcotic excitement, +silent but delightful. + +An undulating landscape, with a homely farmstead here and there, and +plenty of old English timber scattered grandly over it, extended mistily +to my right; on the left the road is overtopped by masses of noble +forest. The old park of Brandon lies there, more than four miles from end +to end. These masses of solemn and discoloured verdure, the faint but +splendid lights, and long filmy shadows, the slopes and hollows--my eyes +wandered over them all with that strange sense of unreality, and that +mingling of sweet and bitter fancy, with which we revisit a scene +familiar in very remote and early childhood, and which has haunted a long +interval of maturity and absence, like a romantic reverie. + +As I looked through the chaise-windows, every moment presented some +group, or outline, or homely object, for years forgotten; and now, with a +strange surprise how vividly remembered and how affectionately greeted! +We drove by the small old house at the left, with its double gable and +pretty grass garden, and trim yews and modern lilacs and laburnums, +backed by the grand timber of the park. It was the parsonage, and old +bachelor Doctor Crewe, the rector, in my nonage, still stood, in memory, +at the door, in his black shorts and gaiters, with his hands in his +pockets, and a puckered smile on his hard ruddy countenance, as I +approached. He smiled little on others I believe, but always kindly upon +me. This general liking for children and instinct of smiling on them is +one source of the delightful illusions which make the remembrance of +early days so like a dream of Paradise, and give us, at starting, such +false notions of our value. + +There was a little fair-haired child playing on the ground before the +steps as I whirled by. The old rector had long passed away; the shorts, +gaiters, and smile--a phantom; and nature, who had gathered in the past, +was providing for the future. + +The pretty mill-road, running up through Redman's Dell, dank and dark +with tall romantic trees, was left behind in another moment; and we were +now traversing the homely and antique street of the little town, with its +queer shops and solid steep-roofed residences. Up Church-street I +contrived a peep at the old gray tower where the chimes hung; and as we +turned the corner a glance at the 'Brandon Arms.' How very small and low +that palatial hostelry of my earlier recollections had grown! There were +new faces at the door. It was only two-and-twenty years ago, and I was +then but eleven years old. A retrospect of a score of years or so, at +three-and-thirty, is a much vaster affair than a much longer one at +fifty. + +The whole thing seemed like yesterday; and as I write, I open my eyes and +start and cry, 'can it be twenty, five-and-twenty, aye, by Jove! +five-and-thirty, years since then?' How my days have flown! And I think +when another such yesterday shall have arrived, where shall I be? + +The first ten years of my life were longer than all the rest put +together, and I think would continue to be so were my future extended to +an ante-Noachian span. It is the first ten that emerge from nothing, and +commencing in a point, it is during them that consciousness, memory--all +the faculties grow, and the experience of sense is so novel, crowded, and +astounding. It is this beginning at a point, and expanding to the immense +disk of our present range of sensuous experience, that gives to them so +prodigious an illusory perspective, and makes us in childhood, measuring +futurity by them, form so wild and exaggerated an estimate of the +duration of human life. But, I beg your pardon. + +My journey was from London. When I had reached my lodgings, after my +little excursion up the Rhine, upon my table there lay, among the rest, +one letter--there generally _is_ in an overdue bundle--which I viewed +with suspicion. I could not in the least tell why. It was a broad-faced +letter, of bluish complexion, and had made inquisition after me in the +country--had asked for me at Queen's Folkstone; and, _vised_ by my +cousin, had presented itself at the Friars, in Shropshire, and thence +proceeded by Sir Harry's direction (there was the autograph) to Nolton +Hall; thence again to Ilchester, whence my fiery and decisive old aunt +sent it straight back to my cousin, with a whisk of her pen which seemed +to say, 'How the plague can I tell where the puppy is?--'tis your +business, Sir, not mine, to find him out!' And so my cousin despatched it +to my head-quarters in town, where from the table it looked up in my +face, with a broad red seal, and a countenance scarred and marred all +over with various post-marks, erasures, and transverse directions, the +scars and furrows of disappointment and adventure. + +It had not a good countenance, somehow. The original lines were not +prepossessing. The handwriting I knew as one sometimes knows a face, +without being able to remember who the plague it belongs to; but, still, +with an unpleasant association about it. I examined it carefully, and +laid it down unopened. I went through half-a-dozen others, and recurred +to it, and puzzled over its exterior again, and again postponed what I +fancied would prove a disagreeable discovery; and this happened every now +and again, until I had quite exhausted my budget, and then I did open it, +and looked straight to the signature. + +'Pooh! Mark Wylder,' I exclaimed, a good deal relieved. + +Mark Wylder! Yes, Master Mark could not hurt _me_. There was nothing +about him to excite the least uneasiness; on the contrary, I believe he +liked me as well as he was capable of liking anybody, and it was now +seven years since we had met. + +I have often since thought upon the odd sensation with which I hesitated +over his unopened letter; and now, remembering how the breaking of that +seal resembled, in my life, the breaking open of a portal through which I +entered a labyrinth, or rather a catacomb, where for many days I groped +and stumbled, looking for light, and was, in a manner, lost, hearing +strange sounds, witnessing imperfectly strange sights, and, at last, +arriving at a dreadful chamber--a sad sort of superstition steals over +me. + +I had then been his working junior in the cause of Wylder _v._ Trustees +of Brandon, minor--Dorcas Brandon, his own cousin. There was a +complicated cousinship among these Brandons, Wylders, and +Lakes--inextricable intermarriages, which, five years ago, before I +renounced the bar, I had at my fingers' ends, but which had now relapsed +into haze. There must have been some damnable taint in the blood of the +common ancestor--a spice of the insane and the diabolical. They were an +ill-conditioned race--that is to say, every now and then there emerged a +miscreant, with a pretty evident vein of madness. There was Sir Jonathan +Brandon, for instance, who ran his own nephew through the lungs in a duel +fought in a paroxysm of Cencian jealousy; and afterwards shot his +coachman dead upon the box through his coach-window, and finally died in +Vienna, whither he had absconded, of a pike-thrust received from a sentry +in a brawl. + +The Wylders had not much to boast of, even in contrast with that wicked +line. They had produced their madmen and villains, too; and there had +been frequent intermarriages--not very often happy. There had been many +lawsuits, frequent disinheritings, and even worse doings. The Wylders of +Brandon appear very early in history; and the Wylder arms, with their +legend, 'resurgam,' stands in bold relief over the great door of Brandon +Hall. So there were Wylders of Brandon, and Brandons of Brandon. In one +generation, a Wylder ill-using his wife and hating his children, would +cut them all off, and send the estate bounding back again to the +Brandons. The next generation or two would amuse themselves with a +lawsuit, until the old Brandon type reappeared in some bachelor brother +or uncle, with a Jezebel on his left hand, and an attorney on his right, +and, presto! the estates were back again with the Wylders. + +A 'statement of title' is usually a dry affair. But that of the dynasty +of Brandon Hall was a truculent romance. Their very 'wills' were spiced +with the devilment of the 'testators,' and abounded in insinuations and +even language which were scandalous. + +Here is Mark Wylder's letter:-- + +'DEAR CHARLES--Of course you have heard of my good luck, and how kind +poor Dickie--from whom I never expected anything--proved at last. It was +a great windfall for a poor devil like me; but, after all, it was only +right, for it ought never to have been his at all. I went down and took +possession on the 4th, the tenants very glad, and so they might well be; +for, between ourselves, Dickie, poor fellow, was not always pleasant to +deal with. He let the roof all out of repair, and committed waste beside +in timber he had no right to in life, as I am told; but that don't +signify much, only the house will cost me a pretty penny to get it into +order and furnish. The rental is five thousand a-year and some hundreds, +and the rents can be got up a bit--so Larkin tells me. Do you know +anything of him? He says he did business for your uncle once. He seems a +clever fellow--a bit too clever, perhaps--and was too much master here, I +suspect, in poor Dickie's reign. Tell me all you can make out about him. +It is a long time since I saw you, Charles; I'm grown brown, and great +whiskers. I met poor Dominick--what an ass that chap is--but he did not +know me till I introduced myself, so I must be a good deal changed. Our +ship was at Malta when I got the letter. I was sick of the service, and +no wonder: a lieutenant--and there likely to stick all my days. Six +months, last year, on the African coast, watching slavers--think of that! +I had a long yarn from the viscount--advice, and that sort of thing. I do +not think he is a year older than I, but takes airs because he's a +trustee. But I only laugh at trifles that would have riled me once. So I +wrote him a yarn in return, and drew it uncommon mild. And he has been +useful to me; and I think matters are pretty well arranged to disappoint +the kind intention of good Uncle Wylder--the brute; he hated my father, +but that was no reason to persecute me, and I but an infant, almost, when +he died, d-- him. Well, you know he left Brandon with some charges to my +Cousin Dorcas. She is a superbly fine girl. Our ship was at Naples when +she was there two years ago; and I saw a good deal of her. Of course it +was not to be thought of then; but matters are quite different, you know, +now, and the viscount, who is a very sensible fellow in the main, saw it +at once. You see, the old brute meant to leave her a life estate; but it +does not amount to that, though it won't benefit me, for he settled that +when I die it shall go to his right heirs--that will be to my son, if I +ever have one. So Miss Dorcas must pack, and turn out whenever I die, +that is, if I slip my cable first. Larkin told me this--and I took an +opinion--and found it is so; and the viscount seeing it, agreed the best +thing for her as well as me would be, we should marry. She is a +wide-awake young lady, and nothing the worse for that: I'm a bit that way +myself. And so very little courtship has sufficed. She is a splendid +beauty, and when you see her you'll say any fellow might be proud of such +a bride; and so I am. And now, dear Charlie, you have it all. It will +take place somewhere about the twenty-fourth of next month; and you must +come down by the first, if you can. Don't disappoint. I want you for best +man, maybe; and besides, I would like to talk to you about some things +they want me to do in the settlements, and you were always a long-headed +fellow: so pray don't refuse. + +'Dear Charlie, ever most sincerely, + +'Your old Friend, + +'MARK WYLDER. + +'P.S.--I stay at the Brandon Arms in the town, until after the marriage; +and then you can have a room at the Hall, and capital shooting when we +return, which will be in a fortnight after.' + + +I can't say that Wylder was an old _friend_. But he was certainly one of +the oldest and most intimate acquaintances I had. We had been for nearly +three years at school together; and when his ship came to England, met +frequently; and twice, when he was on leave, we had been for months +together under the same roof; and had for some years kept up a regular +correspondence, which first grew desultory, and finally, as manhood +supervened, died out. The plain truth is, I did not _very_ much like him. + +Then there was that beautiful apathetic Dorcas Brandon. Where is the +laggard so dull as to experience no pleasing flutter at his heart in +anticipation of meeting a perfect beauty in a country house. I was +romantic, like every other youngish fellow who is not a premature +curmudgeon; and there was something indefinitely pleasant in the +consciousness that, although a betrothed bride, the young lady still was +fancy free: not a bit in love. It was but a marriage of convenience, with +mitigations. And so there hovered in my curiosity some little flicker of +egotistic romance, which helped to rouse my spirits, and spur me on to +action. + + + + +CHAPTER II. + +IN WHICH I ENTER THE DRAWING-ROOM. + + +I was now approaching Brandon Hall; less than ten minutes more would set +me down at its door-steps. The stiff figure of Mrs. Marston, the old +housekeeper, pale and austere, in rustling black silk (she was accounted +a miser, and estimated to have saved I dare not say how much money +in the Wylder family--kind to me with the bread-and-jam and +Naples-biscuit-kindness of her species, in old times)--stood in fancy at +the doorway. She, too, was a dream, and, I dare say, her money spent by +this time. And that other dream, to which she often led me, with the +large hazel eyes, and clear delicate tints--so sweet, so _riante_, yet so +sad; poor Lady Mary Brandon, dying there--so unhappily mated--a young +mother, and her baby sleeping in long 'Broderie Anglaise' attire upon the +pillow on the sofa, and whom she used to show me with a peeping mystery, +and her finger to her smiling lip, and a gaiety and fondness in her +pretty face. That little helpless, groping, wailing creature was now the +Dorcas Brandon, the mistress of the grand old mansion and all its +surroundings, who was the heroine of the splendid matrimonial compromise +which was about to reconcile a feud, and avert a possible lawsuit, and, +for one generation, at least, to tranquillise the troubled annals of the +Brandons and Wylders. + +And now the ancient gray chapel, with its stained window, and store of +old Brandon and Wylder monuments among its solemn clump of elm-trees, +flitted by on my right; and in a moment more we drew up at the great gate +on the left; not a hundred yards removed from it, and with an eager +recognition, I gazed on the noble front of the old manorial house. + +Up the broad straight avenue with its solemn files of gigantic timber +towering at the right and the left hand, the chaise rolled smoothly, and +through the fantastic iron gate of the courtyard, and with a fine +swinging sweep and a jerk, we drew up handsomely before the door-steps, +with the Wylder arms in bold and florid projection carved above it. + +The sun had just gone down. The blue shadows of twilight overcast the +landscape, and the mists of night were already stealing like thin smoke +among the trunks and roots of the trees. Through the stone mullions of +the projecting window at the right, a flush of fire-light looked pleasant +and hospitable, and on the threshold were standing Lord Chelford and my +old friend Mark Wylder; a faint perfume of the mildest cheroot declared +how they had been employed. + +So I jumped to the ground and was greeted very kindly by the smokers. + +'I'm here, you know, _in loco parentis_;--my mother and I keep watch and +ward. We allow Wylder, you see, to come every day to his devotions. But +you are not to go to the Brandon Arms--you got my note, didn't you?' + +I had, and had come direct to the Hall in consequence. + +I looked over the door. Yes, my memory had served me right. There were +the Brandon arms, and the Brandon quartered with the Wylder; but the +Wylder coat in the centre, with the grinning griffins for supporters, and +flaunting scrolls all round, and the ominous word 'resurgam' underneath, +proclaimed itself sadly and vauntingly over the great entrance. I often +wonder how the Wylder coat came in the centre; who built the old house--a +Brandon or a Wylder; and if a Wylder, why was it Brandon Hall? + +Dusty and seedy somewhat, as men are after a journey, I chatted with Mark +and the noble peer for a few minutes at the door, while my valise and _et +ceteras_ were lifted in and hurried up the stairs to my room, whither I +followed them. + +While I was at my toilet, in came Mark Wylder laughing, as was his wont, +and very unceremoniously he took possession of my easy-chair, and threw +his leg over the arm of it. + +'I'm glad you're come, Charlie; you were always a good fellow, and I +really want a hand here confoundedly. I think it will all do very nicely; +but, of course, there's a lot of things to be arranged--settlements, you +know--and I can't make head or tail of their lingo, and a fellow don't +like to sign and seal hand over head--_you_ would not advise that, you +know; and Chelford is a very good fellow, of course, and all that--but +he's taking care of Dorcas, you see; and I might be left in the lurch.' + +'It is a better way, at all events, Mark, than Wylder _versus_ Trustees +of Brandon, minor,' said I. + +'Well, things do turn out very oddly; don't they?' said Mark with a sly +glance of complacency, and his hands in his pockets. 'But I know you'll +hold the tiller till I get through; hang me if I know the soundings, or +where I'm going; and you have the chart by heart, Charlie.' + +'I'm afraid you'll find me by no means so well up now as six years ago in +"Wylder and Brandon;" but surely you have your lawyer, Mr. Larkin, +haven't you?' + +'To be sure--that's exactly it--he's Dorcas's agent. I don't know +anything about him, and I do know you--don't you see? A fellow doesn't +want to put himself into the hands of a stranger altogether, especially a +lawyer, ha, ha! it wouldn't pay.' + +I did not half like the equivocal office which my friend Mark had +prepared for me. If family squabbles were to arise, I had no fancy to mix +in them; and I did not want a collision with Mr. Larkin either; and, on +the whole, notwithstanding his modesty, I thought Wylder very well able +to take care of himself. There was time enough, however, to settle the +point. So by this time, being splendid in French boots and white vest, +and altogether perfect and refreshed, I emerged from my dressing-room, +Wylder by my side. + +We had to get along a dim oak-panelled passage, and into a sort of +_oeil-de-boeuf_, with a lantern light above, from which diverged two +other solemn corridors, and a short puzzling turn or two brought us to +the head of the upper stairs. For I being a bachelor, and treated +accordingly, was airily perched on the third storey. + +To my mind, there is something indescribably satisfactory in the intense +solidity of those old stairs and floors--no spring in the planks, not a +creak; you walk as over strata of stone. What clumsy grandeur! What +Cyclopean carpenters! What a prodigality of oak! + +It was dark by this time, and the drawing-room, a vast and grand chamber, +with no light but the fire and a pair of dim soft lamps near the sofas +and ottomans, lofty, and glowing with rich tapestry curtains and +pictures, and mirrors, and carved oak, and marble--was already tenanted +by the ladies. + +Old Lady Chelford, stiff and rich, a Vandyke dowager, with a general +effect of deep lace, funereal velvet, and pearls; and pale, with dreary +eyes, and thin high nose, sat in a high-backed carved oak throne, with +red cushions. To her I was first presented, and cursorily scrutinised +with a stately old-fashioned insolence, as if I were a candidate footman, +and so dismissed. On a low seat, chatting to her as I came up, was a very +handsome and rather singular-looking girl, fair, with a light +golden-tinted hair; and a countenance, though then grave enough, instinct +with a certain promise of animation and spirit not to be mistaken. Could +this be the heroine of the pending alliance? No; I was mistaken. A third +lady, at what would have been an ordinary room's length away, half +reclining on an ottoman, was now approached by Wylder, who presented me +to Miss Brandon. + +'Dorcas, this is my old friend, Charles de Cresseron. You have often +heard me speak of him; and I want you to shake hands and make his +acquaintance, and draw him out--do you see; for he's a shy youth, and +must be encouraged.' + +He gave me a cheerful slap on the shoulder as he uttered this agreeable +bit of banter, and altogether disconcerted me confoundedly. Wylder's +dress-coats always smelt of tobacco, and his talk of tar. I was quietly +incensed and disgusted; for in those days I _was_ a little shy. + +The lady rose, in a soft floating way; tall, black-haired--but a +blackness with a dull rich shadow through it. I had only a general +impression of large dusky eyes and very exquisite features--more delicate +than the Grecian models, and with a wonderful transparency, like tinted +marble; and a superb haughtiness, quite unaffected. She held forth her +hand, which I did little more than touch. There was a peculiarity in her +greeting, which I felt a little overawing, without exactly discovering in +what it consisted; and it was I think that she did not smile. She never +took that trouble for form's sake, like other women. + +So, as Wylder had set a chair for me I could not avoid sitting upon it, +though I should much have preferred standing, after the manner of men, +and retaining my liberty. + + + + +CHAPTER III. + +OUR DINNER PARTY AT BRANDON. + + +I was curious. I had heard a great deal of her beauty; and it had +exceeded all I heard; so I talked my sublimest and brightest chit-chat, +in my most musical tones, and was rather engaging and amusing, I ventured +to hope. But the best man cannot manage a dialogue alone. Miss Brandon +was plainly not a person to make any sort of exertion towards what is +termed keeping up a conversation; at all events she did not, and after a +while the present one got into a decidedly sinking condition. An +acquiescence, a faint expression of surprise, a fainter smile--she +contributed little more, after the first few questions of courtesy had +been asked, in her low silvery tones, and answered by me. To me the +natural demise of a _tete-a-tete_ discourse has always seemed a disgrace. +But this apathetic beauty had either more moral courage or more stupidity +than I, and was plainly terribly indifferent about the catastrophe. I've +sometimes thought my struggles and sinkings amused her cruel serenity. + +Bella ma stupida!--I experienced, at last, the sort of pique with which +George Sand's hero apostrophises _la derniere Aldini_. Yet I could not +think her stupid. The universal instinct honours beauty. It is so +difficult to believe it either dull or base. In virtue of some mysterious +harmonies it is 'the image of God,' and must, we feel, enclose the +God-like; so I suppose I felt, for though I wished to think her stupid, I +could not. She was not exactly languid, but a grave and listless beauty, +and a splendid beauty for all that. + +I told her my early recollections of Brandon and Gylingden, and how I +remembered her a baby, and said some graceful trifles on that theme, +which I fancied were likely to please. But they were only received, and +led to nothing. In a little while in comes Lord Chelford, always natural +and pleasant, and quite unconscious of his peerage--he was above it, I +think--and chatted away merrily with that handsome animated blonde--who +on earth, could she be?--and did not seem the least chilled in the stiff +and frosted presence of his mother, but was genial and playful even with +that Spirit of the Frozen Ocean, who received his affectionate trifling +with a sort of smiling, though wintry pride and complacency, reflecting +back from her icy aspects something of the rosy tints of that kindly +sunshine. + +I thought I heard him call the young lady Miss Lake, and there rose +before me an image of an old General Lake, and a dim recollection of some +reverse of fortune. He was--I was sure of that--connected with the +Brandon family; and was, with the usual fatality, a bit of a _mauvais +sujet_. He had made away with his children's money, or squandered his +own; or somehow or another impoverished his family not creditably. So I +glanced at her, and Miss Brandon divined, it seemed, what was passing in +my mind, for she said:-- + +'That is my cousin, Miss Lake, and I think her very beautiful--don't +you?' + +'Yes, she certainly is very handsome,' and I was going to say something +about her animation and spirit, but remembered just in time, that that +line of eulogy would hardly have involved a compliment to Miss Brandon. +'I know her brother, a little--that is, Captain Lake--Stanley Lake; he's +her brother, I fancy?' + +'_Oh?_' said the young lady, in that tone which is pointed with an +unknown accent, between a note of enquiry and of surprise. 'Yes; he's her +brother.' + +And she paused; as if something more were expected. But at that moment +the bland tones of Larcom, the solemn butler, announced the Rev. William +Wylder and Mrs. Wylder, and I said-- + +'William is an old college friend of mine;' and I observed him, as he +entered with an affectionate and sad sort of interest. Eight years had +passed since we met last, and that is something at any time. It had +thinned my simple friend's hair a little, and his face, too, was more +careworn than I liked, but his earnest, sweet smile was there still. +Slight, gentle, with something of a pale and studious refinement in his +face. The same gentle voice, with that slight, occasional hesitation, +which somehow I liked. There is always a little shock after an absence of +some years before identities adjust themselves, and then we find the +change is not, after all, so very great. I suspect it is, rather, that +something of the old picture is obliterated, in that little interval, to +return no more. And so William Wylder was vicar now instead of that +straight wiry cleric of the mulberry face and black leggings. + +And who was this little Mrs. William Wylder who came in, so homely of +feature, so radiant of goodhumour, so eager and simple, in a very plain +dress--a Brandon housemaid would not have been seen in it, leaning so +pleasantly on his lean, long, clerical arm--made for reaching books down +from high shelves, a lank, scholarlike limb, with a somewhat threadbare +cuff--and who looked round with that anticipation of pleasure, and that +simple confidence in a real welcome, which are so likely to insure it? +Was she an helpmeet for a black-letter man, who talked with the Fathers +in his daily walks, could extemporise Latin hexameters, and dream in +Greek. Was she very wise, or at all learned? I think her knowledge lay +chiefly in the matters of poultry, and puddings, and latterly, of the +nursery, where one treasure lay--that golden-haired little boy, four +years old, whom I had seen playing among the roses before the parsonage +door, asleep by this time--half-past seven, 'precise,' as old Lady +Chelford loved to write on her summons to dinner. + +When the vicar, I dare say, in a very odd, quaint way, made his proposal +of marriage, moved thereto assuredly, neither by fortune, nor by beauty, +to good, merry, little Miss Dorothy Chubley, whom nobody was supposed to +be looking after, and the town had, somehow, set down from the first as a +natural-born old maid--there was a very general amazement; some +disappointment here and there, with customary sneers and compassion, and +a good deal of genuine amusement not ill-natured. + +Miss Chubley, all the shopkeepers in the town knew and liked, and, in a +way, respected her, as 'Miss Dolly.' Old Reverend John Chubley, D.D., who +had been in love with his wife from the period of his boyhood; and yet so +grudging was Fate, had to undergo an engagement of nigh thirty years +before Hymen rewarded their constancy; being at length made Vicar of +Huddelston, and master of church revenues to the amount of three hundred +pounds a year--had, at forty-five, married his early love, now forty-two. + +They had never grown old in one another's fond eyes. Their fidelity was +of the days of chivalry, and their simplicity comical and beautiful. +Twenty years of happy and loving life were allotted them and one +pledge--poor Miss Dorothy--was left alone, when little more than nineteen +years old. This good old couple, having loved early and waited long, and +lived together with wonderful tenderness and gaiety of heart their +allotted span, bid farewell for a little while--the gentle little lady +going first, and, in about two years more, the good rector following. + +I remembered him, but more dimly than his merry little wife, though she +went first. She made raisin-wine, and those curious biscuits that tasted +of Windsor soap. + +And this Mrs. William Wylder just announced by soft-toned Larcom, is the +daughter (there is no mistaking the jolly smile and lumpy odd little +features, and radiance of amiability) of the good doctor and Mrs. +Chubley, so curiously blended in her loving face. And last comes in old +Major Jackson, smiling largely, squaring himself, and doing his +courtesies in a firm but florid military style, and plainly pleased to +find himself in good company and on the eve of a good dinner. And so our +dinner-list is full. + +The party were just nine--and it is wonderful what a row nine +well-behaved people will contrive to make at a dinner-table. The inferior +animals--as we see them caged and cared for, and fed at one o'clock, +'precise,' in those public institutions provided for their +maintenance--confine their uproar to the period immediately antecedent to +their meal, and perform the actual process of deglutition with silent +attention, and only such suckings, lappings, and crunchings, as +illustrate their industry and content. It is the distinctive privilege of +man to exert his voice during his repast, and to indulge also in those +specially human cachinnations which no lower creature, except that +disreputable Australian biped known as the 'laughing jackass,' presumes +to imitate; and to these vocal exercises of the feasters respond the +endless ring and tinkle of knife and fork on china plate, and the +ministering angels in white chokers behind the chairs, those murmured +solicitations which hum round and round the ears of the revellers. + +Of course, when great guns are present, and people talk _pro bono +publico_, one at a time, with parliamentary regularity, things are +different; but at an ordinary symposium, when the garrulous and diffident +make merry together, and people break into twos or threes and talk across +the table, or into their neighbours' ears, and all together, the noise is +not only exhilarating and peculiar, but sometimes perfectly +unaccountable. + +The talk, of course, has its paroxysms and its subsidences. I have once +or twice found myself on a sudden in total silence in the middle of a +somewhat prolix, though humorous story, commenced in an uproar for the +sole recreation of my pretty neighbour, and ended--patched up, +_renounced_--a faltering failure, under the converging gaze of a sternly +attentive audience. + +On the other hand, there are moments when the uproar whirls up in a +crescendo to a pitch and volume perfectly amazing; and at such times, I +believe that anyone might say anything to the reveller at his elbow, +without the smallest risk of being overheard by mortal. You may plan with +young Caesar Borgia, on your left, the poisoning of your host; or ask +pretty Mrs. Fusible, on your right, to elope with you from her grinning +and gabbling lord, whose bald head flashes red with champagne only at the +other side of the table. There is no privacy like it; you may plot your +wickedness, or make your confession, or pop the question, and not a soul +but your confidant be a bit the wiser--provided only you command your +countenance. + +I don't know how it happened, but Wylder sat beside Miss Lake. I fancied +he ought to have been differently placed, but Miss Brandon did not seem +conscious of his absence, and it seemed to me that the handsome blonde +would have been as well pleased if he had been anywhere but where he was. +There was no look of liking, though some faint glimmerings both of +annoyance and embarrassment in her face. But in Wylder's I saw a sort of +conceited consciousness, and a certain eagerness, too, while he talked; +though a shrewd fellow in many ways, he had a secret conviction that no +woman could resist him. + +'I suppose the world thinks me a very happy fellow, Miss Lake?' he said, +with a rather pensive glance of enquiry into that young lady's eyes, as +he set down his hock-glass. + +'I'm afraid it's a selfish world, Mr. Wylder, and thinks very little of +what does not concern it.' + +'Now, _you_, I dare say,' continued Wylder, not caring to perceive the +_soupcon_ of sarcasm that modulated her answer so musically, 'look upon +me as a very fortunate fellow?' + +'You are a very fortunate person, Mr. Wylder; a gentleman of very +moderate abilities, with no prospects, and without fortune, who finds +himself, without any deservings of his own, on a sudden, possessed of an +estate, and about to be united to the most beautiful heiress in England, +_is_, I think, rather a fortunate person.' + +'You did not always think me so stupid, Miss Lake,' said Mr. Wylder, +showing something of the hectic of vexation. + +'Stupid! did I say? Well, you know, we learn by experience, Mr. Wylder. +One's judgment matures, and we are harder to please--don't you think +so?--as we grow older.' + +'Aye, so we are, I dare say; at any rate, some things don't please us as +we calculated. I remember when this bit of luck would have made me a +devilish happy fellow--_twice_ as happy; but, you see, if a fellow hasn't +his liberty, where's the good of money? I don't know how I got into it, +but I can't get away now; and the lawyer fellows, and trustees, and all +that sort of prudent people, get about one, and persuade, and exhort, and +they bully you, by Jove! into what they call a marriage of convenience--I +forget the French word--you know; and then, you see, your feelings may be +very different, and all that; and where's the good of money, I say, if +you can't enjoy it?' + +And Mr. Wylder looked poetically unhappy, and trundled over a little bit +of fricandeau on his plate with his fork, desolately, as though earthly +things had lost their relish. + +'Yes; I think I know the feeling,' said Miss Lake, quietly. 'That ballad, +you know, expresses it very prettily:--"Oh, thou hast been the cause of +this anguish, my mother?"' + +It was not then as old a song as it is now. + +Wylder looked sharply at her, but she did not smile, and seemed to speak +in good faith; and being somewhat thick in some matters, though a cunning +fellow, he said-- + +'Yes; that is the sort of thing, you know--of course, with a +difference--a girl is supposed to speak there; but men suffer that way, +too--though, of course, very likely it's more their own fault.' + +'It is very sad,' said Miss Lake, who was busy with a _pate_. + +'She has no life in her; she's a mere figurehead; she's awfully slow; I +don't like black hair; I'm taken by conversation--and all that. There are +some men that can only really love once in their lives, and never forget +their first love, I assure you.' + +Wylder murmured all this, and looked as plaintive as he could without +exciting the attention of the people over-the-way. + +Mark Wylder had, as you perceive, rather vague notions of decency, and +not much experience of ladies; and thought he was making just the +interesting impression he meditated. He was a good deal surprised, then, +when Miss Lake said, and with quite a cheerful countenance, and very +quickly, but so that her words stung his ear like the prick of a bodkin. + +'Your way of speaking of my cousin, Sir, is in the highest degree +discreditable to you and offensive to me, and should you venture to +repeat it, I will certainly mention it to Lady Chelford.' + +And so she turned to old Major Jackson at her right, who had been +expounding a point of the battle of Vittoria to Lord Chelford; and she +led him again into action, and acquired during the next ten minutes a +great deal of curious lore about Spanish muleteers and French prisoners, +together with some particulars about the nature of picket duty, and 'that +scoundrel, Castanos.' + + + + +CHAPTER IV. + +IN WHICH WE GO TO THE DRAWING-ROOM AND THE PARTY BREAKS UP. + + +Wylder was surprised, puzzled, and a good deal incensed--that saucy craft +had fired her shot so unexpectedly across his bows. He looked a little +flushed, and darted a stealthy glance across the table, but no one he +thought had observed the manoeuvre. He would have talked to ugly Mrs. W. +Wylder, his sister-in-law, at his left, but she was entertaining Lord +Chelford now. He had nothing for it but to perform _cavalier seul_ with +his slice of mutton--a sensual sort of isolation, while all the world was +chatting so agreeably and noisily around him. He would have liked, at +that moment, a walk upon the quarter-deck, with a good head-wind blowing, +and liberty to curse and swear a bit over the bulwark. Women are so full +of caprice and hypocrisy, and 'humbugging impudence!' + +Wylder was rather surly after the ladies had floated away from the scene, +and he drank his liquor doggedly. It was his fancy, I suppose, to revive +certain sentimental relations which had, it may be, once existed between +him and Miss Lake; and he was a person of that combative temperament that +magnifies an object in proportion as its pursuit is thwarted. + +In the drawing-room he watched Miss Lake over his cup of coffee, and +after a few words to his _fiancee_ he lounged toward the table at which +she was turning over some prints. + +'Do come here, Dorothy,' she exclaimed, not raising her eyes, 'I have +found the very thing.' + +'What thing? my dear Miss Lake,' said that good little woman, skipping to +her side. + +'The story of "Fridolin," and Retzch's pretty outlines. Sit down beside +me, and I'll tell you the story.' + +'Oh!' said the vicar's wife, taking her seat, and the inspection and +exposition began; and Mark Wylder, who had intended renewing his talk +with Miss Lake, saw that she had foiled him, and stood with a heightened +colour and his hands in his pockets, looking confoundedly cross and very +like an outcast, in the shadow behind. + +After a while, in a pet, he walked away. Lord Chelford had joined the two +ladies, and had something to say about German art, and some pleasant +lights to throw from foreign travel, and devious reading, and was as +usual intelligent and agreeable; and Mark was still more sore and angry, +and strutted away to another table, a long way off, and tossed over the +leaves of a folio of Wouverman's works, and did not see one of the plates +he stared at so savagely. + +I don't think Mark was very clear as to what he wanted, or, even if he +had had a cool half-hour to define his wishes, that he would seriously +have modified existing arrangements. But he had a passionate sort of +obstinacy, and his whims took a violent character when they were crossed, +and he was angry and jealous and unintelligible, reminding one of +Carlyle's description of Philip Egalite--a chaos. + +Then he joined a conversation going on between Dorcas Brandon and the +vicar, his brother. He assisted at it, but took no part, and in fact was +listening to that other conversation which sounded, with its pleasant +gabble and laughter, like a little musical tinkle of bells in the +distance. His gall rose, and that distant talk rang in his ears like a +cool but intangible insult. + +It was dull work. He looked at his watch--the brougham would be at the +door to take Miss Lake home in a quarter of an hour; so he glided by old +Lady Chelford, who was dozing stiffly through her spectacles on a French +novel, and through a second drawing-room, and into the hall, where he saw +Larcom's expansive white waistcoat, and disregarded his advance and +respectful inclination, and strode into the outer hall or vestibule, +where were hat-stands, walking-sticks, great coats, umbrellas, and the +exuviae of gentlemen. + +Mark clapped on his hat, and rifled the pocket of his paletot of his +cigar-case and matches, and spluttered a curse or two, according to old +Nollekins' receipt for easing the mind, and on the door-steps lighted his +cheroot, and became gradually more philosophical. + +In due time the brougham came round with its lamps lighted, and Mark, who +was by this time placid, greeted Price on the box familiarly, after his +wont, and asked him whom he was going to drive, as if he did not know, +cunning fellow; and actually went so far as to give Price one of those +cheap and nasty weeds, of which he kept a supply apart in his case for +such occasions of good fellowship. + +So Mark waited to put the lady into the carriage, and he meditated +walking a little way by the window and making his peace, and there was +perhaps some vague vision of jumping in afterwards; I know not. Mark's +ideas of ladies and of propriety were low, and he was little better than +a sailor ashore, and not a good specimen of that class of monster. + +He walked about the courtyard smoking, looking sometimes on the solemn +front of the old palatial mansion, and sometimes breathing a white film +up to the stars, impatient, like the enamoured Aladdin, watching in +ambuscade for the emergence of the Princess Badroulbadour. But honest +Mark forgot that young ladies do not always come out quite alone, and +jump unassisted into their vehicles. And in fact not only did Lord +Chelford assist the fair lady, cloaked and hooded, into the carriage, but +the vicar's goodhumoured little wife was handed in also, the good vicar +looking on, and as the gay good-night and leave-taking took place by the +door-steps, Mark drew back, like a guilty thing, in silence, and showed +no sign but the red top of his cigar, glowing like the eye of a Cyclops +in the dark; and away rolled the brougham, with the two ladies, and +Chelford and the vicar went in, and Mark hurled the stump of his cheroot +at Fortune, and delivered a fragmentary soliloquy through his teeth; and +so, in a sulk, without making his adieux, he marched off to his crib at +the Brandon Arms. + + + + +CHAPTER V. + +IN WHICH MY SLUMBER IS DISTURBED. + + +The ladies had accomplished their ascension to the upper regions. The +good vicar had marched off with the major, who was by this time +unbuckling in his lodgings; and Chelford and I, _tete-a-tete_, had a +glass of sherry and water together in the drawing-room before parting. +And over this temperate beverage I told him frankly the nature of the +service which Mark Wylder wished me to render him; and he as frankly +approved, and said he would ask Larkin, the family lawyer, to come up in +the morning to assist. + +The more I saw of this modest, refined, and manly peer, the more I liked +him. There was a certain courteous frankness, and a fine old English +sense of duty perceptible in all his serious talk. So I felt no longer +like a conspirator, and was to offer such advice as might seem expedient, +with the clear approbation of Miss Brandon's trustee. And this point +clearly settled, I avowed myself a little tired; and lighting our candles +at the foot of the stairs, we scaled that long ascent together, and he +conducted me through the intricacies of the devious lobbies up stairs to +my chamber-door, where he bid me good-night, shook hands, and descended +to his own quarters. + +My room was large and old-fashioned, but snug; and I, beginning to grow +very drowsy, was not long in getting to bed, where I fell asleep +indescribably quickly. + +In all old houses one is, of course, liable to adventures. Where is the +marvellous to find refuge, if not among the chambers, the intricacies, +which have seen the vicissitudes, the crimes, and the deaths of +generations of such men as had occupied these? + +There was a picture in the outer hall--one of those full-length gentlemen +of George II.'s time, with a dark peruke flowing on his shoulders, a cut +velvet coat, and lace cravat and ruffles. This picture was pale, and had +a long chin, and somehow had impressed my boyhood with a singular sense +of fear. The foot of my bed lay towards the window, distant at least +five-and-twenty-feet; and before the window stood my dressing-table, and +on it a large looking-glass. + +I dreamed that I was arranging my toilet before this glass--just as I had +done that evening--when on a sudden the face of the portrait I have +mentioned was presented on its surface, confronting me like a real +countenance, and advancing towards me with a look of fury; and at the +instant I felt myself seized by the throat and unable to stir or to +breathe. After a struggle with this infernal garotter, I succeeded in +awaking myself; and as I did so, I felt a rather cold hand really resting +on my throat, and quietly passed up over my chin and face. I jumped out +of bed with a roar, and challenged the owner of the hand, but received no +answer, and heard no sound. I poked up my fire and lighted my candle. +Everything was as I had left it except the door, which was the least bit +open. + +In my shirt, candle in hand, I looked out into the passage. There was +nothing there in human shape, but in the direction of the stairs the +green eyes of a large cat were shining. I was so confoundedly nervous +that even 'a harmless, necessary cat' appalled me, and I clapped my door, +as if against an evil spirit. + +In about half an hour's time, however, I had quite worked off the effect +of this night-mare, and reasoned myself into the natural solution that +the creature had got on my bed, and lay, as I have been told they will, +upon my throat, and so, all the rest had followed. + +Not being given to the fear of _larvae_ and _lemures_, and also knowing +that a mistake is easily committed in a great house like that, and that +my visitor might have made one, I grew drowsy in a little while, and soon +fell asleep again. But knowing all I now do, I hold a different +conclusion--and so, I think, will you. + +In the morning Mark Wylder was early upon the ground. He had quite slept +off what he would have called the nonsense of last night, and was very +keen upon settlements, consols, mortgages, jointures, and all that dry +but momentous lore. + +I find a note in my diary of that day:--'From half-past ten o'clock until +two with Mark Wylder and Mr. Larkin, the lawyer, in the study--dull +work--over papers and title--Lord Chelford with us now and then to lend a +helping hand.' + +Lawyer Larkin, though he made our work lighter--for he was clear, quick, +and orderly, and could lay his hand on any paper in those tin walls of +legal manuscripts that built up two sides of his office--did not make our +business, to me at least, any pleasanter. Wylder thought him a clever man +(and so perhaps, in a certain sense, he was); Lord Chelford, a most +honourable one; yet there came to me by instinct an unpleasant feeling +about him. It was not in any defined way--I did not fancy that he was +machinating, for instance, any sort of mischief in the business before +us--but I had a notion that he was not quite what he pretended. + +Perhaps his _personnel_ prejudiced me--though I could not quite say why. +He was a tall, lank man--rather long of limb, long of head, and gaunt of +face. He wanted teeth at both sides, and there was rather a skull-like +cavity when he smiled--which was pretty often. His eyes were small and +reddish, as if accustomed to cry; and when everything went smoothly were +dull and dove-like, but when things crossed or excited him, which +occurred when his own pocket or plans were concerned, they grew +singularly unpleasant, and greatly resembled those of some not amiable +animal--was it a rat, or a serpent? It was a peculiar concentrated +vigilance and rapine that I have seen there. But that was long +afterwards. Now, indeed, they were meek, and sad, and pink. + +He had an ambition, too, to pass for a high-bred gentleman, and thought +it might be done by a somewhat lofty and drawling way of talking, and +distributing his length of limb in what he fancied were easy attitudes. +If the tender mercies of the wicked are cruel, so are the elegances of a +vulgar man; and his made me wince. + +I might be all in the wrong--and was, no doubt, unreasonable--for he bore +a high character, and passed for a very gentlemanlike man among the +villagers. He was also something of a religious light, and had for a time +conformed to Methodism, but returned to the Church. He had a liking for +long sermons, and a sad abhorrence of amusements, and sat out the morning +and the evening services regularly--and kept up his dissenting connection +too, and gave them money--and appeared in print, in all charitable +lists--and mourned over other men's backslidings and calamities in a +lofty and Christian way, shaking his tall bald head, and turning up his +pink eyes mildly. + +Notwithstanding all which he was somehow unlovely in my eyes, and in an +indistinct way, formidable. It was not a pleasant misgiving about a +gentleman of Larkin's species, the family lawyer, who become _viscera +magnorum domuum_. + +My duties were lighter, as adviser, than I at first apprehended. Wylder's +crotchets were chiefly 'mare's nests.' We had read the draft of the +settlement, preparatory to its being sent to senior counsel to be +approved. Wylder's attorney had done his devoir, and Mr. Larkin avowed a +sort of parental interest in both parties to the indentures, and made, at +closing, a little speech, very high in morality, and flavoured in a manly +way with religion, and congratulated Mark on his honour and plain +dealing, which he gave us to understand were the secrets of all success +in life, as they had been, in an humble way of his own. + + + + +CHAPTER VI. + +IN WHICH DORCAS BRANDON SPEAKS. + + +In answer to 'the roaring shiver of the gong' we all trooped away +together to luncheon. Lady Chelford and Dorcas and Chelford had nearly +ended that irregular repast when we entered. My chair was beside Miss +Brandon; she had breakfasted with old Lady Chelford that morning, and +this was my first meeting that day. It was not very encouraging. + +People complained that acquaintance made little way with her. That you +were, perhaps, well satisfied with your first day's progress, but the +next made no head-way; you found yourself this morning exactly at the +point from which you commenced yesterday, and to-morrow would recommence +where you started the day before. This is very disappointing, but may +sometimes be accounted for by there being nothing really to discover. It +seemed to me, however, that the distance had positively increased since +yesterday, and that the oftener she met me the more strange she became. +As we went out, Wylder enquired, with his usual good taste: 'Well, what +do you think of her?' Then he looked slily at me, laughing, with his +hands in his pockets. 'A little bit slow, eh?' he whispered, and laughed +again, and lounged into the hall. If Dorcas Brandon had been a plain +woman, I think she would have been voted an impertinent bore; but she was +so beautiful that she became an enigma. I looked at her as she stood +gravely gazing from the window. Is it Lady Macbeth? No; she never would +have had energy to plan her husband's career and manage that affair of +Duncan. A sultana rather--sublimely egotistical, without reverence--a +voluptuous and haughty embodiment of indifference. I paused, looking at a +picture, but thinking of her, and was surprised by her voice very near +me. + +'Will you give me just a minute, Mr. De Cresseron, in the drawing-room, +while I show you a miniature? I want your opinion.' + +So she floated on and I accompanied her. + +'I think,' she said, 'you mentioned yesterday, that you remembered me +when an infant. You remember my poor mamma, don't you, very well?' + +This was the first time she had yet shown any tendency, so far as I had +seen, to be interested in anything, or to talk to me. I seized the +occasion, and gave her, as well as I could, the sad and pretty picture +that remained, and always will, in the vacant air, when I think of her, +on the mysterious retina of memory. + +How filmy they are! the moonlight shines through them, as through the +phantom Dane in Retzch's outlines--colour without substance. How they +come, wearing for ever the sweetest and pleasantest look of their earthly +days. Their sweetest and merriest tones hover musically in the distance; +how far away, how near to silence, yet how clear! And so it is with our +remembrance of the immortal part. It is the loveliest traits that remain +with us perennially; all that was noblest and most beautiful is there, in +a changeless and celestial shadow; and this is the resurrection of the +memory, the foretaste and image which the 'Faithful Creator' accords us +of the resurrection and glory to come--the body redeemed, the spirit made +perfect. + +On a cabinet near to where she stood was a casket of ormolu, which she +unlocked, and took out a miniature, opened, and looked at it for a long +time. I knew very well whose it was, and watched her countenance; for, as +I have said, she interested me strangely. I suppose she knew I was +looking at her; but she showed always a queenlike indifference about what +people might think or observe. There was no sentimental softening; but +her gaze was such as I once saw the same proud and handsome face turn +upon the dead--pale, exquisite, perhaps a little stern. What she read +there--what procession of thoughts and images passed by--threw neither +light nor shadow on her face. Its apathy interested me inscrutably. + +At last she placed the picture in my hand, and asked-- + +'Is this really very like her?' + +'It is, and it is _not_,' I said, after a little pause. 'The features are +true: it is what I call an accurate portrait, but that is all. I dare +say, exact as it is, it would give to one who had not seen her a false, +as it must an inadequate, idea, of the original. There was something +_naive_ and _spirituel_, and very tender in her face, which he has not +caught--perhaps it could hardly be fixed in colours.' + +'Yes, I always heard her expression and intelligence were very beautiful. +It was the beauty of mobility--true beauty.' + +'There is a beauty of another stamp, equally exquisite, Miss Brandon, and +perhaps more overpowering.' I said this in nearly a whisper, and in a +very marked way, almost tender, and the next moment was amazed at my own +audacity. She looked on me for a second or two, with her dark drowsy +glance, and then it returned to the picture, which was again in her hand. +There was a total want of interest in the careless sort of surprise she +vouchsafed my little sally; neither was there the slightest resentment. +If a wafer had been stuck upon my forehead, and she had observed it, +there might have been just that look and no more. I was ridiculously +annoyed with myself. I was betrayed, I don't know how, into this little +venture, and it was a flat failure. The position of a shy man, who has +just made an unintelligible joke at a dinner-table, was not more pregnant +with self-reproach and embarrassment. + +Upon my honour, I don't think there was anything of the _roue_ in me. I +own I did feel towards this lady, who either was, or seemed to me, so +singular, a mysterious interest just beginning--of that peculiar kind +which becomes at last terribly absorbing. + +I was more elated by her trifling notice of me than I can quite account +for. It was a distinction. She was so indescribably handsome--so +passively disdainful. I think if she had listened to me with even the +faintest intimation of caring whether I spoke in this tone or not, with +even a flash of momentary resentment, I might have rushed into a most +reprehensible and ridiculous rigmarole. + +In this, the subtlest and most perilous of all intoxications, it needs +immense presence of mind to conduct ourselves always with decorum. But +she was looking, just as before, at the miniature, as it seemed to me, in +fancy infusing some of the spirit I had described into the artist's +record, and she said, only in soliloquy, as it were, 'Yes, I see--I +_think_ I see.' + +So there was a pause; and then she said, without, however, removing her +eyes from the miniature, 'You are, I believe, Mr. De Cresseron, a very +old friend of Mr. Wylder's. Is it not so?' + +So soon after my little escapade, I did not like the question; but it was +answered. There was not the faintest trace of a satirical meaning, +however, in her face; and after another very considerable interval, at +the end of which she shut the miniature in its case, she said, 'It was a +peculiar face, and very beautiful. It is odd how many of our family +married for love--wild love-matches. My poor mother was the last. I could +point you out many pictures, and tell you stories--my cousin, Rachel, +knows them all. You know Rachel Lake?' + +'I've not the honour of knowing Miss Lake. I had not an opportunity of +making her acquaintance yesterday; but I know her brother--so does +Wylder.' + +'What's that?' said Mark, who had just come in, and was tumbling over a +volume of 'Punch' at the window. + +'I was telling Miss Brandon that we both know Stanley Lake.' On hearing +which, Wylder seemed to discover something uncommonly interesting or +clever in the illustration before him; for he approached his face very +near to it, in a scrutinising way, and only said, 'Oh?' + +'That marrying for love was a fatality in our family,' she continued in +the same low tone--too faint I think to reach Mark. 'They were all the +most beautiful who sacrificed themselves so--they were all unhappy +marriages. So the beauty of our family never availed it, any more than +its talents and its courage; for there were clever and witty men, as well +as very brave ones, in it. Meaner houses have grown up into dukedoms; +ours never prospers. I wonder what it is.' + +'Many families have disappeared altogether, Miss Brandon. It is no small +thing, through so many centuries, to have retained your ancestral +estates, and your pre-eminent position, and even this splendid residence +of so many generations of your lineage.' + +I thought that Miss Brandon, having broken the ice, was henceforth to be +a conversable young lady. But this sudden expansion was not to last. Ovid +tells us, in his 'Fasti,' how statues sometimes surprised people by +speaking more frankly and to the purpose even than Miss Brandon, and +straight were cold chiselled marble again; and so it was with that proud, +cold _chef d'oeuvre_ of tinted statuary. + +Yet I thought I could, even in that dim glimpse, discern how the silent +subterranean current of her thoughts was flowing; like other +representatives of a dynasty, she had studied the history of her race to +profit by its errors and misfortunes. There was to be no weakness or +passion in her reign. + +The princess by this time was seated on the ottoman, and chose to read a +letter, thus intimating, I suppose, that my audience was at an end; so I +took up a book, put it down, and then went and looked over Wylder's +shoulder, and made my criticisms--not very novel, I fear--upon the pages +he turned over; and I am sorry to say I don't think he heard much of what +I was saying, for he suddenly came out with-- + +'And where is Stanley Lake now, do you know?' + +'I saw him in town--only for a moment though--about a fortnight ago; he +was arranging, he said, about selling out.' + +'Oh! retiring; and what does he propose doing then?' asked Wylder, +without raising his eyes from his book. He spoke in a sort of undertone, +like a man who does not want to be overheard, and the room was quite +large enough to make that sort of secrecy easy without the appearance of +seeking it. + +'I have not an idea. I don't think he's fit for many things. He knows +something of horses, I believe, and something of play.' + +'But he'll hardly make out a living that way,' said Wylder, with a sort +of sneer or laugh. I thought he seemed put out, and a little flushed. + +'I fancy he has enough to live upon, without adding to it, however,' I +said. + +Wylder leaned back in his low chair, with his hands stuffed in his +pockets, and the air of a man trying to look unconcerned, but both +annoyed and disconcerted nevertheless. + +I tell you what, Charlie, between you and me, that fellow, Stanley, is a +d----d bad lot. I may be mistaken, of course; he's always been very civil +to me, but we don't like one another; and I don't think I ever heard him +say a good word of any one, I dare say he abuses you and me, as he does +everyone else.' + +'Does he?' I said. 'I was not aware he had that failing.' + +'Oh, yes. He does not stick at trifles, Master Stanley. He's about the +greatest liar, I think, I ever met with,' and he laughed angrily. + +I happened at that moment to raise my eyes, and I saw Dorcas's face +reflected in the mirror; her back was towards us, and she held the letter +in her hand as if reading it, but her large eyes were looking over it, +and on us, in the glass, with a gaze of strange curiosity. Our glances +met in the mirror; but hers remained serenely undisturbed, and mine +dropped and turned away hastily. I wonder whether she heard us. I do not +know. Some people are miraculously sharp of hearing. + +'I dare say,' said Wylder, with a sneer, 'he was asking affectionately +for me, eh?' + +'No; not that I recollect--in fact there was not time; but I suppose he +does not like you less for what has happened; you're worth cultivating +now, you know.' + +Wylder was leaning on his elbow, with just the tip of his thumb to his +teeth, with a vicious character of biting it, which was peculiar to him +when anything vexed him considerably, and glancing sharply this way and +that-- + +'You know,' he said, suddenly, 'we are a sort of cousins; his mother was +a Brandon--a second cousin of Dorcas's--no, of her father's--I don't know +exactly how. He's a pushing fellow, one of the coolest hands I know; but +I don't see that I can be of any use to him, or why the devil I should. I +say, old fellow, come out and have a weed, will you?' + +I raised my eyes. Miss Brandon had left the room. I don't know that her +presence would have prevented his invitation, for Wylder's wooing was +certainly of the coolest. So forth we sallied, and under the autumnal +foliage, in the cool amber light of the declining evening, we enjoyed our +cheroots; and with them, Wylder his thoughts; and I, the landscape, and +the whistling of the birds; for we waxed Turkish and taciturn over our +tobacco. + + + + +CHAPTER VII. + +RELATING HOW A LONDON GENTLEMAN APPEARED IN REDMAN'S DELL. + + +I believe the best rule in telling a story is to follow events +chronologically. So let me mention that just about the time when Wylder +and I were filming the trunks of the old trees with wreaths of lingering +perfume, Miss Rachel Lake had an unexpected visitor. + +There is, near the Hall, a very pretty glen, called Redman's Dell, very +steep, with a stream running at the bottom of it, but so thickly wooded +that in summer time you can only now and then catch a glimpse of the +water gliding beneath you. Deep in this picturesque ravine, buried among +the thick shadows of tall old trees, runs the narrow mill-road, which +lower down debouches on the end of the village street. There, in the +transparent green shadow, stand the two mills--the old one with A.D. +1679, and the Wylder arms, and the eternal 'resurgam' projecting over its +door; and higher up, on a sort of platform, the steep bank rising high +behind it, with its towering old wood overhanging and surrounding, upon a +site where one of king Arthur's knights, of an autumn evening, as he rode +solitary in quest of adventures, might have seen the peeping, gray gable +of an anchorite's chapel dimly through the gilded stems, and heard the +drowsy tinkle of his vesper-bell, stands an old and small two-storied +brick and timber house; and though the sun does not very often glimmer on +its windows, it yet possesses an air of sad, old-world comfort--a little +flower-garden lies in front with a paling round it. But not every kind of +flowers will grow there, under the lordly shadow of the elms and +chestnuts. + +This sequestered tenement bears the name of Redman's Farm; and its +occupant was that Miss Lake whom I had met last night at Brandon Hall, +and whose pleasure it was to live here in independent isolation. + +There she is now, busy in her tiny garden, with the birds twittering +about her, and the yellow leaves falling; and her thick gauntlets on her +slender hands. How fresh and pretty she looks in that sad, sylvan +solitude, with the background of the dull crimson brick and the climbing +roses. Bars of sunshine fall through the branches above, across the thick +tapestry of blue, yellow, and crimson, that glow so richly upon their +deep green ground. + +There is not much to be done just now, I fancy, in the gardening way; but +work is found or invented--for sometimes the hour is dull, and that +bright, spirited, and at heart, it may be, bitter exile, will make out +life somehow. There is music, and drawing. There are flowers, as we see, +and two or three correspondents, and walks into the village; and her dark +cousin, Dorcas, drives down sometimes in the pony-carriage, and is not +always silent; and indeed, they are a good deal together. + +This young lady's little Eden, though overshadowed and encompassed with +the solemn sylvan cloister of nature's building, and vocal with sounds of +innocence--the songs of birds, and sometimes those of its young +mistress--was no more proof than the Mesopotamian haunt of our first +parents against the intrusion of darker spirits. So, as she worked, she +lifted up her eyes, and beheld a rather handsome young man standing at +the little wicket of her garden, with his gloved hand on the latch. A man +of fashion--a town man--his dress bespoke him: smooth cheeks, light brown +curling moustache, and eyes very peculiar both in shape and colour, and +something of elegance of finish in his other features, and of general +grace in the _coup d'oeil_, struck one at a glance. He was smiling +silently and slily on Rachel, who, with a little cry of surprise, said-- + +'Oh, Stanley! is it you?' + +And before he could answer, she had thrown her arms about his neck and +kissed him two or three times. Laughingly, half-resisting, the young man +waited till her enthusiastic salutation was over, and with one gloved +hand caressingly on her shoulder, and with the other smoothing his +ruffled moustache, he laughed a little more, a quiet low laugh. He was +not addicted to stormy greetings, and patted his sister's shoulder +gently, his arm a little extended, like a man who tranquillises a +frolicsome pony. + +'Yes, Radie, you see I've found you out;' and his eye wandered, still +smiling oddly, over the front of her quaint habitation. + +'And how have you been, Radie?' + +'Oh, very well. No life like a gardener's--early hours, work, air, and +plenty of quiet.' And the young lady laughed. + +'You are a wonderful lass, Radie.' + +'Thank you, dear.' + +'And what do you call this place?' + +'"The Happy Valley," _I_ call it. Don't you remember "Rasselas?"' + +'No,' he said, looking round him; 'I don't think I was ever there.' + +'You horrid dunce!--it's a book, but a stupid one--so no matter,' laughed +Miss Rachel, giving him a little slap on the shoulder with her slender +fingers. + +His reading, you see, lay more in circulating library lore, and he was +not deep in Johnson--as few of us would be, I'm afraid, if it were not +for Boswell. + +'It's a confounded deal more like the "Valley of the Shadow of Death," in +"Pilgrim's Progress"--you remember--that old Tamar used to read to us in +the nursery,' replied Master Stanley, who had never enjoyed being quizzed +by his sister, not being blessed with a remarkably sweet temper. + +'If you don't like my scenery, come in, Stanley, and admire my +decorations. You must tell me all the news, and I'll show you my house, +and amaze you with my housekeeping. Dear me, how long it is since I've +seen you.' + +So she led him in by the arm to her tiny drawing-room; and he laid his +hat and stick, and gray paletot, on her little marquetrie-table, and sat +down, and looked languidly about him, with a sly smile, like a man +amused. + +'It is an odd fancy, living alone here.' + +'An odd necessity, Stanley.' + +'Aren't you afraid of being robbed and murdered, Radie?' he said, leaning +forward to smell at the pretty bouquet in the little glass, and turning +it listlessly round. 'There are lots of those burglar fellows going +about, you know.' + +'Thank you, dear, for reminding me. But, somehow, I'm not the least +afraid. There hasn't been a robbery in this neighbourhood, I believe, for +eight hundred years. The people never think of shutting their doors here +in summer time till they are going to bed, and then only for form's sake; +and, beside, there's nothing to rob, and I really don't much mind being +murdered.' + +He looked round, and smiled on, as before, like a man contemptuously +amused, but sleepily withal. + +'You are very oddly housed, Radie.' + +'I like it,' she said quietly, also with a glance round her homely +drawing-room. + +'What do you call this, your boudoir or parlour?' + +'I call it my drawing-room, but it's anything you please.' + +'What very odd people our ancestors were,' he mused on. 'They lived, I +suppose, out of doors like the cows, and only came into their sheds at +night, when they could not see the absurd ugliness of the places they +inhabited. I could not stand upright in this room with my hat on. Lots of +rats, I fancy, Radie, behind that wainscoting? What's that horrid work of +art against the wall?' + +'A shell-work cabinet, dear. It is not beautiful, I allow. If I were +strong enough, or poor old Tamar, I should have put it away; and now that +you're here, Stanley, I think I'll make you carry it out to the lobby for +me.' + +'I should not like to touch it, dear Radie. And pray how do you amuse +yourself here? How on earth do you get over the day, and, worse still, +the evenings?' + +'Very well--well enough. I make a very good sort of a nun, and a capital +housemaid. I work in the garden, I mend my dresses, I drink tea, and when +I choose to be dissipated, I play and sing for old Tamar--why did not you +ask how she is? I do believe, Stanley, you care for no one, but' (she was +going to say yourself, she said instead, however, but) 'perhaps, the +least in the world for me, and that not very wisely,' she continued, a +little fiercely, 'for from the moment you saw me, you've done little else +than try to disgust me more than I am with my penury and solitude. What +do you mean? You always have a purpose--will you ever learn to be frank +and straightforward, and speak plainly to those whom you ought to trust, +if not to love? What are you driving at, Stanley?' + +He looked up with a gentle start, like one recovering from a reverie, and +said, with his yellow eyes fixed for a moment on his sister, before they +dropped again to the carpet. + +'You're miserably poor, Rachel: upon my word, I believe you haven't clear +two hundred a year. I'll drink some tea, please, if you have got any, and +it isn't too much trouble; and it strikes me as very curious you like +living in this really very humiliating state.' + +'I don't intend to go out for a governess, if that's what you mean; nor +is there any privation in living as I do. Perhaps you think I ought to go +and housekeep for you.' + +'Why--ha, ha!--I really don't know, Radie, where I shall be. I'm not of +any regiment now.' + +'Why, you have not sold out?' She flushed and suddenly grew pale, for she +was afraid something worse might have happened, having no great +confidence in her brother. + +But she was relieved. + +'I _have_ sold my commission.' + +She looked straight at him with large eyes and compressed lips, and +nodded her head two or three times, just murmuring, 'Well! well! well!' + +'Women never understand these things. The army is awfully expensive--I +mean, of course, a regiment like ours; and the interest of the money is +better to me than my pay; and see, Rachel, there's no use in lecturing +_me_--so don't let us quarrel. We're not very rich, you and I; and we +each know our own affairs, you yours, and I mine, best.' + +There was something by no means pleasant in his countenance when his +temper was stirred, and a little thing sometimes sufficed to do so. + +Rachel treated him with a sort of deference, a little contemptuous +perhaps, such as spoiled children receive from indulgent elders; and she +looked at him steadily, with a faint smile and arched brows, for a little +while, and an undefinable expression of puzzle and curiosity. + +'You are a very amusing brother--if not a very cheery or a very useful +one, Stanley.' + +She opened the door, and called across the little hall into the homely +kitchen of the mansion. + +'Tamar, dear, Master Stanley's here, and wishes to see you.' + +'Oh! yes, poor dear old Tamar; ha, ha!' says the gentleman, with a gentle +little laugh, 'I suppose she's as frightful as ever, that worthy woman. +Certainly she _is_ awfully like a ghost. I wonder, Radie, you're not +afraid of her at night in this cheerful habitation. _I_ should, I know.' + +'A ghost _indeed_, the ghost of old times, an ugly ghost enough for many +of us. Poor Tamar! she was always very kind to _you_, Stanley.' + +And just then old Tamar opened the door. I must allow there was something +very unpleasant about that worthy old woman; and not being under any +personal obligations to her, I confess my acquiescence in the spirit of +Captain Lake's remarks. + +She was certainly perfectly neat and clean, but white predominated +unpleasantly in her costume. Her cotton gown had once had a pale pattern +over it, but wear and washing had destroyed its tints, till it was no +better than white, with a mottling of gray. She had a large white +kerchief pinned with a grisly precision across her breast, and a white +linen cap tied under her chin, fitting close to her head, like a child's +nightcap, such as they wore in my young days, and destitute of border or +frilling about the face. It was a dress very odd and unpleasant to +behold, and suggested the idea of an hospital, or a madhouse, or death, +in an undefined way. + +She was past sixty, with a mournful puckered and puffy face, tinted all +over with a thin gamboge and burnt sienna glazing; and very blue under +the eyes, which showed a great deal of their watery whites. This old +woman had in her face and air, along with an expression of suspicion and +anxiety, a certain character of decency and respectability, which made +her altogether a puzzling and unpleasant apparition. + +Being taciturn and undemonstrative, she stood at the door, looking with +as pleased a countenance as so sad a portrait could wear upon the young +gentleman. + +He got up at his leisure and greeted 'old Tamar,' with his sleepy, amused +sort of smile, and a few trite words of kindness. So Tamar withdrew to +prepare tea; and he said, all at once, with a sudden accession of energy, +and an unpleasant momentary glare in his eyes-- + +'You know, Rachel, this sort of thing is all nonsense. You cannot go on +living like this; you must marry--you shall marry. Mark Wylder is down +here, and he has got an estate and a house, and it is time he should +marry you.' + +'Mark Wylder is here to marry my cousin, Dorcas; and if he had no such +intention, and were as free as you are, and again to urge his foolish +suit upon his knees, Stanley, I would die rather than accept him.' + +'It was not always so foolish a suit, Radie,' answered her brother, his +eyes once more upon the carpet. 'Why should not _he_ do as well as +another? You liked him well enough once.' + +The young lady coloured rather fiercely. + +'I am not a girl of seventeen now, Stanley; and--and, besides, I _hate_ +him.' + +'What d--d nonsense! I really beg your pardon, Radie, but it _is_ +precious stuff. You are quite unreasonable; you've no cause to hate him; +he dropped you because you dropped him. It was only prudent; he had not a +guinea. But now it is different, and he _must_ marry you.' + +The young lady stared with a haughty amazement upon her brother. + +'I've made up my mind to speak to him; and if he won't I promise you he +shall leave the country,' said the young man gently, just lifting his +yellow eyes for a second with another unpleasant glare. + +'I almost think you're mad, Stanley; and if you do anything so insane, +sure I am you'll rue it while you live; and wherever he is I'll find him +out, and acquit myself, with the scorn I owe him, of any share in a plot +so unspeakably mean and absurd.' + +'Brava, brava! you're a heroine, Radie; and why the devil,' he continued, +in a changed tone, 'do you apply those insolent terms to what I purpose +doing?' + +'I wish I could find words strong enough to express my horror of your +plot--a plot every way disgusting. You plainly know something to Mark +Wylder's discredit; and you mean, Stanley, to coerce him by fear into a +marriage with your penniless sister, who _hates_ him. Sir, do you pretend +to be a gentleman?' + +'I rather think so,' he said, with a quiet sneer. + +'Give up every idea of it this moment. Has it not struck you that Mark +Wylder may possibly know something of you, you would not have published?' + +'I don't think he does. What do you mean?' + +'On my life, Stanley, I'll acquaint Mr. Wylder this evening with what you +meditate, and the atrocious liberty you presume--yes, Sir, though you are +my brother, the _atrocious liberty_ you dare to take with my name--unless +you promise, upon your honour, now and here, to dismiss for ever the +odious and utterly resultless scheme.' + +Captain Lake looked very angry after his fashion, but said nothing. He +could not at any time have very well defined his feelings toward his +sister, but mingling in them, certainly, was a vein of unacknowledged +dread, and, shall I say, respect. He knew she was resolute, fierce of +will, and prompt in action, and not to be bullied. + +'There's more in this, Stanley, than you care to tell me. You have not +troubled yourself a great deal about me, you know: and I'm no worse off +now than any time for the last three years. You've _not_ come down here +on _my_ account--that is, altogether; and be your plans what they may, +you sha'n't mix my name in them. What you please--wise or foolish--you'll +do in what concerns yourself;--you always _have_--without consulting me; +but I tell you again, Stanley, unless you promise, upon your honour, to +forbear all mention of my name, I will write this evening to Lady +Chelford, apprising her of your plans, and of my own disgust and +indignation; and requesting her son's interference. _Do_ you promise?' + +'There's no such _haste_, Radie. I only mentioned it. If you don't like +it, of course it can lead to nothing, and there's no use in my speaking +to Wylder, and so there's an end of it.' + +'There _may_ be some use, a purpose in which neither my feelings nor +interests have any part. I venture to say, Stanley, your plans are all +for _yourself_. You want to extort some advantage from Wylder; and you +think, in his present situation, about to marry Dorcas, you can use me +for the purpose. Thank Heaven! Sir, you committed for once the rare +indiscretion of telling the truth; and unless you make me the promise I +require, I will take, before evening, such measures as will completely +exculpate me. Once again, do you promise?' + +'Yes, Radie; ha, ha! of course I promise.' + +'Upon your honour?' + +'Upon my honour--_there_.' + +'I believe, you gentlemen dragoons observe that oath--I hope so. If you +choose to break it you may give me some trouble, but you sha'n't +compromise me. And now, Stanley, one word more. I fancy Mr. Wylder is a +resolute man--none of the Wylders wanted courage.' + +Captain Lake was by this time smiling his sly, sleepy smile upon his +French boots. + +'If you have formed any plan which depends upon frightening him, it is a +desperate one. All I can tell you, Stanley, is this, that if I were a +man, and an attempt made to extort from me any sort of concession by +terror, I would shoot the miscreant who made it through the head, like a +highwayman.' + +'What the devil are you talking about?' said he. + +'About _your danger_,' she answered. 'For once in your life listen to +reason. Mark Wylder is as prompt as you, and has ten times your nerve and +sense; you are more likely to have committed yourself than he. Take care; +he may retaliate your _threat_ by a counter move more dreadful. I know +nothing of your doings, Stanley--Heaven forbid! but be warned, or you'll +rue it.' + +'Why, Radie, you know nothing of the world. Do you suppose I'm quite +demented? Ask a gentleman for his estate, or watch, because I know +something to his disadvantage! Why, ha, ha! dear Radie, every man who has +ever been on terms of intimacy with another must know things to his +disadvantage, but no one thinks of telling them. The world would not +tolerate it. It would prejudice the betrayer at least as much as the +betrayed. I don't affect to be angry, or talk romance and heroics, +because you fancy such stuff; but I assure you--when will that old woman +give me a cup of tea?--I assure you, Radie, there's nothing in it.' + +Rachel made no reply, but she looked steadfastly and uneasily upon the +enigmatical face and downcast eyes of the young man. + +'Well, I hope so,' she said at last, with a sigh, and a slight sense of +relief. + + + + +CHAPTER VIII. + +IN WHICH CAPTAIN LAKE TAKES HIS HAT AND STICK. + + +So the young people sitting in the little drawing-room of Redman's farm +pursued their dialogue; Rachel Lake had spoken last, and it was the +captain's turn to speak next. + +'Do you remember Miss Beauchamp, Radie?' he asked rather suddenly, after +a very long pause. + +'Miss Beauchamp? Oh! to be sure; you mean little Caroline; yes, she must +be quite grown up by this time--five years--she promised to be pretty. +What of her?' + +Rachel, very flushed and agitated still, was now trying to speak as +usual. + +'She _is_ good-looking--a little coarse some people think,' resumed the +young man; 'but handsome; black eyes--black hair--rather on a large +scale, but certainly handsome. A style I admire rather, though it is not +very refined, nor at all classic. But I like her, and I wish you'd advise +me.' He was talking, after his wont, to the carpet. + +'Oh?' she exclaimed, with a gentle sort of derision. + +'You mean,' he said, looking up for a moment, with a sudden stare, 'she +has got money. Of course she has; I could not afford to admire her if she +had not; but I see you are not just now in a mood to trouble yourself +about my nonsense--we can talk about it to-morrow; and tell me now, how +do you get on with the Brandon people?' + +Rachel was curious, and would, if she could, have recalled that sarcastic +'oh' which had postponed the story; but she was also a little angry, and +with anger there was pride, which would not stoop to ask for the +revelation which he chose to defer; so she said, 'Dorcas and I are very +good friends; but I don't know very well what to make of her. Only I +don't think she's quite so dull and apathetic as I at first supposed; but +still I'm puzzled. She is either absolutely uninteresting, or very +interesting indeed, and I can't say which.' + +'Does she like you?' he asked. + +'I really don't know. She tolerates me, like everything else; and I don't +flatter her; and we see a good deal of one another upon those terms, and +I have no complaint to make of her. She has some aversions, but no +quarrels; and has a sort of laziness--mental, bodily, and moral--that is +sublime, but provoking; and sometimes I admire her, and sometimes I +despise her; and I do not yet know which feeling is the juster.' + +'Surely she is woman enough to be fussed a little about her marriage?' + +'Oh, dear, no! she takes the whole affair with a queenlike and +supernatural indifference. She is either a fool or a very great +philosopher, and there is something grand in the serene obscurity that +envelopes her,' and Rachel laughed a very little. + +'I must, I suppose, pay my respects; but to-morrow will be time enough. +What pretty little tea-cups, Radie--quite charming--old cock china, isn't +it? These were Aunt Jemima's, I think.' + +'Yes; they used to stand on the little marble table between the windows.' + +Old Tamar had glided in while they here talking, and placed the little +tea equipage on the table unnoticed, and the captain was sipping his cup +of tea, and inspecting the pattern, while his sister amused him. + +'This place, I suppose, is confoundedly slow, is not it? Do they +entertain the neighbours ever at Brandon?' + +'Sometimes, when old Lady Chelford and her son are staying there.' + +'But the neighbours can't entertain them, I fancy, or you. What a dreary +thing a dinner party made up of such people must be--like "Aesop's +Fables," where the cows and sheep converse.' + +'And sometimes a wolf or a fox,' she said. + +'Well, Radie, I know you mean me; but as you wish it, I'll carry my fangs +elsewhere;--and what has become of Will Wylder?' + +'Oh! he's in the Church!' + +'Quite right--the only thing he was fit for;' and Captain Lake laughed +like a man who enjoys a joke slily. 'And where is poor Billy quartered?' + +'Not quite half a mile away; he has got the vicarage of Naunton Friars.' + +'Oh, then, Will is not quite such a fool as we took him for.' + +'It is worth just L180 a year! but he's very far from a fool.' + +'Yes, of course, he knows Greek poets and Latin fathers, and all the rest +of it. I don't mean he ever was plucked. I dare say he's the kind of +fellow _you'd_ like very well, Radie.' And his sly eyes had a twinkle in +them which seemed to say, 'Perhaps I've divined your secret.' + +'And so I do, and I like his wife, too, _very_ much.' + +'His wife! So William has married on L180 a year;' and the captain +laughed quietly but very pleasantly again. + +'On a very little more, at all events; and I think they are about the +happiest, and I'm sure they are the best people in this part of the +world.' + +'Well, Radie, I'll see you to-morrow again. You preserve your good looks +wonderfully. I wonder you haven't become an old woman here.' + +And he kissed her, and went his way, with a slight wave of his hand, and +his odd smile, as he closed the little garden gate after him. + +He turned to his left, walking down towards the town, and the innocent +green trees hid him quickly, and the gush and tinkle of the clear brook +rose faint and pleasantly through the leaves, from the depths of the +glen, and refreshed her ear after his unpleasant talk. + +She was flushed, and felt oddly; a little stunned and strange, although +she had talked lightly and easily enough. + +'I forgot to ask him where he is staying: the Brandon Arms, I suppose. I +don't at all like his coming down here after Mark Wylder; what _can_ he +mean? He certainly never would have taken the trouble for _me_. What +_can_ he want of Mark Wylder? I think _he_ knew old Mr. Beauchamp. He may +be a trustee, but that's not likely; Mark Wylder was not the person for +any such office. I hope Stanley does not intend trying to extract money +from him; anything rather than that degradation--than that _villainy_. +Stanley was always impracticable, perverse, deceitful, and so foolish +with all his cunning and suspicion--so _very_ foolish. Poor Stanley. He's +so unscrupulous; I don't know what to think. He said he could force Mark +Wylder to leave the country. It must be some bad secret. If he tries and +fails, I suppose he will be ruined. I don't know what to think; I never +was so uneasy. He will blast himself, and disgrace all connected with +him; and it is quite useless speaking to him.' + +Perhaps if Rachel Lake had been in Belgravia, leading a town life, the +matter would have taken no such dark colouring and portentous +proportions. But living in a small old house, in a dark glen, with no +companion, and little to occupy her, it was different. + +She looked down the silent way he had so lately taken, and repeated, +rather bitterly, 'My only brother! my only brother! my only brother!' + +That young lady was not quite a pauper, though she may have thought so. +Comparatively, indeed, she was; but not, I venture to think, absolutely. +She had just that symmetrical three hundred pounds a year, which the +famous Dean of St. Patrick's tells us he so 'often wished that he had +clear.' She had had some money in the Funds besides, still more +insignificant but this her Brother Stanley had borrowed and begged +piecemeal, and the Consols were no more. But though something of a nun in +her way of life, there was no germ of the old maid in her, and money was +not often in her thoughts. It was not a bad _dot_; and her Brother +Stanley had about twice as much, and therefore was much better off than +many a younger son of a duke. But these young people, after the manner of +men were spited with fortune; and indeed they had some cause. Old General +Lake had once had more than ten thousand pounds a year, and lived, until +the crash came, in the style of a vicious old prince. It was a great +break up, and a worse fall for Rachel than for her brother, when the +plate, coaches, pictures, and all the valuable effects' of old Tiberius +went to the hammer, and he himself vanished from his clubs and other +haunts, and lived only--a thin intermittent rumour--surmised to be in +gaol, or in Guernsey, and quite forgotten soon, and a little later +actually dead and buried. + + + + +CHAPTER IX. + +I SEE THE RING OF THE PERSIAN MAGICIAN. + + +'That's a devilish fine girl,' said Mark Wylder. + +He was sitting at this moment on the billiard table, with his coat off +and his cue in his hand, and had lighted a cigar. He and I had just had a +game, and were tired of it. + +'Who?' I asked. He was looking on me from the corners of his eyes, and +smiling in a sly, rakish way, that no man likes in another. + +'Radie Lake--she's a splendid girl, by Jove! Don't you think so? and she +liked me once devilish well, I can tell you. She was thin then, but she +has plumped out a bit, and improved every way.' + +Whatever else he was, Mark was certainly no beauty;--a little short he +was, and rather square--one shoulder a thought higher than the other--and +a slight, energetic hitch in it when he walked. His features in profile +had something of a Grecian character, but his face was too broad--very +brown, rather a bloodless brown--and he had a pair of great, dense, +vulgar, black whiskers. He was very vain of his teeth--his only really +good point--for his eyes were a small cunning, gray pair; and this, +perhaps, was the reason why he had contracted his habit of laughing and +grinning a good deal more than the fun of the dialogue always warranted. + +This sea-monster smoked here as unceremoniously as he would have done in +'Rees's Divan,' and I only wonder he did not call for brandy-and-water. +He had either grown coarser a great deal, or I more decent, during our +separation. He talked of his _fiancee_ as he might of an opera-girl +almost, and was now discussing Miss Lake in the same style. + +'Yes, she is--she's very well; but hang it, Wylder, you're a married man +now, and must give up talking that way. People won't like it, you know; +they'll take it to mean more than it does, and you oughtn't. Let us have +another game.' + +'By-and-by; what do you think of Larkin?' asked Wylder, with a sly glance +from the corners of his eyes. 'I think he prays rather more than is good +for his clients; mind I spell it with an 'a,' not with an 'e;' but hang +it, for an attorney, you know, and such a sharp chap, it does seem to me +rather a--a joke, eh?' + +'He bears a good character among the townspeople, doesn't he? And I don't +see that it can do him any harm, remembering that he has a soul to be +saved.' + +'Or the other thing, eh?' laughed Wylder. 'But I think he comes it a +little too strong--two sermons last Sunday, and a prayer-meeting at nine +o'clock?' + +'Well, it won't do him any harm,' I repeated. + +'Harm! O, let Jos. Larkin alone for that. It gets him all the religious +business of the county; and there are nice pickings among the charities, +and endowments, and purchases of building sites, and trust deeds; I dare +say it brings him in two or three hundred a year, eh?' And Wylder laughed +again. 'It has broken up his hard, proud heart,' he says; 'but it left +him a devilish hard head, I told him, and I think it sharpens his wits.' + +'I rather think you'll find him a useful man; and to be so in his line of +business he must have his wits about him, I can tell you.' + +'He amused me devilishly,' said Wylder, 'with a sort of exhortation he +treated me to; he's a delightfully impudent chap, and gave me to +understand I was a limb of the Devil, and he a saint. I told him I was +better than he, in my humble opinion, and so I am, by chalks. I know very +well I'm a miserable sinner, but there's mercy above, and I don't hide my +faults. I don't set up for a light or a saint; I'm just what the +Prayer-book says--neither more nor less--a miserable sinner. There's only +one good thing I can safely say for myself--I am no Pharisee; that's all; +I air no religious prig, puffing myself, and trusting to forms, making +long prayers in the market-place' (Mark's quotations were paraphrastic), +'and thinking of nothing but the uppermost seats in the synagogue, and +broad borders, and the praise of men--hang them, I hate those fellows.' + +So Mark, like other men we meet with, was proud of being a Publican; and +his prayer was--'I thank Thee that I am not as other men are, spiritually +proud, formalists, hypocrites, or even as this Pharisee.' + +'Do you wish another game?' I asked. + +'Just now,' said Wylder, emitting first a thin stream of smoke, and +watching its ascent. 'Dorcas is the belle of the county; and she likes +me, though she's odd, and don't show it the way other girls would. But a +fellow knows pretty well when a girl likes him, and you know the marriage +is a sensible sort of thing, and I'm determined, of course, to carry it +through; but, hang it, a fellow can't help thinking sometimes there are +other things besides money, and Dorcas is not my style. Rachel's more +that way; she's a _tremendious_ fine girl, by Jove! and a spirited minx, +too; and I think,' he added, with an oath, having first taken two puffs +at his cigar, 'if I had seen her first, I'd have thought twice before I'd +have got myself into this business.' + +I only smiled and shook my head. I did not believe a word of it. Yet, +perhaps, I was wrong. He knew very well how to take care of his money; in +fact, compared with other young fellows, he was a bit of a screw. But he +could do a handsome and generous thing for himself. His selfishness would +expand nobly, and rise above his prudential considerations, and drown +them sometimes; and he was the sort of person, who, if the fancy were +strong enough, might marry in haste, and repent--and make his wife, too, +repent--at leisure. + +'What do you laugh at, Charlie?' said Wylder, grinning himself. + +'At your confounded grumbling, Mark. The luckiest dog in England! Will +nothing content you?' + +'Why, I grumble very little, I think, considering how well off I am,' +rejoined he, with a laugh. + +'Grumble! If you had a particle of gratitude, you'd build a temple to +Fortune--you're pagan enough for it, Mark.' + +'Fortune has nothing to do with it,' says Mark, laughing again. + +'Well, certainly, neither had you.' + +'It was all the Devil. I'm not joking, Charlie, upon my word, though I'm +laughing.' (Mark swore now and then, but I take leave to soften his +oaths). 'It was the Persian Magician.' + +'Come, Mark, say what you mean.' + +'I mean what I say. When we were in the Persian Gulf, near six years ago, +I was in command of the ship. The captain, you see, was below, with a +hurt in his leg. We had very rough weather--a gale for two days and a +night almost--and a heavy swell after. In the night time we picked up +three poor devils in an open boat--. One was a Persian merchant, with a +grand beard. We called him the magician, he was so like the pictures of +Aladdin's uncle.' + +'Why _he_ was an African,' I interposed, my sense of accuracy offended. + +'I don't care a curse what he was,' rejoined Mark; 'he was exactly like +the picture in the story-books. And as we were lying off--I forget the +cursed name of it--he begged me to put him ashore. He could not speak a +word of English, but one of the fellows with him interpreted, and they +were all anxious to get ashore. Poor devils, they had a notion, I +believe, we were going to sell them for slaves, and he made me a present +of a ring, and told me a long yarn about it. It was a talisman, it seems, +and no one who wore it could ever be lost. So I took it for a keepsake; +here it is,' and he extended his stumpy, brown little finger, and showed +a thick, coarsely-made ring of gold, with an uncut red stone, of the size +of a large cherry stone, set in it. + +'The stone is a humbug,' said Wylder. 'It's not real. I showed it to +Platten and Foyle. It's some sort of glass. But I would not part with it. +I got a fancy into my head that luck would come with it, and maybe that +glass stuff was the thing that had the virtue in it. Now look at these +Persian letters on the inside, for that's the oddest thing about it. Hang +it, I can't pull it off--I'm growing as fat as a pig--but they are like a +queer little string of flowers; and I showed it to a clever fellow at +Malta--a missionary chap--and he read it off slick, and what do you think +it means: "I will come up again;"' and he swore a great oath. 'It's as +true as you stand there--_our_ motto. Is not it odd? So I got the +"resurgam" you see there engraved round it, and by Jove! it did bring me +up. I was near lost, and did rise again. Eh?' + +Well, it certainly was a curious accident. Mark had plenty of odd and not +unamusing lore. Men who beat about the world in ships usually have; and +these 'yarns,' furnished, after the pattern of Othello's tales of +Anthropophagites and men whose heads do grow beneath their shoulders, one +of the many varieties of fascination which he practised on the fair sex. +Only in justice to Mark, I must say that he was by no means so shameless +a drawer of the long-bow as the Venetian gentleman and officer. + +'When I got this ring, Charlie, three hundred a year and a London life +would have been Peru and Paradise to poor Pill Garlick, and see what it +has done for me.' + +'Aye, and better than Aladdin's, for you need not rub it and bring up +that confounded ugly genii; the slave of your ring works unseen.' + +'So he does,' laughed Wylder, in a state of elation, 'and he's not done +working yet, I can tell you. When the estates are joined in one, they'll +be good eleven thousand a year; and Larkin says, with smart management, I +shall have a rental of thirteen thousand before three years! And that's +only the beginning, by George! Sir Henry Twisden can't hold his +seat--he's all but broke--as poor as Job, and the gentry hate him, and he +lives abroad. He has had a hint or two already, and he'll never fight the +next election. D'ye see--hey?' + +And Wylder winked and grinned, with a wag of his head. + +'M.P.--eh? You did not see that before. I look a-head a bit, eh? and can +take my turn at the wheel--eh?' + +And he laughed with cunning exultation. + +'Miss Rachel will find I'm not quite such a lubber as she fancies. But +even then it is only begun. Come, Charlie, you used to like a bet. What +do you say? I'll buy you that twenty-five guinea book of pictures--what's +its name?--if you give me three hundred guineas one month after I'm a +peer of Parliament. Hey? There's a sporting offer for you. Well! what do +you say--eh?' + +'You mean to come out as an orator, then?' + +'Orator be diddled! Do you take me for a fool? No, Charlie; but I'll come +out strong as a _voter_--that's the stuff they like--at the right side, +of course, and that is the way to manage it. Thirteen thousand a +year--the oldest family in the county--and a steady thick and thin +supporter of the minister. Strong points, eh, Charlie? Well, do you take +my offer?' + +I laughed and declined, to his great elation, and just then the gong +sounded and we were away to our toilets. + +While making my toilet for dinner, I amused myself by conjecturing +whether there could be any foundation in fact for Mark's boast, that Miss +Brandon liked him. Women are so enigmatical--some in everything--all in +matters of the heart. Don't they sometimes actually admire what is +repulsive? Does not brutality in our sex, and even rascality, interest +them sometimes? Don't they often affect indifference, and occasionally +even aversion, where there is a different sort of feeling? + +As I went down I heard Miss Lake chatting with her queen-like cousin near +an open door on the lobby. Rachel Lake was, indeed, a very constant guest +at the Hall, and the servants paid her much respect, which I look upon as +a sign that the young heiress liked her and treated her with +consideration; and indeed there was an insubordinate and fiery spirit in +that young lady which would have brooked nothing less and dreamed of +nothing but equality. + + + + +CHAPTER X. + +THE ACE OF HEARTS. + + +Who should I find in the drawing-room, talking fluently and smiling, +after his wont, to old Lady Chelford, who seemed to receive him very +graciously, for her at least, but Captain Stanley Lake! + +I can't quite describe to you the odd and unpleasant sort of surprise +which that very gentlemanlike figure, standing among the Brandon +household gods at this moment, communicated to me. I thought of the few +odd words and looks that had dropped from Wylder about him with an +ominous pang as I looked, and I felt somehow as if there were some occult +relation between that confused prelude of Wylder's and the +Mephistophelean image that had risen up almost upon the spot where it was +spoken. I glanced round for Wylder, but he was not there. + +'You know Captain Lake?' said Lord Chelford, addressing me. + +And Lake turned round upon me, a little abruptly, his odd yellowish eyes, +a little like those of the sea-eagle, and the ghost of his smile that +flickered on his singularly pale face, with a stern and insidious look, +confronted me. There was something evil and shrinking in his aspect, +which I felt with a sort of chill, like the commencing fascination of a +serpent. I often thought since that he had expected to see Wylder before +him. + +The church-yard meteor expired, there was nothing in a moment but his +ordinary smile of recognition. + +'You're surprised to see me here,' he said in his very pleasing low +tones. + +'I lighted on him in the village; and I knew Miss Brandon would not +forgive me if I allowed him to go away without coming here. (He had his +hand upon Lake's shoulder.) They are cousins, you know; we are all +cousins. I'm bad at genealogies. My mother could tell us all about +it--we, Brandons, Lakes; Wylders, and Chelfords.' + +At this moment Miss Brandon entered, with her brilliant Cousin Rachel. +The blonde and the dark, it was a dazzling contrast. + +So Chelford led Stanley Lake before the lady of the castle. I thought of +the 'Fair Brunnisende,' with the captive knight in the hands of her +seneschal before her, and I fancied he said something of having found him +trespassing in her town, and brought him up for judgment. Whatever Lord +Chelford said, Miss Brandon received it very graciously, and even with a +momentary smile. I wonder she did not smile oftener, it became her so. +But her greeting to Captain Lake was more than usually haughty and +frozen, and her features, I fancied, particularly proud and +pale. It seemed to me to indicate a great deal more than mere +indifference--something of aversion, and nearer to a positive emotion +than anything I had yet seen in that exquisitely apathetic face. + +How was it that this man with the yellow eyes seemed to gleam from them +an influence of pain or disturbance, wherever almost he looked. + +'Shake hands with your cousin, my dear,' said old Lady Chelford, +peremptorily. The little scene took place close to her chair; and upon +this stage direction the little piece of by-play took place, and the +young lady coldly touched the captain's hand, and passed on. + +Young as he was, Stanley Lake was an old man of the world, not to be +disconcerted, and never saw more than exactly suited him. Waiting in the +drawing-room, I had some entertaining talk with Miss Lake. Her +conversation was lively, and rather bold, not at all in the coarse sense, +but she struck me as having formed a system of ethics and views of life, +both good-humoured and sarcastic, and had carried into her rustic +sequestration the melancholy and precocious lore of her early London +experience. + +When Lord Chelford joined us, I perceived that Wylder was in the room, +and saw a very cordial greeting between him and Lake. The captain +appeared quite easy and cheerful; but Mark, I thought, notwithstanding +his laughter and general jollity, was uncomfortable; and I saw him once +or twice, when Stanley's eye was not upon him, glance sharply on the +young man with an uneasy and not very friendly curiosity. + +At dinner Lake was easy and amusing. That meal passed off rather +pleasantly; and when we joined the ladies in the drawing-room, the good +vicar's enthusiastic little wife came to meet us, in one of her honest +little raptures. + +'Now, here's a thing worth your looking at! Did you ever see anything so +bee-utiful in your life? It is such a darling little thing; and--look +now--is not it magnificent?' + +She arrested the file of gentlemen just by a large lamp, before whose +effulgence she presented the subject of her eulogy--one of those costly +trifles which announce the approach of Hymen, as flowers spring up before +the rosy steps of May. + +Well, it was pretty--French, I dare say--a little set of tablets--a +toy--the cover of enamel, studded in small jewels, with a slender border +of symbolic flowers, and with a heart in the centre, a mosaic of little +carbuncles, rubies, and other red and crimson stones, placed with a view +to light and shade. + +'Exquisite, indeed!' said Lord Chelford. 'Is this yours, Mrs. Wylder?' + +'Mine, indeed!' laughed poor little Mrs. Dorothy. 'Well, dear me, no, +indeed;'--and in an earnest whisper close in his ear--'a present to Miss +Brandon, and the donor is not a hundred miles away from your elbow, my +lord!' and she winked slyly, and laughed, with a little nod at Wylder. + +'Oh! I see--to be sure--really, Wylder, it does your taste infinite +credit.' + +'I'm glad you like it,' says Wylder, chuckling benignantly on it, over +his shoulder. 'I believe I _have_ a little taste that way; those are all +real, you know, those jewels.' + +'Oh, yes! of course. Have you seen it, Captain Lake?' And he placed it in +that gentleman's fingers, who now took his turn at the lamp, and +contemplated the little parallelogram with a gleam of sly amusement. + +'What are you laughing at?' asked Wylder, a little snappishly. + +'I was thinking it's very like the ace of hearts,' answered the captain +softly, smiling on. + +'Fie, Lake, there's no poetry in you,' said Lord Chelford, laughing. + +'Well, now, though, really it is funny; it did not strike me before, but +do you know, now, it _is_,' laughs out jolly Mrs. Dolly, 'isn't it. Look +at it, do, Mr. Wylder--isn't it like the ace of hearts?' + +Wylder was laughing rather redly, with the upper part of his face very +surly, I thought. + +'Never mind, Wylder, it's the winning card,' said Lord Chelford, laying +his hand on his shoulder. + +Whereupon Lake laughed quietly, still looking on the ace of hearts with +his sly eyes. + +And Wylder laughed too, more suddenly and noisily than the humour of the +joke seemed quite to call for, and glanced a grim look from the corners +of his eyes on Lake, but the gallant captain did not seem to perceive it; +and after a few seconds more he handed it very innocently back to Mrs. +Dorothy, only remarking-- + +'Seriously, it _is_ very pretty, and _appropriate_.' + +And Wylder, making no remark, helped himself to a cup of coffee, and then +to a glass of Curacoa, and then looked industriously at a Spanish quarto +of Don Quixote, and lastly walked over to me on the hearthrug. + +'What the d-- has he come down here for? It can't be for money, or balls, +or play, and he has no honest business anywhere. Do you know?' + +'Lake? Oh! I really can't tell; but he'll soon tire of country life. I +don't think he's much of a sportsman.' + +'Ha, isn't he? I don't know anything about him almost; but I hate him.' + +'Why should you, though? He's a very gentlemanlike fellow and your +cousin.' + +'My cousin--the Devil's cousin--everyone's cousin. I don't know who's my +cousin, or who isn't; nor you don't, who've been for ten years over those +d--d papers; but I think he's the nastiest dog I ever met. I took a +dislike to him at first sight long ago, and that never happened me but I +was right.' + +Wylder looked confoundedly angry and flustered, standing with his heels +on the edge of the rug, his hands in his pockets, jingling some silver +there, and glancing from under his red forehead sternly and unsteadily +across the room. + +'He's not a man for country quarters! he'll soon be back in town, or to +Brighton,' I said. + +'If _he_ doesn't, _I_ will. That's all.' + +Just to get him off this unpleasant groove with a little jolt, I said-- + +'By-the-bye, Wylder, you know the pictures here; who is the tall man, +with the long pale face, and wild phosphoric eyes? I was always afraid of +him; in a long peruke, and dark red velvet coat, facing the hall-door. I +had a horrid dream about him last night.' + +'That? Oh, I know--that's Lorne Brandon. He was one of our family devils, +he was. A devil in a family now and then is not such a bad thing, when +there's work for him.' (All the time he was talking to me his angry +little eyes were following Lake.) 'They say he killed his son, a +blackguard, who was found shot, with his face in the tarn in the park. He +was going to marry the gamekeeper's daughter, it was thought, and he and +the old boy, who was for high blood, and all that, were at loggerheads +about it. It was not proved, only thought likely, which showed what a +nice character he was; but he might have done worse. I suppose Miss +Partridge would have had a precious lot of babbies; and who knows where +the estate would have been by this time.' + +'I believe, Charlie,' he recommenced suddenly, 'there is not such an +unnatural family on record as ours; is there? Ha, ha, ha! It's well to be +distinguished in any line. I forget all the other good things he did; but +he ended by shooting himself through the head in his bed-room, and that +was not the worst thing ever he did.' + +And Wylder laughed again, and began to whistle very low--not, I fancy, +for want of thought, but as a sort of accompaniment thereto, for he +suddenly said-- + +'And where is he staying?' + +'Who?--Lake?' + +'Yes.' + +'I don't know; but I think he mentioned Larkins's house, didn't he? I'm +not quite sure.' + +'I suppose he this I'm made of money. By Jove! if he wants to borrow any +I'll surprise him, the cur; I'll talk to him; ha, ha, ha!' + +And Wylder chuckled angrily, and the small change in his pocket tinkled +fiercely, as his eye glanced on the graceful captain, who was +entertaining the ladies, no doubt, very agreeably in the distance. + + + + +CHAPTER XI. + +IN WHICH LAKE UNDER THE TREES OF BRANDON, AND I IN MY CHAMBER, SMOKE OUR +NOCTURNAL CIGARS. + + +Miss Lake declined the carriage to-night. Her brother was to see her +home, and there was a leave-taking, and the young ladies whispered a word +or two, and kissed, after the manner of their kind. To Captain Lake, Miss +Brandon's adieux were as cold and haughty as her greeting. + +'Did you see that?' said Wylder in my ear, with a chuckle; and, wagging +his head, he added, rather loftily for him, 'Miss Brandon, I reckon, has +taken your measure, Master Stanley, as well as I. I wonder what the deuce +the old dowager sees in him. Old women always like rascals.' + +And he added something still less complimentary. + +I suppose the balance of attraction and repulsion was overcome by Miss +Lake, much as he disliked Stanley, for Wylder followed them out with Lord +Chelford, to help the young lady into her cloak and goloshes, and I found +myself near Miss Brandon for the first time that evening, and much to my +surprise she was first to speak, and that rather strangely. + +'You seem to be very sensible, Mr. De Cresseron; pray tell me, frankly, +what do you think of all this?' + +'I am not quite sure, Miss Brandon, that I understand your question,' I +replied, enquiringly. + +'I mean of the--the family arrangements, in which, as Mr. Wylder's +friend, you seem to take an interest?' she said. + +'There can hardly be a second opinion, Miss Brandon; I think it a very +wise measure,' I replied, much surprised. + +'Very wise--exactly. But don't these very wise things sometimes turn out +very foolishly? Do you really think your friend, Mr. Wylder, cares about +me?' + +'I take that for granted: in the nature of things it can hardly be +otherwise,' I replied, a good deal startled and perplexed by the curious +audacity of her interrogatory. + +'It was very foolish of me to expect from Mr. Wylder's friend any other +answer; you are very loyal, Mr. De Cresseron.' + +And without awaiting my reply she made some remark which I forget to Lady +Chelford, who sat at a little distance; and, appearing quite absorbed in +her new subject, she placed herself close beside the dowager, and +continued to chat in a low tone. + +I was vexed with myself for having managed with so little skill a +conversation which, opened so oddly and frankly, might have placed me on +relations so nearly confidential, with that singular and beautiful girl. +I ought to have rejoiced--but we don't always see what most concerns our +peace. In the meantime I had formed a new idea of her. She was so +unreserved, it seemed, and yet in this directness there was something +almost contemptuous. + +By this time Lord Chelford and Wylder returned; and, disgusted rather +with myself, I ruminated on my want of general-ship. + +In the meantime, Miss Lake, with her hand on her brother's arm, was +walking swiftly under the trees of the back avenue towards that footpath +which, through wild copse and broken clumps near the park, emerges upon +the still darker road which passes along the wooded glen by the mills, +and skirts the little paling of the recluse lady's garden. + +They had not walked far, when Lake suddenly said-- + +'What do you think of all this, Radie--this particular version, I mean, +of marriage, _a-la-mode_, they are preparing up there?' and he made a +little dip of his cane towards Brandon Hall, over his shoulder. 'I really +don't think Wylder cares twopence about her, or she about him,' and +Stanley Lake laughed gently and sleepily. + +'I don't think they pretend to like one another. It is quite understood. +It was all, you know, old Lady Chelford's arrangement: and Dorcas is so +supine, I believe she would allow herself to be given away by anyone, and +to anyone, rather than be at the least trouble. She provokes me.' + +'But I thought she liked Sir Harry Bracton: he's a good-looking fellow; +and Queen's Bracton is a very nice thing, you know.' + +'Yes, so they said; but that would, I think, have been worse. Something +may be made of Mark Wylder. He has some sense and caution, has not +he?--but Sir Harry is wickedness itself!' + +'Why--what has Sir Harry done? That is the way you women run away with +things! If a fellow's been a little bit wild, he's Beelzebub at once. +Bracton's a very good fellow, I can assure you.' + +The fact is, Captain Lake, an accomplished player, made a pretty little +revenue of Sir Harry's billiards, which were wild and noisy; and liking +his money, thought he liked himself--a confusion not uncommon. + +'I don't know, and can't say, how you fine gentlemen define wickedness: +only, as an obscure female, I speak according to my lights: and he is +generally thought the wickedest man in this county.' + +'Well, you know, Radie, women like wicked fellows: it is contrast, I +suppose, but they do; and I'm sure, from what Bracton has said to me--I +know him intimately--that Dorcas likes him, and I can't conceive why they +are not married.' + +'It is very happy, for her at least, they are not,' said Rachel, and a +long silence ensued. + +Their walk continued silent for the greater part, neither was quite +satisfied with the other. But Rachel at last said-- + +'Stanley, you meditate some injury to Mark Wylder.' + +'I, Radie?' he answered quietly, 'why on earth should you think so?' + +'I saw you twice watch him when you thought no one observed you--and I +know your face too well, Stanley, to mistake.' + +'Now that's impossible, Radie; for I really don't think I once thought of +him all this evening--except just while we were talking.' + +'You keep your secret as usual, Stanley,' said the young lady. + +'Really, Radie, you're quite mistaken. I assure you, upon my honour, I've +no secret. You're a very odd girl--why won't you believe me?' + +Miss Rachel only glanced across her mufflers on his face. There was a +bright moonlight, broken by the shadows of overhanging boughs and +withered leaves; and the mottled lights and shadows glided oddly across +his pale features. But she saw that he was smiling his sly, sleepy smile, +and she said quietly-- + +'Well, Stanley, I ask no more--but you don't deceive me.' + +'I don't try to. If your feelings indeed had been different, and that you +had not made such a point--you know--' + +'Don't insult me, Stanley, by talking again as you did this morning. What +I say is altogether on your own account. Mark my words, you'll find him +too strong for you; aye, and too deep. I see very plainly that _he_ +suspects you as I do. You saw it, too, for nothing of that kind escapes +you. Whatever you meditate, he probably anticipates it--you know +best--and you will find him prepared. You have given him time enough. You +were always the same, close, dark, and crooked, and wise in your own +conceit. I am very uneasy about it, whatever it is. _I_ can't help it. It +will happen--and most ominously I feel that you are courting a dreadful +retaliation, and that you will bring on yourself a great misfortune; but +it is quite vain, I know, speaking to you.' + +'Really, Radie, you're enough to frighten a poor fellow; you won't mind a +word I say, and go on predicting all manner of mischief between me and +Wylder, the very nature of which I can't surmise. Would you dislike my +smoking a cigar, Radie?' + +'Oh, no,' answered the young lady, with a little laugh and a heavy sigh, +for she knew it meant silence, and her dark auguries grew darker. + +To my mind there has always been something inexpressibly awful in family +feuds. Mortal hatred seems to deepen and dilate into something diabolical +in these perverted animosities. The mystery of their origin--their +capacity for evolving latent faculties of crime--and the steady vitality +with which they survive the hearse, and speak their deep-mouthed +malignities in every new-born generation, have associated them somehow in +my mind with a spell of life exceeding and distinct from human and a +special Satanic action. + +My chamber, as I have mentioned, was upon the third storey. It was one of +many, opening upon the long gallery, which had been the scene, four +generations back, of that unnatural and bloody midnight duel which had +laid one scion of this ancient house in his shroud, and driven another a +fugitive to the moral solitudes of a continental banishment. + +Much of the day, as I told you, had been passed among the grisly records +of these old family crimes and hatreds. They had been an ill-conditioned +and not a happy race. When I heard the servant's step traversing that +long gallery, as it seemed to the in haste to be gone, and when all grew +quite silent, I began to feel a dismal sort of sensation, and lighted the +pair of wax candles which I found upon the small writing table. How +wonderful and mysterious is the influence of light! What sort of beings +must those be who hate it? + +The floor, more than anything else, showed the great age of the room. It +was warped and arched all along by the wall between the door and the +window. The portion of it which the carpet did not cover showed it to be +oak, dark and rugged. My bed was unexceptionably comfortable, but, in my +then mood, I could have wished it a great deal more modern. Its four +posts were, like the rest of it, oak, well-nigh black, fantastically +turned and carved, with a great urn-like capital and base, and shaped +midway, like a gigantic lance-handle. Its curtains were of thick and +faded tapestry. I was always a lover of such antiquities, but I confess +at that moment I would have vastly preferred a sprightly modern chintz +and a trumpery little French bed in a corner of the Brandon Arms. There +was a great lowering press of oak, and some shelves, with withered green +and gold leather borders. All the furniture belonged to other times. + +I would have been glad to hear a step stirring, or a cough even, or the +gabble of servants at a distance. But there was a silence and desertion +in this part of the mansion which, somehow, made me feel that I was +myself a solitary intruder on this level of the vast old house. + +I shan't trouble you about my train of thoughts or fancies; but I began +to feel very like a gentleman in a ghost story, watching experimentally +in a haunted chamber. My cigar case was a resource. I was not a bit +afraid of being found out. I did not even take the precaution of smoking +up the chimney. I boldly lighted my cheroot. I peeped through the dense +window curtain there were no shutters. A cold, bright moon was shining +with clear sharp lights and shadows. Everything looked strangely cold and +motionless outside. The sombre old trees, like gigantic hearse plumes, +black and awful. The chapel lay full in view, where so many of the, +strange and equivocal race, under whose ancient roof-tree I then stood, +were lying under their tombstones. + +Somehow, I had grown nervous. A little bit of plaster tumbled down the +chimney, and startled me confoundedly. Then some time after, I fancied I +heard a creaking step on the lobby outside, and, candle in hand, opened +the door, and looked out with an odd sort of expectation, and a rather +agreeable disappointment, upon vacancy. + + + + +CHAPTER XII. + +IN WHICH UNCLE LORNE TROUBLES ME. + + +I was growing most uncomfortably like one of Mrs. Anne Radcliffe's +heroes--a nervous race of demigods. + +I walked like a sentinel up and down my chamber, puffing leisurely the +solemn incense, and trying to think of the Opera and my essay on +'Paradise Lost,' and other pleasant subjects. But it would not do. Every +now and then, as I turned towards the door, I fancied I saw it softly +close. I can't the least say whether it was altogether fancy. It was with +the corner, or as the Italians have it, the 'tail' of my eye that I saw, +or imagined that I saw, this trifling but unpleasant movement. + +I called out once or twice sharply--'Come in!' 'Who's there?' 'Who's +that?' and so forth, without any sort of effect, except that unpleasant +reaction upon the nerves which follows the sound of one's own voice in a +solitude of this kind. + +The fact is I did not myself believe in that stealthy motion of my door, +and set it down to one of those illusions which I have sometimes +succeeded in analysing--a half-seen combination of objects which, rightly +placed in the due relations of perspective, have no mutual connection +whatever. + +So I ceased to challenge the unearthly inquisitor, and allowed him, after +a while, serenely enough, to peep as I turned my back, or to withdraw +again as I made my regular right-about face. + +I had now got half-way in my second cheroot, and the clock clanged 'one.' +It was a very still night, and the prolonged boom vibrated strangely in +my excited ears and brain. I had never been quite such an ass before; but +I do assure you I was now in an extremely unpleasant state. One o'clock +was better, however, than twelve. Although, by Jove! the bell was +'beating one,' as I remember, precisely as that king of ghosts, old +Hamlet, revisited the glimpses of the moon, upon the famous platform of +Elsinore. + +I had pondered too long over the lore of this Satanic family, and drunk +very strong tea, I suppose. I could not get my nerves into a comfortable +state, and cheerful thoughts refused to inhabit the darkened chamber of +my brain. As I stood in a sort of reverie, looking straight upon the +door, I saw--and this time there could be no mistake whatsoever--the +handle--the only modern thing about it--slowly turned, and the door +itself as slowly pushed about a quarter open. + +I do not know what exclamation I made. The door was shut instantly, and I +found myself standing at it, and looking out upon the lobby, with a +candle in my hand, and actually freezing with foolish horror. + +I was looking towards the stair-head. The passage was empty and ended in +utter darkness. I glanced the other way, and thought I saw--though not +distinctly--in the distance a white figure, not gliding in the +conventional way, but limping off, with a sort of jerky motion, and, in a +second or two, quite lost in darkness. + +I got into my room again, and shut the door with a clap that sounded +loudly and unnaturally through the dismal quiet that surrounded me, and +stood with my hand on the handle, with the instinct of resistance. + +I felt uncomfortable; and I would have secured the door, but there was no +sort of fastening within. So I paused. I did not mind looking out again. +To tell you the plain truth, I was just a little bit afraid. Then I grew +angry at having been put into such remote, and, possibly, suspected +quarters, and then my comfortable scepticism supervened. I was yet to +learn a great deal about this visitation. + +So, in due course having smoked my cheroot, I jerked the stump into the +fire. Of course I could not think of depriving myself of candle-light; +and being already of a thoughtful, old-bachelor temperament, and averse +from burning houses, I placed one of my tall wax-lights in a basin on the +table by my bed--in which I soon effected a lodgment, and lay with a +comparative sense of security. + +Then I heard two o'clock strike; but shortly after, as I suppose, sleep +overtook me, and I have no distinct idea for how long my slumber lasted. +The fire was very low when I awoke, and saw a figure--and a very odd +one--seated by the embers, and stooping over the grate, with a pair of +long hands expanded, as it seemed, to catch the warmth of the sinking +fire. + +It was that of a very tall old man, entirely dressed in white flannel--a +very long spencer, and some sort of white swathing about his head. His +back was toward me; and he stooped without the slightest motion over the +fire-place, in the attitude I have described. + +As I looked, he suddenly turned toward me, and fixed upon me a cold, and +as it seemed, a wrathful gaze, over his shoulder. It was a bleached and a +long-chinned face--the countenance of Lorne's portrait--only more faded, +sinister, and apathetic. And having, as it were, secured its awful +command over me by a protracted gaze, he rose, supernaturally lean and +tall, and drew near the side of my bed. + +I continued to stare upon this apparition with the most dreadful +fascination I ever experienced in my life. For two or three seconds I +literally could not move. When I did, I am not ashamed to confess, it was +to plunge my head under the bed-clothes, with the childish instinct of +terror; and there I lay breathless, for what seemed to me not far from +ten minutes, during which there was no sound, nor other symptom of its +presence. + +On a sudden the bed-clothes were gently lifted at my feet, and I sprang +backwards, sitting upright against the back of the bed, and once more +under the gaze of that long-chinned old man. + +A voice, as peculiar as the appearance of the figure, said:-- + +'You are in my bed--I died in it a great many years ago. I am Uncle +Lorne; and when I am not here, a devil goes up and down in the room. See! +he had his face to your ear when I came in. I came from Dorcas Brandon's +bed-chamber door, where her evil angel told me a thing;--and Mark Wylder +must not seek to marry her, for he will be buried alive if he does, and +he will, maybe, never get up again. Say your prayers when I go out, and +come here no more.' + +He paused, as if these incredible words were to sink into my memory; and +then, in the same tone, and with the same countenance, he asked-- + +'Is the blood on my forehead?' + +I don't know whether I answered. + +'So soon as a calamity is within twelve hours, the blood comes upon my +forehead, as they found me in the morning--it is a sign.' + +The old man then drew back slowly, and disappeared behind the curtains at +the foot of the bed, and I saw no more of him during the rest of that +odious night. + +So long as this apparition remained before me, I never doubted its being +supernatural. I don't think mortal ever suffered horror more intense. My +very hair was dripping with a cold moisture. For some seconds I hardly +knew where I was. But soon a reaction came, and I felt convinced that the +apparition was a living man. It was no process of reason or philosophy, +but simply I became persuaded of it, and something like rage overcame my +terrors. + + + + +CHAPTER XIII. + +THE PONY CARRIAGE + + +So soon as daylight came, I made a swift cold water toilet, and got out +into the open air, with a solemn resolution to see the hated interior of +that bed-room no more. When I met Lord Chelford in his early walk that +morning, I'm sure I looked myself like a ghost--at all events, very wild +and seedy--for he asked me, more seriously than usual, how I was; and I +think I would have told him the story of my adventure, despite the secret +ridicule with which, I fancied, he would receive it, had it not been for +a certain insurmountable disgust and horror which held me tongue-tied +upon the affair. + +I told him, however, that I had dreamed dreams, and was restless and +uncomfortable in my present berth, and begged his interest with the +housekeeper to have my quarters changed to the lower storey--quite +resolved to remove to the 'Brandon Arms,' rather than encounter another +such night as I had passed. + +Stanley Lake did not appear that day; Wylder was glowering and +abstracted--worse company than usual; and Rachel seemed to have quite +passed from his recollection. + +While Rachel Lake was, as usual, busy in her little garden that day, Lord +Chelford, on his way to the town, by the pretty mill-road, took off his +hat to her with a smiling salutation, and leaning on the paling, he +said-- + +'I often wonder how you make your flowers grow here--you have so little +sun among the trees--and yet, it is so pretty and flowery; it remains in +my memory as if the sun were always shining specially on this little +garden.' + +Miss Lake laughed. + +'I am very proud of it. They try not to blow, but I never let them alone +till they do. See all my watering-pots, and pruning-scissors, my sticks, +and bass-mat, and glass covers. Skill and industry conquer churlish +nature--and this is my Versailles.' + +'I don't believe in those sticks, and scissors, and watering-pots. You +won't tell your secret; but I'm sure it's an influence--you smile and +whisper to them.' + +She smiled--without raising her eyes--on the flower she was tying up; +and, indeed, it was such a smile as must have made it happy--and she +said, gaily-- + +'You forget that Lord Chelford passes this way sometimes, and shines upon +them, too.' + +'No, he's a dull, earthly dog; and if he shines here, it is only in +reflected light' + +'Margery, child, fetch me the scissors.' + +And a hobble-de-hoy of a girl, with round eyes, and a long white-apron, +and bare arms, came down the little walk, and--eyeing the peer with an +awful curiosity--presented the shears to the charming Atropos, who +clipped off the withered blossoms that had bloomed their hour, and were +to cumber the stalk no more. + +'Now, you see what art may do; how _passee_ this creature was till I made +her toilet, and how wonderfully the poor old beauty looks now,' and she +glanced complacently at the plant she had just trimmed. + +'Well, it is young again and beautiful; but no--I have no faith in the +scissors; I still believe in the influence--from the tips of your +fingers, your looks, and tones. Flowers, like fairies, have their +favourites, whom they smile on and obey; and I think this is a haunted +glen--trees, flowers, all have an intelligence and a feeling--and I am +sure you see wonderful things, by moonlight, from your window.' + +With a strange meaning echo, those words returned to her afterwards--'I'm +sure you see wonderful things, by moonlight, from your window.' + +But no matter; the winged words--making pleasant music--flew pleasantly +away, now among transparent leaves and glimmering sun; by-and-by, in +moonlight, they will return to the casement piping the same tune, in +ghostly tones. + +And as they chatted in this strain, Rachel paused on a sudden, with +upraised hand, listening pleasantly. + +'I hear the pony-carriage; Dorcas is coming,' she said. + +And the tinkle of tiny wheels, coming down the road, was audible. + +'There's a pleasant sense of adventure, too, in the midst of your +seclusion. Sudden arrivals and passing pilgrims, like me, leaning over +the paling, and refreshed by the glimpse the rogue steals of this +charming oratory. Yes; here comes the fair Brunnisende.' + +And he made his salutation. Miss Brandon smiled from under her gipsy-hat +very pleasantly for her. + +'Will you come with me for a drive, Radie?' she asked. + +'Yes, dear--delighted. Margery, bring my gloves and cloak.' And she +unpinned the faded silk shawl that did duty in the garden, and drew off +her gauntlets, and showed her pretty hands; and Margery popped her cloak +on her shoulders, and the young lady pulled on her gloves. All ready in a +moment, like a young lady of energy; and chatting merrily she sat down +beside her cousin, who held the reins. As there were no more gates to +open, Miss Brandon dismissed the servant, who stood at the ponies' heads, +and who, touching his hat with his white glove, received his _conge_, and +strode with willing steps up the road. + +'Will you take me for your footman as far as the town?' asked Lord +Chelford; so, with permission, up he jumped behind, and away they +whirled, close over the ground, on toy wheels ringing merrily on the +shingle, he leaning over the back and chatting pleasantly with the young +ladies as they drove on. + +They drew up at the Brandon Arms, and little girls courtesied at doors, +and householders peeped from their windows, not standing close to the +panes, but respectfully back, at the great lady and the nobleman, who was +now taking his leave. + +And next they pulled up at that official rendezvous, with white-washed +front--and 'post-office,' in white letters on a brown board over its +door, and its black, hinged window-pane, through which Mr. Driver--or, in +his absence, Miss Anne Driver--answered questions, and transacted affairs +officially. + +In the rear of this establishment were kept some dogs of Lawyer Larkin's; +and just as the ladies arrived, that person emerged, looking +overpoweringly gentlemanlike, in a white hat, gray paletot, lavender +trowsers, and white riding gloves. He was in a righteous and dignified +way pleased to present himself in so becoming a costume, and moreover in +good company, for Stanley Lake was going with him to Dutton for a day's +sport, which neither of them cared for. But Stanley hoped to pump the +attorney, and the attorney, I'm afraid, liked being associated with the +fashionable captain; and so they were each pleased in the way that suited +them. + +The attorney, being long as well as lank, had to stoop under the doorway, +but drew himself up handsomely on coming out, and assumed his easy, +high-bred style, which, although he was not aware of it, was very nearly +insupportable, and smiled very engagingly, and meant to talk a little +about the weather; but Miss Brandon made him one of her gravest and +slightest bows, and suddenly saw Mrs. Brown at her shop door on the other +side, and had a word to say to her. + +And now Stanley Lake drew up in the tax-cart, and greeted the ladies, and +told them how he meant to pass the day; and the dogs being put in, and +the attorney, I'm afraid a little spited at his reception, in possession +of the reins, they drove down the little street at a great pace, and +disappeared round the corner; and in a minute more the young ladies, in +the opposite direction, resumed their drive. The ponies, being grave and +trustworthy, and having the road quite to themselves, needed little +looking after, and Miss Brandon was free to converse with her companion. + +'I think, Rachel, you have a lover,' she said. + +'Only a bachelor, I'm afraid, as my poor Margery calls the young +gentleman who takes her out for a walk on a Sunday, and I fear means +nothing more.' + +'This is the second time I've found Chelford talking to you, Rachel, at +the door of your pretty little garden.' + +Rachel laughed. + +'Suppose, some fine day, he should put his hand over the paling, and take +yours, and make you a speech.' + +'You romantic darling,' she said, 'don't you know that peers and princes +have quite given over marrying simple maidens of low estate for love and +liking, and understand match-making better than you or I; though I could +give a tolerable account of myself, after the manner of the white cat in +the story, which I think is a pattern of frankness and modest dignity. +I'd say with a courtesy--"Think not, prince, that I have always been a +cat, and that my birth is obscure; my father was king of six kingdoms, +and loved my mother tenderly," and so forth.' + +'Rachel, I like you,' interrupted the dark beauty, fixing her large eyes, +from which not light, but, as it were, a rich shadow fell softly on her +companion. It was the first time she had made any such confession. Rachel +returned her look as frankly, with an amused smile, and then said, with a +comic little toss of her head-- + +'Well, Dorcas, I don't see why you should not, though I don't know why +you say so.' + +'You're not like other people; you don't complain, and you're not bitter, +although you have had great misfortunes, my poor Rachel.' + +There be ladies, young and old, who, the moment they are pitied, though +never so cheerful before, will forthwith dissolve in tears. But that was +not Rachel's way; she only looked at her with a good-humoured but grave +curiosity for a few seconds, and then said, with rather a kindly smile-- + +'And now, Dorcas, I like you.' + +Dorcas made no answer, but put her arm round Rachel's neck, and kissed +her; Dorcas made two kisses of it, and Rachel one, but it was cousinly +and kindly; and Rachel laughed a soft little laugh after it, looking +amused and very lovingly on her cousin; but she was a bold lass, and not +given in anywise to the melting mood, and said gaily, with her open hand +still caressingly on Dorcas's waist-- + +'I make a very good nun, Dorcas, as I told Stanley the other day. I +sometimes, indeed, receive a male visitor, at the other side of the +paling, which is my grille; but to change my way of life is a dream that +does not trouble me. Happy the girl--and I am one--who cannot like until +she is first beloved. Don't you remember poor, pale Winnie, the maid who +used to take us on our walks all the summer at Dawling; how she used to +pluck the leaves from the flowers, like Faust's Marguerite, saying, "He +loves me a little--passionately, not at all." Now if I were loved +passionately, I might love a little; and if loved a little--it should be +not at all.' + +They had the road all to themselves, and were going at a walk up an +ascent, so the reins lay loosely on the ponies' necks and Dorcas looked +with an untold meaning in her proud face, on her cousin, and seemed on +the point of speaking, but she changed her mind. + +'And so Dorcas, as swains are seldom passionately in love with so small a +pittance as mine, I think I shall mature into a queer old maid, and take +all the little Wylders, masters and misses, with your leave, for their +walks, and help to make their pinafores.' Whereupon Miss Dorcas put her +ponies into a very quick trot, and became absorbed in her driving. + + + + +CHAPTER XIV. + +IN WHICH VARIOUS PERSONS GIVE THEIR OPINIONS OF CAPTAIN STANLEY LAKE. + + +'Stanley is an odd creature,' said Rachel, so soon as another slight +incline brought them to a walk; 'I can't conceive why he has come down +here, or what he can possibly want of that disagreeable lawyer. They have +got dogs and guns, and are going, of course, to shoot; but he does not +care for shooting, and I don't think Mr. Larkin's society can amuse him. +Stanley is clever and cunning, I think, but he is neither wise nor frank. +He never tells me his plans, though he must know--he _does_ know--I love +him; yes, he's a strange mixture of suspicion and imprudence. He's +wonderfully reserved. I am certain he trusts no one on earth, and at the +same time, except in his confidences, he's the rashest man living. If he +were like Lord Chelford, or even like our good vicar--not in piety, for +poor Stanley's training, like my own, was sadly neglected there--I mean +in a few manly points of character, I should be quite happy, I think, in +my solitary nook.' + +'Is he so very odd?' said Miss Brandon, coldly. + +'I only know he makes me often very uncomfortable,' answered Rachel. 'I +never mind what he tells me, for I think he likes to mislead everybody; +and I have been two often duped by him to trust what he says. I only know +that his visit to Gylingden must have been made with some serious +purpose, and his ideas are all so rash and violent.' + +'He was at Donnyston for ten days, I think, when I was there, and seemed +clever. They had charades and _proverbes dramatiques_. I'm no judge, but +the people who understood it, said he was very good.' + +'Oh! yes he is clever; I knew he was at Donnyston, but he did not mention +he had seen you there; he only told me he had met you pretty often when +you were at Lady Alton's last season.' + +'Yes, in town,' she answered, a little drily. + +While these young ladies are discussing Stanley Lake, I may be permitted +to mention my own estimate of that agreeable young person. + +Captain Lake was a gentleman and an officer, and of course an honourable +man; but somehow I should not have liked to buy a horse from him. He was +very gentlemanlike in appearance, and even elegant; but I never liked +him, although he undoubtedly had a superficial fascination. I always +thought, when in his company, of old Lord Holland's silk stocking with +something unpleasant in it. I think, in fact, he was destitute of those +fine moral instincts which are born with men, but never acquired; and in +his way of estimating his fellow men, and the canons of honour, there was +occasionally perceptible a faint flavour of the villainous, and an +undefined savour, at times, of brimstone. I know also that when his +temper, which was nothing very remarkable, was excited, he could be +savage and brutal enough; and I believe he had often been violent and +cowardly in his altercations with his sister--so, at least, two or three +people, who were versed in the scandals of the family, affirmed. But it +is a censorious world, and I can only speak positively of my own +sensations in his company. His morality, however, I suppose, was quite +good enough for the world, and he had never committed himself in any of +those ways of which that respectable tribunal takes cognizance. + +'So that d--d fellow Lake is down here still; and that stupid, scheming +lubber, Larkin, driving him about in his tax-cart, instead of minding his +business. I could not see him to-day. That sort of thing won't answer me; +and he _is_ staying at Larkin's house, I find.' Wylder was talking to me +on the door steps after dinner, having in a rather sulky way swallowed +more than his usual modicum of Madeira, and his remarks were delivered +interruptedly--two or three puffs of his cigar interposed between each +sentence. + +'I suppose he expects to be asked to the wedding. He _may_ expect--ha, +ha, ha! You don't know that lad as I do.' + +Then there came a second cigar, and some little time in lighting, and +full twenty enjoyable puffs before he resumed. + +'Now, you're a moral man, Charlie, tell me really what you think of a +fellow marrying a girl he does not care that for,' and he snapt his +fingers. 'Just for the sake of her estate--it's the way of the world, of +course, and all that--but, is not it a little bit shabby, don't you +think? Eh? Ha, ha, ha!' + +'I'll not debate with you, Wylder, on that stupid old question. It's the +way of the world, as you say, and there's an end of it.' + +'They say she's such a beauty! Well, so I believe she is, but I can't +fancy her. Now you must not be angry. I'm not a poet like +you--book-learned, you know; and she's too solemn by half, and grand. I +wish she was different. That other girl, Rachel--she's a devilish +handsome craft. I wish almost she was not here at all, or I wish she was +in Dorcas's shoes.' + +'Nonsense, Wylder! stop this stuff; and it is growing cold throw away +that cigar, and come in.' + +'In a minute. No, I assure you, I'm not joking. Hang it! I must talk to +some one. I'm devilish uncomfortable about this grand match. I wish I had +not been led into it I don't think I'd make a good husband to any woman I +did not fancy, and where's the good of making a girl unhappy, eh?' + +'Tut, Wylder, you ought to have thought of all that before. I don't like +your talking in this strain when you know it is too late to recede; +besides, you are the luckiest fellow in creation. Upon my word, I don't +know why the girl marries you; you can't suppose that she could not marry +much better, and if you have not made up your mind to break off, of which +the world would form but one opinion, you had better not speak in that +way any more.' + +'Why, it was only to you, Charlie, and to tell you the truth, I do +believe it is the best thing for me; but I suppose every fellow feels a +little queer when he is going to be spliced, a little bit nervous, eh? +But you are right--and I'm right, and we are all right--it _is_ the best +thing for us both. It will make a deuced fine estate; but hang it! you +know a fellow's never satisfied. And I suppose I'm a bit put out by that +disreputable dog's being here--I mean Lake; not that I need care more +than Dorcas, or anyone else; but he's no credit to the family, you see, +and I never could abide him. I've half a mind, Charlie, to tell you a +thing; but hang it! you're such a demure old maid of a chap. Will you +have a cigar?' + +'No.' + +'Well, I believe two's enough for me,' and he looked up at the stars. + +'I've a notion of running up to town, only for a day or two, before this +business comes off, just on the sly; you'll not mention it, and I'll have +a word with Lake, quite friendly, of course; but I'll shut him up, and +that's all. I wonder he did not dine here to-day. Did you ever see so +pushing a brute?' + +So Wylder chucked away his cigar, and stood for a minute with his hands +in his pockets looking up at the stars, as if reading fortunes there. + +I had an unpleasant feeling that Mark Wylder was about some mischief--a +suspicion that some game of mine and countermine was going on between him +and Lake, to which I had no clue whatsoever. + +Mark had the frankness of callosity, and could recount his evil deeds and +confess his vices with hilarity and detail, and was prompt to take his +part in a lark, and was a remarkably hard hitter, and never shrank from +the brunt of the row; and with these fine qualities, and a much superior +knowledge of the ways of the flash world, had commanded my boyish +reverence and a general popularity among strangers. But, with all this, +he could be as secret as the sea with which he was conversant, and as +hard as a stonewall, when it answered his purpose. He had no lack of +cunning, and a convenient fund of cool cruelty when that stoical +attribute was called for. Years, I dare say, and a hard life and +profligacy, and command, had not made him less selfish or more humane, or +abated his craft and resolution. + +If one could only see it, the manoeuvring and the ultimate collision of +two such generals as he and Lake would be worth observing. + +I dare say my last night's adventure tended to make me more nervous and +prone to evil anticipation. And although my quarters had been changed to +the lower storey, I grew uncomfortable as it waxed late, and half +regretted that I had not migrated to the 'Brandon Arms.' + +Uncle Lorne, however, made me no visit that night. Once or twice I +fancied something, and started up in my bed. It was fancy, merely. What +state had I really been in, when I saw that long-chinned apparition of +the pale portrait? Many a wiser man than I had been mystified by +dyspepsia and melancholic vapours. + + + + +CHAPTER XV. + +DORCAS SHOWS HER JEWELS TO MISS LAKE. + + +Stanley Lake and his sister dined next day at Brandon. Under the cold +shadow of Lady Chelford, the proprieties flourished, and generally very +little else. Awful she was, and prompt to lecture young people before +their peers, and spoke her mind with fearful directness and precision. +But sometimes she would talk, and treat her hearers to her recollections, +and recount anecdotes with a sort of grim cleverness, not wholly +unamusing. + +She did not like Wylder, I thought, although she had been the inventor +and constructor of the family alliance of which he was the hero. I did +not venture to cultivate her; and Miss Brandon had been, from the first, +specially cold and repellent to Captain Lake. There was nothing very +genial or promising, therefore, in the relations of our little party, and +I did not expect a very agreeable evening. + +Notwithstanding all this, however, our dinner was, on the whole, much +pleasanter than I anticipated. Stanley Lake could be very amusing; but I +doubt if our talk would quite stand the test of print. I often thought if +one of those artists who photograph language and thought--the quiet, +clever 'reporters,' to whom England is obliged for so much of her daily +entertainment, of her social knowledge, and her political safety, were, +pencil in hand, to ensconce himself behind the arras, and present us, at +the close of the agreeable banquet, with a literal transcript of the +feast of reason, which we give and take with so much complacency--whether +it would quite satisfy us upon reconsideration. + +When I entered the drawing-room after dinner, Lord Chelford was plainly +arguing a point with the young ladies, and by the time I drew near, it +was Miss Lake's turn to speak. + +'Flattering of mankind, I am sure, I have no talent for; and without +flattering and wheedling you'll never have conjugal obedience. Don't you +remember Robin Hood? how-- + + 'The mother of Robin said to her husband, + My honey, my love, and my dear.' + +And all this for leave to ride with her son to see her own brother at +Gamwell.' + +'I remember,' said Dorcas, with a smile. 'I wonder what has become of +that old book, with its odd little woodcuts. + + 'And he said, I grant thee thy boon, gentle Joan! + Take one of my horses straightway.' + +'Well, though the book is lost, we retain the moral, you see,' said +Rachel with a little laugh; 'and it has always seemed to me that if it +had not been necessary to say, "my honey, my love, and my dear," that +good soul would not have said it, and you may be pretty sure that if she +had not, and with the suitable by-play too, she might not have ridden to +Gamwell that day.' + +'And you don't think _you_ could have persuaded yourself to repeat that +little charm, which obtained her boon and one of his horses straightway?' +said Lord Chelford. + +'Well, I don't know what a great temptation and a contumacious husband +might bring one to; but I'm afraid I'm a stubborn creature, and have not +the feminine gift of flattery. If, indeed, he felt his inferiority and +owned his dependence, I think I might, perhaps, have called him "my +honey, my love, and my dear," and encouraged and comforted him; but to +buy my personal liberty, and the right to visit my brother at +Gamwell--never!' + +And yet she looked, Lord Chelford thought, very goodhumoured and +pleasant, and he fancied a smile from her might do more with some men +than all gentle Joan's honeyed vocabulary. + +'I own,' said Lord Chelford, laughing, 'that, from prejudice, I suppose, +I am in favour of the apostolic method, and stand up for the divine right +of my sex; but then, don't you see, it is your own fault, if you make it +a question of right, when you may make it altogether one of fascination?' + +'Who, pray, is disputing the husband's right to rule?' demanded old Lady +Chelford unexpectedly. + +'I am very timidly defending it against very serious odds,' answered her +son. + +'Tut, tut! my dears, what's all this; you _must_ obey your husbands,' +cried the dowager, who put down nonsense with a high hand, and had ruled +her lord with a rod of iron. + +'That's no tradition of the Brandons,' said Miss Dorcas, quietly. + +'The Brandons--pooh! my dear--it is time the Brandons should grow like +other people. Hitherto, the Brandon men have all, without exception, been +the wickedest in all England, and the women the handsomest and the most +self-willed. Of course the men could not be obeyed in all things, nor the +women disobeyed. I'm a Brandon myself, Dorcas, so I've a right to speak. +But the words are precise--honour and obey--and obey you _must_; though, +of course you may argue a point, if need be, and let your husband hear +reason.' + +And, having ruled the point, old Lady Chelford leaned back and resumed +her doze. + +There was no longer anything playful in Dorcas's look. On the contrary, +something fierce and lurid, which I thought wonderfully becoming; and +after a little she said-- + +'I promised, Rachel, to show you my jewels. Come now--will you?--and see +them.' + +And she placed Rachel's hand on her arm, and the two young ladies +departed. + +'Are you well, dear?' asked Rachel when they reached her room. + +Dorcas was very pale, and her gaze was stern, and something undefinably +wild in her quietude. + +'What day of the month is this?' said Dorcas. + +'The eighth--is not it?--yes, the eighth,' answered Rachel. + +'And our marriage is fixed for the twenty-second--just a fortnight hence. +I am going to tell you, Rachel, what I have resolved on.' + +'How really beautiful these diamonds are!--quite superb.' + +'Yes,' said Dorcas, opening the jewel-cases, which she had taken from her +cabinet, one after the other. + +'And these pearls! how very magnificent! I had no idea Mark Wylder's +taste was so exquisite.' + +'Yes, very magnificent, I suppose.' + +'How charming--quite regal--you will look, Dorcas!' + +Dorcas smiled strangely, and her bosom heaved a little, Rachel thought. +Was it elation, or was there not something wildly bitter gleaming in that +smile? + +'I _must_ look a little longer at these diamonds.' + +'As long, dear, as you please. You are not likely, Rachel, to see them +again.' + +From the blue flash of the brilliants Rachel in honest amazement raised +her eyes to her cousin's face. The same pale smile was there; the look +was oracular and painful. Had she overheard a part of that unworthy talk +of Wylder's at the dinner-table, the day before, and mistaken Rachel's +share in the dialogue? + +And Dorcas said-- + +'You have heard of the music on the waters that lures mariners to +destruction. The pilot leaves the rudder, and leans over the prow, and +listens. They steer no more, but drive before the wind; and what care +they for wreck or drowning?' + +I suppose it was the same smile; but in Rachel s eyes, as pictures will, +it changed its character with her own change of thought, and now it +seemed the pale rapt smile of one who hears music far off, or sees a +vision. + +'Rachel, dear, I sometimes think there is an evil genius attendant on our +family,' continued Dorcas in the same subdued tone, which, in its very +sweetness, had so sinister a sound in Rachel's ear. 'From mother to +child, from child to grandchild, the same influence continues; and, one +after another, wrecks the daughters of our family--a wayward family, and +full of misery. Here I stand, forewarned, with my eyes open, determinedly +following in the funereal footsteps of those who have gone their way +before me. These jewels all go back to Mr. Wylder. He never can be +anything to me. I was, I thought, to build up our house. I am going, I +think, to lay it in the dust. With the spirit of the insane, I feel the +spirit of a prophetess, too, and I see the sorrow that awaits me. You +will see.' + +'Dorcas, darling, you are certainly ill. What is the matter?' + +'No, dear Rachel, not ill, only maybe agitated a little. You must not +touch the bell--listen to me; but first promise, so help you Heaven, you +will keep my secret.' + +'I do promise, indeed Dorcas, I swear I'll not repeat one word you tell +me.' + +'It has been a vain struggle. I know he's a bad man, a worthless +man--selfish, cruel, maybe. Love is not blind with me, but quite insane. +He does not know, nor you, nor anyone; and now, Rachel, I tell you what +was unknown to all but myself and Heaven--looking neither for counsel, +nor for pity, nor for sympathy, but because I must, and you have sworn to +keep my secret. I love your brother. Rachel, you must try to like me.' + +She threw her arms round her cousin's neck, and Rachel felt in her +embrace the vibration of an agony. + +She was herself so astonished that for a good while she could hardly +collect her thoughts or believe her senses. Was it credible? Stanley! +whom she had received with a coldness, if not aversion, so marked, that, +if he had a spark of Rachel's spirit, he would never have approached her +more! Then came the thought--perhaps they understood one another, and +that was the meaning of Stanley's unexpected visit? + +'Well, Dorcas, dear, I _am_ utterly amazed. But does Stanley--he can +hardly hope?' + +Dorcas removed her arms from her cousin's neck; her face was pale, and +her cheeks wet with tears, which she did not wipe away. + +'Sit down by me, Rachel. No, _he_ does _not_ like _me_--that is--I don't +know; but, I am sure, he can't suspect that I like him. It was my +determination it should not be. I resolved, Rachel, quite to extinguish +the madness; but I could not. It was not his doing, nor mine, but +something else. There are some families, I think, too wicked for Heaven +to protect, and they are given over to the arts of those who hated them +in life and pursue them after death; and this is the meaning of the curse +that has always followed us. No good will ever happen us, and I must go +like the rest.' + +There was a short silence, and Rachel gazed on the carpet in troubled +reflection, and then, with an anxious look, she took her cousin's hand, +and said-- + +'Dorcas, you must think of this no more. I am speaking against my +brother's interest. But you must not sacrifice yourself, your fortune, +and your _happiness_, to a shadow; whatever his means are, they hardly +suffice for his personal expenses--indeed, they don't suffice, for I have +had to help him. But that is all trifling compared with other +considerations. I am his sister, and, though he has shown little love for +me, I am not without affection--and strong affection--for him; but I must +and will speak frankly. You could not, I don't think anyone could be +happy with Stanley for her husband. You don't know him: he's profligate; +he's ill-tempered; he's cold; he's selfish; he's secret. He was a spoiled +boy, totally without moral education; he might, perhaps, have been very +different, but he _is what_ he is, and I don't think he'll ever change.' + +'He may be what he will. It is vain reasoning with that which is not +reason; the battle is over; possibly he may never know, and that might be +best for both--but be it how it may, I will never marry anyone else.' + +'Dorcas, dear, you must not speak to Lady Chelford, or to Mark Wylder, +to-night. It is too serious a step to be taken in haste.' + +'There has been no haste, Rachel, and there can be no change.' + +'And what reason can you give?' + +'None; no reason,' said Dorcas, slowly. + +'Wylder would have been suitable in point of wealth. Not so well, I am +sure, as you _might_ have married; but neither would _he_ be a good +husband, though not so bad as Stanley; and I do not think that Mark +Wylder will quietly submit to his disappointment.' + +'It was to have been simply a marriage of two estates. It was old Lady +Chelford's plan. I have now formed mine, and all that's over. Let him do +what he will--I believe a lawsuit is his worst revenge--I'm indifferent.' + +Just then a knock came to the chamber door. + +'Come in,' said Miss Brandon: and her maid entered to say that the +carriage, please Ma'am, was at the door to take Miss Lake home. + +'I had no idea it was so late,' said Rachel. + +'Stay, dear, don't go for a moment. Jones, bring Miss Lake's cloak and +bonnet here. And now, dear,' she said, after a little pause, 'you'll +remember your solemn promise?' + +'I never broke my word, dear Dorcas; your secret is safe.' + +'And, Rachel, try to like me.' + +'I love you better, Dorcas, than I thought I ever could. Good-night, +dear.' + +'Good-night.' + +And the young ladies parted with a kiss, and then another. + + + + +CHAPTER XVI. + +'JENNY, PUT THE KETTLE ON.' + + +Old Lady Chelford, having despatched a sharp and unceremonious message to +her young kinswoman, absent without leave, warning her, in effect, that +if she returned to the drawing-room it would be to preside, alone, over +gentlemen, departed, somewhat to our secret relief. + +Upon this, on Lord Chelford's motion, in our forlorn condition, we went +to the billiard-room, and there, under the bright lights, and the gay +influence of that wonderful game, we forgot our cares, and became +excellent friends apparently--'cuts,' 'canons,' 'screws,' 'misses,' +'flukes'--Lord Chelford joked, Wylder 'chaffed,' even Lake seemed to +enjoy himself; and the game proceeded with animation and no lack of +laughter, beguiling the watches of the night; and we were all amazed, at +length, to find how very late it was. So we laid down our cues, with the +customary ejaculations of surprise. + +We declined wine and water, and all other creature comforts. Wylder and +Lake had a walk before them, and we bid Lord Chelford 'good-night' in the +passage, and I walked with them through the deserted and nearly darkened +rooms. + +Our talk grew slow, and our spirits subsided in this changed and +tenebrose scenery. The void and the darkness brought back, I suppose, my +recollection of the dubious terms on which these young men stood, and a +feeling of the hollowness and delusion of the genial hours just passed +under the brilliant lights, together with an unpleasant sense of +apprehension. + +On coming out upon the door-steps we all grew silent. + +The moon was low, and its yellow disk seemed, as it sometimes does, +dilated to a wondrous breadth, as its edge touched the black outline of +the distant woods. I half believe in presentiments, and I felt one now, +in the chill air, the sudden silence, and the watchful gaze of the moon. +I suspect that Wylder and Lake, too, felt something of the same ominous +qualm, for I thought their faces looked gloomy in the light, as they +stood together buttoning their loose wrappers and lighting their cigars. + +With a 'good-night, good-night,' we parted, and I heard their retreating +steps crunching along the walk that led to Redman's Hollow, and by Miss +Rachel's quiet habitation. I heard no talking, such as comes between +whiffs with friendly smokers, side by side; and, silent as mutes at a +funeral, they walked on, and soon the fall of their footsteps was heard +no more, and I re-entered the hall and shut the door. The level moonlight +was shining through the stained heraldic window, and fell bright on the +portrait of Uncle Lorne, at the other end, throwing a patch of red, like +a stain, on one side of its pale forehead. + +I had forgot, at the moment, that the ill-omened portrait hung there, and +a sudden horror smote me. I thought of what my vision said of the 'blood +upon my forehead,' and, by Jove! there it was! + +At this moment the large white Marseilles waistcoat of grave Mr. Larcom +appeared, followed by a tall powdered footman, and their candles and +business-like proceedings frightened away the phantoms. So I withdrew to +my chamber, where, I am glad to say, I saw nothing of Uncle Lorne. + +Miss Lake, as she drove that night toward Gylingden, said little to the +vicar's wife, whose good husband had been away to Friars, making a +sick-call, and she prattled on very merrily about his frugal little tea +awaiting his late return, and asked her twice on the way home whether it +was half-past nine, for she did not boast a watch; and in the midst of +her prattle was peeping at the landmarks of their progress. + +'Oh, I'm so glad--here's the finger post, at last!' and then--'Well, here +we are at the "Cat and Fiddle;" I thought we'd never pass it.' + +And, at last, the brougham stopped at the little garden-gate, at the far +end of the village; and the good little mamma called to her +maid-of-all-work from the window-- + +'Has the master come yet, Becky?' + +'No, Ma'am, please.' + +And I think she offered up a little thanksgiving, she so longed to give +him his tea herself; and then she asked-- + +'Is our precious mannikin asleep?' Which also being answered happily, as +it should be, she bid her fussy adieux, with a merry smile, and hurried, +gabbling amicably with her handmaid, across the little flower-garden; and +Miss Lake was shut in and drove on alone, under the thick canopy of old +trees, and up the mill-road, lighted by the flashing lamps, to her own +little precincts, and was, in turn, at home--solitary, triste, but still +her home. + +'Get to your bed, Margery, child, you are sleepy,' said the young lady +kindly to her queer little maid-of-honour. Rachel was one of those +persons who, no matter what may be upon their minds, are quickly +impressible by the scenes in which they find themselves. She stepped into +her little kitchen--always a fairy kitchen, so tiny, so white, so +raddled, and shining all over with that pleasantest of all +effulgence--burnished tins, pewters, and the homely decorations of the +dresser--and she looked all round and smiled pleasantly, and kissed old +Tamar, and said-- + +'So, my dear old fairy, here's your Cinderella home again from the ball, +and I've seen nothing so pretty as this since I left Redman's Farm. How +white your table is, how nice your chairs; I wish you'd change with me +and let me be cook week about; and, really the fire is quite pleasant +to-night. Come, make a cup of tea, and tell us a story, and frighten me +and Margery before we go to our beds. Sit down, Margery, I'm only here by +permission. What do you mean by standing?' And the young lady, with a +laugh, sat down, looking so pleased, and good-natured, and merry, that +even old Tamar was fain to smile a glimmering smile; and little Margery +actively brought the tea-caddy; and the kettle, being in a skittish +singing state, quickly went off in a boil, and Tamar actually made tea in +her brown tea-pot. + +'Oh, no; the delf cups and saucers;--it will be twice as good in them;' +and as the handsome mistress of the mansion, sitting in the deal chair, +loosened her cloak and untied her bonnet, she chatted away, to the +edification of Margery and the amusement of both. + +This little extemporised bivouac, as it were, with her domestics, +delighted the young belle. Vanity of vanities, as Mr. Thackeray and King +Solomon cry out in turn. Silver trays and powdered footmen, and Utrecht, +velvet upholstery--miserable comforters! What saloon was ever so cheery +as this, or flashed all over in so small a light so splendidly, or +yielded such immortal nectar from chased teapot and urn, as this brewed +in brown crockery from the roaring kettle? + +So Margery, sitting upon her stool in the background--for the Queen had +said it, and sit she must--and grinning from ear to ear, in a great halo +of glory, partook of tea. + +'Well, Tamar, where's your story?' said the young lady. + +'Story! La! bless you, dear Miss Radie, where should I find a story? My +old head's a poor one to remember,' whimpered white Tamar. + +'Anything, no matter what--a ghost or a murder.' + +Old Tamar shook her head. + +'Or an elopement?' + +Another shake of the head. + +'Or a mystery--or even a dream?' + +'Well--a dream! Sometimes I do dream. I dreamed how Master Stanley was +coming, the night before.' + +'You did, did you? Selfish old thing! and you meant to keep it all to +yourself. What was it?' + +Tamar looked anxiously and suspiciously in the kitchen fire, and placed +her puckered hand to the side of her white linen cap. + +'I dreamed, Ma'am, the night before he came, a great fellow was at the +hall-door.' + +'What! here?' + +'Yes, Ma'am, this hall-door. So muffled up I could not see his face; and +he pulls out a letter all over red.' + +'Red?' + +'Aye, Miss; a red letter.' + +'Red ink?' + +'No, Miss, red _paper_, written with black, and directed for you.' + +'Oh!' + +'And so, Miss, in my dream, I gave it you in the drawing-room; and you +opened it, and leaned your hand upon your head, sick-like, reading it. I +never saw you read a letter so serious-like before. And says you to me, +Miss, "It's all about Master Stanley; he is coming." And sure enough, +here he was quite unexpected, next morning.' + +'And was there no more?' asked Miss Lake. + +'No more, Miss. I awoke just then.' + +'It _is_ odd,' said Miss Lake, with a little laugh. 'Had you been +thinking of him lately?' + +'Not a bit, Ma'am. I don't know when.' + +'Well, it certainly is _very_ odd.' + +At all events, it had glanced upon a sensitive recollection unexpectedly. +The kitchen was only a kitchen now; and the young lady, on a sudden, +looked thoughtful--perhaps a little sad. She rose; and old Tamar got up +before her, with her scared, secret look, clothed in white--the witch, +whose word had changed all, and summoned round her those shapes, which +threw their indistinct shadows on the walls and faces around. + +'Light the candles in the drawing-room, Margery, and then, child, go to +your bed,' said the young lady, awakening from an abstraction. 'I don't +mind dreams, Tamar, nor fortune-tellers--I've dreamed so many good +dreams, and no good ever came of them. But talking of Stanley reminds me +of trouble and follies that I can't help, or prevent. He has left the +army, Tamar, and I don't know what his plans are.' + +'Ah! poor child; he was always foolish and changeable, and a deal too +innocent for them wicked officer-gentlemen; and I'm glad he's not among +them any longer to learn bad ways--I am.' + +So, the drawing-room being prepared, Rachel bid Tamar and little Margery +good-night, and the sleepy little handmaid stumped off to her bed; and +white old Tamar, who had not spoken so much for a month before, put on +her solemn round spectacles, and by her dipt candle read her chapter in +the ponderous Bible she had thumbed so well, and her white lips told over +the words as she read them in silence. + +Old Tamar, I always thought, had seen many untold things in her day, and +some of her recollections troubled her, I dare say; and she held her +tongue, and knitted her white worsteds when she could sit quiet--which +was most hours of the day; and now and then when evil remembrances, +maybe, gathered round her solitude, she warned them off with that book of +power--so that my recollection of her is always the same white-clad, +cadaverous old woman, with a pair of barnacles on her nose, and her look +of secrecy and suffering turned on the large print of that worn volume, +or else on the fumbling-points of her knitting-needles. + +It was a small house, this Redman's Farm, but very silent, for all that, +when the day's work was over; and very solemn, too, the look-out from the +window among the colonnades of tall old trees, on the overshadowed earth, +and through them into deepest darkness; the complaining of the lonely +stream far down is the only sound in the air. + +There was but one imperfect vista, looking down the glen, and this +afforded no distant view--only a downward slant in the near woodland, and +a denser background of forest rising at the other side, and to-night +mistily gilded by the yellow moon-beams, the moon herself unseen. + +Rachel had opened her window-shutters, as was her wont when the moon was +up, and with her small white hands on the window-sash, looked into the +wooded solitudes, lost in haunted darkness in every direction but one, +and there massed in vaporous and discoloured foliage, hardly more +distinct, or less solemn. + +'Poor old Tamar says her prayers, and reads her Bible; I wish _I_ could. +How often I wish it. That good, simple vicar--how unlike his brother--is +wiser, perhaps, than all the shrewd people that smile at him. He used to +talk to me; but I've lost that--yes--I let him understand I did not care +for it, and so that good influence is gone from me--graceless creature. +No one seemed to care, except poor old Tamar, whether I ever said a +prayer, or heard any good thing; and when I was no more than ten years +old, I refused to say my prayers for her. My poor father. Well, Heaven +help us all.' + +So she stood in the same sad attitude, looking out upon the shadowy +scene, in a forlorn reverie. + +Her interview with Dorcas remained on her memory like an odd, clear, +half-horrible dream. What a dazzling prospect it opened for Stanley; what +a dreadful one might it not prepare for Dorcas. What might not arise from +such a situation between Stanley and Mark Wylder, each in his way a +worthy representative of the ill-conditioned and terrible race whose +blood he inherited? Was this doomed house of Brandon never to know repose +or fraternity? + +Was it credible? Had it actually occurred, that strange confession of +Dorcas Brandon's? Could anything be imagined so mad--so unaccountable? +She reviewed Stanley in her mind's eye. She was better acquainted, +perhaps, with his defects than his fascinations, and too familiar with +both to appreciate at all their effect upon a stranger. + +'What can she see in him? There's nothing remarkable in Stanley, poor +fellow, except his faults. There are much handsomer men than he, and many +as amusing--and he with no estate.' + +She had heard of charms and philtres. How could she account for this +desperate hallucination? + +Rachel was troubled by a sort of fear to-night, and the low fever of an +undefined expectation was upon her. She turned from the window, intending +to write two letters, which she had owed too long--young ladies' +letters--for Miss Lake, like many of her sex, as I am told, had several +little correspondences on her hands; and as she turned, with a start, she +saw old Tamar standing in the door-way, looking at her. + +'Tamar!' + +'Yes, Miss Rachel.' + +'Why do you come so softly, Tamar? Do you know, you frightened me?' + +'I thought I'd look in, Miss, before I went to bed, just to see if you +wanted anything.' + +'No--nothing, thank you, dear Tamar.' + +'And I don't think, Miss Rachel, you are quite well to-night, though you +are so gay--you're pale, dear; and there's something on your mind. Don't +be thinking about Master Stanley; he's out of the army now, and I'm +thankful for it; and make your mind easy about him; and would not it be +better, dear, you went to your bed, you rise so early.' + +'Very true, good old Tamar, but to-night I must write a letter--not a +long one, though--and I assure you, I'm quite well. Good-night, Tamar.' + +Tamar stood for a moment with her odd weird look upon her, and then +bidding her good-night, glided stiffly away, shutting the door. + +So Rachel sat down to her desk and began to write; but she could not get +into the spirit of her letter; on the contrary, her mind wandered away, +and she found herself listening, every now and then, and at last she +fancied that old Tamar, about whom that dream, and her unexpected +appearance at the door, had given her a sort of spectral feeling that +night, was up and watching her; and the idea of this white sentinel +outside her door excited her so unpleasantly, that she opened it, but +found no Tamar there; and then she revisited the kitchen, but that was +empty too, and the fire taken down. And, finally, she passed into the old +woman's bed-chamber, whom she saw, her white head upon her pillow, +dreaming again, perhaps. And so, softly closing her door, she left her to +her queer visions and deathlike slumber. + + + +CHAPTER XVII. + +RACHEL LAKE SEES WONDERFUL THINGS BY MOONLIGHT FROM HER WINDOW. + + +Though Rachel was unfit for letter-writing, she was still more unfit for +slumber. She leaned her temple on her hand, and her rich light hair half +covered her fingers, and her amazing interview with Dorcas was again +present with her, and the same feeling of bewilderment. The suddenness +and the nature of the disclosures were dream-like and unreal, and the +image of Dorcas remained impressed upon her sight; not like Dorcas, +though the same, but something ghastly, wan, glittering, and terrible, +like a priestess at a solitary sacrifice. + +It was late now, not far from one o'clock, and around her the terrible +silence of a still night. All those small sounds lost in the hum of +midday life now came into relief--a ticking in the wainscot, a crack now +and then in the joining of the furniture, and occasionally the tap of a +moth against the window pane from outside, sounds sharp and odd, which +made her wish the stillness of the night were not so intense. + +As from her little table she looked listlessly through the window, she +saw against the faint glow of the moonlight, the figure of a man who +seized the paling and vaulted into the flower garden, and with a few +swift, stumbling strides over the flower-beds, reached the window, and +placing his pale face close to the glass, she saw his eyes glittering +through it; he tapped--or rather beat on the pane with his fingers--and +at the same time he said, repeatedly: 'Let me in; let me in.' + +Her first impression, when she saw this person cross the little fence at +the road-side was, that Mark Wylder was the man. But she was mistaken; +the face and figure were Stanley Lake's. + +She would have screamed in the extremity of her terror, but that her +voice for some seconds totally failed her; and recognising her brother, +though like Rhoda, in Holy Writ, she doubted whether it was not his +angel, she rose up, and with an awful ejaculation, she approached the +window. + +'Let me in, Radie; d-- you, let me in,' he repeated, drumming incessantly +on the glass. There was no trace now of his sleepy jeering way. Rachel +saw that something was very wrong, and beckoned him toward the porch in +silence, and having removed the slender fastenings of the door, it +opened, and he entered in a rush of damp night air. She took him by the +hand, and he shook hers mechanically, like a man rescued from shipwreck, +and plainly not recollecting himself well. + +'Stanley, dear, what's the matter, in Heaven's name?' she whispered, so +soon as she had got him into her little drawing-room. + +'He has done it; d-- him, he has done it,' gasped Stanley Lake. + +He looked in her face with a glazed and ashy stare. His hat remained on +his head, overshadowing his face; and his boots were soiled with clay, +and his wrapping coat marked, here and there, with the green of the stems +and branches of trees, through which he had made his way. + +'I see, Stanley, you've had a scene with Mark Wylder; I warned you of +your danger--you have had the worst of it.' + +'I spoke to him. He took a course I did not expect. I'm not well.' + +'You've broken your promise. I see you have used _me_. How base; how +stupid!' + +'How could I tell he was such a _fiend_?' + +'I told you how it would be. He has frightened you,' said Rachel, herself +frightened. + +'D-- him; I wish I had done as you said. I wish I had never come here. +Give me a glass of wine. He has ruined me.' + +'You cruel, wretched creature!' said Rachel, now convinced that he had +compromised her as he threatened. + +'Yes, I was wrong; I'm sorry; things have turned out different. Who's +that?' said Lake, grasping her wrist. + +'Who--where--Mark Wylder?' + +'No; it's nothing, I believe.' + +'Where is he? Where have you left him?' + +'Up there, at the pathway, near the stone steps.' + +'Waiting there?' + +'Well, yes; and I don't think I'll go back, Radie.' + +'You _shall_ go back, Sir, and carry my message; or, no, I could not +trust you. I'll go with you and see him, and disabuse him. How could +you--how _could_ you, Stanley?' + +'It was a mistake, altogether; I'm sorry, but I could not tell there was +such a devil on the earth.' + +'Yes, I told you so. _He_ has frightened _you_' said Rachel. + +'He _has_, _maybe_. At any rate, I was a fool, and I think I'm ruined; +and I'm afraid, Rachel, you'll be inconvenienced too.' + +'Yes, you have made him savage and brutal; and between you, I shall be +called in question, you wretched fool!' + +Stanley was taking these hard terms very meekly for a savage young +coxcomb like him. Perhaps they bore no very distinct meaning just then to +his mind. Perhaps it was preoccupied with more exciting ideas; or, it may +be, his agitation and fear cried 'amen' to the reproach; at all events, +he only said, in a pettish but deprecatory sort of way-- + +'Well, where's the good of scolding? how can I help it now?' + +'What's your quarrel? why does he wait for you there? why has he sent you +here? It must concern _me_, Sir, and I insist on hearing it all.' + +'So you shall, Radie; only have patience just a minute--and give me a +little wine or water--anything.' + +'There is the key. There's some wine in the press, I think.' + +He tried to open it, but his hand shook. He saw his sister look at him, +and he flung the keys on the table rather savagely, with, I dare say, a +curse between his teeth. + +There was running all this time in Rachel's mind, and had been almost +since the first menacing mention of Wylder's name by her brother, an +indistinct remembrance of something unpleasant or horrible. It may have +been mere fancy, or it may have referred to something long ago +imperfectly heard. It was a spectre of mist, that evaporated before she +could fix her eyes on it, but was always near her elbow. + +Rachel took the key with a faint gleam of scorn on her face and brought +out the wine in silence. + +He took a tall-stemmed Venetian glass that stood upon the cabinet, an +antique decoration, and filled it with sherry--a strange revival of old +service! How long was it since lips had touched its brim before, and +whose? Lovers', maybe, and how. How long since that cold crystal had +glowed with the ripples of wine? This, at all events, was its last +service. It is an old legend of the Venetian glass--its shivering at +touch of poison; and there are those of whom it is said, 'the poison of +asps is under their lips.' + +'What's that?' ejaculated Rachel, with a sudden shriek--that whispered +shriek, so expressive and ghastly, that you, perhaps, have once heard in +your life--and her very lips grew white. + +'Hollo!' cried Lake. He was standing with his back to the window, and +sprang forward, as pale as she, and grasped her, with a white leer that +she never forgot, over his shoulder, and the Venice glass was shivered on +the ground. + +'Who's there?' he whispered. + +And Rachel, in a whisper, ejaculated the awful name that must not be +taken in vain. + +She sat down. She was looking at him with a wild, stern stare, straight +in the face, and he still holding her arm, and close to her. + +'I see it all now,' she whispered. + +'Who--what--what is it?' said he. + +'I could not have fancied _that_,' she whispered with a gasp. + +Stanley looked round him with pale and sharpened features. + +'What the devil is it! If that scoundrel had come to kill us you could +not cry out louder,' he whispered, with an oath. 'Do you want to wake +your people up?' + +'Oh! Stanley,' she repeated, in a changed and horror-stricken way. 'What +a fool I've been. I see it at last; I see it all now,' and she waved her +white hands together very slowly towards him, as mesmerisers move theirs. + +There was a silence of some seconds, and his yellow ferine gaze met hers +strangely. + +'You were always a sharp girl, Radie, and I think you do see it,' he said +at last, very quietly. + +'The witness--the witness--the dreadful witness!' she repeated. + +'I'll show you, though, it's not so bad as you fancy. I'm sorry I did not +take your advice; but how, I say, could I know he was such a devil? I +must go back to him. I only came down to tell you, because Radie, you +know you proposed it yourself; _you_ must come, too--you _must_, Radie.' + +'Oh, Stanley, Stanley, Stanley!' + +'Why, d-- it, it can't be helped now; can it?' said he, with a peevish +malignity. But she was right; there was something of the poltroon in him, +and he was trembling. + +'Why could you not leave me in peace, Stanley?' + +'I can't go without you, Rachel. I won't; and if we don't we're both +ruined,' he said, with a bleak oath. + +'Yes, Stanley, I knew you were a coward,' she replied, fiercely and +wildly. + +'You're always calling names, d-- you; do as you like. I care less than +you think how it goes.' + +'No, Stanley; you know me too well. Ah! No, you sha'n't be lost if I can +help it.' Rachel shook her head as she spoke, with a bitter smile and a +dreadful sigh. + +Then they whispered together for three or four minutes, and Rachel +clasped her jewelled fingers tight across her forehead, quite wildly, for +a minute. + +'You'll come then?' said Stanley. + +She made no answer, and he repeated the question. + +By this time she was standing; and without answering, she began +mechanically to get on her cloak and hat. + +'You must drink some wine first; he may frighten you, perhaps. You _must_ +take it, Rachel, or I'll not go.' + +Stanley Lake was swearing, in his low tones, like a swell-mobsman +to-night. + +Rachel seemed to have made up her mind to submit passively to whatever he +required. Perhaps, indeed, she thought there was wisdom in his advice. At +all events she drank some wine. + +Rachel Lake was one of those women who never lose their presence of mind, +even under violent agitation, for long, and who generally, even when +highly excited, see, and do instinctively, and with decision, what is +best to be done; and now, with dilated eyes and white face, she walked +noiselessly into the kitchen, listened there for a moment, then stole +lightly to the servants' sleeping-room, and listened there at the door, +and lastly looked in, and satisfied herself that both were still +sleeping. Then as cautiously and swiftly she returned to her +drawing-room, and closed the window-shutters and drew the curtain, and +signalling to her brother they went stealthily forth into the night air, +closing the hall-door, and through the little garden, at the outer gate +of which they paused. + +'I don't know, Rachel--I don't like it--I'm not fit for it. Go back +again--go in and lock your door--we'll not go to him--_you_ need not, you +know. He may stay where he is--let him--I'll not return. I say, I'll see +him no more. I'll get away. I'll consult Larkin--shall I? Though that +won't do--he's in Wylder's interest--curse him. What had I best do? I'm +not equal to it.' + +'We _must_ go, Stanley. You said right just now; be resolute--we are both +ruined unless we go. You have brought it to that--you _must_ come.' + +'I'm not fit for it, I tell you--I'm not. You were right, Radie--I think +I'm not equal to a business of this sort, and I won't expose you to such +a scene. _You're_ not equal to it either, I think,' and Lake leaned on +the paling. + +'Don't mind me--you haven't much hitherto. Go or stay, I'm equally ruined +now, but not equally disgraced; and go we must, for it is _your only_ +chance of escape. Come, Stanley--for shame!' + +In a few minutes more they were walking in deep darkness and silence, +side by side, along the path, which diverging from the mill-road, +penetrates the coppice of that sequestered gorge, along the bottom of +which flows a tributary brook that finds its way a little lower down into +the mill-stream. This deep gully in character a good deal resembles +Redman's Glen, into which it passes, being fully as deep, and wooded to +the summit at both sides, but much steeper and narrower, and therefore +many shades darker. + +They had now reached those rude stone steps, some ten or fifteen in +number, which conduct the narrow footpath up a particularly steep +acclivity, and here Lake lost courage again, for they distinctly heard +the footsteps that paced the platform above. + + + + +CHAPTER XVIII. + +MARK WYLDER'S SLAVE. + + +Nearly two hours had passed before they returned. As they did so, Rachel +Lake went swiftly and silently before her brother. The moon had gone +down, and the glen was darker than ever. Noiselessly they re-entered the +little hall of Redman's Farm. The candles were still burning in the +sitting-room, and the light was dazzling after the profound darkness in +which they had been for so long. + +Captain Lake did not look at all like a London dandy now. His dress was +confoundedly draggled; the conventional countenance, too, was wanting. +There was a very natural savagery and dejection there, and a wild leer in +his yellow eyes. + +Rachel sat down. No living woman ever showed a paler face, and she stared +with a look that was sharp and stern upon the wainscot before her. + +For some minutes they were silent; and suddenly, with an exceeding bitter +cry, she stood up, close to him, seizing him in her tiny hands by the +collar, and with wild eyes gazing into his, she said-- + +'See what you've brought me to--wretch, wretch, wretch!' + +And she shook him with violence as she spoke. It was wonderful how that +fair young face could look so terrible. + +'There, Radie, there,' said Lake, disengaging her fingers. 'You're a +little hysterical, that's all. It will be over in a minute; but don't +make a row. You're a good girl, Radie. For Heaven's sake, don't spoil all +by folly now.' + +He was overawed and deprecatory. + +'A slave! only think--a slave! Oh frightful, frightful! Is it a dream? Oh +frightful, frightful! Stanley, Stanley, it would be _mercy_ to kill me,' +she broke out again. + +'Now, Radie, listen to reason, and don't make a noise; you know we +agreed, _you_ must go, and _I can't_ go with you.' + +Lake was cooler by this time, and his sister more excited than before +they went out. + +'I used to be brave; my courage I think is gone; but who'd have imagined +what's before me?' + +Stanley walked to the window and opened the shutter a little. He forgot +how dark it was. The moon had gone down. He looked at his watch and then +at Rachel. She was sitting, and in no calmer state; serene enough in +attitude, but the terribly wild look was unchanged. He looked at his +watch again, and held it to his ear, and consulted it once more before he +placed the tiny gold disk again in his pocket. + +'This won't do,' he muttered. + +With one of the candles in his hand he went out and made a hurried, +peeping exploration, and soon, for the rooms were quickly counted in +Redman's Farm, he found her chamber small, neat, _simplex munditiis_. +Bright and natty were the chintz curtains, and the little toilet set out, +not inelegantly, and her pet piping-goldfinch asleep on his perch, with +his bit of sugar between the wires of his cage; her pillow so white and +unpressed, with its little edging of lace. Were slumbers sweet as of old +ever to know it more? What dreams were henceforward to haunt it? Shadows +were standing about that lonely bed already. I don't know whether Stanley +Lake felt anything of this, being very decidedly of the earth earthy. But +there are times when men are translated from their natures, and forced to +be romantic and superstitious. + +When he came back to the drawing-room, a toilet bottle of _eau de +cologne_ in his hand, with her lace handkerchief he bathed her temples +and forehead. There was nothing very brotherly in his look as he peered +into her pale, sharp features, during the process. It was the dark and +pallid scrutiny of a familiar of the Holy Office, bringing a victim back +to consciousness. + +She was quickly better. + +'There, don't mind me,' she said sharply; and getting up she looked down +at her dress and thin shoes, and seeming to recollect herself, she took +the candle he had just set down, and went swiftly to her room. + +Gliding without noise from place to place, she packed a small black +leather bag with a few necessary articles. Then changed her dress +quickly, put on her walking boots, a close bonnet and thick veil, and +taking her purse, she counted over its contents, and then standing in the +midst of the room looked round it with a great sigh, and a strange look, +as if it was all new to her. And she threw back her veil, and going +hurriedly to the toilet, mechanically surveyed herself in the glass. And +she looked fixedly on the pale features presented to her, and said-- + +'Rachel Lake, Rachel Lake! what are you now?' + +And so, with knitted brows and stern lips, a cadaveric gaze was returned +on her from the mirror. + +A few minutes later her brother, who had been busy down stairs, put his +head in and asked-- + +'Will you come with me now, Radie, or do you prefer to wait here?' + +'I'll stay here--that is, in the drawing-room,' she answered, and the +face was withdrawn. + +In the little hall Stanley looked again at his watch, and getting quietly +out, went swiftly through the tiny garden, and once upon the mill-road, +ran at a rapid pace down towards the town. + +The long street of Gylingden stretched dim and silent before him. Slumber +brooded over the little town, and his steps sounded sharp and hollow +among the houses. He slackened his pace, and tapped sharply at the little +window of that modest post-office, at which the young ladies in the pony +carriage had pulled up the day before, and within which Luke Waggot was +wont to sleep in a sort of wooden box that folded up and appeared to be a +chest of drawers all day. Luke took care of Mr. Larkin's dogs, and +groomed Mr. Wylder's horse, and 'cleaned up' his dog-cart, for Mark being +close about money, and finding that the thing was to be done more cheaply +that way, put up his horse and dog-cart in the post-office premises, and +so evaded the livery charges of the 'Brandon Arms.' + +But Luke was not there; and Captain Lake recollecting his habits and his +haunt, hurried on to the 'Silver Lion,' which has its gable towards the +common, only about a hundred steps away, for distances are not great in +Gylingden. Here were the flow of soul and of stout, long pipes, long +yarns, and tolerably long credits; and the humble scapegraces of the town +resorted thither for the pleasures of a club-life, and often revelled +deep into the small hours of the morning. + +So Luke came forth. + +D-- it, where's the note?' said the captain, rummaging uneasily in his +pockets. + +'You know me--eh!' + +'Captain Lake. Yes, Sir.' + +'Well--oh! here it is.' + +It was a scrap pencilled on the back of a letter-- + + +'LUKE WAGGOT, + +'Put the horse to and drive the dog-cart to the "White House." Look out +for me there. We must catch the up mail train at Dollington. Be lively. +If Captain Lake chooses to drive you need not come. + +'M. WYLDER.' + + +'I'll drive,' said Captain Lake. 'Lose no time and I'll give you +half-a-crown.' + +Luke stuck on his greasy wideawake, and in a few minutes more the +dog-cart was trundled out into the lane, and the horse harnessed, went +between the shafts with that wonderful cheerfulness with which they bear +to be called up under startling circumstances at unseasonable hours. + +'Easily earned, Luke,' said Captain Lake, in his soft tones. + +The captain had buttoned the collar of his loose coat across his face, +and it was dark beside. But Luke knew his peculiar smile, and presumed +it; so he grinned facetiously as he put the coin in his breeches pocket +and thanked him; and in another minute the captain, with a lighted cigar +between his lips, mounted to the seat, took the reins, the horse bounded +off, and away rattled the light conveyance, sparks flying from the road, +at a devil of a pace, down the deserted street of Gylingden, and quickly +melted in darkness. + +That night a spectre stood by old Tamar's bedside, in shape of her young +mistress, and shook her by the shoulder, and stooping, said sternly, +close in her face-- + +'Tamar, I'm going away--only for a few days; and mind this--I'd rather be +_dead_ than any creature living should know it. Little Margery must not +suspect--you'll manage that. Here's the key of my bed-room--say I'm +sick--and you must go in and out, and bring tea and drinks, and talk and +whisper a little, you understand, as you might with a sick person, and +keep the shutters closed; and if Miss Brandon sends to ask me to the +Hall, say I've a headache, and fear I can't go. You understand me +clearly, Tamar?' + +'Yes, Miss Radie,' answered old Tamar, wonder-stricken, with a strange +expression of fear in her face. + +'And listen,' she continued, 'you must go into my room, and bring the +message back, as if from me, with _my love_ to Miss Brandon; and if she +or Mrs. William Wylder, the vicar's wife, should call to see me, always +say I'm asleep and a little better. You see exactly what I mean?' + +'Yes, Miss,' answered Tamar, whose eyes were fixed in a sort of +fascination, full on those of her mistress. + +'If Master Stanley should call, he is to do just as he pleases. You used +to be accurate, Tamar; may I depend upon you?' + +'Yes, Ma'am, certainly.' + +'If I thought you'd fail me now, Tamar, I should _never_ come back. +Good-night, Tamar. There--don't bless me. Good-night.' + +When the light wheels of the dog-cart gritted on the mill-road before the +little garden gate of Redman's Farm, the tall slender figure of Rachel +Lake was dimly visible, standing cloaked and waiting by it. Silently she +handed her little black leather bag to her brother, and then there was a +pause. He stretched his hand to help her up. + +In a tone that was icy and bitter, she said-- + +'To save myself I would not do it. You deserve no love from me--you've +showed me none--_never_, Stanley; and yet I'm going to give the most +desperate proof of love that ever sister gave--all for your sake; and +it's guilt, guilt, but my _fate_, and I'll go, and you'll never thank me; +that's all.' + +In a moment more she sat beside him; and silent as the dead in Charon's +boat, away they glided toward the 'White House which lay upon the high +road to Dollington. + +The sleepy clerk that night in the Dollington station stamped two +first-class tickets for London, one of which was for a gentleman, and the +other for a cloaked lady, with a very thick veil, who stood outside on +the platform; and almost immediately after the scream of the engine was +heard piercing the deep tatting, the Cyclopean red lamps glared nearer +and nearer, and the palpitating monster, so stupendous and so docile, +came smoothly to a stand-still before the trelliswork and hollyhocks of +that pretty station. + + + + +CHAPTER XIX. + +THE TARN IN THE PARK. + + +Next morning Stanley Lake, at breakfast with the lawyer, said-- + +'A pretty room this is. That bow window is worth all the pictures in +Brandon. To my eye there is no scenery so sweet as this, at least to +breakfast by. I don't love your crags and peaks and sombre grandeur, nor +yet the fat, flat luxuriance of our other counties. These undulations, +and all that splendid timber, and the glorious ruins on that hillock over +there! How many beautiful ruins that picturesque old fellow Cromwell has +left us.' + +'You don't eat your breakfast, though,' said the attorney, with a +charming smile of reproach. + +'Ah, thank you; I'm a bad breakfaster; that is,' said Stanley, +recollecting that he had made some very creditable meals at the same +table, 'when I smoke so late as I did last night.' + +'You drove Mr. Wylder to Dollington?' + +'Yes; he's gone to town, he says--yes, the mail train--to get some +diamonds for Miss Brandon--a present--that ought to have come the day +before yesterday. He says they'll never have them in time unless he goes +and blows them up. Are you in his secrets at all?' + +'Something in his confidence, I should hope,' said Mr. Larkin, in rather +a lofty and reserved way. + +'Oh, yes, of course, in serious matters; but I meant other things. You +know he has been a little bit wild; and ladies, you know, ladies will be +troublesome sometimes; and to say truth, I don't think the diamonds have +much to say to it.' + +'Oh?--hem!--well, you know, _I_'m not exactly the confidant Mr. Wylder +would choose, I suspect, in a case of that very painful, and, I will say, +distressing character--I rather think--indeed, I _hope_ not.' + +'No, of course--I dare say--but I just fancied he might want a hint about +the law of the matter.' + +The gracious attorney glanced at his guest with a thoroughly +business-like and searching eye. + +'You don't think there's any really serious annoyance--you don't know the +party?' said he. + +'_I?_--Oh, dear, no. Wylder has always been very reserved with me. He +told me nothing. If he had, of course I should not have mentioned it. I +only conjecture, for he really did seem to have a great deal more on his +mind; and he kept me walking back and forward, near the mill-road, a +precious long time. And I really think once or twice he was going to tell +me.' + +'Oh! you think then, Mr. Lake, there _may_ be some serious--a--a--well, I +should hope not--I do most earnestly _trust_ not.' This was said with +upturned eyes and much unction. 'But do you happen, Captain Lake, to know +of any of those unfortunate, those miserable connections which young +gentlemen of fashion--eh? It's very sad. Still it often needs, as you +say, professional advice to solve such difficulties--it is very sad--oh! +is not it sad?' + +'Pray, don't let it affect your spirits,' said Lake, who was leaning back +in his chair, and looking on the carpet, about a yard before his +lacquered boots, in his usual sly way. 'I may be quite mistaken, you +know, but I wished you to understand--having some little experience of +the world, I'd be only too happy to be of any use, if you thought my +diplomacy could help poor Wylder out of his trouble--that is, if there +really is any. But _you_ don't know?' + +'_No_,' said Mr. Larkin, thoughtfully; and thoughtful he continued for a +minute or two, screwing his lips gently, as was his wont, while +ruminating, his long head motionless, the nails of his long and somewhat +large hand tapping on the arm of his chair, with a sharp glance now and +then at the unreadable visage of the cavalry officer. It was evident his +mind was working, and nothing was heard in the room for a minute but the +tapping of his nails on the chair, like a death-watch. + +'No,' said Mr. Larkin again, 'I'm not suspicious--naturally too much the +reverse, I fear; but it certainly does look odd. Did he tell the family +at Brandon?' + +'Certainly not, that I heard. He may have mentioned it. But I started +with him, and we walked together, under the impression that he was going, +as usual, to the inn, the--what d'ye call it?--"Brandon Arms;" and it was +a sudden thought--now I think of it--for he took no luggage, though to be +sure I dare say he has got clothes and things in town.' + +'And when does he return?' + +'In a day or two, at furthest,' he said. + +'I wonder what they'll think of it at Brandon?' said the attorney, with a +cavernous grin of sly enquiry at his companion, which, recollecting his +character, he softened into a sad sort of smile, and added, 'No harm, I +dare say; and, after all, you know, why should there--any man may have +business; and, indeed, it is very likely, after all, that he really went +about the jewels. Men are too hasty to judge one another, my dear Sir; +charity, let us remember, thinketh no evil.' + +'By-the-bye,' said Lake, rather briskly for him, rummaging his pockets, +'I'm glad I remembered he gave me a little note to Chelford. Are any of +your people going to Brandon this morning?' + +'I'll send it,' said the lawyer, eyeing the little pencilled note +wistfully, which Lake presented between two fingers. + +'Yes, it is to Lord Chelford,' said the attorney, with a grand sort of +suavity--he liked lords--placing it, after a scrutiny, in his waistcoat +pocket. + +'Don't you think it had best go at once?--there may be something +requiring an answer, and your post leaves, doesn't it, at twelve?' + +'Oh! an answer, is there?' said Mr. Larkin, drawing it from his pocket, +and looking at it again with a perceptible curiosity. + +'I really can't say, not having read it, but there _may_,' said Captain +Lake, who was now and then a little impertinent, just to keep Mr. Larkin +in his place, and perhaps to hint that he understood him. + +'_Read_ it! Oh, my _dear_ Sir, my _dear_ Captain Lake, how _could_ +you--but, oh! no--you _could_ not suppose I meant such an idea--oh, +dear--no, no. You and I have our notions about what's gentlemanlike and +professional--a--and gentlemanlike, as I say--Heaven forbid.' + +'Quite so!' said Captain Lake, gently. + +'Though all the world does not think with us, _I_ can tell you, things +come before us in _our_ profession. Oh, ho! ho!' and Mr. Larkin lifted up +his pink eyes and long hands, and shook his long head, with a melancholy +smile and a sigh like a shudder. + +When at the later breakfast, up at Brandon, that irregular pencilled +scroll reached Lord Chelford's hand, he said, as he glanced on the +direction-- + +'This is Mark Wylder's; what does he say?' + +'So Mark's gone to town,' he said; 'but he'll be back again on Saturday, +and in the meantime desires me to lay his heart at your feet, Dorcas. +Will you read the note?' + +'No,' said Dorcas, quietly. + +Lady Chelford extended her long, shrivelled fingers, on which glimmered +sundry jewels, and made a little nod to her son, who gave it to her, with +a smile. Holding her glasses to her eyes, the note at a distance, and her +head rather back, she said-- + +'It is not a pretty billet,' and she read in a slow and grim way:-- + + +'DEAR CHELFORD,--I'm called up to London just for a day. No lark, but +honest business. I'll return on Saturday; and tell Dorcas, with dozens of +loves, I would write to her, but have not a minute for the train. + +'Yours, &c. + +'M. WYLDER.' + + +'No; it is not pretty,' repeated the old lady; and, indeed, in no sense +was it. Before luncheon Captain Lake arrived. + +'So Wylder has run up to town,' I said, so soon as we had shaken hands in +the hall. + +'Yes; _I_ drove him to Dollington last night; we just caught the up +train.' + +'He says he'll be back again on Saturday,' I said. + +'Saturday, is it? He seemed to think--yes--it _would_ be only a day or +so. Some jewels, I think, for Dorcas. He did not say distinctly; I only +conjecture. Lady Chelford and Miss Brandon, I suppose, in the +drawing-room?' + +So to the drawing-room he passed. + +'How is Rachel? how is your sister, Captain Lake, have you seen her +to-day?' asked old Lady Chelford, rather benignantly. She chose to be +gracious to the Lakes. 'Only, for a moment, thank you. She has one of her +miserable headaches, poor thing; but she'll be better, she says, in the +afternoon, and hopes to come up here to see you, and Miss Brandon, this +evening.' + +Lord Chelford and I had a pleasant walk that day to the ruins of +Willerton Castle. I find in my diary a note--'Chelford tells me it is +written in old surveys, Wylderton, and was one of the houses of the +Wylders. What considerable people those Wylders were, and what an antique +stock.' + +After this he wished to make a visit to the vicar, and so we parted +company. I got into Brandon Park by the pretty gate near Latham. + +It was a walk of nearly three miles across the park from this point to +the Hall, and the slopes and hollows of this noble, undulating plain, +came out grandly in the long shadows and slanting beams of evening. That +yellow, level light has, in my mind, something undefinably glorious and +melancholy, such as to make almost any scenery interesting, and my +solitary walk was delightful. + +People must love and sympathise very thoroughly, I think, to enjoy +natural scenery together. Generally it is one of the few spectacles best +seen alone. The silence that supervenes is indicative of the solitary +character of the enjoyment. It is a poem and a reverie. I was quite happy +striding in the amber light and soft, long shadows, among the ferns, the +copsewood, and the grand old clumps of timber, exploring the undulations, +and the wild nooks and hollows which have each their circumscribed and +sylvan charm; a wonderful interest those little park-like broken dells +have always had for me; dotted with straggling birch and oak, and here +and there a hoary ash tree, with a grand and melancholy grace, dreaming +among the songs of wild birds, in their native solitudes, and the brown +leaves tipped with golden light, all breathing something of old-world +romance--the poetry of bygone love and adventure--and stirring +undefinable and delightful emotions that mingle unreality with sense, a +music of the eye and spirit. + +After many devious wanderings, I found, under shelter of a wonderful +little hollow, in which lay, dim and still, a tarn, reflecting the stems +of the trees that rose from its edge, in a way so clear and beautiful, +that, with a smile and a sigh, I sat myself down upon a rock among the +ferns, and fell into a reverie. + +The image of Dorcas rose before me. There is a strange mystery and power +in the apathetic, and in that unaffected carelessness, even defiance of +opinion and criticism, which I had seen here for the first time, so +beautifully embodied. I was quite sure she both thought and felt, and +could talk, too, if she chose it. What tremendous self-reliance and +disdain must form the basis of a female character, which accepted +misapprehension and depreciation with an indifference so genuine as to +scorn even the trifling exertion of disclosing its powers. + +She could not possibly care for Wylder, any more than he cared for her. +That odd look I detected in the mirror--what did it mean? and Wylder's +confusion about Captain Lake--what was that? I could not comprehend the +situation that was forming. I went over Wylder's history in my mind, and +Captain Lake's--all I could recollect of it--but could find no clue, and +that horrible visitation or vision! what was _it_? + +This latter image had just glided in and taken its place in my waking +dream, when I thought I saw reflected in the pool at my feet, the shape +and face which I never could forget, of the white, long-chinned old man. + +For a second I was unable, I think, to lift my eyes from the water which +presented this cadaverous image. + +But the figure began to move, and I raised my eyes, and saw it retreat, +with a limping gait, into the thick copse before me, in the shadow of +which it stopped and turned stiffly round, and directed on me a look of +horror, and then withdrew. + +It is all very fine laughing at me and my fancies. I do not think there +are many men who in my situation would have felt very differently. I +recovered myself; I shouted lustily after him to stay, and then in a sort +of half-frightened rage, I pursued him; but I had to get round the pool, +a considerable circuit. I could not tell which way he had turned on +getting into the thicket; and it was now dusk, the sun having gone down +during my reverie. So I stopped a little way in the copsewood, which was +growing quite dark, and I shouted there again, peeping under the +branches, and felt queer and much relieved that nothing answered or +appeared. + +Looking round me, in a sort of dream, I remembered suddenly what Wylder +had told me of old Lorne Brandon, to whose portrait this inexplicable +phantom bore so powerful a resemblance. He was suspected of having +murdered his own son, at the edge of a tarn in the park. _This_ tarn +maybe--and with the thought the water looked blacker--and a deeper and +colder shadow gathered over the ominous hollow in which I stood, and the +rustling in the withered leaves sounded angrily. + +I got up as quickly as might be to the higher grounds, and waited there +for awhile, and watched for the emergence of the old man. But it did not +appear; and shade after shade was spreading solemnly over the landscape, +and having a good way to walk, I began to stride briskly along the slopes +and hollows, in the twilight, now and then looking into vacancy, over my +shoulder. + +The little adventure, and the deepening shades, helped to sadden my +homeward walk; and when at last the dusky outline of the Hall rose before +me, it wore a sort of weird and haunted aspect. + + + + +CHAPTER XX. + +CAPTAIN LAKE TAKES AN EVENING STROLL ABOUT GYLINGDEN. + + +Again I had serious thoughts of removing my person and effects to the +Brandon Arms. I could not quite believe I had seen a ghost; but neither +was I quite satisfied that the thing was altogether canny. The +apparition, whatever it was, seemed to persecute me with a mysterious +obstinacy; at all events, I was falling into a habit of seeing it; and I +felt a natural desire to escape from the house which was plagued with its +presence. + +At the same time I had an odd sort of reluctance to mention the subject +to my entertainers. The thing itself was a ghostly slur upon the house, +and, to run away, a reproach to my manhood; and besides, writing now at a +distance, and in the spirit of history, I suspect the interest which +beauty always excites had a great deal to do with my resolve to hold my +ground; and, I dare say, notwithstanding my other reasons, had the ladies +at the Hall been all either old or ugly, I would have made good my +retreat to the village hotel. + +As it was, however, I was resolved to maintain my position. But that +evening was streaked with a tinge of horror, and I more silent and +_distrait_ than usual. + +The absence of an accustomed face, even though the owner be nothing very +remarkable, is always felt; and Wylder was missed, though, sooth to say, +not very much regretted. For the first time we were really a small party. +Miss Lake was not there. The gallant captain, her brother, was also +absent. The vicar, and his good little wife, were at Naunton that evening +to hear a missionary recount his adventures and experiences in Japan, and +none of the neighbours had been called in to fill the empty chairs. + +Dorcas Brandon did not contribute much to the talk; neither, in truth, +did I. Old Lady Chelford occasionally dozed and nodded sternly after tea, +waking up and eyeing people grimly, as though enquiring whether anyone +presumed to suspect her ladyship of having had a nap. + +Chelford, I recollect, took a book, and read to us now and then, a snatch +of poetry--I forget what. _My_ book--except when I was thinking of the +tarn and that old man I so hated--was Miss Brandon's exquisite and +mysterious face. + +That young lady was leaning back in her great oak chair, in which she +looked like the heroine of some sad and gorgeous romance of the old civil +wars of England, and directing a gaze of contemplative and haughty +curiosity upon the old lady, who was unconscious of the daring +profanation. + +All on a sudden Dorcas Brandon said-- + +'And pray what do you think of marriage, Lady Chelford?' + +'What do I think of marriage?' repeated the dowager, throwing back her +head and eyeing the beautiful heiress through her gold spectacles, with a +stony surprise, for she was not accustomed to be catechised by young +people. 'Marriage?--why 'tis a divine institution. What can the child +mean?' + +'Do you think, Lady Chelford, it may be safely contracted, solely to join +two estates?' pursued the young lady. + +'Do I think it may safely be contracted, solely to join two estates?' +repeated the old lady, with a look and carriage that plainly showed how +entirely she appreciated the amazing presumption of her interrogatrix. + +There was a little pause. + +'_Certainly_,' replied Lady Chelford; 'that is, of course, under proper +conditions, and with a due sense of its sacred character and +a--a--obligations.' + +'The first of which is _love_,' continued Miss Brandon; 'the second +_honour_--both involuntary; and the third _obedience_, which springs from +them.' + +Old Lady Chelford coughed, and then rallying, said-- + +'Very good, Miss!' + +'And pray, Lady Chelford, what do you think of Mr. Mark Wylder?' pursued +Miss Dorcas. + +'I don't see, Miss Brandon, that my thoughts upon that subject can +concern anyone but myself,' retorted the old lady, severely, and from an +awful altitude. 'And I may say, considering who I am--and my years--and +the manner in which I am usually treated, I am a little surprised at the +tone in which you are pleased to question me.' + +These last terrible remarks totally failed to overawe the serene temerity +of the grave beauty. + +'I assumed, Lady Chelford, as you had interested yourself in me so far as +to originate the idea of my engagement to Mr. Wylder, that you had +considered these to me very important questions a little, and could give +me satisfactory answers upon points on which my mind has been employed +for some days; and, indeed, I think I've a right to ask that assistance +of you.' + +'You seem to forget, young lady, that there are times and places for such +discussions; and that to Mr.--a--a--your visitor (a glance at me), it +can't be very interesting to listen to this kind of--of--conversation, +which is neither very entertaining, nor very _wise_.' + +'I am answerable only for _my_ part of it; and I think my questions very +much to the purpose,' said the young lady, in her low, silvery tones. + +'I don't question your good opinion, Miss Brandon, of your own +discretion; but _I_ can't see any profit in now discussing an engagement +of more than two months' standing, or a marriage, which is fixed to take +place only ten days hence. And I think, Sir (glancing again at me), it +must strike _you_ a little oddly, that I should be invited, in your +presence, to discuss family matters with Miss Dorcas Brandon?' + +Now, was it fair to call a peaceable inhabitant like me into the thick of +a fray like this? I paused long enough to allow Miss Brandon to speak, +but she did not choose to do so, thinking, I suppose, it was my business. + +'I believe I ought to have withdrawn a little,' I said, very humbly; and +old Lady Chelford at the word shot a gleam of contemptuous triumph at +Miss Dorcas; but I would not acquiesce in the dowager's abusing my +concession to the prejudice of that beautiful and daring young lady--'I +mean, Lady Chelford, in deference to you, who are not aware, as Miss +Brandon is, that I am one of Mr. Wylder's oldest and most intimate +friends; and at his request, and with Lord Chelford's approval, have been +advised with, in detail, upon all the arrangements connected with the +approaching marriage.' + +'I am not going, at present, to say any more upon these subjects, because +Lady Chelford prefers deferring our conversation,' said this very odd +young lady; 'but there is nothing which either she or I may say, which I +wish to conceal from any friend of Mr. Wylder's.' + +The idea of Miss Brandon's seriously thinking of withdrawing from her +engagement with Mark Wylder, I confess never entered my mind. Lady +Chelford, perhaps, knew more of the capricious and daring character of +the ladies of the Brandon line than I, and may have discovered some signs +of a coming storm in the oracular questions which had fallen so +harmoniously from those beautiful lips. As for me, I was puzzled. The old +viscountess was flushed (she did not rouge), and very angry, and, I +think, uncomfortable, though she affected her usual supremacy. But the +young lady showed no sign of excitement, and lay back in her chair in her +usual deep, cold calm. + +Lake's late smoking with Wylder must have disagreed with him very much +indeed, for he seemed more out of sorts as night approached. He stole +away from Mr. Larkin's trellised porch, in the dusk. He marched into the +town rather quickly, like a man who has business on his hands; but he had +none--for he walked by the 'Brandon Arms,' and halted, and stared at the +post-office, as if he fancied he had something to say there. But +no--there was no need to tap at the wooden window-pane. Some idle boys +were observing the dandy captain, and he turned down the short lane that +opened on the common, and sauntered upon the short grass. + +Two or three groups, and an invalid visitor or two--for Gylingden boasts +a 'spa'--were lounging away the twilight half-hours there. He seated +himself on one of the rustic seats, and his yellow eyes wandered +restlessly and vaguely along the outline of the beautiful hills. Then for +nearly ten minutes he smoked--an odd recreation for a man suffering from +the cigars of last night--and after that, for nearly as long again, he +seemed lost in deep thought, his eyes upon the misty grass before him, +and his small French boot beating time to the music of his thoughts. + +Several groups passed close by him, in their pleasant circuit. Some +wondered what might be the disease of that pale, peevish-looking +gentleman, who sat there so still, languid, and dejected. Others set him +down as a gentleman in difficulties of some sort, who was using Gylingden +for a temporary refuge. + +Others, again, supposed he might be that Major Craddock who had lost +thirty thousand pounds on Vanderdecken the other day. Others knew he was +staying with Mr. Larkin, and supposed he was trying to raise money at +disadvantage, and remarked that some of Mr. Larkin's clients looked +always unhappy, though they had so godly an attorney to deal with. + +When Lake, with a little shudder, for it was growing chill, lifted up his +yellow eyes suddenly, and recollected where he was, the common had grown +dark, and was quite deserted. There were lights in the windows of the +reading-room, and in the billiard-room beneath it; and shadowy figures, +with cues in their hands, gliding hither and thither, across its +uncurtained windows. + +With a shrug, and a stealthy glance round him, Captain Lake started up. +The instinct of the lonely and gloomy man unconsciously drew him towards +the light, and he approached. A bat, attracted thither like himself, was +flitting and flickering, this way and that, across the casement. + +Captain Lake, waiting, with his hand on the door-handle, for the stroke, +heard the smack of the balls, and the score called by the marker, and +entered the hot, glaring room. Old Major Jackson, with his glass in his +eye, was contending in his shirt-sleeves heroically with a Manchester +bag-man, who was palpably too much for him. The double-chinned and florid +proprietor of the 'Brandon Arms,' with a brandy-and-water familiarity, +offered Captain Lake two to one on the game in anything he liked, which +the captain declined, and took his seat on the bench. + +He was not interested by the struggle of the gallant major, who smiled +like a prize-fighter under his punishment. In fact, he could not have +told the score at any point of the game; and, to judge by his face, was +translated from the glare of that arena into a dark and splenetic world +of his own. + +When he wakened up, in the buzz and clack of tongues that followed the +close of the game, Captain Lake glared round for a moment, like a man +called up from sleep; the noise rattled and roared in his ears, the talk +sounded madly, and the faces of the people excited and menaced him +undefinably, and he felt as if he was on the point of starting to his +feet and stamping and shouting. The fact is, I suppose, he was +confoundedly nervous, dyspeptic, or whatever else it might be, and the +heat and glare were too much for him. + +So, out he went into the chill, fresh night-air, and round the corner +into the quaint main-street of Gylingden, and walked down it in the dark, +nearly to the last house by the corner of the Redman's Dell road, and +then back again, and so on, trying to tire himself, I think; and every +time he walked down the street, with his face toward London, his yellow +eyes gleamed through the dark air, with the fixed gaze of a man looking +out for the appearance of a vehicle. It, perhaps, indicated an anxiety +and a mental look-out in that direction, for he really expected no such +thing. + +Then he dropped into the 'Brandon Arms,' and had a glass of brandy and +water, and a newspaper, in the coffee-room; and then he ordered a 'fly,' +and drove in it to Lawyer Larkin's house--'The Lodge,' it was called--and +entered Mr. Larkin's drawing-room very cheerfully. + +'How quiet you are here,' said the captain. 'I have been awfully +dissipated since I saw you.' + +'In an innocent way, my dear Captain Lake, you mean, of course--in an +innocent way.' + +'Oh! no; billiards, I assure you. Do you play?' + +'Oh! dear no--not that I see any essential harm in the game _as_ a game, +for those, I mean, who don't object to that sort of thing; but for a +resident here, putting aside other feelings--a resident holding a +position--it would not do, I assure you. There are people there whom one +could not associate with comfortably. I don't care, I hope, how poor a +man may be, but do let him be a gentleman. I own to that prejudice. A +man, my dear Captain Lake, whose father before him has been a gentleman +(old Larkin, while in the flesh, was an organist, and kept a small day +school at Dwiddleston, and his grandfather he did not care to enquire +after), and who has had the education of one, does not feel himself at +home, you know--I'm sure you have felt the same sort of thing yourself.' + +'Oh! of course; and I had such a nice walk on the common first, and then +a turn up and down before the 'Brandon Arms,' where at last I read a +paper, and could not resist a glass of brandy and water, and, growing +lazy, came home in a 'fly,' so I think I have had a very gay evening. + +Larkin smiled benignantly, and would have said something no doubt worth +hearing, but at that moment the door opened, and his old cook and elderly +parlour-maid--no breath of scandal ever troubled the serene fair fame of +his household, and everyone allowed that, in the prudential virtues, at +least, he was nearly perfect--and Sleddon the groom, walked in, with +those sad faces which, I suppose, were first learned in the belief that +they were acceptable to their master. + +'Oh!' said Mr. Larkin, in a low, reverential tone, and the smile +vanished; 'prayers!' + +'Well, then, if you permit me, being a little tired, I'll go to my +bed-room.' + +With a grave and affectionate interest, Mr. Larkin looked in his face, +and sighed a little and said:-- + +'Might I, perhaps, venture to beg, just this one night----' + +That chastened and entreating look it was hard to resist. But somehow the +whole thing seemed to Lake to say, 'Do allow me this once to prescribe; +do give your poor soul this one chance,' and Lake answered him +superciliously and irreverently. + +'No, thank you, no--any prayers I require I can manage for myself, thank +you. Good-night.' + +And he lighted a bed-room candle and left the room. + +'What a beast that fellow is. I don't know why the d-- I stay in his +house.' + +One reason was, perhaps, that it saved him nearly a guinea a day, and he +may have had some other little reasons just then. + +'Family prayers indeed! and such a pair of women--witches, by Jove!--and +that rascally groom, and a hypocritical attorney! And the vulgar brute +will be as rich as Croesus, I dare say.' + +Here soliloquised Stanley Lake in that gentleman's ordinary vein. His +momentary disgust had restored him for a few seconds to his normal self. +But certain anxieties of a rather ghastly kind, and speculations as to +what might be going on in London just then, were round him again, like +armed giants, in another moment, and the riches or hypocrisy of his host +were no more to him than those of Overreach or Tartuffe. + + + + +CHAPTER XXI. + +IN WHICH CAPTAIN LAKE VISITS HIS SISTER'S SICK BED. + + +I suspect there are very few mere hypocrites on earth. Of course, I do +not reckon those who are under compulsion to affect purity of manners and +a holy integrity of heart--and there are such--but those who volunteer an +extraordinary profession of holiness, being all the while conscious +villains. The Pharisees, even while devouring widows' houses, believed +honestly in their own supreme righteousness. + +I am afraid our friend Jos. Larkin wore a mask. I am sure he often wore +it when he was quite alone. I don't know indeed, that he ever took it +off. He was, perhaps, content to see it, even when he looked in the +glass, and had not a very distinct idea what the underlying features +might be. It answers with the world; it almost answers with himself. Pity +it won't do everywhere! 'When Moses went to speak with God,' says the +admirable Hall, 'he pulled off his veil. It was good reason he should +present to God that face which he had made. There had been more need of +his veil to hide the glorious face of God from him than to hide his from +God. Hypocrites are contrary to Moses. He showed his worst to men, his +best to God; they show their best to men, their worst to God; but God +sees both their veil and their face, and I know not whether He more hates +their veil of dissimulation or their face of wickedness.' + +Captain Lake wanted rest--sleep--quiet thoughts at all events. When he +was alone he was at once in a state of fever and gloom, and seemed always +watching for something. His strange eyes glanced now this way, now that, +with a fierce restlessness--now to the window--now to the door--and you +would have said he was listening intently to some indistinct and too +distant conversation affecting him vitally, there was such a look of fear +and conjecture always in his face. + +He bolted his door and unlocked his dressing case, and from a little +silver box in that glittering repository he took, one after the other, +two or three little wafers of a dark hue, and placed them successively on +his tongue, and suffered them to melt, and so swallowed them. They were +not liquorice. I am afraid Captain Lake dabbled a little in opium. He was +not a great adept--yet, at least--like those gentlemen who can swallow +five hundred drops of laudanum at a sitting. But he knew the virtues of +the drug, and cultivated its acquaintance, and was oftener under its +influence than perhaps any mortal, except himself, suspected. + +The greater part of mankind are, upon the whole, happier and more +cheerful than they are always willing to allow. Nature subserves the +majority. She smiled very brightly next morning. There was a twittering +of small birds among the brown leaves and ivy, and a thousand other +pleasant sounds and sights stirring in the sharp, sunny air. This sort of +inflexible merry-making in nature seems marvellously selfish in the eyes +of anxious Captain Lake. Fear hath torment--and fear is the worst +ingredient in mental pain. This is the reason why suspense is so +intolerable, and the retrospect even of the worst less terrible. + +Stanley Lake would have given more than he could well afford that it were +that day week, and he no worse off. Why did time limp so tediously away +with him, prolonging his anguish gratuitously? He felt truculently, and +would have murdered that week, if he could, in the midst of its loitering +sunshine and gaiety. + +There was a strange pain at his heart, and the pain of intense and +fruitless calculation in his brain; and, as the Mahometan prays towards +Mecca, and the Jew towards Jerusalem, so Captain Lake's morning orisons, +whatsoever they were, were offered at the window of his bed-room toward +London, from whence he looked for his salvation, or it might be the other +thing--with a dreadful yearning. + +He hated the fresh glitter of that morning scene. Why should the world be +cheerful? It was a repast spread of which he could not partake, and it +spited him. Yes; it was selfish--and hating selfishness--he would have +struck the sun out of the sky that morning with his walking-cane, if he +could, and draped the world in black. + +He saw from his window the good vicar walk smiling by, in white choker +and seedy black, his little boy holding by his fingers, and capering and +wheeling in front, and smiling up in his face. They were very busy +talking. + +Little 'Fairy' used to walk, when parochial visits were not very distant, +with his 'Wapsie;' how that name came about no one remembered, but the +vicar answered to it more cheerily than to any other. The little man was +solitary, and these rambles were a delight. A beautiful smiling little +fellow, very exacting of attention--troublesome, perhaps; he was so +sociable, and needed sympathy and companionship, and repaid it with a +boundless, sensitive _love_. The vicar told him the stories of David and +Goliath, and Joseph and his brethren, and of the wondrous birth in +Bethlehem of Judea, the star that led the Wise Men, and the celestial +song heard by the shepherds keeping their flocks by night, and snatches +of 'Pilgrim's Progress'; and sometimes, when they made a feast and eat +their pennyworth of cherries, sitting on the style, he treated him, I am +afraid, to the profane histories of Jack the Giant-killer and the Yellow +Dwarf; the vicar had theories about imagination, and fancied it was an +important faculty, and that the Creator had not given children their +unextinguishable love of stories to no purpose. + +I don't envy the man who is superior to the society of children. What can +he gain from children's talk? Is it witty, or wise, or learned? Be frank. +Is it not, honestly, a mere noise and interruption--a musical cackling of +geese, and silvery braying of tiny asses? Well, say I, out of my large +acquaintance, there are not many men to whom I would go for wisdom; +learning is better found in books, and, as for wit, is it always +pleasant? The most companionable men are not always the greatest +intellects. They laugh, and though they don't converse, they make a +cheerful noise, and show a cheerful countenance. + +There was not a great deal in Will Honeycomb, for instance; but our dear +Mr. Spectator tells us somewhere that 'he laughed easily,' which I think +quite accounts for his acceptance with the club. He was kindly and +enjoying. What is it that makes your dog so charming a companion in your +walks? Simply that he thoroughly likes you and enjoys himself. He appeals +imperceptibly to your affections, which cannot be stirred--such is God's +will--ever so lightly, without some little thrillings of happiness; and +through the subtle absorbents of your sympathy he infuses into you +something of his own hilarious and exulting spirit. + +When Stanley Lake saw the vicar, the lines of his pale face contracted +strangely, and his wild gaze followed him, and I don't think he breathed +once until the thin smiling man in black, with the little gambolling +bright boy holding by his hand, had passed by. He was thinking, you may +be sure, of his Brother Mark. + +When Lake had ended his toilet and stared in the glass, he still looked +so haggard, that on greeting Mr. Larkin in the parlour, he thought it +necessary to mention that he had taken cold in that confounded +billiard-room last night, which spoiled his sleep, and made him awfully +seedy that morning. Of course, his host was properly afflicted and +sympathetic. + +'By-the-bye, I had a letter this morning from that party--our common +friend, Mr. W., you know,' said Larkin, gracefully. + +'Well, what is he doing, and when does he come back? You mean Wylder, of +course?' + +'Yes; my good client, Mr. Mark Wylder. Permit me to assist you to some +honey, you'll find it remarkably good, I venture to say; it comes from +the gardens of Queen's Audley. The late marquis, you know, prided himself +on his honey--and my friend, Thornbury, cousin to Sir Frederick +Thornbury--I suppose you know him--an East Indian judge, you know--very +kindly left it at Dollington for me, on his way to the Earl of Epsom's.' + +'Thank you--delicious, I'm sure, it has been in such good company. May I +see Wylder's note--that is, if there's no private business?' + +'Oh, certainly.' + +And, with Wylder's great red seal on the back of the envelope, the letter +ran thus:-- + + +'DEAR LARKIN,--I write in haste to save post, to say I shall be detained +in town a few days longer than I thought. Don't wait for me about the +parchments; I am satisfied. If anything crosses your mind, a word with +Mr. De C. at the Hall, will clear all up. Have all ready to sign and seal +when I come back--certainly, within a week. + +'Yours sincerely, + +'M. WYLDER, + +'London.' + + +It was evidently written in great haste, with the broad-nibbed pen he +liked; but notwithstanding the sort of swagger with which the writing +marched across the page, Lake might have seen here and there a little +quaver--indicative of something different from haste--the vibrations of +another sort of flurry. + +'"Certainly within a week," he writes. Does he mean he'll be here in a +week or only to have the papers ready in a week?' asked Lake. + +'The question, certainly, does arise. It struck me on the first perusal,' +answered the attorney. 'His address is rather a wide one, too--London! Do +you know his club, Captain Lake?' + +'The _Wanderers_. He has left the _United Service_. Nothing for me, +by-the-way?' + +'No letter. No.' + +'_Tant mieux_, I hate them,' said the captain. 'I wonder how my sister is +this morning.' + +'Would you like a messenger? I'll send down with pleasure to enquire.' + +'Thank you, no; I'll walk down and see her.' + +And Lake yawned at the window, and then took his hat and stick and +sauntered toward Gylingden. At the post-office window he tapped with the +silver tip of his cane, and told Miss Driver with a sleepy smile-- + +'I'm going down to Redman's Farm, and any letters for my sister, Miss +Lake, I may as well take with me.' + +Everybody 'in business' in the town of Gylingden, by this time, knew +Captain Lake and his belongings--a most respectable party--a high man; +and, of course, there was no difficulty. There was only one letter--the +address was written--'Miss Lake, Redman's Farm, near Brandon Park, +Gylingden,' in a stiff hand, rather slanting backwards. + +Captain Lake put it in his paletot pocket, looked in her face gently, and +smiled, and thanked her in his graceful way--and, in fact, left an +enduring impression upon that impressible nature. + +Turning up the dark road at Redman's Dell, the gallant captain passed the +old mill, and, all being quiet up and down the road, he halted under the +lordly shadow of a clump of chestnuts, and opened and read the letter he +had just taken charge of. It contained only these words:-- + + +'Wednesday. + +'On Friday night, next, at half-past twelve.' + + +This he read twice or thrice, pausing between whiles. The envelope bore +the London postmark. Then he took out his cigar case, selected a +promising weed, and wrapping the laconic note prettily round one of his +scented matches, lighted it, and the note flamed pale in the daylight, +and dropped still blazing, at the root of the old tree he stood by, and +sent up a little curl of blue smoke--an incense to the demon of the +wood--and turned in a minute more into a black film, overrun by a hundred +creeping sparkles; and having completed his mysterious incremation, he, +with his yellow eyes, made a stolen glance around, and lighting his +cigar, glided gracefully up the steep road, under the solemn canopy of +old timber, to the sound of the moaning stream below, and the rustle of +withered leaves about him, toward Redman's Farm. + +As he entered the flower-garden, the jaundiced face of old Tamar, with +its thousand small wrinkles and its ominous gleam of suspicion, was +looking out from the darkened porch. The white cap, kerchief, and +drapery, courtesied to him as he drew near, and the dismal face changed +not. + +'Well, Tamar, how do you do?--how are all? Where is that girl Margery?' + +'In the kitchen, Master Stanley,' said she, courtesying again. + +'Are you sure?' said Captain Lake, peeping toward that apartment over the +old woman's shoulder. + +'Certain sure, Master Stanley.' + +'Well, come up stairs to your mistress's room,' said Lake, mounting the +stairs, with his hat in his hand, and on tip-toe, like a man approaching +a sick chamber. + +There was something I think grim and spectral in this ceremonious ascent +to the empty chamber. Children had once occupied that silent floor for +there was a little balustraded gate across the top of the staircase. + +'I keep this closed,' said old Tamar, 'and forbid her to cross it, lest +she should disturb the mistress. Heaven forgive me!' + +'Very good,' he whispered, and he peeped over the banister, and then +entered Rachel's silent room, darkened with closed shutters, the white +curtains and white coverlet so like 'the dark chamber of white death.' + +He had intended speaking to Tamar there, but changed his mind, or rather +could not make up his mind; and he loitered silently, and stood with the +curtain in his gloved hand, looking upon the cold coverlet, as if Rachel +lay dead there. + +'That will do,' he said, awaking from his wandering thought. 'We'll go +down now, Tamar.' + +And in the same stealthy way, walking lightly and slowly, down the stairs +they went, and Stanley entered the kitchen. + +'How do you do, Margery? You'll be glad to hear your mistress is better. +You must run down to the town, though, and buy some jelly, and you are to +bring her back change of this.' + +And he placed half-a-crown in her hand. + +'Put on your bonnet and my old shawl, child; and take the basket, and +come back by the side door,' croaked old Tamar. + +So the girl dried her hands--she was washing the teacups--and in a +twinkling was equipped and on her way to Gylingden. + + + + +CHAPTER XXII. + +IN WHICH CAPTAIN LAKE MEETS A FRIEND NEAR THE WHITE HOUSE. + + +Lake had no very high opinion of men or women, gentle or simple. + +'She listens, I dare say, the little spy,' said he. + +'No, Master Stanley! She's a good little girl.' + +'She quite believes her mistress is up stairs, eh?' + +'Yes; the Lord forgive me--I'm deceiving her.' + +He did not like the tone and look which accompanied this. + +'Now, my good old Tamar, you really can't be such an idiot as to fancy +there can be any imaginable wrong in keeping that prying little slut in +ignorance of that which in no wise concerns her. This is a critical +matter, do you see, and if it were known in this place that your young +mistress had gone away as she has done--though quite innocently--upon my +honour--I think it would blast her. You would not like, for a stupid +crotchet, to ruin poor Radie, I fancy.' + +'I'm doing just what you both bid me,' said the old woman. + +'You sit up stairs chiefly?' + +She nodded sadly. + +'And keep the hall door shut and bolted?' + +Again she nodded. + +'I'm going up to the Hall, and I'll tell them she's much better, and that +I've been in her room, and that, perhaps, she may go up to see them in +the morning.' + +Old Tamar shook her head and groaned. + +'How long is all this to go on for, Master Stanley?' + +'Why, d-- you, Tamar, can't you listen?' he said, clutching her wrist in +his lavender kid grasp rather roughly. 'How long--a very short time, I +tell you. She'll be home immediately. I'll come to-morrow and tell you +exactly--maybe to-morrow evening--will that do? And should they call, you +must say the same; and if Miss Dorcas, Miss Brandon, you know--should +wish to go up to see her, tell her she's asleep. Stop that hypocritical +grimacing, will you. It is no part of your duty to tell the world what +can't possibly concern them, and may bring your young mistress +to--_perdition_. That does not strike me as any part of your religion.' + +Tamar groaned again, and she said: 'I opened my Bible, Lord help me, +three times to-day, Master Stanley, and could not go on. It's no use--I +can't read it.' + +'Time enough--I think you've read more than is good for you. I think you +are half mad, Tamar; but think what you may, it must be done. Have not +you read of straining at gnats and swallowing camels? You used not, I've +heard, to be always so scrupulous, old Tamar.' + +There was a vile sarcasm in his tone and look. + +'It is not for the child I nursed to say that,' said Tamar. + +There were scandalous stories of wicked old Tiberius--bankrupt, dead, and +buried--compromising the fame of Tamar--not always a spectacled and +cadaverous student of Holy Writ. These, indeed, were even in Stanley's +childhood old-world, hazy, traditions of the servants' hall. But boys +hear often more than is good, and more than gospel, who live in such +houses as old General Lake, the old millionaire widower, kept. + +'I did not mean anything, upon my honour, Tamar, that could annoy you. I +only meant you used not to be a fool, and pray don't begin now; for I +assure you Radie and I would not ask it if it could be avoided. You have +Miss Radie's secret in your hands, I don't think you'd like to injure +her, and you used to be trustworthy. I don't think your Bible teaches you +anywhere to hurt your neighbour and to break faith.' + +'Don't speak of the Bible now; but you needn't fear me, Master Stanley,' +answered the old woman, a little sternly. 'I don't know why she's gone, +nor why it's a secret--I don't, and I'd rather not. Poor Miss Radie, she +never heard anything but what was good from old Tamar, whatever I might +ha' bin myself, miserable sinners are we all; and I'll do as you bid me, +and I _have_ done, Master Stanley, howsoever it troubles my mind;' and +now old Tamar's words spoke--that's all. + +'Old Tamar is a sensible creature, as she always was. I hope I did not +vex you, Tamar. I did not mean, I assure you; but we get rough ways in +the army, I'm afraid, and you won't mind me. You never _did_ mind little +Stannie when he was naughty, you know.' + +There was here a little subsidence in his speech. He was thinking of +giving her a crown, but there were several reasons against it, so that +handsome coin remained in his purse. + +'And I forgot to tell you, Tamar, I've a ring for you in town--a little +souvenir; you'll think it pretty--a gold ring, with a stone in it--it +belonged to poor dear Aunt Jemima, you remember. I left it behind; so +stupid!' + +So he shook hands with old Tamar, and patted her affectionately on the +shoulder, and he said:-- + +'Keep the hall-door bolted. Make any excuse you like: only it would not +do for anyone to open it, and run up to the room as they might, so don't +forget to secure the door when I go. I think that is all. Ta-ta, dear +Tamar. I'll see you in the morning.' + +As he walked down the mill-road toward the town, he met Lord Chelford on +his way to make enquiry about Rachel at Redman's Farm; and Lake, who, as +we know, had just seen his sister, gave him all particulars. + +Chelford, like the lawyer, had heard from Mark Wylder that morning--a few +lines, postponing his return. He merely mentioned it, and made no +comment; but Lake perceived that he was annoyed at his unexplained +absence. + +Lake dined at Brandon that evening, and though looking ill, was very good +company, and promised to bring an early report of Rachel's convalescence +in the morning. + +I have little to record of next day, except that Larkin received another +London letter. Wylder plainly wrote in great haste, and merely said:-- + +'I shall have to wait a day or two longer than I yesterday thought, to +meet a fellow from whom I am to receive something of importance, rather, +as I think, to me. Get the deeds ready, as I said in my last. If I am not +in Gylingden by Monday, we must put off the wedding for a week +later--there is no help for it. You need not talk of this. I write to +Chelford to say the same.' + +This note was as unceremonious, and still shorter. Lord Chelford would +have written at once to remonstrate with Mark on the unseemliness of +putting off his marriage so capriciously, or, at all events, so +mysteriously--Miss Brandon not being considered, nor her friends +consulted. But Mark had a decided objection to many letters: he had no +fancy to be worried, when he had made up his mind, by prosy +remonstrances; and he shut out the whole tribe of letter-writers by +simply omitting to give them his address. + +His cool impertinence, and especially this cunning precaution, incensed +old Lady Chelford. She would have liked to write him one of those terse, +courteous, biting notes, for which she was famous; and her fingers, +morally, tingled to box his ears. But what was to be done with mere +'London?' Wylder was hidden from mortal sight, like a heaven-protected +hero in the 'Iliad,' and a cloud of invisibility girdled him. + +Like most rustic communities, Gylingden and its neighbourhood were early +in bed. Few lights burned after half-past ten, and the whole vicinity was +deep in its slumbers before twelve o'clock. + +At that dread hour, Captain Lake, about a mile on the Dollington, which +was the old London road from Gylingden, was pacing backward and forward +under the towering files of beech that overarch it at that point. + +The 'White House' public, with a wide panel over its door, presenting, in +tints subdued by time, a stage-coach and four horses in mid career, lay a +few hundred yards nearer to Gylingden. Not a soul was stirring--not a +sound but those, sad and soothing, of nature was to be heard. + +Stanley Lake did not like waiting any more than did Louis XIV. He was +really a little tired of acting sentry, and was very peevish by the time +the ring of wheels and horse-hoofs approaching from the London direction +became audible. Even so, he had a longer wait than he expected, +sounds are heard so far by night. At last, however, it drew +nearer--nearer--quite close--and a sort of nondescript vehicle--one +horsed--loomed in the dark, and he calls-- + +'Hallo! there--I say--a passenger for the "White House?"' + +At the same moment, a window of the cab--shall we call it--was let down, +and a female voice--Rachel Lake's--called to the driver to stop. + +Lake addressed the driver-- + +'You come from Johnson's Hotel--don't you--at Dollington?' + +'Yes, Sir.' + +'Well, I'll pay you half-fare to bring me there.' + +'All right, Sir. But the 'oss, Sir, must 'av 'is oats fust.' + +'Feed him here, then. They are all asleep in the "White House." I'll be +with you in five minutes, and you shall have something for yourself when +we get into Dollington.' + +Stanley opened the door. She placed her hand on his, and stepped to the +ground. It was very dark under those great trees. He held her hand a +little harder than was his wont. + +'All quite well, ever since. You are not very tired, are you? I'm afraid +it will be necessary for you to walk to "Redman's Farm," dear Radie--but +it is hardly a mile, I think--for, you see, the fellow must not know who +you are; and I must go back with him, for I have not been very +well--indeed I've been, I may say, very ill--and I told that fellow, +Larkin, who has his eyes about him, and would wonder what kept me out so +late, that I would run down to some of the places near for a change, and +sleep a night there; and that's the reason, dear Radie, I can walk only a +short way with you; but you are not afraid to walk a part of the way home +without me? You are so sensible, and you have been, really, so very kind, +I assure you I appreciate it, Radie--I do, indeed; and I'm very +grateful--I am, upon my word.' + +Rachel answered with a heavy sigh. + + + + +CHAPTER XXIII. + +HOW RACHEL SLEPT THAT NIGHT IN REDMAN'S FARM. + + +'Allow me--pray do,' and he took her little bag from her hand. 'I hope +you are not very tired, darling; you've been so very good; and you're not +afraid--you know the place is so quiet--of the little walk by yourself. +Take my arm; I'll go as far as I can, but it is very late you know--and +you are sure you are not afraid?' + +'I ought to be afraid of nothing now, Stanley, but I think I am afraid of +everything.' + +'Merely a little nervous--it's nothing--I've been wretchedly since, +myself; but, I'm so glad you are home again; you shall have no more +trouble, I assure you; and not a creature suspects you have been from +home. Old Tamar has behaved admirably.' + +Rachel sighed again and said-- + +'Yes--poor Tamar.' + +'And now, dear, I'm afraid I must leave you--I'm very sorry; but you see +how it is; keep to the shady side, close by the hedge, where the trees +stop; but I'm certain you will meet no one. Tamar will tell you who has +called--hardly anyone--I saw them myself every day at Brandon, and told +them you were ill. You've been very kind, Radie; I assure you I'll never +forget it. You'll find Tamar up and watching for you--I arranged all +that; and I need not say you'll be very careful not to let that girl of +yours hear anything. You'll be very quiet--she suspects nothing; and I +assure you, so far as personal annoyance of any kind is concerned, you +may be perfectly at ease. Good-night, Radie; God bless you, dear. I wish +very much I could see you all the way, but there's a risk in it, you +know. Good-night, dear Radie. By-the-bye, here's your bag; I'll take the +rug, it's too heavy for you, and I may as well have it to Dollington.' + +He kissed her cheek in his slight way, and left her, and was soon on his +way to Dollington, where he slept that night--rather more comfortably +than he had done since Rachel's departure. + +Rachel walked on swiftly. Very tired, but not at all sleepy--on the +contrary, excited and nervous, and rather relieved, notwithstanding that +Stanley had left her to walk home alone. + +It seemed to her that more than a month had passed since she saw the +mill-road last. How much had happened! how awful was the change! Familiar +objects glided past her, the same, yet the fashion of the countenance was +altered; there was something estranged and threatening. + +The pretty parsonage was now close by: in the dews of night the spirit of +peace and slumbers smiled over it; but the sight of its steep roof and +homely chimney-stacks smote with a shock at her brain and heart--a +troubled moan escaped her. She looked up with the instinct of prayer, and +clasped her hands on the handle of that little bag which had made the +mysterious journey with her; a load which no man could lift lay upon her +heart. + +Then she commenced her dark walk up the mill-road--her hands still +clasped, her lips moving in broken appeals to Heaven. She looked neither +to the right nor to the left, but passed on with inflexible gaze and +hasty steps, like one who crosses a plank over some awful chasm. + +In such darkness Redman's dell was a solemn, not to say an awful, spot; +and at any time, I think, Rachel, in a like solitude and darkness, would +have been glad to see the red glimmer of old Tamar's candle proclaiming +under the branches the neighbourhood of human life and sympathy. + +The old woman, with her shawl over her head, sat listening for her young +mistress's approach, on the little side bench in the trellised porch, and +tottered hastily forth to meet her at the garden wicket, whispering +forlorn welcomes, and thanksgivings, which Rachel answered only with a +kiss. + +Safe, safe at home! Thank Heaven at least for that. Secluded once +more--hidden in Redman's Dell; but never again to be the same--the +careless mind no more. The summer sunshine through the trees, the leafy +songs of birds, obscured in the smoke and drowned in the discord of an +untold and everlasting trouble. + +The hall-door was now shut and bolted. Wise old Tamar had turned the key +upon the sleeping girl. There was nothing to be feared from prying eyes +and listening ears. + +'You are cold, Miss Radie, and tired--poor thing! I lit a bit of fire in +your room, Miss; would you like me to go up stairs with you, Miss?' + +'Come.' + +And so up stairs they went; and the young lady looked round with a +strange anxiety, like a person seeking for something, and forgetting +what; and, sitting down, she leaned her head on her hand with a moan, the +living picture of despair. + +'You've a headache, Miss Radie?' said the old woman, standing by her with +that painful enquiry which sat naturally on her face. + +'A heartache, Tamar.' + +'Let me help you off with these things, Miss Radie, dear.' + +The young lady did not seem to hear, but she allowed Tamar to remove her +cloak and hat and handkerchief. + +The old servant had placed the tea-things on the table, and what remained +of that wine of which Stanley had partaken on the night from which the +eclipse of Rachel's life dated. So, without troubling her with questions, +she made tea, and then some negus, with careful and trembling hands. + +'No,' said Rachel, a little pettishly, and put it aside. + +'See now, Miss Radie, dear. You look awful sick and tired. You are tired +to death and pale, and sorry, my dear child; and to please old Tamar, +you'll just drink this.' + +'Thank you, Tamar, I believe you are right.' + +The truth was she needed it; and in the same dejected way she sipped it +slowly; and then there was a long silence--the silence of a fatigue, like +that of fever, near which sleep refuses to come. But she sat in that +waking lethargy in which are sluggish dreams of horror, and neither eyes +nor ears for that which is before us. + +When at last with another great sigh she lifted her head, her eyes rested +on old Tamar's face, at the other side of the fire-place, with a dark, +dull surprise and puzzle for a moment, as if she could not tell why she +was there, or where the place was; and then rising up, with piteous look +in her old nurse's face, she said, 'Oh! Tamar, Tamar. It is a dreadful +world.' + +'So it is, Miss Radie,' answered the old woman, her glittering eyes +returning her sad gaze wofully. 'Aye, so it is, sure!--and such it was +and will be. For so the Scripture says--"Cursed is the ground for thy +sake"--hard to the body--a vale of tears--dark to the spirit. But it is +the hand of God that is upon you, and, like me, you will say at last, "It +is good for me that I have been in trouble." Lie down, dear Miss Radie, +and I'll read to you the blessed words of comfort that have been sealed +for me ever since I saw you last. They have--but that's over.' + +And she turned up her pallid, puckered face, and, with a trembling and +knotted pair of hands uplifted, she muttered an awful thanksgiving. + +Rachel said nothing, but her eyes rested on the floor, and, with the +quiet obedience of her early childhood, she did as Tamar said. And the +old woman assisted her to undress, and so she lay down with a sigh in her +bed. And Tamar, her round spectacles by this time on her nose, sitting at +the little table by her pillow, read, in a solemn and somewhat quavering +voice, such comfortable passages as came first to memory. + +Rachel cried quietly as she listened, and at last, worn out by many +feverish nights, and the fatigues of her journey, she fell into a +disturbed slumber, with many startings and sudden wakings, with cries and +strange excitement. + +Old Tamar would not leave her, but kept her seat in the high-backed +arm-chair throughout the night, like a nurse--as indeed she was--in a +sick chamber. And so that weary night limped tediously away, and morning +dawned, and tipped the discoloured foliage of the glen with its glow, +awaking the songs of all the birds, and dispersing the white mists of +darkness. And Rachel with a start awoke, and sat up with a wild look and +a cry-- + +'What is it?' + +'Nothing, dear Miss Radie--only poor old Tamar.' And a new day had begun. + + + + +CHAPTER XXIV. + +DORCAS BRANDON PAYS RACHEL A VISIT. + + +It was not very much past eleven that morning when the pony carriage from +Brandon drew up before the little garden wicket of Redman's Farm. + +The servant held the ponies' heads, and Miss Dorcas passed through the +little garden, and met old Tamar in the porch. + +'Better to-day, Tamar?' enquired this grand and beautiful young lady. + +The sun glimmered through the boughs behind her; her face was in shade, +and its delicate chiselling was brought out in soft reflected lights; and +old Tamar looked on her in a sort of wonder, her beauty seemed so +celestial and splendid. + +Well, she _was_ better, though she had had a bad night. She was up and +dressed, and this moment coming down, and would be very happy to see Miss +Brandon, if she would step into the drawing-room. + +Miss Brandon took old Tamar's hand gently and pressed it. I suppose she +was glad and took this way of showing it; and tall, beautiful, graceful, +in rustling silks, she glided into the tiny drawing-room silently, and +sate down softly by the window, looking out upon the flowers and the +falling leaves, mottled in light and shadow. + +We have been accustomed to see another girl--bright and fair-haired +Rachel Lake--in the small rooms of Redman's Farm; but Dorcas only in rich +and stately Brandon Hall--the beautiful 'genius loci' under lofty +ceilings, curiously moulded in the first James's style--amid carved oak +and richest draperies, tall china vases, paintings, and cold white +statues; and somehow in this low-roofed room, so small and homely, she +looks like a displaced divinity--an exile under Juno's jealousy from the +cloudy splendours of Olympus--dazzlingly melancholy, and 'humano major' +among the meannesses and trumperies of earth. + +So there came a step and a little rustling of feminine draperies, the +small door opened, and Rachel entered, with her hand extended, and a pale +smile of welcome. + +Women can hide their pain better than we men, and bear it better, too, +except when _shame_ drops fire into the dreadful chalice. But poor Rachel +Lake had more than that stoical hypocrisy which enables the tortured +spirits of her sex to lift a pale face through the flames and smile. + +She was sanguine, she was genial and companionable, and her spirits rose +at the sight of a friendly face. This transient spring and lighting up +are beautiful--a glamour beguiling our senses. It wakens up the frozen +spirit of enjoyment, and leads the sad faculties forth on a wild +forgetful frolic. + +'Rachel, dear, I'm so glad to see you,' said Dorcas, placing her arms +gently about her neck, and kissing her twice or thrice. There was +something of sweetness and fondness in her tones and manner, which was +new to Rachel, and comforting, and she returned the greeting as kindly, +and felt more like her former self. 'You have been more ill than I +thought, darling, and you are still far from quite recovered.' + +Rachel's pale and sharpened features and dilated eye struck her with a +painful surprise. + +'I shall soon be as well as I am ever likely to be--that is, quite well,' +answered Rachel. 'You have been very kind. I've heard of your coming +here, and sending, so often.' + +They sat down side by side, and Dorcas held her hand. + +'Maybe, Rachel dear, you would like to drive a little?' + +'No, darling, not yet; it is very good of you.' + +'You have been so ill, my poor Rachel.' + +'Ill and troubled, dear--troubled in mind, and miserably nervous.' + +Poor Rachel! her nature recoiled from deceit, and she told, at all +events, as much of the truth as she dared. + +Dorcas's large eyes rested upon her with a grave enquiry, and then Miss +Brandon looked down in silence for a while on the carpet, and was +thinking a little sternly, maybe, and with a look of pain, still holding +Rachel's hand, she said, with a sad sort of reproach in her tone, + +'Rachel, dear, you have not told my secret?' + +'No, indeed, Dorcas--never, and never will; and I think, though I have +learned to fear death, I would rather die than let Stanley even suspect +it.' + +She spoke with a sudden energy, which partook of fear and passion, and +flushed her thin cheek, and made her languid eyes flash. + +'Thank you, Rachel, my Cousin Rachel, my only friend. I ought not to have +doubted you,' and she kissed her again. 'Chelford had a note from Mr. +Wylder this morning--another note--his coming delayed, and something of +his having to see some person who is abroad,' continued Dorcas, after a +little pause. 'You have heard, of course, of Mr. Wylder's absence?' + +'Yes, something--_everything_,' said Rachel, hurriedly, looking +frowningly at a flower which she was twirling in her fingers. + +'He chose an unlucky moment for his departure. I meant to speak to him +and end all between us; and I would now write, but there is no address to +his letters. I think Lady Chelford and her son begin to think there is +more in this oddly-timed journey of Mr. Wylder's than first appeared. +When I came into the parlour this morning I knew they were speaking of +it. If he does not return in a day or two, Chelford, I am sure, will +speak to me, and then I shall tell him my resolution.' + +'Yes,' said Rachel. + +'I don't understand his absence. I think _they_ are puzzled, too. Can you +conjecture why he is gone?' + +Rachel made no answer, but rose with a dreamy look, as if gazing at some +distant object among the dark masses of forest trees, and stood before +the window so looking across the tiny garden. + +'I don't think, Rachel dear, you heard me?' said Dorcas. + +'Can I conjecture why he is gone?' murmured Rachel, still gazing with a +wild kind of apathy into distance. 'Can I? What can it now be to you or +me--why? Yes, we sometimes conjecture right, and sometimes wrong; there +are many things best not conjectured about at all--some interesting, some +abominable, some that pass all comprehension: I never mean to conjecture, +if I can help it, again.' + +And the wan oracle having spoken, she sate down in the same sort of +abstraction again beside Dorcas, and she looked full in her cousin's +eyes. + +'I made you a voluntary promise, Dorcas, and now you will make me one. Of +Mark Wylder I say this: his name has been for years hateful to me, and +recently it has become frightful; and you will promise me simply this, +that you will never ask me to speak again about him. Be he near, or be he +far, I regard his very name with horror.' + +Dorcas returned her gaze with one of haughty amazement; and Rachel said, + +'Well, Dorcas, you promise?' + +'You speak truly, Rachel, you _have_ a right to my promise: I give it.' + +'Dorcas, you are changed; have I lost your love for asking so poor a +kindness?' + +'I'm only disappointed, Rachel; I thought you would have trusted me, as I +did you.' + +'It is an antipathy--an antipathy I cannot get over, dear Dorcas; you may +think it a madness, but don't blame me. Remember I am neither well nor +happy, and forgive what you cannot like in me. I have very few to love me +now, and I thought you might love me, as I have begun to love you. Oh! +Dorcas, darling, don't forsake me; I am very lonely here and my spirits +are gone and I never needed kindness so much before.' + +And she threw her arms round her cousin's neck, and brave Rachel at last +burst into tears. + +Dorcas, in her strange way, was moved. + +'I like you still, Rachel; I'm sure I'll always like you. You resemble +me, Rachel: you are fearless and inflexible and generous. That spirit +belongs to the blood of our strange race; all our women were so. Yes, +Rachel, I do love you. I was wounded to find you had thoughts you would +not trust to me; but I have made the promise, and I'll keep it; and I +love you all the same.' + +'Thank you, Dorcas, dear. I like to call you cousin--kindred is so +pleasant. Thank you, from my heart, for your love; you will never know, +perhaps, how much it is to me.' + +The young queen looked on her kindly, but sadly, through her large, +strange eyes, clouded with a presage of futurity, and she kissed her +again, and said-- + +'Rachel, dear, I have a plan for you and me: we shall be old maids, you +and I, and live together like the ladies of Llangollen, careless and +happy recluses. I'll let Brandon and abdicate. We will make a little tour +together, when all this shall have blown over, in a few weeks, and choose +our retreat; and with the winter's snow we'll vanish from Brandon, and +appear with the early flowers at our cottage among the beautiful woods +and hills of Wales. Will you come, Rachel?' + +At sight of this castle or cottage in the air, Rachel lighted up. The +little whim had something tranquillising and balmy. It was escape--flight +from Gylingden--flight from Brandon--flight from Redman's Farm: they and +all their hated associations would be far behind, and that awful page in +her story, not torn out, indeed, but gummed down as it were, and no +longer glaring and glowering in her eyes every moment of her waking life. + +So she smiled upon the picture painted on the clouds; it was the first +thing that had interested her for days. It was a hope. She seized it; she +clung to it. She knew, perhaps, it was the merest chimera; but it rested +and consoled her imagination, and opened, in the blackness of her sky, +one small vista, through whose silvery edge the blue and stars of heaven +were visible. + + + + +CHAPTER XXV. + +CAPTAIN LAKE LOOKS IN AT NIGHTFALL. + + +In the queer little drawing-room of Redman's Farm it was twilight, so +dense were the shadows from the great old chestnuts that surrounded it, +before the sun was well beneath the horizon; and you could, from its +darkened window, see its red beams still tinting the high grounds of +Willerston, visible through the stems of the old trees that were massed +in the near foreground. + +A figure which had lost its energy--a face stamped with the lines and +pallor of a dejection almost guilty--with something of the fallen grace +and beauty of poor Margaret, as we see her with her forehead leaning on +her slender hand, by the stirless spinning-wheel--the image of a strange +and ineffaceable sorrow, sat Rachel Lake. + +Tamar might glide in and out; her mistress did not speak; the shadows +deepened round her, but she did look up, nor call, in the old cheerful +accents, for lights. No more roulades and ringing chords from the +piano--no more clear spirited tones of the lady's voice sounded through +the low ceilings of Redman's Farm, and thrilled with a haunting melody +the deserted glen, wherein the birds had ended their vesper songs and +gone to rest. + +A step was heard at the threshold--it entered the hall; the door of the +little chamber opened, and Stanley Lake entered, saying in a doubtful, +almost timid way-- + +'It is I, Radie, come to thank you, and just to ask you how you do, and +to say I'll never forget your kindness; upon my honour, I never can.' + +Rachel shuddered as the door opened, and there was a ghastly sort of +expectation in her look. Imperfectly as it was seen, he could understand +it. She did not bid him welcome or even speak. There was a silence. + +'Now, you're not angry with me, Radie dear; I venture to say I suffer +more than you: and how could I have anticipated the strange turn things +have taken? You know how it all came about, and you must see I'm not +really to blame, at least in intention, for all this miserable trouble; +and even if I were, where's the good in angry feeling or reproaches now, +don't you see, when I can't mend it? Come, Radie, let by-gones be +by-gones. There's a good girl; won't you?' + +'Aye, by-gones are by-gones; the past is, indeed, immutable, and the +future is equally fixed, and more dreadful.' + +'Come, Radie; a clever girl like you can make your own future.' + +'And what do you want of me now?' she asked, with a fierce cold stare. + +'But I did not say I wanted anything.' + +'Of course you do, or I should not have seen you. Mark me though, I'll go +no further in the long route of wickedness you seem to have marked out +for me. I'm sacrificed, it is true, but I won't renew my hourly horrors, +and live under the rule of your diabolical selfishness.' + +'Say what you will, but keep your temper--will you?' he answered, more +like his angry self. But he checked the rising devil within him, and +changed his tone; he did not want to quarrel--quite the reverse. + +'I don't know really, Radie, why you should talk as you do. I don't want +you to do anything--upon my honour I don't--only just to exercise your +common sense--and you have lots of sense, Radie. Don't you think people +have eyes to see, and ears and tongues in this part of the world? Don't +you know very well, in a small place like this, they are all alive with +curiosity? and if you choose to make such a tragedy figure, and keep +moping and crying, and all that sort of thing, and look so _funeste_ and +miserable, you'll be sure to fix attention and set the whole d--d place +speculating and gossiping? and really, Radie, you're making mountains of +mole-hills. It is because you live so solitary here, and it _is_ such a +gloomy out-o'-the-way spot--so awfully dark and damp, nobody _could_ be +well here, and you really must change. It is the very temple of +blue-devilry, and I assure you if I lived as you do I'd cut my throat +before a month--you _mustn't_. And old Tamar, you know, such a figure! +The very priestess of despair. She gives me the horrors, I assure you, +whenever I look at her; you must not keep her, she's of no earthly use, +poor old thing; and, you know, Radie, we're not rich enough--you and +I--to support other people. You must really place yourself more +cheerfully, and I'll speak to Chelford about Tamar. There's a very nice +place--an asylum, or something, for old women--near--(Dollington he was +going to say, but the associations were not pleasant)--near some of those +little towns close to this, and he's a visitor, or governor, or whatever +they call it. It is really not fair to expect you or me to keep people +like that.' + +'She has not cost you much hitherto, Stanley, and she will give you very +little trouble hereafter. I won't part with Tamar.' + +'She has not cost me much?' said Lake, whose temper was not of a kind to +pass by anything. 'No; of course, she has not. _I_ can't afford a guinea. +You're poor enough; but in proportion to my expenses--a woman, of course, +can live on less than half what a man can--I'm a great deal poorer than +you; and I never said I gave her sixpence--did I? I have not got it to +give, and I don't think she's fool enough to expect it; and, to say the +truth, I don't care. I only advise you. There are some cheerful little +cottages near the green, in Gylingden, and I venture to think, this is +one of the very gloomiest and most uncomfortable places you could have +selected to live in.' + +Rachel looked drearily toward the window and sighed--it was almost a +groan. + +'It was cheerful always till this frightful week changed everything. Oh! +why, why, why did you ever come?' She threw back her pale face, biting +her lip, and even in that deepening gloom her small pearly teeth +glimmered white; and then she burst into sobs and an agony of tears. + +Captain Lake knew something of feminine paroxysms. Rachel was not given +to hysterics. He knew this burst of anguish was unaffected. He was rather +glad of it. When it was over he expected clearer weather and a calm. So +he waited, saying now and then a soothing word or two. + +'There--there--there, Radie--there's a good girl. Never +mind--there--there.' And between whiles his mind, which, in truth, had a +good deal upon it, would wander and pursue its dismal and perplexed +explorations, to the unheard accompaniment of her sobs. + +He went to the door, but it was not to call for water, or for old Tamar. +On the contrary, it was to observe whether she or the girl was listening. +But the house, though small, was built with thick partition walls, and +sounds were well enclosed in the rooms to which they belonged. + +With Rachel this weakness did not last long. It was a gust--violent--soon +over; and the 'o'er-charged' heart and brain were relieved. And she +pushed open the window, and stood for a moment in the chill air, and +sighed, and whispered a word or two over the closing flowers of her +little garden toward the darkening glen, and with another great sigh +closed the window, and returned. + +'Can I do anything, Radie? You're better now. I knew you would be. Shall +I get some water from your room?' + +'No, Stanley; no, thank you. I'm very well now,' she said, gently. + +'Yes, I think so. I knew you'd be better.' And he patted her shoulder +with his soft hand; and then followed a short silence. + +'I wish you were more pleasantly lodged, Radie; but we can speak of that +another time.' + +'Yes--you're right. This place is dreadful, and its darkness dreadful; +but light is still more dreadful now, and I think I'll change; but, as +you say, there is time enough to think of all that.' + +'Quite so--time enough. By-the-bye, Radie, you mentioned our old servant, +whom my father thought so highly of--Jim Dutton--the other evening. I've +been thinking of him, do you know, and I should like to find him out. He +was a very honest fellow, and attached, and a clever fellow, too, my +father thought; and _he_ was a good judge. Hadn't you a letter from his +mother lately? You told me so, I think; and if it is not too much +trouble, dear Radie, would you allow me to see it?' + +Rachel opened her desk, and silently selected one of those clumsy and +original missives, directed in a staggering, round hand, on paper oddly +shaped and thick, such as mixes not naturally with the aristocratic +fabric, on which crests and ciphers are impressed, and placed it in her +brother's hand. + +'But you can't read it without light,' said Rachel. + +'No; but there's no hurry. Does she say where she is staying, or her +son?' + +'Both, I think,' answered Rachel, languidly; 'but he'll never make a +servant for you--he's a rough creature, she says, and was a groom. You +can't remember him, nor I either.' + +'Perhaps--very likely;' and he put the letter in his pocket. + +'I was thinking, Rachel, you could advise me, if you would, you are so +clever, you know.' + +'Advise!' said Rachel, softly; but with a wild and bitter rage ringing +under it. 'I did advise when it was yet time to profit by advice. I bound +you even by a promise to take it, but you know how it ended. You don't +want my advice.' + +'But really I do, Radie. I quite allow I was wrong--worse than wrong--but +where is the use of attacking me now, when I'm in this dreadful fix? I +took a wrong step; and what I now have to do is to guard myself, if +possible, from what I'm threatened with.' + +She fancied she saw his pale face grow more bloodless, even in the shadow +where he sat. + +'I know you too well, Stanley. You want _no_ advice. You never took +advice--you never will. Your desperate and ingrained perversity has +ruined us both.' + +'I wish you'd let me know my own mind. I say I do--(and he uttered an +unpleasant exclamation). Do you think I'll leave matters to take their +course, and sit down here to be destroyed? I'm no such idiot. I tell you +I'll leave no stone unturned to save myself; and, in some measure, _you_ +too, Radie. You don't seem to comprehend the tremendous misfortune that +menaces me--_us_--_you_ and me.' + +And he cursed Mark Wylder with a gasp of hatred not easily expressed. + +She winced at the name, and brushed her hand to her ear. + +'Don't--don't--_don't_,' she said, vehemently. + +'Well, what the devil do you mean by refusing to help me, even with a +hint? I say--I _know_--all the odds are against us. It is sometimes a +long game; but unless I'm sharp, I can't escape what's coming. I +_can't_--you can't--sooner or later. It is in motion already--d-- +him--it's coming, and you expect me to do everything alone.' + +'I repeat it, Stanley,' said Rachel, with a fierce cynicism in her low +tones, 'you don't want advice; you have formed your plan, whatever it is, +and that plan you will follow, and no other, though men and angels were +united to dissuade you.' + +There was a pause here, and a silence for a good many seconds. + +'Well, perhaps, I _have_ formed an outline of a plan, and it strikes me +as very well I have--for I don't think you are likely to take that +trouble. I only want to explain it, and get your advice, and any little +assistance you can give me; and surely that is not unreasonable?' + +'I have learned one secret, and am exposed to one danger. I have +taken--to save you--it may be only a _respite_--one step, the remembrance +of which is insupportable. But I was passive. I am fallen from light into +darkness. There ends my share in your confidence and your fortunes. I +will know no more secrets--no more disgrace; do what you will, you shall +never use me again.' + +'Suppose these heroics of yours, Miss Radie, should contribute to bring +about--to bring about the worst,' said Stanley, with a sneer, through +which his voice trembled. + +'Let it come--my resolution is taken.' + +Stanley walked to the window, and in his easy way, as he would across a +drawing-room to stand by a piano, and he looked out upon the trees, whose +tops stood motionless against the darkened sky, like masses of ruins. +Then he came back as gently as he had gone, and stood beside his sister; +she could not see his yellow eyes now as he stood with his back to the +window. + +'Well, Radie, dear--you have put your hand to the plough, and you sha'n't +turn back now.' + +'What?' + +'No--you sha'n't turn back now.' + +'You seem, Sir, to fancy that I have no right to choose for myself,' said +Miss Rachel, spiritedly. + +'Now, Radie, you must be reasonable--who have I to advise with?' + +'Not me, Stanley--keep your plots and your secrets to yourself. In the +guilty path you have opened for me one step more I will never tread.' + +'Excuse me, Radie, but you're talking like a fool.' + +'I am not sorry you think so--you can't understand motives higher than +your own.' + +'You'll see that you must, though. You'll see it in a little while. +Self-preservation, dear Radie, is the first law of nature.' + +'For yourself, Stanley; and for _me_, self-sacrifice,' she retorted, +bitterly. + +'Well, Radie, I may as well tell you one thing that I'm resolved to carry +out,' said Lake, with a dreamy serenity, looking on the dark carpet. + +'I'll hear no secret, Stanley.' + +'It can't be long a secret, at least from you--you can't help knowing +it,' he drawled gently. 'Do you recollect, Radie, what I said that +morning when I first called here, and saw you?' + +'Perhaps I do, but I don't know what you mean,' answered she. + +'I said, Mark Wylder----' + +'Don't name him,' she said, rising and approaching him swiftly. + +'I said _he_ should go abroad, and so he shall,' said Lake, in a very low +tone, with a grim oath. + +'Why do you talk that way? You terrify me,' said Rachel, with one hand +raised toward his face with a gesture of horror and entreaty, and the +other closed upon his wrist. + +'I say he _shall_, Radie.' + +'Has he lost his wits? I can't comprehend you--you frighten me, Stanley. +You're talking wildly on purpose, I believe, to terrify me. You know the +state I'm in--sleepless--half wild--all alone here. You're talking like a +maniac. It's cruel--it's cowardly.' + +'I mean to _do_ it--you'll see.' + +Suddenly she hurried by him, and in a moment was in the little kitchen, +with its fire and candle burning cheerily. Stanley Lake was at her +shoulder as she entered, and both were white with agitation. + +Old Tamar rose up affrighted, her stiff arms raised, and uttered a +blessing. She did not know what to make of it. Rachel sat down upon one +of the kitchen chairs, scarce knowing what she did, and Stanley Lake +halted near the threshold--gazing for a moment as wildly as she, with the +ghost of his sly smile on his smooth, cadaverous face. + +'What ails her--is she ill, Master Stanley?' asked the old woman, +returning with her white eyes the young man's strange yellow glare. + +'I--I don't know--maybe--give her some water,' said Lake. + +'Glass of water--quick, child,' cried old Tamar to Margery. + +'Put it on the table,' said Rachel, collected now, but pale and somewhat +stern. + +'And now, Stanley, dear,' said she, for just then she was past caring for +the presence of the servants, 'I hope we understand one another--at +least, that you do me. If not, it is not for want of distinctness on my +part; and I think you had better leave me for the present, for, to say +truth, I do not feel very well.' + +'Good-night, Radie--good-night, old Tamar. I hope, Radie, you'll be +better--every way--when next I see you. Good-night.' + +He spoke in his usual clear low tones, and his queer ambiguous smile was +there still; and, hat in hand, with his cane in his fingers, he made +another glance and a nod over his shoulder, at the threshold, and then +glided forth into the little garden, and so to the mill-road, down which, +at a swift pace, he walked towards the village. + + + + +CHAPTER XXVI. + +CAPTAIN LAKE FOLLOWS TO LONDON. + + +Wylder's levanting in this way was singularly disconcerting. The time was +growing short. He wrote with a stupid good-humour, and an insolent +brevity which took no account of Miss Brandon's position, or that (though +secondary in awkwardness) of her noble relatives. Lord Chelford plainly +thought more than he cared to say; and his mother, who never minced +matters, said perhaps more than she quite thought. + +Chelford was to give the beautiful heiress away. But the receiver of this +rich and peerless gift--like some mysterious knight who, having carried +all before him in the tourney, vanishes no one knows whither, when the +prize is about to be bestowed, and whom the summons of the herald and the +call of the trumpet follow in vain--had escaped them. + +'Lake has gone up to town this morning--some business with his banker +about his commission--and he says he will make Wylder out on his arrival, +and write to me,' said Lord Chelford. + +Old Lady Chelford glanced across her shoulder at Dorcas, who leaned back +in a great chair by the window, listlessly turning over a book. + +'She's a strange girl, she does not seem to feel her situation--a most +painful and critical one. That low, coarse creature must be looked up +somehow.' + +'Lake knows where he is likely to be found, and will see him, I dare say, +this evening--perhaps in time to write by to-night's post.' + +So, in a quiet key, Miss Dorcas being at a distance, though in the same +room, the dowager and her son discussed this unpleasant and very nervous +topic. + +That evening Captain Lake was in London, comfortably quartered in a +private hotel, in one of the streets off Piccadilly. He went to his club +and dined better than he had done for many days. He really enjoyed his +three little courses--his pint of claret, his cup of _cafe noir_, and his +_chasse;_ the great Babylon was his Jerusalem, and his spirit found rest +there. + +He was renovated and refreshed, his soul was strengthened, and his +countenance waxed cheerful, and he began to feel like himself again, +under the brown canopy of metropolitan smoke, and among the cabs and +gaslights. + +After dinner he got into a cab, and drove to Mark Wylder's club. Was he +there?--No. Had he been there to-day?--No. Or within the last week?--No; +not for two months. He had left his address, and was in the country. The +address to which his letters were forwarded was 'The Brandon Arms, +Gylingden.' + +So Captain Lake informed that functionary that his friend had come up to +town, and asked him again whether he was quite certain that he had not +called there, or sent for his letters.--No; nothing of the sort. Then +Captain Lake asked to see the billiard-marker, who was likely to know +something about him. But he knew nothing. He certainly had not been at +the 'Lark's Nest,' which was kept by the marker's venerable parent, and +was a favourite haunt of the gay lieutenant. + +Then our friend Stanley, having ruminated for a minute, pencilled a +little note to Mark, telling him that he was staying at Muggeridge's +Hotel, 7, Hanover Street, Piccadilly, and wished _most_ particularly to +see him for a few minutes; and this he left with the hall-porter to give +him should he call. + +Then Lake got into his cab again, having learned that he had lodgings in +St. James's Street when he did not stay at the club, and to these he +drove. There he saw Mrs. M'Intyre, a Caledonian lady, at this hour +somewhat mellow and talkative; but she could say nothing to the purpose +either. Mr. Wylder had not been there for nine weeks and three days; and +would owe her, on Saturday next, twenty-five guineas. So here, too, he +left a little note to the same purpose; and re-entering his cab, he drove +a long way, and past St. Paul's, and came at last to a court, outside +which he had to dismount from his vehicle, entering the grimy quadrangle +through a narrow passage. He had been there that evening before, shortly +after his arrival, with old Mother Dutton, as he called her, about her +son, Jim. + +Jim was in London, looking for a situation, all which pleased Captain +Lake; and he desired that she should send him to his hotel to see him in +the morning. + +But being in some matters of a nervous and impatient temperament, he had +come again, as we see, hoping to find Jim there, and to anticipate his +interview of the morning. + +The windows, however, were dark, and a little research satisfied Captain +Lake that the colony was in bed. In fact, it was by this time half-past +eleven o'clock, and working-people don't usually sit up to that hour. But +our friend, Stanley Lake, was one of those persons who think that the +course of the world's affairs should bend a good deal to their personal +convenience, and he was not pleased with these unreasonable +working-people who had gone to their beds, and brought him to this remote +and grimy amphitheatre of black windows for nothing. So, wishing them the +good-night they merited, he re-entered his cab, and drove rapidly back +again towards the West-end. + +This time he went to a somewhat mysterious and barricadoed place, where +in a blaze of light, in various rooms, gentlemen in hats, and some in +great coats, were playing roulette or hazard; and I am sorry to say, that +our friend, Captain Lake, played first at one and then at the other, with +what success exactly I don't know. But I don't think it was very far from +four o'clock in the morning when he let himself into his family hotel +with that latchkey, the cock's tail of Micyllus, with which good-natured +old Mrs. Muggeridge obliged the good-looking captain. + +Captain Lake having given orders the evening before, that anyone who +might call in the morning, and ask to see him, should be shown up to his +bed-room _sans ceremonie_, was roused from deep slumber at a quarter past +ten, by a knock at his door, and a waiter's voice. + +'Who's that?' drawled Captain Lake, rising, pale and half awake, on his +elbow, and not very clear where he was. + +'The man, Sir, as you left a note for yesterday, which he desires to see +you?' + +'Tell him to step in.' + +So out went the waiter in pumps, and the sound of thick shoes was audible +on the lobby, and a sturdier knock sounded on the door. + +'Come in,' said the captain. + +And Jim Dutton entered the room, and, closing the door, made, at the side +of the bed, his reverence, consisting of a nod and a faint pluck at the +lock of hair over his forehead. + +Now Stanley Lake had, perhaps, expected to see some one else; for though +this was a very respectable-looking fellow for his walk in life, the gay +young officer stared full at him, with a frightened and rather dreadful +countenance, and actually sprung from his bed at the other side, with an +ejaculation at once tragic and blasphemous. + +The man plainly had not expected to produce any such result, and looked +very queer. Perhaps he thought something had occurred to affect his +personal appearance; perhaps some doubt about the captain's state of +health, and misgiving as to delirium tremens may have flickered over his +brain. + +They were staring at one another across the bed, the captain in his +shirt. + +At last the gallant officer seemed to discover things as they were, for +he said-- + +'Jim Dutton, by Jove!' + +The oath was not so innocent; but it was delivered quietly; and then the +captain drew a long breath, and then, still staring at him, he laughed a +ghastly little laugh, also quietly. + +'And so it is you, Jim,' said the captain. 'And how do you do--quite +well, Jim--and out of place? You've been hurt in the foot, eh? so old +your--Mrs. Dutton tells me, but that won't signify. I was dreaming when +you came in; not quite awake yet, hardly; just wait a bit till I get my +slippers on; and this--' So into his red slippers he slid, and got his +great shawl dressing-gown, such as fine gentlemen then wore, about his +slender person, and knotted the silken cords with depending tassels, and +greeted Jim Dutton again in very friendly fashion, enquiring very +particularly how he had been ever since, and what his mother was doing; +and I'm afraid not listening to Jim's answers as attentively as one might +have expected. + +Whatever may have been his intrinsic worth, Jim was not polished, and +spoke, moreover, an uncouth dialect, which broke out now and then. But he +was in a sort of way attached to the Lake family, the son of an +hereditary tenant on that estate which had made itself wings, and flown +away like the island of Laputa. It could not be said to be love; it was a +sort of traditionary loyalty; a sentiment, however, not altogether +unserviceable. + +When they had talked together for a while, the captain said-- + +'The fact is, it is not quite on me you would have to attend; the +situation, perhaps, is better. You have no objection to travel. You +_have_ been abroad, you know; and of course wages and all that will be in +proportion.' + +Well, Jim had not any objection to speak of. + +'What's wanted is a trustworthy man, perfectly steady, you see, and a +fellow who knows how to hold his tongue.' + +The last condition, perhaps, struck the man as a little odd; he looked a +little confusedly, and he conveyed that he would not like to be in +anything that was not quite straight. + +'Quite straight, Sir!' repeated Stanley Lake, looking round on him +sternly; 'neither should I, I fancy. You are to suppose the case of a +gentleman who is nursing his estate--you know what that means--and wants +to travel, and keep quite quiet, and who requires a steady, trustworthy +man to look after him, in such a way as I shall direct, with very little +trouble and capital pay. I have a regard for you, Dutton; and seeing so +good a situation was to be had, and thinking you the fittest man I know, +I wished to serve you and my friend at the same time.' + +Dutton became grateful and docile upon this. + +'There are reasons, quite honourable I need not tell you, which make it +necessary, James Dutton, that the whole of this affair should be kept +perfectly to ourselves; you are not to repeat one syllable I say to you +to your mother, do you mind, or to any other person living. The gentleman +is liberal, and if you can just hold your tongue, you will have little +trouble in satisfying him upon all other points. But if you can't be +quite silent, you had better, I frankly tell you, decline the situation, +excellent in all respects as it is.' + +'I'm a man, Sir, as can be close enough.' + +'So much the better. You don't drink?' + +Dutton coloured a little and coughed and said-- + +'No, Sir.' + +'You have your papers?' + +'Yes, Sir.' + +'We must be satisfied as to your sobriety, Dutton. Come back at half-past +eleven and I'll see you, and bring your papers; and, do you see, you are +not to talk, you understand; only you may say, if anyone presses, that I +am thinking of hiring you to attend on a gentleman, whose name you don't +yet know, who's going to travel. That's all.' + +So Jim Dutton made his bow, and departed; and Captain Lake continued to +watch the door for some seconds after his departure, as if he could see +his retreating figure through it. And, said he, with an oath, and his +hand to his forehead, over his eyebrow-- + +'It _is_ the most unaccountable thing in nature!' + +Then, after a reverie of some seconds, the young gentleman applied +himself energetically to his toilet; and coming down to his sitting-room, +he looked into his morning paper, and then into the street, and told the +servant as he sate down to breakfast, that he expected a gentleman named +Wylder to call that morning, and to be sure to show him up directly. + +Captain Lake's few hours' sleep, contrary to popular ideas about +gamesters' slumbers, had been the soundest and the most natural which he +had enjoyed for a good many nights. He was refreshed. At Gylingden and +Brandon he had been simulating Captain Stanley Lake--being, in truth, +something quite different--with a vigilant histrionic effort which was +awfully exhausting, and sometimes nearly intolerable. Here the captain +was perceptibly stealing into his old ways and feelings. His spirit +revived; something like confidence in the future, and a possibility even +of enjoying the present, was struggling visibly through the cold fog that +environed him. Reason has, after all, so little to do with our moods. The +weather, the scene, the stomach, how pleasantly they deal with facts--how +they supersede philosophy, and even arithmetic, and teach us how much of +life is intoxication and illusion. + +Still there was the sword of Damocles over his pineal gland. D---- that +sheer, cold blade! D---- him that forged it! Still there was a great deal +of holding in a horse-hair. Had not salmon, of I know not how many +pounds' weight, been played and brought to land by that slender towage. +There is the sword, a burnished piece of cutlery, weighing just so many +pounds; and the horsehair has sufficed for an hour, and why not for +another--and soon? Hang moping and nonsense! Waiter, another pint of +Chian; and let the fun go forward. + +So the literal waiter knocked at the door. 'A person wanted to see +Captain Lake. No, it was not Mr. Wylder. It was the man who had been here +in the morning--Dutton is his name.' + +'And so it is really half-past eleven?' said Lake, in a sleepy surprise. +'Let him come in.' + +And so in comes Jim Dutton again, to hear particulars, and have, as he +hopes, his engagement ratified. + + + + +CHAPTER XXVII. + +LAWYER LARKIN'S MIND BEGINS TO WORK. + + +That morning Lake's first report upon his inquisition into the +whereabouts of Mark Wylder--altogether disappointing and barren--reached +Lord Chelford in a short letter; and a similar one, only shorter, found +Lawyer Larkin in his pleasant breakfast parlour. + +Now this proceeding of Mr. Wylder's, at this particular time, struck the +righteous attorney, and reasonably, as a very serious and unjustifiable +step. There was, in fact, no way of accounting for it, that was +altogether complimentary to his respected and nutritious client. Yes; +there was something every way _very_ serious in the affair. It actually +threatened the engagement which was so near its accomplishment. Some most +powerful and mysterious cause must undoubtedly be in operation to induce +so sharp a 'party,' so keen after this world's wealth, to risk so huge a +prize. Whatever eminent qualities Mark Wylder might be deficient in, the +attorney very well knew that cunning was not among the number. + +'It is nothing of the nature of debt--plenty of money. It is nothing that +money can buy off easily either, though he does not like parting with it. +Ten--_twenty_ to one--it is the old story--some unfortunate female +connection--some ambiguous relation, involving a doubtful marriage.' + +And Josiah Larkin turned up his small pink eyes, and shook his tall, bald +head gently, and murmured, as he nodded it-- + +'The sins of his youth find him out; the sins of his youth.' + +And he sighed; and his long palms were raised, and waved, or rather +paddled slowly to the rhythm of the sentiment. + +If the butchers' boy then passing saw that gaunt and good attorney, +standing thus in his bow-window, I am sure he thought he was at his +devotions and abated his whistling as he went by. + +After this Mr. Larkin's ruminations darkened, and grew, perhaps, less +distinct. He had no particular objection to a mystery. In fact, he rather +liked it, provided he was admitted to confidence. A mystery implied a +difficulty of a delicate and formidable sort; and such difficulties were +not disadvantageous to a clever and firm person, who might render himself +very necessary to an embarrassed principal with plenty of money. + +Mr. Larkin had a way of gently compressing his under-lip between his +finger and thumb--a mild pinch, a reflective caress--when contemplations +of this nature occupied his brain. The silver light of heaven faded from +his long face, a deep shadow of earth came thereon, and his small, +dove-like eyes grew intense, hungry, and rat-like. + +Oh! Lawyer Larkin, your eyes, though very small, are very sharp. They can +read through the outer skin of ordinary men, as through a parchment +against the light, the inner writing, and spell out its meanings. How is +it that they fail to see quite through one Jos. Larkin, a lawyer of +Gylingden? The layover of Gylingden is somehow two opaque for them, I +almost think. Is he really too deep for you? Or is it that you don't care +to search him too narrowly, or have not time? or as men in money +perplexities love not the scrutiny of their accounts or papers, you don't +care to tire your eyes over the documents in that neatly japanned box, +the respectable lawyer's conscience? + +If you have puzzled yourself, you have also puzzled me. I don't quite +know what to make of you. I've sometimes thought you were simply an +impostor, and sometimes simply the dupe of your own sorceries. The heart +of man is deceitful above all things and desperately wicked. Some men, +with a piercing insight into the evil of man's nature, have a blurred +vision for their own moralities. For them it is not easy to see where +wisdom ends and guile begins--what wiles are justified to honour, and +what partake of the genius of the robber, and where lie the delicate +boundaries between legitimate diplomacy and damnable lying. I am not sure +that Lawyer Larkin did not often think himself very nearly what he wished +the world to think him--an 'eminent Christian.' What an awful abyss is +self delusion. + +Lawyer Larkin was, on the whole, I dare say, tolerably well pleased with +the position, as he would have said, of his spiritual interest, and +belonged to that complacent congregation who said, 'I am rich and have +need of nothing;' and who, no doubt, opened their eyes wide enough, and +misdoubted the astounding report of their ears, when the judge thundered, +'Thou art wretched and miserable, and poor and blind and naked.' + +When Jos. Larkins had speculated thus, and built rich, but sombre, +castles in the air, for some time longer, he said quietly to himself-- + +'Yes.' + +And then he ordered his dog-cart, and drove off to Dollington, and put up +at Johnson's Hotel, where Stanley Lake had slept on the night of his +sister's return from London. The people there knew the lawyer very well; +of course, they quite understood his position. Mr. Johnson, the +proprietor, you may be sure, does not confound him with the great +squires, the baronets, and feudal names of the county; but though he was +by comparison easy in his company, with even a dash of familiarity, he +still respected Mr. Larkin as a man with money, and a sort of influence, +and in whose way, at election and other times, it might lie to do his +house a good or an ill turn. + +Mr. Larkin got into a little brown room, looking into the inn garden, and +called for some luncheon, and pen and ink, and had out a sheaf of law +papers he had brought with him, tied up in professional red tape; and +asked the waiter, with a grand smile and recognition, how he did; and +asked him next for his good friend, Mr. Johnson; and trusted that +business was improving; and would be very happy to see him for two or +three minutes, if he could spare time. + +So, in due time, in came the corpulent proprietor, and Lawyer Larkin +shook hands with him, and begged him to sit down, like a man who confers +a distinction; and assured him that Lord Edward Buxleigh, whom he had +recommended to stay at the house for the shooting, had been very well +pleased with the accommodation--very highly so indeed--and his lordship +had so expressed himself when they had last met at Sir Hugh Huxterley's, +of Hatch Court. + +The good lawyer liked illuminating his little narratives, compliments, +and reminiscences with plenty of armorial bearings and heraldic figures, +and played out his court-cards in easy and somewhat overpowering +profusion. + +Then he enquired after the two heifers that Mr. Johnson was so good as to +feed for him on his little farm; and then he mentioned that his friend, +Captain Lake, who was staying with him at his house at Gylingden, was +also very well satisfied with his accommodation, when he, too, at Lawyer +Larkin's recommendation, had put up for a night at Johnson's Hotel; and +it was not every house which could satisfy London swells of Captain +Lake's fashion and habits, he could tell him. + +Then followed some conversation which, I dare say, interested the lawyer +more than be quite showed in Mr. Johnson's company. For when that pleased +and communicative host had withdrawn, Jos. Larkin made half-a-dozen +little entries in his pocket-book, with 'Statement of Mr. William +Johnson,' and the date of their conversation, at the head of the +memorandum. + +So the lawyer, having to run on as far as Charteris by the goods-train, +upon business, walked down to the station, where, having half-an-hour to +wait, he fell into talk with the station-master, whom he also knew, and +afterwards with Tom Christmas, the porter; and in the waiting-room he +made some equally business-like memoranda, being certain chips and +splinters struck off the clumsy talk of these officials, and laid up in +the lawyer's little private museum, for future illustration and analysis. + +By the time his little book was again in the bottom of his +pocket, the train had arrived, and doors swung open and clapt +and people got in and out to the porter's accompaniment of +'Dollington--Dollington--Dollington!' and Lawyer Larkin took his place, +and glided away to Charteris, where he had a wait of two hours for the +return train, and a good deal of barren talk with persons at the station, +rewarded by one or two sentences worth noting, and accordingly duly +entered in the same little pocket-book. + +Thus was the good man's day consumed; and when he mounted his dog-cart, +at Dollington, wrapped his rug about his legs, whip and reins in hand, +and the ostler buckled the apron across, the sun was setting redly behind +the hills; and the air was frosty, and the night dark, as he drew up +before his own door-steps, near Gylingden. A dozen lines of one of these +pages would suffice to contain the fruits of his day's work; and yet the +lawyer was satisfied, and even pleased with it, and eat his late dinner +very happily; and though dignified, of course, was more than usually mild +and gracious with all his servants that evening, and 'expounded at family +prayers' in a sense that was liberal and comforting; and went to bed +after a calm and pleased review of his memoranda, and slept the sleep of +the righteous. + + + + +CHAPTER XXVIII. + +MARK WYLDER'S SUBMISSION. + + +Every day the position grew more critical and embarrassing. The day +appointed for the nuptials was now very near, and the bridegroom not only +out of sight but wholly untraceable. What was to be done? + +A long letter from Stanley Lake told Lord Chelford, in detail, all the +measures adopted by that energetic young gentleman for the discovery of +the truant knight:-- + +'I have been at his club repeatedly, as also at his lodgings--still +_his_, though he has not appeared there since his arrival in town. The +billiard-marker at his club knows his haunts; and I have taken the +liberty to employ, through him, several persons who are acquainted with +his appearance, and, at my desire, frequent those places with a view to +discovering him, and bringing about an interview with me. + +'He was seen, I have reason to believe, a day or two before my arrival +here, at a low place called the "Miller's Hall," in the City, where +members of the "Fancy" resort, at one of their orgies, but not since. I +have left notes for him wherever he is likely to call, entreating an +interview. + +'On my arrival I was sanguine about finding him; but I regret to say my +hopes have very much declined, and I begin to think he must have changed +his quarters. If you have heard from him within the last few days, +perhaps you will be so kind as to send me the envelope of his letter, +which, by its postmark, may possibly throw some light or hint some theory +as to his possible movements. He is very clever; and having taken this +plan of concealing his residence, will conduct it skilfully. If the case +were mine I should be much tempted to speak with the detective +authorities, and try whether they might not give their assistance, of +course without _eclat_. But this is, I am aware, open to objection, and, +in fact, would not be justifiable, except under the very peculiar urgency +of the case. + +'Will you be so good as to say what you think upon this point; also, to +instruct me what you authorise me to say should I be fortunate enough to +meet him. At present I am hardly in a position to say more than an +acquaintance--never, I fear, very cordial on his part--would allow; +which, of course, could hardly exceed a simple mention of your anxiety to +be placed in communication with him. + +'If I might venture to suggest, I really think a peremptory alternative +should be presented to him. Writing, however, in ignorance of what may +since have passed at Brandon, I may be assuming a state of things which, +possibly, no longer exists. Pray understand that in any way you please to +employ me, I am entirely at your command. It is also possible, though I +hardly hope it, that I may be able to communicate something definite by +this evening's post. + +'I do not offer any conjectures as to the cause of this very embarrassing +procedure on his part; and indeed I find a great difficulty in rendering +myself useful, with any likelihood of really succeeding, without at the +same exposing myself to an imputation of impertinence. You will easily +see how difficult is my position. + +'Whatever may be the cause of Mark Wylder's present line of conduct, it +appears to me that if he really did attend that meeting at the "Miller's +Hall," there cannot be anything _very_ serious weighing upon his spirits. +My business will detain me here, I rather think, three days longer.' + +By return of post Lord Chelford wrote to Stanley Lake:-- + +'I am so very much obliged to you for all the trouble you have taken. The +measures which you have adopted are, I think, most judicious; and I +should not wish, on consideration, to speak to any official person. I +think it better to trust entirely to the means you have already employed. +Like you, I do not desire to speculate as to the causes of Wylder's +extraordinary conduct; but, all the circumstances considered, I cannot +avoid concluding, as you do, that there must be some _very_ serious +reason for it. I enclose a note, which, perhaps, you will be so good as +to give him, should you meet before you leave town.' + +The note to Mark Wylder was in these terms:-- + + +'DEAR WYLDER,--I had hoped to see you before now at Brandon. Your +unexplained absence longer continued, you must see, will impose on me the +necessity of offering an explanation to Miss Brandon's friends, of the +relations, under these strange circumstances, in which you and she are to +be assumed to stand. You have accounted in no way for your absence. You +have not even suggested a postponement of the day fixed for the +completion of your engagement to that young lady; and, as her guardian, I +cannot avoid telling her, should I fail to hear explicitly from you +within three days from this date, that she is at liberty to hold herself +acquitted of her engagement to you. I do not represent to you how much +reason everyone interested by relationship in that young lady has to feel +offended at the disrespect with which you have treated her. Still hoping, +however, that all may yet be explained, + +'I remain, my dear Wylder, yours very truly, + +'CHELFORD.' + + +Lord Chelford had not opened the subject to Dorcas. Neither had old Lady +Chelford, although she harangued her son upon it as volubly and fiercely +as if he had been Mark Wylder in person, whenever he and she were +_tete-a-tete_. She was extremely provoked, too, at Dorcas's evident +repose under this astounding treatment, and was enigmatically sarcastic +upon her when they sat together in the drawing-room. + +She and her son were, it seemed, not only to think and act, but to feel +also, for this utterly immovable young lady! The Brandons, in her young +days, were not wanting in spirit. No; they had many faults, but they were +not sticks or stones. They were not to be taken up and laid down like wax +dolls; they could act and speak. It would not have been safe to trample +upon them; and they were not less beautiful for being something more than +pictures and statues. + +This evening, in the drawing-room, there were two very pretty ormolu +caskets upon the little marble table. + +'A new present from Mark Wylder,' thought Lady Chelford, as these objects +met her keen glance. 'The unceremonious bridegroom has, I suppose, found +his way back with a peace-offering in his hand.' And she actually peered +through her spectacles into the now darkened corners of the chamber, half +expecting to discover the truant Wylder awaiting there the lecture she +was well prepared to give him; but the square form and black whiskers of +the prodigal son were not discernible there. + +'So, so, something new, and very elegant and pretty,' said the old lady +aloud, holding her head high, and looking as if she were disposed to be +propitiated. 'I think I can risk a conjecture. Mr. Wylder is about to +reappear, and has despatched these heralds of his approach, no doubt +suitably freighted, to plead for his reacceptance into favour. You have +heard, then, from Mr. Wylder, my dear Dorcas?' + +'No, Lady Chelford,' said the young lady with a grave serenity, turning +her head leisurely towards her. + +'No? Oh, then where is my son? He, perhaps, can explain; and pray, my +dear, what are these?' + +'These caskets contain the jewels which Mr. Wylder gave me about six +weeks since. I had intended restoring them to him; but as his return is +delayed, I mean to place them in Chelford's hands; because I have made up +my mind, a week ago, to put an end to this odious engagement. It is all +over.' + +Lady Chelford stared at the audacious young lady with a look of incensed +amazement for some seconds, unable to speak. + +'Upon my word, young lady! vastly fine and independent! You _chasser_ Mr. +Wylder without one moment's notice, and without deigning to consult me, +or any other person capable of advising you. You are about to commit as +gross and indelicate a breach of faith as I recollect anywhere to have +heard of. What will be thought?--what will the world say?--what will your +friends say? Will you be good enough to explain yourself? _I_'ll not +undertake your excuses, I promise you.' + +'Excuses! I don't think of excuses, Lady Chelford; no person living has a +right to demand one.' + +'Very tragic, young lady, and quite charming!' sneered the dowager +angrily. + +'Neither one nor the other, I venture to think; but quite true, Lady +Chelford,' answered Miss Brandon, haughtily. + +'I don't believe you are serious, Dorcas,' said Lady Chelford, more +anxiously, and also more gently. 'I can't suppose it. I'm an old woman, +my dear, and I sha'n't trouble you very long. I can have no object in +misleading you, and you have never experienced from me anything but +kindness and affection. I think you might trust me a little, Dorcas--but +that, of course, is for you, you are your own mistress now--but, at +least, you may reconsider the question you propose deciding in so +extraordinary a way. I allow you might do much better than Mark Wylder, +but also worse. He has not a title, and his estate is not enough to carry +the point _a force d'argent_; I grant all that. But _together_ the +estates are more than most titled men possess; and the real point is the +fatal slip in your poor uncle's will, which makes it so highly important +that you and Mark should be united; bear that in mind, dear Dorcas. I +look for his return every day--every hour, indeed--and no doubt his +absence will turn out to have been unavoidable. You must not act +precipitately, and under the influence of mere pique. His absence, I will +lay my life, will be satisfactorily accounted for; he has set his heart +upon this marriage, and I really think you will almost drive him mad if +you act as you threaten.' + +'You have, indeed, dear Lady Chelford, been always very kind to me, and I +do trust you,' replied this beautiful heiress, turning her large shadowy +eyes upon the dowager, and speaking in slow and silvery accents, somehow +very melancholy. 'I dare say it is very imprudent, and I don't deny that +Mr. Wylder may have reason to complain of me, and the world will not +spare me either; but I have quite made up my mind, and nothing can ever +change me; all is over between me and Mr. Wylder--quite over--for ever.' + +'Upon my life, young lady, this is being very sharp, indeed. Mr. Wylder's +business detains him a day or two longer than he expected, and he is +punished by a final dismissal!' + +The old lady's thin cheeks were flushed, and her eyes shot a reddish +light, and altogether she made an angry sight. It was hardly reasonable. +She had been inveighing against Miss Brandon's apathy under Wylder's +disrespect, and now that the young lady spoke and acted too, she was +incensed. She had railed upon Wylder, in no measured terms, herself, and +even threatened, as the proper measure, that very step which Dorcas had +announced; and now she became all at once the apologist of this insolent +truant, and was ready to denounce her unreasonable irritation. + +'So far, dear Lady Chelford, from provoking me to this decision, his +absence is, I assure you, the sole reason of my having delayed to inform +him of it.' + +'And I assure you, Miss Brandon, _I_ sha'n't undertake to deliver your +monstrous message. He will probably be here to-morrow. You have prepared +an agreeable surprise for him. You shall have the pleasure of +administering it yourself, Miss Brandon. For my part, I have done my +duty, and here and now renounce all responsibility in the future +management of your affairs.' + +Saying which, she rose, in a stately and incensed way, and looking with +flashing eyes over Dorcas's head to a far corner of the apartment, +without another word she rustled slowly and majestically from the +drawing-room. + +She was a good deal shocked, and her feelings quite changed, however, +when next morning the post brought a letter to Chelford from Mark Wylder, +bearing the Boulogne postmark. It said-- + + +'DEAR CHELFORD, + +'Don't get riled; but the fact is I don't see my way out of my present +business'--(this last word was substituted for another, crossed out, +which looked like 'scrape')--'for a couple of months, maybe. Therefore, +you see, my liberty and wishes being at present interfered with, it would +be very hard lines if poor Dorcas should be held to her bargain. +Therefore, I will say this--_she is quite free_ for me. Only, of course, +I don't decline to fulfil my part whenever at liberty. In the meantime I +return the miniature, with her hair in it, which I constantly wore about +me since I got it. But I have no right to it any longer, till I know her +decision. Don't be too hard on me, dear Chelford. It is a very old lark +has got me into this present vexation. In the meantime, I wish to make it +quite clear what I mean. Not being able by any endeavour'--(here a +nautical phrase scratched out, and 'endeavour' substituted)--'of mine to +be up to time, and as these are P.P. affairs, I must only forfeit. I +mean, I am at the lady's disposal, either to fulfil my engagement the +earliest day I can, or to be turned adrift. That is all I can say. + +'In more trouble than you suppose, I remain, dear Chelford, yours, +whatever you may think, faithfully, + +'MARK WYLDER' + + + + +CHAPTER XXIX. + +HOW MARK WYLDER'S DISAPPEARANCE AFFECTED HIS FRIENDS. + + +Lady Chelford's wrath was now turned anew upon Wylder--and the +inconvenience of having no visible object on which to expend it was once +more painfully felt. Railing at Mark Wylder was, alas! but beating the +air. The most crushing invective was--thanks to his adroit +mystification--simply a soliloquy. Poor Lady Chelford, who loved to give +the ingenious youngsters of both sexes, when occasion invited, a piece of +her mind, was here--in the case of this vulgar and most provoking +delinquent--absolutely tongue-tied! If it had been possible to tell +Wylder what she thought of him it would, perhaps, have made her more +tolerable than she was for some days after the arrival of that letter, to +other members of the family. + +The idea of holding Miss Brandon to this engagement, and proroguing her +nuptials from day to day, to convenience the bridegroom--absent without +explanation--was of course quite untenable. Fortunately, the marriage, +considering the antiquity and the territorial position of the two +families who were involved, was to have been a very quiet affair +indeed--no festivities--no fire-works--nothing of the nature of a county +gala--no glare or thunder--no concussion of society--a dignified but +secluded marriage. + +This divested the inevitable dissolution of these high relations of a +great deal of its _eclat_ and ridicule. + +Of course there was abundance of talk. Scarce a man or woman in the shire +but had a theory or a story--sometimes bearing hard on the lady, +sometimes on the gentleman; still it was an abstract breach of promise, +and would have much improved by some outward and visible sign of +disruption and disappointment. Some concrete pageantries to be abolished +and removed; flag-staffs, for instance, and banners, marquees, +pyrotechnic machinery, and long tiers of rockets, festoons of evergreens, +triumphal arches with appropriate mottoes, to come down and hide +themselves away, would have been pleasant to the many who like a joke, +and to the few, let us hope, who love a sneer. + +But there were no such fopperies to hurry off the stage disconcerted. In +the autumnal sun, among the embrowned and thinning foliage of the noble +trees, Brandon Hall looked solemn, sad and magnificent, as usual, with a +sort of retrospective serenity, buried in old-world glories and sorrows, +and heeding little the follies and scandals of the hour. + +In the same way Miss Brandon, with Lord and Lady Chelford, was seen next +Sunday, serene and unchanged, in the great carved oak Brandon pew, raised +like a dais two feet at least above the level of mere Christians, who +frequented the family chapel. There, among old Wylder and Brandon +tombs--some painted stone effigies of the period of Elizabeth and the +first James, and some much older--stone and marble knights praying on +their backs with their spurs on, and said to have been removed nearly +three hundred years ago from the Abbey of Naunton Friars, when that +famous monastery began to lose its roof and turn into a picturesque ruin, +and by-gone generations of Wylders and Brandons had offered up their +conspicuous devotions, with--judging from their heathen lives--I fear no +very remarkable efficacy. + +Here then, next Sunday afternoon, when the good vicar, the Rev. William +Wylder, at three o'clock, performed his holy office in reading-desk and +pulpit, the good folk from Gylingden assembled in force, saw nothing +noticeable in the demeanour or appearance of the great Brandon heiress. A +goddess in her aerial place, haughty, beautiful, unconscious of human +gaze, and seen as it were telescopically by mortals from below. No shadow +of trouble on that calm marble beauty, no light of joy, but a serene +superb indifference. + +Of course there was some satire in Gylingden; but, in the main, it was a +loyal town, and true to its princess. Mr. Wylder's settlements were not +satisfactory, it was presumed, or the young lady could not bring herself +to like him, or however it came to pass, one way or another, that sprig +of willow inevitably to be mounted by hero or heroine upon such equivocal +occasions was placed by the honest town by no means in her breast, but +altogether in his button-hole. + +Gradually, in a more authentic shape, information traceable to old Lady +Chelford, through some of the old county families who visited at Brandon, +made it known that Mr. Wylder's affairs were not at present by any means +in so settled a state as was supposed; and that a long betrothal not +being desirable on the whole, Miss Brandon's relatives thought it +advisable that the engagement should terminate, and had so decided, Mr. +Wylder having, very properly, placed himself absolutely in their hands. + +As for Mark, it was presumed he had gone into voluntary banishment, and +was making the grand tour in the spirit of that lackadaisical gentleman +in the then fashionable song, who says:-- + + From sport to sport they hurry me, + To banish my regret, + And if they win a smile from me, + They think that I forget. + +It was known to be quite final, and as the lady evinced no chagrin and +affected no unusual spirits, but held, swanlike and majestic, the even +tenor of her way, there was, on the whole, little doubt anywhere that the +gentleman had received his _conge_, and was hiding his mortification and +healing his wounds in Paris or Vienna, or some other suitable retreat. + +But though the good folk of Gylingden, in general, cared very little how +Mark Wylder might have disposed of himself, there was one inhabitant to +whom his absence was fraught with very serious anxiety and inconvenience. +This was his brother, William, the vicar. + +Poor William, sound in morals, free from vice, no dandy, a quiet, +bookish, self-denying mortal, was yet, when he took holy orders and +quitted his chambers at Cambridge, as much in debt as many a scamp of his +college. He had been, perhaps, a little foolish and fanciful in the +article of books, and had committed a serious indiscretion in the matter +of a carved oak bookcase; and, worse still, he had published a slender +volume of poems, and a bulkier tome of essays, scholastic and theologic, +both which ventures, notwithstanding their merits, had turned out +unhappily; and worse still, he had lent that costly loan, his sign +manual, on two or three occasions, to friends in need, and one way or +another found that, on winding up and closing his Cambridge life, his +assets fell short of his liabilities very seriously. + +The entire amount it is true was not very great. A pupil or two, and a +success with his work 'On the Character and Inaccuracies of Eusebius,' +would make matters square in a little time. But his advertisements for a +resident pupil had not been answered; they had cost him something, and he +had not any more spare bread just then to throw upon the waters. So the +advertisements for the present were suspended; and the publishers, +somehow, did not take kindly to Eusebius, who was making the tour of that +fastidious and hard-hearted fraternity. + +He had staved off some of his troubles by a little loan from an insurance +company, but the premium and the instalments were disproportioned to his +revenue, and indeed very nearly frightful to contemplate. The Cambridge +tradesmen were growing minatory; and there was a stern person who held a +renewal of one of his old paper subsidies to the necessities of his +scampish friend Clarkson, who was plainly a difficult and awful character +to deal with. + +Dreadful as were the tradesmen's peremptory and wrathful letters, the +promptitude and energy of this latter personage were such as to produce a +sense of immediate danger so acute that the scared vicar opened his +dismal case to his Brother Mark. + +Mark, sorely against the grain, and with no good grace, at last consented +to advance L300 in this dread emergency, and the vicar blessed his +benefactor, and in his closet on his knees, shed tears of thankfulness +over his deliverance, and the sky opened and the flowers locked bright, +and life grew pleasant once more. + +But the L300 were not yet in his pocket, and Mark had gone away; and +although of course the loan was sure to come, the delay--any delay in his +situation--was critical and formidable. Here was another would-be +correspondent of Mark's foiled for want of his address. Still he would +not believe it possible that he could forget his promise, or shut up his +bowels of mercy, or long delay the remittance which he knew to be so +urgently needed. + +In the meantime, however, a writ reached the hand of the poor Vicar of +Naunton Friars, who wrote in eager and confused terror to a friend in the +Middle Temple on the dread summons, and learned that he was now 'in +court,' and must 'appear,' or suffer judgment by default. + +The end was that he purchased a respite of three months, by adding thirty +pounds to his debt, and so was thankful for another deliverance, and was +confident of the promised subsidy within a week, or at all events a +fortnight, or, at worst, three months was a long reprieve--and the +subsidy must arrive before the emergency. + + In this there can be no dismay; + My ships come home a month before the day. + +When the 'service' was over, the neighbourly little congregation, with a +sprinkling of visitors to Gylingden, for sake of its healing waters, +broke up, and loitered in the vicinity of the porch, to remark on the +sermon or the weather, and ask one another how they did, and to see the +Brandon family enter their carriage and the tall, powdered footman shut +the door upon them, and mount behind, and move off at a brilliant pace, +and with a glorious clangour and whirl of dust; and, this incident over, +they broke up gradually into little groups, in Sunday guise, and many +colours, some for a ramble on the common, and some to tea, according to +the primitive hours that ruled old Gylingden. + +The vicar, and John Hughes, clerk and sexton, were last out; and the +reverend gentleman, thin and tall, in white necktie, and black, a little +threadbare, stood on the steps of the porch, in a sad abstraction. The +red autumnal sun nearing the edge of the distant hills, + + Looked through the horizontal misty air + Shorn of its beams-- + +and lighted the thin and gentle features of the vicar with a melancholy +radiance. The sound of the oak door closing heavily behind him and John +Hughes, and the key revolving in the lock recalled him, and with a sigh +and a smile, and a kindly nod to John, he looked up and round on the +familiar and pretty scenery undecided. It was not quite time to go home; +his troubles were heavy upon him, too, just then; they have their +paroxysms like ague; and the quiet of the road, and the sweet air and +sunshine, tempted him to walk off the chill and fever of the fit. + +As he passed the little cottage where old Widow Maddock lay sick, Rachael +Lake emerged. He was not glad. He would rather have had his sad walk in +his own shy company. But there she was--he could not pass her by; so he +stopped, and lifted his hat, and greeted her; and then they shook hands. +She was going his way. He looked wistfully on the little hatch of old +Widow Maddock's cottage; for he felt a pang of reproach at passing her +door; but there was no comfort then in his thoughts, only a sense of fear +and hopeless fatigue. + +'How is poor old Mrs. Maddock?' he asked; 'you have been visiting the +sick and afflicted, and I was passing by; but, indeed, if I were capable +at this moment I should not fail to see her, poor creature.' + +There was something apologetic and almost miserable in his look as he +said this. + +'She is not better; but you have been very good to her, and she is very +grateful; and I am glad,' said Rachel, 'that I happened to light on you.' + +And she paused. They were by this time walking side by side; and she +glanced at him enquiringly; and he thought that the handsome girl looked +rather thin and pale. + +'You once said,' Miss Lake resumed, 'that sooner or later I should be +taught the value of religion, and would learn to prize my great +privileges; and that for some spirits the only approach to the throne of +mercy was through great tribulation. I have often thought since of those +words, and they have begun, for me, to take the spirit of a +prophecy--sometimes that is--but at others they sound differently--like a +dreadful menace--as if my afflictions were only to bring me to the gate +of life to find it shut.' + +'Knock, and it shall be opened,' said the vicar; but the comfort was +sadly spoken, and he sighed. + +'But is not there a time, Mr. Wylder, when He shall have shut to the +door, and are there not some who, crying to him to open, shall yet remain +for ever in outer darkness?' + +'I see, dear Miss Lake, that your mind is at work--it is a good +influence--at work upon the great, theme which every mortal spirit ought +to be employed upon.' + +'My fears are at work; my mind is altogether dark and turbid; I am +sometimes at the brink of despair.' + +'Take comfort from those fears. There is hope in that despair;' and he +looked at her with great interest in his gentle eyes. + +She looked at him, and then away toward the declining sun, and she said +despairingly-- + +'I cannot comprehend you.' + +'Come!' said he, 'Miss Lake, bethink you; was there not a time--and no +very distant one--when futurity caused you no anxiety, and when the +subject which has grown so interesting, was altogether distasteful to +you. The seed of the Word is received at length into good ground; but a +grain of wheat will bring forth no fruit unless it die first. The seed +dies to outward sense, and despair follows; but the principle of life is +working in it, and it will surely grow, and bring forth fruit--thirty, +sixty, an hundredfold--be not dismayed. The body dies, and the Lord of +life compares it to the death of the seed in the earth; and then comes +the palingenesis--the rising in glory. In like manner He compares the +reception of the principle of eternal life into the soul to the dropping +of a seed into the earth; it follows the general law of mortality. It too +dies--such a death as the children of heaven die here--only to germinate +afresh with celestial power and beauty.' + +Miss Lake's way lay by a footpath across a corner of the park to Redman's +Dell. So they crossed the stile, and still conversing, followed the +footpath under the hedgerow of the pretty field, and crossing another +stile, entered the park. + + + + +CHAPTER XXX. + +IN BRANDON PARK. + + +To me, from association, no doubt, that park has always had a melancholy +character. The ground undulates beautifully, and noble timber studs it in +all varieties of grouping; and now, as when I had seen the ill-omened +form of Uncle Lorne among its solitudes, the descending sun shone across +it with a saddened glory, tipping with gold the blades of grass and the +brown antlers of the distant deer. + +Still pursuing her solemn and melancholy discourse, the young lady +followed the path, accompanied by the vicar. + +'True,' said the vicar, 'your mind is disturbed, but not by doubt. No; it +is by _truth_.' He glanced aside at the tarn where I had seen the +phantom, and by which their path now led them--'You remember Parnell's +pretty image? + + 'So when a smooth expanse receives imprest + Calm nature's image on its watery breast, + Down bend the banks, the trees depending grow, + And skies beneath with answering colours glow; + But if a stone the gentle scene divide, + Swift ruffling circles curl on every side, + And glimmering fragments of a broken sun, + Banks, trees, and skies, in thick disorder run.' + +'But, as I said, it is not a doubt that agitates your mind--that is well +represented by the "stone," that subsides and leaves the pool clear, it +maybe, but stagnant as before. Oh, no; it is an angel who comes down and +troubles the water.' + +'What a heavenly evening!' said a low, sweet voice, but with something +insidious in it, close at his shoulder. + +With a start, Rachel glanced back, and saw the pale, peculiar face of her +brother. His yellow eyes for a moment gleamed into hers, and then on the +vicar, and, with his accustomed smile, he extended his hand. + +'How do you do?--better, I hope, Radie? How are you, William?' + +Rachel grew deadly pale, and then flushed, and then was pale again. + +'I thought, Stanley, you were in London.' + +'So I was; but I arrived here this morning; I'm staying for a few days at +the Lodge--Larkin's house; you're going home, I suppose, Radie?' + +'Yes--oh, yes--but I don't know that I'll go this way. You say you must +return to Gylingden now, Mr. Wylder; I think I'll turn also, and go home +that way.' + +'Nothing would give me greater pleasure,' said the vicar, truly as well +as kindly, for he had grown interested in their conversation; 'but I fear +you are tired'--he looked very kindly on her pale face--'and you know it +will cost you a walk of more than two miles.' + +'I forgot--yes--I believe I _am_ a _little_ tired; I'm afraid I have led +_you_, too, farther than you intended.' She fancied that her sudden +change of plan on meeting her brother would appear odd. + +'I'll see you a little bit on your way home, Radie,' said Stanley. + +It was just what she wished to escape. She was more nervous, though not +less courageous than formerly. But the old, fierce, defiant spirit awoke. +Why should she fear Stanley, or what could it be to her whether he was +beside her in her homeward walk? + +So the vicar made his adieux there, and began, at a brisker pace, to +retrace his steps toward Gylingden; and she and Stanley, side by side, +walked on toward Redman's Dell. + +'What a charming park! and what delightful air, Radie; and the weather so +very delicious. They talk of Italian evenings; but there is a pleasant +sharpness in English evenings quite peculiar. Is not there just a little +suspicion of frost--don't you think so--not actually cold, but crisp and +sharp--unspeakably exhilarating; now really, this evening is quite +celestial.' + +'I've just been listening to a good man's conversation, and I wish to +reflect upon it,' said Rachel, very coldly. + +'Quite so; that is, of course, when you are alone,' answered Stanley, +serenely. 'William was always a very clever fellow to talk--very well +read in theology--is not he?--yes, he does talk very sweetly and nobly on +religion; it is a pity he is not quite straight, or at least more +punctual, in his money affairs.' + +'He is distressed for money? William Wylder is distressed for money! Do +you mean _that_?' said Rachel, turning a tone of sudden surprise and +energy, almost horror, turning full upon him, and stopping short. + +'Oh, dear! no--not the least distressed that I ever heard of,' laughed +Stanley coldly--'only just a little bit roguish, maybe.' + +'That's so like you, Stanley,' said the young lady, with a quiet scorn, +resuming her onward walk. + +'How very beautiful that clump of birch trees is, near the edge of the +slope there; you really can't imagine, who are always here, how very +intensely a person who has just escaped from London enjoys all this.' + +'I don't think, Stanley,' said the young lady coldly, and looking +straight before her as she walked, 'you ever cared for natural +scenery--or liked the country--and yet you are here. I don't think you +ever loved me, or cared whether I was alone or in company; and yet +seeing--for you _did_ see it--that I would now rather be alone, you +persist in walking with me, and talking of trees and air and celestial +evenings, and thinking of something quite different. Had not you better +turn back to Gylingden, or the Lodge, or wherever you mean to pass the +evening, and leave me to my quiet walk and my solitude?' + +'In a few minutes, dear Radie--you are so odd. I really believe you think +no one can enjoy a ramble like this but yourself.' + +'Come, Stanley, what do you want?' said his sister, stopping short, and +speaking with the flush of irritation on her cheek--'do you mean to walk +to Redman's Dell, or have you anything unpleasant to say?' + +'Neither, I hope,' said the captain, with his sleepy smile, his yellow +eyes resting on the innocent grass blades before him. + +'I don't understand you, Stanley. I am always uncomfortable when you are +near me. You stand there like an evil spirit, with some purpose which I +cannot divine; but you shall not ensnare me. Go your own way, why can't +you? Pursue your own plots--your wicked plots; but let me rest. I _will_ +be released, Sir, from your presence.' + +'Really this is very fine, Radie, considering how we are related; I'm +Mephistopheles, I suppose, and you Margaret, or some other simple +heroine--rebuking the fiend in the majesty of your purity.' + +And indeed in the reddish light, and in that lonely and solemn spot, the +slim form of the captain, pale, sneering, with his wild eyes, confronting +the beautiful light-haired girl, looked not quite unlike a type of the +jaunty fiend he was pleased to suppose himself. + +'I tell you, Stanley, I feel that you design employing me in some of your +crooked plans. I have horrible reasons, as you know, for avoiding you, +and so I will. I hope I may never desire to see you alone again, but if I +do, it shall not be to receive, but to impose commands. You had better +return to Gylingden, and leave me.' + +'So I will, dear Radie, by-and-by,' said he, with his amused smile. + +'That is, you _won't_ until you have said what you meditate. Well, then, +as it seems I must hear it, pray speak at once, standing where we are, +and quickly, for the sun will soon go down, and one step more I will not +walk with you.' + +'Well, Radie, you are pleased to be whimsical; and, to say truth, I _was_ +thinking of saying a word or two, just about as idea that has been in my +mind some time, and which you half divined--you are so clever--the first +day I saw you at Redman's Farm. You know you fancied I was thinking of +marrying.' + +'I don't remember that I said so, but I thought it. You mentioned +Caroline Beauchamp, but I don't see how your visit _here_ could have been +connected with that plan.' + +'But don't you think, Radie, I should do well to marry, that is, assuming +everything to be suitable?' + +'Well, perhaps, for _yourself_, Stanley; but----' + +'Yes, of course,' said Lake; 'but the unfortunate girl, you were going to +say--thank you. She's, of course, very much to be pitied, and you have my +leave to pity her as much as you please.' + +'I do pity her,' said Rachel. + +'Thank you, again,' said Stanley; 'but seriously, Radie, you can be, I +think, very essentially of use to me in this affair, and you must not +refuse.' + +'Now, Stanley, I will cut this matter short. I can't serve you. I won't. +I don't know the young lady, and I don't mean to make her acquaintance.' + +'But I tell you that you _can_ serve me,' retorted Stanley, with a savage +glare, and features whitened with passion, 'and you _shall_ serve me; and +you _do_ know the young lady intimately.' + +'I say, Sir, I do _not_,' replied Rachel, haughtily and fiercely. + +'She is Dorcas Brandon; you know _her_, I believe. I came down here to +marry her. I had made up my mind when I saw you first and I'll carry my +point; I always do. She does not like me, maybe; but she _shall_. I never +yet resolved to make a woman like me, and failed. You need not look so +pale; and put on that damned affected look of horror. I may be wild, +and--and what you please, but I'm no worse than that brute, Mark Wylder, +and you never turned up your eyes when he was her choice; and I knew +things about him that ought to have damned him, and she's well rid of a +branded rascal. And now, Rachel, you know her, and you must say a good +word for me. I expect your influence, and if you don't use it, and +effectually, it will be worse for you. You women understand one another, +and how to get a fellow favourably into one another's thoughts. So, +listen to me, this is a vital matter; indeed, it is, Radie. I have lost a +lot of money, like a--fool, I suppose; well, it is gone, and this +marriage is indispensable. I must go in for it, it is life or death; and +if I fail through your unkindness (here he swore an impious oath) I'll +end all with a pistol, and leave a letter to Chelford, disclosing +everything concerning you, and me, and Mark Wylder.' + +I think Rachel Lake was as near fainting as ever lady was, without +actually swooning. It was well they had stopped just by the stem of a +great ash tree, against which Rachel leaned for some seconds, with +darkness before her eyes, and the roar of a whirlpool in her ears. + +After a while, with two or three gasps, she came to herself. Lake had +been railing on all this time, and his voice, which, in ill-temper, was +singularly bleak and terrible, was again in her ears the moment she +recovered her hearing. + +'I do not care to quarrel; there are many reasons why we should not,' +Lake said in his peculiar tones. 'You have some of my secrets, and you +must have more; it can't be helped, and, I say, you _must_. I've been +very foolish. I'll give up play. It has brought me to this. I've had to +sell out. I've paid away all I could, and given bills for the rest; but I +can't possibly pay them, don't you see; and if things go to the worst, I +tell you I'll not stay. I don't want to make my bow just yet, and I've no +wish to injure you; but I'll do as I have said (he swore again), and +Chelford shall have a distinct statement under my hand of everything that +has happened. I don't suppose you wish to be accessory to all this, and +therefore it behoves you, Rachel, to do what you can to prevent it. One +woman can always influence another, and you are constantly with Dorcas. +You'll do all you can; I'm sure you will; and you can do a great deal. I +know it; I'll do as much for you, Radie! Anything you like.' + +For the first time her brother stood before her in a really terrible +shape; she felt his villainy turning with a cowardly and merciless +treason upon her forlorn self. Sacrificed for him, and that sacrifice +used by him to torture, to extort, perhaps to ruin. She quailed for a +minute in the presence of this gigantic depravity and cruelty. But Rachel +was a brave lass, and rallied quickly. + +'After all I have done and suffered!' said she, with a faint smile of +unimaginable bitterness; 'I did not think that human wickedness could +produce such a brother as you are.' + +'Well, it is no news what you think of me, and not much matter, either. I +don't see that I am a worse brother than you are a sister.' Stanley Lake +was speaking with a livid intensity. 'You see how I'm placed; a ruined +man, with a pistol to my head; what you can do to save me may amount to +nothing, but it may be everything, and you say you won't try! Now I say +you _shall_, and with every energy and faculty you possess, or else abide +the consequences.' + +'And I tell you, Sir,' replied Rachel, 'I know you; you are capable of +anything but of hurting yourself. I'll never be your slave; though, if I +pleased, I might make you mine. I scorn your threats--I defy you.' + +Stanley Lake looked transported, and the yellow fires of his deep-set +eyes glared on her, while his lips moved to speak, but not a word came, +and it became a contortion; he grasped the switch in his hand as if to +strike her. + +'Take care, Sir, Lord Chelford's coming,' said the young lady, haughtily, +with a contracted glance of horror fixed on Lake. + +Lake collected himself. He was a man who could do it pretty quickly; but +he had been violently agitated, and the traces of his fury could not +disappear in a moment. + +Lord Chelford was, indeed, approaching, only a few hundred yards away. + +'Take my arm,' said Lake. + +And Rachel mechanically, as story-tellers say, placed her slender gloved +hand upon his arm--the miscreant arm that had been so nearly raised to +strike her; and they walked along, brother and sister, in the Sabbath +sunset light, to meet him. + + + + +CHAPTER XXXI. + +IN REDMAN'S DELL. + + +Lord Chelford raised his hat, smiling: 'I am so very glad I met you, I +was beginning to feel so solitary!' he placed himself beside Miss Lake. +'I've had such a long walk across the park. How do you do, Lake? when did +you come?' + +And so on--Lake answering and looking wonderfully as usual. + +I think Lord Chelford perceived there was something amiss between the +young people, for his eye rested on Rachel with a momentary look of +enquiry, unconscious, no doubt, and quickly averted, and he went on +chatting pleasantly; but he looked, once or twice, a little hard at +Stanley Lake. I don't think he had an extraordinarily good opinion of +that young gentleman. He seldom expressed an ill one of anybody, and then +it was in very measured language. But though he never hinted at an +unfavourable estimate of the captain, his intimacies with him were a +little reserved; and I think I have seen him, even when he smiled, look +the least little bit in the world uncomfortable, as if he did not quite +enter into the captain's pleasantries. + +They had not walked together very far, when Stanley recollected that he +must take his leave, and walk back to Gylingden; and so the young lady +and Lord Chelford were left to pursue their way towards Redman's Farm +together. + +It would have been a more unaccountable proceeding on the part of Stanley +Lake, and a more romantic situation, if Rachel and his lordship had not +had before two or three little accidental rambles together in the grounds +and gardens of Brandon. There was nothing quite new in the situation, +therefore; and Rachel was for a moment indescribably relieved by +Stanley's departure. + +The shock of her brief interview with her brother over, reflection +assured her, knowing all she did, that Stanley's wooing would prosper, +and so this cause of quarrel had really nothing in it; no, nothing but a +display of his temper and morals--not very astonishing, after all--and, +like an ugly picture or a dreadful dream, in no way to affect her +after-life, except as an odious remembrance. + +Therefore, little by little, like a flower that has been bruised, in the +tranquillising influences about her, the young lady got up, expanded, and +grew like herself again--not like enough, indeed, to say much, but to +listen and follow his manly, refined, and pleasant talk, every moment +with a pang, that had yet something pleasurable in it, contrasting the +quiet and chivalric tone of her present companion, with the ferocious +duplicity of the sly, smooth terrorist who had just left her side. + +It was rather a marked thing--as lean Mrs. Loyd, of Gylingden, who had +two thin spinsters with pink noses under her wing, remarked--this long +walk of Lord Chelford and Miss Lake in the park; and she enjoined upon +her girls the propriety of being specially reserved in their intercourse +with persons of Lord Chelford's rank; not that they were much troubled +with dangers from any such quarter. Miss Lake had, she supposed, her own +notions, and would act as she pleased; but she owned for her part she +preferred the old fashion, and thought the men did also; and was sure, +too, that young ladies lost nothing by a little reserve and modesty. + +Now something of this, no doubt, passed in the minds of Lord Chelford and +his pretty companion. But what was to be done? That perverse and utterly +selfish brother, Stanley Lake, had chosen to take his leave. Lord +Chelford could not desert the young lady, and would it have been a very +nice delicacy in Miss Lake to make her courtesy in the middle of the +park, and protest against pursuing their walk together any further? + +Lord Chelford was a lively and agreeable companion; but there was +something unusually gentle, almost resembling tenderness, in his manner. +She was so different from her gay, fiery self in this walk--so gentle; so +subdued--and he was more interested by her, perhaps, than he had ever +been before. + +The sun just touched the verge of the wooded uplands, as the young people +began to descend the slope of Redman's Dell. + +'How very short!' Lord Chelford paused, with a smile, at these words. 'I +was just going to say how short the days have grown, as if it had all +happened without notice, and contrary to the almanac; but really the sun +sets cruelly early this evening, and I am so _very_ sorry our little walk +is so soon to end.' + +There was not much in this little speech, but it was spoken in a low, +sweet voice; and Rachel looked down on the ferns before her feet, as they +walked on side by side, not with a smile, but with a blush, and that +beautiful look of gratification so becoming and indescribable. Happy that +moment--that enchanted moment of oblivion and illusion! But the fitful +evening breeze came up through Redman's Dell, with a gentle sweep over +the autumnal foliage. Sudden as a sigh, and cold; in her ear it sounded +like a whisper or a shudder, and she lifted up her eyes and saw the +darkening dell before her; and with a pang, the dreadful sense of reality +returned. She stopped, with something almost wild in her look. But with +an effort she smiled, and said, with a little shiver, 'The air has grown +quite chill, and the sun nearly set; we loitered, Stanley and I, a great +deal too long in the park, but I am now at home, and I fear I have +brought you much too far out of your way already; good-bye.' And she +extended her hand. + +'You must not dismiss your escort here. I must see you through the +enchanted dell--it is only a step--and then I shall return with a good +conscience, like a worthy knight, having done my devoir honestly.' + +She looked down the dell, with a dark and painful glance, and then she +said a few words of hesitating apology and acquiescence, and in a few +minutes more they parted at the little wicket of Redman's Farm. They +shook hands. He had a few pleasant, lingering words to say. She paused as +he spoke at the other side of that little garden door. She seemed to like +those lingering sentences--and hung upon them--and even smiled but in her +eyes there was a vague and melancholy pleading--a wandering and +unfathomable look that pained him. + +They shook hands again--it was the third time--and then she walked up the +little gravel walk, hardly a dozen steps, and disappeared within the door +of Redman's Farm, without turning another parting look on Lord Chelford, +who remained at the little paling--expecting one, I think--to lift his +hat and say one more parting word. + +She turned into the little drawing-room at the left, and, herself unseen, +did take that last look, and saw him go up the road again towards +Brandon. The shadows and mists of Redman's Dell anticipated night, and it +was already deep twilight there. + +On the table there lay a letter which Margery had brought from the +post-office. So Rachel lighted her candles and read it with very little +interest, for it concerned a world towards which she had few yearnings. +There was just one sentence which startled her attention: it said, 'We +shall soon be at Knowlton--for Christmas, I suppose. It is growing too +wintry for mamma near the sea, though I like it better in a high wind +than in a calm; and a gale is such fun--such a romp. The Dulhamptons have +arrived: the old Marchioness never appears till three o'clock, and only +out in the carriage twice since they came. I can't say I very much admire +Lady Constance, though she is to be Chelford's wife. She has fine +eyes--and I think no other good point--much too dark for my taste--but +they say clever;' and not another word was there on this subject. + +'Lady Constance! arranged, I suppose, by Lady Chelford--no great dot--and +an unamiable family--an odious family--nothing to recommend her but her +rank.' + +So ruminated Rachel Lake as she looked out on her shadowy garden, and +tapped a little feverish tattoo with her finger on the window pane; and +she meditated a great while, trying to bring back distinctly her +recollection of Lady Constance, and also vaguely conjecturing who had +arranged the marriage, and how it had come about. + +'Chelford cannot like her. It is all Lady Chelford's doing. Can I have +mistaken the name?' + +But no. Nothing could be more perfectly distinct than 'Chelford,' traced +in her fair correspondent's very legible hand. + +'He treats the young lady very coolly,' thought Rachel, forgetting, +perhaps, that his special relations to Dorcas Brandon had compelled his +stay in that part of the world. + +Mingled with this criticism, was a feeling quite unavowed even to +herself--a sore feeling that Lord Chelford had been--and this she never +admitted to herself before--more particular--no, not exactly that--but +more something or other--not exactly expressible in words, in his +approaches to her, than was consistent with his situation. But then she +had been very guarded; not stiff or prudish, indeed, but frank and cold +enough with him, and that was comforting. + +Still there was a sense of wonder--a great blank, and something of pain +in the discovery--yes, pain--though she smiled a faint blushing +smile--alone as she was; and then came a deep sigh; and then a sort of +start. + +'Rachel, Rachel, is it possible?' murmured the young lady, with the same +dubious smile, looking down upon the ground, and shaking her head. 'Yes, +I do really think you had begun to like Lord Chelford--only _begun_, the +least little insidious bit; but thank you, wild Bessie Frankleyn, you +have quite opened my eyes. Rachel, Rachel, girl! what a fool you were +near becoming!' + +She looked like her old pleasant self during this little speech--arch and +fresh, and still smiling--she looked up and sighed, and then her dark +look returned, and she said dismally, + +'What utter madness!' + +And leaned for a while with her fingers upon the window sash; and when +she turned to old Tamar, who brought in her tiny tea equipage, it seemed +as if the shadow of the dell, into which she had been vacantly gazing, +still rested on her face. + +'Not here, Tamar; I'll drink tea in my room; and you must bring your +tea-cup, too, and we'll take it together. I am--I think I am--a little +nervous, darling, and you won't leave me?' + +So they sat down together in her chamber. It was a cheery little +bed-room, when the shutters were closed, and the fire burning brightly in +the grate. + +'My good Tamar will read her chapters aloud. I wish I could enjoy them +like you. I can only wish. You must pray for me, Tamar. There is a +dreadful image--and I sometimes think a dreadful being always near me. +Though the words you read are sad and awful, they are also sweet, like +funeral music a long way off, and they tranquillise me without making me +better, as the harping of David did the troubled and forsaken King Saul.' + +So the old nurse mounted her spectacles, glad of the invitation, and +began to read. Her reading was very, slow, and had other faults too, +being in that sing-song style to which some people inexplicably like to +read Holy Writ; but it was reverent and distinct, and I have heard worse +even in the reading desk. + +'Stop,' said Rachel suddenly, as she reached about the middle of the +chapter. + +The old woman looked up, with her watery eyes wide open, and there was a +short pause. + +'I beg your pardon, dear Tamar, but you must first tell me that story you +used to tell me long ago of Lady Ringdove, that lived in Epping Forest, +to whom the ghost came and told something she was never to reveal, and +who slowly died of the secret, growing all the time more and more like +the spectre; and besought the priest when she was dying, that he would +have her laid in the abbey vault, with her mouth open, and her eyes and +ears sealed, in token that her term of slavery was over, that her lips +might now be open, and that her eyes were to see no more the dreadful +sight, nor her ears to hear the frightful words that used to scare them +in her life-time; and then, you remember, whenever afterwards they opened +the door of the vault, the wind entering in, made such moanings in her +hollow mouth, and declared things so horrible that they built up the door +of the vault, and entered it no more. Let me have the entire story, just +as you used to tell it.' + +So old Tamar, who knew it was no use disputing a fancy of her young +mistress, although on Sunday night she would have preferred other talk, +recounted her old tale of wonder. + +'Yes, it is true--a true allegory, I mean, Tamar. Death will close the +eyes and ears against the sights and sounds of earth; but even the tomb +secures no secrecy. The dead themselves declare their dreadful secrets, +open-mouthed, to the winds. Oh, Tamar! turn over the pages, and try to +find some part which says where safety and peace may be found at any +price; for sometimes I think I am almost bereft of--reason.' + + + + +CHAPTER XXXII. + +MR. LARKIN AND THE VICAR. + + +The good vicar was not only dismayed but endangered by his brother's +protracted absence. It was now the first week in November. Bleak and +wintry that ungenial month set in at Gylingden; and in accord with the +tempestuous and dismal weather the fortunes of the Rev. William Wylder +were darkened and agitated. + +This morning a letter came at breakfast, by post, and when he had read +it, the poor vicar grew a little white, and he folded it very quietly and +put it in his waistcoat pocket, and patted little Fairy on the head. +Little Fairy was asking him a question all this time, very vehemently, +'How long was Jack's sword that he killed the giants with?' and several +times to this distinct question he received only the unsatisfactory +reply, 'Yes, my darling;' and at last, when little Fairy mounted his +knee, and hugging the abstracted vicar round the neck, urged his question +with kisses and lamentations, the parson answered with a look of great +perplexity, and only half recalled, said, 'Indeed, little man, I don't +know. How long, you say, was Jack's sword? Well, I dare say it was as +long as the umbrella.' He got up, with the same perplexed and absent +look, as he said this, and threw an anxious glance about the room, as if +looking for something he had mislaid. + +'You are not going to write now, Willie, dear?' expostulated his good +little wife, 'you have not tasted your tea yet.' + +'I have, indeed, dear; haven't I? Well, I will.' + +And, standing, he drank nearly half the cup she had poured out for him, +and set it down, and felt in his pocket, she thought, for his keys. + +'Are you looking for anything, Willie, darling? Your keys are in my +basket.' + +'No, darling; no, darling--nothing. I have everything I want. I think I +must go to the Lodge and see Mr. Larkin, for a moment.' + +'But you have eaten nothing,' remonstrated his partner; 'you must not go +until you have eaten something.' + +'Time enough, darling; I can't wait--I sha'n't be away twenty +minutes--time enough when I come back.' + +'Have you heard anything of Mark, darling?' she enquired eagerly. + +'Of Mark? Oh, no!--nothing of Mark.' And he added with a deep sigh, 'Oh, +dear! I wonder he does not write--no, nothing of Mark.' + +She followed him into the hall. + +'Now, Willie darling, you must not go till you have had your +breakfast--you will make yourself ill--indeed you will--do come back, +just to please me, and eat a little first.' + +'No, darling; no, my love--I can't, indeed. I'll be back immediately; but +I must catch Mr. Larkin before he goes out. It is only a little matter--I +want to ask his opinion--and--oh! here is my stick--and I'll return +immediately.' + +'And I'll go with you,' cried little Fairy. + +'No, no, little man; I can't take you--no, it is business--stay with +mamma, and I'll be back again in a few minutes.' + +So, spite of Fairy's clamours and the remonstrances of his fond, clinging +little wife, with a hurried kiss or two, away he went alone, at a very +quick pace, through the high street of Gylingden, and was soon in the +audience chamber of the serious, gentleman attorney. + +The attorney rose with a gaunt and sad smile of welcome--begged Mr. +Wylder, with a wave of his long hand, to be seated--and then seating +himself and crossing one long thigh over the other, he threw his arm over +the back of his chair, and leaning back with what he conceived to be a +graceful and gentlemanly negligence--with his visitor full in the light +of the window and his own countenance in shadow, the light coming from +behind--a diplomatic arrangement which he affected--he fixed his small, +pink eyes observantly upon him, and asked if he could do anything for Mr. +William Wylder. + +'Have you heard anything since, Mr. Larkin? Can you conjecture where his +address may now be?' asked the vicar, a little abruptly. + +'Oh! Mr. Mark Wylder, perhaps, you refer to?' + +'Yes; my brother, Mark.' + +Mr. Larkin smiled a sad and simple smile, and shook his head. + +'No, indeed--not a word--it is very sad, and involves quite a world of +trouble--and utterly inexplicable; for I need not tell you, in my +position, it can't be pleasant to be denied all access to the client who +has appointed me to act for him, nor conducive to the apprehension of his +wishes upon many points, which I should much prefer not being left to my +discretion. It is really, as I say, inexplicable, for Mr. Mark Wylder +must thoroughly see all this: he is endowed with eminent talents for +business, and must perfectly appreciate the embarrassment in which the +mystery with which he surrounds the place of his abode must involve those +whom he has appointed to conduct his business.' + +'I have heard from him this morning,' resumed the lawyer; 'he was pleased +to direct a power of attorney to me to receive his rents and sign +receipts; and he proposes making Lord Viscount Chelford and Captain Lake +trustees, to fund his money or otherwise invest it for his use, and'-- + +'Has he--I beg pardon--but did he mention a little matter in which I am +deeply--indeed, vitally interested?' The vicar paused. + +'I don't quite apprehend; perhaps if you were to frame your question a +little differently, I might possibly--a--you were saying'-- + +'I mean a matter of very deep interest to me,' said the poor vicar, +colouring a little, 'though no very considerable sum, viewed absolutely; +but, under my unfortunate circumstances, of the most urgent importance--a +loan of three hundred pounds--did he mention it?' + +Again Mr. Larkin shook his head, with the same sad smile. + +'But, though we do not know how to find him, he knows very well where to +find us--and, as you are aware, we hear from him constantly--and no doubt +he recollects his promise, and will transmit the necessary directions all +in good time.' + +'I earnestly hope he may,' and the poor cleric lifted up his eyes +unconsciously and threw his hope into the form of a prayer. 'For, to +speak frankly, Mr. Larkin, my circumstances are very pressing. I have +just heard from Cambridge, and find that my good friend, Mr. Mountain, +the bookseller, has been dead two months, and his wife--he was a +widower when I knew him, but it would seem has married since--is +his sole executrix, and has sold the business, and directed +two gentlemen--attorneys--to call in all the debts due to +him--peremptorily--and they say I must pay before the 15th; and I have, +absolutely, but five pounds in the world, until March, when my half-year +will be paid. And indeed, only that the tradespeople here are so very +kind, we should often find it very difficult to manage.' + +'Perhaps,' said Mr. Larkin, blandly, 'you would permit me to look at the +letter you mention having received from the solicitors at Cambridge?' + +'Oh, thank you, certainly; here it is,' said William Wylder, eagerly, and +he gazed with his kind, truthful eyes upon the attorney's countenance as +he glanced over it, trying to read something of futurity therein. + +'Foukes and Mauley,' said Mr. Larkin. 'I have never had but one +transaction with them; they are not always pleasant people to deal with. +Mind, I don't say anything affecting their integrity--Heaven forbid; but +they certainly did take rather what I would call a short turn with us on +the occasion to which I refer. You must be cautious; indeed, my dear Sir, +_very_ cautious. The fifteenth--just ten clear days. Well, you know you +have till then to look about you; and you know we may any day hear from +your brother, directing the loan to be paid over to you. And now, my dear +and reverend friend, you know me, I hope,' continued Mr. Larkin, very +kindly, as he handed back the letter; 'and you won't attribute what I say +to impertinent curiosity; but your brother's intended advance of three +hundred pounds can hardly have had relation only to this trifling claim +upon you. There are, no doubt--pardon me--several little matters to be +arranged; and considerable circumspection will be needed, pending your +brother's absence, in dealing with the persons who are in a position to +press their claims unpleasantly. You must not trifle with these things. +And let me recommend you seeing your legal adviser, whoever he is, +immediately.' + +'You mean,' said the vicar, who was by this time very much flushed, 'a +gentleman of your profession, Mr. Larkin. Do you really think--well, it +has frequently crossed my mind--but the expense, you know; and although +my affairs are in a most unpleasant and complicated state, I am sure that +everything would be perfectly smooth if only I had received the loan my +kind brother intends, and which, to be sure, as you say, any day I may +receive.' + +'But, my dear Sir, do you really mean to say that you would pay claims +from various quarters--how old is this, for instance?--without +examination!' + +The vicar looked very blank. + +'I--this--well, this I certainly do owe; it has increased a little with +interest, though good Mr. Mountain never charged more than six per cent. +It was, I think, about fifteen pounds--books--I am ashamed to say how +long ago; about a work which I began then, and laid aside--on Eusebius; +but which is now complete, and will, I hope, eventually repay me.' + +'Were you of age, my dear Sir, when he gave you these books on credit? +Were you twenty-one years of age?' + +'Oh! no; not twenty; but then I owe it, and I could not, as s a Christian +man, you know, evade my debts.' + +'Of course; but you can't pay it at present, and it may be highly +important to enable you to treat this as a debt of honour, you perceive. +Suppose, my dear Sir, they should proceed to arrest you, or to +sequestrate the revenue of your vicarage. Now, see, my dear Sir, I am, I +humbly hope, a Christian man; but you will meet with men in every +profession--and mine is no exception--disposed to extract the last +farthing which the law by its extremest process will give them. And I +really must tell you, frankly, that if you dream of escaping the most +serious consequences, you must at once place yourself and your affairs in +the hands of a competent man of business. It will probably be found that +you do not in reality owe sixty pounds of every hundred claimed against +you.' + +'Oh, Mr. Larkin, if I could induce _you_.' + +Mr. Larkin smiled a melancholy smile, and shook his head. + +'My dear Sir, I only wish I could; but my hands are so awfully full,' and +he lifted them up and shook them, and shook his tall, bald head at the +same time, and smiled a weary smile. 'Just look there,' and he waved his +fingers in the direction of the Cyclopean wall of tin boxes, tier above +tier, each bearing, in yellow italics, the name of some country +gentleman, and two baronets among the number; 'everyone of them laden +with deeds and papers. You can't have a notion--no one has--what it is.' + +'I see, indeed,' murmured the honest vicar, in a compassionating tone, +and quite entering into the spirit of Mr. Larkin's mournful appeal, as if +the being in large business was the most distressing situation in which +an attorney could well find himself. + +'It was very unreasonable of me to think of troubling you with my +wretched affairs; but really I do not know very well where to turn, or +whom to speak to. Maybe, my dear Sir, you can think of some conscientious +and Christian practitioner who is not so laden with other people's cares +and troubles as you are. I am a very poor client, and indeed more trouble +than I could possibly be gain to anyone. But there may be some one; pray +think; ten days is so short a time, and I can do nothing.' + +Mr. Larkin stood at the window ruminating, with his left hand in his +breeches pocket, and his right, with finger and thumb pinching his under +lip, after his wont, and the despairing accents of the poor vicar's last +sentence still in his ear. + +'Well,' he said hesitatingly, 'it is not easy, at a moment's notice, to +point out a suitable solicitor; there are many, of course, very desirable +gentlemen, but I feel it, my dear Sir, a very serious responsibility +naming one for so peculiar a matter. But you shall not, in the meantime, +go to the wall for want of advice. Rely upon it, we'll do the best we can +for you,' he continued, in a patronising way, with his chin raised, and +extending his hand kindly to shake that of the parson. 'Yes, I certainly +will--you must have advice. Can you give me two hours to-morrow +evening--say to tea--if you will do me the honour. My friend, Captain +Lake, dines at Brandon to-morrow. He's staying here with me, you are +aware, on a visit; but we shall be quite by ourselves, say at seven +o'clock. Bring all your papers, and I'll get at the root of the business, +and see, if possible, in each particular case, what line is best to be +adopted.' + +'How can I thank you, my dear Sir,' cried gentle William Wylder, his +countenance actually beaming with delight and gratitude--a brighter look +than it had worn for many weeks. + +'Oh, don't--_pray_ don't mention it. I assure you, it is a happiness to +me to be of any little use; and, really, I don't see how you could +possibly hold your own among the parties who are pressing you without +professional advice.' + +'I feel,' said the poor vicar, and his eyes filled as he smiled, and his +lip quivered a little--'I feel as if my prayer for direction and +deliverance were answered at last. Oh! my dear Sir, I have suffered a +great deal; but something assures me I am rescued, and shall have a quiet +mind once more--I am now in safe and able hands.' And he shook the safe +and able, and rather large, hands of the amiable attorney in both his. + +'You make too much of it, my dear Sir. I should at any time be most happy +to advise you,' said Mr. Larkin, with a lofty and pleased benevolence, +'and with great pleasure, _provisionally_, until we can hit upon a +satisfactory solicitor with a little more time at his disposal, I +undertake the management of your case.' + +'Thank Heaven!' again said the vicar, who had not let go his hands. 'And +it is so delightful to have for my guide a Christian man, who, even were +I so disposed, would not lend himself to an unworthy or questionable +defence; and although at this moment it is not in my power to reward your +invaluable assistance----' + +'Now really, my dear Sir, I must insist--no more of this, I beseech you. +I do most earnestly insist that you promise me you will never mention the +matter of professional remuneration more, until, at least, I press it, +which, rely upon it, will not be for a good while.' + +The attorney's smile plainly said, that his 'good while' meant in fact +'never.' + +'This is, indeed, unimaginable kindness. How _have_ I deserved so +wonderful a blessing!' + +'And I have no doubt,' said the attorney, fondling the vicar's arm in his +large hand, 'that these claims will ultimately be reduced fully thirty +per cent. I had once a good deal of professional experience in this sort +of business; and, oh! my dear Sir, it is really _melancholy_!' and up +went his small pink eyes in a pure horror, and his hands were lifted at +the same time; 'but we will bring them to particulars; and you may rely +upon it, you will have a much longer time, at all events, than they are +disposed to allow you.' + + + + +CHAPTER XXXIII. + +THE LADIES ON GYLINGDEN HEATH. + + +Just at this moment they became aware of a timid little tapping which had +been going on at the window during the latter part of this conference, +and looking up, the attorney and the vicar saw 'little Fairy's' violet +eyes peering under his light hair, with its mild, golden shadow, and the +odd, sensitive smile, at once shy and arch; his cheeks were wet with +tears, and his pretty little nose red, though he was smiling; and he drew +his face aside among the jessamine, when he saw the gaunt attorney +directing his patronising smile upon him. + +'I beg pardon,' said the vicar, rising with a sudden smile, and going to +the window. 'It is my little man. Fairy! Fairy! What has brought you +here; my little man?' + +Fairy glanced, still smiling, but very shamefacedly at the grand +attorney, and in his little fist he held a pair of rather seedy gloves to +the window pane. + +'So I did. I protest I forgot my gloves. Thank you, little man. Who is +with you? Oh! I see. That is right.' + +The maid ducked a short courtesy. + +'Indeed, Sir, please, Master Fairy was raising the roof (a nursery +phrase, which implied indescribable bellowing), and as naughty as could +be, until missis allowed him to come after you.' + +'Oh! my little man, you must not do that. Ask nicely, you know; always +quietly, like a little gentleman.' + +'But, oh! Wapsie, your hands would be cold;' and he held the gloves to +him against the glass. + +'Well, darling, thank you; you are a kind little man, and I'll be with +you in a moment,' said the vicar, smiling very lovingly on his naughty +little man. + +'Mr. Larkin,' said he, turning very gratefully to the attorney 'you can +lay this Christian comfort to your kind heart, that you have made mine a +hundredfold lighter since I entered this blessed room; indeed, you have +lifted a mountain from it by the timely proffer of your invaluable +assistance.' + +Again the attorney waved off, with a benignant and humble smile, rather +oppressive to see, all idea of obligation, and accompanied his grateful +client to the glass door of his little porch, where Fairy was already +awaiting him with the gloves in his hand. + +'I do believe,' said the good vicar, as he walked down what Mr. Larkin +called 'the approach,' and looking up with irrepressible gratitude to the +blue sky and the white clouds sailing over his head, 'if it be not +presumption, I must believe that I have been directed hither--yes, +darling, yes, my hands are warm' (this was addressed to little Fairy, who +was clamouring for information on the point, and clinging to his arm as +he capered by his side). 'What immense relief;' and he murmured another +thanksgiving, and then quite hilariously-- + +'If little man would like to come with his Wapsie, we'll take such a nice +little walk together, and we'll go and see poor Widow Maddock; and we'll +buy three muffins on our way home, for a feast this evening; and we'll +look at the pictures in the old French "Josephus;" and Mamma and I will +tell stories; and I have a halfpenny to buy apples for little Fairy.' + +The attorney stood at his window with a shadow on his face, and his small +eyes a little contracted and snakelike, following the slim figure of the +threadbare vicar and his golden-haired, dancing little comrade; and then +he mounted a chair, and took down successively four of his japanned +boxes; two of them, in yellow letters, bore respectively the label +'_Brandon, No. 1_,' and '_No. 2_;' the other '_Wylder, No. 1_,' and '_No. +2_.' + +He opened the 'Wylder' box first, and glanced through a neat little +'statement of title,' prepared for counsel when draughting the deed of +settlement for the marriage which was never to take place. + +'The limitations, let me see, is not there something that one might be +safe in advancing a trifle upon--eh?--h'm--yes.' + +And, with his lip in his finger and thumb, he conned over those +remainders and reversions with a skilled and rapid eye. + +Rachel Lake was glad to see the slender and slightly-stooped figure of +the vicar standing that morning--his bright little boy by the hand--in +the wicket of the tiny flower-garden of Redman's Farm. She went out +quickly to greet him. The sick man likes the sound of his kind doctor's +step on the stairs; and, be his skill much or little, trusts in him, and +will even joke a little asthmatic joke, and smile a feeble hectic smile +about his ailments, when he is present. + +So they fell into discourse among the autumnal flowers and withered +leaves; and, as the day was still and genial, they remained standing in +the garden; and away went busy little 'Fairy,' smiling and chatting with +Margery, to see the hens and chickens in the yard. + +The physician, after a while, finds the leading features of most cases +pretty much alike. He knows when inflammation may be expected and fever +will supervene; he is not surprised if the patient's mind wanders a +little at times; expects the period of prostration and the return of +appetite; and has his measures and his palliatives ready for each +successive phase of sickness and recovery. In like manner, too, the good +and skilful parson comes by experience to know the signs and stages of +the moral ailments and recoveries which some of them know how so tenderly +and so wisely to care for. They, too, have ready--having often proved +their consolatory efficacy--their febrifuges and their tonics, culled +from that tree of life whose 'leaves are for the healing of the nations.' + +Poor Rachel's hours were dark, and life had grown in some sort terrible, +and death seemed now so real and near--aye, quite a fact--and, somehow, +not unfriendly. But, oh! the immense futurity beyond, that could not be +shirked, to which she was certainly going. + +Death, and sleep so welcome! But, oh! that stupendous LIFE EVERLASTING, +now first unveiled. She could only close her eyes and wring her hands. +Oh! for some friendly voice and hand to stay her through the Valley of +the Shadow of Death! + +They talked a long while--Rachel chiefly a listener, and often quietly +weeping; and, at last, a very kindly parting, and a promise from the +simple and gentle vicar that he would often look in at Redman's Farm. + +She watched his retreating figure as he and little Fairy walked down the +tenebrose road to Gylingden, following them with a dismal gaze, as a +benighted and wounded wayfarer in that 'Valley' would the pale lamp's +disappearing that had for a few minutes, in a friendly hand, shone over +his dreadful darkness. + +And when, in fitful reveries, fancy turned for a moment to an earthly +past and future, all there was a blank--the past saddened, the future +bleak. She did not know, or even suspect, that she had been living in an +aerial castle, and worshipping an unreal image, until, on a sudden, all +was revealed in that chance gleam of cruel lightning, the line in that +letter, which she read so often, spelled over, and puzzled over so +industriously, though it was clear enough. How noble, how good, how +bright and true, was that hero of her unconscious romance. + +Well, no one else suspected that incipient madness--that was something; +and brave Rachel would quite master it. Happy she had discovered it so +soon. Besides, it was, even if Chelford were at her feet, a wild +impossibility now; and it was well, though despair were in the pang, that +she had, at last, quite explained this to herself. + +As Rachel stood in her little garden, on the spot where she had bidden +farewell to the vicar, she was roused from her vague and dismal reverie +by the sound of a carriage close at hand. She had just time to see that +it was a brougham, and to recognise the Brandon liveries, when it drew up +at the garden wicket, and Dorcas called to her from the open window. + +'I'm come, Rachel, expressly to take you with me; and I won't be denied.' + +'You are very good, Dorcas; thank you, dear, very much; but I am not very +well, and a very dull companion to-day.' + +'You think I am going to bore you with visits. No such thing, I assure +you. I have taken a fancy to walk on the common, that is all--a kind of +longing; and you must come with me; quite to ourselves, you and I. You +won't refuse me, darling; I know you'll come.' + +Well, Rachel did go. And away they drove through the quiet town of +Gylingden together, and through the short street on the right, and so +upon the still quieter common. + +This plain of green turf broke gradually into a heath; and an irregular +screen of timber and underwood divided the common of Gylingden in sylvan +fashion from the moor. The wood passed, Dorcas stopped the carriage, and +the two young ladies descended. It was a sunny day, and the air still; +and the open heath contrasted pleasantly with the sombre and confined +scenery of Redman's Dell; and altogether Rachel was glad now that she had +made the effort, and come with her cousin. + +'It was good of you to come, Rachel,' said Miss Brandon; 'and you look +tired; but you sha'n't speak more than you like; and I'll tell you all +the news. Chelford is just returned from Brighton; he arrived this +morning; and he and Lady Chelford will stay for the Hunt Ball. I made it +a point. And he called at Hockley, on his way back, to see Sir Julius. Do +you know him?' + +'Sir Julius Hockley? No--I've heard of him only.' + +'Well, they say he is wasting his property very fast; and I think him +every way very nearly a fool; but Chelford wanted to see him about Mr. +Wylder. Mark Wylder, you know, of course, has turned up again in England. +His letter to Chelford, six weeks ago, was from Boulogne; but his last +was from Brighton; and Sir Julius Hockley witnessed--I think they call +it--that letter of attorney which Mark sent about a week since to Mr. +Larkin; and Chelford, who is most anxious to trace Mark Wylder, having to +surrender--I think they call it--a "trust" is not it--or something--I +really don't understand these things--to him, and not being able to find +out his address, Mr. Larkin wrote to Sir Julius, whom Chelford did not +find at home, to ask him for a description of Mark, to ascertain whether +he had disguised himself; and Sir Julius wrote to Chelford such an absurd +description of poor Mark, in doggrel rhyme--so like--his odd walk, his +great whiskers, and everything. Chelford does not like personalities, but +he could not help laughing. Are you ill, darling?' + +Though she was walking on beside her companion, Rachel looked on the +point of fainting. + +'My darling, you must sit down; you do look very ill. I forgot my promise +about Mark Wylder. How stupid I have been! and perhaps I have distressed +you.' + +'No, Dorcas, I am pretty well; but I have been ill, and I am a little +tired; and, Dorcas, I don't deny it, I _am_ amazed, you tell me such +things. That letter of attorney, or whatever it is, must not be acted +upon. It is incredible. It is all horrible wickedness. Mark Wylder's fate +is dreadful, and Stanley is the mover of all this. Oh! Dorcas, darling, I +wish I could tell you everything. Some day I may be--I am sick and +terrified.' + +They had sat down, by this time, side by side, on the crisp bank. Each +lady looked down, the one in suffering, the other in thought. + +'You are better, darling; are not you better?' said Dorcas, laying her +hand on Rachel's, and looking on her with a melancholy gaze. + +'Yes, dear, better--very well'--answered Rachel, looking up but without +an answering glance at her cousin. + +'You blame your brother, Rachel, in this affair.' + +'Did I? Well--maybe--yes, he _is_ to blame--the miserable man--whom I +hate to think of, and yet am always thinking of--Stanley well knows is +not in a state to do it.' + +'Don't you think, Rachel, remembering what I have confided to you, that +you might be franker with me in this?' + +'Oh, Dorcas! don't misunderstand me. If the secret were all my +own--Heaven knows, hateful as it is, how boldly I would risk all, and +throw myself on your fidelity or your mercy--I know not how you might +view it; but it is different, Dorcas, at least for the present. You know +me--you know how I hate secrets; but this _is_ not mine--only in +part--that is, I dare not tell it--but may be soon free--and to us all, +dear Dorcas, a woful, _woful_, day will it be.' + +'I made you a promise, Rachel,' said her beautiful cousin, gravely, and a +little coldly and sadly, too; 'I will never break it again--it was +thoughtless. Let us each try to forget that there is anything hidden +between us.' + +'If ever the time comes, dear Dorcas, when I may tell it to you, I don't +know whether you will bless or hate me for having kept it so well; at all +events, I think you'll pity me, and at last understand your miserable +cousin.' + +'I said before, Rachel, that I liked you. You are one of us, Rachel. You +are beautiful, wayward, and daring, and one way or another, misfortune +always waylays us; and I have, I know it, calamity before me. Death comes +to other women in its accustomed way; but we have a double death. There +is not a beautiful portrait in Brandon that has not a sad and true story. +Early death of the frail and fair tenement of clay--but a still earlier +death of happiness. Come, Rachel, shall we escape from the spell and the +destiny into solitude? What do you think of my old plan of the valleys +and lakes of Wales? a pretty foreign tongue spoken round us, and no one +but ourselves to commune with, and books, and music. It is not, Radie, +altogether jest. I sometimes yearn for it, as they say foreign girls do +for convent life.' + +'Poor Dorcas,' said Rachel, very softly, fixing her eyes upon her with a +look of inexpressible sadness and pity. + +'Rachel,' said Dorcas, 'I am a changeable being--violent, self-willed. My +fate may be quite a different one from that which _I_ suppose or _you_ +imagine. I may yet have to retract _my_ secret.' + +'Oh! would it were so--would to Heaven it were so.' + +'Suppose, Rachel, that I had been deceiving you--perhaps deceiving +myself--time will show.' + +There was a wild smile on beautiful Dorcas's face as she said this, which +faded soon into the proud serenity that was its usual character. + +'Oh! Dorcas, if your good angel is near, listen to his warnings.' + +'We have no good angels, my poor Rachel: what modern necromancers, +conversing with tables, call "mocking spirits," have always usurped their +place with us: singing in our drowsy ears, like Ariel--visiting our +reveries like angels of light--being really our evil genii--ah, yes!' + +'Dorcas, dear,' said Rachel, after both had been silent for a time, +speaking suddenly, and with a look of pale and keen entreaty--'Beware of +Stanley--oh! beware, beware. I think I am beginning to grow afraid of him +myself.' + +Dorcas was not given to sighing--but she sighed--gazing sadly across the +wide, bleak moor, with her proud, apathetic look, which seemed passively +to defy futurity--and then, for awhile, they were silent. + +She turned, and caressingly smoothed the golden tresses over Rachel's +frank, white forehead, and kissed them as she did so. + +'You are better, darling; you are rested?' she said. + +'Yes, dear Dorcas,' and she kissed the slender hand that smoothed her +hair. + +Each understood that the conversation on that theme was ended, and +somehow each was relieved. + + + + +CHAPTER XXXIV. + +SIR JULIUS HOCKLEY'S LETTER. + + +Jos. Larkin mentioned in his conversation with the vicar, just related, +that he had received a power of attorney from Mark Wylder. Connected with +this document there came to light a circumstance so very odd, that the +reader must at once be apprised of it. + +This legal instrument was attested by two witnesses, and bore date about +a week before the interview, just related, between the vicar and Mr. +Larkin. Here, then, was a fact established. Mark Wylder had returned from +Boulogne, for the power of attorney had been executed at Brighton. Who +were the witnesses? One was Thomas Tupton, of the Travellers' Hotel, +Brighton. + +This Thomas Tupton was something of a sporting celebrity, and a likely +man enough to be of Mark's acquaintance. + +The other witness was Sir Julius Hockley, of Hockley, an unexceptionable +evidence, though a good deal on the turf. + +Now our friend Jos. Larkin had something of the Red Indian's faculty for +tracking his game, by hardly perceptible signs and tokens, through the +wilderness; and this mystery of Mark Wylder's flight and seclusion was +the present object of his keen and patient pursuit. + +On receipt of the 'instrument,' therefore, he wrote by return of post, +'presenting his respectful compliments to Sir Julius Hockley, and deeply +regretting that, as solicitor of the Wylder family, and the _gentleman_ +(_sic_) empowered to act under the letter of attorney, it was imperative +upon him to trouble him (Sir Julius H.) with a few interrogatories, which +he trusted he would have no difficulty in answering.' + +The first was, whether he had been acquainted with Mr. Mark Wylder's +personal appearance before seeing him sign, so as to be able to identify +him. The second was, whether he (Mr. M.W.) was accompanied, at the time +of executing the instrument, by any friend; and if so, what were the name +and address of such friend. And the third was, whether he could +communicate any information whatsoever respecting Mr. M.W.'s present +place of abode? + +The same queries were put in a somewhat haughty and peremptory way to the +sporting hotel-keeper, who answered that Mr. Mark Wylder had been staying +for a week at his house, about five months ago; and that he had seen him +twice--once 'backing' Jonathan, when he beat the great American +billiard-player; and another time, when he lent him his copy of 'Bell's +Life,' in the coffee-room; and thus he was enabled to identify him. For +the rest he could say nothing. + +Sir Julius's reply was of the hoity-toity and rollicking sort, bordering +in parts very nearly on nonsense, and generally impertinent. It reached +Mr. Larkin as he sat at breakfast with his friend, Stanley Lake. + +'Pray read your letters, and don't mind me, I entreat. Perhaps you will +allow me to look at the "Times;" and I'll trouble you for the sardines.' + +The postmark 'Hockley,' stared the lawyer in the face; and, longing to +break the seal, he availed himself of the captain's permission. So Lake +opened the 'Times;' and, as he studied its columns, I think he stole a +glance or two over its margin at the attorney, now deep in the letter of +Sir Julius Hockley. + +He (Sir J.H.) 'presented his respects to Mr. Lark_ens_, or Lark_ins_, or +Lark_me_, or Lark_us_--Sir J.H. is not able to read _which_ or _what_; +but he is happy to observe, at all events, that, end how he may, the +gentleman begins with a "lark!" which Sir J.H. always does, when he can. +Not being able to discover his terminal syllable, he will take the +liberty of styling him by his sprightly beginning, and calling him +shortly "Lark." As Sir J. never objected to a lark, the gentleman so +designated introduces himself with a strong prejudice, in Sir J.'s mind, +in his favour--so much so, that by way of a lark, Sir J. will answer +Lark's questions, which are not, he thinks, very impertinent. The wildest +of all Lark's questions refers to Wylder's place of abode, which Sir J. +was never wild enough to think of asking after, and does not know; and so +little was he acquainted with the gentleman, that he forgot he was an +evangelist doing good under the style and title of Mark. Lark may, +therefore, tell Mark, if he sees him, or his friends--Matthew, Luke, and +John--that Sir Julius saw Mark only on two successive days, at the +cricket-match, played between Paul's Eleven--the coincidence is +remarkable--and the Ishmaelites (these, I am bound to observe, were +literally the designations of the opposing sides); and that he had the +honour of being presented to Mark--saint or sinner, as he may be--on the +ground, by his, Sir J.H.'s, friend, Captain Stanley Lake, of the Guards.' + +Here was an astounding fact. Stanley Lake had been in Mark Wylder's +company only ten days ago, when that great match was played at Brighton! +What a deep gentleman was that Stanley Lake, who sat at the other end of +the table with the 'Times' before him. What a varnished rascal--what a +matchless liar! + +He had returned to Gylingden, direct, in all likelihood, from his +conferences with Mark Wylder, to tell all concerned that it was vain +endeavouring to trace him, and still offering his disinterested services +in the pursuit. + +No matter! We must take things coolly and cautiously. All this chicanery +will yet break down, and the conspiracy, be it what it may, will be +thoroughly exposed. Mystery is the shadow of guilt; and, most assuredly, +thought Mr. Larkin, there is some _infernal_ secret, _well worth +knowing_, at the bottom of all this. You little think I have you here! +and he slid Sir Julius Hockley's piece of rubbishy banter into his +waistcoat pocket, and then opened and glanced at half-a-dozen other +letters, in a cool, quick official way, endorsing a little note on the +back of each with his gold, patent pencil. All Mr. Jos. Larkin's +'properties' were handsome and imposing, and he never played with +children without producing his gold repeater, and making it strike, and +exhibiting its wonders for their amusement, and the edification of the +adults, whose presence, of course, he forgot. + +'Paul's Eleven have challenged the Gipsies,' said Lake, languidly lifting +his eyes from the paper. 'By-the-bye, are you anything of a cricketer? +And they are to play at Hockley, Sir Julius Hockley's ground. You know +Sir Julius, don't you?' + +'Very slightly. I may say I _have_ that honour, but we have never been +thrown together; a mere--a--the slightest thing in the world.' + +'Not schoolfellows----you are not an Eton man, eh?' said Lake. + +'Oh no! My dear father' (the organist) 'would not send a boy of his to +what he called an idle school. But my acquaintance with Sir Julius was a +trifling matter. Hockley is a very pretty place, is not it?' + +'A sweet place. A great match was played between those fellows at +Brighton: Paul's Eleven beat fifteen of the Ishmaelites, about a +fortnight since; but they have no chance with the Gipsies. It will be +quite a hollow thing--a one-innings affair.' + +'Have you ever seen Paul's Eleven play?' asked the lawyer, carelessly +taking up the newspaper which Lake had laid down. + +'I saw them play that match at Brighton, I mentioned just now, a few days +ago.' + +'Ah! did you?' + +'Did not you _know_ I was there?' said Lake, in rather a changed tone. +Larkin looked up, and Lake laughed in his face quietly the most +impertinent laugh he had ever seen or heard, with his yellow eyes fixed +on the lawyer's pink little optics. 'I was there, and Hockley was there, +and Mark Wylder was there--was not he?' and Lake stared and laughed, and +the attorney stared; and Lake added, 'What a d--d cunning fellow you are; +ha, ha, ha!' + +Larkin was not easily put out, but he _was_ disconcerted now; and his +cheeks and forehead grew suddenly pink, and he coughed a little, and +tried to throw a look of mild surprise into his face. + +'Why, you have this moment had a letter from Hockley. Don't you think I +knew his hand and the post-mark, and your look said quite plainly, +"Here's news of my friend Stanley Lake and Mark Wylder." I had an uncle +in the Foreign Office, and they said he would have been quite a +distinguished diplomatist if he had lived; and I was said to have a good +deal of his talent; and I really think I have brought my little evidences +very prettily together, and jumped to a right conclusion--eh?' + +A flicker of that sinister shadow I have sometimes mentioned crossed +Larkin's face, and contracted his eyes, as he said, a little sternly-- + +'I have nothing on earth to conceal, Sir; I never had. All _my_ conduct +has been as open as the light; there's not a letter, Sir, I ever write or +receive, that might not, so far as _I_ am concerned, with my good will, +lie open on that table for every visitor that comes in to read;--open as +the day, Sir:' and the attorney waved his hand grandly. + +'Hear, hear, hear,' said Lake, languidly, and tapping a little applause +on the table, while he watched the solicitor's rhetoric with his sly, +disconcerting smile. + +'It was but conscientious, Captain Lake, that I should make particular +enquiry respecting the genuineness of a legal instrument conferring such +very considerable powers. How, on earth, Sir, could I have the slightest +suspicion that _you_ had seen my client, Mr. Wylder, considering the +tenor of your letters and conversation? And I venture to say, Captain +Lake, that Lord Chelford will be just as much surprised as I, when he +hears it.' + +Jos. Larkin, Esq., delivered this peroration from a moral elevation, all +the loftier that he had a peer of the realm on his side. But peers did +not in the least overawe Stanley Lake, who had been all his days familiar +with those idols; and the moral altitudes of the attorney amused him +vastly. + +'But he'll _not_ hear it; _I_ won't tell him, and you sha'n't; because I +don't think it would be prudent of us--do you?--to quarrel with Mark +Wylder, and he does not wish our meeting known. It is nothing on earth to +me; on the contrary, it rather places me in an awkward position keeping +other people's secrets.' + +The attorney made one of his slight, gentlemanlike bows, and threw back +his head with a lofty and reserved look. + +'I don't know, Captain Lake, that I would be quite justified in +withholding the substance of Sir Julius Hockley's letter from Lord +Chelford, consulted, as I have had the honour to be, by that nobleman. I +shall, however, turn it over in my mind.' + +'Don't the least mind me. In fact, I would rather tell it than not. And I +can explain to Chelford why _I_ could not mention the circumstance. +Wylder, in fact, tied me down by a promise, and he'll be devilish angry +with you; but, it seems, you don't very much mind that.' + +He knew that Mr. Larkin _did_ very much mind it; and the quick glance of +the attorney could read nothing whatever in the captain's pallid face and +downcast eyes, smiling on the points of his varnished boots. + +'Of course, you know, Captain Lake, in alluding to the possibility of my +making any communication to Lord Chelford, I limit myself strictly to the +letter of Sir Julius Hockley, and do not, by any means, my dear Captain +Lake, include the conversation which has just occurred, and the +communication which you have volunteered to make me.' + +'Oh! quite so,' said the captain, looking up suddenly, as was his way, +with a momentary glare, like a man newly-waked from a narcotic doze. + + + + +CHAPTER XXXV. + +THE HUNT BALL. + + +By this time your humble servant, the chronicler of these Gylingden +annals, had taken his leave of magnificent old Brandon, and of its +strangely interesting young mistress and was carrying away with him, as +he flew along the London rails, the broken imagery of that grand and +shivered dream. He was destined, however, before very long, to revisit +these scenes; and in the meantime heard, in rude outline, the tenor of +what was happening--the minute incidents and colouring of which were +afterwards faithfully communicated. + +I can, therefore, without break or blur, continue my description; and to +say truth, at this distance of time, I have some difficulty--so well +acquainted was I with the actors and the scenery--in determining, without +consulting my diary, what portions of the narrative I relate from +hearsay, and what as a spectator. But that I am so far from understanding +myself, I should often be amazed at the sayings and doings of other +people. As it is, I behold in myself an abyss, I gaze down and listen, +and discover neither light nor harmony, but thunderings and lightnings, +and voices and laughter, and a medley that dismays me. There rage the +elements which God only can control. Forgive us our trespasses; lead us +not into temptation; deliver us from the Evil One! How helpless and +appalled we shut our eyes over that awful chasm. + +I have long ceased, then, to wonder why any living soul does anything +that is incongruous and unanticipated. And therefore I cannot say how +Miss Brandon persuaded her handsome Cousin Rachel to go with her party, +under the wing of Old Lady Chelford, to the Hunt Ball of Gylingden. And +knowing now all that then hung heavy at the heart of the fair tenant of +Redman's Farm, I should, indeed, wonder inexpressibly, were it not, as I +have just said, that I have long ceased to wonder at any vagaries of +myself or my fellow creatures. + +The Hunt Ball is the great annual event of Gylingden. The critical +process of 'coming out' is here consummated by the young ladies of that +town and vicinage. It is looked back upon for one-half of the year, and +forward to for the other. People date by it. The battle of Inkerman was +fought immediately before the Hunt Ball. It was so many weeks after the +Hunt Ball that the Czar Nicholas died. The Carnival of Venice was nothing +like so grand an event. Its solemn and universal importance in Gylingden +and the country round, gave me, I fancied, some notion of what the feast +of unleavened bread must have been to the Hebrews and Jerusalem. + +The connubial capabilities of Gylingden are positively wretched. When I +knew it, there were but three single men, according even to the modest +measure of Gylingden housekeeping, capable of supporting wives, and these +were difficult to please, set a high price on themselves--looked the +country round at long ranges, and were only wistfully and meekly glanced +after by the frugal vestals of Gylingden, as they strutted round the +corners, or smoked the pipe of apathy at the reading-room windows. + +Old Major Jackson kept the young ladies in practice between whiles, with +his barren gallantries and graces, and was, just so far, better than +nothing. But, as it had been for years well ascertained that he either +could not or would not afford to marry, and that his love passages, like +the passages in Gothic piles that 'lead to nothing,' were not designed to +terminate advantageously, he had long ceased to excite, even in that +desolate region, the smallest interest. + +Think, then, what it was, when Mr. Pummice, of Copal and Pummice, the +splendid house-painters at Dollington, arrived with his artists and +charwomen to give the Assembly Room its annual touching-up and +bedizenment, preparatory to the Hunt Ball. The Gylingden young ladies +used to peep in, and from the lobby observe the wenches dry-rubbing and +waxing the floor, and the great Mr. Pummice, with his myrmidons, in +aprons and paper caps, retouching the gilding. + +It was a tremendous crisis for honest Mrs. Page, the confectioner, over +the way, who, in legal phrase, had 'the carriage' of the supper and +refreshments, though largely assisted by Mr. Battersby, of Dollington. +During the few days' agony of preparation that immediately preceded this +notable orgie, the good lady's countenance bespoke the magnitude of her +cares. Though the weather was usually cold, I don't think she ever was +cool during that period--I am sure she never slept--I don't think she +ate--and I am afraid her religious exercises were neglected. + +Equally distracting, emaciating, and godless, was the condition to which +the mere advent of this festival reduced worthy Miss Williams, the +dressmaker, who had more white muslin and young ladies on her hands than +she and her choir of needle-women knew what to do with. During this +tremendous period Miss Williams hardly resembled herself--her eyes +dilated, her lips were pale, and her brow corrugated with deep and +inflexible lines of fear and perplexity. She lived on bad tea--sat up all +night--and every now and then burst into helpless floods of tears. But +somehow, generally things came pretty right in the end. One way or +another, the gay belles and elderly spinsters, and fat village +chaperones, were invested in suitable costume by the appointed hour, and +in a few weeks Miss Williams' mind recovered its wonted tone, and her +countenance its natural expression. + +The great night had now arrived. Gylingden was quite in an uproar. Rural +families of eminence came in. Some in old-fashioned coaches; others, the +wealthier, more in London style. The stables of the 'Brandon Arms,' of +the 'George Inn,' of the 'Silver Lion,' even of the 'White House,' though +a good way off, and generally every vacant standing for horses in or +about the town were crowded; and the places of entertainment we have +named, and minor houses of refection, were vocal with the talk of +flunkeys, patrician with powdered heads, and splendent in variegated +liveries. + +The front of the Town Hall resounded with the ring of horse-hoofs, the +crack of whips, the bawling of coachmen, the clank of carriage steps and +clang of coach doors. A promiscuous mob of the plebs and profanum vulgus +of Gylingden beset the door, to see the ladies--the slim and the young in +white muslins and artificial flowers, and their stout guardian angels, of +maturer years, in satins and velvets, and jewels--some real, and some, +just as good, of paste. In the cloak-room such a fuss, unfurling of fans, +and last looks and hurried adjustments. + +When the Crutchleighs, of Clay Manor, a good, old, formal family, were +mounting the stairs in solemn procession--they were always among the +early arrivals--they heard a piano and a tenor performing in the +supper-room. + +Now, old Lady Chelford chose to patronise Mr. Page, the Dollington +professor, and partly, I fancy, to show that she could turn things +topsy-turvy in this town of Gylingden, had made a point, with the rulers +of the feast, that her client should sing half-a-dozen songs in the +supper-room before dancing commenced. + +Mrs. Crutchleigh stayed her step upon the stairs abruptly, and turned, +with a look of fierce surprise upon her lean, white-headed lord, +arresting thereby the upward march of Corfe Crutchleigh, Esq., the hope +of his house, who was pulling on his gloves, with his eldest spinster +sister on his lank arm. + +'There appears to be a concert going on; we came here to a ball. Had you +not better enquire, Mr. Crutchleigh; it would seem we have made a +mistake?' + +Mrs. Crutchleigh was sensitive about the dignity of the family of Clay +Manor; and her cheeks flushed above the rouge, and her eyes flashed +severely. + +'That's singing--particularly _loud singing_. Either we have mistaken the +night, or somebody has taken upon him to upset all the arrangements. +You'll be good enough to enquire whether there will be dancing to-night; +I and Anastasia will remain in the cloak-room; and we'll all leave if you +please, Mr. Crutchleigh, if this goes on.' + +The fact is, Mrs. Crutchleigh had got an inkling of this performance, and +had affected to believe it impossible; and, detesting old Lady Chelford +for sundry slights and small impertinences, and envying Brandon and its +belongings, was resolved not to be put down by presumption in that +quarter. + +Old Lady Chelford sat in an arm-chair in the supper-room, where a +considerable audience was collected. She had a splendid shawl or two +about her, and a certain air of demi-toilette, which gave the Gylingden +people to understand that her ladyship did not look on this gala in the +light of a real ball, but only as a sort of rustic imitation--curious, +possibly amusing, and, like other rural sports, deserving of +encouragement, for the sake of the people who made innocent holiday +there. + +Mr. Page, the performer, was a plump young man, with black whiskers, and +his hair in oily ringlets, such as may be seen in the model wigs +presented on smiling, waxen dandies, in Mr. Rose's front window at +Dollington. He bowed and smiled in the most unexceptionable of white +chokers and the dapperest of dress coats, and drew off the whitest +imaginable pair of kid gloves, when he sat down to the piano, subsiding +in a sort of bow upon the music-stool, and striking those few, brisk and +noisy chords with which such artists proclaim silence and reassure +themselves. + +Stanley Lake, that eminent London swell, had attached himself as +gentleman-in-waiting to Lady Chelford's household, and was perpetually +gliding with little messages between her ladyship and the dapper vocalist +of Dollington, who varied his programme and submitted to an occasional +_encore_ on the private order thus communicated. + +'I told you Chelford would be here,' said Miss Brandon to Rachel, in a +low tone, glancing at the young peer. + +'I thought he had returned to Brighton. I fancied he might be--you know +the Dulhamptons are at Brighton; and Lady Constance, of course, has a +claim on his time and thoughts.' + +Rachel smiled as she spoke, and was adjusting her bouquet, as Dorcas made +answer-- + +'Lady Constance, my dear Radie! That, you know, was never more than a +mere whisper; it was only Lady Chelford and the marchioness who talked it +over--they would have liked it very well. But Chelford won't be managed +or scolded into anything of the kind; and will choose, I think, for +himself, and I fancy not altogether according to their ideas, when the +time comes. And I assure you, dear Radie, there is not the least truth in +that story about Lady Constance.' + +Why should Dorcas be so earnest to convince her handsome cousin that +there was nothing in this rumour? Rachel made no remark, and there was a +little silence. + +'I'm so glad I succeeded in bringing you here,' said Dorcas; 'Chelford +made such a point of it; and he thinks you are losing your spirits among +the great trees and shadows of Redman's Dell; and he made it quite a +little cousinly duty that I should succeed.' + +At this moment Mr. Page interposed with the energetic prelude of his +concluding ditty. It was one of Tom Moore's melodies. + +Rachel leaned back, and seemed to enjoy it very much. But when it was +over, I think she would have found it difficult to say what the song was +about. + +Mr. Page had now completed his programme, and warned by the disrespectful +violins from the gallery of the ball-room, whence a considerable +caterwauling was already announcing the approach of the dance, he made +his farewell flourish, and bow and, smiling, withdrew. + + + + +CHAPTER XXXVI. + +THE BALL ROOM. + + +Rachel Lake, standing by the piano, turned over the leaves of the volume +of 'Moore's Melodies' from which the artist in black whiskers and white +waistcoat had just entertained his noble patroness and his audience. + +Everyone has experienced, I suppose for a few wonderful moments, now and +then, a glow of seemingly causeless happiness, in which the earth and its +people are glorified--peace and sunlight rest on everything--the spirit +of music and love is in the air, and the heart itself sings for joy. In +the light of this celestial illusion she stood now by the piano, turning +over the pages of poor Tom Moore, as I have said, when a low pleasant +voice near her said-- + +'I was so glad to see that Dorcas had prevailed, and that you were here. +We both agreed that you are too much a recluse in that Der Frieschutz +Glen--at least, for your friends' pleasure; and owe it to us all to +appear now and then in this upper world.' + +'Excelsior, Miss Lake,' interposed dapper little Mr. Buttle, with a +smirk; 'I think this little bit of music--it was got up, you know, by +that old quiz, Dowager Lady Chelford--was really not so bad--a rather +good idea, after all, Miss Lake. Don't you?' + +Poor Mr. Buttle did not know Lord Chelford, and thus shooting his 'arrow +o'er the house,' he 'hurt his brother.' Chelford turned away, and bowed +and smiled to one or two friends at the other side of the room. + +'Yes, the music was very pretty, and some of the songs were quite +charmingly sung. I agree with you--we are very much obliged to Lady +Chelford--that is her son, Lord Chelford.' + +'Oh!' said Buttle, whose smirk vanished on the instant in a very red and +dismal vacancy, 'I--I'm afraid he'll think me shockingly rude.' And in a +minute more Buttle was gone. + +Miss Lake again looked down upon the page, and as she did so, Lord +Chelford turned and said-- + +'You are a worshipper of Tom Moore, Miss Lake?' + +'An admirer, perhaps--certainly no worshipper. Yet, I can't say. Perhaps +I do worship; but if so, it is a worship strangely mixed with contempt.' +And she laughed a little. 'A kind of adoring which I fancy belongs +properly to the lords of creation, and which we of the weaker sex have no +right to practise.' + +'Miss Lake is pleased to be ironical to-night,' he said, with a smile. + +'Am I? I dare say. All women are. Irony is the weapon of cowardice, and +cowardice the vice of weakness. Yet I think I was naturally bold and +true. I hate cowardice and deception even in myself--I hate perfidy--I +hate _fraud_.' + +She tapped a little emphasis upon the floor with her white satin shoe, +and her eyes flashed with a dark and angry meaning among the crowd at the +other end of the room, as if for a second or two following an object to +whom in some way the statement applied. + +The strange bitterness of her tone, though it was low enough, and +something wild, suffering, and revengeful in her look, though but +momentary, and hardly definable, did not escape Lord Chelford, and he +followed unconsciously the direction of her glance; but there was nothing +there to guide him to a conclusion, and the good people who formed that +polite and animated mob were in his eyes, one and all, quite below the +level of tragedy, or even of melodrama. + +'And yet, Miss Lake, we are all more or less cowards or deceivers--at +least, to the extent of suppression. Who would speak the whole truth, or +like to hear it?--not I, I know.' + +'Nor I,' she said, quietly. + +'And I do think, if people had no reserves, they would be very +uninteresting,' he added. + +She was looking, with a strange light upon her face--a smile, +perhaps--upon the open pages of 'Moore's Melodies' as he spoke. + +'I like a little puzzle and mystery--they surround our future and our +past; and the present would be insipid, I think, without them. Now, I +can't tell, Miss Lake, as you look on Tom Moore there, and I try to read +your smile, whether you happen at this particular moment to adore or +despise him.' + +'Moore's is a daring morality--what do you think, for instance, of these +lines?' she said, touching the verse with her bouquet. + +Lord Chelford read-- + + I ask not, I know not, if guilt's in thy heart + I but know that I love thee, whatever thou art.' + +He laughed. + +'Very passionate, but hardly respectable. I once knew,' he continued a +little more gravely, 'a marriage made upon that principle, and not very +audaciously either, which turned out very unhappily.' + +'So I should conjecture,' she said, rising from her chair, rather +drearily and abstractedly, 'and there is good old Lady Sarah. I must go +and ask her how she does.' She paused for a moment, holding her bouquet +drooping towards the floor, and looking with her clouded eyes +down--down--through it; and then she looked up suddenly, with an odd, +fierce smile, and she said bitterly enough--'and yet, if I were a man, +and capable of loving, I could love no other way; because I suppose love +to be a madness, and the sublimest and the most despicable of states. And +I admire Moore for that flash of the fallen angelic--it is the sentiment +of a hero and a madman--too base and too _noble_ for this cool, wise +world.' + +She was already moving away, nebulous in hovering folds of snowy muslin. +And she floated down like a cloud upon the ottoman, beside old Lady +Sarah, and smiled and leaned towards her, and talked in her sweet, low, +distinct accents. And Lord Chelford followed her, with a sad sort of +smile, admiring her greatly. + +Of course, _non cuivis contigit_, it was not every man's privilege to +dance with the splendid Lady of Brandon. It was only the demigods who +ventured within the circle. Her kinsman, Lord Chelford, did so; and now +handsome Sir Harry Bracton, six feet high, so broad-shouldered and +slim-waisted, his fine but not very wise face irradiated with +indefatigable smiles, stood and conversed with her, with that jaunty +swagger of his--his weight now on this side, now on that, squaring his +elbows like a crack whip with four-in-hand, and wagging his perfumed +tresses--boisterous, rollicking, beaming with immeasurable +self-complacency. + +Stanley Lake left old Lady Chelford's side, and glided to that of Dorcas +Brandon. + +'Will you dance this set--are you engaged, Miss Brandon?' he said, in low +eager tones. + +'Yes, to both questions,' answered she, with the faintest gleam of the +conventional smile, and looking now gravely again at her bouquet. + +'Well, the next possibly, I hope?' + +'I never do that,' said the apathetic beauty, serenely. + +Stanley looked as if he did not quite understand, and there was a little +silence. + +'I mean, I never engage myself beyond one dance. I hope you do not think +it rude--but I never do.' + +'Miss Brandon can make what laws she pleases for all here, and for some +of us everywhere,' he replied, with a mortified smile and a bow. + +At that moment Sir Harry Bracton arrived to claim her, and Miss +Kybes--elderly and sentimental, and in no great request--timidly said, in +a gobbling, confidential whisper-- + +'What a handsome couple they do make! Does not it quite realise your +conception, Captain Lake, of young Lochinvar, you know, and his fair +Helen-- + + So stately his form and so lovely her face-- + +You remember-- + + 'That never a hall such a galliard did grace. + +Is not it?' + +'So it is, really; it did not strike me. And that "one cup of wine"--you +recollect--which the hero drank; and, I dare say it made young Lochinvar +a little noisy and swaggering, when he proposed "treading the +measure"--is not that the phrase? Yes, really; it is a very pretty +poetical parallel.' + +And Miss Kybes was pleased to think that Captain Lake would be sure to +report her elegant little compliment in the proper quarters, and that her +incense had not missed fire. + +When Miss Brandon returned, Lake was unfortunately on duty beside old +Lady Chelford, whom it was important to propitiate, and who was in the +middle of a story--an extraordinary favour from her ladyship; and he had +the vexation to see Lord Chelford palpably engaging Miss Brandon for the +next dance. + +When she returned, she was a little tired, and doubtful whether she would +dance any more--certainly not the next dance. So he resolved to lie in +wait, and anticipate any new suitor who might appear. + +His eyes, however, happened to wander, in an unlucky moment, to old Lady +Chelford, who instantaneously signalled to him with her fan. + +'-- the woman,' mentally exclaimed Lake, telegraphing, at the same time, +with a bow and a smile of deferential alacrity, and making his way +through the crowd as deftly as he could; what a ---- fool I was to go +near her.' + +So the captain had to assist at the dowager lady's supper; and not only +so, but in some sort at her digestion also, which she chose should take +place for some ten minutes in the chair that she occupied at the supper +table. + +When he escaped, Miss Brandon _was_ engaged once more--and to Sir Harry +Bracton, for a second time. + +And moreover, when he again essayed his suit, the young lady had +peremptorily made up her mind to dance no more that night. + +'How _can_ Dorcas endure that man,' thought Rachel, as she saw Sir Harry +lead her to her seat, after a second dance. 'Handsome, but so noisy and +foolish, and wicked; and is not he vulgar, too?' + +But Dorcas was not demonstrative. Her likings and dislikings were always +more or less enigmatical. Still Rachel Lake fancied that she detected +signs, not only of tolerance, but of positive liking, in her haughty +cousin's demeanour, and wondered, after all, whether Dorcas was beginning +to like Sir Harry Bracton. Dorcas had always puzzled her--not, indeed, so +much latterly--but this night the mystery began to darken once more. + +Twice, for a moment, their eyes met; but only for a moment. Rachel knew +that a tragedy might be--at that instant, and under the influence of that +very spectacle--gathering its thunders silently in another part of the +room, where she saw Stanley's pale, peculiar face; and although he +appeared in nowise occupied by what was passing between Dorcas Brandon +and Sir Harry, she perfectly well knew that nothing of it escaped him. + +The sight of that pale face was a cold pang at her heart--a face +prophetic of evil, at sight of which the dark curtain which hid futurity +seemed to sway and tremble, as if a hand from behind was on the point of +drawing it. Rachel sighed profoundly, and her eyes looked sadly through +her bouquet on the floor. + +'I'm very glad you came, Radie,' said a sweet voice, which somehow made +her shiver, close to her ear. 'This kind of thing will do you good; and +you really wanted a little fillip. Shall I take you to the supper-room?' + +'No, Stanley, thank you; I prefer remaining.' + +'Have you observed how Dorcas has treated me this evening?' + +'No, Stanley; nothing unusual, is there?' answered Rachel, glancing +uneasily round, lest they should be overheard. + +'Well, I think she has been more than usually repulsive--quite marked; I +almost fancy these Gylingden people, dull as they are, must observe it. I +have a notion I sha'n't trouble Gylingden or her after to-morrow.' + +Rachel glanced quickly at him. He was deadly pale, with his faint +unpleasant smile; and he returned her glance for a second wildly, and +then dropped his eyes to the ground. + +'I told you,' he resumed again, after a short pause, and commencing with +a gentle laugh, 'that she liked that fellow, Bracton.' + +'You did say something, I think, of that, some time since,' said Rachel; +'but really----' + +'But really, Radie, dear, you can't need any confirmation more than this +evening affords. We both know Dorcas very well; she is not like other +girls. She does not encourage fellows as they do; but if she did not like +Bracton very well indeed, she would send him about his business. She has +danced with him twice, on the contrary, and has suffered his agreeable +conversation all the evening; and that from Dorcas Brandon means, you +know, everything.' + +'I don't know that it means anything. I don't see why it should; but I am +very certain,' said Rachel, who, in the midst of this crowded, gossiping +ball-room, was talking much more freely to Stanley, and also, strange to +say, in more sisterly fashion, than she would have done in the little +parlour of Redman's Farm; 'I am very certain, Stanley, that if this +supposed preference leads you to abandon your wild pursuit of Dorcas, it +will prevent more ruin than, perhaps, either of us anticipates; and, +Stanley,' she added in a whisper, looking full in his eyes, which were +raised for a moment to hers, 'it is hardly credible that you dare still +to persist in so desperate and cruel a project.' + +'Thank you,' said Stanley quietly, but the yellow lights glared fiercely +from their sockets, and were then lowered instantly to the floor. + +'She has been very rude to me to-night; and you have not been, or tried +to be, of any earthly use to me; and I will take a decided course. I +perfectly know what I'm about. You don't seem to be dancing. _I_ have not +either; we have both got something more serious, I fancy, to think of.' + +And Stanley Lake glided slowly away, and was lost in the crowd. He went +into the supper-room, and had a glass of seltzer water and sherry. He +loitered at the table. His ruminations were dreary, I fancy, and his +temper by no means pleasant; and it needed a good deal of that artificial +command of countenance which he cultivated, to prevent his betraying +something of the latter, when Sir Harry Bracton, talking loud and volubly +as usual, swaggered into the supper-room, with Dorcas Brandon on his arm. + + + + +CHAPTER XXXVII. + +THE SUPPER-ROOM. + + +It was rather trying, in this state of things, to receive from the +triumphant baronet, with only a parenthetical 'Dear Lake, I beg your +pardon,' a rough knock on the elbow of the hand that held his glass, and +to be then summarily hustled out of his place. It was no mitigation of +the rudeness, in Lake's estimate, that Sir Harry was so engrossed and +elated as to seem hardly conscious of any existence but Miss Brandon's +and his own. + +Lake was subject to transient paroxysms of exasperation; but even in +these be knew how to command himself pretty well before witnesses. His +smile grew a little stranger, and his face a degree whiter, as he set +down his glass, quietly glided a little away, and brushed off with his +handkerchief the aspersion which his coat had suffered. + +In a few minutes more Miss Brandon had left the supper-room leaning upon +Lord Chelford's arm; and Sir Harry remained, with a glass of pink +champagne, such as young fellows drink with a faith and comfort so +wonderful, at balls and _fetes champetres_. + +Sir Harry Bracton was already 'chaffing a bit,' as he expressed it, with +the young lady who assisted in dispensing the good things across the +supper-table, and was just calling up her blushes by a pretty parallel +between her eyes and the sparkling quality of his glass, and telling her +her mamma must have been sweetly pretty. + +Now, Sir Harry's rudeness to Lake had not been, I am afraid, altogether +accidental. The baronet was sudden and vehement in his affairs of the +heart; but curable on short absences, and easily transferable. He had +been vehemently enamoured of the heiress of Brandon a year ago and more; +but during an absence Mark Wylder's suit grew up and prospered, and Sir +Harry Bracton acquiesced; and, to say truth, the matter troubled his +manly breast but little. + +He had hardly expected to see her here in this rollicking, rustic +gathering. She was, he thought, even more lovely than he remembered her. +Beauty sometimes seen again does excel our recollections of it. Wylder +had gone off the scene, as Mr. Carlyle says, into infinite space. Who +could tell exactly the cause of his dismissal, and why the young lady had +asserted her capricious resolve to be free? + +There were pleasant theories adaptable to the circumstances; and Sir +Harry cherished an agreeable opinion of himself; and so, all things +favouring; the old flame blazed up wildly, and the young gentleman was +more in love then, and for some weeks after the ball, than perhaps he had +ever been before. + +Now some men--and Sir Harry was of them--are churlish and ferocious over +their loves, as certain brutes are over their victuals. In one of these +tender paroxysms, when in the presence of his Dulcinea, the young baronet +was always hot, short, and saucy with his own sex; and when his jealousy +was ever so little touched, positively impertinent. + +He perceived what other people did not, that Miss Brandon's eye once on +that evening rested for a moment on Captain Lake with a peculiar +expression of interest. This look was but once and momentary; but the +young gentleman resented it, and brooded over it, every now and then, +when the pale face of the captain crossed his eye; and two or three +times, when the beautiful young lady's attention seemed unaccountably to +wander from his agreeable conversation, he thought he detected her +haughty eye moving in the same direction. So he looked that way too; and +although he could see nothing noticeable in Stanley's demeanour, he could +have felt it in his heart to box his ears. + +Therefore, I don't think he was quite so careful as he might have been to +spare Lake that jolt upon the elbow, which coming from a rival in a +moment of public triumph was not altogether easy to bear like a +Christian. + +'Some grapes, please,' said Lake, to the young lady behind the table. + +'Oh, _uncle_! Is that you, Lake?--beg pardon; but you _are_ so like my +poor dear uncle, Langton. I wish you'd let me adopt you for an uncle. He +was such a pretty fellow, with his fat white cheeks and long nose, and he +looked half asleep. Do, pray, Uncle Lake; I should like it so,' and the +baronet, who was, I am afraid, what some people would term, perhaps, +vulgar, winked over his glass at the blooming confectioner, who turned +away and tittered over her shoulder at the handsome baronet's charming +banter. + +The girl having turned away to titter, forgot Lake's grapes; so he helped +himself, and leaning against the table, looked superciliously upon Sir +Harry, who was not to be deterred by the drowsy gaze of contempt with +which the captain retorted his angry 'chaff.' + +'Poor uncle died of love, or chicken pox, or something, at forty. You're +not ailing, Nunkie, are you? You do look wofully sick though; too bad to +lose a second uncle at the same early age. You're near forty, eh, Nunkie? +and such a pretty fellow! You'll take care of me in your will, Nunkie, +won't you? Come, what will you leave me; not much tin, I'm afraid.' + +'No, not much tin,' answered Lake; 'but I'll leave you what you want +more, my sense and decency, with a request that you will use them for my +sake.' + +'You're a devilish witty fellow, Lake; take care your wit don't get you +into trouble,' said the baronet, chuckling and growing angrier, for he +saw the Hebe laughing; and not being a ready man, though given to banter, +he sometimes descended to menace in his jocularity. + +'I was just thinking your dulness might do the same for you,' drawled +Lake. + +'When do you mean to pay Dawlings that bet on the Derby?' demanded Sir +Harry, his face very red, and only the ghost of his smile grinning there. +'I think you'd better; of course it is quite easy.' + +The baronet was smiling his best, with a very red face, and that +unpleasant uncertainty in his contracted eyes which accompanies +suppressed rage. + +'As easy as that,' said Lake, chucking a little bunch of grapes full into +Sir Harry Bracton's handsome face. + +Lake recoiled a step; his face blanched as white as the cloth; his left +arm lifted, and his right hand grasping the haft of a table-knife. + +There was just a second in which the athletic baronet stood, as it were +breathless and incredulous, and then his Herculean fist whirled in the +air with a most unseemly oath: the girl screamed, and a crash of glass +and crockery, whisked away by their coats, resounded on the ground. + +A chair between Lake and Sir Harry impeded the baronet's stride, and his +uplifted arm was caught by a gentleman in moustache, who held so fast +that there was no chance of shaking it loose. + +'D-- it, Bracton; d-- you, what the devil--don't be a--fool' and other +soothing expressions escaped this peacemaker, as he clung fast to the +young baronet's arm. + +'The people--hang it!--you'll have all the people about you. +Quiet--quiet--can't you, I say. Settle it quietly. Here I am.' + +'Well, let me go; that will do,' said he, glowering furiously at Lake, +who confronted him, in the same attitude, a couple of yards away. 'You'll +hear,' and he turned away. + +'I am at the "Brandon Arms" till to-morrow,' said Lake, with white lips, +very quietly, to the gentleman in moustaches, who bowed slightly, and +walked out of the room with Sir Harry. + +Lake poured out some sherry in a tumbler, and drank it off. He was a +little bit stunned, I think, in his new situation. + +Except for the waiters, and the actors in it, it so happened that the +supper-room was empty during this sudden fracas. Lake stared at the +frightened girl, in his fierce abstraction. Then, with his wild gaze, he +followed the line of his adversary's retreat, and shook his ears +slightly, like a man at whose hair a wasp has buzzed. + +'Thank you,' said he to the maid, suddenly recollecting himself, with a +sort of smile; 'that will do. What confounded nonsense! He'll be quite +cool again in five minutes. Never mind.' + +And Lake pulled on his white glove, glancing down the file of silent +waiters-some looking frightened, and some reserved--in white ties and +waistcoats, and he glided out of the room--his mind somewhere else--like +a somnambulist. + +It was not perfectly clear to the gentlemen and ladies in charge of the +ices, chickens, and champagne, between which of the three swells who had +just left the room the quarrel was--it had come so suddenly, and was over +so quickly, like a clap of thunder. Some had not seen any, and others +only a bit of it, being busy with plates and ice-tubs; and the few who +had seen it all did not clearly comprehend it--only it was certain that +the row had originated in jealousy about Miss Jones, the pretty +apprentice, who was judiciously withdrawn forthwith by Mrs. Page, the +properest of confectioners. + + + + +CHAPTER XXXVIII. + +AFTER THE BALL. + + +Lake glided from the feast with a sense of a tremendous liability upon +him. There was no retreat. The morning--yes, the morning--what then? +Should he live to see the evening? Sir Harry Bracton was the crack shot +of Swivel's gallery. He could hit a walking-cane at fifteen yards, at the +word. There he was, talking to old Lady Chelford. Very well; and there +was that fellow with the twisted moustache--plainly an officer and a +gentleman--twisting the end of one of them, and thinking profoundly, with +his back to the wall, evidently considering his coming diplomacy with +Lake's 'friend.' Aye, by-the-bye, and Lake's eye wandered in bewilderment +among village dons and elderly country gentlemen, in search of that +inestimable treasure. + +These thoughts went whisking and whirling round in Captain Lake's brain, +to the roar and clatter of the Joinville Polka, to which fifty pair of +dancing feet were hopping and skimming over the floor. + +'Monstrous hot, Sir--hey? ha, ha, by Jove!' said Major Jackson, who had +just returned from the supper-room, where he had heard several narratives +of the occurrence. 'Don't think I was so hot since the ball at Government +House, by Jove, Sir, in 1828--awful summer that!' + +The major was jerking his handkerchief under his florid nose and chin, by +way of ventilation; and eyeing the young man shrewdly the while, to read +what he might of the story in his face. + +'Been in Calcutta, Lake?' + +'No; very hot, indeed. Could I say just a word with you--this way a +little. So glad I met you.' And they edged into a little nook of the +lobby, where they had a few minutes' confidential talk, during which the +major looked grave and consequential, and carried his head high, nodding +now and then with military decision. + +Major Jackson whispered an abrupt word or two in his ear, and threw back +his head, eyeing Lake with grave and sly defiance. Then came another +whisper and a wink; and the major shook his hand, briefly but hard, and +the gentlemen parted. + +Lake strolled into the ball-room, and on to the upper end, where the +'best' people are, and suddenly he was in Miss Brandon's presence. + +'I've been very presumptuous, I fear, to-night, Miss Brandon, he said, in +his peculiar low tones. 'I've been very importunate--I prized the honour +I sought so very much, I forgot how little I deserved it. And I do not +think it likely you'll see me for a good while--possibly for a very long +time. I've therefore ventured to come, merely to say good-bye--only that, +just--good-bye. And--and to beg that flower'--and he plucked it +resolutely from her bouquet--'which I will keep while I live. Good-bye, +Miss Brandon.' + +And Captain Stanley Lake, that pale apparition, was gone. + +I do not know at all how Miss Brandon felt at this instant; for I never +could quite understand that strange lady. But I believe she looked a +little pale as she gravely adjusted the flowers so audaciously violated +by the touch of the cool young gentleman. + +I can't say whether Miss Brandon deigned to follow him with her dark, +dreamy gaze. I rather think not. And three minutes afterwards he had left +the Town Hall. + +The Brandon party did not stay very late. And they dropped Rachel at her +little dwelling. How very silent Dorcas was, thought Rachel, as they +drove from Gylingden. Perhaps others were thinking the same of Rachel. + +Next morning, at half-past seven o'clock, a dozen or so of rustics, under +command of Major Jackson, arrived at the back entrance of Brandon Hall, +bearing Stanley Lake upon a shutter, with glassy eyes, that did not seem +to see, sunken face, and a very blue tinge about his mouth. + +The major fussed into the house, and saw and talked with Larcom, who was +solemn and bland upon the subject, and went out, first, to make personal +inspection of the captain, who seemed to him to be dying. He was shot +somewhere in the shoulder or breast--they could not see exactly where, +nor disturb him as he lay. A good deal of blood had flowed from him, upon +the arm and side of one of the men who supported his head. + +Lake said nothing--he only whispered rather indistinctly one word, +'water'--and was not able to lift his head when it came; and when they +poured it into and over his lips, he sighed and closed his eyes. + +'It is not a bad sign, bleeding so freely, but he looks devilish shaky, +you see. I've seen lots of our fellows hit, you know, and I don't like +his looks--poor fellow. You'd better see Lord Chelford this minute. He +could not stand being brought all the way to the town. I'll run down and +send up the doctor, and he'll take him on if he can bear it.' + +Major Jackson did not run. Though I have seen with an astonishment that +has never subsided, fellows just as old and as fat, and braced up, +besides, in the inflexibilities of regimentals, keeping up at double +quick, at the heads of their companies, for a good quarter of a mile, +before the colonel on horseback mercifully called a halt. + +He walked at his best pace, however, and indeed was confoundedly uneasy +about his own personal liabilities. + +The major surprised Doctor Buddle shaving. He popped in unceremoniously. +The fat little doctor received him in drawers and a very tight web +worsted shirt, standing by the window, at which dangled a small +looking-glass. + +'By George, Sir, they've been at mischief,' burst forth the major; and +the doctor, razor in hand, listened with wide open eyes and half his face +lathered, to the story. Before it was over the doctor shaved the unshorn +side, and (the major still in the room) completed his toilet in hot +haste. + +Honest Major Jackson was very uncomfortable. Of course, Buddle could not +give any sort of opinion upon a case which he had not seen; but it +described uglily, and the major consulted in broken hints, with an uneasy +wink or two, about a flight to Boulogne. + +'Well, it will be no harm to be ready; but take no step till I come +back,' said the doctor, who had stuffed a great roll of lint and +plaister, and some other medicinals, into one pocket, and his leather +case of instruments, forceps, probe, scissors, and all the other steel +and silver horrors, into the other; so he strutted forth in his great +coat, unnaturally broad about the hips; and the major, 'devilish +uncomfortable,' accompanied him at a smart pace to the great gate of +Brandon. He did not care to enter, feeling a little guilty, although he +explained on the way all about the matter. How devilish stiff Bracton's +man was about it. And, by Jove, Sir! you know, what was to be said? for +Lake, like a fool, chucked a lot of grapes in his face--for nothing, by +George!' + +The doctor, short and broad, was now stumping up the straight avenue, +under the noble trees that roofed it over, and Major Jackson sauntered +about in the vicinity of the gate, more interested in Lake's safety than +he would have believed possible a day or two before. + +Lord Chelford being an early man, was, notwithstanding the ball of the +preceding night, dressing, when St. Ange, his Swiss servant, knocked at +his door with a dozen pockethandkerchiefs, a bottle of eau-de-cologne, +and some other properties of his metier. + +St. Ange could not wait until he had laid them down, but broke out with-- + +'Oh, mi Lor!--qu'est-il arrive?--le pauvre capitaine! il est tue--il se +meurt--he dies--d'un coup de pistolet. He comes de se battre from beating +himself in duel--il a ete atteint dans la poitrine--le pauvre +gentil-homme! of a blow of the pistol.' + +And so on, the young nobleman gathering the facts as best he might. + +'Is Larcom there?' + +'In the gallery, mi lor.' + +'Ask him to come in.' + +So Monsieur Larcom entered, and bowed ominously. + +'You've seen him, Larcom. Is he very much hurt?' + +'He appears, my lord, to me, I regret to say, almost a-dying like.' + +'Very weak? Does he speak to you?' + +'Not a word, my lord. Since he got a little water he's quite quiet.' + +'Poor fellow. Where have you put him?' + +'In the housekeeper's lobby, my lord. I rather think he's a-dying. He +looks uncommon bad, and I and Mrs. Esterbroke, the housekeeper, my lord, +thought you would not like he should die out of doors.' + +'Has she got your mistress's directions?' + +'Miss Brandon is not called up, my lord, and Mrs. Esterbroke is unwillin' +to halarm her; so she thought it better I should come for orders to your +lordship; which she thinks also the poor young gentleman is certainly +a-dying.' + +'Is there any vacant bed-room near where you have placed him? What does +Mrs. ---- the housekeeper, say?' + +'She thinks, my lord, the room hopposit, where Mr. Sledd, the architeck, +slep, when 'ere, would answer very nice. It is roomy and hairy, and no +steps. Major Jackson, who is gone to the town to fetch the doctor, my +lord, says Mr. Lake won't a-bear carriage; and so the room on the level, +my lord, would, perhaps, be more convenient.' + +'Certainly; tell her so. I will speak to Miss Brandon when she comes +down. How soon will the doctor be here?' + +'From a quarter to half an hour, my lord.' + +'Then tell the housekeeper to arrange as she proposes, and don't remove +his clothes until the doctor comes. Everyone must assist. I know, St. +Ange, you'll like to assist.' + +So Larcom withdrew ceremoniously, and Lord Chelford hastened his toilet, +and was down stairs, and in the room assigned by the housekeeper to the +ill-starred Captain Lake, before Doctor Buddle had arrived. + +It had already the dismal character of a sick chamber. Its light was +darkened; its talk was in whispers; and its to-ings and fro-ings on +tip-toe. An obsolete chambermaid had been already installed as nurse. +Little Mrs. Esterbroke, the housekeeper, was fussing hither and thither +about the room noiselessly. + +So this gay, astute man of fashion had fallen into the dungeon of sudden +darkness, and the custody of old women; and lay helpless in the stocks, +awaiting the judgment of Buddle. Ridiculous little pudgy Buddle--how +awful on a sudden are you grown--the interpreter of death in this very +case. '_My_ case,' thought that seemingly listless figure on the bed; +'_my_ case--I suppose it _is_ fatal--I am to go out of this room in a +long cloth-covered box. I am going to try, alone and for ever, the value +of those theories of futurity and the unseen which I have quietly scouted +all my days. Oh, that the prophet Buddle were here, to end my tremendous +suspense, and to announce a reprieve from Heaven.' + +While the wounded captain lay on the bed, with his clothes on, and the +coverlet over him, and that clay-coloured apathetic face, with closed +eyes, upon the pillow, without sigh or motion, not a whispered word +escaped him; but his brain was appalled, and his heart died within him in +the unspeakable horror of death. + +Lord Chelford, too, having looked on Lake with silent, but awful +misgivings, longed for the arrival of the doctor; and was listening and +silent when Buddle's short step and short respiration were heard in the +passage. So Larcom came to the door to announce the doctor in a whisper, +and Buddle fussed into the room, and made his bow to Lord Chelford, and +his brief compliments and condolences. + +'Not asleep?' he enquired, standing by the bed. + +The captain's lips moved a disclaimer, I suppose, but no sound came. + +So the doctor threw open the window-shutters, and clipped Stanley Lake's +exquisite coat ruthlessly through with his scissors, and having cleared +the room of all useless hands, he made his examination. + +It was a long visit. Buddle in the hall afterwards declined breakfast--he +had a board to attend. He told Lord Chelford that the case was 'a very +nasty one.' + +In fact, the chances were against the captain, and he, Buddle, would wish +a consultation with a London surgeon--whoever Lord Chelford lead most +confidence in--Sir Francis Seddley, he thought, would be very +desirable--but, of course, it was for the family to decide. If the +messenger caught the quarter to eleven up train at Dollington, he would +be in London at six, and could return with the doctor by the down mail +train, and so reach Dollington at ten minutes past four next morning, +which would answer, as he would not operate sooner. + +As the doctor toddled towards Gylingden, with sympathetic Major Tackson +by his side, before they entered the town they were passed by one of the +Brandon men riding at a hard canter for Dollington. + +'London?' shouted the doctor, as the man touched his hat in passing. + +'Yes, Sir.' + +'Glad o' that,' said the major, looking after him. + +'So am I,' said the learned Buddle. 'I don't see how we're to get the +bullet out of him, without mischief. Poor devil, I'm afraid he'll do no +good.' + +The ladies that morning had tea in their rooms. It was near twelve +o'clock when Lord Chelford saw Miss Brandon. She was in the conservatory +amongst her flowers, and on seeing him stepped into the drawing-room. + +'I hope, Dorcas, you are not angry with me. I've been, I'm afraid, very +impertinent; but I was called on to decide for you, in your absence, and +they all thought poor Lake could not be moved on to Gylingden without +danger.' + +'You did quite rightly, Chelford, and I thank you,' said Miss Brandon, +coldly; and she seated herself, and continued-- + +'Pray, what does the doctor really say?' + +'He speaks very seriously.' + +'Does he think there is danger?' + +'Very great danger.' + +Miss Brandon looked down, and then, with a pale gaze suddenly in +Chelford's face-- + +'He thinks he may die?' said she. + +'Yes,' said Lord Chelford, in a very low tone, returning her gaze +solemnly. + +'And nobody to advise but that village doctor, Buddle--that's hardly +credible, I think.' + +'Pardon me. At his suggestion I have sent for Sir Francis Seddley, from +town, and I hope he may arrive early to-morrow morning.' + +'Why, Stanley Lake may die to-day.' + +'He does not apprehend that. But it is necessary to remove the bullet, +and the operation will be critical, and it is for that specially that Sir +Francis is coming down.' + +'It is to take place to-morrow, and he'll die in that operation. You know +he'll die,' said Dorcas, pale and fierce. + +'I assure you, Dorcas, I have been perfectly frank. He looks upon poor +Lake as in very great danger--but that is all.' + +'What brutes you men are!' said Dorcas, with a wild scorn in her look and +accent, and her cheeks flushed with passion. 'You knew quite well last +night there was to be this wicked duel in the morning--and you--a +magistrate--a lord-lieutenant--what are you?--you connived at this bloody +conspiracy--and _he_--your own cousin, Chelford--your cousin!' + +Chelford looked at her, very much amazed. + +'Yes; you are worse than Sir Harry Bracton--for you're no fool; and worse +than that wicked old man. Major Jackson--who shall never enter these +doors again--for he was employed--trusted in their brutal plans; but you +had no excuse and every opportunity--and you have allowed your Cousin +Stanley to be murdered.' + +'You do me great injustice, Dorcas. I did not know, or even suspect that +a hostile meeting between poor Lake and Bracton was thought of. I merely +heard that there had been some trifling altercation in the supper-room; +and when, intending to make peace between them, I alluded to it, just +before we left, and Bracton said it was really nothing--quite blown +over--and that he could not recollect what either had said. I was +entirely deceived--you know I speak truth--quite deceived. They think it +fair, you know, to dupe other people in such affairs; and I will also +say,' he continued, a little haughtily, 'that you might have spared your +censure until at least you had heard what I had to say.' + +'I do believe you, Chelford; you are not vexed with me. Won't you shake +hands?' + +He took her hand with a smile. + +'And now,' said she, 'Chelford, ought not we to send for poor Rachel: her +only brother? Is not it sad?' + +'Certainly; shall I ask my mother, or will you write?' + +'I will write,' she said. + + + + +CHAPTER XXXIX. + +IN WHICH MISS RACHEL LAKE COMES TO BRANDON, AND DOCTOR BUDDLE CALLS +AGAIN. + + +In about an hour afterwards, Rachel Lake arrived in the carriage which +had been despatched for her with Dorcas's note. + +She was a good deal muffled up, and looked very pale, and asked whether +Miss Brandon was in her room, whither she glided rapidly up stairs. It +was a sort of boudoir or dressing-room, with a few pretty old portraits +and miniatures, and a number of Louis Quatorze looking-glasses hung +round, and such pretty quaint cabriole gilt and pale green furniture. + +Dorcas met her at the door, and they kissed silently. + +'How is he, Dorcas?' + +'Very ill, dear, I'm afraid--sit down, darling.' + +Rachel was relieved, for in her panic she almost feared to ask if he were +living. + +'Is there immediate danger?' + +'The doctor says not, but he is very much alarmed for to-morrow.' + +'Oh! Dorcas, darling, he'll die; I know it. Oh! merciful Heaven! how +tremendous.' + +'You will not be so frightened in a little time. You have only just heard +it, Rachel dearest, and you are startled. I was so myself.' + +'I'd like to see him, Dorcas.' + +'Sit here a little and rest, dear. The doctor will make his visit +immediately, and then we can ask him. He's a good-natured little +creature--poor old Buddle--and I am certain if it can safely be, he won't +prevent it.' + +'Where is he, darling--where is Stanley?' + +So Dorcas described as well as she could. + +'Oh, poor Stanley. Oh, Stanley--poor Stanley,' gasped Rachel, with white +lips. 'You have no idea, Dorcas--no one can--how terrific it is. Oh, poor +Stanley--poor Stanley.' + +'Drink this water, darling; you must not be so excited.' + +'Dorcas, say what the doctor may, see him I must.' + +'There is time to think of that, darling.' + +'Has he spoken to anyone?' + +'Very little, I believe. He whispers a few words now and then--that is +all.' + +'Nothing to Chelford--nothing particular, I mean?' + +'No--nothing--at least that I have heard of.' + +'Did he wish to see no one?' + +'No one, dear.' + +'Not poor William Wylder?' + +'No, dear. I don't suppose he cares more for a clergyman than for any +other man; none of his family ever did, when they came to lie on a bed of +sickness, or of death either.' + +'No, no,' said Rachel, wildly; 'I did not mean to pray. I was not +thinking of that; but William Wylder was different; and he did not +mention _me_ either?' + +Dorcas shook her head. + +'I knew it,' continued Rachel, with a kind of shudder. 'And tell me, +Dorcas, does he know that he is in danger--such imminent danger?' + +'That I cannot say, Rachel, dear. I don't believe doctors like to tell +their patients so.' + +There was a silence of some minutes, and Rachel, clasping her hands in an +agony, said-- + +'Oh, yes--he's gone--he's certainly gone; and I remain alone under that +dreadful burden.' + +'Please, Miss Brandon, the doctor's down stairs with Captain Lake,' said +the maid, opening the door. + +'Is Lord Chelford with him?' + +'Yes, Miss, please.' + +'Then tell him I will be so obliged if he will come here for a moment, +when the doctor is gone; and ask the doctor now, from me, how he thinks +Captain Lake.' + +In a little while the maid returned. Captain Lake was not so low, and +rather better than this morning, the doctor said; and Rachel raised her +eyes, and whispered an agitated thanksgiving. 'Was Lord Chelford coming?' + +'His lordship had left the room when she returned, and Mr. Larcom said he +was with Lawyer Larkin in the library.' + +'Mr. Larkin can wait. Tell Lord Chelford I wish very much to see him +here.' + +So away went the maid again. A message in that great house was a journey; +and there was a little space before they heard a knock at the door of +Dorcas's pretty room, and Lord Chelford, duly invited, came in. + +Lord Chelford was surprised to see Rachel, and held her hand, while he +congratulated her on the more favourable opinion of the physician this +afternoon; and then he gave them, as fully and exactly as he could, all +the lights emitted by Dr. Buddle, and endeavoured to give his narrative +as cheerful and confident an air as he could. Then, at length, he +recollected that Mr. Larkin was waiting in the study. + +'I quite forgot Mr. Larkin,' said he; 'I left him in the library, and I +am so very glad we have had a pleasanter report upon poor Lake this +evening; and I am sure we shall all feel more comfortable on seeing Sir +Francis Seddley. He _is_ such an admirable surgeon; and I feel sure he'll +strike out something for our poor patient. I've known him hit upon such +original expedients, and make such wonderful successes.' + +So with a kind smile he left the room. + +Then there was a long pause. + +'Does he really think that Stanley will recover?' said Rachel. + +'I don't know; I suppose he hopes it. I don't know, Rachel, what to think +of anyone or anything. What wild beasts they are. How "swift to shed +blood," as poor William Wylder said last Sunday. Have you any idea what +they quarrelled about?' + +'None in the world. It was that odious Sir Harry Bracton--was not it?' + +'Why so odious, Rachel? How can you tell which was in the wrong? I only +know he seems to be a better marksman than your poor brother.' + +Rachel looked at her with something of haughty and surprised displeasure, +but said nothing. + +'You look at me, Radie, as if I were a monster--or _monstress_, I should +say--whereas I am only a Brandon. Don't you remember how our great +ancestor, who fought for the House of York, changed suddenly to +Lancaster, and how Sir Richard left the King and took part with Cromwell, +not for any particular advantage, I believe, or for any particular reason +even, but for wickedness and wounded pride, perhaps.' + +'I don't quite see your meaning, Dorcas. I can't understand how _your_ +pride has been hurt; but if Stanley had any, I can well imagine what +torture it must have endured; wretched, wicked, punished fool!' + +'You suspect what they fought about, Radie!' + +Rachel made no answer. + +'You do, Radie, and why do you dissemble with me?' + +'I don't dissemble; I don't care to speak; but if you will have me say +so, I _do_ suspect--I think it must have originated in jealousy of you.' + +'You look, Radie, as if you thought I had managed it--whereas I really +did not care.' + +'I do not understand you, Dorcas; but you appear to me very cruel, and +you smile, as I say so.' + +'I smile, because I sometimes think so myself.' + +With a fixed and wrathful stare Rachel returned the enigmatical gaze of +her beautiful cousin. + +'If Stanley dies, Dorcas, Sir Harry Bracton shall hear of it. I'll lose +my life, but he shall pay the forfeit of his crime.' + +So saying, Rachel left the room, and gliding through passages, and down +stairs, she knocked at Stanley's door. The old woman opened it. + +'Ah, Dorothy! I'm so glad to see _you_ here!' and she put a present in +her hard, crumpled hand. + +So, noiselessly, Rachel Lake, without more parley, stepped into the room, +and closed the door. She was alone with Stanley With a beating heart, and +a kind of chill stealing over her, by her brother's bed. + +The room was not so dark that she could not see distinctly enough. + +There lay her brother, such as he was--still her brother, on the bleak, +neutral ground between life and death. His features, peaked and earthy, +and that look, so new and peculiar, which does not savour of life upon +them. He did not move, but his strange eyes gazed cold and earnest from +their deep sockets upon her face in awful silence. Perhaps he thought he +saw a phantom. + +'Are you better, dear?' whispered Rachel. + +His lips stirred and his throat, but he did not speak until a second +effort brought utterance, and he murmured, + +'Is that you, Radie?' + +'Yes, dear. Are you better?' + +'_No_. I'm shot. I shall die to-night. Is it night yet?' + +'Don't despair, Stanley, dear. The great London doctor, Sir Francis +Seddley, will be with you early in the morning, and Chelford has great +confidence in him. I'm sure he will relieve you.' + +'This is Brandon?' murmured Lake. + +'Yes, dear.' + +She thought he was going to say more, but he remained silent, and she +recollected that he ought not to speak, and also that she had that to say +which must be said. + +Sharp, dark, and strange lay that familiar face upon the white pillow. +The faintest indication of something like a peevish sneer; it might be +only the lines of pain and fatigue; still it had that unpleasant +character remaining fixed on its features. + +'Oh, Stanley! you say you think you are dying. Won't you send for William +Wylder and Chelford, and tell all you know of Mark?' + +She saw he was about to say something, and she leaned her head near his +lips, and she heard him whisper,-- + +'It won't serve Mark.' + +'I'm thinking of _you_, Stanley--I'm thinking of you.' + +To which he said either 'Yes' or 'So.' She could not distinguish. + +'I view it now quite differently. You said, you know, in the park, you +would tell Chelford; and I resisted, I believe, but I don't now. I had +_rather_ you did. Yes, Stanley, I conjure you to tell it all.' + +The cold lips, with a livid halo round them, murmured, 'Thank you.' + +It was a sneer, very shocking just then, perhaps; but unquestionably a +sneer. + +'Poor Stanley!' she murmured, with a kind of agony, looking down upon +that changed face. 'One word more, Stanley. Remember, it's I, the only +one on earth who stands near you in kindred, your sister, Stanley, who +implores of you to take this step before it is too late; at least, to +consider.' + +He said something. She thought it was 'I'll think;' and then he closed +his eyes. It was the only motion she had observed, his face lay just as +it had done on the pillow. He had not stirred all the time she was there; +and now that his eyelids closed, it seemed to say, our interview is +over--the curtain has dropped; and so understanding it, with that one +awful look that may be the last, she glided from the bed-side, told old +Dorothy that he seemed disposed to sleep, and left the room. + +There is something awful always in the spectacle of such a sick-bed as +that beside which Rachel had just stood. But not quite so dreadful is the +sight as are the imaginings and the despair of absence. So reassuring is +the familiar spectacle of life, even in its subsidence, so long as bodily +torture and mental aberration are absent. + +In the meanwhile, on his return to the library, Lord Chelford found his +dowager mother in high chat with the attorney, whom she afterwards +pronounced 'a very gentlemanlike man for his line of life.' + +The conversation, indeed, was chiefly that of Lady Chelford, the +exemplary attorney contributing, for the most part, a polite +acquiescence, and those reflections which most appositely pointed the +moral of her ladyship's tale, which concerned altogether the vagaries of +Mark Wylder--a subject which piqued her curiosity and irritated her +passions. + +It was a great day for Jos. Larkin; for by the time Lord Chelford +returned the old lady had asked him to stay for dinner, which he did, +notwithstanding his morning dress, to his great inward satisfaction, +because he could henceforward mention, 'the other day, when I dined at +Brandon,' or 'old Lady Chelford assured me, when last I dined at +Brandon;' and he could more intimately speak of 'our friends at Brandon,' +and 'the Brandon people,' and, in short, this dinner was very serviceable +to the excellent attorney. + +It was not very amusing this interchange of thought and feeling between +Larkin and the dowager, upon a theme already so well ventilated as Mark +Wylder's absconding, and therefore I let it pass. + +After dinner, when the dowager's place knew her no more, Lord Chelford +resumed his talk with Larkin. + +'I am quite confirmed in the view I took at first,' he said. 'Wylder has +no claim upon me. There are others on whom much more naturally the care +of his money would devolve, and I think that my undertaking the office he +proposes, under his present strange circumstances, might appear like an +acquiescence in the extraordinary course he has taken, and a sanction +generally of his conduct, which I certainly can't approve. So, Mr. +Larkin, I have quite made up my mind. I have no business to undertake +this trust, simple as it is.' + +'I have only, my lord, to bow to your lordship's decision; at the same +time I cannot but feel, my lord, how peculiar and painful is the position +in which it places me. There are rents to be received by me, and sums +handed over, to a considerable--I may say, indeed, a very large amount: +and my friend Lake--Captain Lake--now, unhappily, in so very precarious a +state, appears to dislike the office, also, and to anticipate annoyance, +in the event of his consenting to act. Altogether, your lordship will +perceive that the situation is one of considerable, indeed very great +embarrassment, as respects me. There is, however, one satisfactory +circumstance disclosed in his last letter. His return, he says, cannot be +delayed beyond a very few months, perhaps _weeks;_ and he states, in his +own rough way, that he will then explain the motives of his conduct to +the entire satisfaction of all those who are cognizant of the measures +which he has adopted--no more claret, thanks--no more--a delicious +wine--and he adds, it will then be quite understood that he +has acted neither from caprice, nor from any motive other than +self-preservation. I assure you, my lord, that is the identical phrase he +employs--self-preservation. I all along suspected, or, rather, I mean, +supposed, that Mr. Wylder had been placed in this matter under +coercion--a--a threat.' + +'A little more wine?' asked Lord Chelford, after another interval. + +'No--no more, I thank you. Your lordship's very good, and the wine, I may +say, excellent--delicious claret; indeed, quite so--ninety shillings a +dozen, I should venture to say, and hardly to be had at that figure; but +it grows late, I rather think, and the trustees of our little Wesleyan +chapel--we've got a little into debt in that quarter, I am sorry to +say--and I promised to advise with them this evening at nine o'clock. +They have called me to counsel more than once, poor fellows; and so, with +your lordship's permission, I'll withdraw.' + +Lord Chelford walked with him to the steps. It was a beautiful +night--very little moon, but that and the stars wonderfully clear and +bright, and all things looking so soft and airy. + +'Try one of these,' said the peer, presenting his cigar case. + +Larkin, with a glow of satisfaction, took one of these noble cigars, and +rolled it in his fingers, and smelt it. + +'Fragrant--wonderfully fragrant!' he observed, meekly, with a +connoisseur's shake of the head. + +The night was altogether so charming that Lord Chelford was tempted. So +he took his cap, and lighted his cigar, too, and strolled a little way +with the attorney. + +He walked under the solemn trees--the same under whose airy groyning +Wylder and Lake had walked away together on that noteworthy night on +which Mark had last turned his back upon the grand old gables and twisted +chimneys of Brandon Hall. + +This way was rather a round, it must be confessed, to the Lodge--Jos, +Larkin's peaceful retreat. But a stroll with a lord was worth more than +that sacrifice, and every incident which helped to make a colourable case +of confidential relations at Brandon--a point in which the good attorney +had been rather weak hitherto--was justly prized by that virtuous man. + +If the trustees, Smith the pork-butcher, old Captain Snoggles, the Town +Clerk, and the rest, had to wait some twenty minutes in the drawing-room +at the Lodge, so much the better. An apology was, perhaps, the best and +most modest shape into which he could throw the advertisement of his +dinner at Brandon--his confidential talk with the proud old dowager, and +his after-dinner ramble with that rising young peer, Lord Chelford. It +would lead him gracefully into detail, and altogether the idea, the +situation, the scene and prospect, were so soothing and charming, that +the good attorney felt a silent exaltation as he listened to Lord +Chelford's two or three delighted sentences upon the illimitable wonders +and mysteries glimmering in the heavens above them. + +The cigar was delicious, the air balmy and pleasant, his digestion happy, +the society unexceptionably aristocratic--a step had just been gained, +and his consideration in the town and the country round improved, by the +occurrences of the evening, and his whole system, in consequence, in a +state so serene, sweet and satisfactory, that I really believe there was +genuine moisture in his pink, dove-like eyes, as he lifted them to the +heavens, and murmured, 'Beautiful, beautiful!' And he mistook his +sensations for a holy rapture and silent worship. + +Cigars, like other pleasures, are transitory. Lord Chelford threw away +his stump, tendered his case again to Mr. Larkin, and then took his +leave, walking slowly homewards. + + + + +CHAPTER XL. + +THE ATTORNEY'S ADVENTURES ON THE WAY HOME. + + +Mr. Jos. Larkin was now moving alone, under the limbs of the Brandon +trees. He knew the path, as he had boasted to Lord Chelford, from his +boyhood; and, as he pursued his way, his mind got upon the accustomed +groove, and amused itself with speculations respecting the vagaries of +Mark Wylder. + +'I wonder what his lordship thinks. He was very close--very' ruminated +Larkin; 'no distinct ideas about it possibly; and did not seem to wish to +lead me to the subject. Can he _know_ anything? Eh, can he possibly? +Those high fellows are very knowing often--so much on the turf, and all +that--very sharp and very deep.' + +He was thinking of a certain noble lord in difficulties, who had hit a +client of his rather hard, and whose affairs did not reflect much credit +upon their noble conductor. + +'Aye, I dare say, deep enough, and intimate with the Lakes. He expects to +be home in two months' time. _He's_ a deep fellow too; he does not like +to let people know what he's about. I should not be surprised if he came +to-morrow. Lake and Lord Chelford may both know more than they say. Why +should they both object merely to receive and fund his money? They think +he wants to get them into a fix--hey? If I'm to conduct his business, I +ought to know it; if he keeps a secret from me, affecting all his +business relations, like this, and driving him about the world like an +absconding bankrupt, how can I advise him?' + +All this drifted slowly through his mind, and each suggestion had its +collateral speculations; and so it carried him pleasantly a good way on +his walk, and he was now in the shadow of the dense copsewood that +mantles the deep ravine which debouches into Redman's Dell. + +The road was hardly two yards wide, and the wood walled it in, and +overhung it occasionally in thick, irregular masses. As the attorney +marched leisurely onward, he saw, or fancied that he saw, now and then, +in uncertain glimpses, something white in motion among the trees beside +him. + +At first he did not mind; but it continued, and grew gradually +unpleasant. It might be a goat, a white goat; but no, it was too tall for +that. Had he seen it at all? Aye! there it was, no mistake now. A +poacher, maybe? But their poachers were not of the dangerous sort, and +there had not been a robber about Gylingden within the memory of man. +Besides, why on earth should either show himself in that absurd way? + +He stopped--he listened--he stared suspiciously into the profound +darkness. Then he thought he heard a rustling of the leaves near him, and +he hallooed, 'Who's there?' But no answer came. + +So, taking heart of grace, he marched on, still zealously peering among +the trees, until, coming to an opening in the pathway, he more distinctly +saw a tall, white figure, standing in an ape-like attitude, with its arms +extended, grasping two boughs, and stooping, as if peeping cautiously, as +he approached. + +The good attorney drew up and stared at this gray phantasm, saying to +himself, 'Yes,' in a sort of quiet hiss. + +He stopped in a horror, and as he gazed, the figure suddenly drew back +and disappeared. + +'Very pleasant this!' said the attorney, after a pause, recovering a +little. 'What on earth can it be?' + +Jos. Larkin could not tell which way it had gone. He had already passed +the midway point, where this dark path begins to descend through the +ravine into Redman's Dell. He did not like going forward--but to turn +back might bring him again beside the mysterious figure. And though he +was not, of course, afraid of ghosts, nor in this part of the world, of +robbers, yet somehow he did not know what to make of this gigantic gray +monkey. + +So, not caring to stay longer, and seeing nothing to be gained by turning +back, the attorney buttoned the top button of his coat, and holding his +head very erect, and placing as much as he could of the path between +himself and the side where the figure had disappeared, marched on +steadily. It was too dark, and the way not quite regular enough, to +render any greater speed practicable. + +From the thicket, as he proceeded, he heard a voice--he had often shot +woodcocks in that cover--calling in a tone that sounded in his ears like +banter, 'Mark--Mark--Mark--Mark.' + +He stopped, holding his breath, and the sound ceased. + +'Well, this certainly is not usual,' murmured Mr. Larkin, who was a +little more perturbed than perhaps he quite cared to acknowledge even to +himself. 'Some fellow perhaps watching for a friend--or tricks, maybe.' + +Then the attorney, trying his supercilious smile in the dark, listened +again for a good while, but nothing was heard except those whisperings of +the wind which poets speak of. He looked before him with his eyebrows +screwed, in a vain effort to pierce the darkness, and the same behind +him; and then after another pause, he began uncomfortably to move down +the path once more. + +In a short time the same voice, with the same uncertain echo among the +trees, cried faintly, 'Mark--Mark,' and then a pause; then again, +'Mark--Mark--Mark,' and then it grew more distant, and sounded among the +trees and reverberations of the glen like laughter. + +'Mark--ha--ha--hark--ha--ha--ha--hark--Mark--Mark--ha--ha--hark!' + +'Who's there?' cried the attorney, in a tone rather ferocious from +fright, and stamping on the path. But his summons and the provocation +died away together in the profoundest silence. + +Mr. Jos. Larkin did not repeat his challenge. This cry of 'Mark!' was +beginning to connect itself uncomfortably in his mind with his +speculations about his wealthy client, which in that solitude and +darkness began to seem not so entirely pure and disinterested as he was +in the habit of regarding them, and a sort of wood-demon, such as a queer +little schoolfellow used long ago to read a tale about in an old German +story-book, was now dogging his darksome steps, and hanging upon his +flank with a vindictive design. + +Jos. Larkin was not given to fancy, nor troubled with superstition. His +religion was of a comfortable, punctual, business-like cast, which +according with his genius--denied him, indeed, some things for which, in +truth, he had no taste--but in no respect interfered with his main +mission upon earth, which was getting money. He had found no difficulty +hitherto in serving God and Mammon. The joint business prospered. Let us +suppose it was one of those falterings of faith, which try the best men, +that just now made him feel a little queer, and gave his thoughts about +Mark Wylder, now grown habitual, that new and ghastly complexion which +made the situation so unpleasant. + +He wished himself more than once well out of this confounded pass, and +listened nervously for a good while, and stared once more, +half-frightened, in various directions, into the darkness. + +'If I thought there could be anything the least wrong or +reprehensible--we are all fallible--in my allowing my mind to turn so +much upon my client, I can certainly say I should be very far from +allowing it--I shall certainly consider it--and I may promise myself to +decide in a Christian spirit, and if there be a doubt, to give it against +myself.' + +This resolution, which was, he trusted, that of a righteous man, was, I +am afraid, the effect rather of fright than reflection, and employed in +that sense somewhat in the manner of an exorcism--whispered rather to the +ghost than to his conscience. + +I am sure Larkin did not himself suppose this. On the contrary, he really +believed, I am convinced, that he scouted the ghost, and had merely +volunteered this salutary self-examination as an exercise of conscience. +He could not, however, have doubted that he was very nervous--and that he +would have been glad of the companionship even of one of the Gylingden +shopkeepers, through this infested bit of wood. + +Having again addressed himself to his journey, he was now approaching +that part of the path where the trees recede a little, leaving a +considerable space unoccupied at either side of his line of march. Here +there was faint moonlight and starlight, very welcome; but a little in +advance of him, where the copsewood closed in again, just above those +stone steps which Lake and his sister Rachel had mounted together upon +the night of the memorable rendezvous, he fancied that he again saw the +gray figure cowering among the foremost stems of the wood. + +It was a great shock. He stopped short--and as he stared upon the object, +he felt that electric chill and rising of the hair which accompany +supernatural panic. + +As he gazed, however, it was gone. Yes. At all events, he could see it no +more. Had he seen it there at all? He was in such an odd state he could +not quite trust himself. He looked back hesitatingly. But he remembered +how very long and dark the path that way was, and how unpleasant his +adventures there had been. And although there was a chance that the gray +monkey was lurking somewhere near the path, still there was now but a +short space between him and the broad carriage track down Redman's Dell, +and once upon that he considered himself almost in the street of +Gylingden. + +So he made up his mind, and marched resolutely onward, and had nearly +reached that point at which the converging screen of thicket again +overshadows the pathway, when close at his side he saw the tall, white +figure push itself forward among the branches, and in a startling +under-tone of enquiry, like a conspirator challenging his brother, a +voice--the same which he had so often heard during this walk--cried over +his shoulder, + +'Mark _Wylder_!' + +Larkin sprung back a pace or two, turning his face full upon the +challenger, who in his turn was perhaps affrighted, for the same voice +uttered a sort of strangled shriek, and he heard the branches crack and +rustle as he pushed his sudden retreat through them--leaving the attorney +more horrified than ever. + +No other sound but the melancholy soughing of the night-breeze, and the +hoarse murmur of the stream rising from the stony channel of Redman's +Dell, were now, or during the remainder of his walk through these haunted +grounds, again audible. + +So, with rapid strides passing the dim gables of Redman's Farm, he at +length found himself, with a sense of indescribable relief, upon the +Gylingden road, and could see the twinkling lights in the windows of the +main street. + + + + +CHAPTER XLI. + +IN WHICH SIR FRANCIS SEDDLEY MANIPULATES. + + +At about two o'clock Buddle was called up, and spirited away to Brandon +in a dog-cart. A haemorrhage, perhaps, a sudden shivering, and +inflammation--a sinking, maybe, or delirium--some awful change, +probably--for Buddle did not return. + +Old Major Jackson heard of it, in his early walk, at Buddle's door. He +had begun to grow more hopeful. But hearing this he walked home, and +replaced the dress-coat and silk stockings he had ventured to remove, +promptly in his valise, which he buckled down and locked--swallowed with +agitated voracity some fragments of breakfast--got on his easy boots and +gaiters--brushed his best hat, and locked it into its leather +case--placed his rug, great-coat, and umbrella, and a rough walking-stick +for service, and a gold-tipped, exquisite cane, for duty on promenades of +fashion, neatly on top of his valise, and with his old white hat and +shooting-coat on, looking and whistling as much as possible as usual, he +popped carelessly into John Hobbs's stable, where he was glad to see +three horses standing, and he mentally chose the black cob for his flight +to Dollington. + +'A bloodthirsty rascal that Bracton,' muttered the major. The expenses +were likely to be awful, and some allowance was to be made for his state +of mind. + +He was under Doctor Buddle's porch, and made a flimsy rattle with his +thin brass knocker. 'Maybe he has returned?' He did not believe it, +though. + +Major Jackson was very nervous, indeed. The up trains from Dollington +were 'few and far between,' and that _diddled_ Crutchleigh would be down +on him the moment the breath was out of poor Lake. 'It was plain +yesterday at the sessions that infernal woman (his wife) had been at him. +She hates Bracton like poison, because he likes the Brandon people; and, +by Jove, he'll have up every soul concerned. The Devil and his wife I +call them. If poor Lake goes off anywhere between eleven and four +o'clock, I'm nabbed, by George!' + +The door was opened. The doctor peeped out of his parlour. + +'Well?' enquired the major, confoundedly frightened. + +'Pretty well, thank ye, but awfully fagged--up all night, and no use.' + +'But how _is_ he?' asked the major, with a dreadful qualm of dismay. + +'Same as yesterday--no change--only a little bleeding last night--not +arterial; venous you know--only venous.' + +The major thought he spoke of the goddess, and though he did not well +comprehend, said he was 'glad of it.' + +'Think he'll do then?' + +'He may--very unlikely though. A nasty case, as you can imagine.' + +'He'll certainly not go, poor fellow, before four o'clock P.M. I dare +say--eh?' + +The major's soul was at the Dollington station, and was regulating poor +Lake's departure by 'Bradshaw's Guide.' + +'Who knows? We expect Sir Francis this morning. Glad to have a share of +the responsibility off my shoulders, I can tell you. Come in and have a +chop, will you?' + +'No, thank you, I've had my breakfast.' + +'You have, have you? Well, I haven't,' cried the doctor, with an +agreeable chuckle, shaking the major's hand, and disappearing again into +his parlour. + +I found in my lodgings in London, on my return from Doncaster, some two +months later, a copy of the county paper of this date, with a cross +scrawled beside the piece of intelligence which follows. I knew that +tremulous cross. It was traced by the hand of poor old Miss Kybes--with +her many faults always kind to me. It bore the Brandon postmark, and +altogether had the impress of authenticity. It said:-- + +'We have much pleasure in stating that the severe injury sustained four +days since by Captain Stanley Lake, at the time a visitor at the Lodge, +the picturesque residence of Josiah Larkin, Esq., in the vicinity of +Gylingden, is not likely to prove so difficult of treatment or so +imminently dangerous as was at first apprehended. The gallant gentleman +was removed from the scene of his misadventure to Brandon Hall, close to +which the accident occurred, and at which mansion his noble relatives, +Lord Chelford and the Dowager Lady Chelford, are at present staying on a +visit. Sir Francis Seddley came down express from London, and assisted by +our skilful county practitioner, Humphrey Buddle, Esq., M.D. of +Gylingden, operated most successfully on Saturday last, and we are happy +to say the gallant patient has since been going on as favourably as could +possibly have been anticipated. Sir Francis Seddley returned to London on +Sunday afternoon.' + +Within a week after the operation, Buddle began to talk so confidently +about his patient, that the funereal cloud that overhung Brandon had +almost totally disappeared, and Major Jackson had quite unpacked his +portmanteau. + +About a week after the 'accident' there came one of Mr. Mark Wylder's +strange letters to Mr. Jos. Larkin. This time it was from Marseilles, and +bore date the 27th November. It was much the longest he had yet received, +and was in the nature of a despatch, rather than of those short notes in +which he had hitherto, for the most part, communicated. + +Like the rest of his letters it was odd, but written, as it seemed, in +better spirits. + +'Dear Larkin,--You will be surprised to find me in this port, but I think +my secret cruise is nearly over now, and you will say the plan was a +master-stroke, and well executed by a poor devil, with nobody to advise +him. I am coiling such a web round them, and making it fast, as you may +see a spider, first to this point and then to the other, that I won't +leave my persecutors one solitary chance of escape. I'll draw it quietly +round and round--closer and closer--till they can neither blow nor budge, +and then up to the yardarm they go, with what breath is left in them. You +don't know yet _how_ I am dodging, or why my measures are taken; but I'll +shorten your long face a good inch with a genuine broad grin when you +learn how it all was. I may see you to tell the story in four weeks' +time; but keep this close. Don't mention where I write from, nor even so +much as my name. I have reasons for everything, which you may guess, I +dare say, being a sharp chap; and it is not for nothing, be very sure, +that I am running this queer rig, masquerading, hiding, and dodging, like +a runaway forger, which is not pleasant anyway, and if you doubt it, only +try; but needs must when the old boy drives. He is a clever fellow, no +doubt, but has been sometimes out-witted before now. You must arrange +about Chelford and Lake. I don't know where Lake is staying. I don't +suppose at Brandon; but he won't stay in the country nor spend his money +to please you or I. Therefore you must have him at your house--be +sure--and I will square it with you; I think three pounds a week ought to +do it very handsome. Don't be a muff and give him expensive wines--a pint +of sherry is plenty between you; and when he dines at his club +half-a-pint does him. _I_ know; but if he costs you more, I hereby +promise to pay it. Won't that do? Well, about Chelford: I have been +thinking he takes airs, and maybe he is on his high-horse about that +awkward business about Miss Brandon. But there is no reason why Captain +Lake should object. He has only to hand you a receipt in my name for the +amount of cheques you may give him, and to lodge a portion of it where I +told him, and the rest to buy Consols; and I suppose he will expect +payment for his no-trouble. Every fellow, particularly these +gentlemanlike fellows, they have a pluck at you when they can. If he is +at that, give him at the rate of a hundred a-year, or a hundred and fifty +if you think he won't do for less; though 100_l_. ought to be a good deal +to Lake; and tell him I have a promise of the adjutancy of the county +militia, if he likes that; and I am sure of a seat in Parliament either +for the county or for Dollington, as you know, and can do better for him +then; and I rely on you, one way or another, to make him undertake it. +And now for myself: I think my vexation is very near ended. I have not +fired a gun yet, and they little think what a raking broadside I'll give +them. Any of the county people you meet, tell them I'm making a little +excursion on the Continent; and if they go to particularise, you may say +the places I have been at. Don't let anyone know more. I wish there was +any way of stopping that old she'--(it looked like dragon or devil--but +was traced over with a cloud of flourishes, and only 'Lady Chelford's +mouth' was left untouched). 'Don't expect to hear from me so long a yarn +for some time again; and don't write. I don't stay long anywhere, and +don't carry my own name--and never ask for letters at the post. I've a +good glass, and can see pretty far, and make a fair guess enough what's +going on aboard the enemy. + +'I remain always, + +'Dear Larkin, + +'Ever yours truly, + +'MARK WYLDER.' + +'He hardly trusts Lake more than he does me, I presume,' murmured Mr. +Larkin, elevating his tall bald head with an offended and supercilious +air; and letting the thin, open letter fall, or rather throwing it with a +slight whisk upon the table. + +'No, I take leave to think he certainly does _not_. Lake has got private +directions about the disposition of a portion of the money. Of course, if +there are persons to be dealt with who are not pleasantly approachable by +respectable professional people--in fact it would not suit me. It is +really rather a compliment, and relieves me of the unpleasant necessity +of saying--no.' + +Yet Mr. Larkin was very sore, and curious, and in a measure, hated both +Lake and Wylder for their secret confidences, and was more than ever +resolved to get at the heart of Mark's mystery. + + + + +CHAPTER XLII. + +A PARAGRAPH IN THE COUNTY PAPER. + + +The nature of his injury considered, Captain Lake recovered with +wonderful regularity and rapidity. In four weeks he was out rather pale +and languid but still able to walk without difficulty, leaning on a +stick, for ten or fifteen minutes at a time. In another fortnight he had +made another great advance, had thrown away his crutch handled stick, and +recovered flesh and vigour. In a fortnight more he had grown quite like +himself again; and in a very few weeks more, I read in the same county +paper, transmitted to me by the same fair hands, but this time not with a +cross, but three distinct notes of admiration standing tremulously at the +margin of the paragraph, the following to me for a time incredible, and +very nearly to this day amazing, announcement:-- + + 'MARRIAGE IN HIGH LIFE. + +'The auspicious event so interesting to our county, which we have this +day to announce, though for some time upon the _tapis_, has been attended +with as little publicity as possible. The contemplated union between +Captain Stanley Lake, late of the Guards, sole surviving son of the late +General Williams Stanley Stanley Lake, of Plasrhwyn, and the beautiful +and accomplished Miss Brandon, of Brandon Hall, in this county, was +celebrated in the ancestral chapel of Brandon, situated within the +manorial boundaries, in the immediate vicinity of the town of Gylingden, +on yesterday. Although the marriage was understood to be strictly +private--none but the immediate relations of the bride and bridegroom +being present--the bells of Gylingden rang out merry peals throughout the +day, and the town was tastefully decorated with flags, and brilliantly +illuminated at night. + +'A deputation of the tenantry of the Gylingden and the Longmoor estates, +together with those of the Brandon estate, went in procession to Brandon +Hall in the afternoon, and read a well-conceived and affectionate +address, which was responded to in appropriate terms by Captain Lake, who +received them, with his beautiful bride at his side, in the great +gallery--perhaps the noblest apartment in that noble ancestral mansion. +The tenantry were afterwards handsomely entertained under the immediate +direction of Josiah Larkin, Esq., of the Lodge, the respected manager of +the Brandon estates, at the "Brandon Arms," in the town of Gylingden. It +is understood that the great territorial influence of the Brandon family +will obtain a considerable accession in the estates of the bridegroom in +the south of England.' + +There was some more which I need not copy, being very like what we +usually see on such occasions. + +I read this piece of intelligence half a dozen times over during +breakfast. 'How that beautiful girl has thrown herself away!' I thought. +'Surely the Chelfords, who have an influence there, ought to have exerted +it to prevent her doing anything so mad. His estates in the south of +England, indeed! Why, he can't have L300 a year clear from that little +property in Devon. He _is_ such a liar; and so absurd, as if he could +succeed in deceiving anyone upon the subject.' + +So I read the paragraph over again, and laid down the paper, simply +saying, 'Well, certainly, that _is_ disgusting!' + +I had heard of his duel. It was also said that it had in some way had +reference to Miss Brandon. But this was the only rumoured incident which +would at all have prepared one for the occurrence. I tried to recollect +anything particular in his manner--there was nothing; and she positively +seemed to dislike him. I had been utterly mystified, and so, I presume, +had all the other lookers-on. + +Well! after all, 'twas no particular business of mine. + +At the club, I saw it in the 'Morning Post;' and an hour after, old Joe +Gabloss, that prosy Argus who knows everything, recounted the details +with patient precision, and in legal phrase, 'put in' letters from two or +three country houses proving his statement. + +So there was no doubting it longer: and Captain Stanley Lake, late of Her +Majesty's ---- Regiment of Guards, idler, scamp, coxcomb, and the +beautiful Dorcas Brandon, heiress of Brandon, were man and wife. + +I wrote to my fair friend, Miss Kybes, and had an answer confirming, if +that were needed, the public announcement, and mentioning enigmatically, +that it had caused 'a great deal of conversation.' + +The posture of affairs in the small world of Gylingden, except in the +matter of the alliance just referred to, was not much changed. + +Since the voluminous despatch from Marseilles, promising his return so +soon, not a line had been received from Mark Wylder. He might arrive any +day or night. He might possibly have received some unexpected check--if +not checkmate, in that dark and deep game on which he seemed to have +staked so awfully. Mr. Jos. Larkin sometimes thought one thing, sometimes +another. + +In the meantime, Captain Lake accepted the trust. Larkin at times thought +there was a constant and secret correspondence going on between him and +Mark Wylder, and that he was his agent in adjusting some complicated and +villainous piece of diplomacy by means of the fund--secret-service +money--which Mark had placed at his disposal. + +He, Mr. Larkin, was treated like a child in this matter, and his advice +never so much as asked, nor his professional honour accredited by the +smallest act of confidence. + +Sometimes his suspicions took a different turn, and he thought that Lake +might be one of those 'persecutors' of whom Mark spoke with such +mysterious hatred; and that the topic of their correspondence was, +perhaps, some compromise, the subject or the terms of which would not +bear the light. + +Lake certainly made two visits to London, one of them of a week's +duration. The attorney being a sharp, long-headed fellow, who knew very +well what business was, knew perfectly well, too, that two or three short +letters might have settled any legitimate business which his gallant +friend had in the capital. + +But Lake was now married, and under the incantation whistled over him by +the toothless Archdeacon of Mundlebury, had sprung up into a county +magnate, and was worth cultivating, and to be treated tenderly. + +So the attorney's business was to smile and watch--to watch, and of +course, to pray as heretofore--but specially to watch. He himself hardly +knew all that was passing in his own brain. There are operations of +physical nature which go on actively without your being aware of them; +and the moral respiration, circulation, insensible perspiration, and all +the rest of that peculiar moral system which exhibited its type in Jos. +Larkin, proceeded automatically in the immortal structure of that +gentleman. + +Being very gentlemanlike in externals, with a certain grace, amounting +very nearly to elegance, and having applied himself diligently to please +the county people, that proud fraternity, remembering his father's +estates, condoned his poverty, and took Captain Lake by the hand, and +lifted him into their superb, though not very entertaining order. + +There were solemn festivities at Brandon, and festive solemnities at the +principal county houses in return. Though not much of a sportsman, Lake +lent himself handsomely to all the sporting proceedings of the county, +and subscribed in a way worthy of the old renown of Brandon Hall to all +sorts of charities and galas. So he was getting on very pleasantly with +his new neighbours, and was likely to stand very fairly in that dull, but +not unfriendly society. + +About three weeks after this great county marriage, there arrived, this +time from Frankfort, a sharp letter, addressed to Jos. Larkin, Esq. It +said:-- + +'My Dear Sir,--I think I have reason to complain. I have just seen by +accident the announcement of the marriage at Brandon. I think as my +friend, and a friend to the Brandon family, you ought to have done +something to delay, if you could not stop it. Of course, you had the +settlements, and devil's in it if you could not have beat about a +while--it was not so quick with me--and not doubled the point in a single +tack; and you know the beggar has next to nothing. Any way, it was your +duty to have printed some notice that the thing was thought of. If you +had put it, like a bit of news, in "Galignani," I would have seen it, and +known what to do. Well, that ship's blew up. But I won't let all go. The +cur will begin to try for the county or for Dollington. You must quietly +stop that, mind; and if he persists, just you put an advertisement in +"Galignani," saying _Mr. Smith will take notice, that the other party is +desirous to purchase, and becoming very pressing_. Just you hoist that +signal, and _somebody_ will bear down, and blaze into him at all +hazards--you'll see how. Things have not gone quite smooth with me since; +but it won't be long till I run up my flag again, and take the command. +Be perfectly civil with Stanley Lake till I come on board--that is +indispensable; and keep this letter as close from every eye as sealed +orders. You may want a trifle to balk S.L.'s electioneering, and there's +an order on Lake for 200_l._ Don't trifle about the county and borough. +He must have no footing in either till I return. + +'Yours, dear Larkin, + +'Very truly + +'(but look after my business better), + +'M. WYLDER.' + +The order on Lake, a little note, was enclosed:-- + +'Dear Lake,--I wish you joy, and all the good wishes going, as I could +not make the prize myself. + +'Be so good to hand my lawyer, Mr. Jos. Larkin, of the Lodge, Gylingden, +200_l._ sterling, on my account. + +'Yours, dear Lake, + +'Very faithfully, + +'M. WYLDER. + +200_l._) + +'23rd Feb., &c. &c.' + +When Jos. Larkin presented this little order, it was in the handsome +square room in which Captain Lake transacted business--a lofty apartment, +wainscoted in carved oak, and with a great stone mantelpiece, with the +Wylder arms, projecting in bold relief, in the centre, and a florid +scroll, with 'RESURGAM' standing forth as sharp as the day it was +chiselled nearly three hundred years before. + +There was some other business--Brandon business--to be talked over first; +and that exhausted, Mr. Larkin sat as usual, with one long thigh crossed +upon the other--his arm thrown over the back of his chair, and his tall, +bald head a little back, and his small mild eyes twinkling through their +pink lids on the enigmatical captain, who had entered upon the march of +ambition in a spirit so audacious and conquering. + +'I had a line from Mr. Mark Wylder yesterday afternoon, as usual without +any address but the postmark;' and good Mr. Larkin laughed a mild, little +patient laugh, and lifted his open hand, and shook his head. 'It really +is growing too absurd--a mere order upon you to hand me 200_l._ How I'm +to dispose of it, I have not the faintest notion.' + +And he laughed again; at the same time he gracefully poked the little +note, between two fingers, to Captain Lake, who glanced full on him, for +a second, as he took it. + +'And how is Mark?' enquired Lake, with his odd, sly smile, as he scrawled +a little endorsement on the order. 'Does he say anything?' + +'No; absolutely nothing--he's a very strange client!' said Larkin, +laughing again. 'There can be no objection, of course, to your reading +it; and he thinks--he thinks--he'll be here soon again--oh, here it is.' + +Mr. Larkin had been fumbling, first in his deep waistcoat, and then in +his breast-pocket, as if for the letter, which was locked fast into the +iron safe, with Chubb's patent lock, in his office at the Lodge. But it +would not have done to have kept a secret from Captain Lake, of Brandon; +and therefore his not seeing the note was a mere accident. + +'Oh! no--stupid!--that's Mullett and Hock's. I have not got it with me; +but it does not signify, for there's nothing in it. I hope I shall soon +be favoured with his directions as to what to do with the money.' + +'He's an odd fellow; and I don't know how he feels towards me; but on my +part there is no feeling, I do assure you, but the natural desire to live +on the friendly terms which our ties of family and our position in the +county'-- + +Stanley Lake was writing the cheque for 200_l._ meanwhile, and handed it +to Larkin; and as that gentleman penned a receipt, the captain +continued--his eyes lowered to the little vellum-bound book in which he +was now making an entry:-- + +'You have handed me a large sum, Mr. Larkin--3,276_l._ 11_s._ 4_d._ I +undertook this, you know, on the understanding that it was not to go on +very long; and I find my own business pretty nearly as much as I can +manage. Is Wylder at all definite as to when we may expect his return?' + +'Oh, dear no--quite as usual--he expects to be here soon; but that is +all. I so wish I had brought his note with me; but I'm positive that is +all.' + +So, this little matter settled, the lawyer took his leave. + + + + +CHAPTER XLIII. + +AN EVIL EYE LOOKS ON THE VICAR. + + +There were influences of a wholly unsuspected kind already gathering +round the poor vicar, William Wylder; as worlds first begin in thinnest +vapour, and whirl themselves in time into consistency and form, so do +these dark machinations, which at times gather round unsuspecting mortals +as points of revolution, begin nebulously and intangibly, and grow in +volume and in density, till a colossal system, with its inexorable +tendencies and forces, crushes into eternal darkness the centre it has +enveloped. + +Thou shalt not covet; thou shalt not cast an eye of desire; out of the +heart proceed _murders_;--these dreadful realities shape themselves from +so filmy a medium as thought! + +Ever since his conference with the vicar, good Mr. Larkin had been dimly +thinking of a thing. The good attorney's weakness was money. It was a +speck at first; a metaphysical microscope of no conceivable power could +have developed its exact shape and colour--a mere speck, floating, as it +were, in a transparent kyst, in his soul--a mere germ--by-and-by to be an +impish embryo, and ripe for action. When lust hath conceived it bringeth +forth sin, and sin when it is finished bringeth forth death. + +The vicar's troubles grew and gathered, as such troubles will; and the +attorney gave him his advice; and the business of the Rev. William Wylder +gradually came to occupy a good deal of his time. Here was a new reason +for wishing to know really how Mark Wylder stood. William had undoubtedly +the reversion of the estate; but the attorney suspected sometimes--just +from a faint phrase which had once escaped Stanley Lake--as the likeliest +solution, that Mark Wylder had made a left-handed marriage somehow and +somewhere, and that a subterranean wife and family would emerge at an +unlucky moment, and squat upon that remainder, and defy the world to +disturb them. This gave to his plans and dealings in relation to the +vicar a character of irresolution and caprice foreign to his character, +which was grim and decided enough when his data were clear, and his +object in sight. + +William Wylder, meanwhile, was troubled, and his mind clouded by more +sorrows than one. + +Poor William Wylder had those special troubles which haunt nervous +temperaments and speculative minds, when under the solemn influence of +religion. What the great Luther called, without describing them, his +'tribulations'--those dreadful doubts and apathies which at times menace +and darken the radiant fabric of faith, and fill the soul with nameless +horrors. The worst of these is, that unlike other troubles, they are not +always safely to be communicated to those who love us best. These terrors +and dubitations are infectious. Other spiritual troubles, too, there are; +and I suppose our good vicar was not exempt from them any more than other +Christians. + +The best man, the simplest man that ever lived, has his reserves. The +conscious frailty of mortality owes that sad reverence to itself, and to +the esteem of others. You can't be too frank and humble when you have +wronged your neighbour; but keep your offences against God to yourself, +and let your battle with your own heart be waged under the eye of Him +alone. The frankness of the sentimental Jean Jacques Rousseau, and of my +coarse friend, Mark Wylder, is but a damnable form of vicious egotism. A +miserable sinner have I been, my friend, but details profit neither thee +nor me. The inner man had best be known only to himself and his Maker. I +like that good and simple Welsh parson, of Beaumaris, near two hundred +years ago, who with a sad sort of humour, placed for motto under his +portrait, done in stained glass, _nunc primum transparui_. + +But the spiritual tribulation which came and went was probably connected +with the dreadful and incessant horrors of his money trouble. The +gigantic Brocken spectre projected from himself upon the wide horizon of +his futurity. + +The poor vicar! He felt his powers forsaking him. Hope, the life of +action, was gone. Despair is fatalism, and can't help itself. The +inevitable mountain was always on his shoulders. He could not rise--he +could not stir. He could scarcely turn his head and look up beseechingly +from the corners of his eyes. + +Why is that fellow so supine? Why is his work so ill done, when he ought +most to exert himself? He disgusts the world with his hang-dog looks. +Alas! with the need for action, the power of action is gone. +Despair--distraction--the Furies sit with him. Stunned, stupid, and +wild--always agitated--it is not easy to compose his sermons as finely as +heretofore. He is always jotting down little sums in addition and +subtraction. The cares of the world--the miseries of what the world calls +'difficulties' and a 'struggle'--these were for the poor vicar;--the +worst torture, for aught we know, which an average soul out of hell can +endure. Other sorrows bear healing on their wings;--this one is the +Promethean vulture. It is a falling into the hands of men, not of God. +The worst is, that its tendencies are so godless. It makes men bitter; +its promptings are blasphemous. Wherefore, He who knew all things, in +describing the thorns which choke the word, places the _cares_ of this +world _first_, and _after_ them the deceitfulness of riches and the lusts +of other things. So if money is a root of evil, the want of it, with +debt, is root, and stem, and branches. + +But all human pain has its intervals of relief. The pain is suspended, +and the system recruits itself to endure the coming paroxysm. An hour of +illusion--an hour of sleep--an hour's respite of any sort, to six hours +of pain--and so the soul, in anguish, finds strength for its long labour, +abridged by neither death nor madness. + +The vicar, with his little boy, Fairy, by the hand, used twice, at least, +in the week to make, sometimes an hour's, sometimes only half an hours, +visit at Redman's Farm. Poor Rachel Lake made old Tamar sit at her +worsteds in the window of the little drawing-room while these +conversations proceeded. The young lady was so intelligent that William +Wylder was obliged to exert himself in controversy with her eloquent +despair; and this combat with the doubts and terrors of a mind of much +more than ordinary vigour and resource, though altogether feminine, +compelled him to bestir himself, and so, for the time, found him entire +occupation; and thus memory and forecast, and suspense, were superseded, +for the moment, by absorbing mental action. + +Rachel's position had not been altered by her brother's marriage. Dorcas +had urged her earnestly to give up Redman's Farm, and take up her abode +permanently at Brandon. This kindness, however, she declined. She was +grateful, but no, nothing could move her. The truth was, she recoiled +from it with a species of horror. + +The marriage had been, after all, as great a surprise to Rachel as to any +of the Gylingden gossips. Dorcas, knowing how Rachel thought upon it, had +grown reserved and impenetrable upon the subject; indeed, at one time, I +think, she had half made up her mind to fight the old battle over again +and resolutely exercise this fatal passion. She had certainly mystified +Rachel, perhaps was mystifying herself. + +Rachel grew more sad and strange than ever after this marriage. I think +that Stanley was right, and that living in that solitary and darksome +dell helped to make her hypochondriac. + +One evening Stanley Lake stood at her door. + +'I was just thinking, dear Radie,' he said in his sweet low tones, which +to her ear always bore a suspicion of mockery in them, 'how pretty you +contrive to make this bright little garden at all times of the year--you +have such lots of those evergreens, and ivy, and those odd flowers.' + +'They call them _immortelles_ in France,' said Rachel, in a cold strange +tone, 'and make chaplets of them to lay upon the coffin-lids and the +graves.' + +'Ah, yes, to be sure, I have seen them there and in Pere la Chaise--so +they do; they have them in all the cemeteries--I forgot that. How +cheerful; how very sensible. Don't you think it would be a good plan to +stick up a death's-head and cross-bones here and there, and to split up +old coffin-lids for your setting-sticks, and get old Mowlders, the +sexton, to bury your roots, and cover them in with a "dust to dust," and +so forth, and plant a yew tree in the middle, and stick those bits of +painted board, that look so woefully like gravestones, all round it, and +then let old Tamar prowl about for a ghost? I assure you, Radie, I think +you, all to nothing, the perversest fool I ever encountered or heard of +in the course of my life.' + +'Well, Stanley, suppose you do, I'll not dispute it. Perhaps you are +right,' said Rachel, still standing at the door of her little porch. + +'Perhaps,' he repeated with a sneer; 'I venture to say, _most +positively_, I can't conceive any sane reason for your refusing Dorcas's +entreaty to live with us at Brandon, and leave this triste, and +unwholesome, and everyway objectionable place.' + +'She was very kind, but I can't do it.' + +'Yes, you can't do it, simply because it would be precisely the most +sensible, prudent, and comfortable arrangement you could possibly make; +you _won't_ do it--but you can and will practise all the airs and +fooleries of a bad melodrama. You have succeeded already in filling +Dorcas's mind with surmise and speculation, and do you think the +Gylingden people are either blind or dumb? You are taking, I've told you +again and again, the very way to excite attention and gossip. What good +can it possibly do you? You'll not believe until it happens, and when it +does, you'd give your eyes you could undo it. It is so like you.' + +'I have said how very kind I thought it of Dorcas to propose it. I can't +explain to her all my reasons for declining; and to you I need not. But I +cannot overcome my repugnance--and I won't try.' + +'I wonder,' said Stanley, with a sly look of enquiry, 'that you who read +the Bible--and a very good book it is no doubt--and believe in all sorts +of things--' + +'That will do, Stanley. I'm not so weak as you suppose.' + +'You know, Radie, I'm a Sadducee and that sort of thing does not trouble +me the least in the world. It is a little cold here. May we go into the +drawing-room? You can't think how I hate this--house. We are always +unpleasant in it.' + +This auspicious remark he made taking off his hat, and placing it and his +cane on her work-table. + +But this was not a tempestuous conference by any means. I don't know +precisely what they talked about. I think it was probably the pros and +cons of that migration to Brandon, against which Rachel had pronounced so +firmly. + +'I can't do it, Stanley. My motives are unintelligible to you, I know, +and you think me obstinate and stupid; but, be I what I may, my +objections are insurmountable. And does it not strike you that my staying +here, on the contrary, would--would tend to prevent the kind of +conversation you speak of?' + +'Not the least, dear Radie--that is, I mean, it could have no possible +effect, unless the circumstances were first supposed, and then it could +be of no appreciable use. And your way of life and your looks--for both +are changed--are likely, in a little prating village, where every human +being is watched and discussed incessantly, to excite conjecture; that is +all, and that is _every thing_.' + +It had grown dark while Stanley sat in the little drawing-room, and +Rachel stood on her doorstep, and saw his figure glide away slowly into +the thin mist and shadow, and turn upward to return to Brandon, by that +narrow ravine where they had held rendezvous with Mark Wylder, on that +ill-omened night when trouble began for all. + +To Rachel's eyes, that disappearing form looked like the moping spirit of +guilt and regret, haunting the scene of the irrevocable. + +When Stanley took his leave after one of these visits--stolen visits, +somehow, they always seemed to her--the solitary mistress of Redman's +Farm invariably experienced the nervous reaction which follows the +artificial calm of suppressed excitement. Something of panic or horror, +relieved sometimes by a gush of tears--sometimes more slowly and +painfully subsiding without that hysterical escape. + +She went in and shut the door, and called Tamar. But Tamar was out of the +way. She hated that little drawing-room in her present mood--its +associations were odious and even ghastly; so she sat herself down by the +kitchen fire, and placed her pretty feet--cold now--upon the high steel +fender, and extended her cold hands towards the embers, leaning back in +her rude chair. + +And so she got the girl to light candles, and asked her a great many +questions, and obliged her, in fact, to speak constantly though she +seemed to listen but little. And when at last the girl herself, growing +interested in her own narrative about a kidnapper, grew voluble and +animated, and looked round upon the young lady at the crisis of the tale, +she was surprised to remark, on a sudden, that she was gazing vacantly +into the bars; and when Margery, struck by her fixed and melancholy +countenance, stopped in the midst of a sentence, the young lady turned +and gazed on her wistfully, with large eyes and pale face, and sighed +heavily. + + + + +CHAPTER XLIV. + +IN WHICH OLD TAMAR LIFTS UP HER VOICE IN PROPHECY. + + +Certainly Stanley Lake was right about Redman's Dell. Once the sun had +gone down behind the distant hills, it was the darkest, the most silent, +and the most solitary of nooks. + +It was not, indeed, quite dark yet. The upper sky had still a faint gray +twilight halo, and the stars looked wan and faint. But the narrow walk +that turned from Redman's Dell was always dark in Stanley's memory; and +Sadducees, although they believe neither in the resurrection nor the +judgment, are no more proof than other men against the resurrections of +memory and the penalties of association and of fear. + +Captain Lake had many things to think of. Some pleasant enough as he +measured pleasure, others troublesome. But as he mounted the stone steps +that conducted the passenger up the steep acclivity to the upper level of +the dark and narrow walk he was pursuing, one black sorrow met him and +blotted out all the rest. + +Captain Lake knew very well and gracefully practised the art of not +seeing inconvenient acquaintances in the street. But here in this narrow +way there met him full a hated shadow whom he would fain have 'cut,' by +looking to right or left, or up or down, but which was not to be +evaded--would not only have his salutation but his arm, and walked--a +horror of great darkness, by his side--through this solitude. + +Committed to a dreadful game, in which the stakes had come to exceed +anything his wildest fears could have anticipated, from which he could +not, according to his own canons, by any imaginable means recede--_here_ +was the spot where the dreadful battle had been joined, and his covenant +with futurity sealed. + +The young captain stood for a moment still on reaching the upper +platform. A tiny brook that makes its way among briars and shingle to the +more considerable mill-stream of Redman's Dell, sent up a hoarse babbling +from the darkness beneath. Why exactly he halted there he could not have +said. He glanced over his shoulder down the steps he had just scaled. Had +there been light his pale face would have shown just then a malign +anxiety, such as the face of an ill-conditioned man might wear, who +apprehends danger of treading on a snake. + +He walked on, however, without quickening his pace, waving very slightly +from side to side his ebony walking-cane--thin as a pencil--as if it were +a wand to beckon away the unseen things that haunt the darkness; and now +he came upon the wider plateau, from which, the close copse receding, +admitted something more of the light, faint as it was, that lingered in +the heavens. + +A tall gray stone stands in the centre of this space. There had once been +a boundary and a stile there. Stanley knew it very well, and was not +startled as the attorney was the other night when he saw it. As he +approached this, some one said close in his ear, + +'I beg your pardon, Master Stanley.' + +He cowered down with a spring, as I can fancy a man ducking under a +round-shot, and glanced speechlessly, and still in his attitude of +recoil, upon the speaker. + +'It's only me, Master Stanley--your poor old Tamar. Don't be afraid, +dear.' + +'I'm _not_ afraid--woman. Tamar to be sure--why, of course, I know you; +but what the devil brings you here?' he said. + +Tamar was dressed just as she used to be when sitting in the open air at +her knitting, except that over her shoulders she had a thin gray shawl. +On her head was the same close linen nightcap, borderless and skull-like, +and she laid her shrivelled, freckled hand upon his arm, and looking with +an earnest and fearful gaze in his face she said-- + +'It has been on my mind this many a day to speak to you, Master Stanley; +but whenever I meant to, summat came over me, and I couldn't.' + +'Well, well, well,' said Lake, uneasily; 'I mean to call to-morrow, or +next day, or some day soon, at Redman's Farm. I'll hear it then; this is +no place, you know, Tamar, to talk in; besides I'm pressed for time, and +can't stay now to listen.' + +'There's no place like this, Master Stanley; it's so awful secret,' she +said, with her hand still upon his arm. + +'Secret! Why one place is as well as another; and what the devil have I +to do with secrets? I tell you, Tamar, I'm in haste and can't stay. I +_won't_ stay. There!' + +'Master Stanley, for the love of Heaven--you know what I'm going to speak +of; my old bones have carried me here--'tis years since I walked so far. +I'd walk till I dropped to reach you--but I'd say what's on my mind, 'tis +like a message from heaven--and I _must_ speak--aye, dear, I must.' + +'But I say I can't stay. Who made you a prophet? You used not to be a +fool, Tamar; when I tell you I can't, that's enough.' + +Tamar did not move her fingers from the sleeve of his coat, on which they +rested, and that thin pressure mysteriously detained him. + +'See, Master Stanley, if I don't say it to _you_, I must to another,' she +said. + +'You mean to threaten me, woman,' said he with a pale, malevolent look. + +'I'm threatening nothing but the wrath of God, who hears us.' + +'Unless you mean to do me an injury, Tamar, I don't know what else you +mean,' he answered, in a changed tone. + +'Old Tamar will soon be in her coffin, and this night far in the past, +like many another, and 'twill be everything to you, one day, for weal or +woe, to hearken to her words _now_, Master Stanley.' + +'Why, Tamar, haven't I told you I'm ready to listen to you. I'll go and +see you--upon my honour I will--to-morrow, or next day, at the Dell; +what's the good of stopping me here?' + +'Because, Master Stanley, something told me 'tis the best place; we're +quiet, and you're more like to weigh my words here--and you'll be alone +for a while after you leave me, and can ponder my advice as you walk home +by the path.' + +'Well, whatever it is, I suppose it won't take very long to say--let us +walk on to the stone there, and then I'll stop and hear it--but you must +not keep me all night,' he said, very peevishly. + +It was only twenty steps further on, and the woods receded round it, so +as to leave an irregular amphitheatre of some sixty yards across; and +Captain Lake, glancing from the corners of his eyes, this way and that, +without raising or turning his face, stopped listlessly at the time-worn +white stone, and turning to the old crone, who was by his side, he said, + +'Well, then, you have your way; but speak low, please, if you have +anything unpleasant to say.' + +Tamar laid her hand upon his arm again; and the old woman's face afforded +Stanley Lake no clue to the coming theme. Its expression was quite as +usual--not actually discontent or peevishness, but crimped and puckered +all over with unchanging lines of anxiety and suffering. Neither was +there any flurry in her manner--her bony arm and discoloured hand, once +her fingers lay upon his sleeve, did not move--only she looked very +earnestly in his face as she spoke. + +'You'll not be angry, Master Stanley, dear? though if you be, I can't +help it, for I must speak. I've heard it all--I heard you and Miss Radie +speak on the night you first came to see her, after your sickness; and I +heard you speak again, by my room door, only a week before your marriage, +when you thought I was asleep. So I've heard it all--and though I mayn't +understand all the ins and outs on't, I know it well in the main. Oh, +Master Stanley, Master Stanley! How can you go on with it?' + +'Come, Tamar, what do you want of me? What do you mean? What the d-- is +it all about?' + +'Oh! well you know, Master Stanley, what it's about.' + +'Well, there _is_ something unpleasant, and I suppose you have heard a +smattering of it in your muddled way; but it is quite plain you don't in +the least understand it, when you fancy I can do anything to serve anyone +in the smallest degree connected with that disagreeable business--or that +I am personally in the least to blame in it; and I can't conceive what +business you had listening at the keyhole to your mistress and me, nor +why I am wasting my time talking to an old woman about my affairs, which +she can neither understand nor take part in.' + +'Master Stanley, it won't do. I heard it--I could not help hearing. I +little thought you had any such matter to speak--and you spoke so sudden +like, I could not help it. You were angry, and raised your voice. What +could old Tamar do? I heard it all before I knew where I was.' + +'I really think, Tamar, you've taken leave of your wits--you are quite in +the clouds. Come, Tamar, tell me, once for all--only drop your voice a +little, if you please--what the plague has got into your old head. Come, +I say, what is it?' + +He stooped and leaned his ear to Tamar; and when she had done, he +laughed. The laugh, though low, sounded wild and hollow in that dark +solitude. + +'Really, dear Tamar, you must excuse my laughing. You dear old witch, how +the plague could you take any such frightful nonsense into your head? I +do assure you, upon my honour, I never heard of so ridiculous a blunder. +Only that I know you are really fond of us, I should never speak to you +again. I forgive you. But listen no more to other people's conversation. +I could tell you how it really stands now, only I have not time; but +you'll take my word of honour for it, you have made the most absurd +mistake that ever an old fool tumbled into. No, Tamar, I can't stay any +longer now; but I'll tell you the whole truth when next I go down to +Redman's Farm. In the meantime, you must not plague poor Miss Radie with +your nonsense. She has too much already to trouble her, though of quite +another sort. Good-night, foolish old Tamar.' + +'Oh, Master Stanley, it will take a deal to shake my mind; and if it be +so, as I say, what's to be done next--what's to be done--oh, what _is_ to +be done?' + +'I say good-night, old Tamar; and hold your tongue, do you see?' + +'Oh, Master Stanley, Master Stanley! my poor child--my child that I +nursed!--anything would be better than this. Sooner or later judgment +will overtake you, so sure as you persist in it. I heard what Miss Radie +said; and is not it true--is not it cruel--is not it frightful to go on?' + +'You don't seem to be aware, my good Tamar, that you have been talking +slander all this while, and might be sent to gaol for it. There, I'm not +angry--only you're a fool. Good-night.' + +He shook her hand, and jerked it from him with suppressed fury, passing +on with a quickened pace. And as he glided through the dark, towards +splendid old Brandon, he ground his teeth, and uttered two or three +sentences which no respectable publisher would like to print. + + + + +CHAPTER XLV. + +DEEP AND SHALLOW. + + +Lawyer Larkin's mind was working more diligently than anyone suspected +upon this puzzle of Mark Wylder. The investigation was a sort of +scientific recreation to him, and something more. His sure instinct told +him it was a secret well worth mastering. + +He had a growing belief that Lake, and perhaps he _only_--except Wylder +himself--knew the meaning of all this mysterious marching and +counter-marching. Of course, all sorts of theories were floating in his +mind; but there was none that would quite fit all the circumstances. The +attorney, had he asked himself the question, what was his object in these +inquisitions, would have answered--'I am doing what few other men would. +I am, Heaven knows, giving to this affair of my absent client's, +gratuitously, as much thought and vigilance as ever I did to any case in +which I was duly remunerated. This is self-sacrificing and noble, and +just the conscientious conduct I should expect from myself.' + +But there was also this consideration, which you failed to define. + +'Yes; my respected client, Mr. Mark Wylder, is suffering under some acute +pressure, applied perhaps by my friend Captain Lake. Why should not I +share in the profit--if such there be--by getting my hand too upon the +instrument of compression? It is worth trying. Let us try.' + +The Reverend William Wylder was often at the Lodge now. Larkin had struck +out a masterly plan. The vicar's reversion, a very chimerical +contingency, he would by no means consent to sell. His little man--little +Fairy--oh! no, he could not. The attorney only touched on this, remarking +in a friendly way-- + +'But then, you know, it is so mere a shadow.' + +This indeed, poor William knew very well. But though he spoke quite +meekly, the attorney looked rather black, and his converse grew somewhat +dry and short. + +This sinister change was sudden, and immediately followed the suggestion +about the reversion; and the poor vicar was a little puzzled, and began +to consider whether he had said anything _gauche_ or offensive--'it would +be so very painful to appear ungrateful.' + +The attorney had the statement of title in one hand, and leaning back in +his chair, read it demurely in silence, with the other tapping the +seal-end of his gold pencil-case between his lips. + +'Yes,' said Mr. Larkin, mildly, 'it is so _very_ shadowy--and that +feeling, too, in the way. I suppose we had better, perhaps, put it aside, +and maybe something else may turn up.' And the attorney rose grandly to +replace the statement of title in its tin box, intimating thereby that +the audience was ended. + +But the poor vicar was in rather urgent circumstances just then, and his +troubles had closed in recently with a noiseless, but tremendous +contraction, like that iron shroud in Mr. Mudford's fine tale; and to +have gone away into outer darkness, with no project on the stocks, and +the attorney's countenance averted, would have been simply despair. + +'To speak frankly,' said the poor vicar, with that hectic in his cheek +that came with agitation, 'I never fancied that my reversionary interest +could be saleable.' + +'Neither is it, in all probability,' answered the attorney. 'As you are +so seriously pressed, and your brother's return delayed, it merely +crossed my mind as a thing worth trying.' + +'It was very kind and thoughtful; but that feeling--the--my poor little +man! However, I may be only nervous and foolish, and I think I'll speak +to Lord Chelford about it.' + +The attorney looked down, and took his nether lip gently between his +finger and thumb. I rather think he had no particular wish to take Lord +Chelford into council. + +'I think before troubling his lordship upon the subject--if, indeed, on +reflection, you should not think it would be a little odd to trouble him +at all in reference to it--I had better look a little more carefully into +the papers, and see whether anything in that direction is really +practicable at all.' + +'Do you think, Mr. Larkin, you can write that strong letter to stay +proceedings which you intended yesterday?' + +The attorney shook his head, and said, with a sad sort of dryness--'I +can't see my way to it.' + +The vicar's heart sank with a flutter, and then swelled, and sank another +bit, and his forehead flushed. + +There was a silence. + +'You see, Mr. Wylder, I relied, in fact, altogether upon this +a--arrangement; and I don't see that any thing is likely to come of it.' + +The attorney spoke in the same dry and reserved way, and there was a +shadow on his long face. + +'I have forfeited his good-will somehow--he has ceased to take any +interest in my wretched affairs; I am abandoned, and must be ruined.' + +These dreadful thoughts filled in another silence; and then the vicar +said-- + +'I am afraid I have, quite unintentionally, offended you, Mr. +Larkin--perhaps in my ignorance of business; and I feel that I should be +quite ruined if I were to forfeit your good offices; and, pray tell me, +if I have said anything I ought not.' + +'Oh, no--nothing, I assure you,' replied Mr. Larkin, with a lofty and +gentle dryness. 'Only, I think, I have, perhaps, a little mistaken the +relation in which I stood, and fancied, wrongly, it was in the light +somewhat of a friend as well as of a professional adviser; and I thought, +perhaps, I had rather more of your confidence than I had any right to, +and did not at first see the necessity of calling in Lord Chelford, whose +experience of business is necessarily very limited, to direct you. You +remember, my dear Mr. Wylder, that I did not at all invite these +relations; and I don't think you will charge me with want of zeal in your +business.' + +'Oh! my dear Mr. Larkin, my dear Sir, you have been my preserver, my +benefactor--in fact, under Heaven, very nearly my last and only hope.' + +'Well, I _had_ hoped I was not remiss or wanting in diligence.' + +And Mr. Larkin took his seat in his most gentlemanlike fashion, crossing +his long legs, and throwing his tall head back, raising his eyebrows, and +letting his mouth languidly drop a little open. + +'My idea was, that Lord Chelford would see more clearly what was best for +little Fairy. I am so very slow and so silly about business, and you so +much my friend--I have found you so--that you might think only of me.' + +'I should, of course, consider the little boy,' said Mr. Larkin, +condescendingly; 'a most interesting child. I'm very fond of children +myself, and should, of course, put the entire case--as respected him as +well as yourself--to the best of my humble powers before you. Is there +any thing else just now you think of, for time presses, and really we +have ground to apprehend something unpleasant _to-morrow_. You ought not, +my dear Sir--pray permit me to say--you really ought _not_ to have +allowed it to come to this.' + +The poor vicar sighed profoundly, and shook his head, a contrite man. +They both forgot that it was arithmetically impossible for him to have +prevented it, unless he had got some money. + +'Perhaps,' said the vicar, brightening up suddenly, and looking in the +attorney's eyes for answer, 'Perhaps something might be done with the +reversion, as a security, to borrow a sufficient sum, without selling.' + +The attorney shook his high head, and whiskers gray and foxy, and +meditated with the seal of his pencil case between his lips. + +'I don't see it,' said he, with another shake of that long head. + +'I don't know that any lender, in fact, would entertain such a security. +If you wish it I will write to Burlington, Smith, and Company, about +it--they are largely in policies and _post-obits_.' + +'It is very sad--very sad, indeed. I wish so much, my dear Sir, I could +be of use to you; but you know the fact is, we solicitors seldom have the +command of our own money; always in advance--always drained to the +uttermost shilling, and I am myself in the predicament you will see +there.' + +And he threw a little note from the Dollington Bank to Jos. Larkin, Esq., +The Lodge, Gylingden, announcing the fact that he had overdrawn his +account certain pounds, shillings, and pence, and inviting him forthwith +to restore the balance. + +The vicar read it with a vague comprehension, and in his cold fingers +shook the hand of his fellow sufferer. Less than fifty pounds would not +do! Oh, where was he to turn? It was _quite_ hopeless, and poor Larkin +pressed too! + +Now, there was this consolation in 'poor Larkin's case,' that although he +was quite run aground, and a defaulter in the Dollington Bank to the +extent of 7_l_. 12_s_. 4_d_., yet in that similar institution, which +flourished at Naunton, only nine miles away, there stood to his name the +satisfactory credit of 564_l_. 11_s_. 7_d_. One advantage which the good +attorney derived from his double account with the rival institutions was, +that whenever convenient he could throw one of these certificates of +destitution and impotence sadly under the eyes of a client in want of +money like poor Will Wylder. + +The attorney had no pleasure in doing people ill turns. But he had come +to hear the distresses of his clients as tranquilly as doctors do the +pangs of their patients. As he stood meditating near his window, he saw +the poor vicar, with slow limbs and downcast countenance, walk under his +laburnums and laurustinuses towards his little gate, and suddenly stop +and turn round, and make about a dozen quick steps, like a man who has +found a bright idea, towards the house, and then come to a thoughtful +halt, and so turn and recommence his slow march of despair homeward. + +At five o'clock--it was dark now--there was a tread on the door-steps, +and a double tattoo at the tiny knocker. It was the 'lawyer.' + +Mr. Larkin entered the vicar's study, where he was supposed to be busy +about his sermon. + +'My dear Sir; thinking about you--and I have just heard from an old +humble friend, who wants high interest, and of course is content to take +security somewhat personal in its nature. I have written already. He's in +the hands of Burlington, Smith, and Company. I have got exactly 55_l._ +since I saw you, which makes me all right at Dollington; and here's my +check for 50_l._ which you can send--or perhaps _I_ had better send by +this night's post--to those Cambridge people. It settles _that_; and you +give me a line on this stamp, acknowledging the 50_l._ on account of +money to be raised on your reversion. So that's off your mind, my dear +Sir.' + +'Oh, Mr. Larkin--my--my--you don't know, Sir, what you have done for +me--the agony--oh, thank God! what a friend is raised up.' + +And he clasped and wrung the long hands of the attorney, and I really +think there was a little moisture in that gentleman's pink eyes for a +moment or two. + +When he was gone the vicar returned from the door-step, radiant--not to +the study but to the parlour. + +'Oh, Willie, darling, you look so happy--you were uneasy this evening,' +said his little ugly wife, with a beautiful smile, jumping up and +clasping him. + +'Yes, darling, I was--_very_ uneasy; but thank God, it is over.' + +And they cried and smiled together in that delightful embrace, while all +the time little Fairy, with a paper cap on his head, was telling them +half-a-dozen things together, and pulling Wapsie by the skirts. + +Then he was lifted up and kissed, and smiled on by that sunshine only +remembered in the sad old days--parental love. And there was high +festival kept in the parlour that night. I am told six crumpets, and a +new egg apiece besides at tea, to make merry with, and stories and little +songs for Fairy. Willie was in his old college spirits. It was quite +delightful; and little Fairy was up a great deal too late; and the vicar +and his wife had quite a cheery chat over the fire, and he and she both +agreed he would make a handsome sum by Eusebius. + +Thus, if there are afflictions, there are also comforts: great +consolations, great chastisements. There is a comforter, and there is a +chastener. Every man must taste of death: every man must taste of life. +It shall not be all bitter nor all sweet for any. It shall be life. The +unseen ministers of a stupendous equity have their eyes and their hands +about every man's portion; 'as it is written, he that had gathered much +had nothing over; and he that had gathered little had no lack.' + +It is the same earth for all; the same earth for the dead, great and +small; dust to dust. The same earth for the living. 'Thorns, also, and +thistles shall it bring forth,' and God provides the flowers too. + + + + +CHAPTER XLVI. + +DEBATE AND INTERRUPTION. + + +Rachel beheld the things which were coming to pass like an awful dream. +She had begun to think, and not without evidence, that Dorcas, for some +cause or caprice, had ceased to think of Stanley as she once did. And the +announcement, without preparation or apparent courtship, that her brother +had actually won this great and beautiful heiress, and that, just emerged +from the shades of death, he, a half-ruined scapegrace, was about to take +his place among the magnates of the county, and, no doubt, to enter +himself for the bold and splendid game of ambition, the stakes of which +were now in his hand, towered before her like an incredible and +disastrous illusion of magic. + +Stanley's uneasiness lest Rachel's conduct should compromise them +increased. He grew more nervous about the relations between him and Mark +Wylder, in proportion as the world grew more splendid and prosperous for +him. + +Where is the woman who will patiently acquiesce in the reserve of her +husband who shares his confidence with another? How often had Stanley +Lake sworn to her there was no secret; that he knew nothing of Mark +Wylder beyond the charge of his money, and making a small payment to an +old Mrs. Dutton, in London, by his direction, and that beyond this, he +was as absolutely in the dark as she or Chelford. + +What, then, did Rachel mean by all that escaped her, when he was in +danger? + +'How the -- could he tell? He really believed she was a little--_ever_ so +little--crazed. He supposed she, like Dorcas, fancied he knew everything +about Wylder. She was constantly hinting something of the kind; and +begging of him to make a disclosure--disclosure of what? It was enough to +drive one mad, and would make a capital farce. Rachel has a ridiculous +way of talking like an oracle, and treating as settled fact every +absurdity she fancies. She is very charming and clever, of course, so +long as she speaks of the kind of thing she understands. But when she +tries to talk of serious business--poor Radie! she certainly does talk +such nonsense! She can't reason; she runs away with things. It _is_ the +most tiresome thing you can conceive.' + +'But you have not said, Stanley, that she does not suspect the truth.' + +'Of course, I say it; I _have_ said it. I swear it, if you like. I've +said plainly, and I'm ready to swear it. Upon my honour and soul I know +no more of his movements, plans, or motives, than you do. If you reflect +you must see it. We were never good friends, Mark and I. It was no fault +of mine, but I never liked him; and he, consequently, I suppose, never +liked me. There was no intimacy or confidence between us. I was the last +man on earth he would have consulted with. Even Larkin, his own lawyer, +is in the dark. Rachel knows all this. I have told her fifty times over, +and she seems to give way at the moment. Indeed the thing is too plain to +be resisted. But as I said, poor Radie, she can't reason; and by the time +I see her next, her old fancy possesses her. I can't help it; because +with more reluctance than I can tell, I at length consent, at Larkin's +_entreaty_, I may say, to bank and fund his money.' + +But Dorcas's mind retained its first impression. Sometimes his +plausibilities, his vehemence, and his vows disturbed it for a time; but +there it remained like the picture of a camera obscura, into which a +momentary light has been admitted, unseen for a second, but the images +return with the darkness, and group themselves in their old colours and +places again. Whatever it was Rachel probably knew it. There was a +painful confidence between them; and there was growing in Dorcas's mind a +feeling towards Rachel which her pride forbade her to define. + +She did not like Stanley's stealthy visits to Redman's Farm; she did not +like his moods or looks after those visits, of which he thought she knew +nothing. She did not know whether to be pleased or sorry that Rachel had +refused to reside at Brandon; neither did she like the stern gloom that +overcast Rachel's countenance when Stanley was in the room, nor those +occasional walks together, up and down the short yew walk, in which Lake +looked so cold and angry, and Rachel so earnest. What was this secret? +How dared her husband mask from her what he confided to another? How +dared Rachel confer with him--influence him, perhaps, under her very eye, +walking before the windows of Brandon--that Brandon which was _hers_, and +to which she had taken Stanley, passing her gate a poor and tired +wayfarer of the world, and made him--_what?_ Oh, mad caprice! Oh, fit +retribution! + +A wild voice was talking this way, to-and-fro, and up and down, in the +chambers of memory. But she would not let it speak from her proud lips. +She smiled, and to outward seeming, was the same; but Rachel felt that +the fashion of her countenance towards her was changed. + +Since her marriage she had not hinted to Rachel the subject of their old +conversations: burning beneath her feeling about it was now a deep-rooted +anger and jealousy. Still she was Stanley's sister, and to be treated +accordingly. The whole household greeted her with proper respect, and +Dorcas met her graciously, and with all the externals of kindness. The +change was so little, that I do not think any but she and Rachel saw it; +and yet it was immense. + +There was a dark room, a sort of ante-room, to the library, with only two +tall and narrow windows, and hung with old Dutch tapestries, representing +the battles and sieges of men in periwigs, pikemen, dragoons in buff +coats, and musketeers with matchlocks--all the grim faces of soldiers, +generals, drummers, and the rest, grown pale and dusky by time, like +armies of ghosts. + +Rachel had come one morning to see Dorcas, and, awaiting her appearance, +sat down in this room. The door of the library opened, and she was a +little surprised to see Stanley enter. + +'Why, Stanley, they told me you were gone to Naunton.' + +'Oh! did they? Well, you see, I'm here, Radie.' + +Somehow he was not very well pleased to see her. + +'I think you'll find Dorcas in the drawing-room, or else in the +conservatory,' he added. + +'I am glad, Stanley, I happened to meet you. Something _must_ be done in +the matter I spoke of immediately. Have you considered it?' + +'Most carefully,' said Stanley, quietly. + +'But you have done nothing.' + +'It is not a thing to be done in a moment.' + +'You can, if you please, do a great deal in a moment' + +'Certainly; but I may repent it afterwards.' + +'Stanley, you may regret postponing it, much more.' + +'You have no idea, Rachel, how very tiresome you've grown.' + +'Yes, Stanley, I can quite understand it. It would have been better for +you, perhaps for myself, I had died long ago.' + +'Well, that is another thing; but in the meantime, I assure you, Rachel, +you are disposed to be very impertinent.' + +'Very impertinent; yes, indeed, Stanley, and so I shall continue to be +until----' + +'Pray how does it concern you? I say it is no business on earth of +yours.' + +Stanley Lake was growing angry. + +'Yes, Stanley, it _does_ concern me.' + +'That is false.' + +'True, _true_, Sir. Oh, Stanley, it is a load upon my conscience--a +mountain--a mountain between me and my hopes. I can't endure the misery +to which you would consign me; you _shall_ do it--immediately, too' (she +stamped wildly as she said it), 'and if you hesitate, Stanley, I shall be +compelled to speak, though the thought of it makes me almost mad with +terror.' + +'What is he to do, Rachel?' said Dorcas, standing near the door. + +It was a very awkward pause. The splendid young bride was the only person +on the stage who looked very much as usual. Stanley turned his pale glare +of fury from Rachel to Dorcas, and Dorcas said again, + +'What is it, Rachel, darling?' + +Rachel, with a bright blush on her cheeks, stepped quickly up to her, put +her arms about her neck and kissed her, and over her shoulder she cried +to her brother-- + +'Tell her, Stanley.' + +And so she quickly left the room and was gone. + +'Well, Dorkie, love, what's the matter?' said Stanley sharply, at last +breaking the silence. + +'I really don't know--you, perhaps, can tell,' answered she coldly. + +'You have frightened Rachel out of the room, for one thing,' answered he +with a sneer. + +'I simply asked her what she urged you to do--I think I have a claim to +know. It is strange so reasonable a question from a wife should scare +your sister from the room.' + +'I don't quite see that--for my part, I don't think _anything_ strange in +a woman. Rachel has been talking the rankest nonsense, in the most +unreasonable temper conceivable; and because she can't persuade me to +accept her views of what is Christian and sensible, she threatens to go +mad--I think that is her phrase.' + +'I don't think Rachel is a fool,' said Dorcas, quietly, her eye still +upon Stanley. + +'Neither do I--when she pleases to exert her good sense--but she can, +when she pleases, both talk and act like a fool.' + +'And pray, what does she want you to do, Stanley?' + +'The merest nonsense.' + +'But what is it?' + +'I really can hardly undertake to say I very well understand it myself, +and I have half-a-dozen letters to write; and really if I were to stay +here and try to explain, I very much doubt whether I could. Why don't you +ask _her_? If she has any clear ideas on the subject I don't see why she +should not tell you. For my part, I doubt if she understands herself--_I_ +certainly don't.' + +Dorcas smiled bitterly. + +'Mystery already--mystery from the first. _I_ am to know nothing of your +secrets. You confer and consult in my house--you debate and decide upon +matters most nearly concerning, for aught I know, my interests and my +happiness--certainly deeply affecting you, and therefore which I have a +_right_ to know; and my entering the room is the signal for silence--a +guilty silence--for departure and for equivocation. Stanley, you are +isolating me. Beware--I may entrench myself in that isolation. You are +choosing your confidant, and excluding me; rest assured you shall have no +confidence of mine while you do so.' + +Stanley Lake looked at her with a gaze at once peevish and inquisitive. + +'You take a wonderfully serious view of Rachel's nonsense.' + +'I do.' + +'Certainly, you women have a marvellous talent for making mountains of +molehills--you and Radie are adepts in the art. Never was a poor devil so +lectured about nothing as I between you. Come now, Dorkie, be a good +girl--you must not look so vexed.' + +'I'm not vexed.' + +'What then?' + +'I'm only _thinking_.' + +She said this with the same bitter smile. Stanley Lake looked for a +moment disposed to break into one of his furies, but instead he only +laughed his unpleasant laugh. + +'Well, I'm thinking too, and I find it quite possible to be vexed at the +same time. I assure you, Dorcas, I really am busy; and it is too bad to +have one's time wasted in solemn lectures about stuff and nonsense. Do +make Rachel explain herself, if she can--_I_ have no objection, I assure +you; but I must be permitted to decline undertaking to interpret that +oracle.' And so saying, Stanley Lake glided into the library and shut the +door with an angry clap. + +Dorcas did not deign to look after him. She had heard his farewell +address, looking from the window at the towering and sombre clumps of her +ancestral trees--pale, proud, with perhaps a peculiar gleam of +resentment--or malignity--in her exquisite features. + +So she stood, looking forth on her noble possessions--on terraces--'long +rows of urns'--noble timber--all seen in slanting sunlight and long +shadows--and seeing nothing but the great word FOOL! in letters of flame +in the air before her. + + + + +CHAPTER XLVII. + +A THREATENING NOTICE. + + +Stanley Lake was not a man to let the grass grow under his feet when an +object was to be gained. It was with a sure prescience that Mark Wylder's +letter had inferred that Stanley Lake would aspire to the representation +either of the county or of the borough of Dollington. His mind was +already full of these projects. + +Electioneering schemes are conducted, particularly at their initiation, +like conspiracies--in fact, they _are_ conspiracies, and therefore there +was nothing remarkable in the intense caution with which Stanley Lake set +about his. He was not yet 'feeling his way.' He was only preparing to +feel his way. + +All the data, except the muster-roll of electors, were _in nubibus_--who +would retire--who would step forward, as yet altogether in the region of +conjecture. There are men to whom the business of elections--a life of +secrecy, excitement, speculation, and combat--has all but irresistible +charms; and Tom Wealdon, the Town Clerk, was such a spirit. + +A bold, frank, good-humoured fellow--he played at elections as he would +at cricket. Every faculty of eye, hand, and thought--his whole heart and +soul in the game. But no ill-will--no malevolence in victory--no sourness +in defeat. A successful _coup_ made Tom Wealdon split with laughing. A +ridiculous failure amused him nearly as much. He celebrated his last +great defeat with a pic-nic in the romantic scenery of Nolton, where he +and his comrades in disaster had a roaring evening, and no end of 'chaff' +When he and Jos. Larkin carried the last close contest at Dollington, by +a majority of two, he kicked the crown out of the grave attorney's +chimney-pot, and flung his own wide-awake into the river. He did not show +much; his official station precluded prominence. He kept in the +background, and did his spiriting gently. But Tom Wealdon, it was +known--as things _are_ known without evidence--was at the bottom of all +the clever dodges, and long-headed manoeuvres. When, therefore, Mr. +Larkin heard from the portly and veracious Mr. Larcom, who was on very +happy relations with the proprietor of the Lodge, that Tom Wealdon had +been twice quietly to Brandon to lunch, and had talked an hour alone with +the captain in the library each time; and that they seemed very 'hernest +like, and stopped of talking directly he (Mr. Larcom) entered the room +with the post-bag'--the attorney knew very well what was in the wind. + +Now, it was not quite clear what was right--by which the good attorney +meant prudent--under the circumstances. He was in confidential--which +meant lucrative--relations with Mark Wylder. Ditto, ditto with Captain +Lake, of Brandon. He did not wish to lose either. Was it possible to hold +to both, or must he cleave only to one and despise the other? + +Wylder might return any day, and Tom Wealdon would probably be one of the +first men whom he would see. He must 'hang out the signal' in +'Galignani.' Lake could never suspect its meaning, even were he to see +it. There was but one risk in it, which was in the coarse perfidy of Mark +Welder himself, who would desire no better fun, in some of his moods, +than boasting to Lake of the whole arrangement in Jos. Larkin's presence. + +However, on the whole, it was best to obey Mark Wylder's orders, and +accordingly 'Galignani' said: '_Mr. Smith will take notice that the other +party is desirous to purchase, and becoming very pressing._' + +In the meantime Lake was pushing his popularity among the gentry with +remarkable industry, and with tolerable success. Wealdon's two little +visits explained perfectly the active urbanities of Captain Stanley Lake. + +About three weeks after the appearance of the advertisement in +'Galignani,' one of Mark Wylder's letters reached Larkin. It was dated +from Geneva(!) and said:-- + + +'DEAR LARKIN,--I saw my friend _Smith_ here in the cafe, who has kept a +bright look out, I dare say; and tells me that Captain Stanley Lake is +thinking of standing either for the county or for Dollington. I will +thank you to apprise him that I mean to take my choice first; and please +hand him the enclosed notice open as you get it; and, if you please, to +let him run his eye also over this note to you, as I have my own reasons +for wishing him to know that you have seen it. + +'This is all I will probably trouble you about elections for some months +to come, or, at least, weeks. It being time enough when I go back, and no +squalls a-head just now at home, though foreign politics look muggy +enough. + +'I have nothing particular at present about tenants or timber, except the +three acres of oak behind Farmer Tanby's--have it took down. Thomas Jones +and me went over it last September, and it ought to bring near 3,000_l_. +I must have a good handful of money by May next. + +'Yours, my dear Larkin, + +'Very truly, + +'MARK WYLDER.' + +Folded in this was a thin slip of foreign paper, on which were traced +these lines:-- + + +'_Private._ + +'DEAR LARKIN,--Don't funk the interview with the beast Lake--a hyaena has +no pluck in him. When he reads what I send him by your hand, he'll be as +mild as you please. Parkes must act for me as usual--no bluster about +giving up. Lake's afraid of yours, + +'M. W.' + + +Within was what he called his 'notice' to Stanley Lake, and it was thus +conceived:-- + + +'_Private._ + +'DEAR LAKE--I understand you are trying to make all safe for next +election in Dollington or the county. Now, understand at once, that _I +won't permit that_. There is not a country gentleman on the grand jury +who is not your superior; and there is no extremity I will not make you +feel--and you know what I mean--if you dare despise this first and not +unfriendly warning. + +'Yours truly, + +'MARK WYLDER.' + + +Now there certainly was need of Wylder's assurance that nothing +unpleasant should happen to the conscious bearer of such a message to an +officer and a gentleman. Jos. Larkin did not like it. Still there was a +confidence in his own conciliatory manners and exquisite tact. Something, +too, might be learned by noting Lake's looks, demeanour, and language +under this direct communication from the man to whom his relations were +so mysterious. + +Larkin looked at his watch; it was about the hour when he was likely to +find Lake in his study. The attorney withdrew the little private +enclosure, and slipt it, with a brief endorsement, into the neat sheaf of +Wylder's letters, all similarly noted, and so locked it up in the iron +safe. He intended being perfectly ingenuous with Lake, and showing him +that he had 'no secrets--no concealments--all open as the day'--by +producing the letter in which the 'notice' was enclosed, and submitting +it for Captain Lake's perusal. + +When Lawyer Larkin reached the dim chamber, with the Dutch tapestries, +where he had for a little while to await Captain Lake's leisure, he began +to anticipate the scene now so immediately impending more uncomfortably +than before. The 'notice' was, indeed, so outrageous in its spirit, and +so intolerable in its language, that, knowing something of Stanley's wild +and truculent temper, he began to feel a little nervous about the +explosion he was about to provoke. + +The Brandon connection, one way or other, was worth to the attorney in +hard cash between five and six hundred a-year. In influence, and what is +termed 'position,' it was, of course, worth a great deal more. It would +be a very serious blow to lose this. He did not, he hoped, care for money +more than a good man ought; but such a loss, he would say, he could not +afford. + +Precisely the same, however, was to be said of his connection with Mark +Wylder; and in fact, of late years, Mr. Jos. Larkin, of the Lodge, had +begun to put by money so fast that he was growing rapidly to be a very +considerable man indeed. 'Everything,' as he said, 'was doing very +nicely;' and it would be a deplorable thing to mar, by any untoward act, +this pilgrim's quiet and prosperous progress. + +In this stage of his reverie he was interrupted by a tall, powdered +footman, in the Brandon livery, who came respectfully to announce that +his master desired to see Mr. Larkin. + +Larkin's soul sneered at this piece of state. Why could he not put his +head in at the door and call him? But still I think it impressed him, and +that, diplomatically, Captain Lake was in the right to environ himself +with the ceremonial of a lord of Brandon. + +'Well, Larkin, how d'ye do? Anything about Raikes's lease?' said the +great Captain Lake, rising from behind his desk, with his accustomed +smile, and extending his gentlemanlike hand. + +'No, Sir--nothing, Captain Lake. He has not come, and I don't think we +should show any anxiety about it,' replied the attorney, taking the +captain's thin hand rather deferentially. 'I've had--a--such a letter +from my--my client, Mr. Mark Wylder. He writes in a violent passion, and +I'm really placed in a most disagreeable position.' + +'Won't you sit down?' + +'A--thanks--a--well I thought, on the whole, having received the letter +and the enclosure, which I must say very much surprises me--very much +_indeed_.' And Larkin looked reprovingly on an imaginary Mark Wylder, and +shook his head a good deal. + +'He has not appointed another man of business?' + +'Oh, dear, no,' said Larkin, quickly, with a faint, supercilious smile. +'No, nothing of that kind. The thing--in fact, there has been some +gossiping fellow. Do you happen to know a person at all versed in +Gylingden matters--or, perhaps, a member of your club--named Smith?' + +'Smith? I don't, I think, recollect any particular Smith, just at this +moment. And what is Smith doing or saying?' + +'Why, he has been talking over election matters. It seems Wylder--Mr. +Wylder--has met him in Geneva, from whence he dates; and he says--he +says--oh, here's the letter, and you'll see it all there.' + +He handed it to Lake, and kept his eye on him while he read it. When he +saw that Lake, who bit his lip during the perusal, had come to the end, +by his glancing up again at the date, Larkin murmured-- + +'Something, you see, has gone wrong with him. I can't account for the +temper otherwise--so violent.' + +'Quite so,' said Lake, quietly; 'and where is the notice he speaks of +here?' + +'Why, really, Captain Lake, I did not very well know, it _is such_ a +production--I could not say whether you would wish it presented; and in +any case you will do me the justice to understand that I, for my part--I +really don't know how to speak of it. + +'Quite so,' repeated Lake, softly, taking the thin, neatly folded piece +of paper which Larkin, with a sad inclination of his body, handed to him. + +Lake, under the 'lawyer's' small, vigilant eyes, quietly read Mark +Wylder's awful threatenings through, twice over, and Larkin was not quite +sure whether there was any change of countenance to speak of as he did +so. + +'This is dated the 29th,' said Lake, in the same quiet tone; 'perhaps you +will be so good as to write a line across it, stating the date of your +handing it to me.' + +'I--of course--I can see no objection. I may mention, I suppose, that I +do so at your request.' + +And Larkin made a neat little endorsement to that effect, and he felt +relieved. The hyaena certainly was not showing fight. + +'And now, Mr. Larkin, you'll admit, I think, that I've exhibited no +ill-temper, much less violence, under the provocation of that note.' + +'Certainly; none whatever, Captain Lake.' + +'And you will therefore perceive that whatever I now say, speaking in +cool blood, I am not likely to recede from.' + +Lawyer Larkin bowed. + +'And may I particularly ask that you will so attend to what I am about to +say, as to be able to make a note of it for Mr. Welder's consideration?' + +'Certainly, if you desire; but I wish to say that in this particular +matter I beg it may be clearly understood that Mr. Wylder is in no +respect more my client than you, Captain Lake, and that I merely act as a +most reluctant messenger in the matter.' + +'Just so,' said Captain Lake. + +'Now, as to my thinking of representing either county or borough,' he +resumed, after a little pause, holding Mark Wylder's 'notice' between his +finger and thumb, and glancing at it from time to time, as a speaker +might at his notes, 'I am just as well qualified as he in every respect; +and if it lies between him and me, I will undoubtedly offer myself, and +accompany my address with the publication of this precious document which +he calls his notice--the composition, in all respects, of a ruffian--and +which will inspire every gentleman who reads it with disgust, abhorrence, +and contempt. His threat I don't understand. I despise his machinations. +I defy him utterly; and the time is coming when, in spite of his +manoeuvring, I'll drive him into a corner and pin him to the wall. He +very well knows that flitting and skulking from place to place, like an +escaped convict, he is safe in writing what insults he pleases through +the post. I can't tell how or where to find him. He is not only no +gentleman, but no man--a coward as well as a ruffian. But his game of +hide-and-seek cannot go on for ever; and when next I can lay my hand upon +him, I'll make him eat that paper on his knees, and place my heel upon +his neck.' + +The peroration of this peculiar invective was emphasised by an oath, at +which the half-dozen short grizzled hairs that surmounted the top of Mr. +Jos. Larkin's shining bald head no doubt stood up in silent appeal. + +The attorney was standing during this sample of Lake's parliamentary +rhetoric a little flushed, for he did not know the moment when a blue +flicker from the rhetorical thunder-storm might splinter his own bald +head, and for ever end his connection with Brandon. + +There was a silence, during which pale Captain Lake locked up Mark +Wylder's warning, and the attorney twice cleared his voice. + +'I need hardly say, Captain Lake, how I feel in this business. I----' + +'Quite so,' said the captain, in his soft low tones. 'I assure you I +altogether acquit you of sympathy with any thing so utterly ruffianly,' +and he took the hand of the relieved attorney with a friendly +condescension. 'The only compensation I exact for your involuntary part +in the matter is that you distinctly convey the tenor of my language to +Mr. Wylder, on the first occasion on which he affords you an opportunity +of communicating with him. And as to my ever again acting as his +trustee;--though, yes, I forgot'--he made a sudden pause, and was lost +for a minute in annoyed reflection--'yes, I must for a while. It can't +last very long; he _must_ return soon, and I can't well refuse to act +until at least some other arrangement is made. There are quite other +persons and I can't allow them to starve.' + +So saying, he rose, with his peculiar smile, and extended his hand to +signify that the conference was at an end. + +'And I suppose,' he said, 'we are to regard this little conversation, for +the present, as confidential?' + +'Certainly, Captain Lake, and permit me to say that I fully appreciate +the just and liberal construction which you have placed upon my +conduct--a construction which a party less candid and honourably-minded +than yourself might have failed to favour me with.' + +And with this pretty speech Larkin took his hat, and gracefully withdrew. + + + + +CHAPTER XLVIII. + +IN WHICH I GO TO BRANDON, AND SEE AN OLD ACQUAINTANCE IN THE TAPESTRY +ROOM. + + +To my surprise, a large letter, bearing the Gylingden postmark, and with +a seal as large as a florin, showing, had I examined the heraldry, the +Brandon arms with the Lake bearings quartered thereon, and proving to be +a very earnest invitation from Stanley Lake, found me in London just +about this time. + +I paused, I was doubtful about accepting it, for the business of the +season was just about to commence in earnest, and the country had not yet +assumed its charms. But I now know very well that from the first it was +quite settled that down I should go. I was too curious to see the bride +in her new relations, and to observe something of the conjugal +administration of Lake, to allow anything seriously to stand in the way +of my proposed trip. + +There was a postscript to Lake's letter which might have opened my eyes +as to the motives of this pressing invitation, which I pleased myself by +thinking, though penned by Captain Lake, came in reality from his +beautiful young bride. + +This small appendix was thus conceived:-- + + +'P.S.--Tom Wealdon, as usual, deep in elections, under the rose, begs you +kindly to bring down whatever you think to be the best book or books on +the subject, and he will remit to your bookseller. Order them in his +name, but bring them down with you.' + + +So I was a second time going down to Brandon as honorary counsel, without +knowing it. My invitations, I fear, were obtained, if not under false +pretences, at least upon false estimates, and the laity rated my legal +lore too highly. + +I reached Brandon rather late. The bride had retired for the night. I had +a very late dinner--in fact a supper--in the parlour. Lake sat with me +chatting, rather cleverly, not pleasantly. Wealdon was at Brandon about +sessions business, and as usual full of election stratagems and +calculations. Stanley volunteered to assure me he had not the faintest +idea of looking for a constituency. I really believe--and at this +distance of time I may use strong language in a historical sense--that +Captain Lake was the greatest liar I ever encountered with. He seemed to +do it without a purpose--by instinct, or on principle--and would +contradict himself solemnly twice or thrice in a week, without seeming to +perceive it. I dare say he lied always, and about everything. But it was +in matters of some moment that one perceived it. + +What object could he gain, for instance, by the fib he had just told me? +On second thoughts this night he coolly apprised me that he _had_ some +idea of sounding the electors. So, my meal ended, we went into the +tapestry room where, the night being sharp, a pleasant bit of fire burned +in the grate, and Wealdon greeted me. + +My journey, though by rail, and as easy as that of the Persian gentleman +who skimmed the air, seated on a piece of carpet, predisposed me to +sleep. Such volumes of fine and various country air, and such an eight +hours' procession of all sorts of natural pictures are not traversed +without effect. Sitting in my well-stuffed chair, my elbows on the +cushioned arms, the conversation of Lake and the Town Clerk now and then +grew faint, and their faces faded away, and little 'fyttes' and fragments +of those light and pleasant dreams, like fairy tales, which visit such +stolen naps, superseded with their picturesque and musical illusions the +realities and recollections of life. + +Once or twice a nod a little too deep or sudden called me up. But Lake +was busy about the Dollington constituency, and the Town Clerk's bluff +face was serious and thoughtful. It was the old question about Rogers, +the brewer, and whether Lord Adleston and Sir William could not get him; +or else it had gone on to the great railway contractor, Dobbs, and the +question how many votes his influence was really worth; and, somehow, I +never got very far into the pros and cons of these discussions, which +soon subsided into the fairy tale I have mentioned, and that sweet +perpendicular sleep--all the sweeter, like everything else, for being +contraband and irregular. + +For one bout--I fancy a good deal longer than the others--my nap was much +sounder than before, and I opened my eyes at last with the shudder and +half horror that accompany an awakening from a general chill--a dismal +and frightened sensation. + +I was facing a door about twenty feet distant, which exactly as I opened +my eyes, turned slowly on its hinges, and the figure of Uncle Lorne, in +his loose flannel habiliments, ineffaceably traced upon my memory, like +every other detail of that ill-omened apparition, glided into the room, +and crossing the thick carpet with long, soft steps, passed near me, +looking upon me with a malign sort of curiosity for some two or three +seconds, and sat down by the declining fire, with a side-long glance +still fixed upon me. + +I continued gazing on this figure with a dreadful incredulity, and the +indistinct feeling that it must be an illusion--and that if I could only +wake up completely, it would vanish. + +The fascination was disturbed by a noise at the other end of the room, +and I saw Lake standing close to him, and looking both angry and +frightened. Tom Wealdon looking odd, too, was close at his elbow, and had +his hand on Lake's arm, like a man who would prevent violence. I do not +know in the least what had passed before, but Lake said-- + +'How the devil did he come in?' + +'Hush!'was all that Tom Wealdon said, looking at the gaunt spectre with +less of fear than inquisitiveness. + +'What are you doing here, Sir?' demanded Lake, in his most unpleasant +tones. + +'Prophesying,' answered the phantom. + +'You had better write your prophecies in your room, Sir--had not +you?--and give them to the Archbishop of Canterbury to proclaim, when +they are finished; we are busy here just now, and don't require +revelations, if you please.' + +The old man lifted up his long lean finger, and turned on him with a +smile which I hate even to remember. + +'Let him alone,' whispered the Town Clerk, in a significant whisper, +'don't cross him, and he'll not stay long.' + +'_You_'re here, a scribe,' murmured Uncle Lorne, looking upon Tom +Wealdon. + +'Aye, Sir, a scribe and a Pharisee, a Sadducee and a publican, and a +priest, and a Levite,' said the functionary, with a wink at Lake. 'Thomas +Wealdon, Sir; happy to see you, Sir, so well and strong, and likely to +enlighten the religious world for many a day to come. It's a long time, +Sir, since I had the honour of seeing you; and I'm always, of course, at +your command.' + +'Pshaw!' said Lake, angrily. + +The Town Clerk pressed his arm with a significant side nod and a wink, +which seemed to say, 'I understand him; can't you let me manage him?' + +The old man did not seem to hear what they said; but his tall figure rose +up, and he extended the fingers of his left hand close to the candle for +a few seconds, and then held them up to his eyes, gazing on his +finger-tips, with a horrified sort of scrutiny, as if he saw signs and +portents gathered there, like Thomas Aquinas' angels at the needles' +points, and then the same cadaverous grin broke out over his features. + +'Mark Wylder is in an evil plight,' said he. + +'Is he?' said Lake, with a sly scoff, though he seemed to me a good deal +scared. 'We hear no complaints, however, and fancy he must be tolerably +comfortable notwithstanding.' + +'You know where he is,' said Uncle Lorne. + +'Aye, in Italy; everyone knows that,' answered Lake. + +'In Italy,' said the old man, reflectively, as if trying to gather up his +ideas, 'Italy. Oh! yes, Vallombrosa--aye, Italy, I know it well.' + +'So do we, Sir; thank you for the information,' said Lake, who +nevertheless appeared strangely uneasy. + +'He has had a great tour to make. It is nearly accomplished now; when it +is done, he will be like me, _humano major_. He has seen the places which +you are yet to see.' + +'Nothing I should like better; particularly Italy,' said Lake. + +'Yes,' said Uncle Lorne, lifting up slowly a different finger at each +name in his catalogue. 'First, Lucus Mortis; then Terra Tenebrosa; next, +Tartarus; after that, Terra Oblivionis; then Herebus; then Barathrum; +then Gehenna, and then Stagium Ignis.' + +'Of course,' acquiesced Lake, with an ugly sneer, and a mock bow. + +'And to think that all the white citizens were once men and women!' +murmured Uncle Lorne, with a scowl. + +'Quite so,' whispered Lake. + +'I know where he is,' resumed the old man, with his finger on his long +chin, and looking down upon the carpet. + +'It would be very convenient if you would favour us with his address,' +said Stanley, with a gracious sneer. + +'I know what became of him,' continued the oracle. + +'You are more in his confidence than we are,' said Lake. + +'Don't be frightened--but he's alive; I think they'll make him mad. It is +a frightful plight. Two angels buried him alive in Vallombrosa by night; +I saw it, standing among the lotus and hemlock. A negro came to me, a +black clergyman with white eyes, and remained beside me; and the angels +imprisoned Mark; they put him on duty forty days and forty nights, with +his ear to the river listening for voices; and when it was over we +blessed them; and the clergyman walked with me a long while, to-and-fro, +to-and-fro upon the earth, telling me the wonders of the abyss.' + +'And is it from the abyss, Sir, he writes his letters?' enquired the Town +Clerk, with a wink at Lake. + +'Yes, yes, very diligent; it behoves him; and his hair is always standing +straight on his head for fear. But he'll be sent up again, at last, a +thousand, a hundred, ten and one, black marble steps, and then it will be +the other one's turn. So it was prophesied by the black magician.' + +'I thought, Sir, you mentioned just now he was a clergyman,' suggested +Mr. Wealdon, who evidently enjoyed this wonderful yarn. + +'Clergyman and magician both, and the chief of the lying prophets with +thick lips. He'll come here some night and see you,' said Uncle Lorne, +looking with a cadaverous apathy on Lake, who was gazing at him in +return, with a sinister smile. + +'Maybe it was a vision, Sir,' suggested the Town Clerk. + +'Yes, Sir; a vision, maybe,' echoed the cavernous tones of the old man; +'but in the flesh or out of the flesh, I saw it.' + +'You have had revelations, Sir, I've heard,' said Stanley's mocking +voice. + +'Many,' said the seer; 'but a prophet is never honoured. We live in +solitude and privations--the world hates us--they stone us--they cut us +asunder, even when we are dead. Feel me--I'm cold and white all over--I +died too soon--I'd have had wings now only for that pistol. I'm as white +as Gehazi, except on my head, when that blood comes.' + +Saying which, he rose abruptly, and with long jerking steps limped to the +door, at which, I saw, in the shade, the face of a dark-featured man, +looking gloomily in. + +When he reached the door Uncle Lorne suddenly stopped and faced us, with +a countenance of wrath and fear, and threw up his arms in an attitude of +denunciation, but said nothing. I thought for a moment the gigantic +spectre was about to rush upon us in an access of frenzy; but whatever +the impulse, it subsided--or was diverted by some new idea; his +countenance changed, and he beckoned as if to some one in the corner of +the room behind us, and smiled his dreadful smile, and so left the +apartment. + +'That d--d old madman is madder than ever,' said Lake, in his fellest +tones, looking steadfastly with his peculiar gaze upon the closed door. +'Jermyn is with him, but he'll burn the house or murder some one yet. +It's all d--d nonsense keeping him here--did you see him at the door?--he +was on the point of assailing some of us. He ought to be in a madhouse.' + +'He used to be very quiet,' said the Town Clerk, who knew all about him. + +'Oh! very quiet--yes, of course, very quiet, and quite harmless to people +who don't live in the house with him, and see him but once in +half-a-dozen years; but you can't persuade me it is quite so pleasant for +those who happen to live under the same roof, and are liable to be +intruded upon as we have been to-night every hour of their existence.' + +'Well, certainly it is not pleasant, especially for ladies,' admitted the +Town Clerk. + +'No, not pleasant--and I've quite made up my mind it sha'n't go on. It is +too absurd, really, that such a monstrous thing should be enforced; I'll +get a private Act, next Session, and regulate those absurd conditions in +the will. The old fellow ought to be under restraint; and I rather think +it would be better for himself that he were.' + +'Who is he?' I asked, speaking for the first time. + +'I thought you had seen him before now,' said Lake. + +'So I have, but quite alone, and without ever learning who he was,' I +answered. + +'Oh! He is the gentleman, Julius, for whom in the will, under which we +take, those very odd provisions are made--such as I believe no one but a +Wylder or a Brandon would have dreamed of. It is an odd state of things +to hold one's estate under condition of letting a madman wander about +your house and place, making everybody in it uncomfortable and insecure +and exposing him to the imminent risk of making away with himself, either +by accident or design. I happen to know what Mark Wylder would have +done--for he spoke very fiercely on the subject--perhaps he consulted +you?' + +'No.' + +'No? well, he intended locking him quietly into the suite of three +apartments, you know, at the far end of the old gallery, and giving him +full command of the mulberry garden by the little private stair, and +putting a good iron door to it; so that "my beloved brother, Julius, at +present afflicted in mind" (Lake quoted the words of the will, with an +unpleasant sneer), should have had his apartments and his pleasure +grounds quite to himself.' + +'And would that arrangement of Mr. Wylder's have satisfied the conditions +of the will?' said the Town Clerk. + +'I rather think, with proper precautions, it would. Mark Wylder was very +shrewd, and would not have run himself into a fix,' answered Lake. 'I +don't know any man shrewder; he is, certainly.' + +And Lake looked at us, as he added these last words, in turn, with a +quick, suspicious glance, as if he had said something rash, and doubted +whether we had observed it. + +After a little more talk, Lake and the Town Clerk resumed their +electioneering conference, and the lists of electors were passed under +their scrutiny, name by name, like slides under the miscroscope. + +There is a great deal in nature, physical and moral, that had as well not +be ascertained. It is better to take things on trust, with something of +distance and indistinctness. What we gain in knowledge by scrutiny is +sometimes paid for in a ghastly sort of disgust. It is marvellous in a +small constituency of 300 average souls, what a queer moral result one of +these business-like and narrow investigations which precede an election +will furnish. How you find them rated and classified--what odd notes you +make to them in the margin; and after the trenchant and rapid +vivisection, what sinister scars and seams remain, and how gaunt and +repulsive old acquaintances stand up from it. + +The Town Clerk knew the constituency of Dollington at his fingers' ends; +and Stanley Lake quietly enjoyed, as certain minds will, the nefarious +and shabby metamorphosis which every now and then some familiar and +respectable burgess underwent, in the spell of half-a-dozen dry sentences +whispered in his ear; and all this minute information is trustworthy and +quite without malice. + +I went to my bed-room, and secured the door, lest Uncle Lorne, or Julius, +should make me another midnight visit. So that mystery was cleared up. +Neither ghost nor spectral illusion, but flesh and blood--though in my +mind there has always been a horror of a madman akin to the ghostly or +demoniac. + +I do not know how late Tom Wealdon and Stanley Lake sat up over their +lists; but I dare say they were in no hurry to leave them, for a +dissolution was just then expected, and no time was to be lost. + +When I saw Tom Wealdon alone next day in the street of Gylingden, he +walked a little way with me, and, said Tom, with a grave wink-- + +'Don't let the captain up there be hard on the poor old gentleman. He's +quite harmless--he would not hurt a fly. I know all about him; for Jack +Ford and I spent five weeks in the Hall, about twelve years ago, when the +family were away and thought the keeper was not kind to him. He's quite +gentle, and sometimes he'd make you die o' laughing. He fancies, you +know, he's a prophet; and says he's that old Sir Lorne Brandon that shot +himself in his bed-room. Well, he is a rum one; and we used to draw him +out--poor Jack and me. I never laughed so much, I don't think, in the +same time, before or since. But he's as innocent as a child--and you know +them directions in the will is very strong; and they say Jos. Larkin does +not like the captain a bit too well--and he has the will off, every word +of it; and I think, if Captain Lake does not take care, he may get into +trouble; and maybe it would not be amiss if you gave him a hint.' + +Tom Wealdon, indeed, was a good-natured fellow: and if he had had his +way, I think the world would have gone smoothly enough with most people. + + + + +CHAPTER XLIX. + +LARCOM, THE BUTLER, VISITS THE ATTORNEY. + + +Now I may as well mention here an occurrence which, seeming very +insignificant, has yet a bearing upon the current of this tale, and it is +this. About four days after the receipt of the despatches to which the +conference of Captain Lake and the attorney referred, there came a letter +from the same prolific correspondent, dated 20th March, from Genoa, which +altogether puzzled Mr. Larkin. It commenced thus:-- + + +'Genoa: 20th march. + +'DEAR LARKIN,--I hope you did the three commissions all right. Wealdon +won't refuse, I reckon--but don't let Lake guess what the 150_l._ is for. +Pay Martin for the job when finished; it is under 60_l._. mind; and get +it looked at first.' + + +There was a great deal more, but these were the passages which perplexed +Larkin. He unlocked the iron safe, and took out the sheaf of Wylder's +letters, and conned the last one over very carefully. + +'Why,' said he, holding the text before his eyes in one hand and with the +fingers of the other touching the top of his bald forehead, 'Tom Wealdon +is not once mentioned in this, nor in any of them; and this palpably +refers to some direction. And 150_l._?--no such sum has been mentioned. +And what is this job of Martin's? Is it Martin of the China Kilns, or +Martin of the bank? That, too, plainly refers to a former letter--not a +word of the sort. This is very odd indeed.' + +Larkin's finger-tips descended over his eyebrow, and scratched in a +miniature way there for a few seconds, and then his large long hand +descended further to his chin, and his under-lip was, as usual in deep +thought, fondled and pinched between his finger and thumb. + +'There has plainly been a letter lost, manifestly. I never knew anything +wrong in this Gylingden office. Driver has been always correct; but it is +hard to know any man for certain in this world. I don't think the captain +would venture anything so awfully hazardous. I really can't suspect so +monstrous a thing; but, _unquestionably_, a letter _has_ been lost--and +who's to _take_ it?' + +Larkin made a fuller endorsement than usual on this particular letter, +and ruminated over the correspondence a good while, with his lip between +his finger and thumb, and a shadow on his face, before he replaced it in +its iron drawer. + +'It is not a thing to be passed over,' murmured the attorney, who had +come to a decision as to the first step to be taken, and he thought with +a qualm of the effect of one of Wylder's confidential notes getting into +Captain Lake's hands. + +While he was buttoning his walking boots, with his foot on the chair +before the fire, a tap at his study door surprised him. A hurried glance +on the table satisfying him that no secret paper or despatch lay there, +he called-- + +'Come in.' + +And Mr. Larcom, the grave butler of Brandon, wearing outside his portly +person a black garment then known as a 'zephyr,' a white choker, and +black trousers, and well polished, but rather splay shoes, and, on the +whole, his fat and serious aspect considered, being capable of being +mistaken for a church dignitary, or at least for an eminent undertaker, +entered the room with a solemn and gentlemanlike reverence. + +'Oh, Mr. Larcom! a message, or business?' said Mr. Larkin, urbanely. + +'Not a message, Sir; only an enquiry about them few shares,' answered Mr. +Larcom, with another serene reverence, and remaining standing, hat in +hand, at the door. + +'Oh, yes; and how do you do, Mr. Larcom? Quite well, I trust. Yes--about +the Naunton Junction. Well, I'm happy to tell you--but pray take a +chair--that I have succeeded, and the directors have allotted you five +shares; and it's your own fault if you don't make two ten-and-six a +share. The Chowsleys are up to six and a-half, I see here,' and he +pointed to the 'Times.' Mr. Larcom's fat face smiled, in spite of his +endeavour to keep it under. It was part of his business to look always +grave, and he coughed, and recovered his gravity. + +'I'm very thankful, Sir,' said Mr. Larcom, 'very.' + +'But do sit down, Mr. Larcom--pray do,' said the attorney, who was very +gracious to Larcom. 'You'll get the scrip, you know, on executing, but +the shares are allotted. They sent the notice for you here. And--and how +are the family at Brandon--all well, I trust?' + +Mr. Larcom blew his nose. + +'All, Sir, well.' + +'And--and let me give you a glass of sherry, Mr. Larcom, after your walk. +I can't compete with the _Brandon_ sherry, Mr. Larcom. Wonderful fine +wine that!--but still I'm told this is not a _bad_ wine notwithstanding.' + +Larcom received it with grave gratitude, and sipped it, and spoke +respectfully of it. + +'And--and any news in that quarter of Mr. Mark Wylder--any--any +_surmise_? I--you know--I'm interested for all parties.' + +'Well, Sir, of Mr. Wylder, I can't say as I know no more than he's been a +subjek of much unpleasant feelin', which I should say there has been a +great deal of angry talk since I last saw you, Sir, between Miss Lake and +the capting.' + +'Ah, yes, you mentioned something of the kind; and your own impression, +that Captain Lake, which I trust may turn out to be so, knows where Mr. +Mark Wylder is at present staying.' + +'I much misdoubt, Sir, it won't turn out to be no good story for no one,' +said Mr. Larcom, in a low and sad tone, and with a long shake of his +head. + +'No good story--hey? How do you mean, Larcom?' + +'Well, Sir, I know you won't mention me, Mr. Larkin.' + +'Certainly not--go on.' + +'When people gets hot a-talking they won't mind a body comin' in; and +that's how the capting and Miss Rachel Lake they carried on their dispute +like, though me coming into the room.' + +'Just so; and what do you found your opinion about Mr. Mark Wylder on?' + +'Well, Sir, I could not hear more than a word now and a sentince again; +and pickin' what meaning I could out of what Miss Lake said, and the +capting could not deny, I do suspeck, Sir, most serious, as how they have +put Mr. Mark Wylder into a mad-house; and that's how I think it's gone +with him; an' you'll never see him out again if the capting has his +will.' + +'Do you mean to say you actually think he's shut up in a madhouse at this +moment?' demanded the attorney; his little pink eyes opened quite round, +and his lank cheeks and tall forehead flushed, at the rush of wild ideas +that whirred round him, like a covey of birds at the startling +suggestion. + +The butler nodded gloomily. Larkin continued to stare on him in silence, +with his round eyes, for some seconds after. + +'In a _mad_-house! Pooh, pooh! incredible! Pooh! impossible--_quite_ +impossible. Did either Miss Lake or the captain use the word mad-house?' + +'Well, no.' + +Or any other word--lunatic asylum, or a--bedlam, or--or _any_ other word +meaning the same thing?' + +'Well, I can't say, Sir, as I remember; but I rayther think not. I only +know for certain, I took it so; and I do believe as how Mr. Mark Wylder +is confined in a mad-house, and the captain knows all about it, and won't +do nothing to get him out.' + +'H'm--very odd--very strange; but it is only from the general tenor of +what passed, by a sort of guess work, you have arrived at that +conclusion?' + +Larcom assented. + +'Well, Mr. Larcom, I think you have been led into an erroneous +conclusion. Indeed, I may mention I have reason to think so--in fact, to +_know_ that such is the case. What you mention to me, you know, as a +friend of the family, and holding, as I do, a confidential position--in +fact, a _very_ confidential one--alike in relation to Mr. Wylder and to +the family of Brandon Hall, is of course sacred; and anything that comes +from you, Mr. Larcom, is never heard in connection with your name beyond +these walls. And let me add, it strikes me as highly important, both in +the interests of the leading individuals in this unpleasant business, and +also as pertaining to your own comfort and security, that you should +carefully avoid communicating what you have just mentioned to any other +party. You understand?' + +Larcom did understand perfectly, and so this little visit ended. + +Mr. Larkin took a turn or two up and down the room thinking. He stopped, +with his fingertips to his eyebrow, and thought more. Then he took +another turn, and stopped again, and threw back his head, and gazed for a +while on the ceiling, and then he stood for a time at the window, with +his lip between his finger and thumb. + +No, it was a mistake; it could not be. It was Mark Wylder's +penmanship--he could swear to it. There was no trace of madness in his +letters, nor of restraint. It was not possible even that he was wandering +from place to place under the coercion of a couple of keepers. No; Wylder +was an energetic and somewhat violent person, with high animal courage, +and would be sure to blow up and break through any such machination. No, +no; with Mark Wylder it was quite out of the question--altogether +visionary and impracticable. Persons like Larcom do make such absurd +blunders, and so misapprehend the conversation of educated people. + +Nothwithstanding all which, there remained in his mind an image of Mark +Wylder, in the straw and darkness of a solitary continental +mad-house--squalid, neglected, and becoming gradually that which he was +said to be. And he always shaped him somehow after the outlines of a +grizzly print he remembered in his boyish days, of a maniac chained in a +Sicilian cell, grovelling under the lash of a half-seen gaoler, and with +his teeth buried in his own arm. + +Quite impossible! Mark Wylder was the last man in the world to submit to +physical coercion. The idea, besides, could not be reconciled with the +facts of the case. It was all a blundering chimera. + +Mr. Larkin walked down direct to Gylingden, and paid a rather awful visit +to Mr. Driver, of the post-office. A foreign letter, addressed to him, +had most positively been lost. He had called to mention the circumstance, +lest Mr. Driver should be taken by surprise by official investigation. +Was it possible that the letter had been sent by mistake to Brandon--to +Captain Lake? Lake and Larkin, you know, might be mistaken. At all +events, it would be well to make your clerks recollect themselves. (Mr. +Larkin knew that Driver's 'clerks' were his daughters.) It is not easy to +meet with a young fellow that is quite honest. But if they knew that they +would be subjected to a sifting examination on oath, on the arrival of +the commissioner, they might possibly prefer finding the letter, in which +case there would be no more about it. Mr. Driver knew him (Mr. Larkin), +and he might tell his young men if they got the letter for him they +should hear no more of it. + +The people of Gylingden knew very well that, when the rat-like glitter +twinkled in Mr. Larkin's eyes, and the shadow came over his long face, +there was mischief brewing. + + + + +CHAPTER L. + +NEW LIGHTS. + + +A few days later 'Jos. Larkin, Esq., The Lodge, Gylingden,' received from +London a printed form, duly filled in, and with the official signature +attached, informing him that enquiry having been instituted in +consequence of his letter, no result had been obtained. + +The hiatus in his correspondence caused Mr. Larkin extreme uneasiness. He +had a profound distrust of Captain Lake. In fact, he thought him capable +of everything. And if there should turn out to be anything not quite +straight going on at the post-office of Gylingden--hitherto an +unimpeached institution--he had no doubt whatsoever that that dark and +sinuous spirit was at the bottom of it. + +Still it was too prodigious, and too hazardous to be probable; but the +captain had no sort of principle, and a desperately strong head. There +was not, indeed, when they met yesterday, the least change or +consciousness in the captain's manner. That, in another man, would have +indicated something; but Stanley Lake was so deep--such a mask--in him it +meant nothing. + +Mr. Larkin's next step was to apply for a commissioner to come down and +investigate. But before he had time to take this step, an occurrence took +place to arrest his proceedings. It was the receipt of a foreign letter, +of which the following is an exact copy:-- + + +'VENICE: March 28. + +'DEAR LARKIN,--I read a rumour of a dissolution during the recess. Keep a +bright look out. Here's three things for you:-- + +'1. Try and get Tom Wealdon. He is a _sina que non_. [Mark's Latin was +sailor-like.] + +'2. Cash the enclosed order for 150_l._ more, for _the same stake_. + +'3. Tell Martin the tiles I saw in August last will answer for the +cow-house; and let him put them down at once. + +'In haste, + +'Yours truly, + +'M. WYLDER.' + + +Enclosed was an order on Lake for 150_l._ + +When Larkin got this he was in his study. + +'Why--why--this--_positively_ this is the letter. _How's_ this?' + +And Mr. Larkin looked as much scared and astonished as if a spirit rose +up before him. + +'_This_ is the letter--aye, this _is_ the letter.' + +He repeated this from time to time as he turned it over and looked at the +postmark, and back again at the letter, and looked up at the date, and +down at the signature, and read the note through. + +'Yes, this is it--here it is--this is it. There's no doubt whatever--this +is the letter referred to in the last--Wealdon, Martin, and the 150_l._' + +And the attorney took out his keys, looking pale and stern, like a man +about to open the door upon a horror, and unlocked his safe, and took out +the oft-consulted and familiar series--letters tied up and bearing the +label, 'Mark Wylder, Esq.' + +'Aye, here it is, Genoa, 20th, and this, Venice, 28th. Yes, the postmarks +correspond; yet the letter from Genoa, dated 20th, refers back to the +letter from Venice, written eight days later! the-- Well--I can't +comprehend--how in the name of--how in the name----' + +He placed the two letters on his desk, and read them over, and up and +down, and pondered darkly over them. + +'It is Mark Wylder's writing--I'll swear to it. What on earth _can_ he +mean? He can't possibly want to confuse us upon dates, as well as places, +because that would simply render his letters, for purposes of business, +nugatory, and there are many things he wishes attended to.' + +Jos. Larkin rose from his desk, ruminating, and went to the window, and +placed the letter against the pane. I don't think he had any definite +motive in doing this, but something struck him that he had not remarked +before. + +There was something different in the quality of the ink that wrote the +number of the date, 28th, from that used in the rest of the letter. + +'What can that mean?' muttered Larkin, with a sort of gasp at his +discovery; and shading his eyes with his hand, he scrutinised the +numerals--'28th,' again;--'a totally different ink! + +He took the previous letter, frowned on it fiercely from his rat-like +eyes, and then with an ejaculation, as like an oath as so good a man +could utter, he exclaimed, + +'I have it!' + +Then came a pause, and he said-- + +'Both alike!--blanks left when the letters were written, and the dates +filled in afterward--_not_ the same hand I _think_--no, _not_ the +same--_positively_ a different hand.' + +Then Jos. Larkin examined these mysterious epistles once more. + +'There may be something in what Larcom said--a very great deal, possibly. +If he was shut up somewhere they could make him write a set of these +letters off at a sitting, and send them from place to place to be posted, +to make us think he was travelling, and prevent our finding where they +keep him. Here it is plain there was a slip in posting the wrong one +first.' + +Trepanned, kidnapped, hid away in the crypts of some remote +mad-house--reduced to submission by privation and misery--a case as +desperate as that of a prisoner in the Inquisition. What could be the +motive for this elaborate and hideous fraud? Would it not be a more +convenient course, as well as more merciful to put him to death? The +crime would hardly be greater. Why should he be retained in that ghastly +existence? + +Well, if Stanley Lake were at the bottom of this horrid conspiracy, _he_ +certainly had a motive in clearing the field of his rival. And then--for +the attorney had all the family settlements present to his mind--there +was this clear motive for prolonging his life, that by the slip in the +will under which Dorcas Brandon inherited, the bulk of her estate would +terminate with the life of Mark Wylder; and this other motive too existed +for retaining him in the house of bondage, that by preventing his +marriage, and his having a family to succeed him, the reversion of his +brother William was reduced to a certainty, and would become a +magnificent investment for Stanley Lake whenever he might choose to +purchase. Upon that purchase, however, the good attorney had cast his +eye. He thought he now began to discern the outlines of a gigantic and +symmetrical villainy emerging through the fog. If this theory were right, +William Wylder's reversion was certain to take effect; and it was +exasperating that the native craft and daring of this inexperienced +captain should forestall so accomplished a man of business as Jos. +Larkin. + +The attorney began to hate Stanley Lake as none but a man of that stamp +can hate the person who mars a scheme of aggrandisement. But what was he +to do exactly? If the captain had his eye on the reversion, it would +require nice navigation to carry his plan successfully through. + +On the other hand, it was quite possible that Wylder was a free agent, +and yet, for purposes of secrecy, employing another person to post his +letters at various continental towns; and this blunder might just as well +have happened in this case, as in any other that supposed the same +machinery. + +On the whole, then, it was a difficult question. But there were Larcom's +conclusions about the mad-house to throw into the balance. And though, as +respected Mark Wylder, they were grisly, the attorney would not have been +sorry to be quite sure that they were sound. What he most needed were +ascertained data. With these his opportunities were immense. + +Mr. Larkin eyed the Wylder correspondence now with a sort of reverence +that was new to him. There was something supernatural and talismanic in +the mystery. The sheaf of letters lay before him on the table, like +Cornelius Agrippa's 'bloody book'--a thing to conjure with. What +prodigies might it not accomplish for its happy possessor, if only he +could read it aright, and command the spirits which its spells might call +up before him? Yes, it was a stupendous secret. Who knew to what it might +conduct? There was a shade of guilt in his tamperings with it, akin to +the black art, which he felt without acknowledging. This little parcel of +letters was, in its evil way, a holy thing. While it lay on the table, +the room became the holy of holies in his dark religion; and the lank +attorney, with tall bald head, shaded face, and hungry dangerous eyes, a +priest or a magician. + +The attorney quietly bolted his study door, and stood erect, with his +hands in his pockets, looking sternly down on the letters. Then he took a +little gazetteer off a tiny shelf near the bell-rope, where was a railway +guide, an English dictionary, a French ditto, and a Bible, and with his +sharp penknife he deftly sliced from its place in the work of reference +the folded map of Europe. + +It was destined to illustrate the correspondence, and Larkin sat down +before it and surveyed, with a solemn stare, the wide scene of Mark +Wylder's operations, as a general would the theatre of his rival's +strategy. + +Referring to the letters as he proceeded, with a sharp pen in red ink, he +made his natty little note upon each town or capital in succession, from +which Wylder had dated a despatch. Boulogne, for instance, a neat little +red cross over the town, and beneath, '12th October, 1854;' Brighton, +ditto, '20th October, 1854;' Paris, ditto, '17th November, 1854;' +Marseilles, ditto, '26th November, 1854;' Frankfurt, ditto, '22nd +February, 1855;' Geneva, ditto, '10th March, 1855;' Genoa, ditto, '20th +March, 1855;' Venice, ditto, '28th March, 1855.' + +I may here mention that in the preceding notation I have marked the days +and months exactly, but the years fancifully. + +I don't think that Mr. Larkin had read the 'Wandering Jew.' He had no +great taste for works of fancy. If he had he might have been reminded, as +he looked down upon the wild field of tactics just noted by his pen, of +that globe similarly starred all over with little red crosses, which M. +Rodin was wont to consult. + +Now he was going into this business as he did into others, methodically. +He, therefore, read what his gazetteer had to say about these towns and +cities, standing, for better light, at the window. But though, the type +being small, his eyes were more pink than before, he was nothing wiser, +the information being of that niggardly historical and statistical kind +which availed nothing in his present scrutiny. He would get Murray's +handbooks, and all sorts of works--he was determined to read it up. He +was going into this as into a great speculative case, in which he had a +heavy stake, with all his activity, craft, and unscrupulousness. It might +be the making of him. + +His treasure--his oracle--his book of power, the labelled parcel of +Wylder's letters, with the annotated map folded beside them--he replaced +in their red-taped ligature in his iron safe, and with Chubb's key in his +pocket, took his hat and cane--the day was fine--and walked forth for +Brandon and the captain's study. + +A pleasant day, a light air, a frosty sun. On the green the vicar, with +his pretty boy by the hand, passed him, not a hundred yards off, like a +ship at sea. There was a waving of hands, and smiles, and a shouted +'beautiful day.' + +'What a position that poor fellow has got himself into!' good Mr. Larkin +thought, with a shrug of compassion, to himself. 'That reversion! Why +it's nothing--I really don't know why I think about it at all. If it were +offered me this moment, positively I would not have it. Anything +certain--_any_ thing would be better.' + +Little Fairy grew grave, in spite of the attorney's smiles, whenever he +saw him. He was now saying--as holding his 'Wapsie's' hand, he capered +round in front, looking up in his face-- + +'Why has Mr. Larkin no teeth when he laughs? Is he ever angry when he +laughs--is he, Wapsie--oh, Wapsie, _is_ he? Would you let him whip me, if +I was naughty? I don't like him. Why does mamma say he is a good man, +Wapsie?' + +'Because, little man, he _is_ a good man,' said the vicar, recalled by +the impiety of the question. 'The best friend that Wapsie ever met with +in his life.' + +'But you would not give me to him, Wapsie?' + +'Give you, darling! no--to no one but to God, my little man; for richer, +for poorer, you're my own--your Wapsie's little man.' + +And he lifted him up, and carried him in his arms against his loving +heart, and the water stood in his eyes, as he laughed fondly into that +pretty face. + +But 'little man' by this time was struggling to get down and give chase +to a crow grubbing near them for dainties, with a muddy beak, and +'Wapsie's' eyes followed, smiling, the wild vagaries of his little Fairy. + +In the mean time Mr. Larkin had got among the noble trees of Brandon, and +was approaching the lordly front of the Hall. His mind was busy. He had +not very much fact to go upon. His theories were built chiefly of vapour, +and every changing light or breath, therefore, altered their colouring +and outlines. + +'Maybe Mark Wylder is mad, and wandering in charge of a keeper; maybe he +is in some mad doctor's house, and _not_ mad; maybe in England, and there +writes these letters which are sent from one continental town to another +to be posted, and thus the appearance of locomotion is kept up. Perhaps +he has been inveigled into the hands of ruffians, and is living as it +were under the vault of an Inquisition, and compelled to write what ever +his gaolers dictate. Maybe he writes not under physical but moral +coercion. Be the fact how it may, those Lakes, brother and sister, have a +guilty knowledge of the affair. + +'I will be firm--it is my duty to clear this matter up, if I can--we must +do as we would be done by.' + + + + +CHAPTER LI. + +A FRACAS IN THE LIBRARY. + + +It was still early in the day. Larcom received him gravely in the hall. +Captain Lake was at home, as usual, up to one o'clock in the library--the +most diligent administrator that Brandon had perhaps ever known. + +'Well, Larkin--letters, letters perpetually, you see. Quite well, I hope? +Won't you sit down--no bad news? You look rather melancholy. Your other +client is not ill--nothing sad about Mark Wylder, I hope?' + +'No--nothing sad, Captain Lake--nothing--but a good deal that is +strange.' + +'Oh, is there?' said Lake, in his soft tones, leaning forward in his easy +chair, and looking on the shining points of his boots. + +'I have found out a thing, Captain Lake, which will no doubt interest +_you_ as much as it does me. It will lead, I think, to a much more exact +_guess_ about Mr. Mark Wylder.' + +There was a sturdy emphasis in the attorney's speech which was far from +usual, and indicated something. + +'Oh! you have? May one hear it?' said Lake, in the same silken tone, and +looking down, as before, on his boots. + +'I've discovered something about his letters,' said the attorney, and +paused. + +'Satisfactory, I hope?' said Lake as before. + +'Foul play, Sir.' + +'Foul play--is there? What is he doing now?' said Lake in the same +languid way, his elbows on the arms of his chair, stooping forward, and +looking serenely on the floor, like a man who is tired of his work, and +enjoys his respite. + +'Why, Captain Lake, the matter is this--it amounts, in fact, to _fraud_. +It is plain that the letters are written in batches--several at a +time--and committed to some one to carry from town to town, and post, +_having previously filled in dates_ to make them _correspond_ with the +exact period of posting them.' + +The attorney's searching gaze was fixed on the captain, as he said this, +with all the significance consistent with civility; but he could not +observe the slightest indication of change. I dare say the captain felt +his gaze upon him, and he undoubtedly heard his emphasis, but he plainly +did not take either to himself. + +'Indeed! that is very odd,' said Captain Lake. + +'Very odd;' echoed the attorney. + +It struck Mr. Larkin that his gallant friend was a little overacting, and +showing perhaps less interest in the discovery than was strictly natural. + +'But how can you show it?' said Lake with a slight yawn. 'Wylder _is_ +such a fellow. I don't the least pretend to understand him. It may be a +freak of his.' + +'I don't think, Captain Lake, that is exactly a possible solution here. I +don't think, Sir, he would write two letters, one referring back to the +other, at the same time, and post and date the latter more than a week +_before_ the other.' + +'Oh!' said Lake, quietly, for the first time exhibiting a slight change +of countenance, and looking peevish and excited; yes, that certainly does +look very oddly.' + +'And I think, Captain Lake, it behoves us to leave no stone unturned to +sift this matter to the bottom.' + +'With what particular purpose, I don't quite see,' said Lake. 'Don't you +think possibly Mark Wylder might think us very impertinent?' + +'I think, Captain Lake, on the contrary, we might be doing that gentleman +the only service he is capable of receiving, and I know we should be +doing something toward tracing and exposing the machinations of a +conspiracy.' + +'A conspiracy! I did not quite see your meaning. Then, you really think +there is a conspiracy--formed _by_ him or _against_ him, which?' + +'_Against_ him, Captain Lake. Did the same idea never strike you?' + +'Not, I think, that I can recollect.' + +'In none of your conversations upon the subject with--with members of +your family?' continued the attorney with a grave significance. + +'I say, Sir, I don't recollect,' said Lake, glaring for an instant in his +face very savagely. 'And it seems to me, that sitting here, you fancy +yourself examining some vagrant or poacher at Gylingden sessions. And +pray, Sir, have you no evidence in the letters you speak of but the +insertion of dates, and the posting them in inverse order, to lead you to +that strong conclusion?' + +'None, as supplied by the letters themselves,' answered Larkin, a little +doggedly, 'and I venture to think that is rather strong.' + +'Quite so, to a mind like yours,' said Lake, with a faint gleam of his +unpleasant smile thrown upon the floor, 'but other men don't see it; and +I hope, at all events, there's a likelihood that Mark Wylder will soon +return and look after his own business--I'm quite tired of it, and of' +(he was going to say _you_)--'of everything connected with it.' + +'This delay is attended with more serious mischief. The vicar, his +brother, had a promise of money from him, and is disappointed--in very +great embarrassments; and, in fact, were it not for some temporary +assistance, which I may mention--although I don't speak of such things--I +afforded him myself, he must have been ruined.' + +'It is very sad,' said Lake; 'but he ought not to have married without an +income.' + +'Very true, Captain Lake--there's no defending that--it was wrong, but +the retribution is terrible,' and the righteous man shook his tall head. + +'Don't you think he might take steps to relieve himself considerably?' + +'I don't see it, Captain Lake,' said the attorney, sadly and drily. + +'Well, you know best; but are not there resources?' + +'I don't see, Captain Lake, what you point at.' + +'I'll give him something for his reversion, if he chooses, and make him +comfortable for his life.' + +The attorney, somehow, didn't seem to take kindly to this proposition. We +know he had imagined for himself some little flirtation on this behalf, +and cherished a secret _tendre_ for the same reversion. Perhaps he had +other plans, too. At all events it flashed the same suspicion of Lake +upon his mind again; and he said-- + +'I don't know, Sir, that the Reverend Mr. Wylder would entertain anything +in the nature of a sale of his reversion. I rather think the contrary. I +don't think his friends would advise it.' + +'And why not? It was never more than a contingency; and now they say Mark +Wylder is married, and has children; they tell me he was seen at Ancona?' +said Lake tranquilly. + +'_They_ tell you! who are _they?_' said the attorney, and his dove's eyes +were gone again, and the rat's eyes unequivocally looking out of the +small pink lids. + +'They--they,' repeated Captain Lake. 'Why, of course, Sir, I use the word +in its usual sense--that is, there was a rumour when I was last in town, +and I really forget who told me. Some one, two, or three, perhaps.' + +'Do you think it's true, Sir?' persisted Mr. Larkin. + +'No, Sir, I don't,' said Captain Lake, fixing his eyes for a moment with +a frank stare on the attorney's face; 'but it is quite possible it _may_ +be true.' + +'If it _is_, you know, Sir,' said Jos. Larkin, 'the reversion would be a +bad purchase at a halfpenny. I don't believe it either, Sir,' resumed the +attorney, after a little interval; 'and I could not advise the party you +named, Sir, to sell his remainder for a song.' + +'You'll advise as you please, Sir, and no doubt not without sufficient +reason,' retorted Captain Lake. + +There was a suspicion of a sneer--not in his countenance, not in his +tone, not necessarily in his words--but somehow a suspicion, which stung +the attorney like a certainty, and a pinkish flush tinged his forehead. + +Perhaps Mr. Larkin had not yet formed any distinct plans, and was really +in considerable dubitation. But as we know, perceiving that the situation +of affairs, like all uncertain conjunctures, offered manifestly an +opportunity for speculation, he was, perhaps, desirous, like our old +friend, Sindbad, of that gleam of light which might show him the gold and +precious stones with which the floor of the catacomb was strewn. + +'You see, Captain Lake, to speak quite frankly--there's nothing like +being perfectly frank and open--although you have not treated me with +confidence, which, of course, was not called for in this particular +instance--I may as well say, in passing, that I have no doubt on my mind +you know a great deal more than you care to tell about the fate of Mr. +Mark Wylder. I look upon it, Sir, that that party has been made away +with.' + +'Old villain!' exclaimed Lake, starting up, with a sudden access of +energy, and his face looked whiter still than usual--perhaps it was only +the light. + +'It won't do, Sir,' said Larkin, with a sinister quietude. 'I say there's +been _foul play_. I think, Sir, you've got him into some foreign +mad-house, or place of confinement, and I won't stop till it's sifted to +the bottom. It is my duty, Sir.' + +Captain Lake's slender hand sprang on the attorney's collar, coat and +waistcoat together, and his knuckles, hard and sharp, were screwed +against Mr. Larkin's jaw-bone, as he shook him, and his face was like a +drift of snow, with two yellow fires glaring in it. + +It was ferine and spectral, and so tremendously violent, that the long +attorney, expecting nothing of the sort, was thrown out of his balance +against the chimneypiece. + +'You d--d old miscreant! I'll pitch you out of the window.' + +'I--I say, let go. You're mad, Sir,' said the attorney, disengaging +himself with a sudden and violent effort, and standing, with the back of +a tall chair grasped in both hands, and the seat interposed between +himself and Captain Lake. He was twisting his neck uncomfortably in his +shirt collar, and for some seconds was more agitated, in a different way, +than his patron was. + +The fact was, that Mr. Larkin had a little mistaken his man. He had never +happened before to see him in one of his violent moods, and fancied that +his apathetic manner indicated a person more easily bullied. There was +something, too, in the tone and look of Captain Lake which went a good +way to confound and perplex his suspicions, and he half fancied that the +masterstroke he had hazarded was a rank and irreparable blunder. +Something of this, I am sure, appeared in his countenance, and Captain +Lake looked awfully savage, and each gentleman stared the other full in +the face, with more frankness than became two such diplomatists. + +'Allow me to speak a word, Captain Lake.' + +'You d--d old miscreant!' repeated the candescent captain. + +'Allow me to say, you misapprehend.' + +'You infernal old cur!' + +'I mean no imputation upon _you_, Sir. I thought you might have committed +a mistake--any man may; perhaps you have. I have acted, Captain Lake, +with fidelity in all respects to you, and to every client for whom I've +been concerned. Mr. Wylder is my client, and I was bound to say I was not +satisfied about his present position, which seems to me unaccountable, +except on the supposition that he is under restraint of some sort. I +never said you were to blame; but you may be in error respecting Mr. +Wylder. You may have taken steps, Captain Lake, under a mistake. I never +went further than that. On reflection, you'll say so. I didn't upon my +honour.' + +'Then you did not mean to insult me, Sir,' said Lake. + +'Upon my honour, and conscience, and soul, Captain Lake,' said the +attorney, stringing together, in his vindication, all the articles he was +assumed most to respect, 'I am perfectly frank, I do assure you. I never +supposed for an instant more than I say. I could not imagine--I am amazed +you have so taken it.' + +'But you think I exercise some control or coercion over my cousin, Mr. +Mark Wylder. He's not a man, I can tell you, wherever he is, to be +bullied, no more than I am. I don't correspond with him. I have nothing +to do with him or his affairs; I wash my hands of him.' + +Captain Lake turned and walked quickly to the door, but came back as +suddenly. + +'Shake hands, Sir. We'll forget it. I accept what you say; but don't talk +that way to me again. I can't imagine what the devil put such stuff in +your head. I don't care twopence. No one's to blame but Wylder himself. I +say I don't care a farthing. Upon my honour, I quite see--I now acquit +you. You could not mean what you seemed to say; and I can't understand +how a sensible man like you, knowing Mark Wylder, and knowing me, Sir, +could use such--such _ambiguous_ language. I have no more influence with +him, and can no more affect his doings, or what you call his _fate_--and, +to say the truth, care about them no more than the child unborn. He's his +own master, of course. What the devil can you have been dreaming of. I +don't even get a letter from him. He's _nothing_ to me.' + +'You have misunderstood me; but that's over, Sir. I may have spoken with +warmth, fearing that you might be acting under some cruel +misapprehension--that's all; and you don't think worse of me, I'm very +sure, Captain Lake, for a little indiscreet zeal on behalf of a gentleman +who has treated me with such unlimited confidence as Mr. Wylder. I'd do +the same for you, Sir; it's my character.' + +The two gentlemen, you perceive, though still agitated, were becoming +reasonable, and more or less complimentary and conciliatory; and the +masks which an electric gust had displaced for a moment, revealing gross +and somewhat repulsive features, were being readjusted, while each looked +over his shoulder. + +I am sorry to say that when that good man, Mr. Larkin, left his presence, +Captain Lake indulged in a perfectly blasphemous monologue. His fury was +excited to a pitch that was very nearly ungovernable; and after it had +exhibited itself in the way I have said, Captain Lake opened a little +despatch-box, and took therefrom a foreign letter, but three days +received. He read it through: his ill-omened smile expanded to a grin +that was undisguisedly diabolical. With a scissors he clipt his own name +where it occurred from the thin sheet, and then, in red ink and Roman +capitals, he scrawled a line or two across the interior of the letter, +enclosed it in an envelope, directed it, and then rang the bell. + +He ordered the tax-cart and two horses to drive tandem. The captain was +rather a good whip, and he drove at a great pace to Dollington, took the +train on to Charteris, there posted his letter, and so returned; his +temper continuing savage all that evening, and in a modified degree in +the same state for several days after. + + + + +CHAPTER LII. + +AN OLD FRIEND LOOKS INTO THE GARDEN AT REDMAN'S FARM. + + +Lady Chelford, with one of those sudden changes of front which occur in +female strategy, on hearing that Stanley Lake was actually accepted by +Dorcas, had assailed both him and his sister, whom heretofore she had a +good deal petted and distinguished, with a fury that was startling. As +respects Rachel, we know how unjust was the attack. + +And when the dowager opened her fire on Rachel, the young lady replied +with a spirit and dignity to which she was not at all accustomed. + +So soon as Dorcas obtained a hearing, which was not for sometime--for +she, 'as a miserable and ridiculous victim and idiot,' was nearly as deep +in disgrace as those 'shameless harpies the Lakes'--she told the whole +truth as respected all parties with her superb and tranquil frankness. + +Lady Chelford ordered her horses, and was about to leave Brandon next +morning. But rheumatism arrested her indignant flight; and during her +week's confinement to her room, her son contrived so that she consented +to stay for 'the odious ceremony,' and was even sourly civil to Miss +Lake, who received her advances quite as coldly as they were made. + +To Miss Lake, Lord Chelford, though not in set terms, yet in many +pleasant ways, apologised for his mother's impertinence. Dorcas had told +_him_ also the story of Rachel's decided opposition to the marriage. + +He was so particularly respectful to her--he showed her by the very form +into which he shaped his good wishes that he knew how frankly she had +opposed the marriage--how true she had been to her friend Dorcas--and she +understood him and was grateful. + +In fact, Lord Chelford, whatever might be his opinion of the motives of +Captain Lake and the prudence of Dorcas, was clearly disposed to make the +best of the inevitable, and to stamp the new Brandon alliance with what +ever respectability his frank recognition could give it. + +Old Lady Chelford's bitter and ominous acquiescence also came, and the +presence of mother and son at the solemnity averted the family scandal +which the old lady's first access of frenzy threatened. + +This duty discharged, she insisted, in the interest of her rheumatism, +upon change of air; and on arriving at Duxley, was quite surprised to +find Lady Dulhampton and her daughters there upon a similar quest. + +About the matrimonial likelihoods of gentlemen with titles and estates +Fame, that most tuft-hunting of divinities, is always distending her +cheeks, and blowing the very finest flourishes her old trumpet affords. + +Lord Chelford was not long away when the story of Lady Constance was +again alive and vocal. It reached old Jackson through his sister, who was +married to the brother of the Marquis of Dulhampton's solicitor. It +reached Lake from Tom Twitters, of his club, who kept the Brandon Captain +_au courant_ of the town-talk; and it came to Dorcas in a more authentic +fashion, though mysteriously, and rather in the guise of a conundrum than +of a distinct bit of family intelligence, from no less a person than the +old Dowager Lady Chelford herself. + +Stanley Lake, who had begun to entertain hopes for Rachel in that +direction, went down to Redman's Farm, and, after his bleak and bitter +fashion, rated the young lady for having perversely neglected her +opportunities and repulsed that most desirable _parti_. In this he was +intensely in earnest, for the connection would have done wonders for +Captain Lake in the county. + +Rachel met this coarse attack with quiet contempt; told him that Lord +Chelford had, she supposed, no idea of marrying out of his own rank; and +further, that he, Captain Lake, must perfectly comprehend, if he could +not appreciate, the reasons which would for ever bar any such relation. + +But Rachel, though she treated the subject serenely in this interview, +was sadder and more forlorn than ever, and lay awake at night, and, +perhaps, if we knew all, shed some secret tears; and then with time came +healing of these sorrows. + +It was a fallacy, a mere chimera, that was gone; an impracticability too. +She had smiled at it as such when Dorcas used to hint at it; but are +there no castles in the clouds which we like to inhabit, although we know +them altogether air-built, and whose evaporation desolates us? + +Rachel's talks with the vicar were frequent; and poor little Mrs. William +Wylder, who knew not the reason of his visits, fell slowly, and to the +good man's entire bewilderment, into a chronic jealousy. It expressed +itself enigmatically; it was circumlocutory, sad, and mysterious. + +'Little Fairy was so pleased with his visit to Redman's Farm to-day. He +told me all about it; did not you, little man? But still you love poor +old mamma best of all; you would not like to have a new mamma. Ah, no; +you'd rather have your poor old, ugly Mussie. I wish I was handsome, my +little man, and clever; but wishing is vain.' + +'Ah! Willie, there was a time when you could not see how ugly and dull +your poor foolish little wife was; but it could not last for ever. How +did it happen--oh, how?--you such a scholar, so clever, so handsome, my +beautiful Willie--how did you ever look down on poor wretched me?' + +'I think it will be fine, Willie, and Miss Lake will expect you at +Redman's Farm; and little Fairy will go too; yes, you'd like to go, and +mamma will stay at home, and try to be useful in her poor miserable way,' +and so on. + +The vicar, thinking of other things, never seeing the reproachful irony +in all this, would take it quite literally, assent sadly, and with little +Fairy by the hand, set forth for Redman's Farm; and the good little body, +to the amazement of her two maids, would be heard passionately weeping in +the parlour in her forsaken state. + +At last there came a great upbraiding, a great _eclaircissement_, and +laughter, and crying, and hugging; and the poor little woman, quite +relieved, went off immediately, in her gratitude, to Rachel, and paid her +quite an affectionate little visit. + +Jealousy is very unreasonable. But have we no compensation in this, that +the love which begets it is often as unreasonable? Look in the glass, and +then into your own heart, and ask your conscience, next, 'Am I really +quite a hero, or altogether so lovely, as I am beloved?' Keep the answer +to yourself, but be tender with the vehement follies of your jealous +wife. Poor mortals! It is but a short time we have to love, and be +jealous, and love again. + +One night, after a long talk in the morning with good William Wylder, and +great dejection following, all on a sudden, Rachel sat up in her bed, and +in a pleasant voice, and looking more like herself than she had for many +months, she said-- + +'I think I have found the true way out of my troubles, Tamar. At every +sacrifice to be quite honest; and to that, Tamar, I have made up my mind +at last, thank God. Come, Tamar, and kiss me, for I am free once more.' + +So that night passed peacefully. + +Rachel--a changed Rachel still--though more like her early self, was now +in the tiny garden of Redman's Farm. The early spring was already showing +its bright green through the brown of winter, and sun and shower +alternating, and the gay gossiping of sweet birds among the branches, +were calling the young creation from its slumbers. The air was so sharp, +so clear, so sunny, the mysterious sense of coming life so invigorating, +and the sounds and aspect of nature so rejoicing, that Rachel with her +gauntlets on, her white basket of flower seeds, her trowel, and all her +garden implements beside her, felt her own spring of life return, and +rejoiced in the glad hour that shone round her. + +Lifting up her eyes, she saw Lord Chelford looking over the little gate. + +'What a charming day,' said he, with his pleasant smile, raising his hat, +'and how very pleasant to see you at your pretty industry again.' + +As Rachel came forward in her faded gardening costume, an old silk shawl +about her shoulders, and hoodwise over her head, somehow very becoming, +there was a blush--he could not help seeing it--on her young face, and +for a moment her fine eyes dropped, and she looked up, smiling a more +thoughtful and a sadder smile than in old days. The picture of that smile +so gay and fearless, and yet so feminine, rose up beside the sadder smile +that greeted him now, and he thought of Ondine without and Ondine with a +soul. + +'I am afraid I am a very impertinent--at least a very +inquisitive--wayfarer; but I could not pass by without a word, even at +the risk of interrupting you. And the truth is, I believe, if it had not +been for that chance of seeing and interrupting you, I should not have +passed through Redman's Dell to-day.' + +He laughed a little as he said this; and held her hands some seconds +longer than is strictly usual in such a greeting. + +'You are staying at Brandon?' said Rachel, not knowing exactly what to +say. + +'Yes; Dorcas, who is always very good to me, made me promise to come +whenever I was at Drackley. I arrived yesterday, and they tell me you +stay so much at home, that possibly you might not appear in the upper +world for two or three days; so I had not patience, you see.' + +It was now Rachel's turn to laugh a musical little roulade; but somehow +her talk was neither so gay, nor so voluble, as it used to be. She liked +to listen; she would not for the world their little conversation ended +before its time; but there was an unwonted difficulty in finding anything +to say. + +'It is quite true; I am more a stay-at-home than I used to be. I believe +we learn to prize home more the longer we live.' + +'What a wise old lady! I did not think of that; I have only learned that +whatever is most prized is hardest to find.' + +'And spring is come again,' continued Rachel, passing by this little +speech, 'and my labours recommence. And though the day is longer, there +is more to do in it, you see.' + +'I don't wonder at your being a stay-at-home, for, to my eyes, it is the +prettiest spot of earth in all the world; and if you find it half as hard +to leave it as I do, your staying here is quite accounted for.' + +This little speech, also, Rachel understood quite well, though she went +on as if she did not. + +'And this little garden costs, I assure you, a great deal of wise +thought. In sowing my annuals I have so much to forecast and arrange; +suitability of climate, for we have sun and shade here, succession of +bloom and contrast of colour, and ever so many other important things.' + +'I can quite imagine it, though it did not strike me before,' he said, +looking on her with a smile of pleasant and peculiar interest, which +somehow gave a reality to this playful talk. 'It is quite true; and I +should not have thought of it--it is very pretty,' and he laughed a +gentle little laugh, glancing over the tiny garden. + +'But, after all, there is no picture of flowers, or still life, or even +of landscape, that will interest long. You must be very solitary here at +times--that is, you must have a great deal more resource than I, or, +indeed, almost anyone I know, or this solitude must at times be +oppressive. I hope so, at least, for that would force you to appear among +us sometimes.' + +'No, I am not lonely--that is, not lonelier than is good for me. I have +such a treasure of an old nurse--poor old Tamar--who tells me stories, +and reads to me, and listens to my follies and temper, and sometimes says +very wise things, too; and the good vicar comes often--this is one of his +days--with his beautiful little boy, and talks so well, and answers my +follies and explains all my perplexities, and is really a great help and +comfort.' + +'Yes,' said Lord Chelford, with the same pleasant smile, 'he told me so; +and seems so pleased to have met with so clever a pupil. Are you coming +to Brandon this evening? Lake asked William Wylder, perhaps he will be +with us. I do hope you will come. Dorcas says there is no use in writing; +but that you know you are always welcome. May I say you'll come?' + +Rachel smiled sadly on the snow-drops at her feet, and shook her head a +little. + +'No, I must stay at home this evening--I mean I have not spirits to go to +Brandon. Thank Dorcas very much from me--that is, if you really mean that +she asked me.' + +'I am so sorry--I am so disappointed,' said Lord Chelford, looking +gravely and enquiringly at her. He began, I think, to fancy some +estrangement there. 'But perhaps to-morrow--perhaps even to-day--you may +relent, you know. Don't say it is impossible.' + +Rachel smiled on the ground, as before; and then, with a little sigh and +a shake of her head, said-- + +'No.' + +'Well, I must tell Dorcas she was right--you are very inexorable and +cruel.' + +'I am very cruel to keep you here so long--and I, too, am forgetting the +vicar, who will be here immediately, and I must meet him in a costume +less like the Woman of Endor.' + +Lord Chelford, leaning on the little wicket, put his arm over, and she +gave him her hand again. + +'Good-bye,' said Rachel. + +'Well, I suppose I, too, must say good-bye; and I'll say a great deal +more,' said he, in a peculiar, odd tone, that was very firm, and yet +indescribably tender. And he held her slender hand, from which she had +drawn the gauntlet, in his. 'Yes, Rachel, I will--I'll say everything. We +are old friends now--you'll forgive me calling you Rachel--it may be +perhaps the last time.' + +Rachel was standing there with such a beautiful blush, and downcast eyes, +and her hand in his. + +'I liked you always, Rachel, from the first moment I saw you--I liked you +better and better--indescribably--indeed, I do; and I've grown to like +you so, that if I lose you, I think I shall never be the same again.' + +There was a very little pause, the blush was deeper, her eyes lower +still. + +'I admire you, Rachel--I like your character--I have grown to love you +with all my heart and mind--quite desperately, I think. I know there are +things against me--there are better-looking fellows than I--and--and a +great many things--and I know very well that you will judge for +yourself--quite differently from other girls; and I can't say with what +fear and hope I await what you may say; but this you may be sure of, you +will never find anyone to love you better, Rachel--I think so +well--and--and now--that is all. Do you think you could _ever_ like me?' + +But Rachel's hand, on a sudden, with a slight quiver, was drawn from his. + +'Lord Chelford, I can't describe how grateful I am, and how astonished, +but it could never be--no--never.' + +'Rachel, perhaps you mean my mother--I have told her everything--she will +receive you with all the respect you so well deserve; and with all her +faults, she loves me, and will love you still more.' + +'No, Lord Chelford, no.' She was pale now, and looking very sadly in his +eyes. 'It is not that, but only that you must never, never speak of it +again.' + +'Oh! Rachel, darling, you must not say that--I love you so--so +_desperately_, you don't know.' + +'I can say nothing else, Lord Chelford. My mind is quite made up--I am +inexpressibly grateful--you will never know how grateful--but except as a +friend--and won't you still be my friend?--I never can regard you.' + +Rachel was so pale that her very lips were white as she spoke this in a +melancholy but very firm way. + +'Oh, Rachel, it is a great blow--maybe if you thought it over!--I'll wait +any time.' + +'No, Lord Chelford, I'm quite unworthy of your preference; but time +cannot change me--and I am speaking, not from impulse, but conviction. +This is our secret--yours and mine--and we'll forget it; and I could not +bear to lose your friendship--you'll be my friend still--won't you? +Good-bye.' + +'God bless you, Rachel!' And he hurriedly kissed the hand she had placed +in his, and without a word more, or looking back, he walked swiftly down +the wooded road towards Gylingden. + +So, then, it had come and gone--gone for ever. + +'Margery, bring the basket in; I think a shower is coming.' + +And she picked up her trowel and other implements, and placed them in the +porch, and glanced up towards the clouds, as if she saw them, and had +nothing to think of but her gardening and the weather, and as if her +heart was not breaking. + + + + +CHAPTER LIII. + +THE VICAR'S COMPLICATIONS, WHICH LIVELY PEOPLE HAD BETTER NOT READ. + + +William Wylder's reversion was very tempting. But Lawyer Larkin knew the +value of the precious metals, and waited for more data. The more he +thought over his foreign correspondence, and his interview with Lake, the +more steadily returned upon his mind the old conviction that the gallant +captain was deep in the secret, whatever it might be. + +Whatever his motive--and he always had a distinct motive, though +sometimes not easily discoverable--he was a good deal addicted now to +commenting, in his confidential talk, with religious gossips and others, +upon the awful state of the poor vicar's affairs, his inconceivable +prodigality, the unaccountable sums he had made away with, and his own +anxiety to hand over the direction of such a hopeless complication of +debt, and abdicate in favour of any competent skipper the command of the +water-logged and foundering ship. + +'Why, his Brother Mark could get him cleverly out of it--could not he?' +wheezed the pork-butcher. + +'More serious than you suppose,' answered Larkin, with a shake of his +head. + +'It can't go beyond five hundred, or say nine hundred--eh, at the +outside?' + +'Nine _hundred_--say double as many _thousand_, and I'm afraid you'll be +nearer the mark. You'll not mention, of course, and I'm only feeling my +way just now, and speaking conjecturally altogether; but I'm afraid it is +enormous. I need not remind you not to mention.' + +I cannot, of course, say how Mr. Larkin's conjectures reached so +prodigious an elevation, but I can now comprehend why it was desirable +that this surprising estimate of the vicar's liabilities should prevail. +Mr. Jos. Larkin had a weakness for enveloping much of what he said and +wrote in an honourable mystery. He liked writing _private_ or +_confidential_ at top of his notes, without apparent right or even reason +to impose either privacy or confidence upon the persons to whom he wrote. +There was, in fact, often in the good attorney's mode of transacting +business just a _soupcon_ or flavour of an _arriere pensee_ of a remote +and unseen plan, which was a little unsatisfactory. + +Now, with the vicar he was imperative that the matter of the reversion +should be strictly confidential--altogether 'sacred,' in fact. + +'You see, the fact is, my dear Mr. Wylder, I never meddle in speculative +things. It is not a class of business that I like or would touch with one +of my fingers, so to speak,' and he shook his head gently; 'and I may +say, if I were supposed to be ever so slightly engaged in these risky +things, it would be the _ruin_ of me. I don t like, however, sending you +into the jaws of the City sharks--I use the term, my dear Mr. Wylder, +advisedly--and I make a solitary exception in your case; but the fact is, +if I thought you would mention the matter, I could not touch it even for +you. There's Captain Lake, of Brandon, for instance--I should not be +surprised if I lost the Brandon business the day after the matter reached +his ears. All men are not like you and me, my dear Mr. Wylder. The sad +experience of my profession has taught me that a suspicious man of the +world, without religion, my dear Mr. Wylder,' and he lifted his pink +eyes, and shook his long head and long hands in unison--'without +religion--will imagine anything. They can't understand us.' + +Now, the fifty pounds which good Mr. Larkin had procured for the +improvident vicar, bore interest, I am almost ashamed to say, at thirty +per cent. per annum, and ten per cent. more the first year. But you are +to remember that the security was altogether speculative; and Mr. Larkin, +of course, made the best terms he could. + +Annual premium on a policy for L100 [double insurance } L _s._ _d._ +being insisted upon by lender, to cover contingent ex- } 10 0 0 +penses, and life not insurable, a delicacy of the lungs } +being admitted, on the ordinary scale] } + +Annuity payable to lender, clear of premium, the } 7 10 0 +security being unsatisfactory } + -------------- + L17 10 0 + +Ten pounds of which (the premium), together with four pounds ten +shillings for expenses, &c. were payable in advance. So that thirty-two +pounds, out of his borrowed fifty, were forfeit for these items within a +year and a month. In the meantime the fifty pounds had gone, as we know, +direct to Cambridge; and he was called upon to pay forthwith ten pounds +for premium, and four pounds ten shillings for 'expenses.' _Quod +impossibile._ + +The attorney had nothing for it but to try to induce the lender to let +him have another fifty pounds, pending the investigation of +title--another fifty, of which he was to get, in fact, eighteen pounds. +Somehow, the racking off of this bitter vintage from one vessel into +another did not seem to improve its quality. On the contrary, things were +growing decidedly more awful. + +Now, there came from Messrs. Burlington and Smith a peremptory demand for +the fourteen pounds ten shillings, and an equally summary one for +twenty-eight pounds fourteen shillings and eight pence, their costs in +this matter. + +When the poor vicar received this latter blow, he laid the palm of his +hand on the top of his head, as if to prevent his brain from boiling +over. Twenty-eight pounds fourteen shillings and eight pence! _Quod +impossibile._ again. + +When he saw Larkin, that conscientious guardian of his client's interests +scrutinised the bill of costs very jealously, and struck out between four +and five pounds. He explained to the vicar the folly of borrowing +insignificant and insufficient sums--the trouble, and consequently the +cost, of which were just as great as of an adequate one. He was +determined, if he could, to pull him through this. But he must raise a +sufficient sum, for the expense of going into title would be something; +and he would write sharply to Burlington, Smith, and Co., and had no +doubt the costs would be settled for twenty-three pounds. And Mr. Jos. +Larkin's opinion upon the matter was worthy of respect, inasmuch as he +was himself, under the rose, the 'Co.' of that firm, and ministered its +capital. + +'The fact is you must, my dear Mr. Wylder, make an effort. It won't do +peddling and tinkering in such a case. You will be in a worse position +than ever, unless you boldly raise a thousand pounds--if I can manage +such a transaction upon a security of the kind. Consolidate all your +liabilities, and keep a sum in hand. You are well connected--powerful +relatives--your brother has Huxton, four hundred, a year, whenever +old--the--the present incumbent goes--and there are other things +beside--but you must not allow yourself to be ruined through timidity; +and if you go to the wall without an effort, and allow yourself to be +slurred in public, what becomes of your chance of preferment?' + +And now 'title' went up to Burlington, Smith, and Co. to examine and +approve; and from that firm, I am sorry to say, a bill of costs was +coming, when deeds were prepared and all done, exceeding three hundred +and fifty pounds; and there was a little reminder from good Jos. Larkin +for two hundred and fifty pounds more. This, of course, was to await Mr. +Wylder's perfect convenience. The vicar knew _him_--_he_ never pressed +any man. Then there would be insurances in proportion; and interest, as +we see, was not trifling. And altogether, I am afraid, our friend the +vicar was being extricated in a rather embarrassing fashion. + +Now, I have known cases in which good-natured debauchees have interested +themselves charitably in the difficulties of forlorn families; and I +think _I_ knew, almost before they suspected it, that their generous +interference was altogether due to one fine pair of eyes, and a pretty +_tournure_, in the distressed family circle. Under a like half-delusion, +Mr. Jos. Larkin, in the guise of charity, was prosecuting his designs +upon the vicar's reversion, and often most cruelly and most artfully, +when he frankly fancied his conduct most praiseworthy. + +And really I do not myself know, that, considering poor William's +liabilities and his means, and how many chances there were against that +reversion ever becoming a fact, that I would not myself have advised his +selling it, if a reasonable price were obtainable. + +'All this power will I give thee,' said the Devil, 'and the glory of +them; for that is delivered unto me, and to whomsoever I will I give it.' +The world belongs to the rascals. It is like 'the turf,' where, everyone +admits, an honest man can hardly hold his own. Jos. Larkin looked down on +the seedy and distracted vicar from an immense moral elevation. He heard +him talk of religion with disgust. He owed him costs, and, beside, costs +also to Burlington, Smith, and Co. Was there not Talkative in 'Pilgrim's +Progress?' I believe there are few things more provoking than that a man +who owes you money, and can't pay the interest, should pretend to +religion to your face, except, perhaps, his giving sixpence in charity. + +The attorney was prosperous. He accounted for it by his attributes, and +the blessing that waits on industry and integrity. He did not see that +luck and selfishness had anything to do with it. No man ever failed but +through his own fault--none ever succeeded but by his deservings. The +attorney was in a position to lecture the Rev. Mr. Wylder. In his +presence, religion, in the vicar's mouth, was an impertinence. + +The vicar, on the other hand, was all that we know. Perhaps, in +comparison, his trial is, in some sort, a blessing; and that there is no +greater snare than the state of the man with whom all goes smoothly, and +who mistakes his circumstances for his virtues. + +The poor vicar and his little following were got pretty well into the +Furcae Caudinae. Mr. Jos. Larkin, if he did not march him out, to do him +justice, had had no hand in primarily bringing him there. There was no +reason, however, why the respectable lawyer should not make whatever was +to be fairly made of the situation. The best thing for both was, perhaps, +that the one should sell and the other buy the reversion. Larkin had no +apprehensions about the nature of the dealing. He was furnished with an +excellent character--his cheques were always honoured--his 'tots' always +unexceptionable--his vouchers never anything but exact. He had twice been +publicly complimented in this sense, when managing Lord Hedgerow's +estate. No man had, I believe, a higher reputation in his walk--few men +were more formidable. I think it was Lawyer Larkin's private canon, in +his dealings with men, that everything was moral that was not contrary to +an Act of Parliament. + + + + +CHAPTER LIV. + +BRANDON CHAPEL ON SUNDAY. + + +For a month and three days Mr. Jos. Larkin was left to ruminate without +any new light upon the dusky landscape now constantly before his eyes. At +the end of that time a foreign letter came for him to the Lodge. It was +not addressed in Mark Wylder's hand--not the least like it. Mark's was a +bold, free hand, and if there was nothing particularly elegant, neither +was there anything that could be called vulgar in it. But this was a +decidedly villainous scrawl--in fact it was written as a self-educated +butcher might pen a bill. There was nothing impressed on the wafer, but a +poke of something like the ferrule of a stick. + +The interior corresponded with the address, and the lines slanted +confoundedly. It was, however, on the whole, better spelled and expressed +than the penmanship would have led one to expect. It said-- + + +'MISTER LARKINS,--Respeckted Sir, I write you, Sir, to let you know has +how there is no more Chance you shud ear of poor Mr. Mark Wylder--of hose +orrible Death I make bold to acquainte you by this writing--which is +Secret has yet from all--he bing Hid, and made away with in the dark. It +is only Right is family shud know all, and his sad ending--wich I will +tell before you, Sir, in full, accorden to my Best guess, as bin the +family Lawyer (and, Sir, you will find it usful to Tell this in secret to +Capten Lake, of Brandon Hall--But not on No account to any other). It is +orrible, Sir, to think a young gentleman, with everything the world can +give, shud be made away with so crewel in the dark. Though you do not +rekelect me, Sir, I know you well, Mr. Larkins, haven seen you hoffen +when a boy. I wud not wish, Sir, no noise made till I cum--which I am +returning hoame, and will then travel to Gylingden strateways to see you. + +Sir, your obedient servant, + +'JAMES DUTTON.' + + +This epistle disturbed Mr. Jos. Larkin profoundly. He could recollect no +such name as James Dutton. He did not know whether to believe this letter +or not. He could not decide what present use to make of it, nor whether +to mention it to Captain Lake, nor, if he did so, how it was best to open +the matter. + +Captain Lake, he was confident, knew James Dutton--why, otherwise, should +that person have desired his intelligence communicated to him. At least +it proved that Dutton assumed the captain to be specially interested in +what concerned Mark Wylder's fate; and in so far it confirmed his +suspicions of Lake. Was it better to wait until he had seen Dutton, and +heard his story, before hinting at his intelligence and his name--or was +it wiser to do that at once, and watch its effect upon the gallant +captain narrowly, and trust to inspiration and the moment for striking +out the right course. + +If this letter was true there was not a moment to be lost in bringing the +purchase of the vicar's reversion to a point. The possibilities were +positively dazzling. They were worth risking something. I am not sure +that Mr. Larkin's hand did not shake a little as he took the statement of +title again out of the Wylder tin box No. 2. + +Now, under the pressure of this enquiry, a thing struck Mr. Larkin, +strangely enough, which he had quite overlooked before. There were +certain phrases in the will of the late Mr. Wylder, which limited a large +portion of the great estate in strict settlement. Of course an attorney's +opinion upon a question of real property is not conclusive. Still they +can't help knowing something of the barrister's special province; and +these words were very distinct--in fact, they stunted down the vicar's +reversion in the greater part of the property to a strict life estate. + +Long did the attorney pore over his copy of the will, with his finger and +thumb closed on his under lip. The language was quite explicit--there was +no way out of it. It was strictly a life estate. How could he have +overlooked that? His boy, indeed, would take an estate tail--and could +disentail whenever--if ever--he came of age. But that was in the clouds. +Mackleston-on-the-Moor, however, and the Great Barnford estate, were +unaffected by these limitations; and the rental which he now carefully +consulted, told him these jointly were in round numbers worth 2,300_l._ a +year, and improvable. + +This letter of Dutton's, to be sure, may turn out to be all a lie or a +blunder. But it may prove to be strictly true; and in that case it will +be _every_ thing that the deeds should be executed and the purchase +completed before the arrival of this person, and the public notification +of Mark Wylder's death. + +'What a world it is, to be sure!' thought Mr. Larkin, as he shook his +long head over Dutton's letter. 'How smoothly and simply everything would +go, if only men would stick to truth! Here's this letter--how much time +and trouble it costs me--how much opportunity possibly sacrificed, simply +by reason of the incurable mendacity of men.' And he knocked the back of +his finger bitterly on the open page. + +Another thought now struck him for the first time. Was there no mode of +'hedging,' so that whether Mark Wylder were living or dead the attorney +should stand to win? + +Down came the Brandon boxes. The prudent attorney turned the key in the +door, and forth came the voluminous marriage settlement of Stanley +Williams Lake, of Slobberligh, in the county of Devon, late captain, &c., +&c. of the second part, and Dorcas Adderley Brandon, of Brandon Hall, in +the county of &c., &c. of the second part, and so forth. And as he read +this pleasant composition through, he two or three times murmured +approvingly, 'Yes--yes--yes.' His recollection had served him quite +rightly. There was the Five Oaks estate, specially excluded from +settlement, worth 1,400_l._ a year; but it was conditioned that the said +Stanley Williams Lake was not to deal with the said lands, except with +the consent in writing of the said Dorcas, &c., who was to be a +consenting party to the deed. + +If there was really something 'unsound in the state of Lake's relations,' +and that he could be got to consider Lawyer Larkin as a friend worth +keeping, that estate might be had a bargain--yes, a _great_ bargain. + +Larkin walked off to Brandon, but there he learned that Captain _Brandon_ +Lake as he now chose to call himself, had gone that morning to London. + +'Business, I venture to say, and he went into that electioneering without +ever mentioning it either.' + +So thought Larkin, and he did not like this. It looked ominous, and like +an incipient sliding away of the Brandon business, Well, no matter, all +things worked together for good. It was probably well that he should not +be too much shackled with considerations of that particular kind in the +important negotiation about Five Oaks. + +That night he posted a note to Burlington, Smith, and Co., and by +Saturday night's post there came down to the sheriff an execution for +123_l._ and some odd shillings, upon a judgment on a warrant to confess, +at the suit of that firm, for costs and money advanced, against the poor +vicar, who never dreamed, as he conned over his next day's sermon with +his solitary candle, that the blow had virtually descended, and that his +homely furniture, the silver spoons his wife had brought him, and the two +shelves half full of old books which he had brought her, and all the rest +of their little frugal trumpery, together with his own thin person, had +passed into the hands of Messrs. Burlington, Smith, and Co. + +The vicar on his way to the chapel passed Mr. Jos. Larkin on the +green--not near enough to speak--only to smile and wave his hand kindly, +and look after the good attorney with one of those yearning grateful +looks, which cling to straws upon the drowning stream of life. + +The sweet chapel bell was just ceasing to toll as Mr. Jos. Larkin stalked +under the antique ribbed arches of the little aisle. Slim and tall, he +glided, a chastened dignity in his long upturned countenance, and a faint +halo of saint-hood round his tall bald head. Having whispered his orisons +into his well-brushed hat and taken his seat, his dove-like eyes rested +for a moment upon the Brandon seat. + +There was but one figure in it--slender, light-haired, with his yellow +moustache and pale face, grown of late a little fatter. Captain Brandon +Lake was a very punctual church-goer since the idea of trying the county +at the next election had entered his mind. Dorcas was not very well. Lord +Chelford had taken his departure, and your humble servant, who pens these +pages, had gone for a few days to Malwich. There was no guest just then +at Brandon, and the captain sat alone on that devotional dais, the +elevated floor of the great oaken Brandon seat. + +There were old Brandon and Wylder monuments built up against the walls. +Figures cut in stone, and painted and gilded in tarnished splendour, +according to the gorgeous barbarism of Elizabeth's and the first James's +age; tablets in brass, marble-pillared monuments, and a couple of +life-sized knights, armed _cap-a-pie_, on their backs in the aisle. + +There is a stained window in the east which connoisseurs in that branch +of mediaeval art admire. There is another very fine one over the Brandon +pew--a freak, perhaps, of some of those old Brandons or Wylders, who had +a strange spirit of cynicism mingling in their profligacy and violence. + +Reader, you have looked on Hans Holbein's 'Dance of Death,' that grim, +phantasmal pageant, symbolic as a dream of Pharaoh; and perhaps you bear +in mind that design called 'The Elector,' in which the Prince, emerging +from his palace gate, with a cloud of courtiers behind, is met by a poor +woman, her little child by the hand, appealing to his compassion, +despising whom, he turns away with a serene disdain. Beneath, in black +letter, is inscribed the text '_Princeps induetur maerore et quiescere +faciam superbiam potentium_'--and gigantic Death lays his fingers on the +great man's ermine tippet. + +It is a copy of this, which, in very splendid colouring, fills the window +that lights the Brandon state seat in the chapel. The gules and gold were +reflected on the young man's head, and with a vain augury, the attorney +read again the solemn words from Holy Writ, _'Princeps induetur +maerore.'_ The golden glare rested like a glory on his head; but there +was also a gorgeous stain of blood that bathed his ear and temple. His +head was busy enough at that moment, though it was quite still, and his +sly eyes rested on his Prayer-book; for Sparks, the millionaire clothier, +who had purchased Beverley, and was a potent voice in the Dollington +Bank, and whose politics were doubtful, and relations amphibious, was +sitting in the pew nearly opposite, and showed his red, fat face and +white whiskers over the oak wainscoting. + +Jos. Larkin, like the rest of the congregation, was by this time praying, +his elbows on the edge of the pew, his hands clasped, his thumbs under +his chin, and his long face and pink eyes raised heavenward, with now and +then a gentle downward dropping of the latter. He was thinking of Captain +Lake, who was opposite, and, like him, praying. + +He was thinking how aristocratic he looked and how well, in externals, he +became the Brandon seat; and there were one or two trifles in the +captain's attitude and costume of which the attorney, who, as we know, +was not only good, but elegant, made a note. He respected his audacity +and his mystery, and he wondered intensely what was going on in that +small skull under the light and glossy hair, and anxiously guessed how +vitally it might possibly affect him, and wondered what his schemes were +after the election--_quiescere faciam superbiam potentium_; and more +darkly about his relations with Mark Wylder--_Princeps induetur maerore_. + +His eye was on the window now and then it dropped, with a vague presage, +upon the sleek head of the daring and enigmatical captain, reading the +Litany, from 'battle, murder, and sudden death, good Lord deliver us,' +and he almost fancied he saw a yellow skull over his shoulder glowering +cynically on the Prayer-book. So the good attorney prayed on, to the +edification of all who saw, and mothers in the neighbouring seats were +specially careful to prevent their children from whispering or fidgeting. + +When the service was over Captain Lake went across to Mr. Sparks, and +asked him to come to Brandon to lunch. But the clothier could not, and +his brougham whirled him away to Naunton Friars. So Stanley Lake walked +up the little aisle toward the communion table, thinking, and took hold +of the railing that surrounded the brass monument of Sir William de +Braundon, and seemed to gaze intently on the effigy, but was really +thinking profoundly of other matters and once or twice his sly sidelong +glance stole ominously to Jos. Larkin, who was talking at the church door +with the good vicar. + +In fact, he was then and there fully apprising him of his awful +situation; and poor William Wylder looking straight at him, with white +face and damp forehead, was listening stunned, and hardly understanding a +word he said, and only the dreadful questions rising to his mouth, 'Can +_anything_ be done? Will the people come _to-day_?' + +Mr. Larkin explained the constitutional respect for the Sabbath. + +'It would be better, Sir--the publicity of an arrest' (it was a hard word +to utter) 'in the town would be very painful--it would be better I think, +that I should walk over to the prison--it is only six miles--and see the +authorities there, and give myself up.' + +And his lip quivered; he was thinking of the leave-taking--of poor Dolly +and little Fairy. + +'I've a great objection to speak of business to-day,' said Mr. Larkin, +holily; 'but I may mention that Burlington and Smith have written very +sternly; and the fact is, my dear Sir, we must look the thing straight in +the face; they are determined to go through with it; and you know my +opinion all along about the fallacy--you _must_ excuse me, seeing all the +trouble it has involved you in--the infatuation of hesitating about the +sale of that miserable reversion, which they could have disposed of on +fair terms. In fact, Sir, they look upon it that you don't want to pay +them and of course, they are very angry.' + +'I'm sure I was wrong. I'm such a fool!' + +'I must only go to the Sheriff the first thing the morning and beg of him +to hold over that thing, you know, until I have heard from Burlington and +Smith; and I suppose I may say to them that you see the necessity of +disposing of the reversion, and agree to sell it if it be not too late.' + +The vicar assented; indeed, he had grown, under this urgent pressure, as +nervously anxious to sell as he had been to retain it. + +'And they can't come _to-day_?' + +'Certainly not.' + +And poor William Wylder breathed again in the delightful sense of even +momentary escape, and felt he could have embraced his preserver. + +'I'll be very happy to see you to-morrow, if you can conveniently look +in--say at twelve, or half-past, to report progress.' + +So that was arranged; and again in the illusive sense of deliverance, the +poor vicar's hopes brightened and expanded. Hitherto his escapes had not +led to safety, and he was only raised from the pit to be sold to the +Ishmaelites. + + + + +CHAPTER LV. + +THE CAPTAIN AND THE ATTORNEY CONVERSE AMONG THE TOMBS. + + +I cannot tell whether that slender, silken machinator, Captain Lake, +loitered in the chapel for the purpose of talking to or avoiding Jos. +Larkin, who was standing at the doorway, in sad but gracious converse +with the vicar. + +He was certainly observing him from among the tombs in his sly way. And +the attorney, who had a way, like him, of noting things without appearing +to see them, was conscious of it, and was perhaps decided by this trifle +to accost the gallant captain. + +So he glided up the short aisle with a sad religious smile, suited to the +place, and inclined his lank back and his tall bald head toward the +captain in ceremonious greeting as he approached. + +'How d'ye do, Larkin? The fog makes one cough a little this evening.' + +Larkin's answer, thanks, and enquiries, came gravely in return. And with +the same sad smile he looked round on the figures, some marble, some +painted stone, of departed Brandons and Wylders, with garrulous epitaphs, +who surrounded them in various costumes, quite a family group, in which +the attorney was gratified to mingle. + +'_Ancestry_, Captain Lake--_your_ ancestry--noble assemblage--monuments +and timber. Timber like the Brandon oaks, and monuments like these--these +are things which, whatever else he may acquire, the _novus homo_, Captain +Brandon Lake--the _parvenu_--can never command.' + +Mr. Jos. Larkin had a smattering of school Latin, and knew half-a-dozen +French words, which he took out on occasion. + +'Certainly our good people do occupy some space here; more regular +attendants in church, than, I fear, they formerly were; and their virtues +more remarked, perhaps, than before the stone-cutter was instructed to +publish them with his chisel,' answered Lake, with one of his quiet +sneers. + +'Beautiful chapel this, Captain Lake--beautiful chapel, Sir,' said the +attorney, again looking round with a dreary smile of admiration. But +though his accents were engaging and he smiled--of course, a Sabbath-day +smile--yet Captain Lake perceived that it was not the dove's but the +rat's eyes that were doing duty under that tall bald brow. + +'Solemn thoughts, Sir--solemn thoughts, Captain Lake--silent mentors, +eloquent monitors!' And he waved his long lank hand toward the monumental +groups. + +'Yes,' said Lake, in the same mocking tone, that was low and sweet, and +easily mistaken for something more amiable. 'You and they go capitally +together--so solemn, and eloquent, and godly--capital fellows! _I_'m not +half good enough for such company--and the place is growing rather +cold--is not it?' + +'A great many Wylders, Sir--a great many _Wylders_.' And the attorney +dropped his voice, and paused at this emphasis, pointing a long finger +toward the surrounding effigies. + +Captain Lake, after his custom, glared a single full look upon the +attorney, sudden as the flash of a pair of guns from their embrasures in +the dark; and he said quietly, with a wave of his cane in the same +direction-- + +'Yes, a precious lot of Wylders.' + +'Is there a _Wylder_ vault here, Captain Brandon Lake?' + +'Hanged if I know!--what the devil's that to you or me, Sir?' answered +the captain, with a peevish sullenness. + +'I was thinking, Captain Lake, whether in the event of its turning out +that Mr. Mark Wylder was _dead_, it would be thought proper to lay his +body here?' + +'Dead, Sir!--and what the plague puts that in your head? You are +corresponding with him--aren't you?' + +'I'll tell you exactly how that is, Captain Lake. May I take the liberty +to ask you for one moment to look up?' + +As between these two gentlemen, this, it must be allowed, was an +impertinent request. But Captain Lake did look up, and there was +something extraordinarily unpleasant in his yellow eyes, as he fixed them +upon the contracted pupils of the attorney, who, nothing daunted, went +on-- + +'Pray, excuse me--thank you, Captain Lake--they say one is better heard +when looked at than when not seen; and I wish to speak rather low, for +reasons.' + +Each looked the other in the eyes, with that uncertain and sinister gaze +which has a character both of fear and menace. + +'I have received those letters, Captain Lake, of which I spoke to you +when I last had the honour of seeing you, as furnishing, in certain +circumstances connected with them, grave matter of suspicion, since when +I have _not_ received one with Mr. Wylder's signature. But I _have_ +received, only the other day, a letter from a new correspondent--a person +signing himself James Dutton--announcing his belief that Mr. Mark Wylder +is dead--_is dead_--and has been made away with by foul means; and I have +arranged, immediately on his arrival, at his desire, to meet him +professionally, and to hear the entire narrative, both of what he knows +and of what he suspects.' + +As Jos. Larkin delivered this with stern features and emphasis, the +captain's countenance underwent such a change as convinced the attorney +that some indescribable evil had befallen Mark Wylder, and that Captain +Brandon Lake had a guilty knowledge thereof. With this conviction came a +sense of superiority and a pleasant confidence in his position, which +betrayed itself in a slight frown and a pallid smile, as he looked +steadily in the young man's face, with his small, crafty, hungry eyes. + +Lake knew that his face had betrayed him. He had felt the livid change of +colour, and that twitching at his mouth and cheek which he could not +control. The mean, tyrannical, triumphant gaze of the attorney was upon +him, and his own countenance was his accuser. + +Lake ground his teeth, and returned Jos. Larkin's intimidating smirk with +a look of fury, which--for he now believed he held the winning cards--did +not appal him. + +Lake cleared his throat twice, but did not find his voice, and turned +away and read half through the epitaph on Lady Mary Brandon, which is a +pious and somewhat puritanical composition. I hope it did him good. + +'You know, Sir,' said Captain Lake, but a little huskily, turning about +and smiling at last, 'that Mark Wylder is nothing to me. We don't +correspond: we have not corresponded. I know--upon my honour and soul, +Sir--nothing on earth about him--what he's doing, where he is, or what's +become of him. But I can't hear a man of business like you assert, upon +what he conceives to be reliable information--situated as the Brandon +title is--depending, I mean, in some measure, upon his life--that Mark +Wylder is no more, without being a good deal shocked.' + +'I quite understand, Sir--quite, Captain Lake. It is very serious, Sir, +very; but I can't believe it has gone that length, quite. I shall know +more, of course, when I've seen James Dutton. I can't think, I mean, he's +been made away with in that sense; nor how that could benefit anyone; and +I'd much rather, Captain Lake, move in this matter--since move I must--in +your interest--I mean, as your friend and man of business--than in any +way, Captain Lake, that might possibly involve you in trouble.' + +'You _are_ my man of business--aren't you? and have no grounds for +ill-will--eh?' said the captain, drily. + +'No ill-will certainly--quite the reverse. Thank Heaven, I think I may +truly say, I bear ill-will to no man living; and wish you, Captain Lake, +nothing but good, Sir--nothing but good.' + +'Except a hasty word or two, I know no reason you should _not_,' said the +captain, in the same tone. + +'Quite so. But, Captain Brandon Lake, there is nothing like being +completely above-board--it has been my rule through life; and I will +say--it would not be frank and candid to say anything else--that I have +of late been anything but satisfied with the position which, ostensibly +your professional adviser and confidential man of business, I have +occupied. Have I been consulted?--I put it to you; have I been trusted? +Has there been any real confidence, Captain Lake, upon your part? You +have certainly had relations with Mr. Mark Wylder--correspondence, for +anything I know. You have entertained the project of purchasing the +Reverend William Wylder's reversion; and you have gone into +electioneering business, and formed connections of that sort, without +once doing me the honour to confer with me on the subject. Now, the plain +question is, do you wish to retain my services?' + +'Certainly,' said Captain Lake, biting his lip, with a sinister little +frown. + +'Then, Captain Lake, upon the same principle, and speaking quite +above-board, you must dismiss at once from your mind the idea that you +_can_ do so upon the terms you have of late seen fit to impose. I am +speaking frankly when I say there must be a total change. I must _be_ in +reality what I am held out to the world as being--your trusted, and +responsible, and _sole_ adviser. I don't aspire to the position--I am +willing at this moment to retire from it; but I never yet knew a divided +direction come to good. It is an office of great responsibility, and I +for one will not consent to touch it on any other conditions than those I +have taken the liberty to mention.' + +'These are easily complied with--in fact I undertake to show you they +have never been disturbed,' answered Lake, rather sullenly. 'So that +being understood--eh?--I suppose we have nothing particular to add?' + +And Captain Lake extended his gloved hand to take leave. + +But the attorney looked down and then up, with a shadow on his face, and +his lip in his finger and thumb, and he said-- + +'That's all very well, and a _sine qua non_, so far as it goes! but, my +dear Captain Lake, let us be plain. You must see, my dear Sir, with such +rumours, possibly about to get afloat, and such persons about to appear, +as this James Dutton, that matters are really growing critical, and +there's no lack of able solicitors who would on speculation, undertake a +suit upon less evidence, perhaps, than may be forthcoming, to upset your +title, under the will, through Mrs. Dorcas Brandon Lake--your joint +title--in favour of the reversioner.' + +Lake only bit his lip and shook his head. The attorney knew, however, +that the danger was quite appreciated, and went on-- + +'You will, therefore, want a competent man--who has the papers at his +fingers' ends, and knows how to deal ably--_ably_, Sir, with a fellow of +James Dutton's stamp--at your elbow. The fact is, to carry you safely +through you will need pretty nearly the undivided attention of a +well-qualified, able, and confidential practitioner; and I need not say, +such a man is not to be had for nothing.' + +Lake nodded a seeming assent, which seemed to say, 'I have found it so.' + +'Now, my dear Captain Lake, I just mention this--I put it before +you--that is, because you know the county is not to be contested for +nothing--and you'll want a very serious sum of money for the purpose, and +possibly a petition--and I can, one way or another, make up, with an +effort, about L15,000_l._ Now it strikes me that it would be a wise thing +for you--the wisest thing, perhaps, my dear Captain Lake, you ever +did--to place me in the same boat with yourself.' + +'I don't exactly see.' + +'I'll make it quite clear.' The attorney's tall forehead had a little +pink flush over it at this moment, and he was looking down a little and +poking the base of Sir William de Braundon's monument with the point of +his umbrella. 'I wish, Captain Lake, to be perfectly frank, and, as I +said, above-board. You'll want the money, and you must make up your mind +to sell Five Oaks.' + +Captain Lake shifted his foot, as if he had found it on a sudden on a hot +flag. + +'Sell Five Oaks--that's fourteen hundred a year,' said he. + +'Hardly so much, but nearly, perhaps.' + +'Forty-three thousand pounds were offered for it. Old Chudworth offered +that about ten years ago.' + +'Of course, Captain Lake, if you are looking for a fancy price from me I +must abandon the idea. I was merely supposing a dealing between friends, +and in that sense I ventured to name the extreme limit to which I could +go. Little more than five per cent, for my money, if I insure--and +possibly to defend an action before I've been six months in possession. I +think my offer will strike you as a _great_ one, considering the posture +of affairs. Indeed, I apprehend, my friends will hardly think me +justified in offering so much.' + +The sexton was walking back and forward near the door, making the best +clatter he decently could, and wondering the Captain and Lawyer Larkin +could find no better place to talk in than the church. + +'In a moment--in a moment,' said the lawyer, signalling to him to be +quiet, as loftily as if chapel, hall, and sexton were his private +property. + +It was one of those moments into which a good deal of talk is fitted, and +which seem somewhat of the longest to those who await its expiration. + +The chapel was growing dark, and its stone and marble company of bygone +Wylders and Brandons were losing themselves in shadow. Part of the +periwig and cheek of Sir Marcus Brandon still glimmered whitish, as at a +little distance did also the dim marble face and arm of the young +Countess of Lydingworth, mourning these hundred and thirty years over her +dead baby. Sir William Wylder, in ruff, rosettes, and full dress of James +I.'s fashion, on his back, defunct, with children in cloaks kneeling at +head and foot, was hardly distinguishable; and the dusky crimson and +tarnished gold had gone out of view till morning. The learned Archbishop +Brandon, a cadet, who filled the see of York in his day, and was the only +unexceptionably godly personage of that long line, was praying, as usual, +at his desk--perhaps to the saints and Virgin, for I believe he was +before the Reformation--in beard and skull-cap, as was evident from the +black profile of head and uplifted hands, against the dim sky seen +through the chapel window. A dusky glow from the west still faintly +showed Hans Holbein's proud 'Elector,' in the Brandon window, fading, +with Death himself, and the dread inscription, 'Princeps induetur +maerore,' into utter darkness. + +The ice once broken, Jos. Larkin urged his point with all sorts of +arguments, always placing the proposed transaction in the most plausible +lights and attitudes, and handling his subject in round and flowing +sentences. This master of persuasion was not aware that Captain Lake was +arguing the question for himself, on totally different grounds, and that +it was fixed in his mind pretty much in these terms:-- + +'That old villain wants an exorbitant bribe--is he worth it?' + +He knew what the lawyer thought he did _not_ know--that Five Oaks was +held by the lawyers to be possibly _without_ those unfortunate +limitations which affected all the rest of the estate. It was only a +moot-point; but the doubt had led Mr. Jos. Larkin to the selection. + +'I'll look in upon you between eight and nine in the morning, and I'll +say yes or no then,' said the captain, as they parted under the old stone +porch, the attorney with a graceful inclination, a sad smile, and a wave +of his hand--the captain with his hands in the pockets of his loose coat, +and a sidelong glance from his yellow eyes. + +The sky, as he looked toward Brandon, was draped in black cloud, +intensely black, meeting a black horizon--except for one little rent of +deep crimson which showed westward behind those antique gables and lordly +trees, like a lake of blood. + + + + +CHAPTER LVI. + +THE BRANDON CONSERVATORY. + + +Captain Lake did look in at the Lodge in the morning, and remained an +hour in conference with Mr. Jos. Larkin. I suppose everything went off +pleasantly. For although Stanley Lake looked very pale and vicious as he +walked down to the iron gate of the Lodge among the evergreens and +bass-mats, the good attorney's countenance shone with a serene and +heavenly light, so pure and bright, indeed, that I almost wonder his +dazzled servants, sitting along the wall while he read and expounded that +morning, did not respectfully petition that a veil, after the manner of +Moses, might be suspended over the seraphic effulgence. + +Somehow his 'Times' did not interest him at breakfast; these +parliamentary wrangles, commercial speculations, and foreign disputes, +are they not, after all, but melancholy and dreary records of the merest +worldliness; and are there not moments when they become almost insipid? +Jos. Larkin tossed the paper upon the sofa. French politics, relations +with Russia, commercial treaties, party combinations, how men _can_ so +wrap themselves up in these things! + +And he smiled ineffable pity over the crumpled newspaper--on the poor +souls in that sort of worldly limbo. In which frame of mind he took from +his coat pocket a copy of Captain Lake's marriage settlement, and read +over again a covenant on the captain's part that, with respect to this +particular estate of Five Oaks, he would do no act, and execute no +agreement, deed, or other instrument whatsoever, in any wise affecting +the same, without the consent in writing of the said Dorcas Brandon; and +a second covenant binding him and the trustees of the settlement against +executing any deed, &c., without a similar consent; and especially +directing, that in the event of alienating the estate, the said Dorcas +must be made an assenting party to the deed. + +He folded the deed, and replaced it in his pocket with a peaceful smile +and closed eyes, murmuring-- + +'I'm much mistaken if the gray mare's the better horse in that stud.' + +He laughed gently, thinking of the captain's formidable and unscrupulous +nature, exhibitions of which he could not fail to remember. + +'No, no, Miss Dorkie won't give us much trouble.' + +He used to call her 'Miss Dorkie,' playfully to his clerks. It gave him +consideration, he fancied. And now with this Five Oaks to begin +with--L1,400 a year--a great capability, immensely improvable, he would +stake half he's worth on making it more than L2,000 within five years; +and with other things at his back, an able man like him might before long +look as high as she. And visions of the grand jury rose dim and +splendid--an heiress and a seat for the county; perhaps he and Lake might +go in together, though he'd rather be associated with the Hon. James +Cluttworth, or young Lord Griddlestone. Lake, you see, wanted weight, +and, nothwithstanding his connections, was, it could not be denied, a new +man in the county. + +So Wylder, Lake, and Jos. Larkin had each projected for himself, pretty +much the same career; and probably each saw glimmering in the horizon the +golden round of a coronet. And I suppose other modest men are not always +proof against similar flatteries of imagination. + +Jos. Larkin had also the vicar's business and reversion to attend to. The +Rev. William Wylder had a letter containing three lines from him at eight +o'clock, to which he sent an answer, whereupon the solicitor despatched a +special messenger, one of his clerks to Dollington, with a letter to the +sheriff's deputy, from whom he received duly a reply, which necessitated +a second letter with a formal undertaking, to which came another reply; +whereupon he wrote to Burlington, Smith, and Co., acquainting them +respectfully, in diplomatic fashion, with the attitude which affairs had +assumed. + +With this went a private and confidential, non-official, note to Smith, +desiring him to answer stiffly and press for an immediate settlement, and +to charge costs fairly, as Mr. William Wylder would have ample funds to +liquidate them. Smith knew what _fairly_ meant, and his entries went down +accordingly. By the same post went up to the same firm a proposition--an +afterthought--sanctioned by a second miniature correspondence with his +client, now sailing before the wind, to guarantee them against loss +consequent against staying the execution in the sheriff's hands for a +fortnight, which, if they agreed to, they were further requested to send +a draft of the proposed undertaking by return, at foot of which, in +pencil, he wrote, 'N.B.--_Yes_.' + +This arrangement necessitated his providing himself with a guarantee from +the vicar; and so the little account as between the vicar and Jos. +Larkin, solicitor, and the vicar and Messrs. Burlington, Smith, and Co., +solicitors, grew up and expanded with a tropical luxuriance. + +About the same time--while Mr. Jos. Larkin, I mean, was thinking over +Miss Dorkie's share in the deed, with a complacent sort of interest, +anticipating a struggle, but sure of victory--that beautiful young lady +was walking slowly from flower to flower, in the splendid conservatory +which projects southward from the house, and rears itself in glacial +arches high over the short sward and flowery patterns of the outer garden +of Brandon. The unspeakable sadness of wounded pride was on her beautiful +features, and there was a fondness in the gesture with which she laid her +fingers on these exotics and stooped over them, which gave to her +solitude a sentiment of the pathetic. + +From the high glass doorway, communicating with the drawing-rooms, at the +far end, among towering ranks of rare and gorgeous flowers, over the +encaustic tiles, and through this atmosphere of perfume, did Captain +Stanley Lake, in his shooting coat, glide, smiling, toward his beautiful +young wife. + +She heard the door close, and looking half over her shoulder, in a low +tone indicating surprise, she merely said: + +'Oh!' receiving him with a proud sad look. + +'Yes, Dorkie, I'm here at last. I've been for some weeks so insufferably +busy,' and he laid his white hand lightly over his eyes, as if they and +the brain within were alike weary. + +'How charming this place is--the temple of Flora, and you the divinity!' + +And he kissed her cheek. + +'I'm now emancipated for, I hope, a week or two. I've been so stupid and +inattentive. I'm sure, Dorkie, you must think me a brute. I've been shut +up so in the library, and keeping such tiresome company--you've no idea; +but I think you'll say it was time well spent, at least I'm sure you'll +approve the result; and now that I have collected the facts, and can show +you, darling, exactly what the chances are, you must consent to hear the +long story, and when you have heard, give me your advice.' + +Dorcas smiled, and only plucked a little flowery tendril from a plant +that hung in a natural festoon above her. + +'I assure you, darling, I am serious; you must not look so incredulous; +and it is the more provoking, because I love you so. I think I have a +right to your advice, Dorkie.' + +'Why don't you ask Rachel, she's cleverer than I, and you are more in the +habit of consulting her?' + +'Now, Dorkie is going to talk her wicked nonsense over again, as if I had +never answered it. What about Radie? I do assure you, so far from taking +her advice, and thinking her an oracle, as you suppose, I believe her in +some respects very little removed from a fool.' + +'I think her very clever, on the contrary,' said Dorcas, enigmatically. + +'Well, she is clever in some respects; she is gay, at least she used to +be, before she fell into that transcendental parson's hands--I mean poor +dear William Wylder; and she can be amusing, and talks very well, but she +has no sense--she is utterly Quixotic--she is no more capable of advising +than a child.' + +'I should not have fancied that, although you say so, Stanley.' she +answered carelessly, adding a geranium to her bouquet. + +'You are thinking, I know, because you have seen us once or twice talking +together----' + +Stanley paused, not knowing exactly how to construct the remainder of his +sentence. + +Dorcas added another blossom. + +'I think that blue improves it wonderfully. Don't you?' + +'The blue? Oh yes, certainly.' + +'And now that little star of yellow will make it perfect,' said Dorcas. + +'Yes--yellow--quite perfect,' said Stanley. 'But when you saw Rachel and +me talking together, or rather Rachel talking to me, I do assure you, +Dorcas, upon my sacred honour, one half of what she said I do not to this +moment comprehend, and the whole was based on the most preposterous +blunder; and I will tell you in a little time everything about it. I +would this moment--I'd be delighted--only just until I have got a letter +which I expect--a letter, I assure you, nothing more--and until I have +got it, it would be simply to waste your time and patience to weary you +with any such--any such.' + +'_Secret_,' said Dorcas. + +'_Secret_, then, if you will have it so,' retorted Stanley, suddenly, +with one of those glares that lasted for just one fell moment; but he +instantly recovered himself. '_Secret_--yes--but no secret in the evil +sense--a secret only awaiting the evidence which I daily expect, and then +to be stated fully and frankly to you, my only darling, and as completely +blown to the winds.' + +Dorcas looked in his strange face with her proud, sad gaze, like one +guessing at a funereal allegory. + +He kissed her cheek again, placing one arm round her slender waist, and +with his other hand taking hers. + +'Yes, Dorcas, my beloved, my only darling, you will yet know all it has +cost me to retain from you even this folly; and when you have heard +all--which upon my soul and honour, you shall the moment I am enabled to +_prove_ all--you will thank me for having braved your momentary +displeasure, to spare you a great deal of useless and miserable suspense. +I trust you, Dorcas, in everything implicitly. Why won't you credit what +I say?' + +'I don't urge you--I never have--to reveal that which you describe so +strangely as a concealment, yet no secret; as an absurdity, and yet +fraught with miserable suspense.' + +'Ah, Dorcas, why will you misconstrue me? Why will you not believe me? I +long to tell you this, which, after all, _is_ an _utter_ absurdity, a +thousand times more than you can desire to hear it; but my doing so now, +unfortified by the evidence I shall have in a very few days, would be +attended with a danger which you will then understand. Won't you trust +me?' + +'And now for my advice,' said Dorcas, smiling down in her mysterious way +upon a crimson exotic near her feet. + +'Yes, darling, thank you. In sober earnest, your advice,' answered Lake; +'and you must advise me. Several of our neighbours--the Hillyards, the +Ledwiches, the Wyndermeres, and ever so many more--have spoken to me very +strongly about contesting the county, on the old Whig principles, at the +election which is now imminent. There is not a man with a chance of +acceptance to come forward, if I refuse. Now, you know what even moderate +success in the House, when family and property go together, may +accomplish. There are the Dodminsters. Do you think they would ever have +got their title by any other means? There are the Forresters----' + +'I know it all, Stanley; and at once I say, go on. I thought you must +have formed some political project, Mr. Wealdon has been with you so +often; but you tell me nothing, Stanley.' + +'Not, darling, till I know it myself. This plan, for instance, until you +spoke this moment, was but a question, and one which I could not submit +until I had seen Wealdon, and heard how matters stood, and what chances +of success I should really have. So, darling, you have it all; and I am +so glad you advise me to go on. It is five-and-thirty years since anyone +connected with Brandon came forward. But it will cost a great deal of +money, Dorkie.' + +'Yes, I know. I've always heard it cost my uncle and Sir William Camden +fifteen thousand pounds.' + +'Yes, it will be expensive, Wealdon thinks--_very_, this time. The other +side will spend a great deal of money. It often struck me as a great +mistake, that, where there is a good income, and a position to be +maintained, there is not a little put by every year to meet cases like +this--what they call a reserve fund in trading companies.' + +'I do not think there is much money. _You_ know, Stanley.' + +'Whatever there is, is under settlement, and we cannot apply it, Dorkie. +The only thing to be done, it strikes me, is to sell a part of Five +Oaks.' + +'I'll not sell any property, Stanley.' + +'And what _do_ you propose, then?' + +'I don't know. I don't understand these things. But there are ways of +getting money by mortgages and loans, and paying them off, without losing +the property.' + +'I've the greatest possible objection to raising money in that way. It +is, in fact, the first step towards ruin; and nobody has ever done it who +has not regretted that he did not sell instead.' + +'I won't sell Five Oaks, Stanley,' said the young lady, seriously. + +'I only said a part,' replied Stanley. + +'I won't sell at all.' + +'Oh? And _I_ won't mortgage,' said Stanley. 'Then the thing can't go on?' + +'I can't help it.' + +'But I'm resolved it _shall_,' answered Stanley. + +'I tell you, Stanley, plainly, I will not sell. The Brandon estate shall +not be diminished in my time.' + +'Why, you perverse idiot, don't you perceive you impair the estate as +much by mortgaging as by selling, with ten times the ultimate danger. I +tell you _I_ won't mortgage, and _you shall sell_.' + +'This, Sir, is the first time I have been spoken to in such terms.' + +'And why do you contradict and thwart me upon business of which I know +something and you nothing? What object on earth can I have in impairing +the estate? I've as deep an interest in it as you. It is perfectly plain +we should sell; and I am determined we shall. Come now, Dorcas--I'm +sorry--I'm such a brute, you know, when I'm vexed. You mustn't be angry; +and if you'll be a good girl, and trust me in matters of business----' + +'Stanley, I tell you plainly once more, I never will consent to sell one +acre of the Brandon estates.' + +'Then we'll see what I can do without you, Dorkie,' he said in a +pleasant, musing way. + +He was now looking down, with his sly, malign smile; and Dorcas could +almost fancy two yellow lights reflected upon the floor. + +'I shall protect the property of my family, Sir, from your folly or your +machinations; and I shall write to Chelford, as my trustee, to come here +to advise me.' + +'And I snap my fingers at you both, and meet you with _defiance_;' and +Stanley's singular eyes glared upon her for a few seconds. + +Dorcas turned in her grand way, and walked slowly toward the door. + +'Stay a moment, I'm going,' said Stanley, overtaking and confronting her +near the door. 'I've only one word. I don't think you quite know me. It +will be an evil day for you, Dorkie, when you quarrel with me.' + +He looked steadily on her, smiling for a second or two more, and then +glided from the conservatory. + +It was the first time Dorcas had seen Stanley Lake's features in that +translated state which indicated the action of his evil nature, and the +apparition haunted her for many a day and night. + + + + +CHAPTER LVII. + +CONCERNING A NEW DANGER WHICH THREATENED CAPTAIN STANLEY LAKE. + + +The ambitious captain walked out, sniffing, white, and incensed. There +was an air of immovable resolution in the few words which Dorcas had +spoken which rather took him by surprise. The captain was a terrorist. He +acted instinctively on the theory that any good that was to be got from +human beings was to be extracted from their fears. He had so operated on +Mark Wylder; and so sought to coerce his sister Rachel. He had hopes, +too, of ultimately catching the good attorney napping, and leading him +too, bound and docile, into his ergastulum, although he was himself just +now in jeopardy from that quarter. James Dutton, too. Sooner or later he +would get Master Jim into a fix, and hold him also spell-bound in the +same sort of nightmare. + +It was not from malice. The worthy attorney had much more of that leaven +than he. Stanley Lake did not care to smash any man, except such as stood +in his way. He had a mercantile genius, and never exercised his craft, +violence and ferocity, on men or objects, when no advantage was +obtainable by so doing. When, however, fortune so placed them that one or +other must go to the wall, Captain Stanley Lake was awfully unscrupulous. +But, having disabled, and struck him down, and won the stakes, he would +have given what remained of him his cold, white hand to shake, or sipped +claret with him at his own table, and told him stories, and entertained +him with sly, sarcastic sallies, and thought how he could make use of him +in an amicable way. + +But Stanley Lake's cold, commercial genius, his craft and egotism, were +frustrated occasionally by his temper, which, I am afraid, with all its +external varnish, was of the sort which is styled diabolical. People said +also, what is true of most terrorists, that he was himself quite capable +of being frightened; and also, that he lied with too fertile an audacity: +and, like a man with too many bills afloat, forgot his endorsements +occasionally, and did not recognise his own acceptances when presented +after an interval. Such were some of this dangerous fellow's weak points. +But on the whole it was by no means a safe thing to cross his path; and +few who did so came off altogether scathless. + +He pursued his way with a vague feeling of danger and rage, having +encountered an opposition of so much more alarming a character than he +had anticipated, and found his wife not only competent _ferre aspectum_ +to endure his maniacal glare and scowl, but serenely to defy his violence +and his wrath. He had abundance of matter for thought and perturbation, +and felt himself, when the images of Larcom, Larkin, and Jim Dutton +crossed the retina of his memory, some thrill of the fear which 'hath +torment'--the fear of a terrible coercion which he liked so well to +practise in the case of others. + +In this mood he paced, without minding in what direction he went, under +those great rows of timber which over-arch the pathway leading toward +Redman's Dell--the path that he and Mark Wylder had trod in that misty +moonlight walk on which I had seen them set out together. + +Before he had walked five minutes in this direction, he was encountered +by a little girl in a cloak, who stopped and dropped a courtesy. The +captain stopped also, and looked at her with a stare which, I suppose, +had something forbidding in it, for the child was frightened. But the +wild and menacing look was unconscious, and only the reflection of the +dark speculations and passions which were tumbling and breaking in his +soul. + +'Well, child,' said he, gently, 'I think I know your face, but I forget +your name.' + +'Little Margery, please Sir, from Miss Lake at Redman's Farm,' she +replied with a courtesy. + +'Oh! to be sure, yes. And how is Miss Rachel?' + +'Very bad with a headache, please, Sir.' + +'Is she at home?' + +'Yes, Sir, please.' + +'Any message?' + +'Yes, Sir, please--a note for you, Sir;' and she produced a note, rather, +indeed, a letter. + +'She desired me, Sir, please, to give it into your own hand, if I could, +and not to leave it, please, Sir, unless you were at home when I +reached.' + +He read the direction, and dropped it unopened into the pocket of his +shooting coat. The peevish glance with which he eyed it betrayed a +presentiment of something unpleasant. + +'Any answer required?' + +'No, Sir, please--only to leave it.' + +'And Miss Lake is quite well?' + +'No, Sir, please--a bad headache to-day.' + +'Oh! I'm very sorry, indeed. Tell her so. She is at home, is she?' + +'Yes, Sir.' + +'Very well; that's all. Say I am very sorry to hear she is suffering; and +if I can find time, I hope to see her to-day; and remember to say I have +not read her letter, but if I find it requires an answer, it shall have +one.' + +He looked round like a man newly awakened, and up among the great boughs +and interlacing foliage of the noble trees, and the child made him two +courtesies, and departed towards Redman's Farm. + +Lake sauntered back slowly toward the Hall. On his way, a rustic seat +under the shadow invited him, and he sat down, drawing Rachel's letter +from his pocket. + +What a genius they have for teasing! How women do contrive to waste our +time and patience over nonsense! How ingeniously perverse their whimsies +are! I do believe Beelzebub employs them still, as he did in Eden, for +the special plague of us, poor devils. Here's a lecture or an exhortation +from Miss Radie, and a quantity of infinitely absurd advice, all which I +am to read and inwardly digest, and discuss with her whenever she +pleases. I've a great mind to burn it quietly.' + +But he applied his match, instead, to his cigar; and having got it well +lighted, he leaned back, and broke the seal, and read this letter, which, +I suspect, notwithstanding his preliminary thoughts, he fancied might +contain matter of more practical import:-- + +'I write to you, my beloved and only brother, Stanley, in an altered +state of mind, and with clearer views of duty than, I think, I have ever +had before.' + +'Just as I conjectured,' muttered Stanley, with a bitter smile, as he +shook the ashes off the top of his cigar--'a woman's homily.' + +He read on, and a livid frown gradually contracted his forehead as he did +so. + +'I do not know, Stanley, what your feelings may be. Mine have been the +same ever since that night in which I was taken into a confidence so +dreadful. The circumstances are fearful; but far more dreadful to me, the +mystery in which I have lived ever since. I sometimes think I have only +myself to blame. But you know, my poor brother, why I consented, and with +what agony. Ever since, I have lived in terror, and worse, in +degradation. I did not know, until it was too late, how great was my +guilt. Heaven knows, when I consented to that journey, I did not +comprehend its full purpose, though I knew enough to have warned me of my +danger, and undertook it in great fear and anguish of mind. I can never +cease to mourn over my madness. Oh! Stanley, you do not know what it is +to feel, as I do, the shame and treachery of my situation; to try to +answer the smiles of those who, at least, once loved me, and to take +their hands; to kiss Dorcas and good Dolly; and feel that all the time I +am a vile impostor, stained incredibly, from whom, if they knew me, they +would turn in horror and disgust. Now, Stanley, I can bear anything but +this baseness--anything but the life-long practice of perfidy--that, I +will not and cannot endure. _Dorcas must know the truth._ That there is a +secret jealously guarded from her, she does know--no woman could fail to +perceive that; and there are few, Stanley, who would not prefer the +certainty of the worst, to the anguish of such relations of mystery and +reserve with a _husband_. She is clever, she is generous, and has many +noble qualities. She will see what is right, and do it. Me she may hate, +and must despise; but that were to me more endurable than friendship +gained on false pretences. I repeat, therefore, Stanley, that _Dorcas +must know the whole truth_. Do not suppose, my poor brother, that I write +from impulse--I have deeply thought on the subject.' + +'_Deeply_,' repeated Stanley, with a sneer. + +'And the more I reflect, the more am I convinced--if _you_ will not tell +her, Stanley, that _I_ must. But it will be wiser and better, terrible as +it may be, that the revelation should come from _you_, whom she has made +her husband. The dreadful confidence would be more terrible from any +other. Be courageous then, Stanley; you will be happier when you have +disclosed the truth, and released, at all events, one of your victims. + +'Your sorrowful and only sister, + +'RACHEL.' + + +On finishing the letter, Stanley rose quickly to his feet. He had become +gradually so absorbed in reading it, that he laid his cigar unconsciously +beside him, and suffered it to go out. With downcast look, and an angry +contortion, he tore the sheets of note-paper across, and was on the point +of reducing them to a thousand little snow flakes, and giving them to the +wind, when, on second thoughts, he crumpled them together, and thrust +them into his breast pocket. + +His excitement was too intense for foul terms, or even blasphemy. With +the edge of his nether lip nipped in his teeth, and his clenched hands in +his pockets, he walked through the forest trees to the park, and in his +solitudes hurried onward as if his life depended on his speed. Gradually +he recovered his self-possession. He sat down under the shade of a knot +of beech trees, overlooking that ill-omened tarn, which we have often +mentioned, upon a lichen-stained rock, his chin resting on his clenched +hand, his elbow on his knee, and the heel of his other foot stamping out +bits of the short, green sod. + +'That d--d girl deserves to be shot for her treachery,' was the first +sentence that broke from his white lips. + +It certainly was an amazing outrage upon his self-esteem, that the secret +which was the weapon of terror by which he meant to rule his sister +Rachel, should, by her slender hand, be taken so easily from his grasp, +and lifted to crush him. + +The captain's plans were not working by any means so smoothly as he had +expected. That sudden stab from Jos. Larkin, whom he always despised, and +now hated--whom he believed to be a fifth-rate, pluckless rogue, without +audacity, without invention; whom he was on the point of tripping up, +that he should have turned short and garotted the gallant captain, was a +provoking turn of fortune. + +That when a dire necessity subjugated his will, his contempt, his rage, +and he inwardly decided that the attorney's extortion must be submitted +to, his wife--whom he never made any account of in the transaction, whom +he reckoned carelessly on turning about as he pleased, by a few +compliments and cajoleries--should have started up, cold and inflexible +as marble, in his path, to forbid the payment of the black mail, and +expose him to the unascertained and formidable consequences of Dutton's +story, and the disappointed attorney's vengeance--was another stroke of +luck which took him altogether by surprise. + +And to crown all, Miss Radie had grown tired of keeping her own secret, +and must needs bring to light the buried disgraces which all concerned +were equally interested in hiding away for ever. + +Stanley Lake's position, if all were known, was at this moment formidable +enough. But he had been fifty times over, during his brief career, in +scrapes of a very menacing kind; once or twice, indeed, of the most +alarming nature. His temper, his craft, his impetus, were always driving +him into projects and situations more or less critical. Sometimes he won, +sometimes he failed; but his audacious energy hitherto had extricated +him. The difficulties of his present situation were, however, appalling, +and almost daunted his semi-diabolical energies. + +From Rachel to Dorcas, from Dorcas to the attorney, and from him to +Dutton, and back again, he rambled in the infernal litany he muttered +over the inauspicious tarn, among the enclosing banks and undulations, +and solitary and lonely woods. + +'Lake Avernus,' said a hollow voice behind him, and a long grisly hand +was laid on his shoulder. + +A cold breath of horror crept from his brain to his heel, as he turned +about and saw the large, blanched features and glassy eyes of Uncle Lorne +bent over him. + +'Oh, Lake Avernus, is it?' said Lake, with an angry sneer, and raising +his hat with a mock reverence. + +'Ay! it is the window of hell, and the spirits in prison come up to see +the light of it. Did you see him looking up?' said Uncle Lorne, with his +pallid smile. + +'Oh! of course--Napoleon Bonaparte leaning on old Dr. Simcock's arm,' +answered Lake. + +It was odd, in the sort of ghastly banter in which he played off this old +man, how much hatred was perceptible. + +'No--not he. It is Mark Wylder,' said Uncle Lorne; 'his face comes up +like a white fish within a fathom of the top--it makes me laugh. That's +the way they keep holiday. Can you tell by the sky when it is holiday in +hell? _I_ can.' + +And he laughed, and rubbed his long fingers together softly. + +'Look! ha! ha!--Look! ha! ha! ha!--_Look!_' he resumed pointing with his +cadaverous forefinger towards the middle of the pool. + +'I told you this morning it was a holiday,' and he laughed very quietly +to himself. + +'Look how his nostrils go like a fish's gills. It is a funny way for a +gentleman, and _he's_ a gentleman. Every fool knows the Wylders are +gentlemen--all gentlemen in misfortune. He has a brother that is walking +about in his coffin. Mark has no coffin; it is all marble steps; and a +wicked seraph received him, and blessed him till his hair stood up. Let +me whisper you.' + +'No, not just at this moment, please,' said Lake, drawing away, +disgusted, from the maniacal leer and titter of the gigantic old man. + +'Aye, aye--another time--some night there's aurora borealis in the sky. +You know this goes under ground all the way to Vallambrosa?' + +'Thank you; I was not aware: that's very convenient. Had you not better +go down and speak to your friend in the water?' + +'Young man, I bless you for remembering,' said Uncle Lorne, solemnly. +'What was Mark Wylder's religion, that I may speak to him comfortably?' + +'An Anabaptist, I conjecture, from his present situation,' replied Lake. + +'No, that's in the lake of fire, where the wicked seraphim and cherubim +baptise, and anabaptise, and hold them under, with a great stone laid +across their breasts. I only know two of their clergy--the African vicar, +quite a gentleman, and speaks through his nose; and the archbishop with +wings; his face is so burnt, he's all eyes and mouth, and on one hand has +only one finger, and he tickles me with it till I almost give up the +ghost. The ghost of Miss Baily is a lie, he said, by my soul; and he +likes you--he loves you. Shall I write it all in a book, and give it you? +I meet Mark Wylder in three places sometimes. Don't move, till I go down; +he's as easily frightened as a fish.' + +And Uncle Lorne crept down the bank, tacking, and dodging, and all the +time laughing softly to himself; and sometimes winking with a horrid, +wily grimace at Stanley, who fervently wished him at the bottom of the +tarn. + +'I say,' said Stanley, addressing the keeper, whom by a beck he had +brought to his side, 'you don't allow him, surely, to go alone now?' + +'No, Sir--since your order, Sir,' said the stern, reserved official. + +'Nor to come into any place but this--the park, I mean?' + +'No, Sir.' + +'And do you mind, try and get him home always before nightfall. It is +easy to frighten him. Find out what frightens him, and do it or say it. +It is dangerous, don't you see? and he might break his d--d neck any time +among those rocks and gullies, or get away altogether from you in the +dark.' + +So the keeper, at the water's brink, joined Uncle Lorne, who was talking, +after his fashion, into the dark pool. And Stanley Lake--a general in +difficulties--retraced his steps toward the park gate through which he +had come, ruminating on his situation and resources. + + + + +CHAPTER LVIII. + +MISS RACHEL LAKE BECOMES VIOLENT. + + +So soon as the letter which had so surprised and incensed Stanley Lake +was despatched, and beyond recall, Rachel, who had been indescribably +agitated before, grew all at once calm. She knew that she had done right. +She was glad the die was cast, and that it was out of her power to +retract. + +She kneeled at her bedside, and wept and prayed, and then went down and +talked with old Tamar, who was knitting in the shade by the porch. + +Then the young lady put on her bonnet and cloak, and walked down to +Gylingden, with an anxious, but still a lighter heart, to see her friend, +Dolly Wylder. + +Dolly received her in a glad sort of fuss. + +'I'm so glad to see you, Miss Lake.' + +'Call me Rachel; and won't you let me call you Dolly?' + +'Well, Rachel, dear,' replied Dolly, laughing, 'I'm delighted you're +come; I have such good news--but I can't tell it till I think for a +minute--I must begin at the beginning.' + +'Anywhere, everywhere, only if it is good news, let me hear it at once. +I'll be sure to understand.' + +'Well, Miss--I mean Rachel, dear--you know--I may tell you now--the +vicar--my dear Willie--he and I--we've been in great trouble--oh, such +trouble--Heaven _only_ knows--' and she dried her eyes quickly--'money, +my dear--' and she smiled with a bewildered shrug--'some debts at +Cambridge--no fault of his--you can't imagine what a saving darling he +is--but these were a few old things that mounted up with interest, my +dear--you understand--and law costs--oh, you can't think--and indeed, +dear Miss--well, _Rachel_--I forgot--I sometimes thought we must be quite +ruined.' + +'Oh, Dolly, dear,' said Rachel, very pale, 'I feared it. I thought you +might be troubled about money. I was not sure, but I was afraid; and, to +say truth, it was partly to try your friendship with a question on that +very point that I came here, and not indeed, Dolly, dear, from +impertinent curiosity, but in the hope that maybe you might allow me to +be of some use.' + +'How wonderfully good you are! How friends are raised up!' and with a +smile that shone like an April sun through her tears, she stood on +tiptoe, and kissed the tall young lady, who--not smiling, but with a pale +and very troubled face--bowed down and returned her kiss. + +'You know, dear, before he went, Mark promised to lend dear Willie a +large sum of money. Well, he went away in such a hurry, that he never +thought of it; and though he constantly wrote to Mr. Larkin--you have no +idea, my dear Miss Lake, what a blessed angel that man is--oh! _such_ a +friend as has been raised up to us in that holy and wise man, words +cannot express; but what was I saying?--oh, yes--Mark, you know--it was +very kind, but he has so many things on his mind it quite escaped +him--and he keeps, you know, wandering about on the Continent, and never +gives his address; so he, can't, you see, be written to; and the +delay--but, Rachel, darling, are you ill?' + +She rang the bell, and opened the window, and got some water. + +'My darling, you walked too fast here. You were very near fainting.' + +'No, dear--nothing--I am quite well now--go on.' + +But she did not go on immediately, for Rachel was trembling in a kind of +shivering fit, which did not pass away till after poor Dolly, who had no +other stimulant at command, made her drink a cup of very hot milk. + +'Thank you, darling. You are too good to me, Dolly. Oh! Dolly, you are +too good to me.' + +Rachel's eyes were looking into hers with a careworn, entreating gaze, +and her cold hand was pressed on the back of Dolly's. + +Nearly ten minutes passed before the talk was renewed. + +'Well, now, what do you think--that good man, Mr. Larkin, just as things +were at the worst, found a way to make everything--oh, blessed +mercy!--the hand of Heaven, my dear--quite right again--and we'll be so +happy. Like a bird I could sing, and fly almost--a foolish old thing--ha! +ha! ha!--such an old goose!' and she wiped her eyes again. + +'Hush! is that Fairy? Oh, no, it is only Anne singing. Little man has not +been well yesterday and to-day. He won't eat, and looks pale, but he +slept very well, my darling man; and Doctor Buddle--I met him this +morning--so kindly took him into his room, and examined him, and says it +may be nothing at all, please Heaven,' and she sighed, smiling still. + +'Dear little Fairy--where is he?' asked Rachel, her sad eyes looking +toward the door. + +'In the study with his Wapsie. Mrs. Woolaston, she is such a kind soul, +lent him such a beautiful old picture book--"Woodward's Eccentricities" +it is called--and he's quite happy--little Fairy, on his little stool at +the window.' + +'No headache or fever?' asked Miss Lake cheerfully, though, she knew not +why, there seemed something ominous in this little ailment. + +'None at all; oh, none, thank you; none in the world. I'd be so +frightened if there was. But, thank Heaven, Doctor Buddle says there's +nothing to make us at all uneasy. My blessed little man! And he has his +canary in the cage in the window, and his kitten to play with in the +study. He's quite happy.' + +'Please Heaven, he'll be quite well to-morrow--the darling little man,' +said Rachel, all the more fondly for that vague omen that seemed to say, +'He's gone.' + +'Here's Mr. Larkin!' cried Dolly, jumping up, and smiling and nodding at +the window to that long and natty apparition, who glided to the hall-door +with a sad smile, raising his well-brushed hat as he passed, and with one +grim glance beyond Mrs. Wylder, for his sharp eye half detected another +presence in the room. + +He was followed, not accompanied--for Mr. Larkin knew what a gentleman he +was--by a young and bilious clerk, with black hair and a melancholy +countenance, and by old Buggs--his conducting man--always grinning, whose +red face glared in the little garden like a great bunch of hollyhocks. He +was sober as a judge all the morning, and proceeded strictly on the +principle of business first, and pleasure afterward. But his orgies, when +off duty, were such as to cause the good attorney, when complaints +reached him, to shake his head, and sigh profoundly, and sometimes to +lift up his mild eyes and long hands; and, indeed, so scandalous an +appendage was Buggs, that if he had been less useful, I believe the pure +attorney, who, in the uncomfortable words of John Bunyan, 'had found a +cleaner road to hell,' would have cashiered him long ago. + +'There is that awful Mr. Buggs,' said Dolly, with a look of honest alarm. +'I often wonder so Christian a man as Mr. Larkin can countenance him. He +is hardly ever without a black eye. He has been three nights together +without once putting off his clothes--think of that; and, my dear, on +Friday week he fell through the window of the Fancy Emporium, at two +o'clock in the morning; and Doctor Buddle says if the cut on his jaw had +been half an inch lower, he would have cut some artery, and lost his +life--wretched man!' + +'They have come about law business, Dolly!' enquired the young lady, who +had a profound, instinctive dread of Mr. Larkin. + +'Yes, my dear; a most important windfall. Only for Mr. Larkin, it never +could have been accomplished, and, indeed, I don't think it would ever +have been thought of.' + +'I hope he has some one to advise him,' said Miss Lake, anxiously. 'I--I +think Mr. Larkin a very cunning person; and you know your husband does +not understand business.' + +'Is it Mr. Larkin, my dear? Mr. Larkin! Why, my dear, if you knew him as +we do, you'd trust your life in his hands.' + +'But there are people who know him still better; and I think they fancy +he is a very crafty man. I do not like him myself, and Dorcas Brandon +dislikes him too; and, though I don't think we could either give a +reason--I don't know, Dolly, but I should not like to trust him.' + +'But, my dear, he is an excellent man, and such a friend, and he has +managed all this most troublesome business so delightfully. It is what +they call a reversion.' + +'William Wylder is not selling his reversion?' said Rachel, fixing a wild +and startled look on her companion. + +'Yes, reversion, I am sure, is the name. And why not, dear? It is most +unlikely we should ever get a farthing of it any other way, and it will +give us enough to make us quite happy.' + +'But, my darling, don't you know the reversion under the will is a great +_fortune_? He must not think of it;' and up started Rachel, and before +Dolly could interpose or remonstrate, she had crossed the little hall, +and entered the homely study, where the gentlemen were conferring. + +William Wylder was sitting at his desk, and a large sheet of law +scrivenery, on thick paper, with a stamp in the corner, was before him. +The bald head of the attorney, as he leaned over him, and indicated an +imaginary line with his gold pencil-case, was presented toward Miss Lake +as she entered. + +The attorney had just said '_there_, please,' in reply to the vicar's +question, 'Where do I write my name?' and red Buggs, grinning with his +mouth open, like an over-heated dog, and the sad and bilious young +gentleman, stood by to witness the execution of the cleric's autograph. + +Tall Jos. Larkin looked up, smiling with his mouth also a little open, as +was his wont when he was particularly affable. But the rat's eyes were +looking at her with a hungry suspicion, and smiled not. + +'William Wylder, I am so glad I'm in time,' said Rachel, rustling across +the room. + +'_There_,' said the attorney, very peremptorily, and making a little +furrow in the thick paper with the seal end of his pencil. + +'Stop, William Wylder, don't sign; I've a word to say--you _must_ pause.' + +'If it affects our business, Miss Lake, I do request that you address +yourself to me; if not, may I beg, Miss Lake, that you will defer it for +a moment.' + +'William Wylder, lay down that pen; as you love your little boy, lay it +_down_, and hear me,' continued Miss Lake. + +The vicar looked at her with his eyes wide open, puzzled, like a man who +is not quite sure whether he may not be doing something wrong. + +'I--really, Miss Lake--pardon me, but this is very irregular, and, in +fact, unprecedented!' said Jos. Larkin. 'I think--I suppose, you can +hardly be aware, Ma'am, that I am here as the Rev. Mr. Wylder's +confidential solicitor, acting solely for him, in a matter of a strictly +private nature.' + +The attorney stood erect, a little flushed, with that peculiar +contraction, mean and dangerous, in his eyes. + +'Of course, Mr. Wylder, if you, Sir, desire me to leave, I shall +instantaneously do so; and, indeed, unless you proceed to sign, I had +better go, as my time is generally, I may say, a little pressed upon, and +I have, in fact, some business elsewhere to attend to.' + +'What _is_ this law-paper?' demanded Rachel, laying the tips of her +slender fingers upon it. + +'Am I to conclude that you withdraw from your engagement?' asked Mr. +Larkin. 'I had better, then, communicate with Burlington and Smith by +this post; as also with the sheriff, who has been very kind.' + +'Oh, no!--oh, no, Mr. Larkin!--pray, I'm quite ready to sign.' + +'Now, William Wylder, you _sha'n't_ sign until you tell me whether this +is a sale of your reversion.' + +The young lady had her white hand firmly pressed upon the spot where he +was to sign, and the ring that glittered on her finger looked like a +talisman interposing between the poor vicar and the momentous act he was +meditating. + +'I think, Miss Lake, it is pretty plain you are not acting for yourself +here--you have been sent, Ma'am,' said the attorney, looking very +vicious, and speaking a little huskily and hurriedly; 'I quite conceive +by whom.' + +'I don't know what you mean, Sir,' replied Miss Lake, with grave disdain. + +'You have been commissioned, Ma'am, I venture to think, to come here to +watch the interests of another party.' + +'I say, Sir, I don't in the least comprehend you.' + +'I think it is pretty obvious, Ma'am--Miss Lake, I beg pardon--you have +had some conversation with your _brother_,' answered the attorney, with a +significant sneer. + +'I don't know what you mean, Sir, I repeat. I've just heard, in the other +room, from your wife, William Wylder, that you were about selling your +reversion in the estates, and I want to know whether that is so; for if +it be, it is the act of a madman, and I'll prevent it, if I possibly +can.' + +'Upon my word! possibly'--said the vicar, his eyes very wide open, and +looking with a hesitating gaze from Rachel to the attorney--'there may be +something in it which neither you nor I know; does it not strike you--had +we not better consider?' + +'Consider _what_, Sir?' said the attorney, with a snap, and losing his +temper somewhat. 'It is simply, Sir, that this young lady represents +Captain Lake, who wishes to get the reversion for himself.' + +'That is utterly false, Sir!' said Miss Lake, flashing and blushing with +indignation. 'You, William, are a _gentleman_; and such inconceivable +meanness cannot enter _your_ mind.' + +The attorney, with what he meant to be a polished sarcasm, bowed and +smiled toward Miss Lake. + +Pale little Fairy, sitting before his 'picture-book,' was watching the +scene with round eyes and round mouth, and that mixture of interest, awe, +and distress, with which children witness the uncomprehended excitement +and collision of their elders. + +'My dear Miss Lake, I respect and esteem you; you quite mistake, I am +persuaded, my good friend Mr. Larkin; and, indeed, I don't quite +comprehend; but if it were so, and that your brother really wished--do +you think he does, Mr. Larkin?--to buy the reversion, he might think it +more valuable, perhaps.' + +'I can say with certainty, Sir, that from that quarter you would get +nothing like what you have agreed to take; and I must say, once for all, +Sir, that--quite setting aside every consideration of honour and of +conscience, and of the highly prejudicial position in which you would +place me as a man of business, by taking the very _short turn_ which this +young lady, Miss Lake, suggests--your letters amount to an equitable +agreement to sell, which, on petition, the court would compel you to do.' + +'So you see, my dear Miss Lake, there is no more to be said,' said the +vicar, with a careworn smile, looking upon Rachel's handsome face. + +'Now, now, we are all friends, aren't we?' said poor Dolly, who could not +make anything of the debate, and was staring, with open mouth, from one +speaker to another. 'We are all agreed, are not we? You are all so good, +and fond of Willie, that you are actually ready almost to quarrel for +him.' But her little laugh produced no echo, except a very joyless and +flushed effort from the attorney, as he looked up from consulting his +watch. + +'Eleven minutes past three,' said he, 'and I've a meeting at my house at +half-past: so, unless you complete that instrument _now_, I regret to say +I must take it back unfinished, and the result may be to defeat the +arrangement altogether, and if the consequences should prove serious, I, +at least, am not to blame.' + +'Don't sign, I entreat, I _implore_ of you. William Wylder, you +_shan't_.' + +'But, my dear Miss Lake, we have considered everything, and Mr. Larkin +and I agree that my circumstances are such as to make it inevitable.' + +'Really, this is child's play; _there_, if you please,' said the +attorney, once more. + +Rachel Lake, during the discussion, had removed her hand. The +faintly-traced line on which the vicar was to sign was now fairly +presented to him. + +'Just in your usual way,' murmured Mr. Larkin. + +So the vicar's pen was applied, but before he had time to trace the first +letter of his name, Rachel Lake resolutely snatched the thick, bluish +sheet of scrivenery, with its handsome margins, and red ink lines, from +before him, and tore it across and across, with the quickness of terror, +and in fewer seconds than one could fancy, it lay about the floor and +grate in pieces little bigger than dominoes. + +The attorney made a hungry snatch at the paper, over William Wylder's +shoulder, nearly bearing that gentleman down on his face, but his clutch +fell short. + +'Hallo! Miss Lake, Ma'am--the paper!' + +But wild words were of no avail. The whole party, except Rachel, were +aghast. The attorney's small eye glanced over the ground and hearthstone, +where the bits were strewn, like + + Ladies' smocks, all silver white, + That paint the meadows with delight. + +He had nothing for it but to submit to fortune with his best air. He +stood erect; a slanting beam from the window glimmered on his tall, bald +head, and his face was black and menacing as the summit of a +thunder-crowned peak. + +'You are not aware, Miss Lake, of the nature of your act, and of the +consequences to which you have exposed yourself, Madam. But that is a +view of the occurrence in which, except as a matter of deep regret, I +cannot be supposed to be immediately interested. I will mention, however, +that your interference, your _violent_ interference, Madam, may be +attended with most serious consequences to my reverend client, for which, +of course, you constituted yourself fully responsible, when you entered +on the course of unauthorised interference, which has resulted in +destroying the articles of agreement, prepared with great care and +labour, for his protection; and retarding the transmission of the +document, by at least four-and-twenty hours, to London. You may, Madam, I +regret to observe, have ruined my client.' + +'Saved him, I hope.' + +'And run yourself, Madam, into a _very_ serious scrape.' + +'Upon that point you have said quite enough, Sir. Dolly, William, don't +look so frightened; you'll both live to thank me for this.' + +All this time little Fairy, unheeded, was bawling in great anguish of +soul, clinging to Rachel's dress, and crying--'Oh! he'll hurt her--he'll +hurt her--he'll hurt her. Don't let him--don't let him. Wapsie, don't let +him. Oh! the frightle man!--don't let him--he'll hurt her--the frightle +man!' And little man's cheeks were drenched in tears, and his wee feet +danced in an agony of terror on the floor, as, bawling, he tried to pull +his friend Rachel into a corner. + +'Nonsense, little man,' cried his father, with quick reproof, on hearing +this sacrilegious uproar. 'Mr. Larkin never hurt anyone; tut, tut; sit +down, and look at your book.' + +But Rachel, with a smile of love and gratification, lifted the little man +up in her arms, and kissed him; and his thin, little legs were clasped +about her waist, and his arms round her neck, and he kissed her with his +wet face, devouringly, blubbering 'the frightle man--you doatie!--the +frightle man!' + +'Then, Mr. Wylder, I shall have the document prepared again from the +draft. You'll see to that, Mr. Buggs, please; and perhaps it will be +better that you should look in at the Lodge.' + +When he mentioned the Lodge, it was in so lofty a way that a stranger +would have supposed it something very handsome indeed, and one of the +sights of the county. + +'Say, about nine o'clock to-morrow morning. Farewell, Mr. Wylder, +farewell. I regret the enhanced expense--I regret the delay--I regret the +risk--I regret, in fact, the whole scene. Farewell, Mrs. Wylder.' And +with a silent bow to Rachel--perfectly polished, perfectly terrible--he +withdrew, followed by the sallow clerk, and by that radiant scamp, old +Buggs, who made them several obeisances at the door. + +'Oh, dear Miss Lake--Rachel, I mean--Rachel, dear, I hope it won't be all +off. Oh, you don't know--Heaven only knows--the danger we are in. Oh, +Rachel, dear, if this is broken off, I don't know what is to become of +us--I don't know.' + +Dolly spoke quite wildly, with her hands on Rachel's shoulders. It was +the first time she had broken down, the first time, at least, the vicar +had seen her anything but cheery, and his head sank, and it seemed as if +his last light had gone out, and he was quite benighted. + +'Do you think,' said he, 'there is much danger of that? Do you really +think so?' + +'Now, don't blame me,' said Miss Lake, 'and don't be frightened till you +have heard me. Let us sit down here--we shan't be interrupted--and just +answer your wretched friend, Rachel, two or three questions, and hear +what she has to say.' + +Rachel was flushed and excited, and sat with the little boy still in her +arms. + +So, in reply to her questions, the vicar told her frankly how he stood; +and Rachel said--'Well, you must not think of selling your reversion. Oh! +think of your little boy--think of Dolly--if _you_ were taken away from +her.' + +'But,' said Dolly, 'Mr. Larkin heard from Captain Lake that Mark is +privately married, and actually has, he says, a large family; and he, you +know, has letters from him, and Mr. Larkin thinks, knows more than anyone +else about him; and if that were so, none of us would ever inherit the +property. So'-- + +'_Do_ they say that Mark is married? Nothing can be more _false_. I +_know_ it is altogether a falsehood. He neither is nor ever will be +married. If my brother _dared_ say that in my presence, I would make him +confess, before you, that he _knows_ it cannot be. Oh! my poor little +Fairy--my poor Dolly--my poor good friend, William! What shall I say? I +am in great distraction of mind.' And she hugged and kissed the pale +little boy, she herself paler. + +'Listen to me, good and kind as you are. You are never to call me your +friend, mind that. I am a most unhappy creature forced by circumstances +to be your enemy, for a time--not always. You have no conception _how_, +and may never even suspect. Don't ask me, but listen.' + +Wonder stricken and pained was the countenance with which the vicar gazed +upon her, and Dolly looked both frightened and perplexed. + +'I have a little more than three hundred a-year. There is a little +annuity charged on Sir Hugh Landon's estate, and his solicitor has +written, offering me six hundred pounds for it. I will write to-night +accepting that offer, and you shall have the money to pay those debts +which have been pressing so miserably upon you. _Don't_ thank--not a +word--but listen. I would so like, Dolly, to come and live with you. We +could unite our incomes. I need only bring poor old Tamar with me, and I +can give up Redman's Farm in September next. I should be so much happier; +and I think my income and yours joined would enable us to live without +any danger of getting into debt. Will you agree to this, Dolly, dear; and +promise me, William Wylder, that you will think no more of selling that +reversion, which may be the splendid provision of your dear little boy. +Don't thank me--don't say anything now; and oh! don't reject my poor +entreaty. Your refusal would almost make me mad. I would try, Dolly, to +be of use. I think I could. Only try me.' + +She fancied she saw in Dolly's face, under all her gratitude, some +perplexity and hesitation, and feared to accept a decision then. So she +hurried away, with a hasty and kind good-bye. + +A fortnight before, I think, during Dolly's jealous fit, this magnificent +offer of Rachel's would, notwithstanding the dreadful necessities of the +case, have been coldly received by the poor little woman. But that +delusion was quite cured now--no reserve, or doubt, or coldness left +behind. And Dolly and the vicar felt that Rachel's noble proposal was the +making of them. + + + + +CHAPTER LIX. + +AN ENEMY IN REDMAN'S DELL. + + +Jos. Larkin grew more and more uncomfortable about the unexpected +interposition of Rachel Lake as the day wore on. He felt, with an +unerring intuition, that the young lady both despised and suspected him. +He also knew that she was impetuous and clever, and he feared from that +small white hand a fatal mischief--he could not tell exactly how--to his +plans. + +Jim Dutton's letter had somehow an air of sobriety and earnestness, which +made way with his convictions. His doubts and suspicions had subsided, +and he now believed, with a profound moral certainty, that Mark Wylder +was actually dead, within the precincts of a mad-house or of some lawless +place of detention abroad. What was that to the purpose? Dutton might +arrive at any moment. Low fellows are always talking; and the story might +get abroad before the assignment of the vicar's interest. Of course there +was something speculative in the whole transaction, but he had made his +book well, and by his 'arrangement' with Captain Lake, whichever way the +truth lay, he stood to win. So the attorney had no notion of allowing +this highly satisfactory arithmetic to be thrown into confusion by the +fillip of a small gloved finger. + +On the whole he was not altogether sorry for the delay. Everything worked +together he knew. One or two covenants and modifications in the articles +had struck him as desirable, on reading the instrument over with William +Wylder. He also thought a larger consideration should be stated and +acknowledged as paid, say 22,000_l._ The vicar would really receive just +2,200_l._ 'Costs' would do something to reduce the balance, for Jos. +Larkin was one of those oxen who, when treading out corn, decline to be +muzzled. The remainder was--the vicar would clearly understand--one of +those ridiculous pedantries of law, upon which our system of crotchets +and fictions insisted. And William Wylder, whose character, simply and +sensitively honourable, Mr. Larkin appreciated, was to write to +Burlington and Smith a letter, for the satisfaction of their speculative +and nervous client, pledging his honour, as a gentleman, and his +conscience, as a Christian, that in the event of the sale being +completed, he would never do, countenance, or permit, any act or +proceeding, whatsoever, tending on any ground to impeach or invalidate +the transaction. + +'I've no objection--have I?--to write such a letter,' asked the vicar of +his adviser. + +'Why, I suppose you have no intention of trying to defeat your own act, +and that is all the letter would go to. I look on it as wholly +unimportant, and it is really not a point worth standing upon for a +second.' + +So that also was agreed to. + +Now while the improved 'instrument' was in preparation, the attorney +strolled down in the evening to look after his clerical client, and keep +him 'straight' for the meeting at which he was to sign the articles next +day. + +It was by the drowsy faded light of a late summer's evening that he +arrived at the quaint little parsonage. He maintained his character as 'a +nice spoken gentleman,' by enquiring of the maid who opened the door how +the little boy was. 'Not so well--gone to bed--but would be better, +everyone was sure, in the morning.' So he went in and saw the vicar, who +had just returned with Dolly from a little ramble. Everything promised +fairly--the quiet mind was returning--the good time coming--all the +pleasanter for the storms and snows of the night that was over. + +'Well, my good invaluable friend, you will be glad--you will rejoice with +us, I know, to learn that, after all, the sale of our reversion is +unnecessary.' + +The attorney allowed his client to shake him by both hands, and he smiled +a sinister congratulation as well as he could, grinning in reply to the +vicar's pleasant smile as cheerfully as was feasible, and wofully puzzled +in the meantime. Had James Dutton arrived and announced the death of +Mark--no; it could hardly be _that_--decency had not yet quite taken +leave of the earth; and stupid as the vicar was, he would hardly announce +the death of his brother to a Christian gentleman in a fashion so +outrageous. Had Lord Chelford been invoked, and answered satisfactorily? +Or Dorcas--or had Lake, the diabolical sneak, interposed with his long +purse, and a plausible hypocrisy of kindness, to spoil Larkin's plans? +All these fanciful queries flitted through his brain as the vicar's hands +shook both his, and he laboured hard to maintain the cheerful grin with +which he received the news, and his guileful rapacious little eyes +searched narrowly the countenance of his client. + +So after a while, Dolly assisting, and sometimes both talking together, +the story was told, Rachel blessed and panegyrised, and the attorney's +congratulations challenged and yielded once more. But there was something +not altogether joyous in Jos. Larkin's countenance, which struck the +vicar, and he said-- + +'You don't see any objection?' and paused. + +'Objection? Why, _objection_, my dear Sir, is a strong word; but I fear I +do see a difficulty--in fact, several difficulties. Perhaps you would +take a little turn on the green--I must call for a moment at the +reading-room--and I'll explain. You'll forgive me, I hope, Mrs. Wylder,' +he added, with a playful condescension, 'for running away with your +husband, but only for a few minutes--ha, ha!' + +The shadow was upon Jos. Larkin's face, and he was plainly meditating a +little uncomfortably, as they approached the quiet green of Gylingden. + +'What a charming evening,' said the vicar, making an effort at +cheerfulness. + +'Delicious evening--yes,' said the attorney, throwing back his long head, +and letting his mouth drop. But though his face was turned up towards the +sky, there was a contraction and a darkness upon it, not altogether +heavenly. + +'The offer,' said the attorney, beginning rather abruptly, 'is no doubt a +handsome offer at the first glance, and it may be well meant. But the +fact is, my dear Mr. Wylder, six hundred pounds would leave little more +than a hundred remaining after Burlington and Smith have had their costs. +You have no idea of the expense and trouble of title, and the inevitable +costliness, my dear Sir, of all conveyancing operations. The deeds, I +have little doubt, in consequence of the letter you directed me to write, +have been prepared--that is, in draft, of course--and then, my dear Sir, +I need not remind you, that there remain the costs to me--those, of +course, await your entire convenience--but still it would not be either +for your or my advantage that they should be forgotten in the general +adjustment of your affairs, which I understand you to propose.' + +The vicar's countenance fell. In fact, it is idle to say that, being +unaccustomed to the grand scale on which law costs present themselves on +occasion, he was unspeakably shocked and he grew very pale and silent on +hearing these impressive sentences. + +'And as to Miss Lake's residing with you--I speak now, you will +understand, in the strictest confidence, because the subject is a painful +one; as to her residing with you, as she proposes, Miss Lake is well +aware that I am cognizant of circumstances which render any such +arrangement absolutely impracticable. I need not, my dear Sir, be more +particular--at present, at least. In a little time you will probably be +made acquainted with them, by the inevitable disclosures of time, which, +as the wise man says, "discovers all things."' + +'But--but what'--stammered the pale vicar, altogether shocked and giddy. + +'You will not press me, my dear Sir; you'll understand that, just now, I +really _cannot_ satisfy any particular enquiry. Miss Lake has spoken, in +charity I _will_ hope and trust, without thought. But I am much mistaken, +or she will herself, on half-an-hour's calm consideration, see the moral +impossibilities which interpose between her, to me, most amazing plan and +its realisation.' + +There was a little pause here, during which the tread of their feet on +the soft grass alone was audible. + +'You will quite understand,' resumed the attorney, 'the degree of +confidence with which I make this communication; and you will please, +specially not to mention it to any person whatsoever. I do not except, in +fact, _any_. You will find, on consideration, that Miss Lake will not +press her residence upon you. No; I've no doubt Miss Lake is a very +intelligent person, and, when not excited, will see it clearly.' + +The attorney's manner had something of that reserve, and grim sort of +dryness, which supervened whenever he fancied a friend or client on whom +he had formed designs was becoming impracticable. Nothing affected him so +much as that kind of unkindness. + +Jos. Larkin took his leave a little abruptly. He did not condescend to +ask the vicar whether he still entertained Miss Lake's proposal. He had +not naturally a pleasant temper--somewhat short, dark, and dangerous, but +by no means noisy. This temper, an intense reluctance ever to say 'thank +you,' and a profound and quiet egotism, were the ingredients of that +'pride' on which--a little inconsistently, perhaps, in so eminent a +Christian--he piqued himself. It must be admitted, however, that his +pride was not of that stamp which would prevent him from listening to +other men's private talk, or reading their letters, if anything were to +be got by it; or from prosecuting his small spites with a patient and +virulent industry; or from stripping a man of his possessions, and +transferring them to himself by processes from which most men would +shrink. + +'Well,' thought the vicar, 'that munificent offer is unavailing, it +seems. The sum insufficient, great as it is; and other difficulties in +the way.' + +He was walking homewards, slowly and dejectedly; and was now beginning to +feel alarm lest the purchase of the reversion should fail. The agreement +was to have gone up to London by this day's mail, and now could not reach +till the day after to-morrow--four-and-twenty hours later than was +promised. The attorney had told him it was a 'touch-and-go affair,' and +the whole thing might be off in a moment; and if it _should_ miscarry +what inevitable ruin yawned before him? Oh, the fatigue of these +monotonous agitations--this never-ending suspense! Oh, the yearning +unimaginable for quiet and rest! How awfully he comprehended the +reasonableness of the thanksgiving which he had read that day in the +churchyard--'We give Thee hearty thanks for that it hath pleased Thee to +deliver this our brother out of the miseries of this sinful world.' + +With the attorney it was different. Making the most of his height, which +he fancied added much to the aristocratic effect of his presence, with +his head thrown back, and swinging his walking cane easily between his +finger and thumb by his side, he strode languidly through the main street +of Gylingden, in the happy belief that he was making a sensation among +the denizens of the town. + +And so he moved on to the mill-road, on which he entered, and was soon +deep in the shadows of Redman's Dell. + +He opened the tiny garden-gate of Redman's Farm, looking about him with a +supercilious benevolence, like a man conscious of bestowing a +distinction. He was inwardly sensible of a sort of condescension in +entering so diminutive and homely a place--a kind of half amusing +disproportion between Jos. Larkin, Esq., of the Lodge, worth, already, +L27,000, and on the high road to greatness, and the trumpery little place +in which he found himself. + +Old Tamar was sitting in the porch, with her closed Bible upon her knees; +there was no longer light to read by. She rose up, like the 'grim, white +woman who haunts yon wood,' before him. + +Her young lady had walked up to Brandon, taking the little girl with her, +and she supposed would be back again early. + +Mr. Larkin eyed her for a second to ascertain whether she was telling +lies. He always thought everyone might be lying. It was his primary +impression here. But there was a recluse and unearthly character in the +face of the crone which satisfied him that she would never think of +fencing with such weapons with him. + +Very good. Mr. Larkin would take a short walk, and as his business was +pressing, he would take the liberty of looking in again in about +half-an-hour, if she thought her mistress would be at home then. + +So, although the weird white woman who leered after him so strangely as +he walked with his most lordly air out of the little garden, and down the +darkening road towards Gylingden, could not say, he resolved to make +trial again. + +In the meantime Rachel had arrived at Brandon Hall. Dorcas--whom, if the +truth were spoken, she would rather not have met--encountered her on the +steps. She was going out for a lonely, twilight walk upon the terrace, +where many a beautiful Brandon of other days, the sunshine of whose smile +glimmered only on the canvas that hung upon those ancestral walls, and +whose sorrows were hid in the grave and forgotten by the world, had +walked in other days, in the pride of beauty, or in the sadness of +desertion. + +Dorcas paused upon the door-steps, and received her sister-in-law upon +that elevation. + +'Have you really come all this way, Rachel, to see _me_ this evening?' +she said, and something of sarcasm thrilled in the cold, musical tones. + +'No, Dorcas,' said Rachel, taking her proffered hand in the spirit in +which it was given, and with the air rather of a defiance than of a +greeting; 'I came to see my brother.' + +'You are frank, at all events, Rachel, and truth is better than courtesy; +but you forget that your brother could not have returned so soon.' + +'Returned?' said Rachel; 'I did not know he had left home.' + +'It's strange he should not have consulted you. I, of course, knew +nothing of it until he had been more than an hour upon his journey.' + +Rachel Lake made no answer but a little laugh. + +'He'll return to-morrow; and perhaps your meeting may still be in time. I +was thinking of a few minutes' walk upon the terrace, but you are +fatigued: you had better come in and rest.' + +'No, Dorcas, I won't go in.' + +'But, Rachel, you are tired; you must come in with me, and drink tea, and +then you can go home in the brougham,' said Dorcas, more kindly. + +'No, Dorcas, no; I will not drink tea nor go in; but I _am_ tired, and as +you are so kind, I will accept your offer of the carriage.' + +Larcom had, that moment, appeared in the vestibule, and received the +order. + +'I'll sit in the porch, if you will allow me, Dorcas; you must not lose +your walk.' + +'Then you won't come into the house, you won't drink tea with me, and you +won't join me in my little walk; and why not any of these?' + +Dorcas smiled coldly, and continued, + +'Well, I shall hear the carriage coming to the door, and I'll return and +bid you good-night. It is plain, Rachel, you do not like my company.' + +'True, Dorcas, I do _not_ like your company. You are unjust; you have no +confidence in me; you prejudge me without proof; and you have quite +ceased to love me. Why should I like your company?' + +Dorcas smiled a proud and rather sad smile at this sudden change from the +conventional to the passionate; and the direct and fiery charge of her +kinswoman was unanswered. + +She stood meditating for a minute. + +'You think I no longer love you, Rachel, as I did. Perhaps young ladies' +friendships are never very enduring; but, if it be so, the fault is not +mine.' + +'No, Dorcas, the fault is not yours, nor mine. The fault is in +circumstances. The time is coming, Dorcas, when you will know all, and, +maybe, judge me mercifully. In the meantime, Dorcas, _you_ cannot like +_my_ company, because you do not like me; and I do not like yours, just +because, in spite of all, I do love you still; and in yours I only see +the image of a lost friend. You may be restored to me soon--maybe +_never_--but till then, I have lost you.' + +'Well,' said Dorcas, 'it may be there is a wild kind of truth in what you +say, Rachel, and--no matter--_time_, as you say, and _light_--I don't +understand you, Rachel; but there is this in you that resembles me--we +both hate hypocrisy, and we are both, in our own ways, proud. I'll come +back, when I hear the carriage, and see you for a moment, as you won't +stay, or come with me, and bid you good-bye.' + +So Dorcas went her way; and alone, on the terrace, looking over the stone +balustrade--over the rich and sombre landscape, dim and vaporous in the +twilight--she still saw the pale face of Rachel--paler than she liked to +see it. Was she ill?--and she thought how lonely she would be if Rachel +were to die--how lonely she was now. There was a sting of compunction--a +yearning--and then started a few bitter and solitary tears. + +In one of the great stone vases, that are ranged along the terrace, there +flourished a beautiful and rare rose. I forget its name. Some of my +readers will remember. It is first to bloom--first to wither. Its +fragrant petals were now strewn upon the terrace underneath. One blossom +only remained untarnished, and Dorcas plucked it, and with it in her +fingers, she returned to the porch where Rachel remained. + +'You see, I have come back a little before my time,' said Dorcas. 'I have +just been looking at the plant you used to admire so much, and the leaves +are shed already, and it reminded me of our friendship, Radie; but I am +sure you are right; it will all bloom again, after the winter, you know, +and I thought I would come back, and say _that_, and give you this relic +of the bloom that is gone--the last token,' and she kissed Rachel, as she +placed it in her fingers, 'a token of remembrance and of hope.' + +'I will keep it, Dorkie. It was kind of you,' and their eyes met +regretfully. + +'And--and, I think, I do trust you, Radie,' said the heiress of Brandon; +'and I hope you will try to like me on till--till spring comes, you know. +And, I wish,' she sighed softly, 'I wish we were as we used to be. I am +not very happy; and--here's the carriage.' + +And it drew up close to the steps, and Rachel entered; and her little +handmaid of up in the seat behind; and Dorcas and Rachel kissed their +hands, and smiled, and away the carriage glided; and Dorcas, standing on +the steps, looked after it very sadly. And when it disappeared, she +sighed again heavily, still looking in its track; and I think she said +'Darling!' + + + + +CHAPTER LX. + +RACHEL LAKE BEFORE THE ACCUSER. + + +Twilight was darker in Redman's Dell than anywhere else. But dark as it +was, there was still light enough to enable Rachel, as she hurried across +the little garden, on her return from Brandon, to see a long white face, +and some dim outline of the figure to which it belonged, looking out upon +her from the window of her little drawing-room. + +But no, it could not be; who was there to call at so odd an hour? She +must have left something--a bag, or a white basket upon the window-sash. +She was almost startled, however, as she approached the porch, to see it +nod, and a hand dimly waved in token of greeting. + +Tamar was in the kitchen. Could it be Stanley! But faint as the outline +was she saw, she fancied that it was a taller person than he. She felt a +sort of alarm, in which there was some little mixture of the +superstitious, and she pushed open the door, not entering the room, but +staring in toward the window, where against the dim, external light, she +clearly saw, without recognising it, a tall figure, greeting her with mop +and moe. + +'Who is that?' cried Miss Lake, a little sharply. + +'It is I, Miss Lake, Mr. Josiah Larkin, of the Lodge,' said that +gentleman, with what he meant to be an air of dignified firmness, and +looking very like a tall constable in possession; 'I have taken the +liberty of presenting myself, although, I fear, at a somewhat +unseasonable hour, but in reference to a little business, which, +unfortunately, will not, I think, bear to be deferred.' + +'No bad news, Mr. Larkin, I hope--nothing has happened. The Wylders are +all well, I hope?' + +'Quite well, so far as I am aware,' answered the attorney, with a grim +politeness; 'perfectly. Nothing has occurred, as yet at least, affecting +the interests of that family; but something is--I will not say +threatened--but I may say mooted, which, were any attempt seriously made +to carry it into execution, would, I regret to say, involve very serious +consequences to a party whom for, I may say, many reasons, I should +regret being called upon to affect unpleasantly.' + +'And pray, Mr. Larkin, can I be of any use?' + +'_Every_ use, Miss Lake, and it is precisely for that reason that I have +taken the liberty of waiting upon you, at what, I am well aware, is a +somewhat unusual hour.' + +'Perhaps, Mr. Larkin, you would be so good as to call in the morning--any +hour you appoint will answer me,' said the young lady, a little stiffly. +She was still standing at the door, with her hand upon the brass handle. + +'Pardon me, Miss Lake, the business to which I refer is really urgent.' + +'_Very_ urgent, Sir, if it cannot wait till to-morrow morning.' + +'Very true, quite true, very urgent indeed,' replied the attorney, +calmly; 'I presume, Miss Lake, I may take a chair?' + +'Certainly, Sir, if you insist on my listening to-night, which I should +certainly decline if I had the power.' + +'Thank you, Miss Lake.' And the attorney took a chair, crossing one leg +over the other, and throwing his head back as he reclined in it with his +long arm over the back--the 'express image,' as he fancied, of a polished +gentleman, conducting a diplomatic interview with a clever and high-bred +lady. + +'Then it is plain, Sir, I _must_ hear you to-night,' said Miss Lake, +haughtily. + +'Not that, exactly, Miss Lake, but only that _I_ must _speak_ +to-night--in fact, I have no choice. The subject of our conference really +is, as you will find, an urgent one, and to-morrow morning, which we +should each equally prefer, would be possibly too late--too late, at +least, to obviate a very painful situation.' + +'You will make it, I am sure, as short as you can, Sir,' said the young +lady, in the same tone. + +'Exactly my wish, Miss Lake,' replied Mr. Jos. Larkin. + +'Bring candles, Margery.' + +And so the little drawing-room was illuminated; and the bald head of the +tall attorney, and the gloss on his easy, black frock-coat, and his gold +watch-chain, and the long and large gloved hand, depending near the +carpet, with the glove of the other in it. And Mr. Jos. Larkin rose with +a negligent and lordly case, and placed a chair for Miss Lake, so that +the light might fall full upon her features, in accordance with his usual +diplomatic arrangement, which he fancied, complacently, no one had ever +detected; he himself resuming his easy _pose_ upon his chair, with his +back, as much as was practicable, presented to the candles, and the long, +bony fingers of the arm which rested on the table, negligently shading +his observing little eyes, and screening off the side light from his +expressive features. + +These arrangements, however, were disconcerted by Miss Lake's sitting +down at the other side of the table, and quietly requesting Mr. Larkin to +open his case. + +'Why, really, it is hardly a five minutes' matter, Miss Lake. It refers +to the vicar, the Rev. William Wylder, and his respectable family, and a +proposition which he, as my client, mentioned to me this evening. He +stated that you had offered to advance a sum of 600_l._ for the +liquidation of his liabilities. It will, perhaps, conduce to clearness to +dispose of this part of the matter first. May I therefore ask, at this +stage, whether the Rev. William Wylder rightly conceived you, when he so +stated your meaning to me?' + +'Yes, certainly, I am most anxious to assist them with that little sum, +which I have now an opportunity of procuring.' + +'A--exactly--yes--well, Miss Lake, that is, of course, very kind of +you--very kind, indeed, and creditable to your feelings; but, as Mr. +William Wylder's solicitor, and as I have already demonstrated to him, I +must now inform you, that the sum of six hundred pounds would be +absolutely _useless_ in his position. No party, Miss Lake, in his +position, ever quite apprehends, even if he could bring himself fully to +state, the aggregate amount of his liabilities. I may state, however, to +you, without betraying confidence, that ten times that sum would not +avail to extricate him, even temporarily, from his difficulties. He sees +the thing himself now; but drowning men will grasp, we know, at straws. +However, he _does_ see the futility of this; and, thanking you most +earnestly, he, through me, begs most gratefully to decline it. In fact, +my dear Miss Lake--it is awful to contemplate--he has been in the hands +of sharks, harpies, my dear Madam; but I'll beat about for the money, in +the way of loan, if possible, and, one way or another, I am resolved, if +the thing's to be done, to get him straight.' + +There was here a little pause, and Mr. Larkin, finding that Miss Lake had +nothing to say, simply added-- + +'And so, for these reasons, and with these views, my dear Miss Lake, we +beg, most respectfully, and I will say gratefully, to decline the +proffered advance, which, I will say, at the same time, does honour to +your feelings.' + +'I am sorry,' said Miss Lake, 'you have had so much trouble in explaining +so simple a matter. I will call early to-morrow, and see Mr. Wylder.' + +'Pardon me,' said the attorney, 'I have to address myself next to the +second portion of your offer, as stated to me by Mr. W. Wylder, that +which contemplates a residence in his house, and in the respectable +bosom, I may say, of that, in many respects, unblemished family.' + +Miss Lake stared with a look of fierce enquiry at the attorney. + +'The fact is, Miss Lake, that that is an arrangement which under existing +circumstances I could not think of advising. I think, on reflection, you +will see, that Mr. Wylder--the Reverend William Wylder and his +lady--could not for one moment seriously entertain it, and that I, who am +bound to do the best I can for them, could not dream of advising it.' + +'I fancy it is a matter of total indifference, Sir, what you may and what +you may not advise in a matter quite beyond your province--I don't in the +least understand, or desire to understand you--and thinking your manner +impertinent and offensive, I beg that you will now be so good as to leave +my house.' + +Miss Rachel was very angry--although nothing but her bright colour and +the vexed flash of her eye showed it. + +'I were most unfortunate--most unfortunate indeed, Miss Lake, if my +manner could in the least justify the strong and undue language in which +you have been pleased to characterise it. But I do not resent--it is not +my way--"beareth all things," Miss Lake, "beareth all things"--I hope I +try to practise the precept; but the fact of being misunderstood shall +not deter me from the discharge of a simple duty.' + +'If it is part of your duty, Sir, to make yourself intelligible, may I +beg that you will do it without further delay.' + +'My principal object in calling here was to inform you, Miss Lake, that +you must quite abandon the idea of residing in the vicar's house, as you +proposed, unless you wish me to state explicitly to him and to Mrs. +Wylder the insurmountable objections which exist to any such arrangement. +Such a task, Miss Lake, would be most painful to me. I hesitate to +discuss the question even with you; and if you give me your word of +honour that you quite abandon that idea, I shall on the instant take my +leave, and certainly, for the present, trouble you no further upon a most +painful subject.' + +'And now, Sir, as I have no intention whatever of tolerating your +incomprehensibly impertinent interference, and don't understand your +meaning in the slightest degree, and do not intend to withdraw the offer +I have made to good Mrs. Wylder, you will I hope perceive the uselessness +of prolonging your visit, and be so good as to leave me in unmolested +possession of my poor residence.' + +'If I wished to do you an injury, Miss Lake, I should take you at your +word. I don't--I wish to spare you. Your countenance, Miss Lake--you must +pardon my frankness, it is my way--_your countenance_ tells only too +plainly that you now comprehend my allusion.' + +There was a confidence and significance in the attorney's air and accent, +and a peculiar look of latent ferocity in his evil countenance, which +gradually excited her fears, and fascinated her gaze. + +'Now, Miss Lake, we are sitting here in the presence of Him who is the +searcher of hearts, and before whom nothing is secret--your eye is upon +mine and mine on yours--and I ask you, _do you remember the night of the +29th of September last_?' + +That mean, pale, taunting face! the dreadful accents that vibrated within +her! How could that ill-omened man have divined her connection with the +incidents--the unknown incidents--of that direful night? The lean figure +in the black frock-coat, and black silk waistcoat, with that great +gleaming watch-chain, the long, shabby, withered face, and flushed, bald +forehead; and those paltry little eyes, in their pink setting, that +nevertheless fascinated her like the gaze of a serpent. How had that +horrible figure come there--why was this meeting--whence his knowledge? +An evil spirit incarnate he seemed to her. She blanched before it--every +vestige of colour fled from her features--she stared--she gaped at him +with a strange look of imbecility--and the long face seemed to enjoy and +protract its triumph. + +Without removing his gaze he was fumbling in his pocket for his +note-book, which he displayed with a faint smile, grim and pallid. + +'I see you _do_ remember that night--_as well you may_, Miss Lake,' he +ejaculated, in formidable tones, and with a shake of his bald head. + +'Now, Miss Lake, you see this book. It contains, Madam, the skeleton of a +case. The bones and joints, Ma'am, of a case. I have it here, noted and +prepared. There is not a fact in it without a note of the name and +address of the witness who can prove it--the _witness_--observe me.' + +Then there was a pause of a few seconds, during which he still kept her +under his steady gaze. + +'On that night, Miss Lake, the 29th September, you drove in Mr. Mark +Wylder's tax-cart to the Dollington station, where, notwithstanding your +veil, and your caution, you were _seen_ and _recognised_. The same +occurred at Charteris. You accompanied Mr. Mark Wylder in his midnight +flight to London, Miss Lake. Of your stay in London I say nothing. It was +protracted to the 2nd October, when you arrived in the down train at +Dollington at twelve o'clock at night, and took a cab to the "White +House," where you were met by a gentleman answering the description of +your brother, Captain Lake. Now, Miss Lake, I have stated no particulars, +but do you think that knowing all this, and knowing the _fraud_ by which +your absence was covered, and perfectly understanding, as every man +conversant with this sinful world must do, the full significance of all +this, I could dream of permitting you, Miss Lake, to become domesticated +as an inmate in the family of a pure-minded, though simple and +unfortunate clergyman?' + +'It may become my duty,' he resumed, 'to prosecute a searching enquiry, +Madam, into the circumstances of Mr. Mark Wylder's disappearance. If you +have the slightest regard for your own honour, you will not precipitate +that measure, Miss Lake; and so sure as you persist in your unwarrantable +design of residing in that unsuspecting family, I will publish what I +shall then feel called upon by my position to make known; for I will be +no party to seeing an innocent family compromised by admitting an inmate +of whose real character they have not the faintest suspicion, and I shall +at once set in motion a public enquiry into the circumstances of Mr. Mark +Wylder's disappearance.' + +Looking straight in his face, with the same expression of helplessness, +she uttered at last a horrible cry of anguish that almost thrilled that +callous Christian. + +'I think I'm going mad!' + +And she continued staring at him all the time. + +'Pray compose yourself, Miss Lake--there's no need to agitate +yourself--nothing of all this need occur if you do not force it upon +me--_nothing_. I beg you'll collect yourself--shall I call for water, +Miss Lake?' + +The fact is the attorney began to apprehend hysterics, or something even +worse, and was himself rather frightened. But Rachel was never long +overwhelmed by any shock--fear was not for her--her brave spirit stood +her in stead; and nothing rallied her so surely as the sense that an +attempt was being made to intimidate her. + +'What have I heard--what have I endured? Listen to me, you cowardly +libeller. It is true that I was at Dollington, and at Charteris, on the +night you name. Also true that I went to London. Your hideous slander is +garnished with two or three bits of truth, but only the more villainous +for that. All that you have dared to insinuate is utterly false. Before +Him who judges all, and knows all things--_utterly_ and _damnably_ +false!' + +The attorney made a bow--it was his best. He did not imitate a gentleman +happily, and was never so vulgar as when he was finest. + +One word of her wild protest he did not believe. His bow was of that +grave but mocking sort which was meant to convey it. Perhaps if he had +accepted what she said it might have led him to new and sounder +conclusions. Here was light, but it glared and flashed in vain for him. + +Miss Lake was naturally perfectly frank. Pity it was she had ever had a +secret to keep! These frank people are a sore puzzle to gentlemen of +Lawyer Larkin's quaint and sagacious turn of mind. They can't believe +that anybody ever speaks quite the truth: when they hear it--they don't +recognise it, and they wonder what the speaker is driving at. The best +method of hiding your opinion or your motives from such men, is to tell +it to them. They are owls. Their vision is formed for darkness, and light +blinds them. + +Rachel Lake rang her bell sharply, and old Tamar appeared. + +'Show Mr.--Mr.--; show him to the door,' said Miss Lake. + +The attorney rose, made another bow, and threw back his head, and moved +in a way that was oppressively gentlemanlike to the door, and speedily +vanished at the little wicket. Old Tamar holding her candle to lighten +his path, as she stood, white and cadaverous, in the porch. + +'She's a little bit noisy to-night,' thought the attorney, as he +descended the road to Gylingden; 'but she'll be precious sober by +to-morrow morning--and I venture to say we shall hear nothing more of +that scheme of hers. A reputable inmate, truly, and a pleasant +_eclaircissement_ (this was one of his French words, and pronounced by +him with his usual accuracy, precisely as it is spelt)--a pleasant +_eclaircissement_--whenever that London excursion and its creditable +circumstances come to light.' + + + + +CHAPTER LXI. + +IN WHICH DAME DUTTON IS VISITED. + + +Duly next morning the rosy-fingered Aurora drew the gold and crimson +curtains of the east, and the splendid Apollo, stepping forth from his +chamber, took the reins of his unrivalled team, and driving four-in-hand +through the sky, like a great swell as he is, took small note of the +staring hucksters and publicans by the road-side, and sublimely +overlooked the footsore and ragged pedestrians that crawl below his +level. It was, in fact, one of those brisk and bright mornings which +proclaim a universal cheerfulness, and mock the miseries of those dismal +wayfarers of life, to whom returning light is a renewal of sorrow, who, +bowing toward the earth, resume their despairing march, and limp and +groan under heavy burdens, until darkness, welcome, comes again, and +their eyelids drop, and they lie down with their loads on, looking up a +silent supplication, and wishing that death would touch their eyelids in +their sleep, and their journey end where they lie. + +Captain Lake was in London this morning. We know he came about +electioneering matters; but he had not yet seen Leverett. Perhaps on +second thoughts he rightly judged that Leverett knew no more than he did +of the matter. It depended on the issue of the great debate that was +drawing nigh. The Minister himself could not tell whether the dissolution +was at hand; and could no more postpone it, when the time came, than he +could adjourn an eclipse. + +Notwithstanding the late whist party of the previous night, the gallant +captain made a very early toilet. With his little bag in his hand, he +went down stairs, thinking unpleasantly, I believe, and jumped into the +Hansom that awaited him at the door, telling the man to go to the ---- +station. They had hardly turned the corner, however, when he popped his +head forward and changed the direction. + +He looked at his watch. He had quite time to make his visit, and save the +down-train after. + +He did not know the City well. Many men who lived two hundred miles away, +and made a flying visit only once in three years, knew it a great deal +better than the London-bred rake who had lived in the West-end all his +days. + +Captain Lake looked peevish and dangerous, as he always did, when he was +anxious. In fact he did not know what the next ten minutes might bring +him. He was thinking what had best be done in any and every contingency. +Was he still abroad, or had he arrived? was he in Shive's Court, or, +cursed luck! had he crossed him yesterday by the down-train, and was he +by this time closeted with Larkin in the Lodge? Lake, so to speak, stood +at his wicket, and that accomplished bowler, Fortune, ball in hand, at +the other end; will it be swift round-hand, or a slow twister, or a +shooter, or a lob? Eye and hand, foot and bat, he must stand tense, yet +flexible, lithe and swift as lightning, ready for everything--cut, block, +slip, or hit to leg. It was not altogether pleasant. The stakes were +enormous! and the suspense by no means conducive to temper. + +Lake fancied that the man was driving wrong, once or twice, and was on +the point of cursing him to that effect, from the window. But at last, +with an anxious throb at his heart, he recognised the dingy archway, and +the cracked brown marble tablet over the keystone, and he recognised +Shive's Court. + +So forth jumped the captain, so far relieved, and glided into the dim +quadrangle, with its square of smoky sky overhead; and the prattle of +children playing on the flags, and the scrape of a violin from a window, +were in his ears, but as it were unheard. He was looking up at a window, +with a couple of sooty scarlet geraniums in it. This was the court where +Dame Dutton dwelt. He glided up her narrow stair and let himself in by +the latch; and with his cane made a smacking like a harlequin's sword +upon the old woman's deal table, crying: 'Mrs. Dutton; Mrs. Dutton. Is +Mrs. Dutton at home?' + +The old lady, who was a laundress, entered, in a short blue cotton +wrapper, wiping the suds from her shrunken but sinewy arms with her +apron, and on seeing the captain, her countenance, which was threatening, +became very reverential indeed. + +'How d'ye do, Mrs. Dutton? Quite well. Have you heard lately from Jim?' + +'No.' + +'You'll see him soon, however, and give him this note, d'ye see, and tell +him I was here, asking about you and him, and very well, and glad if I +can serve him again? don't forget that, _very_ glad. Where will you keep +that note? Oh! your tea-caddy, not a bad safe; and see, give him this, +it's ten pounds. You won't forget; and you want a new gown, Mrs. Dutton. +I'd choose it thyself, only I'm such a bad judge; but you'll choose it +for me, won't you? and let me see it on you when next I come,' and with a +courtesy and a great beaming smile on her hot face, she accepted the +five-pound note, which he placed in her hand. + +In another moment the captain was gone. He had just time to swallow a cup +of coffee at the 'Terminus Hotel,' and was gliding away towards the +distant walls of Brandon Hall. + +He had a coupe all to himself. But he did not care for the prospect. He +saw Lawyer Larkin, as it were, reflected in the plate-glass, with his +hollow smile and hungry eyes before him, knowing more than he should do, +paying him compliments, and plotting his ruin. + +'Everything would have been quite smooth only for that d---- fellow. The +Devil fixed him precisely there for the express purpose of fleecing and +watching, and threatening him--perhaps worse. He hated that sly, +double-dealing reptile of prey--the arachnida of social nature--the +spiders with which also naturalists place the scorpions. I dare say Mr. +Larkin would have had as little difficulty in referring the gallant +captain to the same family. + +While Stanley Lake is thus scanning the shabby, but dangerous image of +the attorney in the magic mirror before him, that eminent limb of the law +was not inactive in the quiet town of Gylingden. Under ordinary +circumstances his 'pride' would have condemned the vicar to a direful +term of suspense, and he certainly would not have knocked at the door of +the pretty little gabled house at the Dollington end of the town for many +days to come. The vicar would have had to seek out the attorney, to lie +in wait for and to woo him. + +But Jos. Larkin's pride, like all his other passions--except his weakness +for the precious metals--was under proper regulation. Jim Dutton might +arrive at any moment, and it would not do to risk his publishing the +melancholy intelligence of Mark Wylder's death before the transfer of the +vicar's reversion; and to prevent that risk the utmost promptitude was +indispensable. + +At nine o'clock, therefore, he presented himself, attended by his legal +henchmen as before. + +'Another man might not have come here, Mr. Wylder, until his presence had +been specially invited, after the--the----' when he came to define the +offence it was not very easy to do so, inasmuch as it consisted in the +vicar's having unconsciously very nearly escaped from his fangs; 'but let +that pass. I have had, I grieve to say, by this morning's post a most +serious letter from London;' the attorney shook his head, while searching +his pocket. 'I'll read just a passage or two if you'll permit me; it +comes from Burlington and Smith. I protest I have forgot it at home; +however, I may mention, that in consequence of the letter you authorised +me to write, and guaranteed by your bond, on which they have entered +judgment, they have gone to the entire expense of drawing the deeds, and +investigating title, and they say that the purchaser will positively be +off, unless the articles are in their office by twelve o'clock to-morrow; +and, I grieve to say, they add, that in the event of the thing falling +through, they will issue execution for the amount of their costs, which, +as I anticipated, a good deal exceeds four hundred pounds. I have, +therefore, my dear Mr. Wylder, casting aside all unpleasant feeling, +called to entreat you to end and determine any hesitation you may have +felt, and to execute without one moment's delay the articles which are +prepared, and which must be in the post-office within half an hour.' + +Then Mr. Jos. Larkin entered pointedly and briefly into Miss Lake's +offer, which he characterised as 'wholly nugatory, illusory, and +chimerical;' told him he had spoken on the subject, yesterday evening, to +the young lady, who now saw plainly that there really was nothing in it, +and that she was not in a position to carry out that part of her +proposition, which contemplated a residence in the vicar's family. + +This portion of his discourse he dismissed rather slightly and +mysteriously; but he contrived to leave upon the vicar's mind a very +painful and awful sort of uncertainty respecting the young lady of whom +he spoke. + +Then he became eloquent on the madness of further indecision in a state +of things so fearfully menacing, freely admitting that it would have been +incomparably better for the vicar never to have moved in the matter, +than, having put his hand to the plough, to look back as he had been +doing. If he declined his advice, there was no more to be said, but to +bow his head to the storm, and that ponderous execution would descend in +wreck and desolation. + +So the vicar, very much flushed, in panic and perplexity, and trusting +wildly to his protesting lawyer's guidance, submitted. Buggs and the +bilious youngster entered with the deed, and the articles were duly +executed, and the vicar signed also a receipt for the fanciful part of +the consideration, and upon it and the deed he endorsed a solemn promise, +in the terms I have mentioned before, that he would never take any step +to question, set aside, or disturb the purchase, or any matter connected +therewith. + +Then the attorney, now in his turn flushed and very much elated, +congratulated the poor vicar on his emancipation from his difficulties; +and 'now that it was all done and over, told him, what he had never told +him before, that, considering the nature of the purchase, he had got a +_splendid_ price for it.' + +The good man had also his agreement from Lake to sell Five Oaks. + +The position of the good attorney, therefore, in a commercial point of +view, was eminently healthy and convenient. For less than half the value +of Five Oaks alone, he was getting that estate, and a vastly greater one +beside, to be succeeded to on Mark Wylder's death. + +No wonder, then, that the good attorney was more than usually bland and +happy that day. He saw the pork-butcher in his back-parlour, and had a +few words to say about the chapel-trust, and his looks and talk were +quite edifying. He met two little children in the street, and stopped and +smiled as he stooped down to pat them on the heads, and ask them whose +children they were, and gave one of them a halfpenny. And he sat +afterwards, for nearly ten minutes, with lean old Mrs. Mullock, in her +little shop, where toffey, toys, and penny books for young people were +sold, together with baskets, tea-cups, straw-mats, and other adult ware; +and he was so friendly and talked so beautifully, and although, as he +admitted in his lofty way, 'there might be differences in fortune and +position,' yet were we not all members of one body? And he talked upon +this theme till the good lady, marvelling how so great a man could be so +humble, was called to the receipt of custom, on the subject of 'paradise' +and 'lemon-drops,' and the heavenly-minded attorney, with a celestial +condescension, recognised his two little acquaintances of the street, and +actually adding another halfpenny to his bounty--escaped, with a hasty +farewell and a smile, to the street, as eager to evade the thanks of the +little people, and the admiration of Mrs. Mullock. + +It is not to be supposed, that having got one momentous matter well off +his mind, the good attorney was to be long rid of anxieties. The human +mind is fertile in that sort of growth. As well might the gentleman who +shaves suppose, as his fingers glide, after the operation, over the +polished surface of his chin--_factus ad unguem_--that he may fling his +brush and strop into the fire, and bury his razor certain fathoms in the +earth. No! One crop of cares will always succeed another--not very +oppressive, nor in any wise grand, perhaps--worries, simply, no more; but +needing a modicum of lather, the looking glass, the strop, the diligent +razor, delicate manipulation, and stealing a portion of our precious time +every day we live; and this must go on so long as the state of man is +imperfect, and plenty of possible evil in futurity. + +The attorney must run up to London for a day or two. What if that +mysterious, and almost illegible brute, James Dutton, should arrive while +he was away. Very unpleasant, possibly! For the attorney intended to keep +that gentleman very quiet. Sufficient time must be allowed to intervene +to disconnect the purchase of the vicar's remainder from the news of Mark +Wylder's demise. A year and a-half, maybe, or possibly a year might do. +For if the good attorney was cautious, he was also greedy, and would take +possession as early as was safe. Therefore arrangements were carefully +adjusted to detain that important person, in the event of his arriving; +and a note, in the good attorney's hand, inviting him to remain at the +Lodge till his return, and particularly requesting that 'he would kindly +abstain from mentioning to _anyone_, during his absence, any matter he +might intend to communicate to him in his professional capacity or +otherwise.' + +This, of course, was a little critical, and made his to-morrow's journey +to London a rather anxious prospect. + +In the meantime our friend, Captain Lake, arrived in a hired fly, with +his light baggage, at the door of stately Brandon. So soon as the dust +and ashes of railway travel were removed, the pale captain, in changed +attire, snowy cambric, and with perfumed hair and handkerchief, presented +himself before Dorcas. + +'Now, Dorkie, darling, your poor soldier has come back, resolved to turn +over a new leaf, and never more to reserve another semblance of a secret +from you,' said he, so soon as his first greeting was over. 'I long to +have a good talk with you, Dorkie. I have no one on earth to confide in +but you. I think,' he said, with a little sigh, 'I would never have been +so reserved with you, darling, if I had had anything pleasant to confide; +but all I have to say is triste and tiresome--only a story of +difficulties and petty vexations. I want to talk to you, Dorkie. Where +shall it be?' + +They were in the great drawing-room, where I had first seen Dorcas +Brandon and Rachel Lake, on the evening on which my acquaintance with the +princely Hall was renewed, after an interval of so many years. + +'This room, Stanley, dear?' + +'Yes, this room will answer very well,' he said, looking round. 'We can't +be overheard, it is so large. Very well, darling, listen.' + + + + +CHAPTER LXII. + +THE CAPTAIN EXPLAINS WHY MARK WYLDER ABSCONDED. + + +'How delicious these violets are!' said Stanley, leaning for a moment +over the fragrant purple dome that crowned a china stand on the marble +table they were passing. 'You love flowers, Dorkie. Every perfect woman +is, I think, a sister of Flora's. You are looking pale--you have not been +ill? No! I'm very glad you say so. Sit down for a moment and listen, +darling. And first I'll tell you, upon my honour, what Rachel has been +worrying me about.' + +Dorcas sate beside him on the sofa, and he placed his slender arm +affectionately round her waist. + +'You must know, Dorkie, that before his sudden departure, Mark Wylder +promised to lend William, his brother, a sum sufficient to relieve him of +all his pressing debts.' + +'Debts! I never knew before that he had any,' exclaimed Dorcas. 'Poor +William! I am so sorry.' + +'Well, he has, like other fellows, only he can't get away as easily, and +he has been very much pressed since Mark went, for he has not yet lent +him a guinea, and in fact Rachel says she thinks he is in danger of being +regularly sold out. She does not say she knows it, but only that she +suspects they are in a great fix about money.' + +'Well, you must know that _I_ was the sole cause of Mark Wylder's leaving +the country.' + +'_You_, Stanley!' + +'Yes, _I_, Dorkie. I believe I thought I was doing a duty; but really I +was nearly mad with _jealousy_, and simply doing my utmost to drive a +rival from _your_ presence. And yet, without hope for myself, +_desperately_ in love.' + +Dorcas looked down and smiled oddly; it was a sad and bitter smile, and +seemed to ask whither has that desperate love, in so short a time, flown? + +'I know I was right. He was a stained man, and was liable at any moment +to be branded. It was villainous in him to seek to marry you. I told him +at last that, unless he withdrew, your friends should know all. I +expected he would show fight, and that a meeting would follow; and I +really did not much care whether I were killed or not. But he went, on +the contrary, rather quietly, threatening to pay me off, however, though +he did not say how. He's a cunning dog, and not very soft-hearted; and +has no more conscience than that,' and he touched his finger to the cold +summit of a marble bust. + +'He is palpably machinating something to my destruction with an +influential attorney on whom I keep a watch, and he has got some fellow +named Dutton into the conspiracy; and not knowing how they mean to act, +and only knowing how utterly wicked, cunning, and bloody-minded he is, +and that he hates me as he probably never hated anyone before, I must be +prepared to meet him, and, if possible, to blow up that Satanic cabal, +which without _money_ I can't. It was partly a mystification about the +election; of course, it will be expensive, but nothing like the other. +Are you ill, Dorkie?' + +He might well ask, for she appeared on the point of fainting. + +Dorcas had read and heard stories of men seemingly no worse than their +neighbours--nay, highly esteemed, and praised, and liked--who yet were +haunted by evil men, who encountered them in lonely places, or by night, +and controlled them by the knowledge of some dreadful crime. Was +Stanley--her husband--whose character she had begun to discern, whose +habitual mystery was, somehow, tinged in her mind with a shade of horror, +one of this two-faced, diabolical order of heroes? + +Why should he dread this cabal, as he called it, even though directed by +the malignant energy of the absent and shadowy Mark Wylder? What could +all the world do to harm him in free England, if he were innocent, if he +were what he seemed--no worse than his social peers? + +Why should it be necessary to buy off the conspirators whom a guiltless +man would defy and punish? + +The doubt did not come in these defined shapes. As a halo surrounds a +saint, a shadow rose suddenly, and enveloped pale, scented, smiling +Stanley, with the yellow eyes. He stood in the centre of a dreadful +medium, through which she saw him, ambiguous and awful; and she sickened. + +'Are you ill, Dorkie, darling?' said the apparition in accents of +tenderness. 'Yes, you _are_ ill.' + +And he hastily threw open the window, close to which they were sitting, +and she quickly revived in the cooling air. + +She saw his yellow eyes fixed upon her features, and his face wearing an +odd expression--was it interest, or tenderness, or only scrutiny; to her +there seemed a light of insincerity and cruelty in its pallor. + +'You are better, darling; thank Heaven, you are better.' + +'Yes--yes--a great deal better; it is passing away.' + +Her colour was returning, and with a shivering sigh, she said-- + +'Oh? Stanley, you must speak truth; I am your wife. Do they know anything +very bad--are you in their power?' + +'Why, my dearest, what on earth could put such a wild fancy in your +head?' said Lake, with a strange laugh, and, as she fancied, growing +still paler. 'Do you suppose I am a highwayman in disguise, or a +murderer, like--what's his name--Eugene Aram? I must have expressed +myself very ill, if I suggested anything so tragical. I protest before +Heaven, my darling, there is not one word or act of mine I need fear to +submit to any court of justice or of honour on earth.' + +He took her hand, and kissed it affectionately, and still fondling it +gently between his, he resumed-- + +'I don't mean to say, of course, that I have always been better than +other young fellows; I've been foolish, and wild, and--and--I've done +wrong things, occasionally--as all young men will; but for high crimes +and misdemeanors, or for melodramatic situations, I never had the +slightest taste. There's no man on earth who can tell anything of me, or +put me under any sort of pressure, thank Heaven; and simply because I +have never in the course of my life done a single act unworthy of a +gentleman, or in the most trifling way compromised myself. I swear it, my +darling, upon my honour and soul, and I will swear it in any terms--the +most awful that can be prescribed--in order totally and for ever to +remove from your mind so amazing a fancy.' + +And with a little laugh, and still holding her hand, he passed his arm +round her waist, and kissed her affectionately. + +'But you are perfectly right, Dorkie, in supposing that I _am_ under very +considerable apprehension from their machinations. Though they cannot +slur our fair fame, it is quite possible they may very seriously affect +our property. Mr. Larkin is in possession of all the family papers. I +don't like it, but it is too late now. The estates have been back and +forward so often between the Brandons and Wylders, I always fancy there +may be a screw loose, or a frangible link somewhere, and he's deeply +interested for Mark Wylder.' + +'You are better, darling; I think you are better,' he said, looking in +her face, after a little pause. + +'Yes, dear Stanley, much better; but why should you suppose any plot +against our title?' + +'Mark Wylder is in constant correspondence with that fellow Larkin. I +wish we were quietly rid of him, he is such an unscrupulous dog. I assure +you, I doubt very much if the deeds are safe in his possession; at all +events, he ought to choose between us and Mark Wylder. It is monstrous +his being solicitor for both. The Wylders and Brandons have always been +contesting the right to these estates, and the same thing may arise again +any day.' + +'But tell me, Stanley, how do you want to apply money? What particular +good can it do us in this unpleasant uncertainty?' + +'Well, Dorkie, believe me I have a sure instinct in matters of this kind. +Larkin is plotting treason against us. Wylder is inciting him, and will +reap the benefit of it. Larkin hesitates to strike, but that won't last +long. In the meantime, he has made a distinct offer to buy Five Oaks. His +doing so places him in the same interest with us; and, although he does +not offer its full value, still I should sleep sounder if it were +concluded; and the fact is, I don't think we are safe until that sale +_is_ concluded.' + +Dorcas looked for a moment earnestly in his face, and then down, in +thought. + +'Now, Dorkie, I have told you all. Who is to advise you, if not your +husband? Trust my sure conviction, and promise me, Dorcas, that you will +not hesitate to join me in averting, by a sacrifice we shall hardly feel, +a really stupendous blow.' + +He kissed her hand, and then her lips, and he said-- + +'You _will_, Dorkie, I _know_ you will. Give me your promise.' + +'Stanley, tell me once more, are you really quite frank when you tell me +that you apprehend no personal injury from these people--apart, I mean, +from the possibility of Mr. Larkin's conspiring to impeach our rights in +favour of Mr. Wylder?' + +'Personal injury? None in life, my darling.' + +'And there is really no secret--nothing--_tell_ your wife--nothing you +fear coming to light?' + +'I swear again, nothing. _Won't_ you believe me, darling?' + +'Then, if it be so, Stanley, I think we should hesitate long before +selling any part of the estate, upon a mere conjecture of danger. You or +I may over-estimate that danger, being so nearly affected by it. We must +take advice; and first, we must consult Chelford. Remember, Stanley, how +long the estate has been preserved. Whatever may have been their crimes +and follies, those who have gone before us never impaired the Brandon +estate; and, without full consideration, without urgent cause, I, +Stanley, will not begin.' + +'Why, it is only Five Oaks, and we shall have the money, you forget,' +said Stanley. + +'Five Oaks is an estate in itself; and the idea of dismembering the +Brandon inheritance seems to me like taking a plank from a ship--all will +go down when that is done.' + +'But you _can't_ dismember it; it is only a life estate.' + +'Well, perhaps so; but Chelford told me that one of the London people +said he thought Five Oaks belonged to me absolutely.' + +'In that case the inheritance _is_ dismembered already.' + +'I will have no share in selling the old estate, or any part of it, to +strangers, Stanley, except in a case of necessity; and we must do nothing +precipitately; and I must insist, Stanley, on consulting Chelford before +taking any step. He will view the question more calmly than you or I can; +and we owe him that respect, Stanley, he has been so very kind to us.' + +'Chelford is the very last man whom I would think of consulting,' +answered Stanley, with his malign and peevish look. + +'And why?' asked Dorcas. + +'Because he is quite sure to advise against it,' answered Stanley, +sharply. 'He is one of those Quixotic fellows who get on very well in +fair weather, while living with a duke or duchess, but are sure to run +you into mischief when they come to the inns and highways of common life. +I know perfectly, he would protest against a compromise. Discharge +Larkin--fight him--and see us valiantly stript of our property by some +cursed law-quibble; and think we ought to be much more comfortable so, +than in this house, on the terms of a compromise with a traitor like +Larkin. But _I_ don't think so, nor any man of sense, nor anyone but a +hairbrained, conceited knight-errant.' + +'I think Chelford one of the most sensible as well as honourable men I +know; and I will take no step in selling a part of our estate to that +odious Mr. Larkin, without consulting him, and at least hearing what he +thinks of it.' + +Stanley's eyes were cast down--and he was nipping the struggling hairs of +his light moustache between his lips--but he made no answer. Only +suddenly he looked up, and said quietly, + +'Very well. Good-bye for a little, Dorkie,' and he leaned over her and +kissed her cheek, and then passed into the hall, where he took his hat +and cane. + +Larcom presented him with a note, in a sealed envelope. As he took it +from the salver he recognised Larkin's very clear and large hand. I +suspect that grave Mr. Larcom had been making his observations and +conjectures thereupon. + +The captain took it with a little nod, and a peevish side-glance. It +said-- + + +'MY DEAR CAPTAIN BRANDON LAKE,--Imperative business calls me to London by +the early train to-morrow. Will you therefore favour me, if convenient, +_by the bearer_, with the small note of consent, which must accompany the +articles agreeing to sell. + +'I remain, &c. &c. &c.' + + +Larkin's groom was waiting for an answer. + +'Tell him I shall probably see Mr. Larkin myself,' said the captain, +snappishly; and so he walked down to pretty little Gylingden. + +On the steps of the reading-room stood old Tom Ruddle, who acted as +marker in the billiard-room, treasurer, and book-keeper beside, and swept +out the premises every morning, and went to and fro at the proper hours, +between that literary and sporting institution and the post-office; and +who, though seldom sober, was always well instructed in the news of the +town. + +'How do you do, old Ruddle--quite well?' asked the captain with a smile. +'Who have you got in the rooms?' + +Well, Jos. Larkin was not there. Indeed he seldom showed in those +premises, which he considered decidedly low, dropping in only now and +then, like the great county gentlemen, on sessions days, to glance at the +papers, and gossip on their own high affairs. + +But Ruddle had seen Mr. Jos. Larkin on the green, not five minutes since, +and thither the gallant captain bent his steps. + + + + +CHAPTER LXIII. + +THE ACE OF HEARTS. + + +'So you are going to London--_to-morrow_, is not it?' said Captain Lake, +when on the green of Gylingden where visitors were promenading, and the +militia bands playing lusty polkas, he met Mr. Jos. Larkin, in lavender +trousers and kid gloves, new hat, metropolitan black frock-coat, and +shining French boots--the most elegant as well as the most Christian of +provincial attorneys. + +'Ah, yes--I think--should my engagements permit--of starting early +to-morrow. The fact is, Captain Lake, our poor friend the vicar, you +know, the Rev. William Wylder, has pressing occasion for some money, and +I can't leave him absolutely in the hands of Burlington and Smith.' + +'No, of course--quite so,' said Lake, with that sly smile which made +every fellow on whom it lighted somehow fancy that the captain had +divined his secret. 'Very honest fellows, with good looking after--eh?' + +The attorney laughed a little awkwardly, with his pretty pink blush over +his long face. + +'Well, I'm far from saying that, but it is their business, you know, to +take care of _their_ client; and it would not do to give them the +handling of _mine_. Can I do anything, Captain Lake, for you while in +town?' + +'Nothing on earth, thank you very much. But I am thinking of doing +something for you. You've interested yourself a great deal about Mark +Wylder's movements.' + +'Not more than my duty clearly imposed.' + +'Yes; but notwithstanding it will operate, I'm afraid, as you will +presently see, rather to his prejudice. For to prevent your conjectural +interference from doing him a more serious mischief, I will now, and +here, if you please, divulge the true and only cause of his absconding. +It is fair to mention, however, that your knowing it will make you fully +as odious to him as I am--and that, I assure you, is very odious indeed. +There were four witnesses beside myself--Lieutenant-Colonel Jermyn, Sir +James Carter, Lord George Vanbrugh, and Ned Clinton. + +'_Witnesses_! Captain Lake. Do you allude to a legal matter?' enquired +Larkin, with his look of insinuating concern and enquiry. + +'Quite the contrary--a very lawless matter, indeed. These four gentlemen, +beside myself, were present at the occurrence. But perhaps you've heard +of it?' said the captain, 'though that's not likely.' + +'Not that I recollect, Captain Lake,' answered Jos. Larkin. + +'Well, it is not a thing you'd forget easily--and indeed it was a very +well kept secret, as well as an ugly one,' and Lake smiled in his sly +quizzical way. + +'And _where_, Captain Lake, did it occur, may I enquire?' said Larkin, +with his charming insinuation. + +'You may, and you shall hear--in fact, I'll tell you the whole thing. It +was at Gray's Club, in Pall Mall. The whist party were old Jermyn, +Carter, Vanbrugh, and Wylder. Clinton and I were at piquet, and were +disturbed by a precious row the old boys kicked up. Jermyn and Carter +were charging Mark Wylder, in so many words, with not playing +fairly--there was an ace of hearts on the table played by him, and before +three minutes they brought it home--and in fact it was quite clear that +poor dear Mark had helped himself to it in quite an irregular way.' + +'Oh, dear, Captain Lake, oh, dear, how shocking--how inexpressibly +shocking! Is not it _melancholy_?' said Larkin, in his finest and most +pathetic horror. + +'Yes; but don't cry till I've done,' said Lake, tranquilly. 'Mark tried +to bully, but the cool old heads were too much for him, and he threw +himself at last entirely on our mercy--and very abject he became, poor +thing.' + +'How well the mountains look! I am afraid we shall have rain to-morrow.' + +Larkin uttered a short groan. + +'So they sent him into the small card-room, next that we were playing in. +I think we were about the last in the club--it was past three +o'clock--and so the old boys deliberated on their sentence. To bring the +matter before the committee were utter ruin to Mark, and they let him +off, on these conditions--he was to retire forthwith from the club; he +was never to play any game of cards again; and, lastly, he was never more +to address any one of the gentlemen who were present at his detection. +Poor dear devil!--how he did jump at the conditions;--and provided they +were each and all strictly observed, it was intimated that the occurrence +should be kept secret. Well, you know, that was letting poor old Mark off +in a coach; and I do assure you, though we had never liked one another, I +really was very glad they did not move his expulsion--which would have +involved his quitting the service--and I positively don't know how he +could have lived if that had occurred.' + +'I do solemnly assure you, Captain Lake, what you have told me has beyond +expression amazed, and I will say, horrified me,' said the attorney, with +a slow and melancholy vehemence. 'Better men might have suspected +something of it--I do solemnly pledge my honour that nothing of the kind +so much as crossed my mind--not naturally suspicious, I believe, but all +the more shocked, Captain Lake, on that account' + +'He was poor then, you see, and a few pounds were everything to him, and +the temptation immense; but clumsy fellows ought not to try that sort of +thing. There's the highway--Mark would have made a capital garrotter.' + +The attorney groaned, and turned up his eyes. The band was playing 'Pop +goes the weasel,' and old Jackson, very well dressed and buckled up, with +a splendid smile upon his waggish, military countenance, cried, as he +passed, with a wave of his hand, 'How do, Lake--how do, Mr. +Larkin--beautiful day!' + +'I've no wish to injure Mark; but it is better that you should know at +once, than go about poking everywhere for information.' + +'I do assure you----' + +'And having really no wish to hurt him,' pursued the captain, 'and also +making it, as I do, a point that you shall repeat this conversation as +little as possible, I don't choose to appear singular, as your sole +informant, and I've given you here a line to Sir James Carter--he's +member, you know, for Huddlesbury. I mention, that Mark, having broken +his promise, and played for heavy stakes, too, both on board his ship, +and at Plymouth and Naples, which I happen to know; and also by accosting +me, whom, as one of the gentlemen agreeing to impose these conditions, he +was never to address, I felt myself at liberty to mention it to you, +holding the relation you do to me as well as to him, in consequence of +the desirableness of placing you in possession of the true cause of his +absconding, which was simply my telling him that I would not permit him, +slurred as he was, to marry a lady who was totally ignorant of his actual +position; and, in fact, that unless he withdrew, I must acquaint the +young lady's guardian of the circumstances.' + +There was quite enough probability in this story to warrant Jos. Larkin +in turning up his eyes and groaning. But in the intervals, his shrewd +eyes searched the face of the captain, not knowing whether to believe one +syllable of what he related. + +I may as well mention here, that the attorney did present the note to Sir +J. Carter with which Captain Lake had furnished him; indeed, he never +lost an opportunity of making the acquaintance of a person of rank; and +that the worthy baronet, so appealed to, and being a blunt sort of +fellow, and an old acquaintance of Stanley's, did, in a short and testy +sort of way, corroborate Captain Lake's story, having previously +conditioned that he was not to be referred to as the authority from whom +Mr. Larkin had learned it. + +The attorney and Captain Brandon Lake were now walking side by side over +the more sequestered part of the green. + +'And so,' said the captain, coming to a stand-still, 'I'll bid you +good-bye, Larkin; what stay, I forgot to ask, do you make in town?' + +'Only a day or two.' + +'You'll not wait for the division on Trawler's motion?' + +'Oh, dear, no. I calculate I'll be here again, certainly, in three days' +time. And, I suppose, Captain Lake, you received my note?' + +'You mean just now? Oh, yes; of course it is all right; but one day is as +good as another; and you have got my agreement signed.' + +'Pardon me, Captain Brandon Lake; the fact is, one day, in this case, +does _not_ answer as well as another, for I must have drafts of the deeds +prepared by my conveyancer in town, and the note is indispensable. +Perhaps, if there is any difficulty, you will be so good as to say so, +and I shall then be in a position to consider the case in its new +aspect.' + +'What the devil difficulty _can_ there be, Sir? I can't see it, any more +than what _hurry_ can possibly exist about it,' said Lake, stung with a +momentary fury. It seemed as though everyone was conspiring to perplex +and torment him; and he, like the poor vicar, though for very different +reasons, had grown intensely anxious to sell. He had grown to dread the +attorney, since the arrival of Dutton's letter. He suspected that his +journey to London had for its object a meeting with that person. He could +not tell what might be going on in the dark. But the possibility of such +a conjunction might well dismay him. + +On the other hand, the more Mr. Larkin relied upon the truth of Dutton's +letter, the cooler he became respecting the purchase of Five Oaks. It +was, of course, a very good thing; but not his first object. The vicar's +reversion in that case was everything; and of it he was now sure. + +'There is no difficulty about the note, Sir; it contains but four lines, +and I've given you the form. No difficulty can exist but in the one +quarter; and the fact is,' he added, steadily, 'unless I have that note +before I leave to-morrow-morning, I'll assume that you wish to be off, +Captain Lake, and I will adapt myself to circumstances.' + +'You may have it _now_,' said the captain, with a fierce carelessness. +'D--d nonsense! Who could have fancied any such stupid hurry? Send in the +morning, and you shall have it.' And the captain rather savagely turned +away, skirting the crowd who hovered about the band, in his leisurely and +now solitary ramble. + +The captain was sullen that evening at home. He was very uncomfortable. +His heart was failing him for the things that were coming to pass. One of +his maniacal tempers, which had often before thrown him, as it were, 'off +the rails,' was at the bottom of his immediate troubles. This proneness +to sudden accesses of violence and fury was the compensation which abated +the effect of his ordinary craft and self-command. + +He had done all he could to obviate the consequences of his folly in this +case. He hoped the attorney might not succeed in discovering Jim Dutton's +whereabouts. At all events, he had been beforehand, and taken measures to +quiet that person's dangerous resentment. But it was momentous in the +critical state of things to give this dangerous attorney a handsome share +in his stake--to place him, as he had himself said, 'in the same boat,' +and enlist all his unscrupulous astuteness in maintaining his title: and +if he went to London disappointed, and that things turned out unluckily +about Dutton, it might be a very awful business indeed. + +Dinner had been a very dull _tete-a-tete_. Dorcas sat stately and +sad--looking from the window toward the distant sunset horizon, piled in +dusky gold and crimson clouds, against the faded, green sky--a glory that +is always melancholy and dreamy. Stanley sipped his claret, his eyes upon +the cloth. He raised them and looked out, too; and the ruddy light tinted +his pale features. + +A gleam of good humour seemed to come with it, and he said, + +'I was just thinking, Dorkie, that for you and me, _alone_, these great +rooms are a little dreary. Suppose we have tea in the tapestry room.' + +'The Dutch room, Stanley--I think so--I should like it very well. So, I +am certain, would Rachel. I've written to her to come. I hope she will. I +expect her at nine. The brougham will be with her. She wrote such an odd +note to-day, addressed to you; but _I opened it_. Here it is.' + +She did not watch his countenance, or look in his direction, as he read +it. She addressed herself, on the contrary, altogether to her Liliputian +white lap-dog, Snow, and played with his silken ears; and chatted with +him as ladies will. + +A sealed envelope broken. That scoundrel, Larcom, knew perfectly it was +meant for _me_. He was on the point of speaking his mind, which would +hardly have been pleasant to hear, upon this piece of detective +impertinence of his wife's. He could have smashed all the glass upon the +table. But he looked serene, and leaned back with the corner of Rachel's +note between two fingers. It was a case in which he clearly saw he must +command himself. + + + + +CHAPTER LXIV. + +IN THE DUTCH ROOM. + + +His heart misgave him. He felt that a crisis was coming; and he read-- + + +'I cannot tell you, my poor brother, how miserable I am. I have just +learned that a very dangerous person has discovered more about that +dreadful evening than we believed known to anybody in Gylingden. I am +subjected to the most agonising suspicions and _insults_. Would to Heaven +I were dead! But living, I cannot endure my present state of mind longer. +To-morrow morning I will see Dorcas--poor Dorcas!--and tell her all. I am +weary of urging you, _in vain_, to do so. It would have been much better. +But although, after that interview, I shall, perhaps, never see her more, +I shall yet be happier, and, I think, relieved from suspense, and the +torments of mystery. So will she. At all events, it is her _right_ to +know all--and she shall. + +'YOUR OUTCAST AND MISERABLE SISTER.' + + +On Stanley's lips his serene, unpleasant smile was gleaming, as he closed +the note carelessly. He intended to speak, but his voice caught. He +cleared it, and sipped a little claret. + +'For a clever girl she certainly does write the most wonderful rubbish. +Such an effusion! And she sends it tossing about, from hand to hand, +among the servants. I've anticipated her, however, Dorkie.' And he took +her hand and kissed it. 'She does not know I've told you _all_ myself.' + +Stanley went to the library, and Dorcas to the conservatory, neither very +happy, each haunted by an evil augury, and a sense of coming danger. The +deepening shadow warned Dorcas that it was time to repair to the Dutch +room, where she found lights and tea prepared. + +In a few minutes more the library door opened and Stanley Lake peeped in. + +'Radie not come yet?' said he entering. 'We certainly are much pleasanter +in this room, Dorkie, more, in proportion, than we two should have been +in the drawing-room.' + +He seated himself beside her, drawing his chair very close to hers, and +taking her hand in his. He was more affectionate this evening than usual. +What did it portend? she thought. She had already begun to acquiesce in +Rachel's estimate of Stanley, and to fancy that whatever he did it was +with an unacknowledged purpose. + +'Does little Dorkie love me?' said Lake, in a sweet undertone. + +There was reproach, but love too, in the deep soft glance she threw upon +him. + +'You must promise me not to be frightened at what I am going to tell +you,' said Lake. + +She heard him with sudden panic, and a sense of cold stole over her. He +looked like a ghost--quite white--smiling. She knew something was +coming--the secret she had invoked so long--and she was appalled. + +'Don't be frightened, darling. It is necessary to tell you; but it is +really not much when you hear me out. You'll say so when you have quite +heard me. So you won't be frightened?' + +She was gazing straight into his wild yellow eyes, fascinated, with a +look of expecting terror. + +'You are nervous, darling,' he continued, laying his hand on hers. 'Shall +we put it off for a little? You are frightened.' + +'Not much frightened, Stanley,' she whispered. + +'Well, we had better wait. I see, Dorcas, you _are_ frightened and +nervous. Don't keep looking at me; look at something else, can't you? You +make yourself nervous that way. I promise, upon my honour, I'll not say a +word about it till you bid me.' + +'I know, Stanley--I know.' + +'Then, why won't you look down, or look up, or look any way you please, +only don't stare at me so.' + +'Yes--oh, yes,' and she shut her eyes. + +'I'm sorry I began,' he said, pettishly. 'You'll make a fuss. You've made +yourself quite nervous; and I'll wait a little.' + +'Oh! no, Stanley, _now_--for Heaven's sake, _now_. I was only a little +startled; but I am quite well again. Is it anything about marriage? Oh, +Stanley, in mercy, tell me was there any other engagement?' + +'Nothing, darling--nothing on earth of the sort;' and he spoke with an +icy little laugh. 'Your poor soldier is altogether yours, Dorkie,' and he +kissed her cheek. + +'Thank God for that!' said Dorcas, hardly above her breath. + +'What I have to say is quite different, and really nothing that need +affect you; but Rachel has made such a row about it. Fifty fellows, I +know, are in much worse fixes; and though it is not of so much +consequence, still I think I should not have told you; only, without +knowing it, you were thwarting me, and helping to get me into a serious +difficulty by your obstinacy--or what you will--about Five Oaks.' + +Somehow trifling as the matter was, Stanley seemed to grow more and more +unwilling to disclose it, and rather shrank from it now. + +'Now, Dorcas, mind, there must be no trifling. You must not treat me as +Rachel has. If you can't keep a secret--for it _is_ a secret--say so. +Shall I tell you?' + +'Yes, Stanley--yes. I'm your wife.' + +'Well, Dorcas, I told you something of it; but only a part, and some +circumstances I _did_ intentionally colour a little; but I could not help +it, unless I had told everything; and no matter what you or Rachel may +say, it was kinder to withhold it as long as I could.' + +He glanced at the door, and spoke in a lower tone. + +And so, with his eyes lowered to the table at which he sat, glancing ever +and anon sideways at the door, and tracing little figures with the tip of +his finger upon the shining rosewood, he went on murmuring his strange +and hateful story in the ear of his wife. + +It was not until he had spoken some three or four minutes that Dorcas +suddenly uttered a wild scream, and started to her feet. And Stanley also +rose precipitately, and caught her in his arms, for she was falling. + +As he supported her in her chair, the library door opened, and the +sinister face of Uncle Lorne looked in, and returned the captain's stare +with one just as fixed and horrified. + +'Hush!' whispered Uncle Lorne, and he limped softly into the room, and +stopped about three yards away, 'she is not dead, but sleepeth.' + +'Hallo! Larcom,' shouted Lake. + +'I tell you she's dreaming the same dream that I dreamt in the middle of +the night.' + +'Hallo! Larcom.' + +'Mark's on leave to-night, in uniform; his face is flattened against the +window. This is his lady, you know.' + +'Hallo! D-- you--are you there?' shouted the captain, very angry. + +'I saw Mark following you like an ape, on all-fours; such nice white +teeth! grinning at your heels. But he can't bite yet--ha, ha, ha! Poor +Mark!' + +'Will you be so good, Sir, as to touch the bell?' said Lake, changing his +tone. + +He was afraid to remove his arm from Dorcas, and he was splashing water +from a glass upon her face and forehead. + +'No--no. No bell yet--time enough--ding, dong. You say, dead and gone.' + +Captain Lake cursed him and his absent keeper between his teeth; still in +a rather flurried way, prosecuting his conjugal attentions. + +'There was no bell for poor Mark; and he's always listening, and stares +so. A cat may look, you know.' + +'Can't you touch the bell, Sir? What are you standing there for?' snarled +Lake, with a glare at the old man. He looked as if he could have murdered +him. + +'Standing between the living and the dead!' + +'Here, Reuben, here; where the devil have you been--take him away. He has +terrified her. By ---- he ought to be shot.' + +The keeper silently slid his arm into Uncle Lorne's, and, unresisting, +the old man talking to himself the while, drew him from the room. + +Larcom, about to announce Miss Lake, and closely followed by that young +lady, passed the grim old phantom on the lobby. + +'Be quick, you are wanted there,' said the attendant as he passed. + +Dorcas, pale as marble, sighing deeply again and again, her rich black +hair drenched in water, which trickled over her cheeks, like the tears +and moisture of agony, was recovering. There was water spilt on the +table, and the fragments of a broken glass upon the floor. + +The moment Rachel saw her, she divined what had happened, and, gliding +over, she placed her arm round her. + +'You're better, darling. Open the window, Stanley. Send her maid.' + +'Aye, send her maid,' cried Captain Lake to Larcom. 'This is your d--d +work. A nice mess you have made of it among you.' + +'Are you better, Dorcas?' said Rachel. + +'Yes--much better. I'm glad, darling, I understand you now. Radie, kiss +me.' + +Next morning, before early family prayers, while Mr. Jos. Larkin was +locking the despatch box which was to accompany him to London Mr. Larcom +arrived at the Lodge. + +He had a note for Mr. Larkin's hand, which he must himself deliver; and +so he was shown into that gentleman's official cabinet, and received with +the usual lofty kindness. + +'Well, Mr. Larcom, pray sit down. And can I do anything for you, Mr. +Larcom?' said the good attorney, waving his long hand toward a vacant +chair. + +'A note, Sir.' + +'Oh, yes; very well.' And the tall attorney rose, and, facing the rural +prospect at his window, with his back to Mr. Larcom, he read, with a +faint smile, the few lines, in a delicate hand, consenting to the sale of +Five Oaks. + +He had to look for a time at the distant prospect to allow his smile to +subside, and to permit the conscious triumph which he knew beamed through +his features to discharge itself and evaporate in the light and air +before turning to Mr. Larcom, which he did with an air of sudden +recollection. + +'Ah--all right, I was forgetting; I must give you a line.' + +So he did, and hid away the note in his despatch-box, and said-- + +'The family all quite well, I hope?' whereat Larcom shook his head. + +'My mistress'--he always called her so, and Lake the capting--'has been +takin' on hoffle, last night, whatever come betwixt 'em. She was fainted +outright in her chair in the Dutch room; and he said it was the old +gentleman--Old Flannels, we calls him, for shortness--but lor' bless you, +she's too used to him to be frightened, and that's only a make-belief; +and Miss Dipples, her maid, she says as how she was worse up stairs, and +she's made up again with Miss Lake, which _she_ was very glad, no doubt, +of the making friends, I do suppose; but it's a bin a bad row, and I +suspeck amost he's used vilins.' + +'Compulsion, I suppose; you mean constraint?' suggested Larkin, very +curious. + +'Well, that may be, Sir, but I amost suspeck she's been hurted somehow. +She got them crying fits up stairs, you know; and the capting, he's +hoffle bad-tempered this morning, and he never looked near her once, +after his sister came; and he left them together, talking and crying, and +he locked hisself into the library, like one as knowed he'd done +something to be ashamed on, half the night.' + +'It's not happy, Larcom, I'm much afraid; it's _not_ happy,' and the +attorney rose, shaking his tall bald head, and his hands in his pockets, +and looked down in meditation. + +'In the Dutch room, after tea, I suppose?' said the attorney. + +'Before tea, Sir, just as Miss Lake harrived in the brougham.' + +And so on. But there was no more to be learned, and Mr. Larcom returned +and attended the captain very reverentially at his solitary breakfast. + +Mr. Jos. Larkin was away for London. And a very serene companion he was, +if not very brilliant. Everything was going perfectly smoothly with him. +A celestial gratitude glowed and expanded within his breast. His angling +had been prosperous hitherto, but just now he had made a miraculous +draught, and his nets and his heart were bursting. Delightful sentiment, +the gratitude of a righteous man; a man who knows that his heart is not +set upon the things of the world; who has, like King Solomon, made wisdom +his first object, and who finds riches added thereto! + +There was no shadow of self-reproach to slur the sunny landscape. He had +made a splendid purchase from Captain Lake it was true. He drew his +despatch-box nearer to him affectionately, as he thought on the precious +records it contained. But who in this wide-awake world was better able to +take care of himself than the gallant captain? If it were not the best +thing for the captain, surely it would not have been done. Whom have I +defrauded? My hands are clean! He had made a still better purchase from +the vicar; but what would have become of the vicar if he had not been +raised up to purchase? And was it not speculative, and was it not +possible that he should lose all that money, and was it not, on the +whole, the wisest thing that the vicar, under his difficulties, could +have been advised to do? + +So reasoned the good attorney, as with a languid smile and a sigh of +content, his long hand laid across the cover of the despatch-box by his +side, he looked forth through the plate-glass window upon the sunny +fields and hedgerows that glided by him, and felt the blessed assurance, +'look, whatsoever he doeth it shall prosper,' mingling in the hum of +surrounding nature. And as his eyes rested on the flying diorama of +trees, and farmsteads, and standing crops, and he felt already the pride +of a great landed proprietor, his long fingers fiddled pleasantly with +the rough tooling of his morocco leather box; and thinking of the signed +articles within, it seemed as though an angelic hand had placed them +there while he slept, so wondrous was it all; and he fancied under the +red tape a label traced in the neatest scrivenery, with a pencil of +light, containing such gratifying testimonials to his deserts, 'as well +done good and faithful servant,' 'the saints shall inherit the earth,' +and so following; and he sighed again in the delicious luxury of having +secured both heaven and mammon. And in this happy state, and volunteering +all manner of courtesies, opening and shutting windows, lending his +railway guide and his newspapers whenever he had an opportunity, he at +length reached the great London terminus, and was rattling over the +metropolitan pavement, with his hand on his despatch-box, to his cheap +hotel near the Strand. + + + + +CHAPTER LXV. + +I REVISIT BRANDON HALL. + + +Rachel Lake was courageous and energetic; and, when once she had taken a +clear view of her duty, wonderfully persistent and impracticable. Her +dreadful interview with Jos. Larkin was always in her mind. The bleached +face, so meek, so cruel, of that shabby spectre, in the small, low +parlour of Redman's Farm, was always before her. There he had spoken the +sentences which made the earth tremble, and showed her distinctly the +cracking line beneath her feet, which would gape at his word into the +fathomless chasm that was to swallow her. But, come what might, she would +not abandon the vicar and his little boy, and good Dolly, to the arts of +that abominable magician. + +The more she thought, the clearer her conviction. She had no one to +consult with; she knew the risk of exasperating that tall man of God, who +lived at the Lodge. But, determined to brave all, she went down to see +Dolly and the vicar at home. + +Poor Dolly was tired; she had been sitting up all night with sick little +Fairy. He was better to-day; but last night he had frightened them so, +poor little man! he began to rave about eleven o'clock; and more or less +his little mind continued wandering until near six, when he fell into a +sound sleep, and seemed better for it; and it was such a blessing there +certainly was neither scarlatina nor small-pox, both which enemies had +appeared on the northern frontier of Gylingden, and were picking down +their two or three cases each in that quarter. + +So Rachel first made her visit to little man, sitting up in his bed, very +pale and thin, and looking at her, not with his pretty smile, but a +languid, earnest wonder, and not speaking. How quickly and strikingly +sickness tells upon children. Little man's frugal store of toys, chiefly +the gifts of pleasant Rachel, wild beasts, Noah and his sons, and part of +a regiment of foot soldiers, with the usual return of broken legs and +missing arms, stood peacefully mingled upon the board across his bed +which served as a platform. + +But little man was leaning back; his fingers once so busy, lay motionless +on the coverlet, and his tired eyes rested on the toys with a joyless, +earnest apathy. + +'Didn't play with them a minute,' said the maid. + +'I'll bring him a new box. I'm going into the town; won't that be +pretty?' said Rachel, parting his golden locks over the young forehead, +and kissing him; and she took his little hand in hers--it was hot and +dry. + +'He looks better--a little better, don't you think; just a little +better?' whispered his mamma, looking, as all the rest were, on that wan, +sad little face. + +But he really looked worse. + +'Well, he can't look better, you know, dear, till there's a decided +change. What does Doctor Buddle say?' + +'He saw him yesterday morning. He thinks it's all from his stomach, and +he's feverish; no meat. Indeed he won't eat anything, and you see the +light hurts his eyes. + +There was only a chink of the shutter open. + +'But it is always so when he is ever so little ill, my precious little +man; and I _know_ if he thought it anything the _least_ serious, Doctor +Buddle would have looked in before now, he's so very kind.' + +'I wish my darling could get a little sleep. He's very tired, nurse,' +said Rachel. + +'Yes'm, very tired'm; would he like his precious head lower a bit? No; +very well, darling, we'll leave it so.' + +'Dolly, darling, you and nurse must be so tired sitting up. I have a +little wine at Redman's Farm. I got it, you remember, more than a year +ago, when Stanley said he was coming to pay me a visit. I never take any, +and a little would be so good for you and poor nurse. I'll send some to +you.' + +So coming down stairs Rachel said, 'Is the vicar at home?' Yes, he was in +the study, and there they found him brushing his seedy hat, and making +ready for his country calls in the neighbourhood of the town. The hour +was dull without little Fairy; but he would soon be up and out again, and +he would steal up now and see him. He could not go out without his little +farewell at the bed-side, and he would bring him in some pretty flowers. + +'You've seen little Fairy!' asked the good vicar, with a very anxious +smile, 'and you think him better, dear Miss Lake, don't you?' + +'Why, I can't say that, because you know, so soon as he's better, he'll +be quite well; they make their recoveries all in a moment.' + +'But he does not look worse?' said the vicar, lifting his eyes eagerly +from his boot, which he was buttoning on the chair. + +'Well, he _does_ look more _tired_, but that must be till his recovery +begins, which will be, please Heaven, immediately.' + +'Oh, yes, my little man has had two or three attacks _much_ more serious +than this, and always shook them off so easily, I was reminding Dolly, +always, and good Doctor Buddle assures us it is none of those horrid +complaints.' + +And so they talked over the case of the little man, who with Noah and his +sons, and the battered soldiers and animals before him, was fighting, +though they only dimly knew it, silently in his little bed, the great +battle of life or death. + +'Mr. Larkin came to me the evening before last,' said Rachel, '_and told +me_ that the little sum I mentioned--now don't say a word till you have +heard me--was not sufficient; so I want to tell you what I have quite +resolved on. I have been long intending some time or other to change my +place of residence, perhaps I shall go to Switzerland, and I have made up +my mind to sell my rent-charge on the Dulchester estate. It will produce, +Mr. Young says, a very large sum, and I wish to lend it to you, either +_all_ or as much as will make you _quite_ comfortable--you must not +refuse. I had intended leaving it to my dear little man up stairs; and +you must promise me solemnly that you will not listen to the advice of +that bad, cruel man, Mr. Larkin.' + +'My dear Miss Lake, you misunderstood him. But what can I say--how can I +thank you?' said the vicar, clasping her hand. + +'A wicked and merciless man, I say,' repeated Miss Lake. 'From my +observation of him, I am certain of two things--I am sure that he has +some reason for thinking that your brother, Mark Wylder, is dead; and +secondly, that he is himself deeply interested in the purchase of your +reversion. I feel a little ill; Dolly, open the window.' + +There was a silence for a little while, and Rachel resumed:-- + +'Now, William Wylder, I am convinced, that you and your wife (and she +kissed Dolly), and your dear little boy, are marked out for plunder--the +objects of a conspiracy; and I'll lose my life, but I'll prevent it.' + +'Now, maybe, Willie, upon my word, perhaps, she's quite right; for, you +know, if poor Mark is dead, then would not _he_ have the estate _now_; is +not that it, Miss Lake, and--and, you know, that would be dreadful, to +sell it all for next to nothing, is not that what you mean, Miss +Lake--Rachel dear, I mean.' + +'Yes, Dolly, stripping yourselves of a splendid inheritance, and robbing +your poor little boy. I protest, in the name of Heaven, against it, and +you have no excuse now, William, with my offer before you; and, Dolly, it +will be inexcusable _wickedness_ in you, if you allow it.' + +'Now, Willie dear, do you hear that--do you hear what she says?' + +'But, Dolly darling--dear Miss Lake, there is no reason whatever to +suppose that poor Mark is dead,' said the vicar, very pale. + +'I tell you again, I am convinced the attorney _believes_ it. He did not +say so, indeed; but, cunning as he is, I think I've quite seen through +his plot; and even in what he said to me, there was something that half +betrayed him every moment. And, Dolly, if you allow this sale, you +deserve the ruin you are inviting, and the remorse that will follow you +to your grave.' + +'Do you hear that, Willie?' said Dolly, with her hand on his arm. + +'But, dear, it is too late--I _have_ signed this--this instrument--and it +is too late. I hope--God help me--I have not done wrong. Indeed, whatever +happens, dear Miss Lake, may Heaven for ever bless you. But respecting +good Mr. Larkin, you are, indeed, in error; I am sure you have quite +misunderstood him. You don't know how kind--how _disinterestedly_ good he +has been; and _now_, my dear Miss Lake, it is too late--_quite_ too +late.' + +'No; it is _not_ too late. Such wickedness as that cannot be lawful--I +won't believe the law allows it,' cried Rachel Lake. 'It is all a +fraud--even if you have signed--all a fraud. You must procure able advice +at once. Your enemy is that dreadful Mr. Larkin. Write to some good +attorney in London. I'll pay everything.' + +'But, dear Miss Lake, I can't,' said the vicar, dejectedly; 'I am bound +in honour and conscience not to disturb it--I have written to Messrs. +Burlington and Smith to that effect. I assure you, dear Miss Lake, we +have not acted inconsiderately--nothing has been done without careful and +deep consideration.' + +'You _must_ employ an able attorney immediately. You have been duped. +Your little boy must not be ruined.' + +'But--but I do assure you, I have so pledged myself by the letter I have +mentioned, that I _could_ not--no, it is _quite impossible_,' he added, +as he recollected the strong and pointed terms in which he had pledged +his honour and conscience to the London firm, to guarantee them against +any such disturbance as Miss Lake was urging him to attempt. + +'I am going into the town, Dolly, and so are you,' said Rachel, after a +little pause. 'Let us go together.' + +And to this Dolly readily assented; and the vicar, evidently much +troubled in mind, having run up to the nursery to see his little man, the +two ladies set out together. Rachel saw that she had made an impression +upon Dolly, and was resolved to carry her point. So, in earnest terms, +again she conjured her, at least, to lay the whole matter before some +friend on whom she could rely; and Dolly, alarmed and eager, quite agreed +with Rachel, that the sale must be stopped, and she would do whatever +dear Rachel bid her. + +'But do you think Mr. Larkin really supposes that poor Mark is dead?' + +'I do, dear--I suspect he knows it.' + +'And what makes you think that, Rachel, darling?' + +'I can't define--I've no proofs to give you. One knows things, sometimes. +I perceived it--and I think I can't be mistaken; and now I've said all, +and pray ask me no more upon that point.' + +Rachel spoke with a hurried and fierce impatience, that rather startled +her companion. + +It is wonderful that she showed her state of mind so little. There was, +indeed, something feverish, and at times even fierce, in her looks and +words. But few would have guessed her agony, as she pleaded with the +vicar and his wife; or the awful sense of impending consequences that +closed over her like the shadow of night, the moment the excitement of +her pleading was over--'Rachel, are you mad?--Fly, fly, fly!' was always +sounding in her ears. The little street of Gylingden, through which they +were passing, looked strange and dream-like. And as she listened to Mrs. +Crinkle's babble over the counter, and chose his toys for poor little +'Fairy,' she felt like one trifling on the way to execution. + +But her warnings and entreaties, I have said, were not quite thrown away; +for, although the vicar was inflexible, she had prevailed with his wife, +who, at parting, again promised Rachel, that if she could do it, the sale +should be stopped. + +When I returned to Brandon, a few mornings later, Captain Lake received +me joyfully at his solitary breakfast. He was in an intense +electioneering excitement. The evening papers for the day before lay on +the breakfast table. + +'A move of some sort suspected--the opposition prints all hinting at +tricks and ambuscades. They are whipping their men up awfully. Old +Wattles, not half-recovered, went by the early train yesterday, Wealdon +tells me. It will probably kill him. Stower went up the day before. Lee +says he saw him at Charteris. He never speaks--only a vote--and a fellow +that never appears till the minute.' + +'Brittle, the member for Stoney-Muckford, was in the next carriage to me +yesterday; and he's a slow coach, too,' I threw in. 'It does look as if +the division was nearer than they pretend.' + +'Just so. I heard from Gybes last evening--what a hand that fellow +writes--only a dozen words--"Look out for squalls," and "keep your men in +hand." I've sent for Wealdon. I wish the morning papers were come. I'm a +quarter past eleven--what are you? The post's in at Dollington fifty +minutes before we get our letters here. D--d nonsense--it's all that +heavy 'bus of Driver's--I'll change that. They leave London at five, and +get to Dollington at half-past ten, and Driver never has them in sooner +than twenty minutes past eleven! D--d humbug! I'd undertake to take a +dog-cart over the ground in twenty minutes.' + +'Is Larkin here?' I asked. + +'Oh, no--run up to town. I'm so glad he's away--the clumsiest dog in +England--nothing clever--no invention--only a bully--the people hate him. +Wealdon's my man. I wish he'd give up that town-clerkship--it can't be +worth much, and it's in his way--I'd make it up to him somehow. Will you +just look at that--it's the 'Globe'--only six lines, and tell me what +_you_ make of it?' + +'It does look like it, certainly.' + +'Wealdon and I have jotted down a few names here,' said Lake, sliding a +list of names before me; 'you know some of them, I think--rather a strong +committee; don't you think so? Those fellows with the red cross before +have promised.' + +'Yes; it's very strong--capital!' I said, crunching my toast. 'Is it +thought the writs will follow the dissolution unusually quickly?' + +'They must, unless they want a very late session. But it is quite +possible the government may win--a week ago they reckoned upon eleven.' + +And as we were talking the post arrived. + +'Here they are!' cried Lake, and grasping the first morning paper he +could seize on, he tore it open with a greater display of energy than I +had seen that languid gentleman exhibit on any former occasion. + + + + +CHAPTER LXVI. + +LADY MACBETH. + + +'Here it is,' said the captain. 'Beaten'--then came an oath--'three +votes--how the devil was that?--there it is, by Jove--no +mistake--majority against ministers, three! Is that the "Times?" What +does _it_ say?' + +'A long leader--no resignation--immediate dissolution. That is what I +collect from it.' + +'How on earth could they have miscalculated so! Swivell, I see, voted in +the majority; that's very odd; and, by Jove, there's Surplice, too, and +he's good for seven votes. Why his own paper was backing the ministers! +What a fellow that is! That accounts for it all. A difference of fourteen +votes.' + +And thus we went on, discussing this unexpected turn of luck, and reading +to one another snatches of the leading articles in different interests +upon the subject. + +Then Lake, recollecting his letters, opened a large-sealed envelope, with +S.C.G. in the corner. + +'This is from Gybes--let us see. Oh! _before_ the division. "It looks a +little fishy," he says--well, so it does--"We may take the division +to-night. Should it prove adverse, you are to expect an immediate +dissolution; this on _the best authority_. I write to mention this, as I +may be too much hurried to-morrow."' + +We were discussing this note when Wealdon arrived. + +'Well, captain; great news, Sir. The best thing, I take it, could have +happened ministers, ha, ha, ha! A rotten house--down with it--blow it +up--three votes only--but as good as three hundred for the purpose--of +the three hundred, grant but three, you know--of course, they don't think +of resigning.' + +'Oh, dear, no--an immediate dissolution. Read that,' said Lake, tossing +Gybes' note to him. + +'Ho, then, we'll have the writs down hot and heavy. We must be sharp. The +sheriff's all right; that's a point. You must not lose an hour in getting +your committee together, and printing your address.' + +'Who's on the other side?' + +'You'll have Jennings, of course; but they are talking of four different +men, already, to take Sir Harry Twisden's place. _He'll_ resign; that's +past a doubt now. He has his retiring address written; Lord Edward Mordun +read it; and he told FitzStephen on Sunday, after church, that he'd never +sit again.' + +'Here, by Jove, is a letter from Mowbray,' said Lake, opening it. 'All +about his brother George. Hears I'm up for the county. Lord George ready +to join and go halves. What shall I say?' + +'Could not have a better man. Tell him you desire no better, and will +bring it at once before your committee; and let him know, the moment they +meet; and tell him _I_ say he knows Wealdon pretty well--he may look on +it as settled. That will be a spoke in Sir Harry's wheel.' + +'Sir Harry who?' said Lake. + +'Bracton. I think it's only to spoil your game, you see,' answered +Wealdon. + +'Abundance of malice; but I don't think he's countenanced?' + +'He'll try to get the start of you; and if he does, one or other must go +to the wall; for Lord George is too strong to be shook out. Do _you_ get +forward at once; that's your plan, captain.' + +Then the captain recurred to his letters, which were a larger pack than +usual this morning, chatting all the time with Wealdon and me on the +tremendous topic, and tossing aside every letter that did not bear on the +coming struggle. + +'Who can this be?' said Lake, looking at the address of one of these. +'Very like my hand,' and he examined the seal. It was only a large +wafer-stamp, so he broke it open, and drew out a shabby, very ill-written +scroll. He turned suddenly away, talking the while, but with his eyes +upon the note, and then he folded, or rather crumpled it up, and stuffed +it into his pocket, and continued his talk; but it was now plain to me +there was something more on his mind, and he was thinking of the shabby +letter he had just received. + +But, no matter; the election was the pressing topic, and Lake was soon +engaged in it again. + +There was now a grand _coup_ under discussion--the forestalling of all +the horses and vehicles along the line of railway, and in all the +principal posting establishments throughout the county. + +'They'll want to keep it open for a bid from the other side. It is a +heavy item any way; and if you want to engage them now, you'll have to +give double what they got last time.' + +But Lake was not to be daunted. He wanted the seat, and would stick at +nothing to secure it; and so, Wealdon got instructions, in his own +phrase, to go the whole animal. + +As I could be of no possible use in local details, I left the council of +war sitting, intending a stroll in the grounds. + +In the hall, I met the mistress of the house, looking very handsome, but +with a certain witch-like beauty, very pale, something a little haggard +in her great, dark eyes, and a strange, listening look. Was it +watchfulness? was it suspicion? She was dressed gravely but richly, and +received me kindly--and, strange to say, with a smile that, yet, was not +joyful. + +'I hope she is happy. Lake is such a beast; I hope he does not bully +her.' + +In truth, there were in her exquisite features the traces of that +mysterious misery and fear which seemed to fall wherever Stanley Lake's +ill-omened confidences were given. + +I walked down one of the long alleys, with tall, close hedges of beech, +as impenetrable as cloister walls to sight, and watched the tench basking +and flickering in the clear pond, and the dazzling swans sailing +majestically along. + +What a strange passion is ambition, I thought. Is it really the passion +of great minds, or of little. Here is Lake, with a noble old place, +inexhaustible in variety; with a beautiful, and I was by this time +satisfied, a very singular and interesting woman for his wife, who must +have married him for love, pure and simple; a handsome fortune; the power +to bring his friends--those whom he liked, or who amused him--about him, +and to indulge luxuriously every reasonable fancy, willing to forsake +all, and follow the beck of that phantom. Had he knowledge, public +talents, training? Nothing of the sort. Had he patriotism, any one noble +motive or fine instinct to prompt him to public life? The mere suggestion +was a sneer. It seemed to me, simply, that Stanley Lake was a lively, +amusing, and even intelligent man, without any internal resource; vacant, +peevish, with an unmeaning passion for corruption and intrigue, and the +sort of egotism which craves distinction. So I supposed. + +Yet, with all its weakness, there was a dangerous force in the character +which, on the whole, inspired an odd mixture of fear and contempt. I was +bitten, however, already, by the interest of the coming contest. It is +very hard to escape that subtle and intoxicating poison. I wondered what +figure Stanley would make as a hustings orator, and what impression in +his canvass. The latter, I was pretty confident about. Altogether, +curiosity, if no deeper sentiment, was highly piqued; and I was glad I +happened to drop in at the moment of action, and wished to see the play +out. + +At the door of her boudoir, Rachel Lake met Dorcas. + +'I am so glad, Radie, dear, you are come. You must take off your things, +and stay. You must not leave me to-night. We'll send home for whatever +you want; and you won't leave me, Radie, I'm certain.' + +'I'll stay, dear, as you wish it,' said Rachel, kissing her. + +'Did you see Stanley? I have not seen him to-day,' said Dorcas. + +'No, dear; I peeped into the library, but he was not there; and there are +two men writing in the Dutch room, very busily,' + +'It must be about the election.' + +'What election, dear?' asked Rachel. + +'There is going to be an election for the county, and--only think--he +intends coming forward. I sometimes think he is mad, Radie.' + +'I could not have supposed such a thing. If I were he, I think I should +fly to the antipodes. I should change my name, sear my features with +vitriol, and learn another language. I should obliterate my past self +altogether; but men are so different, so audacious--some men, at +least--and Stanley, ever since his ill-omened arrival at Redman's Farm, +last autumn, has amazed and terrified me.' + +'I think, Radie, we have both courage--_you_ have certainly; you have +shown it, darling, and you must cease to blame yourself; I think you a +_heroine_, Radie; but you know _I_ see with the wild eyes of the +Brandons.' + +'I am grateful, Dorcas, that you don't hate me. Most women I am sure +would abhor me--yes, Dorcas--_abhor_ me.' + +'You and I against the world, Radie!' said Dorcas, with a wild smile and +a dark admiration in her look, and kissing Rachel again. 'I used to think +myself brave; it belongs to women of our blood; but this is no common +strain upon courage, Radie. I've grown to fear Stanley somehow like a +ghost; I fear it is even worse than he says,' and she looked with a +horrible enquiry into Rachel's eyes. + +'So do _I_, Dorcas,' said Rachel, in a firm low whisper, returning her +look as darkly. + +'What's done cannot be undone,' said Rachel, sadly, after a little pause, +unconsciously quoting from a terrible soliloquy of Shakespeare. + +'I know what you mean, Radie; and you warned me, with a strange +second-sight, before the evil was known to either of us. It was an +irrevocable step, and I took it, not seeing all that has happened, it is +true; but forewarned. And this I will say, Radie, if I _had_ known the +worst, I think even that would not have deterred me. It was madness--it +_is_ madness, for I love him still. Rachel, though I know him and his +wickedness, and am filled with horror--I love him desperately.' + +'I am very glad,' said Rachel, 'that you do know everything. It is so +great a relief to have companionship. I often thought I must go mad in my +solitude.' + +'Poor Rachel! I think you wonderful--I think you a heroine--I do, Radie; +you and I are made for one another--the same blood--something of the same +wild nature; I can admire you, and understand you, and will always love +you.' + +'I've been with William Wylder and Dolly. That wicked attorney, Mr. +Larkin, is resolved on robbing them. I wish they had anyone able to +advise them. Stanley I am sure could save them; but he does not choose to +do it. He was always so angry when I urged him to help them, that I knew +it would be useless asking him; I don't think he knows what Mr. Larkin +has been doing; but, Dorcas, I am afraid the very same thought has been +in his mind.' + +'I hope not, Radie,' and Dorcas sighed deeply. 'Everything is so +wonderful and awful in the light that has come.' + +That morning, poor William Wylder had received a letter from Jos. Larkin, +Esq., mentioning that he had found Messrs. Burlington and Smith anything +but satisfied with him--the vicar. What exactly he had done to disoblige +them he could not bring to mind. But Jos. Larkin told him that he had +done all in his power 'to satisfy them of the _bona fide_ character' of +his reverend client's dealings from the first. But 'they still express +themselves dissatisfied upon the point, and appear to suspect a +disposition to shilly-shally.' I have said 'all I could to disabuse them +of the unpleasant prejudice; but I think I should hardly be doing my duty +if I were not to warn you that you will do wisely to exhibit no +hesitation in the arrangements by which your agreement is to be carried +out, and that in the event of your showing the slightest disposition to +qualify the spirit of your strong note to them, or in anywise +disappointing their client, you must be prepared, from what I know of the +firm, for very sharp practice indeed.' + +What could they do to him, or why should they hurt him, or what had he +done to excite either the suspicion or the temper of the firm? They +expected their client, the purchaser, in a day or two. He was already +grumbling at the price, and certainly would stand no trifling. Neither +would Messrs. Burlington and Smith, who, he must admit, had gone to very +great expense in investigating title, preparing deeds, &c., and who were +noted as a very expensive house. He was aware that they were in a +position to issue an execution on the guarantee for the entire amount of +their costs; but he thought so extreme a measure would hardly be +contemplated, notwithstanding their threats, unless the purchaser were to +withdraw or the vendor to exhibit symptoms of--he would not repeat their +phrase--irresolution in his dealing. He had, however, placed the vicar's +letter in their hands, and had accompanied it with his own testimony to +the honour and character of the Rev. William Wylder, which he was happy +to say seemed to have considerable weight with Messrs. Burlington and +Smith. There was also this passage, 'Feeling acutely the anxiety into +which the withdrawal of the purchaser must throw you--though I trust +nothing of that sort may occur--I told them that rather than have you +thrown upon your beam-ends by such an occurrence, I would myself step in +and purchase on the terms agreed on. This will, I trust, quiet them on +the subject of their costs, and also prevent any low _dodging_ on the +part of the purchaser.' + +This letter would almost seem to have been written with a supernatural +knowledge of what was passing in Gylingden, and was certainly well +contrived to prevent the vicar from wavering. + +But all this time the ladies are conversing in Dorcas's boudoir. + +'This election frightens me, Radie--everything frightens me now--but this +is _so_ audacious. If there be powers either in heaven or hell, it seems +like a defiance and an invocation. I am glad you are here, Radie--I have +grown so nervous--so superstitious, I believe; watching always for signs +and omens. Oh, darling, the world's ghastly for me now.' + +'I wish, Dorcas, we were away--as you used to say--in some wild and +solitary retreat, living together--two recluses--but all that is +visionary--quite visionary now.' + +Dorcas sighed. + +'You know, Rachel, the world must not see this--we will carry our heads +high. Wicked men, and brave and suffering women--that is the history of +our family--and men and women always quite unlike the rest of the +world--unlike the human race; and somehow they interest me unspeakably. I +wish I knew more about those proud, forlorn beauties, whose portraits are +fading on the walls. Their spirit, I am sure, is in us, Rachel; and their +pictures and traditions have always supported me. When I was a little +thing, I used to look at them with a feeling of melancholy and mystery. +They were in my eyes, reserved prophetesses, who could speak, if they +would, of my own future.' + +'A poor support, Dorcas--a broken reed. I wish we could find another--the +true one, in the present, and in the coming time.' + +Dorcas smiled faintly, and I think there was a little gleam of a ghastly +satire in it. I am afraid that part of her education which deals with +futurity had been neglected. + +'I am more likely to turn into a Lady Macbeth than a _devote_,' said she, +coldly, with the same painful smile. 'I found myself last night sitting +up in my bed, talking in the dark about it.' + +There was a silence for a time, and Rachel said,-- + +'It is growing late, Dorcas.' + +'But you must not go, Rachel--you _must_ stay and keep me company--you +must, _indeed_, Radie,' said Dorcas. + +'So I will,' she answered; 'but I must send a line to old Tamar; and I +promised Dolly to go down to her to-night, if that darling little boy +should be worse--I am very unhappy about him.' + +'And is he in danger, the handsome little fellow?' said Dorcas. + +'Very great danger, I fear,' said Rachel. 'Doctor Buddle has been very +kind--but he is, I am afraid, more desponding than poor William or Dolly +imagines--Heaven help them!' + +'But children recover wonderfully. What is his ailment?' + +'Gastric fever, the doctor says. I had a foreboding of evil the moment I +saw him--before the poor little man was put to his bed.' + +Dorcas rang the bell. + +'Now, Radie, if you wish to write, sit down here--or if you prefer a +message, Thomas can take one very accurately; and he shall call at the +vicar's, and see Dolly, and bring us word how the dear little boy is. And +don't fancy, darling, I have forgotten what you said to me about +duty--though I would call it differently--only I feel so wild, I can +think of nothing clearly yet. But I am making up my mind to a great and +bold step, and when I am better able, I will talk it over with you--my +only friend, Rachel.' + +And she kissed her. + + + + +CHAPTER LXVII. + +MR. LARKIN IS VIS-A-VIS WITH A CONCEALED COMPANION. + + +The time had now arrived when our friend Jos. Larkin was to refresh the +village of Gylingden with his presence. He had pushed matters forward +with wonderful despatch. The deeds, with their blue and silver stamps, +were handsomely engrossed--having been approved in draft by Crompton S. +Kewes, the eminent Queen's Counsel, on a case furnished by Jos. Larkin, +Esq., The Lodge, Brandon Manor, Gylingden, on behalf of his client, the +Reverend William Wylder; and in like manner on behalf of Stanley Williams +Brandon Lake, of Brandon Hall, in the county of ----, Esq. + +In neither draft did Jos. Larkin figure as the purchaser by name. He did +not care for advice on any difficulty depending on his special relations +to the vendors in both these cases. He wished, as was his custom, +everything above-board, and such 'an opinion' as might be published by +either client in the 'Times' next day if he pleased it. Besides these +matters of Wylder and of Lake, he had also a clause to insert in a +private Act, on behalf of the trustees of the Baptist Chapel, at Naunton +Friars; a short deed to be consulted upon on behalf of his client, Pudder +Swynfen, Esq., of Swynfen Grange, in the same county; and a deed to be +executed at Shillingsworth, which he would take _en route_ for Gylingden, +stopping there for that night, and going on by next morning's train. + +Those little trips to town paid very fairly. + +In this particular case his entire expenses reached exactly L5 3_s._, and +what do you suppose was the good man's profit upon that small item? +Precisely L62 7_s._! The process is simple, Jos. Larkin made his own +handsome estimate of his expenses, and the value of his time to and from +London, and then he charged this in its entirety--shall we say +integrity--to each client separately. In this little excursion he was +concerned for no less than _five_. + +His expenses, I say, reached exactly L5 3_s_. But he had a right to go to +Dondale's if he pleased, instead of that cheap hostelry near Covent +Garden. He had a right to a handsome lunch and a handsome dinner, instead +of that economical fusion of both meals into one, at a cheap +eating-house, in an out-of-the-way quarter. He had a right to his pint of +high-priced wine, and to accomplish his wanderings in a cab, instead of, +as the Italians say, 'partly on foot, and partly walking.' Therefore, and +on this principle, Mr. Jos. Larkin had 'no difficulty' in acting. His +savings, if the good man chose to practise self-denial, were his own--and +it was a sort of problem while he stayed, and interested him +curiously--keeping down his bill in matters which he would not have +dreamed of denying himself at home. + +The only client among his wealthy supporters, who ever went in a grudging +spirit into one of these little bills of Jos. Larkin's, was old Sir +Mulgrave Bracton--the defunct parent of the Sir Harry, with whom we are +acquainted. + +'Don't you think, Mr. Larkin, you could perhaps reduce _this_, just a +little?' + +'Ah, the expenses?' + +'Well, yes.' + +Mr. Jos. Larkin smiled--the smile said plainly, 'what would he have me +live upon, and where?' We do meet persons of this sort, who would fain +'fill our bellies with the husks' that swine digest; what of that--we +must remember who we are--_gentlemen_--and answer this sort of +shabbiness, and every other endurable annoyance, as Lord Chesterfield +did--with a bow and a smile. + +'I think so,' said the baronet, in a bluff, firm way. + +'Well, the fact is, when I represent a client, Sir Mulgrave Bracton, of a +certain rank and position, I make it a principle--and, as a man of +business, I find it tells--to present myself in a style that is suitably +handsome.' + +'Oh! an expensive house--_where_ was this, now?' + +'Oh, Sir Mulgrave, pray don't think of it--I'm only too happy--pray, draw +your pen across the entire thing.' + +'I think so,' said the baronet unexpectedly. 'Don't you think if we said +a pound a-day, and your travelling expenses?' + +'Certainly--_any_thing--what_ever_ you please, Sir.' + +And the attorney waved his long hand a little, and smiled almost +compassionately; and the little alteration was made, and henceforward he +spoke of Sir Mulgrave as not quite a pleasant man to deal with in money +matters; and his confidential friends knew that in a transaction in which +he had paid money out of his own pocket for Sir Mulgrave he had never got +back more than seven and sixpence in the pound; and, what made it worse, +it was a matter connected with the death of poor Lady Bracton! And he +never lost an opportunity of conveying his opinion of Sir Mulgrave, +sometimes in distinct and confidential sentences, and sometimes only by a +sad shake of his head, or by awfully declining to speak upon the subject. + +In the present instance Jos. Larkin was returning in a heavenly frame of +mind to the Lodge, Brandon Manor, Gylingden. Whenever he was away he +interpolated 'Brandon Manor,' and stuck it on his valise and hat-case; +and liked to call aloud to the porters tumbling among the luggage--'Jos. +Larkin, Esquire, _Brandon Manor, if_ you please;' and to see the people +read the inscription in the hall of his dingy hostelry. Well might the +good man glow with a happy consciousness of a blessing. In small things +as in great he was prosperous. + +This little excursion to London would cost him, as I said, exactly L5 +3_s._ It might have cost him L13 10_s._ and at that sum his expenses +figured in his ledger; and as he had five clients on this occasion, the +total reached L67 10_s._, leaving a clear profit, as I have mentioned, of +L62 7_s._ on this item. + +But what was this little tip from fortune, compared with the splendid +pieces of scrivenery in his despatch box. The white parchment--the blue +and silver stamps in the corner--the German text and flourishes at the +top, and those broad, horizontal lines of recital, `habendum,' and so +forth--marshalled like an army in procession behind his march of triumph +into Five Oaks, to take the place of its deposed prince? From the +captain's deed to the vicar's his mind glanced fondly. + +He would yet stand the highest man in his county. He had found time for a +visit to the King-at-Arms and the Heralds' Office. He would have his +pictures and his pedigree. His grandmother had been a Howard. Her branch, +indeed, was a little under a cloud, keeping a small provision-shop in the +town of Dwiddleston. But this circumstance need not be in prominence. She +was a Howard--_that_ was the fact he relied on--no mortal could gainsay +it; and he would be, first, J. Howard Larkin, then Howard Larkin, simply; +then Howard Larkin Howard, and the Five Gaks' Howards would come to be +very great people indeed. And the Brandons had intermarried with other +Howards, and Five Oaks would naturally, therefore, go to Howards; and so +he and his, with clever management, would be anything but _novi homines_ +in the county. + +'He shall be like a tree planted by the water-side, that will bring forth +his fruit in due season. His leaf also shall not wither. So thought this +good man complacently. He liked these fine consolations of the Jewish +dispensation--actual milk and honey, and a land of promise on which he +could set his foot. Jos. Larkin, Esq., was as punctual as the clock at +the terminus. He did not come a minute too soon or too late, but +precisely at the moment which enabled him, without fuss, and without a +tiresome wait, to proceed to the details of ticket, luggage, selection of +place, and ultimate ascension thereto. + +So now having taken all measures, gliding among the portmanteaus, +hand-barrows, and porters, and the clangorous bell ringing, he mounted, +lithe and lank, into his place. + +There was a pleasant evening light still, and the gas-lamps made a +purplish glow against it. The little butter-cooler of a glass lamp +glimmered from the roof. Mr. Larkin established himself, and adjusted his +rug and mufflers about him, for, notwithstanding the season, there had +been some cold, rainy weather, and the evening was sharp; and he set his +two newspapers, his shilling book, and other triumphs of cheap literature +in sundry shapes, in the vacant seat at his left hand, and made +everything handsome about him. He glanced to the other end of the +carriage, where sat his solitary fellow-passenger. This gentleman was +simply a mass of cloaks and capes, culminating in a queer battered felt +hat; his shoulders were nestled into the corner, and his face buried +among his loose mufflers. They sat at corners diagonally opposed, and +were, therefore, as far apart as was practicable--an arrangement, not +sociable, to be sure, but on the whole, very comfortable, and which +neither seemed disposed to disturb. + +Mr. Larkin had a word to say to the porter from the window, and bought +one more newspaper; and then looked out on the lamplit platform, and saw +the officials loitering off to the clang of the carriage doors; then came +the whistle, and then the clank and jerk of the start. And so the brick +walls and lamps began to glide backward, and the train was off. + +Jos. Larkin tried his newspaper, and read for ten minutes, or so, pretty +diligently; and then looked for a while from the window, upon receding +hedgerows and farmsteads, and the level and spacious landscape; and then +he leaned back luxuriously, his newspaper listlessly on his knees, and +began to read, instead, at his ease, the shapeless, wrapt-up figure +diagonally opposite. + +The quietude of the gentleman in the far corner was quite singular. He +produced neither tract, nor newspaper, nor volume--not even a pocket-book +or a letter. He brought forth no cigar-case, with the stereotyped, 'Have +you any objection to my smoking a cigar?' He did not even change his +attitude ever so little. A burly roll of cloaks, rugs, capes, and loose +wrappers, placed in the corner, and _tanquam cadaver_, passive and +motionless. + +I have sometimes in my travels lighted on a strangely shaped mountain, +whose huge curves, and sombre colouring have interested me indefinably. +In the rude mass at the far angle, Mr. Jos. Larkin, I fancy, found some +such subject of contemplation. And the more he looked, the more he felt +disposed to look. + +As they got on there was more night fog, and the little lamp at top shone +through a halo. The fellow-passenger at the opposite angle lay back, all +cloaks and mufflers, with nothing distinct emerging but the felt hat at +top, and the tip--it was only the tip now--of the shining shoe on the +floor. + +The gentleman was absolutely motionless and silent. And Mr. Larkin, +though his mind was pretty universally of the inquisitive order, began in +this particular case to feel a special curiosity. It was partly the +monotony and their occupying the carriage all to themselves--as the two +uncommunicative seamen did the Eddystone Lighthouse--but there was, +beside, an indistinct feeling, that, in spite of all these wrappers and +swathings, he knew the outlines of that figure; and yet the likeness must +have been of the rudest possible sort. + +He could not say that he recognised anything distinctly--only he fancied +that some one he knew was sitting there, unrevealed, inside that mass of +clothing. And he felt, moreover, as if he ought to be able to guess who +he was. + + + + +CHAPTER LXVIII. + +THE COMPANION DISCLOSES HIMSELF. + + +But this sort of musing and wonderment leads to nothing; and Mr. Jos. +Larkin being an active-minded man, and practical withal, in a little +while shook it off, and from his breast-pocket took a tiny treasure of a +pocket-book, in which were some bank-notes, precious memoranda in pencil, +and half-a-dozen notes and letters, bearing upon cases and negotiations +on which, at this juncture, he was working. + +Into these he got, and now and then brought out a letter bearing on some +point of speculation, and read it through, and then closed his eyes for +three minutes at a time, and thought. But he had not his tin boxes there; +and, with a man of his stamp, speculation, which goes upon guess as to +dates and quantities, which are all ascertainable by reference to black +and white, soon loses its interest. And the evidence in his pocket being +pretty soon exhausted, he glanced again at his companion over the way. + +He had not moved all this while. He had a high stand-up collar to the +cape he wore, which covered his cheeks and nose and outside was loosely +swathed a large, cream-coloured, cashmere handkerchief. The battered felt +hat covered his forehead and eyebrows, and left, in fact, but a narrow +streak of separation between. + +Through this, however, for the first time, Jos. Larkin now saw the +glitter of a pair of eyes gazing at him, he fancied. At all events there +was the glitter, and the gentleman was awake. + +Jos. returned the gentleman's gaze. It was his lofty aristocratic stare; +and he expected to see the glittering lights that peeped through the dark +chink between brim and collar shut up under its rebuke. But nothing of +the kind took place, and the ocular exercises of the attorney were +totally ineffectual. + +If the fellow knew that his fixed stare was observed through his narrow +embrasure--and Larkin thought he could hardly be insensible to the +reproof of his return fire--he must be a particularly impertinent person. +It would be ridiculous, however, to continue a contest of this kind; so +the attorney lowered the window and looked out. Then he pulled it up, and +took to his newspaper again, and read the police cases, and a very +curious letter from a poor-house doctor, describing a boy who was quite +blind in daylight, but could see very fairly by gas or candle light, and +then he lighted upon a very odd story, and said to be undergoing special +sifting at the hands of Sir Samuel Squailes, of a policeman on a certain +beat, in Fleet Street, not far from Temple Bar, who every night saw, at +or about the same hour, a certain suspicious-looking figure walk along +the flag-way and enter a passage. Night after night he pursued this +figure, but always lost it in the same passage. On the last occasion, +however, he succeeded in keeping him in view, and came up with him in a +court, when he was rewarded with a sight of such a face as caused him to +fall to the ground in a fit. This was the Clampcourt ghost, and I believe +he was left in that debatable state, and never after either exploded or +confirmed. + +So having ended all these studies, the attorney lifted up his eyes again, +as he lowered his newspaper, and beheld the same glittering gaze fixed +upon him through the same horizontal cranny. + +He fancied the eyes were laughing. He could not be sure, of course, but +at all events the persistent stare was extremely, and perhaps +determinedly, impertinent. Forgetting the constitutional canon through +which breathes the genuine spirit of British liberty, he felt for a +moment that he was such a king as that cat had no business to look at; +and he might, perhaps, have politely intimated something of the kind, had +not the enveloped offender made a slight and lazy turn which, burying his +chin still deeper in his breast, altogether concealed his eyes, and so +closed the offensive scrutiny. + +In making this change in his position, slight as it was, the gentleman in +the superfluous clothing reminded Mr. Jos. Larkin very sharply for an +instant of--_some_body. There was the rub; who could it be? + +The figure was once more a mere mountain of rug. What was the peculiarity +in that slight movement--something in the knee? something in the elbow? +something in the general character? + +Why had he not spoken to him? The opportunity, for the present, was past. +But he was now sure that his fellow-traveller was an acquaintance, who +had probably recognised him. Larkin--except when making a mysterious trip +at election times, or in an emergency, in a critical case--was a frank, +and as he believed could be a fascinating _compagnon de voyage_, such and +so great was his urbanity on a journey. He rather liked talking with +people; he sometimes heard things not wholly valueless, and once or twice +had gathered hints in this way, which saved him trouble, or money, which +is much the same thing. Therefore upon principle he was not averse from +that direst of bores, railway conversation. + +And now they slackened speed, with a long, piercing whistle, and came to +a standstill at 'East Had_don_' (with a jerk upon the last syllable), +'East Had_don_, East Had_don_,' as the herald of the station declared, +and Lawyer Larkin sat straight up, very alert, with a budding smile, +ready to blow out into a charming radiance the moment his +fellow-traveller rose perpendicular, as was to be expected, and peeped +from his window. + +But he seemed to know intuitively that Larkin intended telling him, +_apropos_ of the station, that story of the Haddon property, and Sir +James Wotton's will, which as told by the good attorney and jumbled by +the clatter, was perhaps a little dreary. At all events he did not stir, +and carefully abstained from wakening, and in a few seconds more they +were again in motion. + +They were now approaching Shillingsworth, where the attorney was to get +out, and put up for the night, having a deed with him to be executed in +that town, and so sweetening his journey with this small incident of +profit. + +Now, therefore, looking at his watch, and consulting his time table, he +got his slim valise from under on top of the seat before him, together +with his hat-case, despatch-box, stick, and umbrella, and brushed off +with his handkerchief some of the gritty railway dust that lay drifted in +exterior folds and hollows of his coat, rebuttoned that garment with +precision, arranged his shirt-collar, stuffed his muffler into his +coat-pocket, and made generally that rude sacrifice to the graces with +which natty men precede their exit from the dust and ashes of this sort +of sepulture. + +At this moment he had just eight minutes more to go, and the glitter of +the pair of eyes, staring between the muffler and the rim of the hat, met +his view once more. + +Mr. Larkin's cigar-case was open in his hand in a moment, and with such a +smile as a genteel perfumer offers his wares with, he presented it toward +the gentleman who was built up in the stack of garments. + +He merely shook his head with the slightest imaginable nod and a wave of +a pudgy hand in a soiled dog-skin glove, which emerged for a second from +under a cape, in token that he gratefully declined the favour. + +Mr. Larkin smiled and shrugged regretfully, and replaced the case in his +coat pocket. Hardly five minutes remained now. Larkin glanced round for a +topic. + +'My journey is over for the present, Sir, and perhaps you would find +these little things entertaining.' + +And he tendered with the same smile 'Punch,' the 'Penny Gleaner,' and +'Gray's Magazine,' a religious serial. They were, however, similarly +declined in pantomime. + +'He's not particularly polite, whoever he is,' thought Mr. Larkin, with a +sniff. However, he tried the effect of a direct observation. So getting +one seat nearer, he said:-- + +'Wonderful place Shillingsworth, Sir; one does not really, until one has +visited it two or three times over, at all comprehend its wealth and +importance; and how justly high it deserves to hold its head amongst the +provincial emporia of our productive industry.' + +The shapeless traveller in the corner touched his ear with his pudgy +dogskin fingers, and shook his hand and head a little, in token either +that he was deaf, or the noise such as to prevent his hearing, and in the +next moment the glittering eyes closed, and the pantomimist appeared to +be asleep. + +And now, again, the train subsided to a stand-still, and Shillingsworth +resounded through the night air, and Larkin scrambled forward to the +window, by which sat the enveloped gentleman, and called the porter, and, +with many unheeded apologies, pulled out his various properties, close by +the knees of the tranquil traveller. So, Mr. Larkin was on the platform, +and his belongings stowed away against the wall of the station-house. + +He made an enquiry of the guard, with whom he was acquainted, about his +companion; but the guard knew nothing of the 'party,' neither did the +porter, to whom the guard put a similar question. + +So, as Larkin walked down the platform, the whistle sounded and the train +glided forward, and as it passed him, the gentleman in the cloak and +queer hat was looking out. A lamp shone full on him. Mr. Larkin's heart +stood still for a moment, and then bounded up as if it would choke him. + +'It's him, by ----!' and Mr. Larkin, forgetting syntax, and propriety, +and religion, all together, and making a frantic race to keep up with the +train, shouted-- + +'Stop it, stop it--hollo!--stop--stop--ho, stop!' + +But he pleaded with the winds; and before he had reached the end of the +platform, the carriage windows were flying by him with the speed of +wheel-spokes, and the end of the coupe, with its red lantern, sailed away +through the cutting. + +'Forgot summat, Sir,' said the porter, touching his hat. + +'Yes--signal--stop him, can you?' + +The porter only scratched his head, under his cap, and smiled sheepishly +after the train. Jos. Larkin knew, the next moment, he had talked +nonsense. + +'I--I--yes--I have--have you an engine here:--express--I'll pay +anything.' + +But, no, there was 'no engine--not nearer than the junction, and she +might not be spared.' + +'How far is the junction?' + +'Nineteen and a-half.' + +'Nineteen miles! They'll never bring me there, by horse, under two hours, +they are so cursed tedious. Why have not you a spare engine at a place +like this? Shillingsworth! Nice management! Are you certain? Where's the +station-master?' + +All this time he kept staring after the faint pulsations on the air that +indicated the flight of the engine. + +But it would not do. The train--the image upon earth of the irrevocable, +the irretrievable--was gone, neither to be overtaken nor recalled. The +telegraph was not then, as now, whispering secrets all over England, at +the rate of two hundred miles a second, and five shillings per twenty +words. Larkin would have given large money for an engine, to get up with +the train that was now some five miles on its route, at treble, +quadruple, the common cost of such a magical appliance; but all was vain. +He could only look and mutter after it wildly. Vain to conjecture for +what station that traveller in the battered hat was bound! Idle +speculation! Mere distraction! + +Only that Mr. Larkin was altogether the man he was, I think he would have +cursed freely. + + + + +CHAPTER LXIX. + +OF A SPECTRE WHOM OLD TAMAR SAW. + + +Little Fairy, all this while, continued, in our Church language, 'sick +and weak.' The vicar was very sorry, but not afraid. His little man was +so bright and merry, that he seemed to him the very spirit of life. He +could not dream of his dying. It was sad, to be sure, the little man so +many days in his bed, too languid to care for toy or story, quite silent, +except when, in the night time, those weird monologues began which showed +that the fever had reached his brain. The tones of his pleasant little +voice, in those sad flights of memory and fancy, busy with familiar +scenes and occupations, sounded wild and plaintive in his ear. And when +'Wapsie' was mentioned, sometimes the vicar's eyes filled, but he smiled +through this with a kind of gladness at the child's affection. 'It will +soon be over, my darling! You will be walking with Wapsie in a week +again.' The sun could as soon cease from shining as little Fairy from +living. The thought he would not allow near him. + +Doctor Buddle had been six miles away that evening with a patient, and +looked in at the vicar's long after the candles were lighted. + +He was not satisfied with little Fairy--not at all satisfied. He put his +hand under the clothes and felt his thin, slender limbs--thinner than +ever now. Dry and very hot they were--and little man babbling his +nonsense about little boys, and his 'Wapsie,' and toys, and birds, and +the mill-stream, and the church-yard--of which, with so strange a +fatality, children, not in romance only, but reality, so often prattle in +their feverish wanderings. + +He felt his pulse. He questioned his mamma, and cross-examined the nurse, +and looked grave and very much annoyed; and then bethought him of +something to be tried; and having given his directions to the maid, he +went home in haste, and returned in half an hour with the something in a +phial--a few drops in water, and little man sat up, leaning on his +Wapsie's arm, and 'took it very good,' his nurse said, approvingly; and +he looked at them all wonderingly, for two or three moments, and so +tired; and they laid him down again, and then his spoken dreams began +once more. + +Doctor Buddle was dark and short in his answers to voluble little Mrs. +Wylder--though, of course, quite respectful--and the vicar saw him down +the narrow stairs, and they turned into the study for a moment, and, said +Buddle, in an under tone-- + +'He's very ill--I can say nothing else.' + +And there was a pause. + +The little colour he had receded from the vicar's face, for the looks and +tones of good-natured Buddle were not to be mistaken. He was reading +little Fairy's death warrant. + +'I see, doctor--I see; you think he'll die,' said the vicar, staring at +him. 'Oh doctor, my little Fairy!' + +The doctor knew something of the poor vicar's troubles--of course in a +village most things of the kind _are_ known--and often, in his brisk, +rough way, he thought as, with a nod and a word, he passed the lank +cleric, under the trees or across the common, with his bright, prattling, +sunny-haired little boy by the hand--or encountered them telling stories +on the stile, near the castle meadow--what a gleam of sunshine was always +dancing about his path, in that smiling, wayward, loving little +fellow--and now a long Icelandic winter was coming, and his path was to +know that light no more. + +'With children, you know, I--I always say there's a chance--but you are +right to look the thing in the face--and I'll be here the first call in +the morning; and you know where to find me, in the meantime;' and the +doctor shook hands very hard with the vicar at the hall-door, and made +his way homeward--the vicar's eyes following him till he was out of +sight. + +Then William Wylder shut the hall-door, and turned about. + +Little Fairy's drum was hanging from a peg on the hat-stand--the drum +that was to sound no more in the garden, or up and down the hall, with +the bright-haired little drummer's song. There would be no more +interruption now--the vicar would write his sermons undisturbed; no more +consolations claimed--no more broken toys to be mended--some of the +innocent little rubbish lay in the study. It should never move from +that--nor his drum--nor that little hat and cape, hanging on their peg, +with the tiny boots underneath. + +No more prattling at unseasonable times--no more crying--no more +singing--no more laughing; all these interruptions were quiet now, and +altogether gone--'Little man! little Fairy! Oh, was it possible!' But +memory would call up the vicar from his half-written sermon. He would +miss his troublesome little man, when the sun shone out that he used to +welcome--when the birds hopped on the window-stone, to find the crumbs +that little man used to strew there; and when his own little +canary--'Birdie' he used to call him--would sing and twitter in his +cage--and the time came to walk out on his lonely visits. + +He must walk alone by the shop-doors--where the little man was so +admired--and up the mill-road, and in the castle meadow and over the +stile where they used to sit. + +Poor Dolly! Her Willie would not tell her yet. He kneeled down in the +study--'Little man's' top, and some cut paper nondescripts, were lying +where he had left them, at his elbow--and he tried to pray, and then he +remembered that his darling ought to know that he was going into the +presence of his Maker. + +Yes, he would tell poor Dolly first, and then his little man. He would +repeat his hymn with him, and pray--and so he went up the nursery stairs. + +Poor Dolly, very tired, had gone to lie down for a little. He would not +disturb her--no, let her enjoy for an hour more her happy illusion. + +When he went into the nursery little Fairy was sitting up, taking his +medicine; the nurse's arm round his thin shoulders. He sat down beside +him, weeping gently, his thin face turned a little away, and his hand on +the coverlet. + +Little man looked wonderingly from his tired eyes on Wapsie, and his thin +fingers crept on his hand, and Wapsie turned about, drying his eyes, and +said-- + +'Little man! my darling!' + +'He's like himself, Sir, while he's sitting up--his little head quite +right again.' + +'My head's quite right, Wapsie,' the little man whispered, sadly. + +'Thank God, my darling!' said the vicar. The tears were running down his +cheeks while he parted little Fairy's golden hair with his fingers. + +'When I am quite well again,' whispered the little man, 'won't you bring +me to the castle meadow, where the wee river is, and we'll float races +with daisies and buttercups--the way you did on my birthday.' + +'They say that little mannikin----' suddenly the vicar stopped. 'They say +that little mannikin won't get well.' + +'And am I always to be sick, here in my little bed, Wapsie?' whispered +little Fairy, in his dreamy, earnest way, that was new to him. + +'No, darling; not always sick: you'll be happier than ever--but not here; +little man will be taken by his Saviour, that loves him best of all--and +he'll be in heaven--and only have a short time to wait, and maybe his +poor Wapsie will come to him, please God, and his darling mamma--and +we'll all be happy together, for ever, and never be sick or sorry any +more, my treasure--my little Fairy--my darling.' + +And little man looked on him with his tired eyes, not quite understanding +what it meant, nor why Wapsie was crying; and the nurse said-- + +'He'd like to be dozin', Sir, he's so tired, please.' So down the poor +little fellow lay, his 'Wapsie' praying by his bedside. + +When, in a little time, poor Dolly returned, her Willie took her round +the waist, as on the day when she accepted him, and led her tenderly into +the other room, and told her all, and they hugged and wept together. + +'Oh, Dolly, Dolly!' + +'Oh, Willie, darling! Oh, Willie, our precious treasure--our only one.' + +And so they walked up and down that room, his arm round her waist, and in +that sorrowful embrace, murmuring amid their sobs to one another, their +thoughts and remembrances of 'little man.' How soon the treasure grows a +retrospect! + +Then Dolly bethought her of her promise to Rachel. + +'She made me promise to send for her if he was worse--she loved him +so--everyone loved him--they could not help--oh, Willie! our bright +darling.' + +'I think, Dolly, we could not live here. I'd like to go on some mission, +and maybe come back in a great many years--maybe, Dolly, when we are old. +I'd like to see the place again--and--and the walks--but not, I think, +for a long time. He was such a darling.' + +Perhaps the vicar was thinking of the church-yard, and how he would like, +when his time came, to lie beside the golden-haired little comrade of his +walks. So Dolly despatched the messenger with a lantern, and thus it was +there came a knocking at the door of Redman's Farm at that unseasonable +hour. For some time old Tamar heard the clatter in her sleep; disturbing +and mingling with her dreams. But in a while she wakened quite, and heard +the double knocks one after another in quick succession; and huddling on +her clothes, and muttering to herself all the way, she got into the hall, +and standing a couple of yards away from the door, answered in shrill and +querulous tones, and questioning the messenger in the same breath. + +How could she tell what it might or might not portend? Her alarms quickly +subsided, however, for she knew the voice well. + +So the story was soon told. Poor little Fairy; it was doubtful if he was +to see another morning; and the maid being wanted at home, old Tamar +undertook the message to Brandon Hall, where her young mistress was, and +sallied forth in her cloak and bonnet, under the haunted trees of +Redman's Dell. + +Tamar had passed the age of ghostly terrors. There are a certain sober +literality and materialism in old age which abate the illusions of the +supernatural as effectually as those of love; and Tamar, though not +without awe, for darkness and solitude, even were there no associations +of a fearful kind in the locality, are suggestive and dismal to the last. + +Her route lay, as by this time my reader is well aware, by that narrow +defile reached from Redman's Farm by a pathway which scales a flight of +rude steps, the same which Stanley Lake and his sister had mounted on the +night of Mark Wylder's disappearance. + +Tamar knew the path very well. It was on the upper level of it that she +had held that conference with Stanley Lake, which obviously referred to +that young gentleman's treatment of the vanished Mark. As she came to +this platform, round which the trees receded a little so as to admit the +moonlight, the old woman was tired. + +She would have gladly chosen another spot to rest in, but fatigue was +imperious; and she sat down under the gray stone which stood +perpendicularly there, on what had once been the step of a stile, leaning +against the rude column behind her. + +As she sat here she heard the clank of a step approaching measuredly from +the Brandon side. It was twelve o'clock now; the chimes from the +Gylingden church-tower had proclaimed that in the distance some minutes +before. The honest Gylingden folk seldom heard the tower chimes tell +eleven, and gentle and simple had, of course, been long in their beds. + +The old woman had a secret hatred of this place, and the unexpected +sounds made her hold her breath. She peeped round the stone, in whose +shadow she was sitting. The steps were not those of a man walking briskly +with a purpose: they were the desultory strides of a stroller lounging +out an hour's watch. The steps approached. The figure was visible--that +of a short broadish man, with a mass of cloaks, rugs, and mufflers across +his arm. + +Carrying them with a sort of swagger, he came slowly up to the part of +the pathway opposite to the pillar, where he dropped those draperies in a +heap upon the grass; and availing himself of the clear moonlight, he +stopped nearly confronting her. + +It was the face of Mark Wylder--she knew it well--but grown fat and +broader, and there was--but this she could not see distinctly--a purplish +scar across his eyebrow and cheek. She quivered with terror lest he +should have seen her, and might be meditating some mischief. But she was +seated close to the ground, several yards away, and in the sharp shadow +of the old block of stone. + +He consulted his watch, and she sat fixed and powerless as a portion of +the block on which she leaned, staring up at this, to her, terrific +apparition. Mark Wylder's return boded, she believed, something +tremendous. + +She saw the glimmer of the gold watch, and, distinctly, the great black +whiskers, and the face pallid in the moonlight. She was afraid for a +minute, during which he loitered there, that he was going to seat himself +upon the cloaks which he had just thrown upon the ground, and felt that +she could not possibly escape detection for many seconds more. But she +was relieved; for, after a short pause, leaving these still upon the +ground, he turned, and walked slowly, like a policeman on his beat, +toward Brandon. + +With a gasp she began to recover herself; but she felt too faint and ill +to get up and commence a retreat towards Redman's Farm. Besides, she was +sure he would return--she could not tell how soon--and although the clump +of alders hid her from view, she could not tell but that the next moment +would disclose his figure retracing his leisurely steps, and ready to +pursue and overtake, if by a precipitate movement she had betrayed her +presence. + +In due time the same figure, passing at the same rate, did emerge again, +and approached just as before, only this time he was carelessly examining +some small but clumsy steel instrument which glittered occasionally in +the light. From Tamar's description of it, I conclude it was a revolver. + +He passed the pile of cloaks but a few steps, and again turned toward +Brandon. So soon as he was once more concealed by the screen of +underwood, old Tamar, now sufficiently recovered, crept hurriedly away in +the opposite direction, half dead with terror, until she had descended +the steps, and was buried once more in friendly darkness. + +Old Tamar did not stop at Redman's Farm; she passed it and the mills, and +never stopped till she reached the Vicarage. In the hall, she felt for a +moment quite overpowered, and sitting in one of the old chairs that did +duty there, she uttered a deep groan, and looked with such a gaze in the +face of the maid who had admitted her, that she thought the old woman was +dying. + +Sick rooms, even when, palpably, doctors, nurses, friends, have all +ceased to hope, are not to those who stand in the _very_ nearest and most +tender relations to the patient, altogether chambers of despair. There +are those who hover about the bed and note every gleam and glow of +subsiding life, and will read in sunset something of the colours of the +dawn, and cling wildly to these hallucinations of love; and no one has +the heart to tear them from them. + +Just now, Dolly fancied that 'little man was better--the darling! the +treasure! oh, precious little man! He was coming back!' + +So, she ran down with this light of hope in her face, and saw old Tamar +in the hall, and gave her a glass of the wine which Rachel had provided, +and the old woman's spirit came again. + +'She was glad--yes, very glad. She was thankful to hear the dear child +was better.' But there was a weight upon her soul, and a dreadful horror +on her countenance still. + +'Will you please, Ma'am, write a little note--my old hand shakes so, she +could hardly read my writing--to my mistress--Miss Radie, Ma'am. I see +pen and ink on the table there. I was not able to go up to the Hall, +Ma'am, with the message. There's something on the road I could not pass.' + +'Something! What was it?' said Dolly, staring with round eyes in the old +woman's woeful face, her curiosity aroused for a moment. + +'Something, Ma'am--a person--I can't exactly tell--above the steps, in +the Blackberry path. It would cost my young mistress her life. For +Heaven's sake, Ma'am, write, and promise, if you send for her, she shall +get the note.' + +So, Dolly made the promise, and bringing old Tamar with her into the +study, penned these odd lines from her dictation, merely adjusting the +grammar. + + +'MISS RADIE, DEAR,--If coming down to-night from Brandon, this is to tell +you, it is as much as your life is worth to pass the Blackberry walk +above the steps. My old eyes have seen him there, walking back and +forward, lying at catch for some one, this night--the great enemy of man; +you can suppose in what shape. + +'Your dutiful and loving servant, + +TAMAR.' + + +So, old Tamar, after a little, took her departure; and it needed a great +effort to enable her to take the turn up the dark and lonely mill-road, +leading to Redman's Farm; so much did she dread the possibility of again +encountering the person she had just described. + + + + +CHAPTER LXX. + +THE MEETING IN THE LONG POND ALLEY. + + +I suppose there were few waking heads at this hour in all the wide parish +of Gylingden, though many a usually idle one was now busy enough about +the great political struggle which was to muster its native forces, both +in borough and county, and agitate these rural regions with the roar and +commotion of civil strife. + +But generals must sleep like other men; and even Tom Wealdon was snoring +in the fairy land of dreams. + +The night was very still--a sharp night, with a thin moon, like a +scimitar, hanging bright in the sky, and a myriad of intense stars +blinking in the heavens, above the steep roofs and spiral chimneys of +Brandon Hall, and the ancient trees that surrounded it. + +It was late in the night, as we know. The family, according to their +custom, had sought their slumbers early; and the great old house was +perfectly still. + +One pair, at least, of eyes, however, were wide open; one head busy; and +one person still in his daily costume. This was Mr. Larcom--the grave +_major domo_, the bland and attached butler. He was not busy about his +plate, nor balancing the cellar book, nor even perusing his Bible. + +He was seated in that small room or closet which he had, years ago, +appropriated as his private apartment. It is opposite the housekeeper's +room--a sequestered, philosophic retreat. He dressed in it, read his +newspaper there, and there saw his select acquaintance. His wardrobe +stood there. The iron safe in which he kept his keys, filled one of its +nooks. He had his two or three shelves of books in the recess; not that +he disturbed them much, but they were a grave and gentlemanlike property, +and he liked them for their binding, and the impression they produced on +his visitors. There was a meditative fragrance of cigars about him, and +two or three Havannah stumps under the grate. + +The fact is, he was engaged over a letter, the writing of which, +considering how accomplished a gentleman he was, he had found rather +laborious and tedious. The penmanship was, I am afraid, clumsy, and the +spelling here and there, irregular. It was finished however, and he was +now reading it over with care. + +It was thus expressed:-- + + +'RESPECTET SIR,--In accordens with your disier, i av took my pen to say a +fue words. There has cum a leter for a sertun persen this morning, with a +Lundun posmark, and i do not now hand nor sele, but bad writting, which i +have not seen wot contanes, but I may, for as you told me offen, you are +anceus for welfare of our famly, as i now to be no more than trewth, so I +am anceus to ascest you Sir, wich my conseynce is satesfid, but leter as +trubeled a sertun persen oufull, hoo i new was engry, and look oufull put +about, wich do not offen apen, and you may sewer there is sumthing in +wind, he is alday so oufull peefish, you will not thing worse of me +speeken plane as yo disier, there beeing a deel to regret for frends of +the old famly i feer in a sertun resent marrege, if I shud lern be chance +contense of letter i will sewer rite you.--i Remane your humbel servant, + +'JOHN LARCOM.' + + +Just as grave Mr. Larcom had ended the perusal of this bulletin, he heard +a light step on the stair, at the end of the passage, which made his +manly heart jump unpleasantly within his fat ribs. He thrust the unfolded +letter roughly into the very depths of his breeches pocket, and blew out +both candles; and then listened, as still as a mouse. + +What frightened him was the certainty that the step, which he well knew, +was Stanley Lake's. And Stanley being a wideawake and violent person, and +his measures sharp and reckless, Mr. Larcom cherished a nervous respect +for him. + +He listened; the captain's step came lightly to the foot of the stairs, +and paused. Mr. Larcom prepared to be fast asleep in the chair, in the +event of the captain's making a sudden advance, and entering his sanctum. +But this movement was not executed. + +There was a small door at the foot of the stairs. It shut with a spring +lock, of which Captain Lake had a latch-key. Mr. Larcom accidentally had +another--a cylindrical bit of steel, with a hinge in the end of it, and a +few queer wards. + +Now, of this little door he heard the two iron bolts stealthily drawn, +and then the handle of the spring lock turned, and the door cautiously +opened, and as gently closed. + +Mr. Larcom's fears now naturally subsided, and curiosity as naturally +supervened. He drew near his window; and it was well he had extinguished +his lights, for as he did so, Captain Lake's light figure, in a gray +paletot and cloth cap, glided by like a spirit in the faint moonlight. + +This phenomenon excited the profoundest interest in the corresponding +friend of the family, who, fumbling his letter between his finger and +thumb in his breeches' pocket, standing on tip-toe, with mouth agape, and +his head against the shutter, followed the receding figure with a greedy +stare. + +Mr. Larcom had no theory whatsoever to account for this procedure on the +part of his master. It must be something very extraordinary, and well +worth investigating--of course, for the benefit of the family--which +could have evoked the apparition which had just crossed his window. With +his eyes close to the window pane, he saw his master glide swiftly along +the short terrace which covers this side of the house, and disappear down +the steps, like a spectre sinking into the earth. + +It is a meeting, thought Mr. Larcom, taking courage, for he already felt +something of the confidence and superiority of possessing a secret; and +as quickly as might be, the trustworthy man, with his latch-key in his +pocket, softly opened the portal through which the object of his anxiety +had just emerged, closed the door behind him, and stood listening +intently in the recess of the entrance, where he heard the now more +careless step of the captain, treading, as he thought, the broad +yew-walk, which turns at a right angle at the foot of the terrace step. +The black yew hedge was a perfect screen. + +Here was obviously resented a chance of obtaining the command of a secret +of greater or less importance. It was a considerable stake to play for, +and well worth a trifling risk. + +He did not hesitate to follow--but with the soft tread of a polite +butler, doing his offices over the thick carpet of a drawing-room--and it +was in his mind--'Suppose he does discover me, what then? _I_'m as much +surprised as he! Thomas Brewen, the footman, who is under notice to +leave, has twice, to the captain's knowledge, played me the same trick, +and stole out through the gunroom window at night, and denied it +afterwards; so I sat up to detect him, and hearing the door open, and a +step, I pursued, and find I've made a mistake; and beg pardon with proper +humility--supposing the master is on the same errand--what can he say? It +will bring me a present, and a hint to say nothing of my having seen him +in the yew-walk at this hour.' + +Of course he did not run through all this rigmarole in detail; but the +situation, the excuse, and the result, were present to his mind, and +filled him with a comfortable assurance. + +Therefore, with decision and caution, he followed Captain Lake's march, +and reaching the yew-walk, he saw the slim figure in the cap and paletot +turn the corner, and enter the broad walk between the two wall-like beech +hedges, which led direct to the first artificial pond--a long, narrow +parallelogram, round which the broad walk passed in two straight lines, +fenced with the towering beech hedges, shorn as smooth as the walls of a +nunnery. + +When the butler reached the point at which Captain Lake had turned, he +found himself all at once within fifty steps of that eccentric gentleman, +who was talking, but in so low a tone, that not even the sound of the +voices reached him, with a rather short, broad-shouldered person, +buttoned up in a surtout, and wearing a queer, Germanesque, felt hat, +battered and crushed a good deal. + +Mr. Larcom held his breath. He was profoundly interested. After a while, +with an oath, he exclaimed-- + +'That's _him!_' + +Then, after another pause, he gasped another oath:-- + +'It _is_ him!' + +The square-built man in the surtout had a great pair of black whiskers; +and as he stood opposite Lake, conversing, with, now and again, an +earnest gesture, he showed a profile which Mr. Larcom knew very well; and +now they turned and walked slowly side by side along the broad walk by +that perpendicular wall of crisp brown leaves, he recognised also a +certain hitch in his shoulder, which made him swear and asseverate again. + +He would have given something to hear what was passing. He thought +uneasily whether there might not be a side-path or orifice anywhere +through which he might creep so as to get to the other side of the hedge +and listen. But there was no way, and he must rest content with such +report as his eyes might furnish. + +'They're not quarrelling no ways,' murmured he. + +And, indeed, they walked together, stopping now and again, as it seemed, +very amicably. Captain Lake seemed to have most to say. + +'He's awful cowed, he is; I never did think to see Mr. Wylder so affeard +of Lake; he _is_ affeard; yes, he is--_that_ he is. + +And indeed there was an indescribable air of subservience in the +demeanour of the square-built gentleman very different from what Mark +Wylder once showed. + +He saw the captain take from the pocket of his paletot a square box or +packet, it might be jewels or only papers, and hand them to his +companion, who popped them into his left-hand surtout pocket, and kept +his hand there as if the freightage were specially valuable. + +Then they talked earnestly a little longer, standing together by the +pond; and then, side-by-side, they paced down the broad walk by its edge. +It was a long walk. Honest Larcom would have followed if there had been +any sort of cover to hide his advance; but there being nothing of the +kind he was fain to abide at his corner. Thence he beheld them come at +last slowly to a stand-still, talk evidently a little more, and finally +they shook hands--an indefinable something still of superiority in Lake's +air--and parted. + +The captain was now all at once walking at a swift pace, alone, towards +Larcom's post of observation, and his secret confederate nearly as +rapidly in an opposite direction. It would not do for the butler to be +taken or even seen by Lake, nor yet to be left at the outside of the door +and barred out. So the captain had hardly commenced his homeward walk, +when Larcom, though no great runner, threw himself into an agitated +amble, and reached and entered the little door just in time to escape +observation. He had not been two minutes in his apartment again when he +once more beheld the figure of his master cross the window, and heard the +small door softly opened and closed, and the bolts slowly and cautiously +drawn again into their places. Then there was a pause. Lake was listening +to ascertain whether anyone was stirring, and being satisfied, +re-ascended the stairs, leaving the stout and courteous butler ample +matter for romantic speculation. + +It was now the butler's turn to listen, which he did at the half-opened +door of his room. When he was quite assured that all was quiet, he shut +and bolted his door, closed the window-shutters, and relighted his pair +of wax candles. + +Mr. Larcom was a good deal excited. He had seen strange things that +night. He was a good deal blown and heated by his run, and a little wild +and scared at the closeness of the captain's unconscious pursuit. His +head beside was full of amazing conjectures. After a while he took his +crumpled letter from his pocket, unfolded and smoothed it, and wrote upon +a blank half-page-- + + +'RESPECTED SIR,--Since the above i ave a much to tel mos surprisen, the +gentleman you wer anceous of tiding mister M. W. is cum privet, and him +and master met tonite nere 2 in morning, in the long pond allee, so is +near home then we suposed, no more at present Sir from your + +'humbel servent JOHN + +'LARCOM. + +'i shall go to dolington day arter to-morrow by eleven o'clock trane if +you ere gong, Sir.' + + +When the attorney returned, between eleven and twelve o'clock next +morning, this letter awaited him. It did not, of course, surprise him, +but it conclusively corroborated all his inferences. + +Here had been Mark Wylder. He had stopped at Dollington, as the attorney +suspected he would, and he had kept tryst, in the Brandon grounds, with +sly Captain Lake, whose relations with him it became now more difficult +than ever clearly to comprehend. + +Wylder was plainly under no physical coercion. He had come and gone +unattended. For one reason or other he was, at least, as strongly +interested as Lake in maintaining secrecy. + +That Mark Wylder was living was the grand fact with which he had just +then to do. How near he had been to purchasing the vicar's reversion! The +engrossed deeds lay in the black box there. And yet it might be all true +about Mark's secret marriage. At that moment there might be a whole +rosary of sons, small and great, to intercept the inheritance; and the +Reverend William Wylder might have no more chance of the estates than he +had of the crown. + +What a deliverance for the good attorney. His money was quite safe. The +excellent man's religion was, we know, a little Jewish, and rested upon +temporal rewards and comforts. He thought, I am sure, that a competent +staff of angels were placed specially in charge of the interests of Jos. +Larkin, Esq., who attended so many services and sermons on Sundays, and +led a life of such ascetic propriety. He felt quite grateful to them, in +his priggish way--their management in this matter had been so eminently +satisfactory. He regretted that he had not an opportunity of telling them +so personally. I don't say that he would have expressed it in these +literal terms; but it was fixed in his mind that the carriage of his +business was supernaturally arranged. Perhaps he was right, and he was at +once elated and purified, and his looks and manner that afternoon were +more than usually meek and celestial. + + + + +CHAPTER LXXI. + +SIR HARRY BRACTON'S INVASION OF GYLINGDEN. + + +Jim Dutton had not turned up since, and his letter was one of those +mares' nests of which gentlemen in Mr. Larkin's line of business have so +large an experience. Of Mark Wylder not a trace was discoverable. His +enquiries on this point were, of course, conducted with caution and +remoteness. Gylingden, however, was one of those places which, if it +knows anything, is sure to find a way of telling it, and the attorney was +soon satisfied that Mark's secret visit had been conducted with +sufficient caution to baffle the eyes and ears of the good folk of the +town. + +Well, one thing was plain. The purchase of the reversion was to wait, and +fraudulent as was the price at which he had proposed to buy it, he was +now resolved to get it for less than half that sum, and he wrote a short +note to the vicar, which he forthwith despatched. + +In the meantime there was not a moment to be lost in clenching the +purchase of Five Oaks. And Mr. Jos. Larkin, with one of his 'young men' +with him in the tax-cart, reached Brandon Hall in a marvellously short +time after his arrival at home. + +Jos. Larkin, his clerk, and the despatch-box, had a short wait in the +Dutch room, before his admission to the library, where an animated debate +was audible. The tremendous contest impending over the county was, of +course, the theme. In the Dutch room, where they waited, there was a +large table, with a pyramid of blank envelopes in the middle, and ever so +many cubic feet of canvassing circulars, six chairs, and pens and ink. +The clerks were in the housekeeper's room at that moment, partaking of +refreshment. There was a gig in the court-yard, with a groom at the +horse's head, and Larkin, as he drew up, saw a chaise driving round to +the stable yard. People of all sorts were coming and going, and Brandon +Hall was already growing like an inn. + +'How d'ye do, dear Larkin?' said Captain Brandon Stanley Lake, the hero +of all this debate and commotion, smiling his customary sly greeting, and +extending his slim hand across the arm of his chair--'I'm so sorry you +were away--this thing has come, after all, so suddenly--we are getting on +famously though--but I'm awfully fagged.' And, indeed, he looked pale and +tired, though smiling. 'I've a lot of fellows with me; they've just run +in to luncheon; won't you take something?' + +But Jos. Larkin, smiling after his sort, excused himself. He was glad +they had a moment to themselves. He had brought the money, which he knew +would be acceptable at such a moment, and he thought it would be +desirable to sign and seal forthwith, to which the captain, a little +anxiously, agreed. So he got in one of the clerks who were directing the +canvassing circulars, and gave him the draft, approved by his counsel, to +read aloud, while he followed with his eye upon the engrossed deed. + +The attorney told down the money in bank bills. He fancied that exception +might be taken to his cheque for so large a sum, and was eager to avoid +delay, and came from London so provided. + +The captain was not sorry, for in truth he was in rather imminent +jeopardy just then. He had spoken truth, strangely enough, when he +mentioned his gambling debts as an incentive to his marriage with the +heiress of Brandon, in that Sunday walk with Rachel in the park; and +hardly ten minutes had passed when Melton Hervey, trustiest of +aide-de-camps, was on his way to Dollington to make a large lodgment to +the captain's credit in the county bank, and to procure a letter of +credit for a stupendous sum in favour of Messrs. Hiram and Jacobs, +transmitted under cover to Captain Lake's town solicitor. The captain had +signed, sealed, and delivered, murmuring that formula about hand and +seal, and act and deed, and Dorcas glided in like a ghost, and merely +whispering an enquiry to Lake, did likewise, the clerk deferentially +putting the query, 'this is your hand and seal, &c.?' and Jos. Larkin +drawing a step or two backward. + +Of course the lady saw that lank and sinister man of God quite +distinctly, but she did not choose to do so, and Larkin, with a grand +sort of prescience, foresaw a county feud between the Houses of Five Oaks +and Brandon, and now the lady had vanished. The money, carefully counted, +was rolled in Lake's pocket book, and the bright new deed which made Jos. +Larkin, of the Lodge, Esq., master of Five Oaks, was safely locked into +the box, under his long arm, and the attorney vanished, bowing very much, +and concealing his elation under a solemn sort of _nonchalance_. + +The note, which by this time the vicar had received, though short, was, +on the whole, tremendous. It said:-- + + +'(_Private._) + +REV. AND DEAR SIR,--I have this moment arrived from London, where I +deeply regret to state the negotiation on which we both relied to carry +you comfortably over your present difficulties has fallen through, in +consequence of what I cannot but regard as the inexcusable caprice of the +intending purchaser. He declines stating any reason for his withdrawal. I +fear that the articles were so artfully framed by his solicitors, in one +particular which it never entered into my mind to refer to anything like +trick or design, that we shall find it impossible to compel him to carry +out what, in the strongest terms, I have represented to Messrs. +Burlington and Smith as a bargain irrevocably concluded in point of +honour and morality. The refusal of their own client to make the proposed +investment has alarmed those gentlemen, I regret to add, for the safety +of their costs, which, as I before apprised you, are, though I cannot say +excessive, certainly _very heavy_; and I fear we must be prepared for +extreme measures upon their part. I have carefully reconsidered the very +handsome proposal which Miss Lake was so good as to submit; but the +result is that, partly on technical, and partly on other grounds, I +continue of the clear opinion that the idea is absolutely impracticable, +and must be peremptorily laid aside in attempting to arrive at an +estimate of any resources which you may be conscious of commanding. If, +under these deplorably untoward circumstances, you still think I can be +of any use to you, may I beg that you will not hesitate to say how. + +'I remain, my dear and reverend Sir, with profound regrets and sympathy, +yours very sincerely, + +'JOS. H. LARKIN.' + + +He had already imported the H. which was to germinate, in a little while, +into Howard. + +When Jos. Larkin wanted to get a man's property a bargain--and he had +made two or three excellent hits, though, comparatively, on a very small +scale--he liked so to contrive matters as to bring his client to his +knees, begging him to purchase on the terms he wished; and then Jos. +Larkin came forward, in the interests of humanity, and unable to resist +the importunities of 'a party whom he respected,' he did 'what, at the +time, appeared a very risky thing, although it has turned out tolerably +safe in the long run.' + +The screw was now twisted pretty well home upon the poor vicar, who, if +he had any sense at all, would, remembering Larkin's expressions only a +week before, suggest his buying, and so, the correspondence would +disclose, in a manner most honourable to the attorney, the history of the +purchase. + +But the clouds had begun to break, and the sky to clear, over the good +vicar, just at the point where they had been darkest and most menacing. + +Little Fairy, after all, was better. Good-natured Buddle had been there +at nine, quite amazed at his being so well, still reserved and cautious, +and afraid of raising hopes. But when he came back, at eleven, and had +completed his examination, he told them, frankly, that there was a +decided change; in fact, that the little man, with, of course, great +care, might do very well, and _ought_ to recover, if nothing went wrong. + +Honest Buddle was delighted. He chuckled over the little man's bed. He +could not suppress his grins. He was a miracle of a child! a prodigy! By +George, it was the most extraordinary case he had ever met with! It was +all that bottle, and that miraculous child; they seemed made for one +another. From two o'clock, last night, the action of his skin has +commenced, and never ceased since. When he was here last night, the +little fellow's pulse was a hundred and forty-four, and now down to +ninety-seven! + +The doctor grew jocular; and who can resist a doctor's jokes, when they +garnish such tidings as he was telling. Was ever so pleasant a doctor! +Laughter through tears greeted these pleasantries; and oh, such +transports of gratitude broke forth when he was gone! + +It was well for Driver, the postmaster, and his daughters, that all the +circulars made up that day in Brandon Hall were not despatched through +the Gylingden post-office. It was amazing how so many voters could find +room to one county. Next day, it was resolved, the captain's personal +canvass was to commence. The invaluable Wealdon had run through the list +of his to-morrow's visits, and given him an inkling of the +idiosyncrasies, the feuds, and the likings of each elector in the +catalogue. 'Busy times, Sir!' Tom Wealdon used to remark, with a chuckle, +from time to time, in the thick of the fuss and conspiration which was +the breath of his nostrils; and, doubtless, so they are, and were, and +ever will be, until the time-honoured machinery of our election system +has been overhauled, and adapted to the civilisation of these days. + +Captain Brandon Lake was as much as possible at head quarters in these +critical times; and, suddenly, Mr. Crump; the baker, and John Thomas, of +the delft, ironmongery, sponge, and umbrella shop, at the corner of +Church Street, in Gylingden, were announced by the fatigued servant. They +bowed, and stood, grinning, near the door; and the urbane and cordial +captain, with all a candidate's good fellowship, shook them both by the +hands, and heard their story; and an exciting one it was. + +Sir Harry Bracton had actually invaded the town of Gylingden. There was a +rabble of the raff of Queen's Bracton along with him. He, with two or +three young swells by him, had made a speech, from his barouche, outside +the 'Silver Lion,' near the green; and he was now haranguing from the +steps of the Court House. They had a couple of flags, and some music. It +was 'a regular, planned thing;' for the Queen's Bracton people had been +dropping in an hour before. The shop-keepers were shutting their windows. +Sir Harry was 'chaffing the capting,' and hitting him very hard 'for a +hupstart'--and, in fact, Crump was more particular in reporting the +worthy baronet's language than was absolutely necessary. And it was +thought that Sir Harry was going to canvass the town. + +The captain was very much obliged, indeed, and begged they would go into +the parlour, and take luncheon; and, forthwith, Wealdon took the command. +The gamekeepers, the fifty hay-makers in the great meadow, they were to +enter the town from the top of Church Street, where they were to gather +all the boys and blackguards they could. The men from the gas-works, the +masons, and blacksmiths, were to be marched in by Luke Samways. Tom +Wealdon would, himself, in passing, give the men at the coal-works a +hint. Sir Harry's invasion was the most audacious thing on record; and it +was incumbent on Gylingden to make his defeat memorably disgraceful and +disastrous. + +His barouche was to be smashed, and burnt on the green; his white topcoat +and hat were to clothe the effigy, which was to swing over the bonfire. +The captured Bracton banners were to hang in the coffee-room of the +'Silver Lion,' to inspire the roughs. What was to become of the human +portion of the hostile pageant, Tom, being an official person, did not +choose to hint. + +All these, and fifty minor measures, were ordered by the fertile Wealdon +in a minute, and suitable messengers on the wing to see after them. The +captain, accompanied by Mr. Jekyl, myself, and a couple of the grave +scriveners from the next room, were to go by the back approach and +Redman's Dell to the Assembly Rooms, which Crump and Thomas, already on +their way in the fly, undertook to have open for their reception, and +furnished with some serious politicians from the vicinity. From the +windows, the captain, thus supported, was to make his maiden speech, one +point in which Tom Wealdon insisted upon, and that was an injunction to +the 'men of Gylingden' on no account to break the peace. 'Take care to +say it, and we'll have it well reported in the "Chronicle," and our lads +won't mind it, nor hear it neither, for that matter.' + +So, there was mounting in hot haste in the courtyard of old Brandon, and +a rather ponderous selection of walking-sticks by the politicians--of +whom I was one--intended for the windows of the assembly room. + +Lake rode; Tom Wealdon, myself, and two scriveners, squeezed into the +dog-cart, which was driven by Jekyl, and away we went. It was a pleasant +drive, under the noble old trees. But we were in no mood for the +picturesque. A few minutes brought us into the Blackberry hollow, which +debouches into Redman's Dell. + +Here, the road being both steep and rugged, our speed abated. The +precipitous banks shut out the sunlight, except at noon, and the road +through this defile, overhung by towering trees and rocks, was even now +in solemn shadow. The cart-road leading down to Redman's Dell, and +passing the mills near Redman's Farm, diverges from the footpath with +which we are so well acquainted, near that perpendicular block of stone +which stands a little above the steps which the footpath here descends. + + + + +CHAPTER LXXII. + +MARK WYLDER'S HAND. + + +Just at the darkest point of the road, a little above the rude column +which I have mentioned, Lake's horse, a young one, shied, stopped short, +recoiling on its haunches, and snorted fiercely into the air. At the same +time, the two dogs which had accompanied us began to bark furiously +beneath in the ravine. + +The tall form of Uncle Lorne was leaning against a tree at the edge of +the ravine, with his left hand extended towards us, and his right +pointing down the precipice. Perhaps it was this odd apparition that +startled Lake's horse. + +'I told you he was coming up--lend him a hand,' yelled Uncle Lorne, in +great excitement. + +No one at such a moment minded his maunderings: but many people +afterwards thought that the crazed old man, in one of his night-rambles, +had seen that which, till now, no one had imagined; and that Captain Lake +himself, whose dislike of him was hardly disguised, suspected him, at +times of that alarming knowledge. + +Lake plunged the spurs into his beast, which reared so straight that she +toppled backward toward the edge of the ravine. + +'Strike her on the head; jump off,' shouted Wealdon. + +But he did neither. + +'D-- it! put her head down; lean forward,' bellowed Wealdon again. + +But it would not do. With a crash among briars, and a heavy thump from +beneath that shook the earth, the mare and her rider went over. A shout +of horror broke from us all; and Jekyl, watching the catastrophe, was +very near pulling our horse over the edge, and launching us all together, +like the captain, into the defile. + +In a moment more we were all on the ground, and scrambling down the side +of the ravine, among rocks, boughs, brambles, and ferns, in the deep +shadows of the gorge, the dogs still yelling furiously from below. + +'Here he is,' cried Jekyl. 'How are you, Lake? Much hurt, old boy? By +Jove, he's killed, I think.' + +Lake groaned. + +He lay about twelve feet below the edge. The mare, now lying near the +bottom of the gorge, had, I believe, fallen upon him, and then tumbled +over. + +Strange to say, Lake was conscious, and in a few seconds, he said, in +reply to the horrified questions of his friend-- + +'I'm _all_ smashed. Don't move me;' and, in a minute more--'Don't mind +that d--d brute; she's killed. Let her lie.' + +It appeared very odd, but so it was, he appeared eager upon this point, +and, faint as he was, almost savage. + +'Tell them to let her lie there.' + +Wealdon and I, however, scrambled down the bank. He was right. The mare +lay stone dead, on her side, at the bottom. He lifted her head, by the +ear, and let it fall back. + +In the meantime the dogs continued their unaccountable yelling close by. + +'What the devil's that?' said Wealdon. + +Something like a stunted, blackened branch was sticking out of the peat, +ending in a set of short, thickish twigs. This is what it seemed. The +dogs were barking at it. It was, really, a human hand and arm, disclosed +by the slipping of the bank; undermined by the brook, which was swollen +by the recent rains. + +The dogs were sniffing and yelping about it. + +'It's a hand!' cried Wealdon, with an oath. + +'A hand?' I echoed. + +We were both peering at it, having drawn near, stooping and hesitating as +men do in a curious horror. + +It was, indeed, a human hand and arm, disclosed from about the elbow, +enveloped in a discoloured coat-sleeve, which fell back from the limb, +and the fingers, like it black, were extended in the air. Nothing more of +the body to which it belonged, except the point of a knee, in stained and +muddy trousers, protruding from the peat, was visible. + +It must have lain there a considerable time, for, notwithstanding the +antiseptic properties of that sort of soil, mixed with the decayed bark +and fibre of trees, a portion of the flesh of the hand was decomposed, +and the naked bone disclosed. On the little finger something glimmered +dully. + +In this livid hand, rising from the earth, there was a character both of +menace and appeal; and on the finger, as I afterwards saw at the inquest, +glimmered the talismanic legend 'Resurgam--I will rise again!' It was the +corpse of Mark Wylder, which had lain buried here undiscovered for many +months. A horrible odour loaded the air. Perhaps it was this smell of +carrion, from which horses sometimes recoil with a special terror, that +caused the swerving and rearing which had ended so fatally. At that +moment we heard a voice calling, and raising our eyes, saw Uncle Lorne +looking down from the rock with an agitated scowl. + +'I've done with him now--_emeritus_--he touches me, no more. Take him by +the hand, merciful lads, or they'll draw him down again.' + +And with these words Uncle Lorne receded, and I saw him no more. + +As yet we had no suspicion whose was the body thus unexpectedly +discovered. + +We beat off the dogs, and on returning to Lake, found Jekyl trying to +raise him a little against a tree. We were not far from Redman's Farm, +and it was agreed, on hasty consultation, that our best course would be +to carry Lake thither at once by the footpath, and that one of +us--Wealdon undertook this--should drive the carriage on, and apprising +Rachel on the way of the accident which had happened, and that her +brother was on his way thither, should drive on to Buddle's house, +sending assistance to us from the town. + +It was plain that Stanley Lake's canvass was pretty well over. There was +not one of us who looked at him that did not feel convinced that he was +mortally hurt. I don't think he believed so himself then; but we could +not move him from the place where he lay without inflicting so much pain, +that we were obliged to wait for assistance. + +'D-- the dogs, what are they barking for?' said Lake, faintly. He seemed +distressed by the noise. + +'There's a dead body partly disclosed down there--some one murdered and +buried; but one of Mr. Juke's young men is keeping them off.' + +Lake made an effort to raise himself, but with a grin and a suppressed +moan he abandoned it. + +'Is there no doctor--I'm very much hurt?' said Lake, faintly, after a +minute's silence. + +We told him that Buddle had been sent for; and that we only awaited help +to get him down to Redman's Farm. + +When Rachel heard the clang of hoofs and the rattle of the tax-cart +driving down the mill-road, at a pace so unusual, a vague augury of evil +smote her. She was standing in the porch of her tiny house, and old Tamar +was sitting knitting on the bench close by. + +'Tamar, they are galloping down the road, I think--what can it mean?' +exclaimed the young lady, scared she could not tell why; and old Tamar +stood up, and shaded her eyes with her shrunken hand. + +Tom Wealdon pulled up at the little wicket. He was pale. He had lost his +hat, too, among the thickets, and could not take time to recover it. +Altogether he looked wild. + +He put his hand to where his hat should have been in token of salutation, +and said he-- + +'I beg pardon, Miss Lake, Ma'am, but I'm sorry to say your brother the +captain's badly hurt, and maybe you could have a shakedown in the parlour +ready for him by the time I come back with the doctor, Ma'am?' + +Rachel, she did not know how, was close by the wheel of the vehicle by +this time. + +'Is it Sir Harry Bracton? He's in the town, I know. Is Stanley shot?' + +'Not shot; only thrown, Miss, into the Dell; his mare shied at a dead +body that's there. You'd better stay where you are, Miss; but if you +could send up some water, I think he'd like it. Going for the doctor, +Ma'am; good-bye, Miss Lake.' + +And away went Wealdon, wild, pale, and hatless, like a man pursued by +robbers. + +'Oh! Tamar, he's killed--Stanley's killed--I'm sure he's killed, and +all's discovered'--and Rachel ran wildly up the hill a few steps, but +stopped and returned as swiftly. + +'Thank God, Miss,' said old Tamar, lifting up her trembling fingers and +white eyes to Heaven. 'Better dead, Miss, than living on in sin and +sorrow, better discovered than hid by daily falsehood and cruelty. Old +Tamar's tired of life; she's willing to go, and wishin' for death this +many a day. Oh! Master Stanley, my child!' + +Rachel went into the parlour and kneeled down, with white upturned face +and clasped hands. But she could not pray. She could only look her wild +supplication;--deliverance--an issue out of the terrors that beset her; +and 'oh! poor miserable lost Stanley!' It was just a look and an +inarticulate cry for mercy. + +An hour after Captain Stanley Brandon Lake, whose 'election address' was +figuring that evening in the 'Dollington Courier,' and in the 'County +Chronicle,' lay with his clothes still on, in the little drawing-room of +Redman's Farm, his injuries ascertained, his thigh broken near the hip, +and his spine fractured. No hope--no possibility of a physical +reascension, this time. + +Meanwhile, in the Blackberry Dell, Doctor Buddle was assisting at a +different sort of inquisition. The two policemen who constituted the +civil force of Gylingden, two justices of the peace, the doctor, and a +crowd of amateurs, among whom I rank myself, were grouped in the dismal +gorge, a little to windward of the dead body, which fate had brought to +light, while three men were now employed in cautiously disinterring it. + +When the operation was completed, there remained no doubt whatever on my +mind: discoloured and disfigured as were both clothes and body, I was +sure that the dead man was no other than Mark Wylder. When the clay with +which it was clotted was a little removed, it became indubitable. The +great whiskers; the teeth so white and even; and oddly enough, one black +lock of hair which he wore twisted in a formal curl flat on his forehead, +remained undisturbed in its position, as it was fixed there at his last +toilet for Brandon Hall. + +In the rude and shallow grave in which he lay, his purse was found, and +some loose silver mixed in the mould. The left hand, on which was the +ring of 'the Persian magician,' was bare; the right gloved, with the +glove of the other hand clutched firmly in it. + +The body was got up in a sheet to a sort of spring cart which awaited it, +and so conveyed to the 'Silver Lion,' in Gylingden, where it was placed +in a disused coach-house to await the inquest. There the examination was +continued, and his watch (the chain broken) found in his waistcoat +pocket. In his coat-pocket were found (of course, in no very presentable +condition) his cigar-case, his initials stamped on it, for Mark had, in +his day, a keen sense of property; his handkerchief, also marked; a +pocket-book with some entries nearly effaced; and a letter unopened, and +sealed with Lord Chelford's seal. The writing was nearly washed away, but +the letters 'lwich,' or 'twich,' were still legible near the corner, and +it turned out to be a letter to Dulwich, which Mark Wylder had undertaken +to put in the Gylingden post-office, on the last night on which he +appeared at Brandon. + +The whole town was in a ferment that night. Great debate and conjecture +in the reading-room, and even on the benches of the billiard-room. The +'Silver Lion' did a great business that night. Mine host might have +turned a good round sum only by showing the body, were it not that +Edwards, the chief policeman, had the keys of the coach-house. Much +to-ing and fro-ing there was between the town and Redman's Farm, the +respectable inhabitants all sending or going up to enquire how the +captain was doing. At last Doctor Buddle officially interfered. The +constant bustle was injurious to his patient. An hourly bulletin up to +twelve o'clock should be in the hall of the 'Brandon Arms;' and Redman's +Dell grew quiet once more. + +When William Wylder heard the news, he fainted; not altogether through +horror or grief, though he felt both; but the change in his circumstances +was so amazing and momentous. It was a strange shock--immense +relief--immense horror--quite overwhelming. + +Mark had done some good-natured things for him in a small five-pound way; +he had promised him that loan, too, which would have lifted him out of +his Slough of Despond, and he clung with an affectionate gratitude to +these exhibitions of brotherly love. Besides, he had accustomed +himself--the organ of veneration standing prominent on the top of the +vicar's head--to regard Mark in the light of a great practical +genius--'natus rebus agendis;' he knew men so thoroughly--he understood +the world so marvellously! The vicar was not in the least surprised when +Mark came in for a fortune. He had always predicted that Mark must become +_very_ rich, and that nothing but indolence could prevent his ultimately +becoming a very great man. The sudden and total disappearance of so +colossal an object was itself amazing. + +There was another person very strongly, though differently, affected by +the news. Under pretext of business at Naunton, Jos. Larkin had driven +off early to Five Oaks, to make inspection of his purchase. He dined like +a king in disguise, at the humble little hostelry of Naunton Friars, and +returned in the twilight to the Lodge, which he would make the +dower-house of Five Oaks, with the Howard shield over the door. He was +gracious to his domestics, but the distance was increased: he was nearer +to the clouds, and they looked smaller. + +'Well, Mrs. Smithers,' said he, encouragingly, his long feet on the +fender, for the evening was sharp, and Mrs. S. knew that he liked a bit +of fire at his tea 'any letters--any calls--any news stirring?' + +'No letters, nor calls, Sir, please, except the butcher's book. I s'pose, +Sir, you were viewing the body?' + +'What body?' + +'Mr. Wylder's, please, Sir.' + +'The vicar!' exclaimed Mr. Larkin, his smile of condescension suddenly +vanishing. + +'No, Sir; Mr. _Mark_ Wylder, please; the gentleman, Sir, as was to 'av +married Miss Brandon.' + +'What the devil do you mean, woman?' ejaculated the attorney, his back to +the fire, standing erect, and a black shadow over his amazed and offended +countenance. + +'The devil,' in such a mouth, was so appalling and so amazing, that the +worthy woman gazed, thunder-struck, upon him for a moment. + +'Beg your pardon, Sir; but his body's bin found, Sir.' + +'You mean Mr. _Mark_?' + +'Yes, please, Sir; in a hole near the mill road--it's up in the "Silver +Lion" now, Sir.' + +'It must be the vicar's--it must,' said Jos. Larkin, getting his hat on, +sternly, and thinking how likely he was to throw himself into the mill +race, and impossible it was that Mark, whom he and Larcom had both seen +alive and well last night--the latter, indeed, _this morning_--could +possibly be the man. And thus comforting himself, he met old Major +Jackson on the green, and that gentleman's statement ended with the +words; 'and in an advanced stage of decomposition.' + +'That settles the matter,' said Larkin, breathing again, and with a toss +of his head, and almost a smile of disdain: 'for I saw Mr. Mark Wylder +late last night at Shillingsworth.' + +Leaving Major Jackson in considerable surprise, Mr. Larkin walked off to +Edwards' dwelling, at the top of Church Street, and found that active +policeman at home. In his cool, grand, official way, Mr. Larkin requested +Mr. Edwards to accompany him to the 'Silver Lion,' where in the same calm +and commanding way, he desired him to attend him to view the corpse. In +virtue of his relation to Mark Wylder, and of his position as sole +resident and legal practitioner, he was obeyed. + +The odious spectacle occupied him for some minutes. He did not speak +while they remained in the room. On coming out there was a black cloud +upon the attorney's features, and he said, sulkily, to Edwards, who had +turned the key in the lock, and now touched his hat as he listened, + +'Yes, there is a resemblance, but it is all a mistake. I travelled as far +as Shillingsworth last night with Mr. Mark Wylder: he was perfectly well. +This can't be he.' + +But there was a terrible impression on Mr. Jos. Larkin's mind that this +certainly _was_ he, and with a sulky nod to the policeman, he walked +darkly down to the vicar's house. The vicar had been sent for to Naunton +to pray with a dying person; and Mr. Larkin, disappointed, left a note to +state that in writing that morning, as he had done, in reference to the +purchase of the reversion, through Messrs. Burlington and Smith, he had +simply expressed his own surmises as to the probable withdrawal of the +intending purchaser, but had received no formal, nor, indeed, _any_ +authentic information, from either the party or the solicitors referred +to, to that effect. That he mentioned this lest misapprehension should +arise, but not as attaching any importance to the supposed discovery +which seemed to imply Mr. Mark Wylder's death. That gentleman, on the +contrary, he had seen alive and well at Shillingsworth on the night +previous; and he had been seen in conference with Captain Lake at a +subsequent hour, at Brandon. + +From all this the reader may suppose that Mr. Jos. Larkin was not quite +in a comfortable state, and he resolved to get the deeds, and go down +again to the vicar's, and persuade him to execute them. He could make +William Wylder, of course, do whatever he pleased. + +There were a good many drunken fellows about the town, but there was an +end of election demonstrations in the Brandon interest. Captain Lake was +not going in for that race; he would be on another errand by the time the +writ came down. + + + + +CHAPTER LXXIII. + +THE MASK FALLS. + + +There was a 'stop press' that evening in the county paper--'We have just +learned that a body has been disinterred, early this afternoon, under +very strange circumstances, in the neighbourhood of Gylingden; and if the +surmises which are afloat prove well-founded, the discovery will set at +rest the speculations which have been busy respecting the whereabouts of +a certain gentleman of large property and ancient lineage, who, some time +since, mysteriously disappeared, and will, no doubt, throw this county +into a state of very unusual excitement. We can state, upon authority, +that the coroner will hold his inquest on the body, to-morrow at twelve +o'clock, in the town of Gylingden. + +There was also an allusion to Captain Lake's accident--with the +expression of a hope that it would 'prove but a trifling one,' and an +assurance 'that his canvass would not be prevented by it--although for a +few days it might not be a personal one. But his friends might rely on +seeing him at the hustings, and hearing him too, when the proper time +arrived.' + +It was quite well known, however, in Gylingden, by this time, that +Captain Lake was not to see the hustings--that his spine was +smashed--that he was lying on an extemporised bed, still in his clothes, +in the little parlour of Redman's Farm--cursing the dead mare in +gasps--railing at everybody--shuddering whenever they attempted to remove +his clothes--hoping, in broken sentences, that his people would give +Bracton and--good licking. Bracton's outrage was the cause of the entire +thing--and so help him Heaven, so soon as he should be on his legs again, +he would make him feel it, one way or other. + +Buddle thought he was in so highly excited a state, that his brain must +have sustained some injury also. + +He asked Buddle about ten o'clock (having waked up from a sort of +stupor)--'what about Jim Dutton?' and then, whether there was not some +talk about a body they had found, and what it was. So Buddle told him all +that was yet known, and he listened very attentively. + +'But Larkin has been corresponding with Mark Wylder up to a very late +day, and if this body has been so long buried, how the devil can it be +he? And if it be as bodies usually are after such a time, how can anybody +pretend to identify it? And I happen to know that Mark Wylder is living,' +he added, suddenly. + +The doctor told him not to tire himself talking, and offered, if he +wished to make a statement before a magistrate, to arrange that one +should attend and receive it. + +'I rather dislike it, because Mark wants to keep it quiet; but if, on +public grounds, it is desirable, I will make it, of course. You'll use +your discretion in mentioning the subject.' + +So the captain was now prepared to acknowledge the secret meeting of the +night before, and to corroborate the testimony of his attorney and his +butler. + +Stanley Lake had now no idea that his injuries were dangerous. He said he +had a bad bruise under his ribs, and a sprained wrist, and was a little +bit shaken; and he talked of his electioneering as only suspended for a +day or two. + +Buddle, however, thought the case so imminent, that on his way to the +'Brandon Arms,' meeting Larkin, going, attended by his clerk, again to +the vicar's house, he stopped him for a moment, and told him what had +passed, adding, that Lake was so frightfully injured, that he might begin +to sink at any moment, and that by next evening, at all events, he might +not be in a condition to make a deposition. + +'It is odd enough--very odd,' said Larkin. 'It was only an hour since, in +conversation with our policeman, Edwards, that I mentioned the fact of my +having myself travelled from London to Shillingsworth last night with Mr. +Mark Wylder, who went on by train in this direction, I presume, to meet +our unfortunate friend, Captain Lake, by appointment. Thomas Sleddon, of +Wadding Hall--at this moment in the "Brandon Arms"--is just the man; if +you mention it to him, he'll go up with you to Redman's Farm, and take +the deposition. Let it be a _deposition_, do you mind; a statement is +mere hearsay.' + +Comforted somewhat, reassured in a certain way, and in strong hopes that, +at all events, such a muddle would be established as to bewilder the +jury, Mr. Jos. Larkin, with still an awful foreboding weighing at his +heart, knocked at the vicar's door, and was shown into the study. A +solitary candle being placed, to make things bright and pleasant for the +visitor, who did not look so himself, the vicar, very pale, and appearing +to have grown even thinner since he last saw him, entered, and shook his +hand with an anxious attempt at a smile, which faded almost instantly. + +'I am so delighted that you have come. I have passed a day of such +dreadful agitation. Poor Mark!' + +'There is no doubt, Sir, whatsoever that he is perfectly well. Three +different persons--unexceptionable witnesses--can depose to having seen +him last night, and he had a long conference with Captain Lake, who is by +this time making his deposition. It is with respect to the other little +matter--the execution of the deed of conveyance to Messrs. Burlington and +Smith's clients. You know my feeling about the note I wrote this morning +a little--I will not say incautiously, because with a client of your +known character and honour, no idea of the sort can find place--but I +will say thoughtlessly. If there be any hanging back, or appearance of +it, it may call down unpleasant--indeed, to be quite frank, +ruinous--consequences, which, I think, in the interest of your family, +you would hardly be justified in invoking upon the mere speculation of +your respected brother's death.' + +There was a sound of voices at the door. 'Do come in--pray do,' was heard +in Dolly's voice. 'Won't you excuse me, but pray do. Willie, darling, +don't you wish him to come in?' + +'Most particularly. Do _beg_ of him, in my name--and I know Mr. Larkin +would wish it so much.' + +And so Lord Chelford, with a look which, at another time, would have been +an amused one, quite conscious of the oddity of his introduction, came in +and slightly saluted Mr. Larkin, who was for a few seconds pretty +obviously confounded, and with a pink flush all over his bald forehead, +tried to smile, while his hungry little eyes searched the viscount with +fear and suspicion. + +Larkin's tone was now much moderated. Any sort of dealing was good enough +for the simple vicar; but here was the quiet, sagacious peer, who had +shown himself, on two remarkable committees, so quick and able a man of +business, and the picture of the vicar's situation, and of the powers and +terrors of Messrs. Burlington and Smith, were to be drawn with an exacter +pencil, and far more delicate colouring. + +Lord Chelford listened so quietly that the tall attorney felt he was +making way with him, and concluded his persuasion by appealing to him for +an opinion. + +'That is precisely as I said. I knew my friend, Mr. Larkin, would be only +too glad of an opinion in this difficulty from you,' threw in the vicar. + +The opinion came--very clear, very quiet, very unpleasant--dead against +Mr. Larkin's view, and concluding with the remark that he thought there +was more in the affair than had yet come to light. + +'I don't see exactly how, my lord,' said Mr. Larkin, a little loftily, +and redder than usual. + +'Nor do I, Mr. Larkin, at present; but the sum offered is much too small, +and the amount of costs and other drawbacks utterly monstrous, and the +result is, after deducting all these claims, including your costs, Mr. +Larkin----' + +Here Mr. Larkin threw up his chin a little, smiling, and waving his long +hand, and saying, 'Oh! as to _mine_,' in a way that plainly expressed, +'They are merely put down for form's sake. It is playing at costs. You +know Jos. Larkin--he never so much as dreamed of looking for them.' + +'There remain hardly nine hundred and fifty pounds applicable to the +payment of the Reverend Mr. Wylder's debts--a sum which would have been +ample, before this extraordinary negotiation was commenced, to have +extricated him from all his pressing difficulties, and which I would have +been only too happy at being permitted to advance, and which, and a great +deal more, Miss Lake, whose conduct has been more than kind--quite +noble--wished to place in your client's hands.' + +'_That_,' said the attorney, flushing a little, 'I believe to have been +technically impossible; and it was accompanied by a proposition which was +on other grounds untenable.' + +'You mean Miss Lake's proposed residence here--an arrangement, it appears +to me, every way most desirable.' + +'I objected to it on, I will say, _moral_ grounds, my lord. It is painful +to me to disclose what I know, but that young lady accompanied Mr. Mark +Wylder, my lord, in his midnight flight from Dollington, and remained in +London, under, I presume, his protection for some time.' + +'That statement, Sir, is, I happen to _know_, utterly contrary to fact. +The young lady you mention never even saw Mr. Mark Wylder, since she took +leave of him in the drawing-room at Brandon; and I state this not in +vindication of her, but to lend weight to the caution I give you against +ever again presuming to connect her name with your surmises.' + +The peer's countenance was so inexpressibly stern, and his eyes poured +such a stream of fire upon the attorney, that he shrank a little, and +looked down upon his great fingers which were drumming, let us hope, some +sacred music upon the table. + +'I am truly rejoiced, my lord, to hear you say so. Except to the young +party herself, and in this presence, I have never mentioned it; and I can +show you the evidence on which my conclusions rested.' + +'Thank you--no Sir; my evidence is conclusive.' + +I don't know what Mr. Larkin would have thought of it; it was simply +Rachel's letter to her friend Dolly Wylder on the subject of the +attorney's conference with her at Redman's Farm. It was a frank and +passionate denial of the slander, breathing undefinably, but +irresistibly, the spirit of truth. + +'Then am I to understand, in conclusion,' said the attorney, that defying +all consequences, the Rev. Mr. Wylder refuses to execute the deed of +sale?' + +'Certainly,' said Lord Chelford, taking this reply upon himself. + +'You know, my dear Mr. Wylder, I told you from the first that Messrs. +Burlington and Smith were, in fact, a very sharp house; and I fear they +will execute any powers they possess in the most summary manner.' The +attorney's eye was upon the vicar as he spoke, but Lord Chelford +answered. + +'The powers you speak of are quite without parallel in a negotiation to +purchase; and in the event of their hazarding such a measure, the Rev. +Mr. Wylder will apply to a court of equity to arrest their proceedings. +My own solicitor is retained in the case.' + +Mr. Larkin's countenance darkened and lengthened visibly, and his eyes +assumed their most unpleasant expression, and there was a little pause, +during which, forgetting his lofty ways, he bit his thumb-nail rather +viciously. + +'Then I am to understand, my lord, that I am superseded in the management +of this case?' said the attorney at last, in a measured way, which seemed +to say, 'you had better think twice on this point.' + +'Certainly, Mr. Larkin,' said the viscount. + +'I'm not the least surprised, knowing, I am sorry to say, a good deal of +the ways of the world, and expecting very little gratitude, for either +good will or services.' This was accompanied with a melancholy sneer +directed full upon the poor vicar, who did not half understand the +situation, and looked rather guilty and frightened. 'The Rev. Mr. Wylder +very well knows with what reluctance I touched the case--a nasty case; +and I must be permitted to add, that I am very happy to be quite rid of +it, and only regret the manner in which my wish has been anticipated, a +discourtesy which I attribute, however, to female influence.' + +The concluding sentence was spoken with a vile sneer and a measured +emphasis directed at Lord Chelford, who coloured with a sudden access of +indignation, and stood stern and menacing, as the attorney, with a +general bow to the company, and a lofty _nonchalance_, made his exit from +the apartment. + +Captain Lake was sinking very fast next morning. He made a statement to +Chelford, who was a magistrate for the county, I suppose to assist the +coroner's inquest. He said that on the night of Mark Wylder's last visit +to Brandon, he had accompanied him from the Hall; that Mark had seen some +one in the neighbourhood of Gylingden, a person pretending to be his +wife, or some near relative of hers, as well as he, Captain Lake, could +understand, and was resolved to go to London privately, and have the +matter arranged there. He waited near the 'White House,' while he, +Stanley Lake, went to Gylingden and got his tax-cart at his desire. He +could give particulars as to that. Captain Lake overtook him, and he got +in and was driven to Dollington, where he took the up-train. That some +weeks afterwards he saw him at Brighton; and the night before last, by +appointment, in the grounds of Brandon; and that he understood Larkin had +some lights to throw upon the same subject. + +The jury were not sworn until two o'clock. The circumstances of the +discovery of the body were soon established. But the question which next +arose was very perplexed--was the body that of Mr. Mark Wylder? There +could be no doubt as to a general resemblance; but, though marvellously +preserved, in its then state, certainty was hardly attainable. But there +was a perfectly satisfactory identification of the dress and properties +of the corpse as those of Mr. Mark Wylder. On the other hand there was +the testimony of Lord Chelford, who put Captain Lake's deposition in +evidence, as also the testimony of Larkin, and the equally precise +evidence of Larcom, the butler. + +The proceedings had reached this point when an occurrence took place +which startled Lord Chelford, Larkin, Larcom, and every one in the room +who was familiar with Mark Wylder's appearance. + +A man pushed his way to the front of the crowd, and for a moment it +seemed that Mark Wylder stood living before them. + +'Who are you?' said Lord Chelford. + +'Jim Dutton, Sir; I come by reason of what I read in the "Chronicle" over +night, about Mr. Mark Wylder being found.' + +'Do you know anything of him?' asked the coroner. + +'Nowt,' answered the man bluffly, 'only I writ to Mr. Larkin, there, as I +wanted to see him. I remember him well when I was a boy. I seed him in +the train from Lunnon t'other night; and he seed me on the Shillingsworth +platform, and I think he took me for some one else. I was comin' down to +see the Captain at Brandon--and seed him the same night.' + +'Why have you come here?' asked the coroner. + +'Thinkin' I might be mistook,' answered the man. 'I _was_ twice here in +England, and three times abroad.' + +'For whom?' + +'Mr. Mark Wylder,' answered he. + +'It is a wonderful likeness,' said Lord Chelford. + +Larkin stared at him with his worst expression; and Larcom, I think, +thought he was the devil. + +I was as much surprised as any for a few seconds. But there were points +of difference--Jim Dutton was rather a taller and every way a larger man +than Mark Wylder. His face, too, was broader and coarser, but in features +and limbs the relative proportions were wonderfully preserved. It was +such an exaggerated portrait as a rustic genius might have executed upon +a sign-board. He had the same black, curly hair, and thick, black +whiskers: and the style of his dress being the same, helped the illusion. +In fact, it was a rough, but powerful likeness--startling at the +moment--unexceptionable at a little distance--but which failed on a +nearer and exacter examination. There was, beside, a scar, which, +however, was not a very glaring inconsistency, although it was plainly of +a much older standing than the date of Mark's disappearance. All that +could be got from Jim Dutton was that 'he thought he might be mistook' +and so attended. But respecting Mr. Mark Wylder he could say 'nowt.' He +knew 'nowt.' + +Lord Chelford was called away at this moment by an urgent note. It was to +request his immediate attendance at Redman's Farm, to see Captain Lake, +who was in a most alarming state. The hand was Dorcas's--and Lord +Chelford jumped into the little pony carriage which awaited him at the +door of the 'Silver Lion.' + +When he reached Redman's Farm, Captain Lake could not exert himself +sufficiently to speak for nearly half-an-hour. At the end of that time he +was admitted into the tiny drawing-room in which the captain lay. He was +speaking with difficulty. + +'Did you see Buddle, just now?' + +'No, not since morning.' + +'He seems to have changed--bad opinion--unless he has a _law_ +object--those d--d doctors--never can know. Dorcas thinks--I'll do no +good. Don't you think--he may have an object--and not believe I'm in much +danger? You don't?' + +Lake's hand, with which he clutched and pulled Chelford's, was trembling. + +'You must reflect, my dear Lake, how very severe are the injuries you +have sustained. You certainly _are_ in danger--_great_ danger.' + +Lake became indescribably agitated, and uttered some words, not often on +his lips, that sounded like desperate words of supplication. Not that +seaworthy faith which floats the spirit through the storm, but fragments +of its long-buried wreck rolled up from the depths and flung madly on the +howling shore. + +'I'd like to see Rachel,' at last he said, holding Chelford's hand in +both his, very hard. 'She's clever--and I don't think she gives me up +yet, no--a drink!--and they think I'm more hurt than I really am--Buddle, +you know--only an apothecary--village;' and he groaned. + +His old friend, Sir Francis Seddley, summoned by the telegraph, was now +gliding from London along the rails for Dollington station; but +another--a pale courier--on the sightless coursers of the air, was +speeding with a different message to Captain Stanley Lake, in the small +and sombre drawing-room in Redman's Dell. + +I had promised Chelford to run up to Redman's Farm, and let him know if +the jury arrived at a verdict during his absence. They did so; finding +that the body was that of Marcus Wylder, Esquire, of Raddiston, and 'that +he had come by his death in consequence of two wounds inflicted with a +sharp instrument, in the region of the heart, by some person or persons +unknown, at a period of four weeks since or upwards.' + +Chelford was engaged in the sick room, as I understood, in conference +with the patient. It was well to have heard, without procrastination, +what he had to say; for next morning, at a little past four o'clock, he +died. + +A nurse who had been called in from the county infirmary, said he made a +very happy ending. He mumbled to himself, in his drowsy state, as she was +quite sure, in prayer; and he made a very pretty corpse when he was laid +out, and his golden hair looked so nice, and he was all so slim and +shapely. + +Rachel and Dorcas were sitting in the room with him--not expecting the +catastrophe then. Both tired; both silent; the nurse dozing a little in +her chair, near the bed's head; and Lake said, in his clear, low tone, on +a sudden, just as he spoke when perfectly well-- + +'Quite a mistake, upon my honour.' + +As a clear-voiced sentence sometimes speaks out in sleep, followed by +silence, so no more was heard after this--no more for ever. The nurse was +the first to perceive 'the change.' + +'There's a change, Ma'am'--and there was a pause. 'I'm afraid, Ma'am, +he's gone,' said the nurse. + +Both ladies, in an instant, were at the bedside, looking at the peaked +and white countenance, which was all they were ever again to see of +Stanley; the yellow eyes and open mouth. + +Rachel's agony broke forth in a loud, wild cry. All was forgotten and +forgiven in that tremendous moment. + +'Oh! Stanley, Stanley!--brother, brother, oh, brother!' + +There was the unchanged face, gaping its awful farewell of earth. All +over!--never to stir more. + +'Is he dead?' said Dorcas, with the peculiar sternness of agony. + +There could be no doubt. It was a sight too familiar to deceive the +nurse. + +And Dorcas closed those strange, wild eyes that had so fatally fascinated +her, and then she trembled, without speaking or shedding a tear. Her +looks alarmed the nurse, who, with Rachel's help, persuaded her to leave +the room. And then came one of those wild scenes which close such +tragedies--paroxysms of despair and frantic love, over that worthless +young man who lay dead below stairs; such as strike us sometimes with a +desolate scepticism, and make us fancy that all affection is illusion, +and perishable with the deceits and vanities of earth. + + + + +CHAPTER LXXIV. + +WE TAKE LEAVE OF OUR FRIENDS. + + +The story which, in his last interview with Lord Chelford, Stanley Lake +had related, was, probably, as near the truth as he was capable of +telling. + +On the night when Mark Wylder had left Brandon in his company they had +some angry talk; Lake's object being to induce Mark to abandon his +engagement with Dorcas Brandon. He told Stanley that he would not give up +Dorcas, but that he, Lake, must fight him, and go to Boulogne for the +purpose, and they should arrange matters so that one or other _must_ +fall. Lake laughed quietly at the proposition, and Mark retorted by +telling him he would so insult him, if he declined, as to compel a +meeting. When they reached that lonely path near the flight of stone +steps, Stanley distinctly threatened his companion with a disclosure of +the scandalous incident in the card-room of the club, which he afterwards +related, substantially as it had happened, to Jos. Larkin. When he took +this decisive step, Lake's nerves were strung, I dare say, to a high +pitch of excitement. Mark Wylder, he knew, carried pistols, and, all +things considered, he thought it just possible he might use them. He did +not, but he struck Lake with the back of his hand in the face, and Lake, +who walked by his side, with his fingers on the handle of a dagger in his +coat pocket, instantly retorted with a stab, which he repeated as Mark +fell. + +He solemnly averred that he never meant to have used the dagger, except +to defend his life. That he struck in a state of utter confusion, and +when he saw Mark dead, with his feet on the path, and his head lying over +the edge, he would have given a limb almost to bring him back. The terror +of discovery and ruin instantly supervened. + +He propped the body against the bank, and tried to stanch the bleeding. +But there could be no doubt that he was actually dead. He got the body +easily down the nearly precipitous declivity. Lake was naturally by no +means wanting in resource, and a certain sort of coolness, which +supervened when the momentary distraction was over. + +He knew it would not do to leave the body so, among the rocks and +brambles. He recollected that only fifty yards back they had passed a +spade and pick, lying, with some other tools, by the side of the path, +near that bit of old wall which was being removed. Like a man doing +things in a dream, without thought or trouble, only waiting and listening +for a moment before he disturbed them, he took away the implements which +he required; and when about to descend, a sort of panic and +insurmountable disgust seized him; and in a state of supernatural dismay, +he felt for a while disposed to kill himself. In that state it was he +reached Redman's Farm, and his interview with Rachel occurred. It was the +accidental disclosure of the blood, in which his shirt sleeve was soaked, +that first opened Rachel's eyes to the frightful truth. + +After her first shock, all her terrors were concentrated on the one +point--Stanley's imminent danger. He must be saved. She made him return; +she even accompanied him as far as the top of the rude flight of steps I +have mentioned so often, and there awaited his return--the condition +imposed by his cowardice--and made more dreadful by the circumstance that +they had heard retreating footsteps along the walk, and Stanley saw the +tall figure of Uncle Julius or Lorne, as he called himself, turning the +far corner. + +There was a long wait here, lest he should return; but he did not appear, +and Stanley--though I now believe observed by this strange +being--executed his horrible task, replaced the implements, and returned +to Rachel, and with her to Redman's Farm; where--his cool cunning once +more ascendant--he penned those forgeries, closing them with Mark +Wylder's seal, which he compelled his sister--quite unconscious of all +but that their despatch by post, at the periods pencilled upon them, was +essential to her wretched brother's escape. It was the success of this, +his first stratagem, which suggested that long series of frauds which, +with the aid of Jim Dutton, selected for his striking points of +resemblance to Mark Wylder, had been carried on for so long with such +consummate art in a different field. + +It was Lake's ungoverned fury, when Larkin discovered the mistake in +posting the letters in wrong succession, which so nearly exploded his +ingenious system. He wrote in terms which roused Jim Dutton's wrath. Jim +had been spinning theories about the reasons of his mysterious, though +very agreeable occupation, and announced them broadly in his letter to +Larkin. But he had cooled by the time he reached London, and the letter +from Lake, received at his mother's and appointing the meeting at +Brandon, quieted that mutiny. + +I never heard that Jim gave any member of the family the least trouble +afterward. He handed to Lord Chelford a parcel of those clever and +elaborate forgeries, with which Lake had last furnished him, with a +pencilled note on each, directing the date and town at which it was to be +despatched. Years after, when Jim was emigrating, I believe Lord Chelford +gave him a handsome present. + +Lord Chelford was advised by the friend whom he consulted that he need +not make those painful particulars public, affecting only a dead man, and +leading to no result. + +Lake admitted that Rachel had posted the letters in London, believing +them to be genuine, for he pretended that they were Wylder's. It is easy +to look grave over poor Rachel's slight, and partly unconscious, share in +the business of the tragedy. But what girl of energy and strong +affections would have had the melancholy courage to surrender her brother +to public justice under the circumstances? Lord Chelford, who knew all, +says that she 'acted nobly.' + +'Now, Joseph, being a just man, was minded to put her away privily.' The +_law_ being what? That she was to be publicly stigmatised and punished. +His _justice_ being what? Simply that he would have her to be +neither--but screened and parted 'with privily.' Let the Pharisees who +would have _summum jus_ against their neighbours, remember that God +regards the tender and compassionate, who forbears, on occasion, to put +the law in motion, as the _just_ man. + +The good vicar is a great territorial magnate now; but his pleasures and +all his ways are still simple. He never would enter Brandon as its +master, and never will, during Dorcas Brandon's lifetime. And although +with her friend, Rachel Lake, she lives abroad, chiefly in Italy and +Switzerland, Brandon Hall, by the command of its proprietor, lies always +at her disposal. + +I don't know whether Rachel Lake will ever marry. The tragic shadow of +her life has not chilled Lord Chelford's strong affection. Neither does +the world know or suspect anything of the matter. Old Tamar died three +years since, and lies in the pretty little churchyard of Gylingden. And +Mark's death is, by this time, a nearly forgotten mystery. + +Jos. Larkins's speculations have not turned out luckily. The trustees of +Wylder, a minor, tried, as they were advised they must, his title to Five +Oaks, by ejectment. A point had been overlooked--as sometimes +happens--and Jos. Larkin was found to have taken but an estate for the +life of Mark Wylder, which terminated at his decease. The point was +carried on to the House of Lords, but the decision of 'the court below' +was ultimately affirmed. + +The flexible and angry Jos. Larkin then sought to recoup himself out of +the assets of the deceased captain; but here he failed. In his +cleverness--lest the inadequate purchase-money should upset his +bargain--he omitted the usual covenant guaranteeing the vendor's title to +sell the fee-simple, and recited, moreover, that, grave doubts existing +on the point, it was agreed that the sum paid should not exceed twelve +years' purchase. Jos. then could only go upon the point that it was known +to Lake at the period of the sale that Mark Wylder was dead. Unluckily, +however, for Jos.'s case, one of his clever letters, written during the +negotiation, turned up, and was put in evidence, in which he pressed +Captain Lake with the fact, that he, the purchaser, was actually in +possession of information to the effect that Mark was dead, and that he +was, therefore, buying under a liability of having his title litigated, +with a doubtful result, the moment he should enter into possession. This +shut up the admirable man, who next tried a rather bold measure, directed +against the Reverend William Wylder. A bill was filed by Messrs. +Burlington and Smith, to compel him to execute a conveyance to their +client--on the terms of the agreement. The step was evidently taken on +the calculation that he would strike, and offer a handsome compromise; +but Lord Chelford was at his elbow--the suit was resisted. Messrs. +Burlington and Smith did not care to run the awful risk which Mr. Larkin, +behind the scenes, invited them to accept for his sake. There was first a +faltering; then a bold renunciation and exposure of Mr. Jos. Larkin by +the firm, who, though rather lamely, exonerated themselves as having been +quite taken in by the Gylingden attorney. + +Mr. Jos. Larkin had a holy reliance upon his religious reputation, which +had always stood him in stead. But a worldly judge will sometimes +disappoint the expectations of the Christian suitor; and the language of +the Court, in commenting upon Mr. Jos. Larkin, was, I am sorry to say, in +the highest degree offensive--'flagitious,' 'fraudulent,' and kindred +epithets, were launched against that tall, bald head, in a storm that +darkened the air and obliterated the halo that usually encircled it. He +was dismissed, in a tempest, with costs. He vanished from court, like an +evil spirit, into the torture-chamber of taxation. + +The whole structure of rapine and duplicity had fallen through with a +dismal crash. Shrewd fellows wondered, as they always do, when a rash +game breaks down, at the infatuation of the performer. But the cup of his +tribulation was not yet quite full. Jos. Larkin's name was ultimately +struck from the roll of solicitors and attorneys, and there were minute +and merciless essays in the papers, surrounding his disgrace with a +dreadful glare. People say he has not enough left to go on with. He had +lodgings somewhere near Richmond, as Howard Larkin, Esq., and is still a +religious character. I am told that he shifts his place of residence +about once in six months, and that he has never paid one shilling of rent +for any, and has sometimes positively received money for vacating his +abode. So substantially valuable is a thorough acquaintance with the +capabilities of the law. I saw honest Tom Wealdon about a fortnight +ago--grown stouter and somewhat more phlegmatic by time, but still the +same in good nature and inquisitiveness. From him I learned that Jos. +Larkin is likely to figure once more in the courts about some very ugly +defalcations in the cash of the Penningstal Mining Company, and that this +time the persecutions of that eminent Christian are likely to take a +different turn, and, as Tom said, with a gloomy shrewdness, to end in +'ten years penal.' + +Some summers ago, I was, for a few days, in the wondrous city of Venice. +Everyone knows something of the enchantment of the Italian moon, the +expanse of dark and flashing blue, and the phantasmal city, rising like a +beautiful spirit from the waters. Gliding near the Lido--where so many +rings of Doges lie lost beneath the waves--I heard the pleasant sound of +female voices upon the water--and then, with a sudden glory, rose a sad, +wild hymn, like the musical wail of the forsaken sea:-- + + The spouseless Adriatic mourns her lord. + +The song ceased. The gondola which bore the musicians floated by--a +slender hand over the gunwale trailed its fingers in the water. Unseen I +saw Rachel and Dorcas, beautiful in the sad moonlight, passed so near we +could have spoken--passed me like spirits--never more, it may be, to +cross my sight in life. + + + + + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Wylder's Hand, by J. 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