CHAPTER XXXIII.THE LADIES MAKE INQUISITIONOn the steps Vane Trevor was encountered by Mr. Kincton Knox, in his drab gaiters and portly white waistcoat, and white hat, and smiling in guileless hospitality, with both hands extended. “Very good, Vane, my dear boy—very happy—now we’ve got you, we’ll keep you three weeks at least. You must not be running away as usual. We’ll not let you off this time, mind.”Vane knew that the hospitable exuberances of the worthy gentleman were liable to be overruled by another power, and did not combat the hospitable seizure, as vigorously as if there had been no appeal. But he chatted a while with the old gentleman, and promised to walk down and see the plantations, and the new road with him. By a sort of silent compromise, this out-door department was abandoned toMr. Kincton Knox, who seldom invaded the interior administration of the empire, and in justice, it must be alleged that the empress seldom interfered directly with the “woods and forests,” and contented herself with now and then lifting up her fine eyes, and mittened hands, as she surveyed his operations from the window in a resigned horror, and wondered how Mr.Kincton Knox could satisfy his conscience in wasting money the way he did!She had learned, however, that his walks, trees, and roads, were points on which he might be raised to battle; and as she knew there was little harm in the pursuit, and really little, if anything done, more than was needed, and as some onemustlook after it, she conceded the point without any systematic resistance, and confined herself to the sort of silent protest I have mentioned.While Vane Trevor lingered for a few minutes with the old gentleman, Master Howard Seymour Knox, who was as little accustomed to wait as Louis XIV., stumped into the drawing-room, to demand an order upon the gamekeeper’s wife for Vane Trevor’s revolver.“Vane Trevor come?” exclaimed Clara.“I want a note,” cried Howard.“We shall hear all about the quarrel,” observed the old lady emphatically, and with a mysterious nod, to her daughter.“I won’t be kept here all day,” cried Master Howard, with a stamp.“Well, wait a moment,” cried Clara, “and you shall have the other box of bonbons. I’ll ring and send Brooks; but you’ve to tell me where Vane Trevor is.”“No I won’t, till I get the bonbons.”Miss Clara was on the point of bursting forth into invective, but being curious, she did not choose a rupture, and only said,“And why not, pray?”“Because you cheated me of the shilling you promised me the same way, and I told all the servants, and they all said you were a beast.”“I don’t know what you mean, Sir.”“Youdo, right well,” he replied; “you asked me totell you all about the tutor, and when I did you said it was not worth a farthing, and you would not give the shilling you promised; that was cheating; you cheat!”“Do you hear him, mamma?”“Howard, my dear! what’s all this? Tut, tut!” exclaimed Mrs. Kincton Knox.The arrival of the bonbons, however, did more to re-establish peaceful relations; and the boy, who was anxious to get away, delivered his news as rapidly as he could.“Yes, Vane Trevor’s come. When I and Herbert were in the long larch walk he met us, and they seemed very glad to meet.”“Ah! Like people who knew one another before?” asked Miss Clara, eagerly, in tones little above a whisper.“Yes, and Vane called Herbert,Maubray—yes he did.”“Maubray?Are youquitesure of that?” demanded the elder lady, peering into his face and forgetting her dignity in the intensity of her curiosity.“Yes, that I am, quite sure,” replied the boy wagging his head, and then spinning himself round on his heel.“Bequiet, Sir,” hissed Miss Clara, clutching him by the arm; “answer me,—now do be a good boy and we’ll let you away in a minute. How do you remember the name was Maubray, and not some other namelikeMaubray?”“Because I remember Sir Richard Maubray that you and mamma’s always talking about.”“We’renotalways talking about him,” said Clara.“No, Sir, we’renot,” repeated the matron, severely.“I’ll tell you no more, if your both so cross. Iwon’t,” retorted Master Howard, as distinctly as the bonbons would allow him.“Well,well,willyou have done, and answer my question? Did he call him Maubray often?” repeated Clara.“Yes—no. Hedid, though—he called him Maubray twice. I’m sure of that.”Mother and daughter exchanged glances at this point, and Mrs. Kincton made a very slow little bow with compressed lips, and her dark eyes steadily fixed on her daughter, and then there was a little “h’m!”“And they seemed to know one another before?” said Mrs. Kincton Knox.“Yes, I told you that before.”“And glad to meet?” she continued.“Yes, that is,Vane. Idon’tthinkHerbertwas.”Again the ladies interchanged a meaning glance.“Where is Vane Trevor now?” inquired the elder lady, gathering up her majestic manner again.“He was talking to the governor at the hall-door.”“Oh! then we shall see him in a moment,” said Mrs. Kincton Knox.“Mind now, Howard, you’re not to say one word to Mr. Herbert or to Vane Trevor about your telling us anything,” added Miss Clara.“Aint I though? I just will, both of them, my man, unless you pay me my shilling,” replied Master Howard.“Mamma, do youhearhim?” exclaimed Miss Clara in a piteous fury.“What do youmean, Sir?” interposed his mamma vigorously, for she was nearly as much frightened as the young lady.“I mean I’lltellthem; yes Iwill, I’m going,” and heskipped with a horrid grimace, and his thumb to his nose, toward the door.“Comeback, Sir; how dare you?” almost screamed Miss Clara.“Here, Sir, take your shilling,” cried Mrs. Kincton Knox, with a stamp on the floor and flashing eye, fumbling hurriedly at her purse to produce the coin in question. “There it is, Sir, andremember.”Whether the oracular “remember” was a menace or an entreaty I know not; but the young gentleman fixed the coin in his eye after the manner of an eye-glass, and with some horrid skips and a grin of triumph at Miss Clara, he made his exit.“Wherecanhe learn those vile, low tricks?” exclaimed Miss Clara. “I don’t believe there is another such boy in England. He’lldisgraceus, you’ll find, and he’ll killme, I know.”“He has been extremely troublesome; and I’ll speak to him by-and-by,” said the matron.“Speak, indeed; much he cares!”“I’ll make him care, though.”There was a little silence, and the ladies mentally returned to the more momentous topic from which the extortion of Howard Seymour had for a moment diverted them.“What do you think of it?” murmured Mrs. Kincton Knox.“Oh! I think there’s butonething to think,” answered Miss Clara.“I look upon it asperfectly conclusive; and, in fact, his appearance tallies so exactly with the descriptions we have heard that we hardly needed all this corroboration. As it is, I am satisfied.”At this moment the door opened, and Vane Trevor was announced.
CHAPTER XXXIII.
THE LADIES MAKE INQUISITION
THE LADIES MAKE INQUISITION
THE LADIES MAKE INQUISITION
On the steps Vane Trevor was encountered by Mr. Kincton Knox, in his drab gaiters and portly white waistcoat, and white hat, and smiling in guileless hospitality, with both hands extended. “Very good, Vane, my dear boy—very happy—now we’ve got you, we’ll keep you three weeks at least. You must not be running away as usual. We’ll not let you off this time, mind.”
Vane knew that the hospitable exuberances of the worthy gentleman were liable to be overruled by another power, and did not combat the hospitable seizure, as vigorously as if there had been no appeal. But he chatted a while with the old gentleman, and promised to walk down and see the plantations, and the new road with him. By a sort of silent compromise, this out-door department was abandoned toMr. Kincton Knox, who seldom invaded the interior administration of the empire, and in justice, it must be alleged that the empress seldom interfered directly with the “woods and forests,” and contented herself with now and then lifting up her fine eyes, and mittened hands, as she surveyed his operations from the window in a resigned horror, and wondered how Mr.Kincton Knox could satisfy his conscience in wasting money the way he did!
She had learned, however, that his walks, trees, and roads, were points on which he might be raised to battle; and as she knew there was little harm in the pursuit, and really little, if anything done, more than was needed, and as some onemustlook after it, she conceded the point without any systematic resistance, and confined herself to the sort of silent protest I have mentioned.
While Vane Trevor lingered for a few minutes with the old gentleman, Master Howard Seymour Knox, who was as little accustomed to wait as Louis XIV., stumped into the drawing-room, to demand an order upon the gamekeeper’s wife for Vane Trevor’s revolver.
“Vane Trevor come?” exclaimed Clara.
“I want a note,” cried Howard.
“We shall hear all about the quarrel,” observed the old lady emphatically, and with a mysterious nod, to her daughter.
“I won’t be kept here all day,” cried Master Howard, with a stamp.
“Well, wait a moment,” cried Clara, “and you shall have the other box of bonbons. I’ll ring and send Brooks; but you’ve to tell me where Vane Trevor is.”
“No I won’t, till I get the bonbons.”
Miss Clara was on the point of bursting forth into invective, but being curious, she did not choose a rupture, and only said,
“And why not, pray?”
“Because you cheated me of the shilling you promised me the same way, and I told all the servants, and they all said you were a beast.”
“I don’t know what you mean, Sir.”
“Youdo, right well,” he replied; “you asked me totell you all about the tutor, and when I did you said it was not worth a farthing, and you would not give the shilling you promised; that was cheating; you cheat!”
“Do you hear him, mamma?”
“Howard, my dear! what’s all this? Tut, tut!” exclaimed Mrs. Kincton Knox.
The arrival of the bonbons, however, did more to re-establish peaceful relations; and the boy, who was anxious to get away, delivered his news as rapidly as he could.
“Yes, Vane Trevor’s come. When I and Herbert were in the long larch walk he met us, and they seemed very glad to meet.”
“Ah! Like people who knew one another before?” asked Miss Clara, eagerly, in tones little above a whisper.
“Yes, and Vane called Herbert,Maubray—yes he did.”
“Maubray?Are youquitesure of that?” demanded the elder lady, peering into his face and forgetting her dignity in the intensity of her curiosity.
“Yes, that I am, quite sure,” replied the boy wagging his head, and then spinning himself round on his heel.
“Bequiet, Sir,” hissed Miss Clara, clutching him by the arm; “answer me,—now do be a good boy and we’ll let you away in a minute. How do you remember the name was Maubray, and not some other namelikeMaubray?”
“Because I remember Sir Richard Maubray that you and mamma’s always talking about.”
“We’renotalways talking about him,” said Clara.
“No, Sir, we’renot,” repeated the matron, severely.
“I’ll tell you no more, if your both so cross. Iwon’t,” retorted Master Howard, as distinctly as the bonbons would allow him.
“Well,well,willyou have done, and answer my question? Did he call him Maubray often?” repeated Clara.
“Yes—no. Hedid, though—he called him Maubray twice. I’m sure of that.”
Mother and daughter exchanged glances at this point, and Mrs. Kincton made a very slow little bow with compressed lips, and her dark eyes steadily fixed on her daughter, and then there was a little “h’m!”
“And they seemed to know one another before?” said Mrs. Kincton Knox.
“Yes, I told you that before.”
“And glad to meet?” she continued.
“Yes, that is,Vane. Idon’tthinkHerbertwas.”
Again the ladies interchanged a meaning glance.
“Where is Vane Trevor now?” inquired the elder lady, gathering up her majestic manner again.
“He was talking to the governor at the hall-door.”
“Oh! then we shall see him in a moment,” said Mrs. Kincton Knox.
“Mind now, Howard, you’re not to say one word to Mr. Herbert or to Vane Trevor about your telling us anything,” added Miss Clara.
“Aint I though? I just will, both of them, my man, unless you pay me my shilling,” replied Master Howard.
“Mamma, do youhearhim?” exclaimed Miss Clara in a piteous fury.
“What do youmean, Sir?” interposed his mamma vigorously, for she was nearly as much frightened as the young lady.
“I mean I’lltellthem; yes Iwill, I’m going,” and heskipped with a horrid grimace, and his thumb to his nose, toward the door.
“Comeback, Sir; how dare you?” almost screamed Miss Clara.
“Here, Sir, take your shilling,” cried Mrs. Kincton Knox, with a stamp on the floor and flashing eye, fumbling hurriedly at her purse to produce the coin in question. “There it is, Sir, andremember.”
Whether the oracular “remember” was a menace or an entreaty I know not; but the young gentleman fixed the coin in his eye after the manner of an eye-glass, and with some horrid skips and a grin of triumph at Miss Clara, he made his exit.
“Wherecanhe learn those vile, low tricks?” exclaimed Miss Clara. “I don’t believe there is another such boy in England. He’lldisgraceus, you’ll find, and he’ll killme, I know.”
“He has been extremely troublesome; and I’ll speak to him by-and-by,” said the matron.
“Speak, indeed; much he cares!”
“I’ll make him care, though.”
There was a little silence, and the ladies mentally returned to the more momentous topic from which the extortion of Howard Seymour had for a moment diverted them.
“What do you think of it?” murmured Mrs. Kincton Knox.
“Oh! I think there’s butonething to think,” answered Miss Clara.
“I look upon it asperfectly conclusive; and, in fact, his appearance tallies so exactly with the descriptions we have heard that we hardly needed all this corroboration. As it is, I am satisfied.”
At this moment the door opened, and Vane Trevor was announced.