Thus Mr. Brimble talked; while the stranger, when his turn came, amused and interested the squire with his anecdotes of persons, places, and things. 'Why, you've been everywhere,' he cried, 'and know all the world! Here's my purchase,' as they entered the stable; and he was soon listening with the deepest admiration to his companion's strictures on the hunter, and the peculiarities of the Arab and other horses; but when a suggestion was made as to an improvement in ventilating the stables, the squire was rather nettled. He was sure nothing could be better than his own plan; he'd no doubt Mr. Jobson might be right as to stables of other climates; but, etc. And in much vehemence did he continue the argument, till he found himself walking under the windows of the room in which the ladies were accustomed to sit during the morning.
Suddenly stopping, and forgetting stables and all connected with them, he pointed to Charity, who was sitting at one of them, and said, 'There's your pupil that was to have been. Let us go in. Mr. Jobson—Mrs. Brimble and my daughters. Ah, Miss Cruden! I didn't see your carriage. How's the doctor? My dear, Mr. Jobson is a friend of our old friend General Topham.'
'Scarcely a friend,' said the stranger, returning the salutation of the ladies with grave but frank courtesy.
'Well, well, you served with him somewhere, didn't you? or saw him, or something; I don't remember exactly what it was. We've been over so much ground that I've forgotten half the things you told me.'
The stranger gave a brief but interesting account of his last interview with the general, whom he incidentally described so graphically as to leave no doubt of his acquaintance with him. When this had come to an end, the squire seemed rather nervous lest the conversation should flag, and trotted out his new friend with the most scientific jockeyism, plying him with questions as to the Levant, America, and every place on which they had touched during their morning conversation.
The stranger seemed to suffer this tax upon his conversational powers rather than to enjoy it; he saw Mr. Brimble's motive, which was to gain for him the favour of his family, and, appreciating his kindness, fell in with his wish. Charity and Flora exchanged glances; the former looked triumphant—she had been right in her conjecture. Flora listened to him for a little time, but very soon joined her mother and Miss Cruden in the discussion of some new crochet patterns, giving only an occasional exclamation when any circumstance of particular interest was narrated. Mr. Jobson seemed equally ignorant of the indifference of the trio, and of the deep interest with which Charity listened to him. The squire was the centre of his notice, and he was evidently pleased with the gratification he was affording him. Dame Sparks' criticism, that he knew everything, seemed nearer the truth than such criticisms generally are.
At the luncheon, of which he could not with courtesy refuse to partake, he delighted the squire by giving him the history of almost every known wine, and charmed the ladies, one and all, with descriptions of foreign fruits and flowers. Every object suggested some fresh ground on which to display his boundless information, and the ease with which the remarks passed from topic to topic, and the perfect simplicity of his manner, so free from conceit, gave a tenfold charm to all. When he had left,—for he declined positively to remain the day, sorely to Mr. Brimble's disappointment,—a discussion concerning him naturally arose among the ladies, while the squire accompanied him, as he said, off the grounds.
'Oh, mamma, what a man!' said Flora; 'isn't he worse than a dictionary? I should get a brain fever if I heard him talk every day.'
'Where does he come from?' asked Miss Cruden—a rather elderly lady, with grey hair and gold spectacles and thin, sharp features.
'That remains to be proved,' said Mrs. Brimble.
'Come from!' cried Flora; 'why, he's like the man in the fairy tale, that came in at a hundred doors at once.'
'Mr. Brimble,' said his wife impressively, and turning with a confidential air to Miss Cruden, 'is so exceedingly imprudent, so easily deceived, that any one might take him in—any one that can talk.'
'There's no question about this person being able to talk,' said Miss Cruden; 'but why do you suppose he has been taken in now?'
'Tell me what a gentleman fit to be introduced here, and a friend of General Topham's, should do at Biddy Sparks'.'
'Biddy Sparks'!' said Miss Cruden, raising her eyebrows under her spectacles; 'that is indeed a singular lodging for a gentleman.'
'Oh, but he's a genius, mamma,' said Flora, 'and lives on bread and milk, and never goes to bed. I only hope, if papa brings him here again, he'll make him bring his flute; I should think we had come to an end of his geography.'
'I hope,' said Mrs. Brimble, 'if your papa does bring him here again, it will be with a letter of introduction, without which no one ought to be received here.'
'But, mamma, the man has had an introduction without a letter,' said Flora; 'and if it pleases papa, what does it signify? He won't run away with any of us—certainly not with me. I don't know about Charity,' she said, suddenly turning round and looking at her sister, who had not yet spoken. 'She was rather moonstruck about him this morning; but whether he's a gentleman or not, Char, I'm positive he's old, and he's got the most frizzly little whiskers I ever saw; in fact, to me he is very much like his pictures.'
'And to me too,' said Charity.
'His pictures!' said Miss Cruden; 'pray, what are they like?'
'Oh, stop, Char!' said Flora; 'do let me tell first. You know, Miss Cruden, there's a long blue uneven smudge—that's a "distance;" then there are'—
'Flora,' cried her sister, 'how can you be so foolish? Miss Cruden is fond of drawing; the best way would be to ask for her to see them, and judge for herself; they are full of spirit and feeling.'
'What is his name?' said Miss Cruden; 'I did not hear.'
'Ah! that's the melancholy part of it,' said Flora. 'Char can't make that better—Jobson, undeniable Jobson. Here's papa; now, mamma, find out about the letter of introduction. I should rather enjoy his turning out an impostor, because Char looks so triumphant.'
Mr. Brimble had indeed appeared, but he remained in a hesitating manner on the walk, as if undecided about rejoining the ladies. The truth was that, upon reflection, he felt he had committed what his wife would call a most imprudent action. He hardly shaped her censure into a definite form; but any form would be unpleasant enough. He knew her first question would be, 'credentials,' and none had he to give; in fact, he had nothing but the stranger's word as a guarantee for his respectability. Poor Mr. Brimble! he abhorred a lecture; yet he was always carelessly exposing himself to one. With the consoling remembrance that Miss Cruden's presence would break the force of the attack, he ventured on the enemy.
'Couldn't prevail on him to turn back,' he said (looking anywhere but at Mrs. Brimble). 'A positive fellow when he's once made up his mind, I can see; but he has promised to come when he returns from a few days' ramble; and, in the meantime, you, Char, are welcome to any of his sketches that you think worth copying; he has a large portfolio, which you may ransack at pleasure during his absence.'
'Did he bring letters of introduction?' asked Mrs. Brimble, with significant dryness.
'I didn't require any,' said her husband carelessly, less uneasy at the conflict now he was fairly in for it.
'Your imprudence, Mr. Brimble, does surprise me, though it ought not to do so, considering my long experience of it.'
'Imprudence, imprudence! what imprudence?' inquired the squire quickly; 'am I to welcome no one to my house who does not bring a certificate? Isn't it my habit to call on all new-comers?'
'Very fewgentlemenwould expect to be called on in this person's circumstances; and I must say'—
'Now, there's your mistake, Mary. You think you must say; but youmustn'tsay; for once, my imprudence will come to no harm, at any rate. He's a gentleman,—a most agreeable, clever fellow, and a great acquisition to us in our dull quarters.'
'Don't you remember that account in the paper,' said Mrs. Brimble, turning to Miss Cruden, 'of a very clever man, who introduced himself under false pretences into a family, and an extensive robbery was the consequence?'
'No, she does not; though she is trying to get up a reminiscence to accommodate you, I can see. But if she does, it proves nothing; there's no analogy. To begin, this man didn't introduce himself; I sought him, and, to cut it short, Mary, I have indubitable proof that he is a gentleman.'
Mrs. Brimble looked up for the proof that thus cut her short; but the squire, feeling he had the advantage in asserting which he would have lost in proving,—for his conviction lay only in his innate perception of gentle birth and high breeding,—kept on high ground, and, declaring it was not endurable that they should waste the day in the house during such glorious weather, invited them to follow him to the shrubberies to look at his improvements there.
Miss Cruden immediately proceeded to fold into its proper creases a large square of cambric she was hemming for the doctor; Mrs. Brimble looked offended, and disinclined to accede to the proposal. Flora threw down her work, wondering she could have stayed in so long; and Charity, as she followed her, questioned why the stranger should have remembered her and her love for art. Her sister, as if answering her thoughts, said carelessly, while adjusting her hat, 'How kind it was of papa to ask that you might see those things! for of course he asked, though he is willing that the credit should lie with "the admirable Jobson." It's just like him, dear kind heart!' and she hastened after him into the shrubbery.
It is time to introduce the reader to Parker's Dew and its inmates. We cannot do this better than by following Shady Higgs and his companion on their way from the van.
'Anything occurred in my absence?' asked the librarian in a tone of condescension.
'No,' said Robinson, rather sullenly; 'only the pigs has got into the garden and turned up the flowers.'
'Untoward creatures! Have they made much havoc?'
'They's made a plenty of mess; they's been a-devouring of the cabbages, and Mrs. Gillies were in a fine way because you never looked after them afore you went.'
Now Robinson was not often guilty of such direct violations of duty towards dignity; but his patience had been tried by long waiting under the hedge, and Mrs. Gillies had unjustly punished him for the offence of the marauding pigs. He was, moreover, so laden with parcels that he was obliged to walk with a precision ill according with his taste or age, lest some of them should be dislodged altogether; therefore in respect of temper he was in a poor way.
SHADY EGGS HAS A PRINCIPLE TO MAINTAIN.SHADY EGGS HAS A PRINCIPLE TO MAINTAIN.
Shady, whose weak point was sensitiveness in this particular, was divided in his mind between vexation at the misbehaviour of the pigs and discomfort at the republican tone of the lad whom he had long been trying to improve into a character worthy of the honour of serving in the family of De la Mark. He determined to pass by the pigs, and, turning to his companion, said, 'How often, child, am I to exhort you to remember the respect due to your superiors, whether in age, station, or any good conditions?' Perhaps Robinson was not decided as to the required number of times; at any rate, he did not answer, nor was his expression promising. 'Listen,' said the librarian, 'while I repeat a form of words which would have been a becoming answer to my question; and in the first place you should have begun with "No, sir," or "No, Mr. Higgs;" say that, and remember it is for your own good that I enforce this principle on you.' Robinson may not have believed in the philanthropy of his preceptor, or he was heroically indifferent to his own interests; he walked on in dogged silence. '"No, sir," or "No, Mr. Higgs,"' said the librarian, standing still, and looking firmly at the young incorrigible; for, gentle as a lamb at all other times, when Shady had, as he considered, a principle to maintain, or a duty to perform, he was a very lion. Robinson saw that he must give in, and muttered in a low tone, 'No, Mr. Higgs.' 'It is well,' said the librarian; and, considering the better part of valour to be discretion, he conceded the rest of the speech, content with the conquest gained, adding in a more gentle tone, 'I hope in time to cure you of the slaughter of the aspirate, so offensive to a cultivated ear and so general in this place. It is indeed wonderful how letters are subverted and substituted for one another by the careless and ignorant. Take Higgs, for instance: what name more simple? yet do they indiscriminately render it, "Eggs and Iggs, Heggs and Higgs."' Robinson interrupted this meditation by letting fall one of his parcels. 'I fear,' said the librarian, picking it up and laying it carefully in its place, 'the corners of a book which I have purchased for you may have been injured, Robinson.' Robinson looked as if he could bear the calamity. 'There's a knife in that parcel also,' continued Shady, 'with many blades, which I intended for you when your improvement deserved it.'
'Thank'ee, Mr. Higgs, sir,' said Robinson, the knife going straight to his heart; and, as his hands were not at liberty to touch his cap or pull his hair, he made the most deferential nod his circumstances would permit.
'As to the book,' resumed Shady, 'it is not of a character to please you as yet; I had a prospective view in purchasing it, when your mind— But I see you wish to speak.'
'I was just a-going to ask, Mr. Higgs, sir, how many blades there was in the knife?'
Rather disconcerted that the knife should engross the whole of his mind, he gave him first a little lecture on the superior value of that which he seemed to disregard, adding at the end, 'There are four blades, a buttonhook, and a corkscrew.' Oh, how light from that moment was Robinson's load! not that he had the least use for a buttonhook or a corkscrew; but to be the owner of a knife of such multifarious powers was to him a new idea of happiness. In the fulness of his gratitude he volunteered much fresh information, carefully putting 'Mr. Higgs, sir,' whenever an opportunity occurred.
Mr. Bloodworth had been at the Dew, and had high words with Miss De la Mark, and Sir Valary had been very ill, and Mrs. Gillies had wished Mr. Higgs back again twenty times. Altogether it had been a day of commotion at the Dew, from Sir Valary down to his pigs.
'Sacrilegious man!' said Shady, turning whiter with indignation, as the lad repeated some expressions dropped by Bloodworth in the courtyard. 'Had you spoken of this sooner,' he continued, 'we might have hastened.'
'You see, Mr. Higgs, sir, it's impossible to do unpossibilities, and I can't hasten with all these things,' said the lad, whose head came out of his parcels like that of a tortoise from its shell; ''sides, he's gone now, and Sir Valary's better, and miss was in the garden quite comfortable when I came away.'
Shady nevertheless pressed on, in agitated expectation, until they reached the place. It was a large, dark, irregular pile, on a thickly-wooded eminence—a landmark conspicuous for many miles round. All that remained of the original castle was one tower, which was called Sir Mark's Tower, in honour of the founder of the family; the remainder had been raised by several of his descendants, to repair the decay of accident and time; and each seemed to have built according to his own age, without reference to what had been before him. Sir Mark's Tower, with a part of one side of the quadrangle, formed the dwelling of the present possessor; part of the remainder was an ivy-covered ruin; while a long and dreary-looking portion, containing the state rooms, portrait gallery, armoury, and library, was given up to darkness and silence, being carefully boarded, barred, and bolted. The great entrance had not been approached for many years; the stately avenue of limes had interwoven their branches and formed an extended archway. To Sir Valary and his daughter was reserved a private doorway in the tower, while the retainers (as Shady was pleased to style himself, Mrs. Gillies, the steward, and Robinson), together with all comers, had ingress and egress by the outer courtyards and kitchen entrance. It was not, however, to the kitchen of former days that Shady now hastened; a small servitors' hall attached to it better answered the purposes of their economy.
Mrs. Gillies scarcely waited for his entrance to pour out a medley of abuse and lamentation concerning her master, her young lady, and the steward, finishing up with an angry avowal that Shady was never in the way when he was wanted. Shady, exhausted with his day of fasting and fatigue, pained by the occurrences in his absence, and somewhat discomfited by the undeserved castigation he was receiving, seated himself in the corner to wait until the high wind should have passed.
Nothing tires a passionate temper like letting it have its way; Shady had often tried the force of non-resistance, and depended on it now, for staying the torrent before Robinson's appearance. As at other times, he was right. Mrs. Gillies, subsiding, passed from a scolding to a declarative tone, and from that to one of ordinary talk, which finally warmed into kindness, as she saw the inoffensive librarian sit silently fanning himself, with an air of patient dejection.
'Why, you look as if Bloodworth had blew at you, and had the best of it too,' she said.
'I have not broken fast since I left, and am weary and hungry,' replied Shady.
'Then it is high time to eat,' said the housekeeper; and, quickly unloading Robinson, who had just appeared, and despatching him with his evening meal to the ancient kitchen, she hastened to spread the table, recounting in cooler temper the events of the day.
There was nothing new in substance, for Robinson had told as much; but of course each fact was given with particularity.
'It's a strange thing to me, Shady,' she said, 'that Sir Valary, so high as he is, can bear with Bloodworth. It's easy to say he's used to him; but if he forgives the things that man said to-day there's more than use that he depends on. He was daring to-day beyond what I ever saw him; if Sir Valary had not fainted when he did, I believe he would not have left; but he saw staying was of no use, and he was afraid, too, of Miss Marjory. She said but a word or two, but he couldn't stand her looks.'
'Sacrilegious man!' cried Shady, shuddering more than once. His anxiety was appeased by learning that Sir Valary had not awoke since he took the sleeping-draught. Miss De la Mark had been sitting at his door for the last hour, watching.
'I haven't been able to get her to eat nor drink; she's as pale as a ghost, and trembles like a leaf; but I don't think it's fear she shakes with.'
Poor Shady! it was too much for him. Bloodworth was the only human being he regarded with dislike; notwithstanding his arrogant assumption, he was well known to be a man of low origin, who owed all his fortune to the family he served. If his insolence had been confined to those of his own rank, it would have been worthy only of contempt; but the indignation of the librarian knew no bounds when the dignity of De la Mark was tarnished by his insolent bearing and free speech; it was one of the very few subjects that deprived him of his habitual serenity.
Whatever were his own views as to the secret of Bloodworth's impunity, he listened without replying to many of Mrs. Gillies' half-hinted suspicions. 'Time will reveal all things,' he said. 'And now I must enter in my books the moneys expended. I must see, too, that those rebellious animals are properly secured; and if I can in a measure repair the damage they have done'—
'Mr. Higgs, sir,' said Robinson, appearing at the door with his empty cup and platter, 'please, sir, don't you want me to go and help to look arter them pigs?'
'Ah!' said Shady, smiling benignantly on him; 'I must leave your lesson to-night, Robinson.'
'It don't signify,' said Robinson cheerfully.
'No?' said Shady.
'Not for once, you know, Mr. Higgs, sir,' said the lad, who felt he had been too accommodating. Suddenly recollecting, the librarian guessed his drift, and, placing the knife in his hands, told him that nothing but learning was really worth desiring.
A few words are needful concerning Sir Valary and his daughter. Sir Valary, known to be as proud as any who had ever borne his name, lived a life of extraordinary seclusion and self-denial. For many years he had banished from his home every sound of mirth, every vestige of social comfort. His servants, who had, at the death of Lady De la Mark, been greatly reduced in number, had gradually become fewer, until every female office was represented by Mrs. Gillies, a old and greatly-attached domestic, while Shadrach Higgs, with his boy Robinson, whom he had pressed into the service, held the same comprehensive post in the other sex.
What had caused so great a change—for at one time Parker's Dew, or Castle De la Mark, as it was called, was noted for its courtly splendour and unbounded hospitality—no one knew. Some attributed it to the early death of Lady De la Mark; others to the influence of Bloodworth. Squire Brimble, who seldom allowed himself to speak of his brother, when he did give an opinion said, 'It's the love of money—that's enough to account for anything.'
The growing infirmities of Sir Valary had kept him long a prisoner in his chamber, at the door of which now, as described by Mrs. Gillies, sat his daughter Marjory. There was nothing heroine-like in her appearance. Low in stature and plain in feature, she owed all her attraction to the force of her character and the peculiarity of her early training. Indomitable courage shone in her dark eyes, and patience, the result of a deeply-exercised spirit, gave a sweet calm to her face. Her dress was, from necessity, somewhat singular. For a long period she had been limited to her mother's wardrobe, and, careless of the fashion in which the garments were made, she wore them without change, as her mother had left them.
'He sleeps so long!' said Marjory, her pale face resting against the chamber door.
'I've known him sleep longer, miss,' said Mrs. Gillies, peering up the spiral staircase. 'If you'd just please to taste these fresh cakes that Shady has brought in, and the chocolate, that's drying up from standing these hours, I should be thankful;' and she displayed the cakes, the choice of which had exercised greatly Shady's discriminating powers. Marjory, prevailed on, left her to watch. 'You know, miss,' said the faithful creature, 'if you take ill, we have no power to keep off that man when he comes; and one way we're all alike, for the highest can't do without eating and drinking, no more than the lowest.' Marjory did not at all, at that moment, feel exalted above the conditions of humanity. Bloodworth's behaviour had convinced her that he possessed some secret militating against her father's honour, and that this was the source of the power he exercised over him.
The loneliness in which she had been reared had made her very self-reliant. She had borne much personal inconvenience in silence; and if it had been only for herself that she had now to suffer or to do, she would not have been slow in her plan of acting; but it seemed necessary that some one, more equal than she was to cope with the steward, should step in between him and her father, for whose very life she trembled, if such excitement as he had that day suffered should be renewed. Yet, if her suspicions were correct, how could she, without treading on dangerous ground, take any one into her counsels? and, indeed, who was there to whom she could refer? To her uncle, her natural protector after her father, she had been a stranger for many years; and she had grown from childhood to womanhood with no other companion than her father. One there was, indeed, and to him she inclined to open her heart, and that one was Dr. Cruden, the high-minded and skilful physician, who was the sole visitor of gentle blood at Parker's Dew.
Filled with painful conflict, she resumed her seat at the chamber-door. A slight noise was gratefully heard by her, and, entering, she found the long sleep had produced its usual effect of refreshing calm. Sir Valary smiled gently on her, and, as if forgetful of the distressing occurrences of the morning, received with pleased readiness all her tender endeavours to restore and amuse him; and thus passed the evening peacefully away.
Several days followed in the same calm. Sir Valary and his daughter seemed with equal care to avoid the name of Bloodworth, and both were secretly thankful when the evening closed, without his presence having embittered the day.
One morning, Marjory, receiving Shady's promise not to go beyond earshot of her father, prepared for one of those long rambles in the surrounding woods which never failed to procure for her rest and relaxation of mind. Her book-learning was small. In the great book of nature, that lay before her, she was an ardent student. Shady, who fondly considered himself, in some sort, her preceptor, had endeavoured to inspire her with a love of heraldry, and was never tired of expatiating on the endless genealogies connected with the tree of De la Mark. But though she loved to wander among the portraits of her ancient house, dimly lighted up by the few sunbeams that could struggle through a loosened shutter here and there, her thoughts were wholly given to those people of the past that looked grimly from the wall, while he was trying to explore and expound their heraldic bearings. She knew most of the faces by heart; but her head was little encumbered with the technicalities of which he was so proud. Shady had plodded through the elements of botany, that he might usher her also into it. She soon learned with avidity all he could teach her, and, unaided by other help than her own affection for the pursuit, became well accomplished in it. But we must follow her in her walk.
Her mind had been too much exercised of late to allow her to give thought to anything but one reigning subject. Her case for wild flowers remained unused, as she passed musingly through the tangled wood. When at a little distance from the house, she was arrested once or twice by sounds of rustling amongst the branches. The once carefully-arranged paths were now so ill kept that they were in some parts difficult to penetrate. No stranger ever intruded there. She supposed it to be some woodman gathering brushwood, and passed carelessly on; but, coming suddenly on a cleared space, from which, through an opening in the trees, appeared a fine and extensive view of the country around, she saw whence the sounds had proceeded.
The reader does not need a second description—it was the strange lodger from Stoney Gates. He was apparently surveying the scene with artistic purpose, his implements lying on the turf, and he was arranging a piece of broken timber to form a seat of convenient height and situation.
The meeting was one of mutual and equal surprise. Each surveyed the other steadily, and in silence; but the stranger, soon recovering himself, lifted his cap with courtly propriety, for he needed nothing to tell him he was in company with gentle blood. Marjory returned the salutation, and was passing onward; but a sense of inhospitality detained her; she lingered, and said hesitatingly, 'You are a draughtsman?' He bowed. 'You are going to put down some of our scenery?' Again he assented. 'Would you not like to have the Castle De la Mark in your foreground, with this fine country behind?'
'I have been trying to get that,' he replied; 'but the house is so surrounded I can find no favourable standing-ground.'
'I will lead you to one,' she said; and, making her way with easy rapidity through the thicket, she emerged on a spot favourable in every way to the accomplishment of the design. The graceful dexterity with which she overcame all the obstacles of the labyrinth struck him with admiration. 'She is worthy of an American forest,' he thought.
When they stood face to face upon the spot sought for, a slight exclamation of surprise burst from the stranger, which was answered with a smile of satisfaction from Marjory. There was pride in her heart and triumph in her eye, as she turned exultingly to the scene before them, upon which they both gazed silently. Suddenly she asked, 'Who could put this down?' and looked at him for an answer; but his eyes were fixed, not on the landscape—they were busily and intently studying her face. He withdrew them in some little confusion, and the blood of De la Mark crimsoning her cheek warned him that to win patronage he must woo it discreetly. He thanked her, in most deferential terms, for having given him the opportunity of trying, but agreed that the subject was one to mock art. His voice and bearing were so remote from intrusion or unbecoming forwardness, that Marjory was willing to believe the look that had offended her was one of natural and excusable curiosity. She allowed him, therefore, to make one or two remarks on various points around before she left him.
As she was turning away, the stranger, still uncovered, said, 'I have had the honour of speaking to Miss De la Mark?' She looked assent, and they parted, he to pursue his task, and she to wonder who, among the few persons whose faces were familiar to her, continually floated in her memory while she was in company with the stranger.
In this short interview, in which so little had been said, a great advance had been made by each in the favour of the other. The fire of her eye and the freedom of her step, her genuine dignity and self-respect, untinged by affectation, all betokened a character which had great charms for the stranger, while his sympathy with her, so evident in those slight indications of look and bearing which are to be felt but not described, had won upon her strangely; so that in truth they were both far more intimate from this few minutes in the wilderness than months of drawing-room proprieties would ever have made them. What a sudden check he had given to the current of her thoughts! All that had so deeply interested her fell aside, and, by some inexplicable attraction, he took its place.
Again the crashing of the distant boughs as she wandered homeward struck her ear, and it was with somewhat of disappointment that, after a minute or two of watching and waiting, she saw the faithful Shady struggling through the thicket to reach her.
If his young lady would only condescend to walk in the paths where the trees did not meet right over, trusting she would pardon him for saying so, it would be far less perilous for limbs and their coverings to pursue her. Indeed he made a rueful figure; for although he had guarded his dress, by turning it up or turning it down, as circumstances recommended the precaution, he had met with sundry tears and scratches, as though he had been at war with all the under-wood he had encountered. Marjory smiled at his expostulations and his appearance, but, suddenly remembering his promise, inquired why he had left her father.
Shady assured her that Dr. Cruden was with Sir Valary, and would remain till his return, for he wished to see Miss De la Mark, and had sent him in pursuit of her.
'Then,' said Marjory, 'Mr. Higgs, there is a stranger in the wood; he is drawing on my favourite seat—drawing the place, you see; and I wish—I should like you—to—just to say—if he would wish to draw any of the interior you can lead him through it.'
Shady stared. 'I invite a stranger to the Dew, madam!' he said slowly.
'No, no,' said Marjory emphatically; 'of course ha will not be intruded on my father nor on me; he greatly admires the place, and it seems unkind not to allow him to enjoy the pleasure fully. It is little we do in hospitality, Mr. Higgs; we may at least show this poor favour to strangers; and this is no ordinary person, but a man of birth and high taste, as you will see, I am sure.' An appeal on the score of hospitality could not be made to a more ready ear than that of Shadrach Higgs. How had he mourned in time past over the silent halls and untrodden doorways of Parker's Dew, when his large heart would have welcomed the whole world! But time and use had reconciled him to all; and now to introduce a visitor seemed as strange a work to him as it had once been to exclude one.
While he was gathering up his thoughts to make a suitable, respectful protest against the imprudence of doing what, if Sir Valary heard of it, might give him umbrage, Marjory had vanished. Shady looked after her disconsolately. Not having been able to resign his commission, he felt it imperative on him to fulfil it, and with troublous cogitations on the matter, and earnest hopes that the stranger would not fall in with the invitation, he scrambled on towards the place. While he was engaged in his contest with the bushes, he thought only of how best to escape them; but when he stood in the presence of the stranger, whom he immediately recognised, a feeling of vexation that he should appear in a style so inconsistent with the dignity of De la Mark mingled with it.
On seeing him, the stranger, who seemed to have been of Marjory's mind, and had thrown aside his sketch as unsuccessful, accosted him as an old friend. 'What! the librarian! I am fortunate indeed! Are you seeking your lady? She was here, but left a little ago.'
Shady, in as collected and proper a form as he could get up for the occasion, told him that he had met his young lady, and delivered her invitation.
The stranger started up at once. 'We will lose no time, Mr. Higgs; nothing would give me greater delight;' and immediately he began, in a manner which Shady well remembered, a series of questions as to every part of the dwelling, the order in which it was kept, and so on. While he endeavoured to answer these becomingly, an under-current of thought occupied Shady. Various schemes he devised and rejected for keeping the stranger out of sight and hearing of any of the household, without allowing him to discover that he was there by stealth. Under other circumstances he could have discoursed with delight on the wonders and glories of Parker's Dew—to him an untiring subject. Then again, the incongruities of ancient grandeur and present meanness forced themselves upon him, and an uneasy consciousness arose, of the effect they would have in diminishing the stranger's reverence for the noble house in whose honour his heart was bound up.
'Why, it is in ruins!' exclaimed the stranger, coming abruptly on one side of the quadrangle.
'That portion is,' said Shady; 'the exact reason I cannot tell, but there is a tradition'—
'It has been in decay for many years,' said the stranger, not waiting for the tradition; 'this, I presume, is the chapel?'
'It is;' and now did Shady, with all the formality of a grave court official, introduce him respectively to the armoury, the picture gallery, and the library; that is to say, he pointed to their positions.
The stranger surveyed all with the deepest interest. 'Did I understand,' said he, 'that I was to be allowed to see the interior of these places?'
'The library,' said Shady, 'being my particular department, I carry the key of the side entrance; the other keys are in Sir Valary's room, but I can readily obtain them. There is no worthier part of the building, in my humble estimation, than this,' he said, placing the small key in the lock of a low door, to enter which they were obliged to stoop.
'Where are we?—in a tomb?' said the stranger.
'No,' said Shady, 'though indeed we are among the dead; wait, if you please, till I kindle the lantern.'
Familiar as he was with every crevice of his dearly-loved resort, having closed the door on the inside, Shady without difficulty lowered a large lantern, that hung from the centre of the roof, and lit two of the candles ranged within it. By degrees the stranger's eyes, at first dazzled by daylight, were able to discern something of what was around. The walls, the roof, and the floor, were all of dark polished oak—the roof richly carved; books and vellum rolls in antique cases, all of the same dark wood, left little of the walls uncovered. Amid objects so sombre, the feeble rays of the lantern, which Shady had now drawn up, were of little use.
'I never saw a better effect of darkness,' said the stranger; 'but is there no possibility of letting daylight in here? I would rather read some of these books by the sun than by yonder lantern.'
Shady pointed out to him that the windows, high and small, were boarded up.
'This,' said his companion, pointing to a library ladder, 'this would reach one; if I loosened a board I could easily replace it; may I do so?'
Shady demurred. It would take time; he had already been too long from his duties—Sir Valary might require him; not adding his conviction, that Mrs. Gillies would rate him soundly for not being in time to carry in the dinner—a service he always performed.
'Leave me,' said the stranger; 'trust me with this key, or lock me in; there is much here that I should like to examine; come to me when you will, when you can; an hour, or hours hence, will do for me.'
Again there was a conflict in Shady's mind; the inhospitality of locking him up among paper and vellum, at a time when his own appetite was reminding him that nature required support of another kind, was repugnant to his feelings; yet, to have him so secured was a convenience of which he saw the value. After a short pause, he said he would return as quickly as he could, and, locking the door on the outside, went somewhat nervously to present himself to the housekeeper. Happily for him, the lengthened stay of Dr. Cruden had saved him from wrath on account of his protracted absence.
'I am glad you are come,' said Mrs. Gillies; 'it is a long talk the doctor is having to-day, and there's Robinson been all the time holding his horse, and nobody to clean a knife, for the little there is to cut.'
Shady quietly began gathering up the knives, intending to release Robinson from his post, when Dr. Cruden and Miss de la Mark, in deep conversation, crossed the courtyard and met him at its entrance. In a moment of weakness he slipped the knives into his pocket, as he could, and with a low bow stood deferentially until they had passed. They had scarcely done so when the doctor turned suddenly round, saying, 'Why, here is Higgs; you could not have a better person than Higgs.'
'How could I forget him?' said Marjory.
'HIGGS, I WANT SOME PRIVATE TALK WITH YOU,' SAID THE DOCTOR.'HIGGS, I WANT SOME PRIVATE TALK WITH YOU,' SAID THE DOCTOR.
'Higgs,' said the doctor, 'I want some private talk with you; we can neither be overlooked nor overheard here,' he continued, looking round.
'Entirely secluded, sir, from all observation,' said Higgs, with another low bow.
'Here, then,' said the doctor, pointing to an ancient cross, surmounting some broad stone steps, 'let us sit here;' and placing Miss De la Mark on the higher step, and seating himself by her side, he pointed to the lower one, telling Shady to sit down. Shady preferred standing, for two reasons; one was, that it seemed little less than treason in him to sit in such a presence; the other, he had apprehensions as to the kind of cushion his pocket would afford, with its present contents.
'You must come close,' said the doctor; 'we don't want what we say to be caught by the birds of the air.'
'The library, Dr. Cruden,' said Marjory; 'shall we go to the library?'
How unfortunate! During the many years that Shady Higgs had been librarian, he had never received an order connected with his post that he did not hail with delight. Now he fell back, and looked almost reproachfully at Marjory, she having been the means of bringing them into the dilemma in which he now stood. But the doctor did not observe his looks. 'By all means, the library,' he said; 'we are sure to be safe there;' and assisting Marjory down, he led her with a quick step towards it, Shady following irresolutely. Opening the door, he expected to hear the stranger's voice immediately, in salutation; but all was silent, and the glimmer of the lantern nowhere revealed a human form. No boards appeared to have been removed; and as Shady nervously cast his eyes into the remoter parts, where the shadows were the thickest, he was equally perplexed and relieved to find nothing but vacancy. 'He must be in the room,' he thought, 'but where?'
'Now, Higgs,' said the doctor, 'you keep your favourite haunt lighted: I wish I could hope it was dusted; we are at any rate safe now. I want you to answer me some questions. You have a grandmother?'
'Softly,' said Shady, looking round.
'Well, I'm not going to say any harm of her,' said the doctor; 'so you need not be afraid of her coming. Where is she?'
Shady looked with an expression of innocent surprise. 'My grandmother Elizabeth?' he asked.
'Yes; commonly called Bet Eggs,' said the doctor.
'Is she not dead?' his large eyes dilating with a questioning look, which Dr. Cruden could not quite understand.
'Ay; is she, or is she not? that is the point.'
'I have been given to believe she died,' said Shady, quite forgetting the stranger, in the interest this question had excited in him.
'Doyou believe it?' asked the doctor.
'Why should I not?'
'No evasions,' said the doctor, rather sharply; 'answer me plainly. Is she living?'
'Sir,' said Shady, glancing at Marjory, 'at another time I might speak of this—'
'Thistime—now,' said the doctor; 'the truth is, Higgs, she is not dead, and you know it, and you know why her existence is concealed, and you know—'
'Sir,' said Shady drawing himself to his full height, 'pardon me if I am wanting in duty, that I contradict you. I know nothing of what you have said.'
'Has Bloodworth never spoken to you concerning her?'
'It is seldom we converse, and never with my will, excepting on the household business.'
'How many years is it since you saw her?'
'Twenty—when she crossed the sea, to wait on some noble lady following her husband.'
'How long since you received the report of her death?'
'I think it may be about a twelvemonth.'
'Well, you have at least reason to doubt the truth of that report?' He was silent.
'Higgs,' said the doctor, 'you have now an opportunity of proving the truth of your fidelity and affection to Sir Valary. It is of the utmost importance to ascertain, whether your grandmother is alive or dead. What light can you throw upon the matter?'
'Well, if I offend my young lady's ears in what I say, the blame be far from me,' he answered, with a sigh. 'When my grandmother Elizabeth had finished the work of nursing my young lady, an ill feeling was raised against her by some means in the breast of my gracious lady, her honourable mother. I well remember, though I was then but a youth, her tears and complaints—yes, and bitter vows of vengeance too, against the one that had done her this wrong. I grieved for her, for, though she was harsh and choleric in temper, she had well supplied the place of parents to me, and I was grateful. A place was provided for her, and the disgrace in which she left was unknown to any, save the few concerned in it. I well remember her words the last time I saw her.'
'What were they?' said the doctor quickly.
'She told me (my young lady will pardon me), she had more power to injure than her enemies had power to injure her; and nothing but her love for my young lady would have kept her quiet. "If they desert you," she said, "I will come back before they expect, and do right to the wronged."'
'Anything else?'
'Much of the same sort.'
'And how did you get the account of her death?'
'It was reported in the neighbourhood, some time before a letter came from Dusseldorf, written by the person in whose house she died, and containing certificates of her death from the doctor and a Lutheran minister.'
'Did you credit these reports?'
'I did.'
'But have you had anything since to shake your confidence in them?'
'Last summer,' said Shady, 'my young lady will remember the visit of a German pedlar?'
Marjory assented. 'Looking among his wares for a suitable offering for my young lady for the next New Year's Day, I found a small purse of beads, bearing on one side the initials E. H., and on the other side the crest of De la Mark; the snap and the trimmings were new; but by the beadwork I recognised it was no other than a purse given in days of favour by my Lady De la Mark to my grandmother. I questioned the pedlar as to how he became possessed of it. He told me he had bought it, with some other trifles, of an aged woman who was in difficulty and wanted to raise money. I then asked him to describe the person, and how long it was since he had seen her. His description differed from what she was at our parting—'bent and feeble' for strong and upright, 'snow-white hair' for raven black; but years and sorrow may have done this. He had seen her some ten months back. Since then, I confess a vague suspicion has crossed my mind as to the truth of her death.'
'And how was it you did not name this?'
'It never arose to more than suspicion; her things, no doubt, passed into other hands after her death, if she died. I love quietness, and would not make marvels.'
'Do you think Bloodworth had any hand in the offence taken by Lady De la Mark?'
'Bloodworth is a sacrilegious man,' said Shady; 'his evil deeds known are enough. I would not lay suspicions at his door.'
'Well, Higgs, I tell you it is of the greatest consequence that your grandmother, if living, should be produced; and I believe you are the most likely person to find her. Will you go over to the place where she is said to have died, and ascertain for us the facts, finding out, if possible, the persons who signed the certificate, and, indeed, all facts necessary for substantiating either her death or her life? and in the meantime keep your mission a perfect secret from every one. I will prepare everything. You will be sent with a message to me when I am ready for you, and the cause of your detention must be known to no one.'
Shady was aghast, and far too much surprised to answer.
'This is settled, then. So far, so good,' said the doctor, rising. 'Now, Mr. Shady, let us out of this black hole.'
Marjory looked doubtingly, as Shady stooped down to unfasten the door; she felt that Dr. Cruden was mistaken, and that many things conspired to make him unfit for the important mission imposed on him. A book falling at her feet startled her into a slight cry.
'What! are your books alive, Higgs?' said the doctor, picking it up, 'flying about the place like bats.'
Shady instantly recollected the stranger. While he was debating as to the course he should pursue, a voice from the top of the room, which Marjory recognised, said, 'Pardon the intrusion of a friend;' and the stranger descended the ladder. A more curious group can hardly be imagined than that on which the light of the lantern now fell; the slight, small form of Marjory, her face pale with fatigue, anxiety, and now with something like terror; the parchment-like visage of Dr. Cruden, his periwig and hat both rather displaced by stooping for the book; Shady, the very picture of astonishment and mortification; and the stranger, the only one of the whole who appeared noways discomfited by his presence among them.
'Mr. Higgs, don't distress yourself; you have done good service to the house of De la Mark this day, though inadvertently,' said the stranger. 'I don't fear receiving a full pardon from you, madam, and from you, sir,' bowing to them respectively, 'when I have disclosed a few facts. Shall we return to the council table?'
The doctor, putting one hand through the breast of his waistcoat, and the other under his coat tails, his favourite attitude in delivering a lecture, surveyed him from head to foot. Regardless of the scrutiny, he placed himself at the table, and began thus; 'Elizabeth Higgs is dead—I saw her burial.'
They looked incredulous, but none spoke.
'I was in Dusseldorf at the time, and knew the Lutheran minister who attended her. She died in peace with all men, and fervently desiring a blessing on the infant she had left,' bowing to Marjory, 'and praying heartily for her grandson. I happened to be confined to the house from an accident at the time, and saw much of her, for we lodged under the same roof. A little kind sympathy with her sufferings from a fellow countryman opened her heart, and she unburdened it to me of every secret that had distressed her—a revelation I have never confided to human ear, and will not, until it shall be for the benefit of those whom it concerns. But rest satisfied; she is dead, and your mission useless.'
The doctor's surprise at all that he had just heard had prevented him from interrupting the stranger with any questions; but now that he saw he had told all that he meant to tell, he said, 'You will excuse me, sir; it is possible that all you have advanced may be perfectly correct; and I am far from wishing to offend you or any gentleman in so near a point as doubting veracity; but you will please to remember that the subject having been so amply discussed in your hearing, and you being a perfect stranger to us, it is natural that we should look for something—some confirming evidence—before trusting implicitly to you; and also, it would be pleasant to know who our informant is, and, I may add, how he came to drop upon us so opportunely.'
The stranger, looking calmly and steadily at him, replied, 'For my presence here, I refer you to Miss De la Mark. I am a world-wide wanderer, without a settled home as yet. I can give you no proof that I have advanced the truth now. I do not blame you for being sceptical; but, according to human maxims, you may believe me, since I have no interest in deceiving you.'
If he would only trust the doctor with some of Bet Eggs' revelations. The stranger shook his head. 'In due time, when I am wanted, you may depend upon me: it is not whim, but necessity, that keeps me silent.'
'Answer me one thing,' said the doctor. 'Did the widow Higgs confine herself to her own history, or—or—'
'Come, Mr. Higgs,' said the stranger, 'advance—I shall beg for a night's lodging in yonder gallery.'
'He is impenetrable,' thought the doctor.
'I think the portrait of the nurse is hanging there, isn't it, carrying an infant?'
His three hearers exchanged glances quickly.
He smiled. 'There,' he said, 'is evidence for you.'
'Strange,' said Dr. Cruden; and Shady advanced to the door. All attempts on the part of the doctor to induce the stranger to return to his house and become his guest were unavailing.
'No,' he replied; 'I will be Sir Valary's guest, though he shall not know it. My plaid is an excellent soldier's bed, and I shall sleep soundly among the shadows of the house of De la Mark.'
'I really believe he is a true man,' said the doctor to Marjory, as they walked towards the tower, Shady following to obtain the keys.
'There is a frankness in his manner,' replied Marjory, 'that quite fascinated me when I first met him.'
Shady's perplexities were great. How to account to Mrs. Gillies for his long absence, without raising her woman's curiosity, he knew not; and the knives! he thought, 'Yes, I have the knives,' putting his hand to his pocket. While the domestic difficulties were being overcome, we will follow the stranger. He had told Shady not to hurry himself with the key, for the fresh air, and a stroll among the ruins, would better accord with his taste than to be again immediately immured in dust and semi-darkness. While examining a curious archway, he heard horse hoofs, and looking down saw a man dismount, fasten his horse to a tree, and climb the bank through a place where the wall was very low, and would permit scaling easily. He soon cleared the wall, and stood upon the loose stones within the quadrangle.
The stranger had time to observe him, being hidden in the shadow of the archway; there was nothing remarkable in his appearance; his dress was plain, his age a little more or less than sixty. The stranger, quitting the archway, advanced to meet him, looking fixedly upon his face while he spoke.
'Mr. Anthony Bloodworth, I think?' The horseman started, but replied in the affirmative.
'I am glad,' said the stranger. 'I have long had this to deliver, and am glad to be rid of it;' and he placed in his hands a small paper parcel; 'but,' he said, before he relinquished his hold of it, 'there is some receipt or acknowledgment that I must have.'
'What is it? what is it?' asked Bloodworth; 'I must see it before I can give a receipt.'
'The receipt is written out for you—you have but to sign it.' Bloodworth opened the packet, which contained two papers, with a letter.
He glanced continually from the paper to the stranger, and at last, in a husky voice, asked him how long it had been in his possession.
'I see,' he continued; 'you were acquainted with my correspondent.'
'Yes,' said the stranger, carelessly, 'I knew him well.'
'Have you been long about here?' asked Bloodworth, who was beginning to put the papers into his pocket.
The stranger produced a small ink-horn, saying, 'The receipt, if you please.'
'I don't know,' said Bloodworth; 'I would rather convey an important document in another way. Why, if charged with this for me, did you wait to meet me here, instead of seeking me at my own dwelling?'
The stranger held the ink-horn. 'Sign the receipt, man,' he said, not deigning to answer the question.
With much reluctance he drew out the papers, and doing as the stranger bade him, delivered the document into his hands.
'What brings you here?' he said, looking nervously at him.
'What brings you here?' said the stranger.
'My business,' answered Bloodworth doggedly.
'And I was brought here by your business and my pleasure.'
'Had you any message?' asked the steward, cowed by the stranger's manner.
'No other than I have delivered; but tell me how long do you mean to pursue this work? Take my advice; repent, and make a clean breast of it, or you will be caught in your own toils.'
'Then he has betrayed me,' said Bloodworth, 'and you know all.'
'I know enough to advise you this.'
At this moment Shady approached with the key; he made a sort of gesture to the steward, as destitute of respect or cordiality as it could well be, and, turning to the stranger, proffered the key and his guidance.
'This gentleman,' said the steward, in a lamb-like tone, which Shady was greatly surprised to hear, 'is a friend of mine, Mr. Higgs, and as soon as I have waited on Sir Valary I shall be glad to show him the few curiosities we have.' He was continuing his civil address, when the stranger, laying his hand on Shady's shoulder, pointed to the gallery, and left him without reply.
Whatever the papers were that Bloodworth had received, it was evident they had greatly altered the state of feeling in which he had crossed the wall. His leaden eyes were then as quiet as stagnant water—now his whole visage was agitated; he passed his hand nervously over his face, went towards the tower, and returned, as if in uncertainty. He had ridden round in order to avoid Dr. Cruden, whom he had been told in the village was at the Dew, little expecting what he had met with.
Guilt makes a coward; he feared every one he met. Robinson, who was sitting on the stone steps of the [** Transcriber's note: missing line of text?] cross carving devices on a stick with his new knife, looked with amazement at him, as he saluted him with kindness, and told him gently where to find his horse.
Entering the kitchen, he spoke in the same tone to Mrs. Gillies, inquiring with respect and concern after Sir Valary and his daughter. Mrs. Gillies, to whom the sight of him was wormwood, could not help being struck with his altered tone, and put it down to repentance for his late misbehaviour. He asked for water, complained of weariness, and altogether stirred up something less akin to hatred than she was accustomed to feel for him. 'You have had company to-day, Mrs. Gillies?' Supposing he meant Dr. Cruden, Mrs. Gillies nodded.
'I'm afraid you were not prepared for him.'
'As for that,' she said quickly, 'we are not allowed enough to keep the house going at any time; however, he is a plain man, and never eats nor drinks.'
'Dr. Cruden, you mean?'
'Who else comes here?' said the housekeeper.
By various indirect questions, he ascertained that, so far as Mrs. Gillies knew, the only person of the household to whom the stranger had introduced himself was Shady Higgs.
'The house ill kept!' said Bloodworth, after a pause. 'Mrs. Gillies, I fear that my good intentions towards Sir Valary and the well-being of his estate have gotten me a poor name, that I ill deserve.'
'Well, I hope you don't deserve all that is said of you,' she answered blandly; 'there's many as say the money that ought to go for the proper keeping of the house, as Sir Valary's house ought to be kept, is worse than sunk in the sea. I know for my part, I'd rather be the poorest on earth than rich with such gains; and if it was not for the love to Sir Valary and my young lady, I'd sooner be in a close cottage, with bread enough and no care, and nothing expected from me, than be in a corner of a great place like this, with such stint allowance. Why, you may believe me, if I wasn't to contrive and to contrive, and keep us three down here at a very near rate, I could never make what I have enough to serve Sir Valary and my young lady, even as well as I do serve them. The world is changed a good deal, for the housekeeper of Parker's Dew to be put to the shifts I am; and since you give me the liberty to speak, Mr. Bloodworth,' she continued, growing eloquent on the strength of the steward's silence, 'I may tell you, that if things go on much longer, there is them that will look into it, and know the reason why; and I've heard as much as that, and a little more too.'
'IF THINGS GO ON MUCH LONGER, THERE IS THEM THAT WILL LOOK INTO IT.''IF THINGS GO ON MUCH LONGER, THERE IS THEM THATWILL LOOK INTO IT.'
Bloodworth sat perfectly silent; he may have heard all the housekeeper's oration, or he may not; probably the latter, for he looked abstracted, and, taking his hat, said, 'I have a little work outside—some one to speak to—you need not let Sir Valary know that I am here, until my return; and for the matter of stint, Mrs. Gillies, you will be pleased to remember that I am but a servant like yourself; I have not the ordering of Sir Valary's mind about his money.'
'What has come to the man?' said the housekeeper, as she watched him through the heavy stone window: 'I never thought to hear him own himself a servant; something has taken him down since he was last here.'
With his head bent down, and his hands folded behind his back, he walked slowly towards the spot where he had left Shady and the stranger. He met the former advancing towards the tower.
'What have you done with Mr. Vandercroft?' he said, looking sharply up.
'Mr. ——?' Shady asked, not catching the name.
'My friend, whom I left with you; I wish to see him.'
'The gentleman is in the portrait gallery,' said Shadrach, 'and has no desire for company.'
'Not for yours, perhaps.'
'You are correct, Mr. Bloodworth, for he requested me to go; but I did not take it to be personal, as he desired to be locked in, that none might intrude.'
'Where's the key?'
'The key?' said Shady, looking at him calmly.
'Yes, the key,' repeated Bloodworth, his natural fierceness returning; 'I tell you I wish to see him.'
'You can see him,' said Shady, looking up as if calculating, 'at eleven o'clock to-morrow, if you will ride so far.'
Bloodworth could scarcely speak for emotion, but controlling himself said, 'Shady, my friend, you are disposed to be pleasant, but do not trifle with me just now. Let me have the key; I must see this man; what reason did he give you for saying he would not see me?'
'I do not know that you were in his thoughts at all,' said Shady calmly, 'when he said he wanted no intruders; but I believe I know his reason for seeking seclusion.'
'You do?' said Bloodworth, his lips growing white, and his eyes fixed earnestly upon him.
'Yes, he preferred to be alone.'
'Is that all? Then give me the key.'
'I am under promise.'
'Give me the key!' said Bloodworth, choking with ill-concealed passion.
'Nay, then, if you are bent on it, I must return with you and explain, and leave the gentleman, whose name I could not catch, to arrange with you according as he is affected.'
The cool determination with which Higgs said this exhausted the remains of the steward's temper, and he demanded the key in violent language, Shady remaining perfectly unmoved, though his face became serious, and expressed as much aversion as he could feel.
'It is better that your venom should fall upon the unworthy,' he said, with a placidity that only exasperated the railer. How far the altercation would have proceeded is doubtful, but, happily for Higgs, it was suddenly closed by Dr. Cruden.
'Mr. Bloodworth, I was told, when at a short distance from the house, that you must have entered it about the time that I left; now I particularly wish to have some conversation with you, so I turned my horse. Higgs, it is private business,' he said, nodding to Shady, who, with an air of much satisfaction, left the steward with one far better able, as he felt, to cope with him than himself.
The doctor looked at his watch. 'I have already spent some hours here, Mr. Bloodworth, and am far beyond my usual time for dinner; but I am so deeply interested in the affairs of your master, that I am determined if possible to come to an understanding with you as to—that—in fact, pray, Mr. Bloodworth, what is the meaning of all this? I find Sir Valary suffering from severe nervous shocks, owing entirely to your interviews with him. Though known to be one of the richest men in the county, and possessing as liberal a heart as a gentleman of his station ought to have, his household, I find, is limited to bare necessities, and even the young lady his daughter has no command of money. What does it all mean, Mr. Bloodworth? I must tell you in plain English that the whole is laid at your door.'
All this was said in the heat and rapidity of indignation, and it was about the last kind of attack that the doctor had meditated making. He had ridden back hastily, and had settled as he rode what would be the wisest way of handling the steward, so as to get at the secret. 'I must take him quietly,' he said to himself, 'make no charges, suspect nothing;' and he had even prepared the opening of his harangue; but the sight of Bloodworth, his face inflamed with passion, looking much as Marjory had described him on his last visit to Sir Valary, had completely thrown him off his balance, and all his wise resolutions went to the winds. The steward felt the advantage of his position, and said somewhat sullenly, if Sir Valary had any complaint to make of him, he would hear it from himself; he was answerable to no one else; and with regard to the expenditure of the household, he was not responsible for that; but Sir Valary was not the only rich man in the world that chose rather to live like a poor one; however, it was not his duty to interfere in such matters; he supposed Sir Valary had a right to spend or save without accounting to any one.
'Well, well, well, well,' said the doctor, vexed with himself for his rashness, 'I spoke hastily; but you must know, Bloodworth, that you are the talk of the country, and that people consider you have obtained such an influence over Sir Valary, that you can get him to consent to anything, and, therefore, all the hard measures with tenants, and the penurious way in which he lives, are ascribed to you.'
Bloodworth shrugged his shoulders. 'I never cared much for what people said of me,' he answered.
'Very good,' said the doctor; 'it's a fine thing to have a clear conscience; but what I want to know is, why latterly your visits have excited him so strangely?'
After a short pause, Bloodworth, who kept his eyes fixed on the ground all the time, scarcely raising them, said, 'Sir Valary is very much altered lately; things that did not fret him fret him now; the business that I am obliged to tell him makes him furious—that is no fault of mine.'
'But your own behaviour the last time?' said the doctor, in a voice which showed that Bloodworth's words had not been without some effect.
'Well, I was wrong, and I own it; I am a bad temper; I get ill-will every way; there is not a tenant that wouldn't shoot me if he could; the people at the house hate me worse than a dog; the squire has no name bad enough for me—and all because I follow out Sir Valary's directions; and then when I go to him to tell him what I've done, and find him take everything the wrong way, it puts me off, and I forget myself; I did last time, I know it, and I am sorry for it.'
He said this with an air of so much candour, with something so like injured innocence, that he quite won the doctor, who was a far better adept in detecting the evil workings of the body than the secret mischiefs of the mind.
'But,' he said, considerably mollified, 'you have been in Sir Valary's secrets for many years; can't you now help us to deliver his mind from some very oppressive burden—we know not what—that lies on it? Don't you know of anything which leads him to this strange way of living, which it would be better for his friends also to know?'
'Supposing I did, sir,' said Bloodworth, 'have I any right to betray my master's confidence? But can you suppose, sir, that he would tell me anything except about money matters, that he would keep from Miss De la Mark, or from you?'
What could the doctor say to so much reason? 'It is really very mysterious,' he said, after a pause. 'Well, as I've undertaken Sir Valary's medical condition, you cannot wonder that I am in every way interested for his health; and I assure you I tremble to think of his having such another attack as the last one you left him in.'
'You see, sir,' said Bloodworth, very well satisfied with the victory he had gained, 'I get sore at heart sometimes; but I promise you to do my best to tell him as little to vex him as I can; and I hope I'll learn to keep my own temper as I ought to do; and if you would be so good as to make my peace with my young lady, sir, I should be glad;' and so they parted, the doctor going towards the house with a mixed feeling.
'The man speaks fair enough; but then, here is this about Bet Eggs. If I could have asked him about that—I almost wish I had; it was on the tip of my tongue; however, it was as well to keep it in. I'll have a little talk with Marjory, and calm her feelings towards him.'
Bloodworth meantime stood watching him as he went. 'If I could dispose of all my troubles as easily as this,' he thought, 'I shouldn't have much to fear;' and a bitter and derisive smile for a moment rested on his features. To obtain the key of the portrait gallery was now his business. When he returned to the tower in search of Shady, he found the librarian quietly resting in one of the deep windows, arranging some plants for his young lady, while awaiting the call of Sir Valary.
'Higgs, I hope you've come to your senses.'
Shady smiled.
'Come, I've been hindered long enough; let me have that key.'
Shady immediately produced it. 'You will return it to me, Mr. Bloodworth, when you have done with it, as it is my office to lay all the keys on Sir Valary's table at night.'
'Higgs,' said the steward, as he clutched the key. 'I have been a good friend to you and yours; are you joining with the rest against me?'
Shady, raising his eyebrows, looked at him without answering.
'I say, are you going to turn against me?' he repeated.
'Not that I am aware of,' said Shady.
'You'll all know better some day.'