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diff --git a/old/12175-8.txt b/old/12175-8.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..1dafd67 --- /dev/null +++ b/old/12175-8.txt @@ -0,0 +1,11683 @@ +The Project Gutenberg EBook of The Nest of the Sparrowhawk, by Baroness Orczy + +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: The Nest of the Sparrowhawk + +Author: Baroness Orczy + +Release Date: April 27, 2004 [EBook #12175] +[Date last updated: March 1, 2006] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1 + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE NEST OF THE SPARROWHAWK *** + + + + +Produced by Steven desJardins and Distributed Proofreaders + + + + +THE NEST OF THE SPARROWHAWK + +_A ROMANCE OF THE XVIIth CENTURY_ + +BY THE BARONESS ORCZY + +_November, 1909_ + + + + +CONTENTS + +PART I + +CHAPTER + I. THE HOUSE OF A KENTISH SQUIRE + II. ON A JULY AFTERNOON + III. THE EXILE + IV. GRINDING POVERTY + V. THE LEGAL ASPECT + VI. UNDER THE SHADOW OF THE ELMS + VII. THE STRANGER WITHIN THE GATES + VIII. PRINCE AMÉDÉ D'ORLÉANS + IX. SECRET SERVICE + X. AVOWED ENMITY + XI. SURRENDER + XII. A WOMAN'S HEART + XIII. AN IDEA + +PART II + XIV. THE HOUSE IN LONDON + XV. A GAME OF PRIMERO + XVI. A CONFLICT + XVII. RUS IN URBE + XVIII. THE TRAP + XIX. DISGRACE + XX. MY LORD PROTECTOR'S PATROL + +PART III + XXI. IN THE MEANWHILE + XXII. BREAKING THE NEWS + XXIII. THE ABSENT FRIEND + XXIV. NOVEMBER THE 2D + XXV. AN INTERLUDE + XXVI. THE OUTCAST + XXVII. LADY SUE'S FORTUNE + XXVIII. HUSBAND AND WIFE + XXIX. GOOD-BYE + XXX. ALL BECAUSE OF THE TINDER-BOX + XXXI. THE ASSIGNATION + XXXII. THE PATH NEAR THE CLIFFS + +PART IV + XXXIII. THE DAY AFTER + XXXIV. AFTERWARDS + XXXV. THE SMITH'S FORGE + XXXVI. THE GIRL-WIFE + XXXVII. THE OLD WOMAN +XXXVIII. THE VOICE OF THE DEAD + XXXIX. THE HOME-COMING OF ADAM LAMBERT + XL. EDITHA'S RETURN + XLI. THEIR NAME + XLII. THE RETURN + XLIII. THE SANDS OF EPPLE + XLIV. THE EPILOGUE + + + + +PART I + + + + +The Nest of the Sparrowhawk + +CHAPTER I + +THE HOUSE OF A KENTISH SQUIRE + + +Master Hymn-of-Praise Busy folded his hands before him ere he spoke: + +"Nay! but I tell thee, woman, that the Lord hath no love for such +frivolities! and alack! but 'tis a sign of the times that an English +Squire should favor such evil ways." + +"Evil ways? The Lord love you, Master Hymn-of-Praise, and pray do you +call half an hour at the skittle alley 'evil ways'?" + +"Aye, evil it is to indulge our sinful bodies in such recreation as doth +not tend to the glorification of the Lord and the sanctification of our +immortal souls." + +He who sermonized thus unctuously and with eyes fixed with stern +disapproval on the buxom wench before him, was a man who had passed the +meridian of life not altogether--it may be surmised--without having +indulged in some recreations which had not always the sanctification of +his own immortal soul for their primary object. The bulk of his figure +testified that he was not averse to good cheer, and there was a certain +hidden twinkle underlying the severe expression of his eyes as they +rested on the pretty face and round figure of Mistress Charity that did +not necessarily tend to the glorification of the Lord. + +Apparently, however, the admonitions of Master Hymn-of-Praise made but a +scanty impression on the young girl's mind, for she regarded him with a +mixture of amusement and contempt as she shrugged her plump shoulders +and said with sudden irrelevance: + +"Have you had your dinner yet, Master Busy?" + +"'Tis sinful to address a single Christian person as if he or she were +several," retorted the man sharply. "But I'll tell thee in confidence, +mistress, that I have not partaken of a single drop more comforting than +cold water the whole of to-day. Mistress de Chavasse mixed the +sack-posset with her own hands this morning, and locked it in the +cellar, of which she hath rigorously held the key. Ten minutes ago when +she placed the bowl on this table, she called my attention to the fact +that the delectable beverage came to within three inches of the brim. +Meseems I shall have to seek for a less suspicious, more +Christian-spirited household, whereon to bestow in the near future my +faithful services." + +Hardly had Master Hymn-of-Praise finished speaking when he turned very +sharply round and looked with renewed sternness--wholly untempered by a +twinkle this time--in the direction whence he thought a suppressed +giggle had just come to his ears. But what he saw must surely have +completely reassured him; there was no suggestion of unseemly ribaldry +about the young lad who had been busy laying out the table with spoons +and mugs, and was at this moment vigorously--somewhat ostentatiously, +perhaps--polishing a carved oak chair, bending to his task in a manner +which fully accounted for the high color in his cheeks. + +He had long, lanky hair of a pale straw-color, a thin face and high +cheek-bones, and was dressed--as was also Master Hymn-of-Praise Busy--in +a dark purple doublet and knee breeches, all looking very much the worse +for wear; the brown tags and buttons with which these garments had +originally been roughly adorned were conspicuous in a great many places +by their absence, whilst all those that remained were mere skeletons of +their former selves. + +The plain collars and cuffs which relieved the dull color of the men's +doublets were of singularly coarse linen not beyond reproach as to +cleanliness, and altogether innocent of starch; whilst the thick brown +worsted stockings displayed many a hole through which the flesh peeped, +and the shoes of roughly tanned leather were down at heel and worn +through at the toes. + +Undoubtedly even in these days of more than primitive simplicity and of +sober habiliments Master Hymn-of-Praise Busy, butler at Acol Court in +the county of Kent, and his henchman, Master Courage Toogood, would have +been conspicuous for the shabbiness and poverty of the livery which they +wore. + +The hour was three in the afternoon. Outside a glorious July sun spread +radiance and glow over an old-fashioned garden, over tall yew hedges, +and fantastic forms of green birds and heads of beasts carefully cut and +trimmed, over clumps of late roses and rough tangles of marguerites and +potentillas, of stiff zinnias and rich-hued snapdragons. + +Through the open window came the sound of wood knocking against wood, of +exclamations of annoyance or triumph as the game proceeded, and every +now and then a ripple of prolonged laughter, girlish, fresh, pure as the +fragrant air, clear as the last notes of the cuckoo before he speaks his +final farewell to summer. + +Every time that echo of youth and gayety penetrated into the +oak-raftered dining-room, Master Hymn-of-Praise Busy pursed his thick +lips in disapproval, whilst the younger man, had he dared, would no +doubt have gone to the window, and leaning out as far as safety would +permit, have tried to catch a glimpse of the skittle alley and of a +light-colored kirtle gleaming among the trees. But as it was he caught +the older man's stern eyes fixed reprovingly upon him, he desisted from +his work of dusting and polishing, and, looking up to the heavy oak-beam +above him, he said with becoming fervor: + +"Lord! how beautifully thou dost speak, Master Busy!" + +"Get on with thy work, Master Courage," retorted the other relentlessly, +"and mix not thine unruly talk with the wise sayings of thy betters." + +"My work is done, Master." + +"Go fetch the pasties then, the quality will be in directly," rejoined +the other peremptorily, throwing a scrutinizing look at the table, +whereon a somewhat meager collation of cherries, raspberries and +gooseberries and a more generous bowl of sack-posset had been arranged +by Mistress Charity and Master Courage under his own supervision. + +"Doubtless, doubtless," here interposed the young maid somewhat +hurriedly, desirous perhaps of distracting the grave butler's attention +from the mischievous oglings of the lad as he went out of the room, "as +you remark--hem--as thou remarkest, this place of service is none to the +liking of such as ... thee ..." + +She threw him a coy glance from beneath well-grown lashes, which caused +the saintly man to pass his tongue over his lips, an action which of a +surety had not the desire for spiritual glory for its mainspring. With +dainty hands Mistress Charity busied herself with the delicacies upon +the table. She adjusted a gooseberry which seemed inclined to tumble, +heaped up the currants into more graceful pyramids. Womanlike, whilst +her eyes apparently followed the motions of her hands they nevertheless +took stock of Master Hymn-of-Praise's attitude with regard to herself. + +She knew that in defiance of my Lord Protector and all his Puritans she +was looking her best this afternoon: though her kirtle was as threadbare +as Master Courage's breeches it was nevertheless just short enough to +display to great advantage her neatly turned ankle and well-arched foot +on which the thick stockings--well-darned--and shabby shoes sat not at +all amiss. + +Her kerchief was neatly folded, white and slightly starched, her cuffs +immaculately and primly turned back just above her round elbow and +shapely arm. + +On the whole Mistress Charity was pleased with her own appearance. Sir +Marmaduke de Chavasse and the mistress were seeing company this +afternoon, and the neighboring Kentish squires who had come to play +skittles and to drink sack-posset might easily find a less welcome sight +than that of the serving maid at Acol Court. + +"As for myself," now resumed Mistress Charity, after a slight pause, +during which she had felt Master Busy's admiring gaze fixed persistently +upon her, "as for myself, I'll seek service with a lady less like to +find such constant fault with a hard-working maid." + +Master Courage had just returned carrying a large dish heaped up with +delicious looking pasties fresh from the oven, brown and crisp with +butter, and ornamented with sprigs of burrage which made them appear +exceedingly tempting. + +Charity took the dish from the lad and heavy as it was, she carried it +to the table and placed it right in the very center of it. She +rearranged the sprigs of burrage, made a fresh disposition of the +baskets of fruit, whilst both the men watched her open-mouthed, agape at +so much loveliness and grace. + +"And," she added significantly, looking with ill-concealed covetousness +at the succulent pasties, "where there's at least one dog or cat about +the place." + +"I know not, mistress," said Hymn-of-Praise, "that thou wast over-fond +of domestic pets ... 'Tis sinful to ..." + +"La! Master Busy, you ... hem ... thou mistakest my meaning. I have no +love for such creatures--but without so much as a kitten about the +house, prithee how am I to account to my mistress for the pasties and +... and comfits ... not to speak of breakages." + +"There is always Master Courage," suggested Hymn-of-Praise, with a +movement of the left eyelid which in the case of any one less saintly +might have been described as a sly wink. + +"That there is not," interrupted the lad decisively; "my stomach rebels +against comfits, and sack-posset could never be laid to my door." + +"I give thee assurance, Master Busy," concluded the young girl, "that +the county of Kent no longer suits my constitution. 'Tis London for me, +and thither will I go next year." + +"'Tis a den of wickedness," commented Busy sententiously, "in spite of +my Lord Protector, who of a truth doth turn his back on the Saints and +hath even allowed the great George Fox and some of the Friends to +languish in prison, whilst profligacy holds undisputed sway. Master +Courage, meseems those mugs need washing a second time," he added, with +sudden irrelevance. "Take them to the kitchen, and do not let me set +eyes on thee until they shine like pieces of new silver." + +Master Courage would have either resisted the order altogether, or at +any rate argued the point of the cleanliness of the mugs, had he dared; +but the saintly man possessed on occasions a heavy hand, and he also +wore boots which had very hard toes, and the lad realized from the +peremptory look in the butler's eyes that this was an occasion when both +hand and boot would serve to emphasize Master Busy's orders with +unpleasant force if he himself were at all slow to obey. + +He tried to catch Charity's eye, but was made aware once more of the +eternal truth that women are perverse and fickle creatures, for she +would not look at him, and seemed absorbed in the rearrangement of her +kerchief. + +With a deep sigh which should have spoken volumes to her adamantine +heart, Courage gathered all the mugs together by their handles, and +reluctantly marched out of the room once more. + +Hymn-of-Praise Busy waited a moment or two until the clattering of the +pewter died away in the distance, then he edged a little closer to the +table whereat Mistress Charity seemed still very busy with the fruit, +and said haltingly: + +"Didst thou really wish to go, mistress ... to leave thy fond, adoring +Hymn-of-Praise ... to go, mistress? ... and to break my heart?" + +Charity's dainty head--with its tiny velvet cap edged with lawn which +hardly concealed sufficiently the wealth of her unruly brown hair--sank +meditatively upon her left shoulder. + +"Lord, Master Busy," she said demurely, "how was a poor maid to know +that you meant it earnestly?" + +"Meant it earnestly?" + +"Yes ... a new kirtle ... a gold ring ... flowers ... and sack-posset +and pasties to all the guests," she explained. "Is that what you mean +... hem ... what _thou_, meanest, Master Busy?" + +"Of a surety, mistress ... and if thou wouldst allow me to ... to ..." + +"To what, Master Busy?" + +"To salute thee," said the saintly man, with a becoming blush, "as the +Lord doth allow his creatures to salute one another ... with a chaste +kiss, mistress." + +Then as she seemed to demur, he added by way of persuasion: + +"I am not altogether a poor man, mistress; and there is that in my +coffer upstairs put by, as would please thee in the future." + +"Nay! I was not thinking of the money, Master Busy," said this daughter +of Eve, coyly, as she held a rosy cheek out in the direction of the +righteous man. + +'Tis the duty even of a veracious chronicler to draw a discreet veil +over certain scenes full of blissful moments for those whom he portrays. + +There are no data extant as to what occurred during the next few +seconds in the old oak-beamed dining-room of Acol Court in the Island of +Thanet. Certain it is that when next we get a peep at Master +Hymn-of-Praise Busy and Mistress Charity Haggett, they are standing side +by side, he looking somewhat shame-faced in the midst of his obvious +joy, and she supremely unconcerned, once more absorbed in the apparently +never-ending adornment of the refreshment table. + +"Thou'lt have no cause to regret this, mistress," said Busy +complacently, "we will be married this very autumn, and I have it in my +mind--an it please the Lord--to go up to London and take secret service +under my Lord Protector himself." + +"Secret service, Master Busy ... hem ... I mean Hymn-of-Praise, dear ... +secret service? ... What may that be?" + +"'Tis a noble business, Charity," he replied, "and one highly commended +by the Lord: the business of tracking the wicked to their lair, of +discovering evil where 'tis hidden in dark places, conspiracies against +my Lord Protector, adherence to the cause of the banished tyrants and +... and ... so forth." + +"Sounds like spying to me," she remarked curtly. + +"Spying? ... Spying, didst thou say?" he exclaimed indignantly. "Fie on +thee, Charity, for the thought! Secret service under my Lord Protector +'tis called, and a highly lucrative business too, and one for which I +have remarkable aptitude." + +"Indeed?" + +"Aye! See the manner in which I find things out, mistress. This house +now ... thou wouldst think 'tis but an ordinary house ... eh?" + +His manner changed; the saintliness vanished from his attitude; the +expression of his face became sly and knowing. He came nearer to +Charity, took hold of her wrist, whilst he raised one finger to his +lips. + +"Thou wouldst think 'tis an ordinary house ... wouldst thou not?" he +repeated, sinking his voice to a whisper, murmuring right into her ear +so that his breath blew her hair about, causing it to tickle her cheek. + +She shuddered with apprehension. His manner was so mysterious. + +"Yes ... yes ..." she murmured, terrified. + +"But I tell thee that there's something going on," he added +significantly. + +"La, Master Busy ... you ... you terrify me!" she said, on the verge of +tears. "What could there be going on?" + +Master Busy raised both his hands and with the right began counting off +the fingers of the left. + +"Firstly," he began solemnly, "there's an heiress! secondly our +master--poor as a church mouse--thirdly a young scholar--secretary, they +call him, though he writes no letters, and is all day absorbed in his +studies ... Well, mistress," he concluded, turning a triumphant gaze on +her, "tell me, prithee, what happens?" + +"What happens, Master Hymn-of-Praise? ... I do not understand. What +does happen?" + +"I'll tell thee," he replied sententiously, "when I have found out; but +mark my words, mistress, there's something going on in this house ... +Hush! not a word to that young jackanapes," he added as a distant +clatter of pewter mugs announced the approach of Master Courage. "Watch +with me, mistress, thou'lt perceive something. And when I have found +out, 'twill be the beginning of our fortunes." + +Once more he placed a warning finger on his lips; once more he gave +Mistress Charity a knowing wink, and her wrist an admonitory pressure, +then he resumed his staid and severe manner, his saintly mien and +somewhat nasal tones, as from the gay outside world beyond the +window-embrasure the sound of many voices, the ripple of young laughter, +the clink of heeled boots on the stone-flagged path, proclaimed the +arrival of the quality. + + + + +CHAPTER II + +ON A JULY AFTERNOON + + +In the meanwhile in a remote corner of the park the quality was +assembled round the skittle-alley. + +Imagine Sir Marmaduke de Chavasse standing there, as stiff a Roundhead +as ever upheld my Lord Protector and his Puritanic government in this +remote corner of the county of Kent: dour in manner, harsh-featured and +hollow-eyed, dressed in dark doublet and breeches wholly void of tags, +ribands or buttons. His closely shorn head is flat at the back, square +in front, his clean-shaven lips though somewhat thick are always held +tightly pressed together. Not far from him sits on a rough wooden seat, +Mistress Amelia Editha de Chavasse, widow of Sir Marmaduke's elder +brother, a good-looking woman still, save for the look of discontent, +almost of suppressed rebellion, apparent in the perpetual dark frown +between the straight brows, in the downward curve of the well-chiseled +mouth, and in the lowering look which seems to dwell for ever in the +handsome dark eyes. + +Dame Harrison, too, was there: the large and portly dowager, florid of +face, dictatorial in manner, dressed in the supremely unbecoming style +prevalent at the moment, when everything that was beautiful in art as +well as in nature was condemned as sinful and ungodly; she wore the dark +kirtle and plain, ungainly bodice with its hard white kerchief folded +over her ample bosom; her hair was parted down the middle and brushed +smoothly and flatly to her ears, where but a few curls were allowed to +escape with well-regulated primness from beneath the horn-comb, and the +whole appearance of her looked almost grotesque, surmounted as it was by +the modish high-peaked beaver hat, a marvel of hideousness and +discomfort, since the small brim afforded no protection against the sun, +and the tall crown was a ready prey to the buffetings of the wind. + +Mistress Fairsoul Pyncheon too, was there, the wife of the Squire of +Ashe; thin and small, a contrast to Dame Harrison in her mild and +somewhat fussy manner; her plain petticoat, too, was embellished with +paniers, and in spite of the heat of the day she wore a tippet edged +with fur: both of which frivolous adornments had obviously stirred up +the wrath of her more Puritanical neighbor. + +Then there were the men: busy at this moment with hurling wooden balls +along the alley, at the further end of which a hollow-eyed scraggy +youth, in shirt and rough linen trousers, was employed in propping up +again the fallen nine-pins. Squire John Boatfield had ridden over from +Eastry, Sir Timothy Harrison had come in his aunt's coach, and young +Squire Pyncheon with his doting mother. + +And in the midst of all these sober folk, of young men in severe +garments, of portly dames and frowning squires, a girlish figure, +young, alert, vigorous, wearing with the charm of her own youth and +freshness the unbecoming attire, which disfigured her elders yet seemed +to set off her own graceful form, her dainty bosom and pretty arms. Her +kirtle, too, was plain, and dull in color, of a soft dovelike gray, +without adornment of any kind, but round her shoulders her kerchief was +daintily turned, edged with delicate lace, and showing through its filmy +folds peeps of her own creamy skin. + +'Twas years later that Sir Peter Lely painted Lady Sue when she was a +great lady and the friend of the Queen: she was beautiful then, in the +full splendor of her maturer charms, but never so beautiful as she was +on that hot July afternoon in the year of our Lord 1657, when, heated +with the ardor of the game, pleased undoubtedly with the adulation which +surrounded her on every side, she laughed and chatted with the men, +teased the women, her cheeks aglow, her eyes bright, her brown +hair--persistently unruly--flying in thick curls over her neck and +shoulders. + +"A remarkable talent, good Sir Marmaduke," Dame Harrison was saying to +her host, as she cast a complacent eye on her nephew, who had just +succeeded in overthrowing three nine-pins at one stroke: "Sir Timothy +hath every aptitude for outdoor pursuits, and though my Lord Protector +deems all such recreations sinful, yet do I think they tend to the +development of muscular energy, which later on may be placed at the +service of the Commonwealth." + +Sir Timothy Harrison at this juncture had the misfortune of expending +his muscular energy in hitting Squire Boatfield violently on the shin +with an ill-aimed ball. + +"Damn!" ejaculated the latter, heedless of the strict fines imposed by +my Lord Protector on unseemly language. "I ... verily beg the ladies' +pardon ... but ... this young jackanapes nearly broke my shin-bone." + +There certainly had been an exclamation of horror on the part of the +ladies at Squire Boatfield's forcible expression of annoyance, Dame +Harrison taking no pains to conceal her disapproval. + +"Horrid, coarse creature, this neighbor of yours, good Sir Marmaduke," +she said with her usual air of decision. "Meseems he is not fit company +for your ward." + +"Dear Squire Boatfield," sighed Mistress Pyncheon, who was evidently +disposed to be more lenient, "how good-humoredly he bears it! Clumsy +people should not be trusted in a skittle alley," she added in a mild +way, which seemed to be peculiarly exasperating to Dame Harrison's +irascible temper. + +"I pray you, Sir Timothy," here interposed Lady Sue, trying to repress +the laughter which would rise to her lips, "forgive poor Squire John. +You scarce can expect him to moderate his language under such +provocation." + +"Oh! his insults leave me completely indifferent," said the young man +with easy unconcern, "his calling me a jackanapes doth not of necessity +make me one." + +"No!" retorted Squire Boatfield, who was still nursing his shin-bone, +"maybe not, Sir Timothy, but it shows how observant I am." + +"Oliver, pick up Lady Sue's handkerchief," came in mild accents from +Mistress Pyncheon. + +"Quite unnecessary, good mistress," rejoined Dame Harrison decisively, +"Sir Timothy has already seen it." + +And while the two young men made a quick and not altogether successful +dive for her ladyship's handkerchief, colliding vigorously with one +another in their endeavor to perform this act of gallantry +single-handed, Lady Sue gazed down on them, with good-humored contempt, +laughter and mischief dancing in her eyes. She knew that she was good to +look at, that she was rich, and that she had the pick of the county, +aye, of the South of England, did she desire to wed. Perhaps she thought +of this, even whilst she laughed at the antics of her bevy of courtiers, +all anxious to win her good graces. + +Yet even as she laughed, her face suddenly clouded over, a strange, +wistful look came into her eyes, and her laughter was lost in a quick, +short sigh. + +A young man had just crossed the tiny rustic bridge which spanned the +ha-ha dividing the flower-garden from the uncultivated park. He walked +rapidly through the trees, towards the skittle alley, and as he came +nearer, the merry lightheartedness seemed suddenly to vanish from Lady +Sue's manner: the ridiculousness of the two young men at her feet, +glaring furiously at one another whilst fighting for her handkerchief, +seemed now to irritate her; she snatched the bit of delicate linen from +their hands, and turned somewhat petulantly away. + +"Shall we continue the game?" she said curtly. + +The young man, all the while that he approached, had not taken his eyes +off Lady Sue. Twice he had stumbled against rough bits of root or branch +which he had not perceived in the grass through which he walked. He had +seen her laughing gaily, whilst Squire Boatfield used profane language, +and smile with contemptuous merriment at the two young men at her feet; +he had also seen the change in her manner, the sudden wistful look, the +quick sigh, the irritability and the petulance. + +But his own grave face expressed neither disapproval at the one mood nor +astonishment at the other. He walked somewhat like a somnambulist, with +eyes fixed--almost expressionless in the intensity of their gaze. + +He was very plainly, even poorly clad, and looked a dark figure even +amongst these soberly appareled gentry. The grass beneath his feet had +deadened the sound of his footsteps but Sir Marmaduke had apparently +perceived him, for he beckoned to him to approach. + +"What is it, Lambert?" he asked kindly. + +"Your letter to Master Skyffington, Sir Marmaduke," replied the young +man, "will you be pleased to sign it?" + +"Will it not keep?" said Sir Marmaduke. + +"Yes, an you wish it, Sir. I fear I have intruded. I did not know you +were busy." + +The young man had a harsh voice, and a strange brusqueness of manner +which somehow suggested rebellion against the existing conditions of +life. He no longer looked at Lady Sue now, but straight at Sir +Marmaduke, speaking the brief apology between his teeth, without opening +his mouth, as if the words hurt him when they passed his lips. + +"You had best speak to Master Skyffington himself about the business," +rejoined Sir Marmaduke, not heeding the mumbled apology, "he will be +here anon." + +He turned abruptly away, and the young man once more left to himself, +silently and mechanically moved again in the direction of the house. + +"You will join us in a bowl of sack-posset, Master Lambert," said +Mistress de Chavasse, striving to be amiable. + +"You are very kind," he said none too genially, "in about half-an-hour +if you will allow me. There is another letter yet to write." + +No one had taken much notice of him. Even in these days when kingship +and House of Lords were abolished, the sense of social inequality +remained keen. To this coterie of avowed Republicans, young Richard +Lambert--secretary or what-not to Sir Marmaduke, a paid dependent at any +rate--was not worth more than a curt nod of the head, a condescending +acknowledgment of his existence at best. + +But Lady Sue had not even bestowed the nod. She had not actually taken +notice of his presence when he came; the wistful look had vanished as +soon as the young man's harsh voice had broken on her ear: she did not +look on him now that he went. + +She was busy with her game. Nathless her guardian's secretary was of no +more importance in the rich heiress's sight than that mute row of +nine-pins at the end of the alley, nor was there, mayhap, in her mind +much social distinction between the hollow-eyed lad who set them up +stolidly from time to time, and the silent young student who wrote those +letters which Sir Marmaduke had not known how to spell. + + + + +CHAPTER III + +THE EXILE + + +But despite outward indifference, with the brief appearance of the +soberly-garbed young student upon the scene and his abrupt and silent +departure, all the zest seemed to have gone out of Lady Sue's mood. + +The ingenuous flatteries of her little court irritated her now: she no +longer felt either amused or pleased by the extravagant compliments +lavished upon her beauty and skill by portly Squire John, by Sir Timothy +Harrison or the more diffident young Squire Pyncheon. + +"Of a truth, I sometimes wish, Lady Sue, that I could find out if you +have any faults," remarked Squire Boatfield unctuously. + +"Nay, Squire," she retorted sharply, "pray try to praise me to my female +friends." + +In vain did Mistress Pyncheon admonish her son to be more bold in his +wooing. + +"You behave like a fool, Oliver," she said meekly. + +"But, Mother ..." + +"Go, make yourself pleasing to her ladyship." + +"But, Mother ..." + +"I pray you, my son," she retorted with unusual acerbity, "do you want a +million or do you not?" + +"But, Mother ..." + +"Then go at once and get it, ere that fool Sir Timothy or the odious +Boatfield capture it under your very nose." + +"But, Mother ..." + +"Go! say something smart to her at once ... talk about your gray mare +... she is over fond of horses ..." + +Then as the young Squire, awkward and clumsy in his manner, more +accustomed to the company of his own servants than to that of highborn +ladies, made sundry unfortunate attempts to enchain the attention of the +heiress, his worthy mother turned with meek benignity to Sir Marmaduke. + +"A veritable infatuation, good Sir Marmaduke," she said with a sigh, +"quite against my interests, you know. I had no thought to see the dear +lad married so soon, nor to give up my home at the Dene yet, in favor of +a new mistress. Not but that Oliver is not a good son to his +mother--such a good lad!--and such a good husband he would be to any +girl who ..." + +"A strange youth that secretary of yours, Sir Marmaduke," here +interposed Dame Harrison in her loud, dictatorial voice, breaking in on +Mistress Pyncheon's dithyrambs, "modest he appears to be, and silent +too: a paragon meseems!" + +She spoke with obvious sarcasm, casting covert glances at Lady Sue to +see if she heard. + +Sir Marmaduke shrugged his shoulders. + +"Lambert is very industrious," he said curtly. + +"I thought secretaries never did anything but suck the ends of their +pens," suggested Mistress Pyncheon mildly. + +"Sometimes they make love to their employer's daughter," retorted Dame +Harrison spitefully, for Lady Sue was undoubtedly lending an ear to the +conversation now that it had the young secretary for object. She was not +watching Squire Boatfield who was wielding the balls just then with +remarkable prowess, and at this last remark from the portly old dame, +she turned sharply round and said with a strange little air of +haughtiness which somehow became her very well: + +"But then you see, mistress, Master Lambert's employer doth not possess +a daughter of his own--only a ward ... mayhap that is the reason why his +secretary performs his duties so well in other ways." + +Her cheeks were glowing as she said this, and she looked quite defiant, +as if challenging these disagreeable mothers and aunts of +fortune-hunting youths to cast unpleasant aspersions on a friend whom +she had taken under her special protection. + +Sir Marmaduke looked at her keenly; a deep frown settled between his +eyes at sight of her enthusiasm. His face suddenly looked older, and +seemed more dour, more repellent than before. + +"Sue hath such a romantic temperament," he said dryly, speaking between +his teeth and as if with an effort. "Lambert's humble origin has fired +her imagination. He has no parents and his elder brother is the +blacksmith down at Acol; his aunt, who seems to have had charge of the +boys ever since they were children, is just a common old woman who lives +in the village--a strict adherent, so I am told, of this new sect, whom +Justice Bennet of Derby hath so justly nicknamed 'Quakers.' They talk +strangely, these people, and believe in a mighty queer fashion. I know +not if Lambert be of their creed, for he does not use the 'thee' and +'thou' when speaking as do all Quakers, so I am told; but his empty +pockets, a smattering of learning which he has picked up the Lord knows +where, and a plethora of unspoken grievances, have all proved a sure +passport to Lady Sue's sympathy." + +"Nay, but your village of Acol seems full of queer folk, good Sir +Marmaduke," said Mistress Pyncheon. "I have heard talk among my servants +of a mysterious prince hailed from France, who has lately made one of +your cottages his home." + +"Oh! ah! yes!" quoth Sir Marmaduke lightly, "the interesting exile from +the Court of King Louis. I did not know that his fame had reached you, +mistress." + +"A French prince?--in this village?" exclaimed Dame Harrison sharply, +"and pray, good Sir Marmaduke, where did you go a-fishing to get such a +bite?" + +"Nay!" replied Sir Marmaduke with a short laugh, "I had naught to do +with his coming; he wandered to Acol from Dover about six months ago it +seems, and found refuge in the Lamberts' cottage, where he has remained +ever since. A queer fellow I believe. I have only seen him once or +twice in my fields ... in the evening, usually ..." + +Perhaps there was just a curious note of irritability in Sir Marmaduke's +voice as he spoke of this mysterious inhabitant of the quiet village of +Acol; certain it is that the two matchmaking old dames seemed smitten at +one and the same time with a sense of grave danger to their schemes. + +An exile from France, a prince who hides his identity and his person in +a remote Kentish village, and a girl with a highly imaginative +temperament like Lady Sue! here was surely a more definite, a more +important rival to the pretensions of homely country youths like Sir +Timothy Harrison or Squire Pyncheon, than even the student of humble +origin whose brother was a blacksmith, whose aunt was a Quakeress, and +who wandered about the park of Acol with hollow eyes fixed longingly on +the much-courted heiress. + +Dame Harrison and Mistress Pyncheon both instinctively turned a +scrutinizing gaze on her ladyship. Neither of them was perhaps +ordinarily very observant, but self-interest had made them keen, and it +would have been impossible not to note the strange atmosphere which +seemed suddenly to pervade the entire personality of the young girl. + +There was nothing in her face now expressive of whole-hearted +partisanship for an absent friend, such as she had displayed when she +felt that young Lambert was being unjustly sneered at; rather was it a +kind of entranced and arrested thought, as if her mind, having come in +contact with one all-absorbing idea, had ceased to function in any other +direction save that one. + +Her cheeks no longer glowed, they seemed pale and transparent like those +of an ascetic; her lips were slightly parted, her eyes appeared +unconscious of everything round her, and gazing at something enchanting +beyond that bank of clouds which glimmered, snow-white, through the +trees. + +"But what in the name of common sense is a French prince doing in Acol +village?" ejaculated Dame Harrison in her most strident voice, which had +the effect of drawing every one's attention to herself and to Sir +Marmaduke, whom she was thus addressing. + +The men ceased playing and gathered nearer. The spell was broken. That +strange and mysterious look vanished from Lady Sue's face; she turned +away from the speakers and idly plucked a few bunches of acorn from an +overhanging oak. + +"Of a truth," replied Sir Marmaduke, whose eyes were still steadily +fixed on his ward, "I know as little about the fellow, ma'am, as you do +yourself. He was exiled from France by King Louis for political reasons, +so he explained to the old woman Lambert, with whom he is still lodging. +I understand that he hardly ever sleeps at the cottage, that his +appearances there are short and fitful and that his ways are passing +mysterious.... And that is all I know," he added in conclusion, with a +careless shrug of the shoulders. + +"Quite a romance!" remarked Mistress Pyncheon dryly. + +"You should speak to him, good Sir Marmaduke," said Dame Harrison +decisively, "you are a magistrate. 'Tis your duty to know more of this +fellow and his antecedents." + +"Scarcely that, ma'am," rejoined Sir Marmaduke, "you understand ... I +have a young ward living for the nonce in my house ... she is very rich, +and, I fear me, of a very romantic disposition ... I shall try to get +the man removed from hence, but until that is accomplished, I prefer to +know nothing about him ..." + +"How wise of you, good Sir Marmaduke!" quoth Mistress Pyncheon with a +sigh of content. + +A sentiment obviously echoed in the hearts of a good many people there +present. + +"One knows these foreign adventurers," concluded Sir Marmaduke with +pleasant irony, "with their princely crowns and forlorn causes ... half +a million of English money would no doubt regild the former and bolster +up the latter." + +He rose from his seat as he spoke, boldly encountering even as he did +so, a pair of wrathful and contemptuous girlish eyes fixed steadily upon +him. + +"Shall we go within?" he said, addressing his guests, and returning his +young ward's gaze haughtily, even commandingly; "a cup of sack-posset +will be welcome after the fatigue of the game. Will you honor my poor +house, mistress? and you, too, ma'am? Gentlemen, you must fight among +yourselves for the privilege of escorting Lady Sue to the house, and if +she prove somewhat disdainful this beautiful summer's afternoon, I pray +you remember that faint heart never won fair lady, and that the citadel +is not worth storming an it is not obdurate." + +The suggestion of sack-posset proved vastly to the liking of the merry +company. Mistress de Chavasse who had been singularly silent all the +afternoon, walked quickly in advance of her brother-in-law's guests, no +doubt in order to cast a scrutinizing eye over the arrangements of the +table, which she had entrusted to the servants. + +Sir Marmaduke followed at a short distance, escorting the older women, +making somewhat obvious efforts to control his own irritability, and to +impart some sort of geniality to the proceedings. + +Then in a noisy group in the rear came the three men still fighting for +the good graces of Lady Sue, whilst she, silent, absorbed, walked +leisurely along, paying no heed to the wrangling of her courtiers, her +fingers tearing up with nervous impatience the delicate cups of the +acorns, which she then threw from her with childish petulance. + +And her eyes still sought the distance beyond the boundaries of Sir +Marmaduke's private grounds, there where cornfields and sky and sea were +merged by the summer haze into a glowing line of emerald and purple and +gold. + + + + +CHAPTER IV + +GRINDING POVERTY + + +It was about an hour later. Sir Marmaduke's guests had departed, Dame +Harrison in her rickety coach, Mistress Pyncheon in her chaise, whilst +Squire Boatfield was riding his well-known ancient cob. + +Everyone had drunk sack-posset, had eaten turkey pasties, and enjoyed +the luscious fruit: the men had striven to be agreeable to the heiress, +the old ladies to be encouraging to their protégés. Sir Marmaduke had +tried to be equally amiable to all, whilst favoring none. He was an +unpopular man in East Kent and he knew it, doing nothing to +counterbalance the unpleasing impression caused invariably by his surly +manner, and his sarcastic, often violent, temper. + +Mistress Amelia Editha de Chavasse was now alone with her brother-in-law +in the great bare hall of the Court, Lady Sue having retired to her room +under pretext of the vapors, and young Lambert been finally dismissed +from work for the day. + +"You are passing kind to the youth, Marmaduke," said Mistress de +Chavasse meditatively when the young man's darkly-clad figure had +disappeared up the stairs. + +She was sitting in a high-backed chair, her head resting against the +carved woodwork. The folds of her simple gown hung primly round her +well-shaped figure. Undoubtedly she was still a very good-looking woman, +though past the hey-day of her youth and beauty. The half-light caused +by the depth of the window embrasure, and the smallness of the glass +panes through which the summer sun hardly succeeded in gaining +admittance, added a certain softness to her chiseled features, and to +the usually hard expression of her large dark eyes. + +She was gazing out of the tall window, wherein the several broken panes +were roughly patched with scraps of paper, out into the garden and the +distance beyond, where the sea could be always guessed at, even when not +seen. Sir Marmaduke had his back to the light: he was sitting astride a +low chair, his high-booted foot tapping the ground impatiently, his +fingers drumming a devil's tattoo against the back of the chair. + +"Lambert would starve if I did not provide for him," he said with a +sneer. "Adam, his brother, could do naught for him: he is poor as a +church-mouse, poorer even than I--but nathless," he added with a violent +oath, "it strikes everyone as madness that I should keep a secretary +when I scarce can pay the wages of a serving maid." + +"'Twere better you paid your servants' wages, Marmaduke," she retorted +harshly, "they were insolent to me just now. Why do you not pay the +girl's arrears to-day?" + +"Why do I not climb up to the moon, my dear Editha, and bring down a +few stars with me in my descent," he replied with a shrug of his broad +shoulders. "I have come to my last shilling." + +"The Earl of Northallerton cannot live for ever." + +"He hath vowed, I believe, that he would do it, if only to spite me. And +by the time that he come to die this accursed Commonwealth will have +abolished all titles and confiscated every estate." + +"Hush, Marmaduke," she said, casting a quick, furtive look all round +her, "there may be spies about." + +"Nay, I care not," he rejoined roughly, jumping to his feet and kicking +the chair aside so that it struck with a loud crash against the flagged +floor. "'Tis but little good a man gets for cleaving loyally to the +Commonwealth. The sequestrated estates of the Royalists would have been +distributed among the adherents of republicanism, and not held to +bolster up a military dictatorship. Bah!" he continued, allowing his +temper to overmaster him, speaking in harsh tones and with many a +violent oath, "it had been wiser to embrace the Royal cause. The Lord +Protector is sick, so 'tis said. His son Richard hath no backbone, and +the present tyranny is worse than the last. I cannot collect my rents; I +have been given neither reward nor compensation for the help I gave in +'46. So much for their boasted gratitude and their many promises! My +Lord Protector feasts the Dutch ambassadors with music and with wine, my +Lords Ireton and Fairfax and Hutchinson and the accursed lot of canting +Puritans flaunt it in silks and satins, whilst I go about in a ragged +doublet and with holes in my shoes." + +"There's Lady Sue," murmured Mistress de Chavasse soothingly. + +"Pshaw! the guardianship of a girl who comes of age in three months!" + +"You can get another by that time." + +"Not I. I am not a sycophant hanging round White Hall! 'Twas sheer good +luck and no merit of mine that got me the guardianship of Sue. Lord +Middlesborough, her kinsman, wanted it; the Courts would have given her +to him, but old Noll thought him too much of a 'gentleman,' whilst I--an +out-at-elbows country squire, was more to my Lord Protector's liking. +'Tis the only thing he ever did for me." + +There was intense bitterness and a harsh vein of sarcasm running through +Sir Marmaduke's talk. It was the speech of a disappointed man, who had +hoped, and striven, and fought once; had raised longing hands towards +brilliant things and sighed after glory, or riches, or fame, but whose +restless spirit had since been tamed, crushed under the heavy weight of +unsatisfied ambition. + +Poverty--grinding, unceasing, uninteresting poverty, had been Sir +Marmaduke's relentless tormentor ever since he had reached man's estate. +His father, Sir Jeremy de Chavasse, had been poor before him. The +younger son of that Earl of Northallerton who cut such a brilliant +figure at the Court of Queen Elizabeth, Jeremy had married Mistress +Spanton of Acol Court, who had brought him a few acres of land heavily +burdened with mortgage as her dowry. They were a simple-minded, +unostentatious couple who pinched and scraped and starved that their two +sons might keep up the appearances of gentlemen at the Court of King +Charles. + +But both the young men seemed to have inherited from their brilliant +grandfather luxurious tastes and a love of gambling and of show--but +neither his wealth nor yet his personal charm of manner. The eldest, +Rowland, however, soon disappeared from the arena of life. He married +when scarce twenty years of age a girl who had been a play-actress. This +marriage nearly broke his doting mother's heart, and his own, too, for +the matter of that, for the union was a most unhappy one. Rowland de +Chavasse died very soon after, unreconciled to his father and mother, +who refused to see him or his family, even on his deathbed. + +Jeremy de Chavasse's few hopes now centered on his younger son, +Marmaduke. In order to enable the young man to remain in London, to mix +freely and to hold his own in that set into which family traditions had +originally gained him admittance, the fond mother and indulgent father +denied themselves the very necessities of life. + +Marmaduke took everything that was given him, whilst chafing at the +paucity of his allowance. Determined to cut a figure at Court, he spent +two years and most of his mother's dowry in a vain attempt to capture +the heart of one or the other of the rich heiresses who graced the +entourage of Charles I. + +But Nature who had given Marmaduke boundless ambition, had failed to +bestow on him those attributes which would have helped him on towards +its satisfaction. He was neither sufficiently prepossessing to please an +heiress, nor sufficiently witty and brilliant to catch the royal eye or +the favor of his uncle, the present Earl of Northallerton. His efforts +in the direction of advantageous matrimony had earned for him at Court +the nickname of "The Sparrowhawk." But even these efforts had soon to be +relinquished for want of the wherewithal. + +The doting mother no longer could supply him with a sufficiency of money +to vie with the rich gallants at the Court, and the savings which Sir +Jeremy had been patiently accumulating with a view to freeing the Acol +estates from mortgage went instead to rescue young Marmaduke from a +debtor's prison. + +Poor Sir Jeremy did not long survive his disappointment. Marmaduke +returned to Acol Court only to find his mother a broken invalid, and his +father dead. + +Since then it had been a perpetual struggle against poverty and debt, a +bitter revolt against Fate, a burning desire to satisfy ambition which +had received so serious a check. + +When the great conflict broke out between King and Parliament, he threw +himself into it, without zest and without conviction, embracing the +cause of the malcontents with a total lack of enthusiasm, merely out of +disappointment--out of hatred for the brilliant Court and circle in +which he had once hoped to become a prominent figure. + +He fought under Ireton, was commended as a fairly good soldier, though +too rebellious to be very reliable, too self-willed to be wholly +trusted. + +Even in these days of brilliant reputations quickly made, he remained +obscure and practically unnoticed. Advancement never came his way and +whilst younger men succeeded in attracting the observant eye of old +Noll, he was superseded at every turn, passed over--anon forgotten. + +When my Lord Protector's entourage was formed, the Household organized, +no one thought of the Sparrowhawk for any post that would have satisfied +his desires. Once more he cursed his own poverty. Money--the want of +it--he felt was at the root of all his disappointments. A burning desire +to obtain it at any cost, even that of honor, filled his entire being, +his mind, his soul, his thoughts, every nerve in his body. Money, and +social prestige! To be somebody at Court or elsewhere, politically, +commercially,--he cared not. To handle money and to command attention! + +He became wary, less reckless, striving to obtain by diplomatic means +that which he had once hoped to snatch by sheer force of personality. +The Court of Chancery having instituted itself sole guardian and +administrator of the revenues and fortunes of minors whose fathers had +fought on the Royalist side, and were either dead or in exile, and +arrogating unto itself the power to place such minors under the +tutelage of persons whose loyalty to the Commonwealth was undoubted, Sir +Marmaduke bethought himself of applying for one of these official +guardianships which were known to be very lucrative and moreover, +practically sinecures. + +Fate for once favored him; a half-contemptuous desire to do something +for this out-at-elbows Kentish squire who had certainly been a loyal +adherent of the Commonwealth, caused my Lord Protector to favor his +application. The rich daughter of the Marquis of Dover was placed under +the guardianship of Sir Marmaduke de Chavasse with an allowance of +£4,000 a year for her maintenance, until she came of age. A handsome +fortune and stroke of good luck for a wise and prudent man:--a drop in +an ocean of debts, difficulties and expensive tastes, in the case of Sir +Marmaduke. + +A prolonged visit to London with a view either of gaining a foothold in +the new Court, or of drawing the attention of the malcontents, of Monk +and his party, or even of the Royalists, to himself, resulted in further +debts, in more mortgages, more bitter disappointments. + +The man himself did not please. His personality was unsympathetic; Lady +Sue's money which he now lavished right and left, bought neither +friendship nor confidence. He joined all the secret clubs which in +defiance of Cromwell's rigid laws against betting and gambling, were the +resort of all the smart gentlemen in the town. Ill-luck at hazard and +dice pursued him: he was a bad loser, quarrelsome and surly. His +ambition had not taught him the salutary lesson of how to make friends +in order to attain his desires. + +His second return to the ancestral home was scarcely less disastrous +than the first; a mortgage on his revenues as guardian of Lady Sue +Aldmarshe just saved him this time from the pursuit of his creditors, +and this mortgage he had only obtained through false statements as to +his ward's age. + +As he told his sister-in-law a moment ago, he was at his last gasp. He +had perhaps just begun to realize that he would never succeed through +the force of his own individuality. Therefore, money had become a still +more imperative necessity to him. He was past forty now. Disappointed +ambition and an ever rebellious spirit had left severe imprints on his +face: his figure was growing heavy, his prominent lips, unadorned by a +mustache, had an unpleasant downward droop, and lately he had even +noticed that the hair on the top of his head was not so thick as of +yore. + +The situation was indeed getting desperate, since Lady Sue would be of +age in three months, when all revenues for her maintenance would cease. + +"Methinks her million will go to one of those young jackanapes who hang +about her," sighed Mistress de Chavasse, with almost as much bitterness +as Sir Marmaduke had shown. + +Her fortunes were in a sense bound up with those of her brother-in-law. +He had been most unaccountably kind to her of late, a kindness which his +many detractors attributed either to an infatuation for his brother's +widow, or to a desire to further irritate his uncle the Earl of +Northallerton, who--a rigid Puritan himself--hated the play-actress and +her connection with his own family. + +"Can naught be done, Marmaduke?" she asked after a slight pause, during +which she had watched anxiously the restless figure of her +brother-in-law as he paced up and down the narrow hall. + +"Can you suggest anything, my dear Editha?" he retorted roughly. + +"Pshaw!" she ejaculated with some impatience, "you are not so old, but +you could have made yourself agreeable to the wench." + +"You think that she would have fallen in love with her middle-aged +guardian?" he exclaimed with a harsh, sarcastic laugh. "That girl? ... +with her head full of romantic nonsense ... and I ... in ragged doublet, +with a bald head, and an evil temper ... Bah!!! ... But," he added, with +an unpleasant sneer, "'tis unselfish and disinterested on your part, my +dear Editha, even to suggest it. Sue does not like you. Her being +mistress here would not be conducive to your comfort." + +"Nay! 'tis no use going on in this manner any longer, Marmaduke," she +said dejectedly. "Pleasant times will not come my way so long as you +have not a shilling to give me for a new gown, and cannot afford to keep +up my house in London." + +She fully expected another retort from him--brutal and unbridled as was +his wont when money affairs were being discussed. He was not accustomed +to curb his violence in her presence. She had been his helpmeet in many +unavowable extravagances, in the days when he was still striving after a +brilliant position in town. There had been certain rumors anent a +gambling den, whereat Mistress de Chavasse had been the presiding spirit +and which had come under the watchful eye of my Lord Protector's spies. + +Now she had perforce to share her brother-in-law's poverty. At any rate +he provided a roof over her head. On the advent of Lady Sue Aldmarshe +into his bachelor establishment he called on his sister-in-law for the +part of duenna. + +At one time the fair Editha had exercised her undoubted charms over +Marmaduke's violent nature, but latterly she had become a mere butt for +his outbursts of rage. But now to her astonishment, and in response to +her petulant reproach, his fury seemed to fall away from him. He threw +his head back and broke out into uncontrolled, half-sarcastic, almost +defiant laughter. + +"How blind you are, my dear Editha," he said with a shrug of his broad +shoulders. "Nay! an I mistake not, in that case there will be some +strange surprises for you within the next three months. I pray you try +and curb your impatience until then, and to bear with the insolence of a +serving wench, 'Twill serve you well, mine oath on that!" he added +significantly. + +Then without vouchsafing further explanations of his enigmatic +utterances, he turned on his heel--still laughing apparently at some +pleasing thought--and walked upstairs, leaving her to meditate. + + + + +CHAPTER V + +THE LEGAL ASPECT + + +Mistress de Chavasse sat musing, in that high-backed chair, for some +considerable time. Anon Sir Marmaduke once more traversed the hall, +taking no heed of her as he went out into the garden. She watched his +broad figure moving along the path and then crossing the rustic bridge +until it disappeared among the trees of the park. + +There was something about his attitude of awhile ago which puzzled her. +And with puzzlement came an inexplicable fear: she had known Marmaduke +in all his moods, but never in such an one as he had displayed before +her just now. There had been a note almost of triumph in the laughter +with which he had greeted her last reproach. The cry of the sparrowhawk +when it seizes its prey. + +Triumph in Sir Marmaduke filled her with dread. No one knew better than +she did the hopeless condition of his financial status. Debt--prison +perhaps--was waiting for him at every turn. Yet he seemed triumphant! +She knew him to have reached those confines of irritability and +rebellion against poverty which would cause him to shrink from nothing +for the sake of gaining money. Yet he seemed triumphant! + +Instinctively she shuddered as she thought of Sue. She had no cause to +like the girl, yet would she not wish to see her come to harm. + +She did not dare avow even to herself the conviction which she had, that +if Sir Marmaduke could gain anything by the young girl's death, he would +not hesitate to ... Nay! she would not even frame that thought. +Marmaduke had been kind to her; she could but hope that temptation such +as that, would never come his way. + +Hymn-of-Praise Busy broke in on her meditations. His nasal tones--which +had a singular knack of irritating her as a rule--struck quite +pleasingly on her ear, as a welcome interruption to the conflict of her +thoughts. + +"Master Skyffington, ma'am," he said in his usual drawly voice, "he is +on his way to Dover, and desired his respects, an you wish to see him." + +"Yes! yes! I'll see Master Skyffington," she said with alacrity, rising +from her chair, "go apprise Sir Marmaduke, and ask Master Skyffington to +come within." + +She was all agitation now, eager, excited, and herself went forward to +meet the quaint, little wizened figure which appeared in the doorway. + +Master Skyffington, attorney-at-law, was small and thin--looked doubly +so, in fact, in the black clothes which he wore. His eyes were blue and +watery, his manner peculiarly diffident. He seemed to present a +perpetual apology to the world for his own existence therein. + +Even now as Mistress de Chavasse seemed really overjoyed to see him, he +backed his meager person out of the doorway as she approached, whereupon +she--impatiently--clutched his arm and dragged him forward into the +hall. + +"Sit down there, master," she said, speaking with obvious agitation, and +almost pushing the poor little man off his feet whilst dragging him to a +chair. "Sir Marmaduke will see you anon, but 'twas a kind thought to +come and bring me news." + +"Hem! ... hem! ..." stammered Master Skyffington, "I ... that is ... hem +... I left Canterbury this morning and was on my way to Dover ... hem +... this lies on my way, ma'am ... and ..." + +"Yes! yes!" she said impatiently, "but you have some news, of course?" + +"News! ... news!" he muttered apologetically, and clutching at his +collar, which seemed to be choking him, "what news--er--I pray you, +ma'am?" + +"That clew?" she insisted. + +"It was very slight," he stammered. + +"And it led to naught?" + +"Alas!" + +Her eagerness vanished. She sank back into her chair and moaned. + +"My last hope!" she said dully. + +"Nay! nay!" rejoined Master Skyffington quite cheerfully, his courage +seemingly having risen with her despair. "We must not be despondent. The +noble Earl of Northallerton hath interested himself of late in the +search and ..." + +But she shrugged her shoulders, whilst a short, bitter laugh escaped her +lips: + +"At last?" she said with biting sarcasm. "After twelve years!" + +"Nay! but remember, ma'am, that his lordship now is very ill ... and +nigh on seventy years old.... Failing your late husband, Master +Rowland--whom the Lord hath in His keeping--your eldest son is ... hem +... that is ... by law, ma'am, ... and with all respect due to Sir +Marmaduke ... your eldest son is heir to the Earldom." + +"And though his lordship hates me, he still prefers that my son should +succeed to his title, rather than Sir Marmaduke whom he abhors." + +But that suggestion was altogether too much for poor Master +Skyffington's sense of what was due to so noble a family, and to its +exalted head. + +"That is ... er ..." he muttered in supreme discomfort, swallowing great +gulps which rose to his throat at this rash and disrespectful speech +from the ex-actress. "Family feuds ... hem ... er ... very distressing +of a truth ... and ... that is ..." + +"I fear me his lordship will be disappointed," she rejoined, quite +heedless of the little attorney's perturbation, "and that under these +circumstances Sir Marmaduke will surely succeed." + +"I was about to remark," he rejoined, "that now, with my lord's +help--his wealth and influence ... now, that is, ... that he has +interested himself in the matter ... hem ... we might make fresh +inquiries ... that is ... er ..." + +"It will be useless, master. I have done all that is humanly possible. I +loved my boys dearly--and it was because of my love for them that I +placed them under my mother's care.... I loved them, you understand, but +I was living in a gay world in London ... my husband was dead ... I +could do naught for their comfort.... I thought it would be best for +them ..." + +It was her turn now to speak humbly, almost apologetically, whilst her +eyes sought those of the simple little attorney, trying to read approval +in his glance, or at any rate an absence of reproof. He was shaking his +head, sighing with visible embarrassment the while. In his innermost +soul, he could find no excuse for the frivolous mother, anxious to avoid +the responsibilities which the Lord Himself had put upon her: anxious to +be rid of her children in order that she might pursue with greater +freedom and ease that life of enjoyment and thoughtlessness which she +craved. + +"My mother was a strange woman," continued Mistress de Chavasse +earnestly and placing her small white hand on the black sleeve of the +attorney, "she cared little enough for me, and not at all for London +and for society. She did not understand the many duties that devolve on +a woman of fashion.... And I was that in those days! ... twenty years +ago!" + +"Ah! Truly! truly!" sighed Master Skyffington. + +"Mayhap she acted according to her own lights.... After some years she +became a convert to that strange new faith ... of the people who call +themselves 'Friends' ... who salute no one with the hat, and who talk so +strangely, saying: 'thee' and 'thou' even when addressing their betters. +One George Fox had a great hold on her. He was quite a youth then, but +she thought him a saint. 'Tis he, methinks, poisoned her mind against +me, and caused her to curse me on her deathbed." + +She gave a little shudder--of superstition, perhaps. The maternal +curse--she felt--was mayhap bearing fruit after all. Master +Skyffington's watery eyes expressed gentle sympathy. His calling had +taught him many of the hidden secrets of human nature and of Life: he +guessed that the time--if not already here--was nigh at hand, when this +unfortunate woman would realize the emptiness of her life, and would +begin to reap the bitter harvest of the barren seeds which she had sown. + +"Aye! I lay it all at the door of these 'Friends' who turned a mother's +heart against her own daughter," continued Mistress de Chavasse +vehemently. "She never told me that she was sick, sent me neither letter +nor message; only after her death a curt note came to me, writ in her +hand, entrusted to one of her own co-worshipers, a canting, mouthing +creature, who grinned whilst I read the heartless message. My mother had +sent her grandchildren away, so she told me in the letter, when she felt +that the Lord was calling her to Him. She had placed my boys--my boys, +master!--in the care of a trusted 'friend' who would bring them up in +the fear of God, away from the influence of their mother. My boys, +master, remember! ... they were to be brought up in ignorance of their +name--of the very existence of their mother. The 'friend,' doubtless a +fellow Quaker--had agreed to this on my mother's deathbed." + +"Hm! 'tis passing strange, and passing sad," said the attorney, with +real sympathy now, for there was a pathetic note of acute sorrow in +Mistress de Chavasse's voice, "but at the time ... hem ... and with +money and influence ... hem ... much might have been done." + +"Ah! believe me, master, I did what I could. I was in London then.... I +flew to Canterbury where my mother lived.... I found her dead ... and +the boys gone ... none of the neighbors could tell me whither.... All +they knew was that a woman had been living with my mother of late and +had gone away, taking the boys with her.... My boys, master, and no one +could tell me whither they had gone! I spent what money I had, and Sir +Marmaduke nobly bore his share in the cost of a ceaseless search, as the +Earl of Northallerton would do nothing then to help me." + +"Passing strange ... passing sad," murmured Master Skyffington, shaking +his head, "but methinks I recollect ... hem ... some six years ago ... a +quest which led to a clew ... er ... that is ... two young gentlemen +..." + +"Impostors, master," she rejoined, "aye! I have heard of many such since +then. At first I used to believe their stories ..." + +"At first?" he ejaculated in amazement, "but surely ... hem ... the +faces ... your own sons, ma'am ..." + +"Ah! the faces!" she said, whilst a blush of embarrassment, even of +shame, now suffused her pale cheeks. "I mean ... you understand ... I +... I had not seen my boys since they were babes in arms ... they were +ten years old when they were taken away ... but ... but it is nigh on +twenty-two years since I have set eyes on their faces. I would not know +them, if they passed me by." + +Tears choked her voice. Shame had added its bitter sting to the agony of +her sorrow. Of a truth it was a terrible epilogue of misery, following +on a life-story of frivolity and of heartlessness which Mistress de +Chavasse had almost unconsciously related to the poor ignorant country +attorney. Desirous at all costs of retaining her freedom, she had parted +from her children with a light heart, glad enough that their +grandmother was willing to relieve her of all responsibility. Time +slipped by whilst she enjoyed herself, danced and flirted, gambled and +played her part in that world of sport and Fashion wherein a mother's +heart was an unnecessary commodity. Ten years are a long while in the +life of an old woman who lives in a remote country town, and sees Death +approaching with slow yet certain stride; but that same decade is but as +a fleeting hour to the woman who is young and who lives for the moment. + +The boys had been forgotten long ere they disappeared! Forgotten? +perhaps not!--but their memory put away in a hidden cell of the mind +where other inconvenient thoughts were stored: only to be released and +gazed upon when other more agreeable ones had ceased to fill the brain. + +She felt humbled before this simple-minded man, whom she knew she had +shocked by the recital of her callousness. With innate gentleness of +disposition he tried to hide his feelings and to set aside the subject +for the moment. + +"Sir Marmaduke was very disinterested, when he aided you in the quest," +he said meekly, glad to be able to praise one whom he felt it his duty +to respect, "for under present circumstances ... hem! ..." + +"I will raise no difficulties in Sir Marmaduke's way," she rejoined, +"there is no doubt in my mind that my boys are dead, else I had had news +of them ere this." + +He looked at her keenly--as keenly as he dared with his mild, blue +eyes. It was hard to keep in sympathy with her. Her moods seemed to +change as she spoke of her boys and then of Sir Marmaduke. Her last +remark seemed to argue that her callousness with regard to her sons had +not entirely yielded to softer emotions yet. + +"In case of my Lord Northallerton's death," she continued lightly, "I +shall not put in a claim on behalf of any son of mine." + +"Whereupon--hem Sir Marmaduke as next-of-kin, would have the enjoyment +of the revenues--and mayhap would have influence enough then to make +good his claim to the title before the House of Lords ..." + +He checked himself: looked furtively round and added: + +"Provided it please God and my Lord Protector that the House of Lords +come back to Westminster by that time." + +"I thank you, master," said Mistress de Chavasse, rising from her chair, +intimating that this interview was now over, "you have told me all that +I wish to know. Let me assure you, that I will not prove ungrateful. +Your services will be amply repaid by whomever succeeds to the title and +revenues of Northallerton. Did you wish to see Sir Marmaduke?" + +"I thank you, mistress, not to-day," replied Master Skyffington somewhat +dryly. The lady's promises had not roused his enthusiasm. He would have +preferred to see more definite reward for his labors, for he had worked +faithfully and was substantially out of pocket in this quest after the +two missing young men. + +But he was imbued with that deep respect for the family he had served +all his life, which no conflict between privilege and people would ever +eradicate, and though Mistress de Chavasse's origin was of the humblest, +she was nevertheless herself now within the magic circle into which +Master Skyffington never gazed save with the deepest reverence. + +He thought it quite natural that she should dismiss him with a curt and +condescending nod, and when she had swept majestically out of the room, +he made his way humbly across the hall, then by the garden door out +towards the tumble-down barn where he had tethered his old mare. + +Master Courage helped him to mount, and he rode away in the direction of +the Dover Road, his head bent, his thoughts dwelling in puzzlement and +wonder on the strange doings of those whom he still reverently called +his betters. + + + + +CHAPTER VI + +UNDER THE SHADOW OF THE ELMS + + +Her head full of romantic nonsense! Well! perhaps that was the true +keynote of Sue's character; perhaps, too, it was that same romantic +temperament which gave such peculiar charm to her personality. It was +not mere beauty--of which she had a plentiful share--nor yet altogether +her wealth which attracted so many courtiers to her feet. Men who knew +her in those days at Acol and subsequently at Court said that Lady Sue +was magnetic. + +She compelled attention, she commanded admiration, through that very +romanticism of hers which caused her eyes to glow at the recital of +valor, or sorrow, or talent, which caused her to see beauty of thought +and mind and character there where it lay most deeply hidden, +there--sometimes--where it scarce existed. + +The dark figure of her guardian's secretary had attracted her attention +from the moment when she first saw him moving silently about the house +and park: the first words she spoke to him were words of sympathy. His +life-story--brief and simple as it had been--had interested her. He +seemed so different from these young and old country squires who +frequented Acol Court. He neither wooed nor flattered her, yet seemed +to find great joy in her company. His voice at times was harsh, his +manner abrupt and even rebellious, but at others it fell to infinite +gentleness when he talked to her of Nature and the stars, both of which +he had studied deeply. + +He never spoke of religion. That subject which was on everybody's +tongue, together with the free use of the most sacred names, he +rigorously avoided, also politics, and my Lord Protector's government, +his dictatorship and ever-growing tyranny: but he knew the name of every +flower that grew in meadow or woodland, the note of every bird as it +trilled its song. + +There is no doubt that but for the advent of that mysterious personality +into Acol village, the deep friendship which had grown in Sue's heart +for Richard Lambert would have warmed into a more passionate attachment. + +But she was too young to reflect, too impulsive to analyze her feelings. +The mystery which surrounded the foreigner who lodged at the Quakeress's +cottage had made strong appeal to her idealism. + +His first introduction to her notice, in the woods beyond the park gate +on that cold January evening, with the moon gleaming weirdly through the +branches of the elms, his solitary figure leaning against a tree, had +fired her imagination and set it wildly galloping after mad fantasies. + +He had scarcely spoken on that first occasion, but his silence was +strangely impressive. She made up her mind that he was singularly +handsome, although she could not judge of that very clearly for he wore +a heavy mustache, and a shade over one eye; but he was tall, above the +average, and carried the elaborate habiliments which the Cavaliers still +affected, with consummate grace and ease. She thought, too, that the +thick perruque became him very well, and his muffled voice, when he +spoke, sounded singularly sweet. + +Since then she had seen him constantly. At rare intervals at first, for +maidenly dignity forbade that she should seem eager to meet him. He was +ignorant of whom she was--oh! of that she felt quite quite sure: she +always wore a dark tippet round her shoulders, and a hood to cover her +head. He seemed pleased to see her, just to hear her voice. Obviously he +was lonely and in deep trouble. + +Then one night--it was the first balmy evening after the winter +frosts--the moon was singularly bright, and the hood had fallen back +from her head, just as her face was tilted upwards and her eyes glowing +with enthusiasm. Then she knew that he had learnt to love her, not +through any words which he spoke, for he was silent; his face was in +shadow, and he did not even touch her; therefore it was not through any +of her natural senses that she guessed his love. Yet she knew it, and +her young heart was overfilled with happiness. + +That evening when they parted he knelt at her feet and kissed the hem of +her kirtle. After which, when she was back again in her own little room +at Acol Court, she cried for very joy. + +They did not meet very often. Once a week at most. He had vaguely +promised to tell her, some day, of his great work for the regeneration +of France, which he was carrying out in loneliness and exile here in +England, a work far greater and more comprehensive than that which had +secured for England religious and political liberty; this work it was +which made him a wanderer on the face of the earth and caused his +frequent and lengthy absences from the cottage in which he lodged. + +She was quite content for the moment with these vague promises: in her +heart she was evolving enchanting plans for the future, when she would +be his helpmate in this great and mysterious work. + +In the meanwhile she was satisfied to live in the present, to console +and comfort the noble exile, to lavish on him the treasures of her young +and innocent love, to endow him in her imagination with all those mental +and physical attributes which her romantic nature admired most. + +The spring had come, clothing the weird branches of the elms with a +tender garb of green, the anemones in the woods yielded to the bluebells +and these to carpets of primroses and violets. The forests of Thanet +echoed with songs of linnets and white-throats. She was happy and she +was in love. + +With the lengthened days came some petty sorrows. He was obviously +worried, sometimes even impatient. Their meetings became fewer and +shorter, for the evening hours were brief. She found it difficult to +wander out so late across the park, unperceived, and he would never +meet her by day-light. + +This no doubt had caused him to fret. He loved her and desired her all +his own. Yet 'twere useless of a surety to ask Sir Marmaduke's consent +to her marriage with her French prince. He would never give it, and +until she came of age he had absolute power over her choice of a +husband. + +She had explained this to him and he had sighed and murmured angry +words, then pressed her with increased passion to his heart. + +To-night as she walked through the park, she was conscious--for the +first time perhaps--of a certain alloy mixed with her gladness. Yet she +loved him--oh, yes! just, just as much as ever. The halo of romance with +which she had framed in his mystic personality was in no way dimmed, but +in a sense she almost feared him, for at times his muffled voice sounded +singularly vehement, and his words betrayed the uncontrolled violence of +his nature. + +She had hoped to bring him some reassuring news anent Sir Marmaduke de +Chavasse's intentions with regard to herself, but the conversation round +the skittle-alley, her guardian's cruel allusions to "the foreign +adventurer," had shown her how futile were such hopes. + +Yet, there were only three months longer of this weary waiting. Surely +he could curb his impatience until she was of age and mistress of her +own hand! Surely he trusted her! + +She sighed as this thought crossed her mind, and nearly fell up against +a dark figure which detached itself from among the trees. + +"Master Lambert!" she said, uttering a little cry of surprise, pressing +her hand against her heart which was palpitating with emotion. "I had no +thought of meeting you here." + +"And I still less of seeing your ladyship," he rejoined coldly. + +"How cross you are," she retorted with childish petulance, "what have I +done that you should be so unkind?" + +"Unkind?" + +"Aye! I had meant to speak to you of this ere now--but you always avoid +me ... you scarce will look at me ... and ... and I wished to ask you if +I had offended you?" + +They were standing on a soft carpet of moss, overhead the gentle summer +breeze stirred the great branches of the elms, causing the crisp leaves +to mutter a long-drawn hush-sh-sh in the stillness of the night. From +far away came the appealing call of a blackbird chased by some marauding +owl, while on the ground close by, the creaking of tiny branches +betrayed the quick scurrying of a squirrel. From the remote and infinite +distance came the subdued roar of the sea. + +The peace of the woodland, the sighing of the trees, the dark evening +sky above, filled his heart with an aching longing for her. + +"Offended me?" he murmured, passing his hand across his forehead, for +his temples throbbed and his eyes were burning. "Nay! why should you +think so?" + +"You are so cold, so distant now," she said gently. "We were such good +friends when first I came here. Thanet is a strange country to me. It +seems weird and unkind--the woods are dark and lonely, that persistent +sound of the sea fills me with a strange kind of dread.... My home was +among the Surrey hills you know.... It is far from here.... I cannot +afford to lose a friend...." + +She sighed, a quaint, wistful little sigh, curiously out of place, he +thought, in this exquisite mouth framed only for smiles. + +"I have so few real friends," she added in a whisper, so low that he +thought she had not spoken, and that the elms had sighed that pathetic +phrase into his ear. + +"Believe me, Lady Sue, I am neither cold nor distant," he said, almost +smiling now, for the situation appeared strange indeed, that this +beautiful young girl, rich, courted, surrounded by an army of +sycophants, should be appealing to a poor dependent for friendship. "I +am only a little dazed ... as any man would be who had been dreaming ... +and saw that dream vanish away...." + +"Dreaming?" + +"Yes!--we all dream sometimes you know ... and a penniless man like +myself, without prospects or friends is, methinks, more prone to it than +most." + +"We all have dreams sometimes," she said, speaking very low, whilst her +eyes sought to pierce the darkness beyond the trees. "I too ..." + +She paused abruptly, and was quite still for a moment, almost holding +her breath, he thought, as if she were listening. But not a sound came +to disturb the silence of the woods. Blackbird and owl had ceased their +fight for life, the squirrel had gone to rest: the evening air was +filled only by the great murmur of the distant sea. + +"Tell me your dream," she said abruptly. + +"Alas! it is too foolish! ... too mad! ... too impossible...." + +"But you said once that you would be my friend and would try to cheer my +loneliness." + +"So I will, with all my heart, an you will permit." + +"Yet is there no friendship without confidence," she retorted. "Tell me +your dream." + +"What were the use? You would only laugh ... and justly too." + +"I should never laugh at that which made you sad," she said gently. + +"Sad?" he rejoined with a short laugh, which had something of his usual +bitterness in it. "Sad? Mayhap! Yet I hardly know. Think you that the +poor peasant lad would be sad because he had dreamed that the fairy +princess whom he had seen from afar in her radiance, was sweet and +gracious to him one midsummer's day? It was only a dream, remember: when +he woke she had vanished ... gone out of his sight ... hidden from him +by a barrier of gold.... In front of this barrier stood his pride ... +which perforce would have to be trampled down and crushed ere he could +reach the princess." + +She did not reply, only bent her sweet head, lest he should perceive the +tears which had gathered in her eyes. All round them the wood seemed to +have grown darker and more dense, whilst from afar the weird voice of +that distant sea murmured of infinity and of the relentlessness of Fate. + +They could not see one another very clearly, yet she knew that he was +gazing at her with an intensity of love and longing in his heart which +caused her own to ache with sympathy; and he knew that she was crying, +that there was something in that seemingly brilliant and happy young +life, which caused the exquisite head to droop as if under a load of +sorrow. + +A broken sigh escaped her lips, or was it the sighing of the wind in the +elms? + +He was smitten with remorse to think that he should have helped to make +her cry. + +"Sue--my little, beautiful Sue," he murmured, himself astonished at his +own temerity in thus daring to address her. It was her grief which had +brought her down to his level: the instinct of chivalry, of protection, +of friendship which had raised him up to hers. + +"Will you ever forgive me?" he said, "I had no right to speak to you as +I have done.... And yet ..." + +He paused and she repeated his last two words--gently, encouragingly. + +"And yet ... good master?" + +"Yet at times, when I see the crowd of young, empty-headed +fortune-seeking jackanapes, who dare to aspire to your ladyship's hand +... I have asked myself whether perchance I had the right to remain +silent, whilst they poured their farrago of nonsense into your ear. I +love you, Sue!" + +"No! no! good master!" she ejaculated hurriedly, while a nameless, +inexplicable fear seemed suddenly to be holding her in its grip, as he +uttered those few very simple words which told the old, old tale. + +But those words once uttered, Richard felt that he could not now draw +back. The jealously-guarded secret had escaped his lips, passion refused +to be held longer in check. A torrent of emotion overmastered him. He +forgot where he was, the darkness of the night, the lateness of the +hour, the melancholy murmur of the wind in the trees, he forgot that she +was rich and he a poor dependent, he only remembered that she was +exquisitely fair and that he--poor fool!--was mad enough to worship her. + +It was very dark now, for a bank of clouds hid the glory of the evening +sky, and he could see only the mere outline of the woman whom he so +passionately loved, the small head with the fluttering curls fanned by +the wind, the graceful shoulders and arms folded primly across her +bosom. + +He put out his hand and found hers. Oh! the delight of raising it to his +lips. + +"By the heaven above us, Sue, by all my hopes of salvation I swear to +you that my love is pure and selfless," he murmured tenderly, all the +while that her fragrant little hand was pressed against his lips. "But +for your fortune, I had come to you long ago and said to you 'Let me +work for you!--My love will help me to carve a fortune for you, which it +shall be my pride to place at your feet.'--Every nameless child, so 'tis +said, may be a king's son ... and I, who have no name that I can of +verity call mine own--no father--no kith or kindred--I would conquer a +kingdom, Sue, if you but loved me too." + +His voice broke in a sob. Ashamed of his outburst he tried to hide his +confusion from her, by sinking on one knee on that soft carpet of moss. +From the little village of Acol beyond the wood, came the sound of the +church bell striking the hour of nine. Sue was silent and absorbed, +intensely sorrowful to see the grief of her friend. He was quite lost in +the shadows at her feet now, but she could hear the stern efforts which +he made to resume control over himself and his voice. + +"Richard ... good Richard," she said soothingly, "believe me, I am very, +very sorry for this.... I ... I vow I did not know.... I had no +thought--how could I have? that you cared for me like ... like this.... +You believe me, good master, do you not?" she entreated. "Say that you +believe me, when I say that I would not willingly have caused you such +grief." + +"I believe that you are the most sweet and pure woman in all the +world," he murmured fervently, "and that you are as far beyond my reach +as are the stars." + +"Nay, nay, good master, you must not talk like that.... Truly, truly I +am only a weak and foolish girl, and quite unworthy of your deep +devotion ... and you must try ... indeed, indeed you must ... to forget +what happened under these trees to-night." + +"Of that I pray you have no fear," he replied more calmly, as he rose +and once more stood before her--a dark figure in the midst of the dark +wood--immovable, almost impassive, with head bent and arms folded across +his chest. "Nathless 'tis foolish for a nameless peasant even to talk of +his honor, yet 'tis mine honor, Lady Sue, which will ever help me to +remember that a mountain of gold and vast estates stand between me and +the realization of my dream." + +"No, no," she rejoined earnestly, "it is not that only. You are my +friend, good Richard, and I do not wish to see you eating out your heart +in vain and foolish regrets. What you ... what you wish could +never--never be. Good master, if you were rich to-morrow and I +penniless, I could never be your wife." + +"You mean that you could never love me?" he asked. + +She was silent. A fierce wave of jealousy--mad, insane, elemental +jealousy seemed suddenly to sweep over him. + +"You love someone else?" he demanded brusquely. + +"What right have you to ask?" + +"The right of a man who would gladly die to see you happy." + +He spoke harshly, almost brutally. Jealousy had killed all humility in +him. Love--proud, passionate and defiant--stood up for its just claims, +for its existence, its right to dominate, its desire to conquer. + +But even as he thus stood before her, almost frightening her now by the +violence of his speech, by the latent passion in him, which no longer +would bear to be held in check, the bank of clouds which up to now had +obscured the brilliance of the summer sky, finally swept away eastwards, +revealing the luminous firmament and the pale crescent moon which now +glimmered coldly through the branches of the trees. + +A muffled sound as of someone treading cautiously the thick bed of moss, +and the creaking of tiny twigs caused Richard Lambert to look up +momentarily from the form of the girl whom he so dearly loved, and to +peer beyond her into the weirdly illumined density of the wood. + +Not twenty yards from where they were, a low wall divided the park +itself from the wood beyond, which extended down to Acol village. At an +angle of the wall there was an iron gate, also the tumble-down pavilion, +ivy-grown and desolate, with stone steps leading up to it, through the +cracks of which weeds and moss sprouted up apace. + +A man had just emerged from out the thicket and was standing now to the +farther side of the gate looking straight at Lambert and at Sue, who +stood in the full light of the moon. A broad-brimmed hat, such as +cavaliers affected, cast a dark shadow over his face. + +It was a mere outline only vaguely defined against the background of +trees, but in that outline Lambert had already recognized the mysterious +stranger who lodged in his brother's cottage down in Acol. + +The fixed intensity of the young man's gaze caused Sue to turn and to +look in the same direction. She saw the stranger, who encountering two +pairs of eyes fixed on him, raised his hat with a graceful flourish of +the arm: then, with a short ironical laugh, went his way, and was once +more lost in the gloom. + +The girl instinctively made a movement as if to follow him, whilst a +quickly smothered cry--half of joy and half of fear--escaped her lips. +She checked the movement as well as the cry, but not before Richard +Lambert had perceived both. + +With the perception came the awful, overwhelming certitude. + +"That adventurer!" he exclaimed involuntarily. "Oh my God!" + +But she looked him full in the face, and threw back her head with a +gesture of pride and of wrath. + +"Master Lambert," she said haughtily, "methinks 'twere needless to +remind you that--since I inadvertently revealed my most cherished secret +to you--it were unworthy a man of honor to betray it to any one." + +"My lady ... Sue," he said, feeling half-dazed, bruised and crushed by +the terrible moral blow, which he had just received, "I ... I do not +quite understand. Will you deign to explain?" + +"There is naught to explain," she retorted coldly. "Prince Amédé +d'Orléans loves me and I have plighted my troth to him." + +"Nay! I entreat your ladyship," he said, feeling--knowing the while, how +useless it was to make an appeal against the infatuation of a hot-headed +and impulsive girl, yet speaking with the courage which ofttimes is born +of despair, "I beg of you, on my knees to listen. This foreign +adventurer ..." + +"Silence!" she retorted proudly, and drawing back from him, for of a +truth he had sunk on his knees before her, "an you desire to be my +friend, you must not breathe one word of slander against the man I love. +..." + +Then, as he said nothing, realizing, indeed, how futile would be any +effort or word from him, she said, with growing enthusiasm, whilst her +glowing eyes fixed themselves upon the gloom which had enveloped the +mysterious apparition of her lover: + +"Prince Amédé d'Orléans is the grandest, most selfless patriot this +world hath ever known. For the sake of France, of tyrannized, oppressed +France, which he adores, he has sacrificed everything! his position, his +home, his wealth and vast estates: he is own kinsman to King Louis, yet +he is exiled from his country whilst a price is set upon his head, +because he cannot be mute whilst he sees tyranny and oppression grind +down the people of France. He could return to Paris to-day a rich and +free man, a prince among his kindred,--if he would but sacrifice that +for which he fights so bravely: the liberty of France!" + +"Sue! my adored lady," he entreated, "in the name of Heaven listen to +me.... You do believe, do you not, that I am your friend? ... I would +give my life for you.... I swear to you that you have been deceived and +tricked by this adventurer, who, preying upon your romantic imagination +..." + +"Silence, master, an you value my friendship!" she commanded. "I will +not listen to another word. Nay! you should be thankful that I deal not +more harshly with you--that I make allowances for your miserable +jealousy.... Oh! why did you make me say that," she added with one of +those swift changes of mood, which were so characteristic of her, and +with sudden contrition, for an involuntary moan had escaped his lips. +"In the name of Heaven, go--go now I entreat ... leave me to myself ... +lest anger betray me into saying cruel things ... I am safe--quite safe +... I entreat you to let me return to the house alone." + +Her voice sounded more and more broken as she spoke: sobs were evidently +rising in her throat. He pulled himself together, feeling that it were +unmanly to worry her now, when emotion was so obviously overmastering +her. + +"Forgive me, sweet lady," he said quite gently, as he rose from his +knees. "I said more than I had any right to say. I entreat you to +forgive the poor, presuming peasant who hath dared to raise his eyes to +the fairy princess of his dreams. I pray you to try and forget all that +hath happened to-night beneath the shadows of these elms--and only to +remember one thing: that my life--my lonely, humble, unimportant +life--is yours ... to serve or help you, to worship or comfort you if +need be ... and that there could be no greater happiness for me than to +give it for your sweet sake." + +He bowed very low, until his hand could reach the hem of her kirtle, +which he then raised to his lips. She was infinitely sorry for him; all +her anger against him had vanished. + +He was very reluctant to go, for this portion of the park was some +distance from the house. But she had commanded and he quite understood +that she wished to be alone: love such as that which he felt for his +sweet lady is ever watchful, yet ever discreet. Was it not natural that +she did not care to look on him after he had angered her so? + +She seemed impatient too, and although her feelings towards him had +softened, she repeated somewhat nervously: "I pray you go! Good master, +I would be alone." + +Lambert hesitated a while longer, he looked all round him as if +suspicious of any marauders that might be lurking about. The hour was +not very late, and had she not commanded him to go? + +Nor would he seem to pry on her movements. Having once made up his mind +to obey, he did so without reserve. Having kissed the hem of her kirtle +he turned towards the house. + +He meant to keep on the tiny footpath, which she would be bound to +traverse after him, when she returned. He felt sure that something would +warn him if she really needed his help. + +The park and woodland were still: only the mournful hooting of an owl, +the sad sighing of the wind in the old elms broke the peaceful silence +of this summer's night. + + + + +CHAPTER VII + +THE STRANGER WITHIN THE GATES + + +Sue waited--expectant and still--until the last sound of the young man's +footsteps had died away in the direction of the house. + +Then with quick impulsive movements she ran to the gate; her hands +sought impatiently in the dark for the primitive catch which held it to. +A large and rusty bolt! she pulled at it--clumsily, for her hands were +trembling. At last the gate flew open; she was out in the woods, peering +into the moonlit thicket, listening for that most welcome sound, the +footsteps of the man she loved. + +"My prince!" she exclaimed, for already he was beside her--apparently he +had lain in wait for her, and now held her in his arms. + +"My beautiful and gracious lady," he murmured in that curiously muffled +voice of his, which seemed to endow his strange personality with +additional mystery. + +"You heard? ... you saw just now? ..." she asked timidly, fearful of +encountering his jealous wrath, that vehement temper of his which she +had learned to dread. + +Strangely enough he replied quite gently: "Yes ... I saw ... the young +man loves you, my beautiful Suzanne! ... and he will hate me now ..." + +He had always called her Suzanne--and her name thus spoken by him, and +with that quaint foreign intonation of his had always sounded infinitely +sweet. + +"But I love you with all my heart," she said earnestly, tenderly, her +whole soul--young, ardent, full of romance, going out to him with all +the strength of its purity and passion. "What matter if all the world +were against you?" + +As a rule when they met thus on the confines of the wood, they would +stand together by the gate, forming plans, talking of the future and of +their love. Then after a while they would stroll into the park, he +escorting her, as far as he might approach the house without being seen. + +She had no thought that Richard Lambert would be on the watch. Nay! so +wholly absorbed was she in her love for this man, once she was in his +presence, that already--womanlike--she had forgotten the young student's +impassioned avowal, his jealousy, his very existence. + +And she loved these evening strolls in the great, peaceful park, at +evening, when the birds were silent in their nests, and the great +shadows of ivy-covered elms enveloped her and her romance. From afar a +tiny light gleamed here and there in some of the windows of Acol Court. + +She had hated the grim, bare house at first, so isolated in the midst of +the forests of Thanet, so like the eyrie of a bird of prey. + +But now she loved the whole place; the bit of ill-kept tangled garden, +with its untidy lawn and weed-covered beds, in which a few standard +rose-trees strove to find a permanent home; she loved the dark and +mysterious park, the rusty gate, that wood with its rich carpet which +varied as each season came around. + +To-night her lover was more gentle than had been his wont of late. They +walked cautiously through the park, for the moon was brilliant and +outlined every object with startling vividness. The trees here were +sparser. Close by was the sunk fence and the tiny rustic bridge--only a +plank or two--which spanned it. + +Some thirty yards ahead of them they could see the dark figure of +Richard Lambert walking towards the house. + +"One more stroll beneath the trees, _ma mie_," he said lightly, "you'll +not wish to encounter your ardent suitor again." + +She loved him in this brighter mood, when he had thrown from him that +mantle of jealousy and mistrust which of late had sat on him so ill. + +He seemed to have set himself the task of pleasing her to-night--of +making her forget, mayhap, the wooing of the several suitors who had +hung round her to-day. He talked to her--always in that mysterious, +muffled voice, with the quaint rolling of the r's and the foreign +intonation of the vowels--he talked to her of King Louis and his tyranny +over the people of France: of his own political aims to which he had +already sacrificed fortune, position, home. Of his own brilliant past at +the most luxurious court the world had ever known. He fired her +enthusiasm, delighted her imagination, enchained her soul to his: she +was literally swept off the prosy face of this earth and whirled into a +realm of romance, enchanting, intoxicating, mystic--almost divine. + +She forgot fleeting time, and did not even hear the church bell over at +Acol village striking the hour of ten. + +He had to bring her back to earth, and to guide her reluctant footsteps +again towards the house. But she was too happy to part from him so +easily. She forced him to escort her over the little bridge, under the +pretense of terror at the lateness of the hour. She vowed that he could +not be perceived from the house, since all the lights were out, and +everyone indeed must be abed. Her guardian's windows, moreover, gave on +the other side of the house; and he of a surety would not be moon or +star gazing at this hour of the night. + +Her mood was somewhat reckless. The talk with which he had filled her +ears had gone to her brain like wine. She felt intoxicated with the +atmosphere of mystery, of selfless patriotism, of great and fallen +fortunes, with which he knew so well how to surround himself. Mayhap, +that in her innermost heart now there was a scarce conscious desire to +precipitate a crisis, to challenge discovery, to step boldly before her +guardian, avowing her love, demanding the right to satisfy it. + +She refused to bid him adieu save at the garden door. Three steps led +up straight into the dining-room from the flagged pathway which skirted +the house. She ran up these steps, silently and swiftly as a little +mouse, and then turned her proud and happy face to him. + +"Good-night, sweet prince," she whispered, extending her delicate hand +to him. + +She stood in the full light of the moon dominating him from the top of +the steps, an exquisite vision of youth and beauty and romance. + +He took off his broad-brimmed hat, but his face was still in shadow, for +the heavy perruque fell in thick dark curls covering both his cheeks. He +bent very low and kissed the tips of her fingers. + +"When shall we meet again, my prince?" she asked. + +"This day week, an it please you, my queen," he murmured. + +And then he turned to go. She meant to stand there and watch him cross +the tangled lawn, and the little bridge, and to see him lose himself +amidst the great shadows of the park. + +But he had scarce gone a couple of steps when a voice, issuing from the +doorway close behind her, caused her to turn in quick alarm. + +"Sue! in the name of Heaven! what doth your ladyship here and at this +hour?" + +The crisis which the young girl had almost challenged, had indeed +arrived. Mistress de Chavasse--carrying a lighted and guttering candle, +was standing close behind her. At the sound of her voice and Sue's +little cry of astonishment rather than fear, Prince Amédé d'Orléans too, +had paused, with a muttered curse on his lips, his foot angrily tapping +the flagstones. + +But it were unworthy a gallant gentleman of the most chivalrous Court in +the world to beat a retreat when his mistress was in danger of an +unpleasant quarter of an hour. + +Sue was more than a little inclined to be defiant. + +"Mistress de Chavasse," she said quietly, "will you be good enough to +explain by what right you have spied on me to-night? Hath my guardian +perchance set you to dog my footsteps?" + +"There was no thought in my mind of spying on your ladyship," rejoined +Mistress de Chavasse coldly. "I was troubled in my sleep and came +downstairs because I heard a noise, and feared those midnight marauders +of which we have heard so much of late. I myself had locked this door, +and was surprised to find it unlatched. I opened it and saw you standing +there." + +"Then we'll all to bed, fair mistress," rejoined Sue gayly. She was too +happy, too sure of herself and of her lover to view this sudden +discovery of her secret with either annoyance or alarm. She would be +free in three months, and he would be faithful to her. Love proverbially +laughs at bars and bolts, and even if her stern guardian, apprised of +her evening wanderings, prevented her from seeing her prince for the +next three months, pshaw! a hundred days at most, and nothing could keep +her from his side. + +"Good-night, fair prince," she repeated tenderly, extending her hand +towards her lover once more, while throwing a look of proud defiance to +Mistress de Chavasse. He could not help but return to the foot of the +steps; any pusillanimity on his part at this juncture, any reluctance to +meet Editha face to face or to bear the brunt of her reproaches and of +her sneers, might jeopardize the romance of his personality in the eyes +of Sue. Therefore he boldly took her hand and kissed it with mute +fervor. + +She gave a happy little laugh and added pertly: + +"Good-night, mistress ... I'll leave you to make your own adieux to +Monseigneur le Prince d'Orléans. I'll warrant that you and he--despite +the lateness of the hour--will have much to say to one another." + +And without waiting to watch the issue of her suggestion, her eyes +dancing with mischief, she turned and ran singing and laughing into the +house. + + + + +CHAPTER VIII + +PRINCE AMÉDÉ D'ORLÉANS + + +At first it seemed as if the stranger meant to beat a precipitate and +none too dignified retreat now that the adoring eyes of Lady Sue were no +longer upon him. But Mistress de Chavasse had no intention of allowing +him to extricate himself quite so easily from an unpleasant position. + +"One moment, master," she said loudly and peremptorily. "Prince or +whatever you may wish to call yourself ... ere you show me a clean pair +of heels, I pray you to explain your presence here on Sir Marmaduke's +doorstep at ten o'clock at night, and in company with his ward." + +For a moment--a second or two only--the stranger appeared to hesitate. +He paused with one foot still on the lowest of the stone steps, the +other on the flagged path, his head bent, his hand upraised in the act +of re-adjusting his broad-brimmed hat. + +Then a sudden thought seemed to strike him, he threw back his head, gave +a short laugh as if he were pleased with this new thought, then turned, +meeting Mistress de Chavasse's stern gaze squarely and fully. He threw +his hat down upon the steps and crossed his arms over his chest. + +"One moment, mistress?" he said with an ironical bow. "I do not need +one moment. I have already explained." + +"Explained? how?" she retorted, "nay! I'll not be trifled with, master, +and methinks you will find that Sir Marmaduke de Chavasse will expect +some explanation--which will prove unpleasant to yourself--for your +unwarrantable impudence in daring to approach his ward." + +He put up his hand in gentle deprecation. + +"Impudence? Oh, mistress?" he said reproachfully. + +"Let me assure you, master," she continued with relentless severity, +"that you were wise an you returned straightway to your lodgings now ... +packed your worldly goods and betook yourself and them to anywhere you +please." + +"Ah!" he sighed gently, "that is impossible." + +"You would dare? ..." she retorted. + +"I would dare remain there, where my humble presence is most +desired--beside the gracious lady who honors me with her love." + +"You are insolent, master ... and Sir Marmaduke ..." + +"Oh!" he rejoined lightly, "Sir Marmaduke doth not object." + +"There, I fear me, you are in error, master! and in his name I now +forbid you ever to attempt to speak to Lady Susannah Aldmarshe again." + +This command, accompanied by a look of withering scorn, seemed to afford +the stranger vast entertainment. He made the wrathful lady a low, +ironical bow, and clapped his hands together laughing and exclaiming: + +"Brava! brava! of a truth but this is excellent! Pray, mistress, will +you deign to tell me if in this your bidding you have asked Sir +Marmaduke for his opinion?" + +"I need not to ask him. I ask you to go." + +"Go? Whither?" he asked blandly. + +"Out of my sight and off these grounds at once, ere I rouse the servants +and have you whipped off like a dog!" she said, angered beyond measure +at his audacity, his irony, his manner, suggestive of insolent triumph. +His muffled voice with its curious foreign accent irritated her, as did +the shadow of his perruque over his brow, and the black silk shade which +he wore over one eye. + +Even now in response to her violent outburst he broke into renewed +laughter. + +"Better and better! Ah, mistress," he said with a shake of the head, "of +a truth you are more blind than I thought." + +"You are more insolent, master, than I had thought possible." + +"Yet meseems, fair lady, that in the lonely and mysterious stranger you +might have remembered your humble and devoted servant," he said, drawing +his figure up towards her. + +"You! an old friend!" she said contemptuously. "I have ne'er set eyes on +you in my life before." + +"To think that the moon should be so treacherous," he rejoined +imperturbably. "Will you not look a little closer, fair mistress, the +shadows are somewhat dark, mayhap." + +She felt his one eye fixed upon her with cold intentness, a strange +feeling of superstitious dread suddenly crept over her from head to +foot. Like a bird fascinated by a snake she came a little nearer, down +the steps, towards him, her eyes, too, riveted on his face, that curious +face of his, surrounded by the heavy perruque hiding ears and cheeks, +the mouth overshadowed by the dark mustache, one eye concealed beneath +the black silk shade. + +He seemed amused at her terror and as she came nearer to him, he too, +advanced a little until their eyes met--his, mocking, amused, restless; +hers, intent and searching. + +Thus they gazed at one another for a few seconds, whilst silence reigned +around and the moon peered down cold and chaste from above, illumining +the old house, the neglected garden, the vast park with its innumerable +dark secrets and the mysteries which it hid. + +She was the first to step back, to recoil before the ironical intensity +of that fixed gaze. She felt as if she were in a dream, as if a +nightmare assailed her, which in her wakeful hours would be dissipated +by reason, by common sense, by sound and sober fact. + +She even passed her hand across her eyes as if to sweep away from before +her vision, a certain image which fancy had conjured up. + +His laugh--strident and mocking--roused her from this dreamlike state. + +"I ... I ... do not understand," she murmured. + +"Yet it is so simple," he replied, "did you not ask me awhile ago if +nothing could be done?" + +"Who ... who are you?" she whispered, and then repeated once again: "Who +are you?" + +"I am His Royal Highness, Prince Amédé d'Orléans," said Sir Marmaduke de +Chavasse lightly, "the kinsman of His Majesty, King Louis of France, the +mysterious foreigner who works for the religious and political freedom +of his country, and on whose head _le roi soleil_ hath set a price ... +and who, moreover, hath enflamed the romantic imagination of a beautiful +young girl, thus winning her ardent love in the present and in the near +future together with her vast fortune and estates." + +He made a movement as if to remove his perruque but she stopped him with +a gesture. She had understood. And in the brilliant moonlight a complete +revelation of his personality might prove dangerous. Lady Sue herself +might still--for aught they knew--be standing in the dark room +behind--unseen yet on the watch. + +He seemed vastly amused at her terror, and boldly took the hand with +which she had arrested his act of total revelation. + +"Nay! do you recognize your humble servant at last, fair Editha?" he +queried. "On my honor, madam, Lady Sue is deeply enamored of me. What +think you of my chances now?" + +"You? You?" she repeated at intervals, mechanically, dazed still, lost +in a whirl of conflicting emotions wherein fear, amazement, and a +certain vein of superstitious horror fought a hard battle in her dizzy +brain. + +"The risks," she murmured more coherently. + +"Bah!" + +"If she discover you, before ... before ..." + +"Before she is legally my wife? Pshaw! ... Then of a truth my scheme +will come to naught ... But will you not own, Editha, that 'tis worth +the risk?" + +"Afterwards?" she asked, "afterwards?" + +"Afterwards, mistress," he rejoined enigmatically, "afterwards sits on +the knees of the gods." + +And with a flourish of his broad-brimmed hat he turned on his heel and +anon was lost in the shadows of the tall yew hedge. + +How long she stood there watching that spot whereon he had been +standing, she could not say. Presently she shivered; the night had +turned cold. She heard the cry of some small bird attacked by a midnight +prowler; was it the sparrow-hawk after its prey? + +From the other side of the house came the sound of slow and firm +footsteps, then the opening and shutting of a door. + +Sir Marmaduke de Chavasse had played his part for to-night: silently as +he had gone, so he returned to his room, whilst in another corner of the +sparrow-hawk's nest a young girl slept, dreaming dreams of patriots and +heroes, of causes nobly won, of poverty and obscurity gloriously +endured. + +Mistress de Chavasse with a sigh half of regret, half of indifference, +finally turned her back on the moonlit garden and went within. + + + + +CHAPTER IX + +SECRET SERVICE + + +Master Hymn-of-Praise Busy was excessively perturbed. Matters at the +Court were taking a curious turn. That something of unusual moment had +happened within the last few days he was thoroughly convinced, and still +having it in his mind that he was especially qualified for the lucrative +appointments in my Lord Protector's secret service--he thought this an +excellent opportunity for perfecting himself in the art of +investigation, shrewdly conducted, which he understood to be most +essential for the due fulfillment of such appointments. + +Thus we see him some few days later on a late afternoon, with back bent +nearly double, eyes fixed steadily on the ground and his face a perfect +mirror of thoughtful concentration within, slowly walking along the tiny +footpath which wound in and out the groups of majestic elms in the park. + +Musing and meditating, at times uttering strange and enigmatical +exclamations, he reached the confines of the private grounds, the spot +where the surrounding wall gave place to a low iron gate, where the +disused pavilion stood out gray and forlorn-looking in the midst of the +soft green of the trees, and where through the woods beyond the gate, +could just be perceived the tiny light which issued from the +blacksmith's cottage, the most outlying one in the village of Acol. + +Master Hymn-of-Praise leaned thoughtfully against the ivy-covered wall. +His eyes, roaming, searching, restless, pried all around him. + +"Footprints!" he mused, "footprints which of a surety must mean that +human foot hath lately trod this moss. Footprints moreover, which lead +up the steps to the door of that pavilion, wherein to my certain +knowledge, no one hath had access of late." + +Something, of course, was going on at Acol Court, that strange and +inexplicable something which he had tried to convey by covert suggestion +to Mistress Charity's female--therefore inferior--brain. + +Sir Marmaduke's temper was more sour and ill even than of yore, and +there was still an unpleasant sensation in the lumbar regions of Master +Busy's spine, whenever he sat down, which recalled a somewhat vigorous +outburst of his master's ill-humor. + +Mistress de Chavasse went about the house like a country wench +frightened by a ghost, and Mistress Charity averred that she seldom went +to bed now before midnight. Certain it is that Master Busy himself had +met the lady wandering about the house candle in hand at an hour when +all respectable folk should be abed, and when she almost fell up against +Hymn-of-Praise in the dark she gave a frightened scream as if she had +suddenly come face to face with the devil. + +Then there was her young ladyship. + +She was neither ill-tempered nor yet under the ban of fear, but Master +Busy vowed unto himself that she was suffering from ill-concealed +melancholy, from some hidden secret or wild romance. She seldom laughed, +she had spoken with discourtesy and impatience to Squire Pyncheon, who +rode over the other day on purpose to bring her a bunch of sweet +marjoram which grew in great profusion in his mother's garden: she +markedly avoided the company of her guardian, and wandered about the +park alone, at all hours of the day--a proceeding which in a young lady +of her rank was quite unseemly. + +All these facts neatly docketed in Master Busy's orderly brain, +disturbed him not a little. He had not yet made up his mind as to the +nature of the mystery which was surrounding the Court and its inmates, +but vaguely he thought of abductions and elopements, which the presence +of the richest heiress in the South of England in the house of the +poorest squire in the whole country, more than foreshadowed. + +This lonely, somewhat eerie corner of the park appeared to be the center +around which all the mysterious happenings revolved, and Master +Hymn-of-Praise had found his way hither on this fine July afternoon, +because he had distinct hopes of finding out something definite, certain +facts which he then could place before Squire Boatfield who was +major-general of the district, and who would then, doubtless, commend +him for his ability and shrewdness in forestalling what might prove to +be a terrible crime. + +The days were getting shorter now; it was little more than eight +o'clock and already the shades of evening were drawing closely in: the +last rays of the setting sun had long disappeared in a glowing haze of +gold, and the fantastic branches of the old elms, intertwined with the +parasitic ivy looked grim and threatening, silhouetted against the lurid +after glow. Master Busy liked neither the solitude, nor yet the silence +of the woods; he had just caught sight of a bat circling over the +dilapidated roof of the pavilion, and he hated bats. Though he belonged +to a community which denied the angels and ignored the saints, he had a +firm belief in the existence of a tangible devil, and somehow he could +not dissociate his ideas of hell and of evil spirits from those which +related to the mysterious flutterings of bats. + +Moreover he thought that his duties in connection with the science of +secret investigation, had been sufficiently fulfilled for the day, and +he prepared to wend his way back to the house, when the sound of voices, +once more aroused his somnolent attention. + +"Someone," he murmured within himself, "the heiress and the abductor +mayhap." + +This might prove the opportunity of his life, the chance which would +place him within the immediate notice of the major-general, perhaps of +His Highness the Protector himself. He felt that to vacate his post of +observation at this moment would be unworthy the moral discipline which +an incipient servant of the Commonwealth should impose upon himself. + +Striving to smother a sense of terror, or to disguise it even to +himself under the mask of officiousness, he looked about for a +hiding-place--a post of observation as he called it. + +A tree with invitingly forked branches seemed to be peculiarly adapted +to his needs. Hymn-of-Praise was neither very young nor very agile, but +dreams of coming notoriety lent nimbleness to his limbs. + +By the time that the voices drew nearer, the sober butler of Acol Court +was installed astride an elm bough, hidden by the dense foliage and by +the leaf-laden strands of ivy, enfolded by the fast gathering shadows of +evening, supremely uncomfortable physically, none too secure on his +perch, yet proud and satisfied in the consciousness of fulfilled duty. + +The next moment he caught sight of Mistress Charity--Mistress Charity so +please you, who had plighted her troth to him, walking arm in arm with +Master Courage Toogood, as impudent, insolent and debauched a young +jackanapes as ever defaced the forests of Thanet. + +"Mistress, fair mistress," he was sighing, and murmuring in her ear, +"the most beautiful and gracious thing on God's earth, when I hold you +pressed thus against my beating heart ..." + +Apparently his feelings were too deep to be expressed in the words of +his own vocabulary, for he paused a while, sighed audibly, and then +asked anxiously: + +"You do hear my heart beating, mistress, do you not?" + +She blushed, for she was naught but a female baggage, and though Master +Busy's impassioned protestations of less than half an hour ago, must be +still ringing in her ears, she declared emphatically that she could hear +the throbbing of that young vermin's heart. + +Master Busy up aloft was quite sure that what she heard was a few sheep +and cattle of Sir Marmaduke's who were out to grass in a field close by, +and had been scared into a canter. + +What went on for the next moment or two the saintly man on the elm tree +branch could not rightly perceive, but the next words from Mistress +Charity's lips sent a thrill of indignation through his heart. + +"Oh! Master Courage," she said with a little cry, "you must not squeeze +me so! I vow you have taken the breath out of my body! The Lord love +you, child! think you I can stay here all this while and listen to your +nonsense?" + +"Just one minute longer, fair mistress," entreated the young reprobate, +"the moon is not yet up, the birds have gone to their nests for sleep, +will ye not tarry a while here with me? That old fool Busy will never +know!" + +It is a fact that at this juncture the saintly man well-nigh fell off +his perch, and when Master Courage, amidst many coy shrieks from the +fickle female, managed to drag her down beside him, upon the carpet of +moss immediately beneath the very tree whereon Hymn-of-Praise was +holding watch, the unfortunate man had need of all his strength of mind +and of purpose not to jump down with both feet upon the lying face of +that young limb of Satan. + +But he felt that the discovery of his somewhat undignified position by +these two evil-doers would not at this moment be quite opportune, so he +endeavored to maintain his equilibrium at the cost of supreme +discomfort, and the loud cracking of the branch on which he was perched. + +Mistress Charity gave a cry of terror. + +"What was that?" + +"Nothing, nothing, mistress, I swear," rejoined Courage reassuringly, +"there are always noises in old elm trees, the ivy hangs heavy and ..." + +"I have heard it said of late that the pavilion is haunted," she +murmured under her breath. + +"No! not haunted, mistress! I vow 'tis but the crackling of loose +branches, and there is that which I would whisper in your ear ..." + +But before Master Courage had the time to indulge in this, the desire of +his heart, something fell upon the top of his lean head which certainly +never grew on the elm tree overhead. Having struck his lanky hair the +object fell straight into his lap. + +It was a button. An ordinary, brown, innocent enough looking button. But +still a button. Master Courage took it in his hand and examined it +carefully, turning it over once or twice. The little thing certainly +wore a familiar air. Master Courage of a truth had seen such an one +before. + +"That thing never grew up there, master," said Mistress Charity in an +agitated whisper. + +"No!" he rejoined emphatically, "nor yet doth a button form part of the +habiliments of a ghost." + +But not a sound came from above: and though Courage and Charity peered +upwards with ever-increasing anxiety, the fast gathering darkness +effectually hid the mystery which lurked within that elm. + +"I vow that there's something up there, mistress," said the youth with +sudden determination. + +"Could it be bats, master?" she queried with a shudder. + +"Nay! but bats do not wear buttons," he replied sententiously. "Yet of a +surety, I mean to make an investigation of the affair as that old fool +Hymn-of-Praise would say." + +Whereupon, heedless of Mistress Charity's ever-growing agitation, he ran +towards the boundary wall of the park, and vaulted the low gate with an +agile jump even as she uttered a pathetic appeal to him not to leave her +alone in the dark. + +Fear had rooted the girl to the spot. She dared not move away, fearful +lest her running might entice that mysterious owner of the brown button +to hurry in her track. Yet she would have loved to follow Master +Courage, and to put at least a gate and wall between herself and those +terrible elms. + +She was just contemplating a comprehensive and vigorous attack of +hysterics when she heard Master Courage's voice from the other side of +the gate. + +"Hist! Hist, mistress! Quick!" + +She gathered up what shreds of valor she possessed and ran blindly in +the direction whence came the welcome voice. + +"I pray you take this," said the youth, who was holding a wooden bucket +out over the gate, "whilst I climb back to you." + +"But what is it, master?" she asked, as--obeying him mechanically--she +took the bucket from him. It was heavy, for it was filled almost to the +brim with a liquid which seemed very evil-smelling. + +The next moment Master Courage was standing beside her. He took the +bucket from her and then walked as rapidly as he could with it back +towards the elm tree. + +"It will help me to dislodge the bats, mistress," he said enigmatically, +speaking over his shoulder as he walked. + +She followed him--excited but timorous--until together they once more +reached the spot, where Master Courage's amorous declarations had been +so rudely interrupted. He put the bucket down beside him, and rubbed his +hands together whilst uttering certain sounds which betrayed his glee. + +Then only did she notice that he was carrying under one arm a long +curious-looking instrument--round and made of tin, with a handle at one +end. + +She looked curiously into the bucket and at the instrument. + +"'Tis the tar-water used for syringing the cattle," she whispered, "ye +must not touch it, master. Where did you find it?" + +"Just by the wall," he rejoined. "I knew it was kept there. They wash +the sheep with it to destroy the vermin in them. This is the squirt for +it," he added calmly, placing the end of the instrument in the liquid, +"and I will mayhap destroy the vermin which is lodged in that elm tree." + +A cry of terror issuing from above froze the very blood in Mistress +Charity's veins. + +"Stop! stop! you young limb of Satan!" came from Master Busy's nearly +choking throat. + +"It's evildoers or evil spirits, master," cried Mistress Charity in an +agony of fear. + +"Whatever it be, mistress, this should destroy it!" said Master Courage +philosophically, as turning the syringe upwards he squirted the whole of +its contents straight into the fork of the ivy-covered branches. + +There was a cry of rage, followed by a cry of terror, then Master +Hymn-of-Praise Busy with a terrific clatter of breaking boughs, fell in +a heap upon the soft carpet of moss. + +Master Courage be it said to the eternal shame of venturesome youth, +took incontinently to his heels, leaving Mistress Charity to bear the +brunt of the irate saintly man's wrath. + +Master Busy, we must admit had but little saintliness left in him now. +Let us assume that--as he explained afterwards--he was not immediately +aware of Mistress Charity's presence, and that his own sense of +propriety and of decorum had been drowned in a cataract of tar water. +Certain it is that a volley of oaths, which would have surprised Sir +Marmaduke himself, escaped his lips. + +Had he not every excuse? He was dripping from head to foot, spluttering, +blinded, choked and bruised. + +He shook himself like a wet spaniel. Then hearing the sound of a +smothered exclamation which did not seem altogether unlike a giggle, he +turned round savagely and perceived the dim outline of Mistress +Charity's dainty figure. + +"The Lord love thee, Master Hymn-of-Praise," she began, somewhat +nervously, "but you have made yourself look a sight." + +"And by G--d I'll make that young jackanapes look a sight ere I take my +hand off him," he retorted savagely. + +"But what were you ... hem! what wert thou doing up in the elm tree, +friend Hymn-of-Praise?" she asked demurely. + +"Thee me no thou!" he said with enigmatic pompousness, followed by a +distinctly vicious snarl, "Master Busy will be my name in future for a +saucy wench like thee." + +He turned towards the house. Mistress Charity following meekly--somewhat +subdued, for Master Busy was her affianced husband, and she had no mind +to mar her future, through any of young Courage's dare-devil escapades. + +"Thou wouldst wish to know what I was doing up in that forked tree?" he +asked her with calm dignity after a while, when the hedges of the flower +garden came in sight. "I was making a home for thee, according to the +commands of the Lord." + +"Not in the elm trees of a surety, Master Busy?" + +"I was making a home for thee," he repeated without heeding her flippant +observation, "by rendering myself illustrious. I told thee, wench, did I +not? that something was happening within the precincts of Acol Court, +and that it is my duty to lie in wait and to watch. The heiress is about +to be abducted, and it is my task to frustrate the evil designs of the +mysterious criminal." + +She looked at him in speechless amazement. He certainly looked strangely +weird in the semi-darkness with his lanky hair plastered against his +cheeks, his collar half torn from round his neck, the dripping, oily +substance flowing in rivulets from his garments down upon the ground. + +The girl had no longer any desire to laugh, and when Master Busy strode +majestically across the rustic bridge, then over the garden paths to the +kitchen quarter of the house, she followed him without a word, awed by +his extraordinary utterances, vaguely feeling that in his dripping +garments he somehow reminded her of Jonah and the whale. + + + + +CHAPTER X + +AVOWED ENMITY + + +The pavilion had been built some fifty years ago, by one of the Spantons +of Acol who had a taste for fanciful architecture. + +It had been proudly held by several deceased representatives of the +family to be the reproduction of a Greek temple. It certainly had +columns supporting the portico, and steps leading thence to the ground. +It was also circular in shape and was innocent of windows, deriving its +sole light from the door, when it was open. + +The late Sir Jeremy, I believe, had been very fond of the place. Being +of a somewhat morose and taciturn disposition, he liked the seclusion of +this lonely corner of the park. He had a chair or two put into the +pavilion and 'twas said that he indulged there in the smoking of that +fragrant weed which of late had been more generously imported into this +country. + +After Sir Jeremy's death, the pavilion fell into disuse. Sir Marmaduke +openly expressed his dislike of the forlorn hole, as he was wont to call +it. He caused the door to be locked, and since then no one had entered +the little building. The key, it was presumed, had been lost; the lock +certainly looked rusty. The roof, too, soon fell into disrepair, and no +doubt within, the place soon became the prey of damp and mildew, the +nest of homing birds, or the lair of timid beasts. Very soon the proud +copy of an archaic temple took on that miserable and forlorn look +peculiar to uninhabited spots. + +From an air of abandonment to that of eeriness was but a step, and now +the building towered in splendid isolation, in this remote corner of the +park, at the confines of the wood, with a reputation for being the abode +of ghosts, of bats and witches, and other evil things. + +When Master Busy sought for tracks of imaginary criminals bent on +abducting the heiress he naturally drifted to this lonely spot; when +Master Courage was bent on whispering sweet nothings into the ear of the +other man's betrothed, he enticed her to that corner of the park where +he was least like to meet the heavy-booted saint. + +Thus it was that these three met on the one spot where as a rule at a +late hour of the evening Prince Amédé d'Orléans was wont to commence his +wanderings, sure of being undisturbed, and with the final disappearance +of Master Busy and Mistress Charity the place was once more deserted. + +The bats once more found delight in this loneliness and from all around +came that subdued murmur, that creaking of twigs, that silence so full +of subtle sounds, which betrays the presence of animal life on the +prowl. + +Anon there came the harsh noise of a key grating in a rusty lock. The +door of the pavilion was cautiously opened from within and the +mysterious French prince, bewigged, booted and hatted, emerged into the +open. The night had drawn a singularly dark mantle over the woods. Banks +of cloud obscured the sky; the tall elm trees with their ivy-covered +branches, and their impenetrable shadows beneath, formed a dense wall +which the sight of human creatures was not keen enough to pierce. Sir +Marmaduke de Chavasse, in spite of this darkness, which he hailed +gleefully, peered cautiously and intently round as he descended the +steps. + +He had not met Lady Sue in the capacity of her romantic lover since that +evening a week ago, when his secret had been discovered by Mistress de +Chavasse. The last vision he had had of the young girl was one redolent +of joy and love and trust, sufficient to reassure him that all was well +with her, in regard to his schemes; but on that same evening a week ago +he had gazed upon another little scene, which had not filled him with +either joy or security. + +He had seen Lady Sue standing beside a young man whose personality--to +say the least--was well-nigh as romantic as that of the exiled scion of +the house of Orléans. He had seen rather than heard a young and +passionate nature pouring into girlish ears the avowal of an unselfish +and ardent love which had the infinite merit of being real and true. + +However well he himself might play his part of selfless hero and of +vehement lover, there always lurked the danger that the falseness of his +protestations would suddenly ring a warning note to the subtle sense of +the confiding girl. Were it not for the intense romanticism of her +disposition, which beautified and exalted everything with which it came +in contact, she would of a surety have detected the lie ere this. He had +acted his dual rôle with consummate skill, the contrast between the +surly Puritanical guardian, with his round cropped head and shaven face, +and the elegantly dressed cavalier, with a heavy mustache, an enormous +perruque and a shade over one eye, was so complete that even Mistress de +Chavasse--alert, suspicious, wholly unromantic, had been momentarily +deceived, and would have remained so but for his voluntary revelation of +himself. + +But the watchful and disappointed young lover was the real danger: a +danger complicated by the fact that the Prince Amédé d'Orléans actually +dwelt in the cottage owned by Lambert's brother, the blacksmith. The +mysterious prince had perforce to dwell somewhere; else, whenever spied +by a laborer or wench from the village, he would have excited still +further comment, and his movements mayhap would have been more +persistently dogged. + +For this reason Sir Marmaduke had originally chosen Adam Lambert's +cottage to be his headquarters; it stood on the very outskirts of the +village and as he had only the wood to traverse between it and the +pavilion where he effected his change of personality, he ran thus but +few risks of meeting prying eyes. Moreover, Adam Lambert, the +blacksmith, and the old woman who kept house for him, both belonged to +the new religious sect which Judge Bennett had so pertinently dubbed the +Quakers, and they kept themselves very much aloof from gossip and the +rest of the village. + +True, Richard Lambert oft visited his brother and the old woman, but did +so always in the daytime when Prince Amédé d'Orléans carefully kept out +of the way. Sir Marmaduke de Chavasse had all the true instincts of the +beast or bird of prey. He prowled about in the dark, and laid his snares +for the seizure of his victim under cover of the night. + +This evening certain new schemes had found birth in his active mind; he +was impatient that the victim tarried, when his brain was alive with +thoughts of how to effect a more speedy capture. He leaned against the +wall, close by the gate as was his wont when awaiting Sue, smiling +grimly to himself at thought of the many little subterfuges she would +employ to steal out of the house, without encountering--as she +thought--her watchful guardian. + +A voice close behind him--speaking none too kindly--broke in on his +meditations, causing him to start--almost to crouch like a frightened +cat. + +The next moment he had recognized the gruff and nasal tones of Adam +Lambert. Apparently the blacksmith had just come from the wood through +the gate, and had almost stumbled in the dark against the rigid figure +of his mysterious lodger. + +"Friend, what dost thou here?" he asked peremptorily. But already Sir +Marmaduke had recovered from that sudden sense of fear which had caused +him to start in alarm. + +"I would ask the same question of you, my friend," he retorted airily, +speaking in the muffled voice and with the markedly foreign accent which +he had assumed for the rôle of the Prince, "might I inquire what you are +doing here?" + +"I have to see a sick mare down Minster way," replied Lambert curtly, +"this is a short cut thither, and Sir Marmaduke hath granted me leave. +But he liketh not strangers loitering in his park." + +"Then, friend," rejoined the other lightly, "when Sir Marmaduke doth +object to my strolling in his garden, he will doubtless apprise me of +the fact, without interference from you." + +Adam Lambert, after his uncivil greeting of his lodger, had already +turned his back on him, loath to have further speech with a man whom he +hated and despised. + +Like the majority of country folk these days, the blacksmith had a +wholesale contempt for every foreigner, and more particularly for those +who hailed from France: that country--in the estimation of all Puritans, +Dissenters and Republicans--being the happy abode of every kind of +immorality and debauchery. + +Prince Amédé d'Orléans--as he styled himself--with his fantastic +clothes, his airs and graces and long, curly hair was an object of +special aversion to the Quaker, even though the money which the +despised foreigner paid for his lodgings was passing welcome these hard +times. + +Adam resolutely avoided speech with the Prince, whenever possible, but +the latter's provocative and sarcastic speech roused his dormant hatred; +like a dog who has been worried, he now turned abruptly round and faced +Sir Marmaduke, stepping close up to him, his eyes glaring with +vindictive rage, a savage snarl rising in his throat. + +"Take notice, friend," he said hoarsely, "that I'll not bear thine +impudence. Thou mayest go and bully the old woman at the cottage when I +am absent--Oh! I've heard thee!" he added with unbridled savagery, +"ordering her about as if she were thy serving wench ... but let me tell +thee that she is no servant of thine, nor I ... so have done, my fine +prince ... dost understand?" + +"Prithee, friend, do not excite yourself," said Sir Marmaduke blandly, +drawing back against the wall as far as he could to avoid close +proximity with his antagonist. "I have never wished to imply that +Mistress Lambert was aught but my most obliging, most amiable +landlady--nor have I, to my certain knowledge, overstepped the +privileges of a lodger. I trust that your worthy aunt hath no cause for +complaint. Mistress Lambert is your aunt?" he added superciliously, "is +she not?" + +"That is nothing to thee," muttered the other, "if she be my aunt or no, +as far as I can see." + +"Surely not. I asked in a spirit of polite inquiry." + +But apparently this subject was one which had more than any other the +power to rouse the blacksmith's savage temper. He fought with it for a +moment or two, for anger is the Lord's, and strict Quaker discipline +forbade such unseemly wrangling. But Adam was a man of violent +temperament which his strict religious training had not altogether +succeeded in holding in check: the sneers of the foreign prince, his +calm, supercilious attitude, broke the curb which religion had set upon +his passion. + +"Aye! thou art mighty polite to me, my fine gentleman," he said +vehemently. "Thou knowest what I think of thy lazy foreign ways ... why +dost thou not do a bit of honest work, instead of hanging round her +ladyship's skirts? ... If I were to say a word to Sir Marmaduke, 'twould +be mightily unpleasant for thee, an I mistake not. Oh! I know what +thou'rt after, with thy fine ways, and thy romantic, lying talk of +liberty and patriotism! ... the heiress, eh, friend? That is thy +design.... I am not blind, I tell thee.... I have seen thee and her ..." + +Sir Marmaduke laughed lightly, shrugging his shoulders in token of +indifference. + +"Quite so, quite so, good master," he said suavely, "do ye not waste +your breath in speaking thus loudly. I understand that your sentiments +towards me do not partake of that Christian charity of which ye and +yours do prate at times so loudly. But I'll not detain you. Doubtless +worthy Mistress Lambert will be awaiting you, or is it the sick mare +down Minster way that hath first claim on your amiability? I'll not +detain you." + +He turned as if to go, but Adam's hard grip was on his shoulder in an +instant. + +"Nay! thou'lt not detain me--'tis I am detaining thee!" said the +blacksmith hoarsely, "for I desired to tell thee that thy ugly French +face is abhorrent to me ... I do not hold with princes.... For a prince +is none better than another man nay, he is worse an he loafs and steals +after heiresses and their gold ... and will not do a bit of honest +work.... Work makes the man.... Work and prayer ... not your titles and +fine estates. This is a republic now ... understand? ... no king, no +House of Lords--please the Lord neither clergymen nor noblemen soon.... +I work with my hands ... and am not ashamed. The Lord Saviour was a +carpenter and not a prince.... My brother is a student and a +gentleman--as good as any prince--understand? Ten thousand times as good +as thee." + +He relaxed his grip which had been hard as steel on Sir Marmaduke's +shoulder. It was evident that he had been nursing hatred and loathing +against his lodger for some time, and that to-night the floodgates of +his pent-up wrath had been burst asunder through the mysterious prince's +taunts, and insinuations anent the cloud and secrecy which hung round +the Lamberts' parentage. + +Though his shoulder was painful and bruised under the pressure of the +blacksmith's rough fingers, Sir Marmaduke did not wince. He looked his +avowed enemy boldly in the face, with no small measure of contempt for +the violence displayed. + +His own enmity towards those who thwarted him was much more subtle, +silent and cautious. He would never storm and rage, show his enmity +openly and caution his antagonist through an outburst of rage. Adam +Lambert still glaring into his lodger's eye, encountered nothing therein +but irony and indulgent contempt. + +Religion forbade him to swear. Yet was he sorely tempted, and we may +presume that he cursed inwardly, for his enemy refused to be drawn into +wordy warfare, and he himself had exhausted his vocabulary of sneering +abuse, even as he had exhausted his breath. + +Perhaps in his innermost heart he was ashamed of his outburst. After +all, he had taken this man's money, and had broken bread with him. His +hand dropped to his side, and his head fell forward on his breast even +as with a pleasant laugh the prince carelessly turned away, and with an +affected gesture brushed his silken doublet, there where the +blacksmith's hard grip had marred the smoothness of the delicate fabric. + +Had Adam Lambert possessed that subtle sixth sense, which hears and sees +that which goes on in the mind of others, he had perceived a thought in +his lodger's brain cells which might have caused him to still further +regret his avowal of open enmity. + +For as the blacksmith finally turned away and walked off through the +park, skirting the boundary wall, Sir Marmaduke looked over his shoulder +at the ungainly figure which was soon lost in the gloom, and muttered a +round oath between his teeth. + +"An exceedingly unpleasant person," he vowed within himself, "you will +have to be removed, good master, an you get too troublesome." + + + + +CHAPTER XI + +SURRENDER + + +But this interview with the inimical Quaker had more than strengthened +Sir Marmaduke's design to carry his bold scheme more rapidly to its +successful issue. + +The game which he had played with grave risks for over three months now +had begun to be dangerous. The mysterious patriot from France could not +afford to see prying enemies at his heels. + +Anon when the graceful outline of Lady Sue's figure emerged from out the +surrounding gloom, Sir Marmaduke went forward to meet her, and clasped +her to him in a passionate embrace. + +"My gracious lady ... my beautiful Sue ..." he murmured whilst he +covered her hands, her brow, her hair with ardent kisses, "you have come +so late--and I have been so weary of waiting ... waiting for you." + +He led her through the gardens to where one gigantic elm, grander than +its fellows, had thrown out huge gnarled roots which protruded from out +the ground. One of these, moss-covered, green and soft, formed a perfect +resting place. He drew her down, begging her to sit. She obeyed, scared +somewhat as was her wont when she found him so unfettered and violent. + +He stretched himself at full length at her feet, extravagant now in his +acts and gestures like a man who no longer can hold turbulent passion in +check. He kissed the edge of her kirtle, then her cloak and the tips of +her little shoes: + +"It was cruel to keep me waiting ... gracious lady--it was cruel," he +murmured in the intervals between these ardent caresses. + +"I am so sorry, Amédé," she repeated, grieving to see him so sorrowful, +not a little frightened at his vehemence,--trying to withdraw her hands +from his grasp. "I was detained ..." + +"Detained," he rejoined harshly, "detained by someone else ... someone +who had a greater claim on your time than the poor exile ..." + +"Nay! 'tis unkind thus to grieve me," she said with tender reproach as +she felt the hot tears gather in her eyes. "You know--as I do--that I am +not my own mistress yet." + +"Yes! yes! forgive me--my gracious, sweet, sweet lady.... I am mad when +you are not nigh me.... You do not know--how could you? ... what +torments I endure, when I think of you so beautiful, so exquisite, so +adorable, surrounded by other men who admire you ... desire you, +mayhap.... Oh! my God! ..." + +"But you need have no fear," she protested gently, "you know that I gave +my whole heart willingly to you ... my prince ..." + +"Nay, but you cannot know," he persisted violently, "sweet, gentle +creature that you are, you cannot guess the agonies which a strong man +endures when he is gnawed by ruthless insane jealousy ..." + +She gave a cry of pain. + +"Amédé!" for she felt hurt, deeply wounded by his mistrust of her, when +she had so wholly, so fully trusted him. + +"I know ... I know," he said with quick transition of tone, fearful that +he had offended her, striving to master his impatience, to find words +which best pleased her young, romantic temperament, "Nay! but you must +think me mad.... Mayhap you despise me," he added with a gentle note of +sadness. "Oh, God! ... mayhap you will turn from me now...." + +"No! no!" + +"Yet do I worship you ... my saint ... my divinity ... my Suzanne.... +You are more beautiful, more adorable than any woman in the world ... +and I am so unworthy." + +"You unworthy!" she retorted, laughing gayly through her tears. "You, my +prince, my king! ..." + +"Say that once more, my Suzanne," he murmured with infinite gentleness, +"oh! the exquisite sweetness of your voice, which is like dream-music in +mine ears.... Oh! to hold you in my arms thus, for ever ... until death, +sweeter than life ... came to me in one long passionate kiss." + +She allowed him to put his arms round her now, glad that the darkness +hid the blush on her cheeks; thus she loved him, thus she had first +learned to love him, ardent, oh, yes! but so gentle, so meek, yet so +great and exalted in his selfless patriotism. + +"'Tis not of death you should speak, sweet prince," she said, ineffably +happy now that she felt him more subdued, more trusting and fond, +"rather should you speak of life ... with me, your own Suzanne ... of +happiness in the future, when you and I, hand in hand, will work +together for that great cause you hold so dear ... the freedom and +liberties of France." + +"Ah, yes!" he sighed in utter dejection, "when that happy time comes ... +but ..." + +"You do not trust me?" she asked reproachfully. + +"With all my heart, my Suzanne," he replied, "but you are so beautiful, +so rich ... and other men ..." + +"There are no other men for me," she retorted simply. "I love you." + +"Will you prove it to me?" + +"How can I?" + +"Be mine ... mine absolutely," he urged eagerly with passion just +sufficiently subdued to make her pulses throb. "Be my wife ... my +princess ... let me feel that no one could come between us...." + +"But my guardian would never consent," she protested. + +"Surely your love for me can dispense with Sir Marmaduke's consent...." + +"A secret marriage?" she asked, terrified at this strange vista which +his fiery imagination was conjuring up before her. + +"You refuse? ..." he asked hoarsely. + +"No! no! ... but ..." + +"Then you do not love me, Suzanne." + +The coolness in his tone struck a sudden chill to her heart. She felt +the clasp of his arms round her relax, she felt rather than saw that he +withdrew markedly from her. + +"Ah! forgive me! forgive me!" she murmured, stretching her little hands +out to him in a pathetic and childlike appeal. "I have never deceived +anyone in my life before.... How could I live a lie? ... married to you, +yet seemingly a girl.... Whilst in three months...." + +She paused in her eagerness, for he had jumped to his feet and was now +standing before her, a rigid, statuesque figure, with head bent and arms +hanging inert by his side. + +"You do not love me, Suzanne," he said with an infinity of sadness, +which went straight to her own loving heart, "else you would not dream +of thus condemning me to three months of exquisite torture.... I have +had my answer.... Farewell, my gracious lady ... not mine, alas! but +another man's ... and may Heaven grant that he love you well ... not as +I do, for that were impossible...." + +His voice had died away in a whisper, which obviously was half-choked +with tears. She, too, had risen while he spoke, all her hesitation +gone, her heart full of reproaches against herself, and of love for him. + +"What do you mean?" she asked trembling. + +"That I must go," he replied simply, "since you do not love me...." + +Oh! how thankful she was that this merciful darkness enwrapped her so +tenderly. She was so young, so innocent and pure, that she felt half +ashamed of the expression of her own great love which went out to him in +a veritable wave of passion, when she began to fear that she was about +to lose him. + +"No, no," she cried vehemently, "you shall not go ... you shall not." + +Her hands sought his in the gloom, and found them, clung to them with +ever-growing ardor; she came quite close to him trying to peer into his +face and to let him read in hers all the pathetic story of her own deep +love for him. + +"I love you," she murmured through her tears. And again she repeated: "I +love you. See," she added with sudden determination, "I will do e'en as +you wish.... I will follow you to the uttermost ends of the earth.... I +... I will marry you ... secretly ... an you wish." + +Welcome darkness that hid her blushes! ... she was so young--so ignorant +of life and of the world--yet she felt that by her words, her promise, +her renunciation of her will, she was surrendering something to this +man, which she could never, never regain. + +Did the first thought of fear, or misgiving cross her mind at this +moment? It were impossible to say. The darkness which to her was so +welcome was--had she but guessed it--infinitely cruel too, for it hid +the look of triumph, of rapacity, of satisfied ambition which at her +selfless surrender had involuntarily crept into Marmaduke's eyes. + + + + +CHAPTER XII + +A WOMAN'S HEART + + +It is difficult, perhaps, to analyze rightly the feelings and sensations +of a young girl, when she is literally being swept off her feet in a +whirlpool of passion and romance. + +Some few years later when Lady Sue wrote those charming memoirs which +are such an interesting record of her early life, she tried to note with +faithful accuracy what was the exact state of her mind when three months +after her first meeting with Prince Amédé d'Orléans, she plighted her +troth to him and promised to marry him in secret and in defiance of her +guardian's more than probable opposition. + +Her sentiments with regard to her mysterious lover were somewhat +complex, and undoubtedly she was too young, too inexperienced then to +differentiate between enthusiastic interest in a romantic personality, +and real, lasting, passionate love for a man, as apart from any halo of +romance which might be attached to him. + +When she was a few years older she averred that she could never have +really loved her prince, because she always feared him. Hers, therefore, +was not the perfect love that casteth out fear. She was afraid of him in +his ardent moods, almost as much as when he allowed his unbridled temper +free rein. Whenever she walked through the dark bosquets of the park, +on her way to a meeting with her lover, she was invariably conscious of +a certain trepidation of all her nerves, a wonderment as to what he +would say when she saw him, how he would act; whether chide, or rave, or +merely reproach. + +It was the gentle and pathetic terror of a child before a stern yet +much-loved parent. Yet she never mistrusted him ... perhaps because she +had never really seen him--only in outline, half wrapped in shadows, or +merely silhouetted against a weirdly lighted background. His appearance +had no tangible reality for her. She was in love with an ideal, not with +a man ... he was merely the mouthpiece of an individuality which was of +her own creation. + +Added to all this there was the sense of isolation. She had lost her +mother when she was a baby; her father fell at Naseby. She herself had +been an only child, left helplessly stranded when the civil war +dispersed her relations and friends, some into exile, others in splendid +revolt within the fastnesses of their own homes, impoverished by pillage +and sequestration, rebellious, surrounded by spies, watching that +opportunity for retaliation which was so slow in coming. + +Tossed hither and thither by Fate in spite of--or perhaps because +of--her great wealth, she had found a refuge, though not a home, at Acol +Court; she had been of course too young at the time to understand +rightly the great conflict between the King's party and the Puritans, +but had naturally embraced the cause--for which her father's life had +been sacrificed--blindly, like a child of instinct, not like a woman of +thought. + +Her guardian and Mistress de Chavasse stood for that faction of +Roundheads at which her father and all her relatives had sneered even +while they were being conquered and oppressed by them. She disliked them +both from the first; and chafed at the parsimonious habits of the house, +which stood in such glaring contrast to the easy lavishness of her own +luxurious home. + +Fortunately for her, her guardian avoided rather than sought her +company. She met him at meals and scarcely more often than that, and +though she often heard his voice about the house, usually raised in +anger or impatience, he was invariably silent and taciturn when she was +present. + +The presence of Richard Lambert, his humble devotion, his whole-hearted +sympathy and the occasional moments of conversation which she had with +him were the only bright moments in her dull life at the Court: and +there is small doubt but that the friendship and trust which +characterized her feelings towards him would soon have ripened into more +passionate love, but for the advent into her life of the mysterious +hero, who by his personality, his strange, secretive ways, his talk of +patriotism and liberty, at once took complete possession of her girlish +imagination. + +She was perhaps just too young when she met Lambert; she had not yet +reached that dangerous threshold when girlhood looks from out obscure +ignorance into the glaring knowledge of womanhood. She was a child when +Lambert showed his love for her by a thousand little simple acts of +devotion and by the mute adoration expressed in his eyes. Lambert drew +her towards the threshold by his passionate love, and held her back +within the refuge of innocent girlhood by the sincerity and exaltation +of his worship. + +With the first word of vehement, unreasoning passion, the mysterious +prince dragged the girl over that threshold into womanhood. He gave her +no time to think, no time to analyze her feelings; he rushed her into a +torrent of ardor and of excitement in which she never could pause in +order to draw breath. + +To-night she had promised to marry him secretly--to surrender herself +body and soul to this man whom she hardly knew, whom she had never +really seen; she felt neither joy nor remorse, only a strange sense of +agitation, an unnatural and morbid impatience to see the end of the next +few days of suspense. + +For the first time since she had come to Acol, and encountered the +kindly sympathy of Richard Lambert, she felt bitterly angered against +him when, having parted from the prince at the door of the pavilion, she +turned, to walk back towards the house and came face to face with the +young man. + +A narrow path led through the trees, from the ha-ha to the gate, and +Richard Lambert was apparently walking along aimlessly, in the direction +of the pavilion. + +"I came hoping to meet your ladyship and to escort you home. The night +seems very dark," he explained simply in answer to a sudden, haughty +stiffening of her young figure, which he could not help but notice. + +"I was taking a stroll in the park," she rejoined coldly, "the evening +is sweet and balmy but ... I have no need of escort, Master Lambert ... +I thank you.... It is late and I would wish to go indoors alone." + +"It is indeed late, gracious lady," he said gently, "and the park is +lonely at night ... will you not allow me to walk beside you as far as +the house?" + +But somehow his insistence, his very gentleness struck a jarring note, +for which she herself could not have accounted. Was it the contrast +between two men, which unaccountably sent a thrill of disappointment, +almost of apprehension, through her heart? + +She was angry with Lambert, bitterly angry because he was kind and +gentle and long-suffering, whilst the other was violent, even brutal at +times. + +"I must repeat, master, that I have no need of your escort," she said +haughtily, "I have no fear of marauders, nor yet of prowling beasts. And +for the future I should be grateful to you," she added, conscious of her +own cruelty, determined nevertheless to be remorselessly cruel, "if you +were to cease that system which you have adopted of late--that of +spying on my movements." + +"Spying?" + +The word had struck him in the face like a blow. And she, womanlike, +with that strange, impulsive temperament of hers, was not at all sorry +that she had hurt him. Yet surely he had done her no wrong, save by +being so different from the other man, and by seeming to belittle that +other in her sight, against her will and his own. + +"I am grieved, believe me," she said coldly, "if I seem unkind ... but +you must see for yourself, good master, that we cannot go on as we are +doing now.... Whenever I go out, you follow me ... when I return I find +you waiting for me.... I have endeavored to think kindly of your +actions, but if you value my friendship, as you say you do, you will let +me go my way in peace." + +"Nay! I humbly beg your ladyship's gracious forgiveness," he said; "if I +have transgressed, it is because I am blind to all save your ladyship's +future happiness, and at times the thought of that adventurer is more +than I can bear." + +"You do yourself no good, Master Lambert, by talking thus to me of the +man I love and honor beyond all things in this world. You are blind and +see not things as they are: blind to the merits of one who is as +infinitely above you as the stars. But nathless I waste my breath +again.... I have no power to convince you of the grievous error which +you commit. But if you cared for me, as you say you do ..." + +"If I cared!" he murmured, with a pathetic emphasis on that little word +"if." + +"As a friend I mean," she rejoined still cold, still cruel, still +womanlike in that strange, inexplicable desire to wound the man who +loved her. "If you care for me as a friend, you will not throw yourself +any more in the way of my happiness. Now you may escort me home, an you +wish. This is the last time that I shall speak to you as a friend, in +response to your petty attacks on the man whom I love. Henceforth you +must chose 'twixt his friendship and my enmity!" + +And without vouchsafing him another word or look, she gathered her cloak +more closely about her, and walked rapidly away along the narrow path. + +He followed with head bent, meditating, wondering! Wondering! + + + + +CHAPTER XIII + +AN IDEA + + +The triumph was complete. But of a truth the game was waxing dangerous. + +Lady Sue Aldmarshe had promised to marry her prince. She would keep her +word, of that Sir Marmaduke was firmly convinced. But there would of +necessity be two or three days delay and every hour added to the +terrors, the certainty of discovery. + +There was a watch-dog at Sue's heels, stern, alert, unyielding. Richard +Lambert was probing the secret of the mysterious prince, with the +unerring eye of the disappointed lover. + +The meeting to-night had been terribly dangerous. Sir Marmaduke knew +that Lambert was lurking somewhere in the park. + +At present even the remotest inkling of the truth must still be far from +the young man's mind. The whole scheme was so strange, so daring, so +foreign to the simple ideas of the Quaker-bred lad, that its very +boldness had defied suspicion. But the slightest mischance now, a +meeting at the door of the pavilion, an altercation--face to face, eye +to eye--and Richard Lambert would be on the alert. His hatred would not +be so blind, nor yet so clumsy, as that of his brother, the blacksmith. +There is no spy so keen in all the world as a jealous lover. + +This had been the prince's first meeting with Sue, since that memorable +day when the secret of their clandestine love became known to Lambert. +Sir Marmaduke knew well that it had been fraught with danger; that every +future meeting would wax more and more perilous still, and that the +secret marriage itself, however carefully and secretively planned, would +hardly escape the prying eyes of the young man. + +The unmasking of Prince Amédé d'Orléans before Sue had become legally +his wife was a possibility which Sir Marmaduke dared not even think of, +lest the very thought should drive him mad. Once she was his wife! ... +well, let her look to herself.... The marriage tie would be a binding +one, he would see to that, and her fortune should be his, even though he +had won her by a lie. + +He had staked his very existence on the success of his scheme. Lady +Sue's fortune was the one aim of his life, for it he had worked and +striven, and lied: he would not even contemplate a future without it, +now that his plans had brought him so near the goal. + +He had one faithful ally, though not a powerful one, in Editha, who, +lured by some vague promises of his, desperate too, as regarded her own +future, had chosen to throw in her lot whole-heartedly with his. + +He was closeted with her on the following day, in the tiny +withdrawing-room which leads out of the hall at Acol Court. When he had +stolen into the house in the small hours of the morning he had seen +Richard Lambert leaning out of one of the windows which gave upon the +park. + +It seemed as if the young man must have seen him when he skirted the +house, for though there was no moonlight, the summer's night was +singularly clear. That Lambert had been on the watch--spying, as Sir +Marmaduke said with a bitter oath of rage--was beyond a doubt. + +Editha too was uneasy; she thought that Lambert had purposely avoided +her the whole morning. + +"I lingered in the garden for as long as I could," she said to her +brother-in-law, watching with keen anxiety his restless movements to and +fro in the narrow room, "I thought Lambert would keep within doors if he +saw me about. He did not actually see you, Marmaduke, did he?" she +queried with ever-growing disquietude. + +"No. Not face to face," he replied curtly. "I contrived to avoid him in +the park, and kept well within the shadows, when I saw him spying +through the window. + +"Curse him!" he added with savage fury, "curse him, for a meddlesome, +spying cur!" + +"The whole thing is becoming vastly dangerous," she sighed. + +"Yet it must last for another few weeks at least...." + +"I know ... and Lambert is a desperate enemy: he dogs Sue's footsteps, +he will come upon you one day when you are alone, or with her ... he +will provoke a quarrel...." + +"I know--I know ..." he retorted impatiently, "'tis no use +recapitulating the many evil contingencies that might occur.... I know +that Lambert is dangerous ... damn him! ... Would to God I could be rid +of him ... somehow." + +"You can dismiss him," she suggested, "pay him his wages and send him +about his business." + +"What were the use? He would remain in the village--in his brother's +cottage mayhap ... with more time on his hands for his spying work.... +He would dog the wench's steps more jealously than eve.... No! no!" he +added, whilst he cast a quick, furtive look at her--a look which somehow +caused her to shiver with apprehension more deadly than heretofore. + +"That's not what I want," he said significantly. + +"What's to be done?" she murmured, "what's to be done?" + +"I must think," he rejoined harshly. "But we must get that love-sick +youth out of the way ... him and his airs of Providence in disguise.... +Something must be done to part him from the wench effectually and +completely ... something that would force him to quit this neighborhood +... forever, if possible." + +She did not reply immediately, but fixed her large, dark eyes upon him, +silently for a while, then she murmured: + +"If I only knew!" + +"Knew what?" + +"If I could trust you, Marmaduke!" + +He laughed, a harsh, cruel laugh which grated upon her ear. + +"We know too much of one another, my dear Editha, not to trust each +other." + +"My whole future depends on you. I am penniless. If you marry Sue...." + +"I can provide for you," he interrupted roughly. "What can I do now? My +penury is worse than yours. So, my dear, if you have a plan to propound +for the furtherance of my schemes, I pray you do not let your fear of +the future prevent you from lending me a helping hand." + +"A thought crossed my mind," she said eagerly, "the thought of something +which would effectually force Richard Lambert to quit this neighborhood +for ever." + +"What were that?" + +"Disgrace." + +"Disgrace?" he exclaimed. "Aye! you are right. Something mean ... paltry +... despicable ... something that would make her gracious ladyship turn +away from him in disgust ... and would force him to go away from here +... for ever." + +He looked at her closely, scrutinizing her face, trying to read her +thoughts. + +"A thought crossed your mind," he demanded peremptorily. "What is it?" + +"The house in London," she murmured. + +"You are not afraid?" + +"Oh!" she said with a careless shrug of the shoulders. + +"The Protector's spies are keen," he urged, eager to test her courage, +her desire to help him. + +"They'll scarce remember me after two years." + +"Hm! Their memory is keen ... and the new laws doubly severe." + +"We'll be cautious." + +"How can you let your usual clients know? They are dispersed." + +"Oh, no! My Lord Walterton is as keen as ever and Sir James Overbury +would brave the devil for a night at hazard. A message to them and we'll +have a crowd every night." + +"'Tis well thought on, Editha," he said approvingly. "But we must not +delay. Will you go to London to-morrow?" + +"An you approve." + +"Aye! you can take the Dover coach and be in town by nightfall. Then +write your letters to my Lord Walterton and Sir James Overbury. Get a +serving wench from Alverstone's in the Strand, and ask the gentlemen to +bring their own men, for the sake of greater safety. They'll not +refuse." + +"Refuse?" she said with a light laugh, "oh, no!" + +"To-day being Tuesday, you should have your first evening entertainment +on Friday. Everything could be ready by then." + +"Oh, yes!" + +"Very well then, on Friday, I, too, will arrive in London, my dear +Editha, escorted by my secretary, Master Richard Lambert, and together +we will call and pay our respects at your charming house in Bath +Street." + +"I will do my share. You must do yours, Marmaduke. Endicott will help +you: he is keen and clever. And if Lambert but takes a card in his hand +..." + +"Nay! he will take the cards, mine oath on that! Do you but arrange it +all with Endicott." + +"And, Marmaduke, I entreat you," she urged now with sudden earnestness, +"I entreat you to beware of my Lord Protector's spies. Think of the +consequences for me!" + +"Aye!" he said roughly, laughing that wicked, cruel laugh of his, which +damped her eagerness, and struck chill terror into her heart, "aye! the +whipping-post for you, fair Editha, for keeping a gaming-house. What? Of +a truth I need not urge you to be cautious." + +Probably at this moment she would have given worlds--had she possessed +them--if she could but have dissociated herself from her +brother-in-law's future altogether. Though she was an empty-headed, +brainless kind of woman, she was not by nature a wicked one. Necessity +had driven her into linking her fortunes with those of Sir Marmaduke. +And he had been kind to her, when she was in deep distress: but for him +she would probably have starved, for her beauty had gone and her career +as an actress had been, for some inexplicable reason, quite suddenly cut +short, whilst a police raid on the gaming-house over which she presided +had very nearly landed her in a convict's cell. + +She had escaped severe punishment then, chiefly because Cromwell's laws +against gambling were not so rigorous at the time as they had since +become, also because she was able to plead ignorance of them, and +because of the status of first offense. + +Therefore she knew quite well what she risked through the scheme which +she had so boldly propounded to Sir Marmaduke. Dire disgrace and infamy, +if my Lord Protector's spies once more came upon the gamesters in her +house--unawares. + +Utter social ruin and worse! Yet she risked it all, in order to help +him. She did not love him, nor had she any hopes that he would of his +own free will do more than give her a bare pittance for her needs once +he had secured Lady Sue's fortune; but she was shrewd enough to reckon +that the more completely she was mixed up in his nefarious projects, the +more absolutely forced would he be to accede to her demands later on. +The word blackmail had not been invented in those days, but the deed +itself existed and what Editha had in her mind when she risked ostracism +for Sir Marmaduke's sake was something very akin to it. + +But he, in the meanwhile, had thrown off his dejection. He was full of +eagerness, of anticipated triumph now. + +The rough idea which was to help him in his schemes had originated in +Editha's brain, but already he had elaborated it; had seen in the plan a +means not only of attaining his own ends with regard to Sue, but also +of wreaking a pleasing vengeance on the man who was trying to frustrate +him. + +"I pray you, be of good cheer, fair Editha," he said quite gaily. "Your +plan is good and sound, and meseems as if the wench's fortune were +already within my grasp." + +"Within our grasp, you mean, Marmaduke," she said significantly. + +"Our grasp of course, gracious lady," he said with a marked sneer, which +she affected to ignore. "What is mine is yours. Am I not tied to the +strings of your kirtle by lasting bonds of infinite gratitude?" + +"I will start to-morrow then. By chaise to Dover and thence by coach," +she said coldly, taking no heed of his irony. "'Twere best you did not +assume your romantic rôle again until after your own voyage to London. +You can give me some money I presume. I can do nothing with an empty +purse." + +"You shall have the whole contents of mine, gracious Editha," he said +blandly, "some ten pounds in all, until the happy day when I can place +half a million at your feet." + + + + +PART II + + + + +CHAPTER XIV + +THE HOUSE IN LONDON + + +It stood about midway down an unusually narrow by-street off the Strand. + +A tumble-down archway, leaning to one side like a lame hen, gave access +to a dark passage, dank with moisture, whereon the door of the house +gave some eighteen feet up on the left. + +The unpaved street, undrained and unutterably filthy, was ankle-deep in +mud, even at the close of this hot August day. Down one side a long +blank wall, stone-built and green with mildew, presented an unbroken +frontage: on the other the row of houses with doors perpetually barred, +and windows whereon dust and grit had formed effectual curtains against +prying eyes, added to the sense of loneliness, of insecurity, of unknown +dangers lurking behind that crippled archway, or beneath the shadows of +the projecting eaves, whence the perpetual drip-drip of soot water came +as a note of melancholy desolation. + +From all the houses the plaster was peeling off in many places, a prey +to the inclemencies of London winters; all presented gray facades, with +an air of eeriness about their few windows, flush with the outside +wall--at one time painted white, no doubt, but now of uniform dinginess +with the rest of the plaster work. + +There was a grim hint about the whole street of secret meetings, and of +unavowable deeds done under cover of isolation and of darkness, whilst +the great crooked mouth of the archway disclosing the blackness and +gloom of the passage beyond, suggested the lair of human wild beasts who +only went about in the night. + +As a rule but few passers-by availed themselves of this short and narrow +cut down to the river-side. Nathless, the unarmed citizen was scared by +these dank and dreary shadows, whilst the city watchman, mindful of his +own safety, was wont to pass the mean street by. + +Only my Lord Protector's new police-patrol fresh to its onerous task, +solemnly marched down it once in twenty-four hours, keeping shoulder to +shoulder, looking neither to right nor left, thankful when either issue +was once more within sight. + +But in this same evening in August, 1657, it seemed as if quite a number +of people had business in Bath Street off the Strand. At any rate this +was specially noticeable after St. Mary's had struck the hour of nine, +when several cloaked and hooded figures slipped, one after another, some +singly, others in groups of two or three, into the shadow of the narrow +lane. + +They all walked in silence, and did not greet one another as they +passed; some cast from time to time furtive looks behind them; but +every one of these evening prowlers seemed to have the same objective, +for as soon as they reached the crippled archway, they disappeared +within the gloom of its yawning mouth. + +Anon when the police-patrol had gone by and was lost in the gloom there +where Bath Street debouches on the river bank, two of these heavily +cloaked figures walked rapidly down from the Strand, and like the others +slipped quickly under the archway, and made straight for the narrow door +on the left of the passage. + +This door was provided with a heavy bronze knocker, but strangely enough +the newcomers did not avail themselves of its use, but rapped on the +wooden panels with their knuckles, giving three successive raps at +regular intervals. + +They were admitted almost immediately, the door seemingly opening of +itself, and they quickly stepped across the threshold. + +Within the house was just as dark and gloomy as it was without, and as +the two visitors entered, a voice came from out the shadows, and said, +in a curious monotone and with strange irrelevance: + +"The hour is late!" + +"And 'twill be later still," replied one of the newcomers. + +"Yet the cuckoo hath not called," retorted the voice. + +"Nor is the ferret on the prowl," was the enigmatic reply. Whereupon +the voice speaking in more natural tones added sententiously: + +"Two flights of steps, and 'ware the seventeenth step on the first +flight. Door on the left, two raps, then three." + +"Thank you, friend," rejoined one of the newcomers, "'tis pleasant to +feel that so faithful a watch guards the entrance of this palace of +pleasure." + +Thereupon the two visitors, who of a truth must have been guided either +by instinct or by intimate knowledge of the place, for not a gleam of +light illumined the entrance hall, groped their way to a flight of stone +stairs which led in a steep curve to the upper floors of the house. + +A rickety banister which gave ominously under the slightest pressure +helped to guide the visitors in this utter darkness: but obviously the +warning uttered by that mysterious challenging voice below was not +superfluous, for having carefully counted sixteen steps in an upward +direction, the newcomers came to a halt, and feeling their way forward +now with uttermost caution, their feet met a yawning hole, which had +soon caused a serious accident to a stranger who had ventured thus far +in ignorance of pitfalls. + +A grim laugh, echoed by a lighter one, showed that the visitors had +encountered only what they had expected, and after this brief episode +they continued their journey upwards with a firmer sense of security; a +smoky oil lamp on the first floor landing guided their footsteps by +casting a flickering light on the narrow stairway, whereon slime and +filth crept unchecked through the broken crevices between the stones. + +But now as they advanced, the silence seemed more broken: a distinct hum +as of many voices was soon perceptible, and anon a shrill laugh, +followed by another more deep in tone, and echoed by others which +presently died away in the distance. + +By the time the two men had reached the second floor landing these many +noises had become more accentuated, also more distinct; still muffled +and subdued as if proceeding from behind heavy doors, but nevertheless +obvious as the voices of men and women in lively converse. + +The newcomers gave the distinctive raps prescribed by their first +mentor, on the thick panels of a solid oak door on their left. + +The next moment the door itself was thrown open from within; a flood of +light burst forth upon the gloomy landing from the room beyond, the +babel of many voices became loud and clear, and as the two men stood for +a moment beneath the lintel a veritable chorus of many exclamations +greeted them from every side. + +"Walterton! begad!" + +"And Overbury, too!" + +"How late ye come!" + +"We thought ye'd fallen a victim to Noll's myrmidons!" + +It was of a truth a gay and merry company that stood, and moved, +chatted and laughed, within the narrow confines of that small +second-floor room in the gloomy house in Bath Street. + +The walls themselves were dingy and bare, washed down with some grayish +color, which had long since been defaced by the grime and dust of +London. Thick curtains of a nondescript hue fell in straight folds +before each window, and facing these there was another door--double +paneled--which apparently led to an inner room. + +But the place itself was brilliantly illuminated with many wax candles +set in chandeliers. These stood on the several small tables which were +dotted about the room. + +These tables--covered with green baize, and a number of chairs of +various shapes and doubtful solidity were the only furniture of the +room, but in an arched recess in the wall a plaster figure holding a +cornucopia, from whence fell in thick profusion the plaster presentments +of the fruits of this earth, stood on an elevated pedestal, which had +been draped with crimson velvet. + +The goddess of Fortune, with a broken nose and a paucity of fingers, +dominated the brilliant assembly, from the height of her crimson throne. +Her head had been crowned with a tall peaked modish beaver hat, from +which a purple feather rakishly swept over the goddess's left ear. An +ardent devotee had deposited a copper coin in her extended, thumbless +hand, whilst another had fixed a row of candle stumps at her feet. + +There was nothing visible in this brilliantly lighted room of the sober +modes to which the eye of late had become so accustomed. Silken doublets +of bright and even garish colors stood out in bold contrast against the +gray monotone of the walls and hangings. Fantastic buttons, tags and +laces, gorgeously embroidered cuffs and collars edged with priceless +Mechlin or d'Alençon, bunches of ribands at knee and wrists, full +periwigs and over-wide boot-hose tops were everywhere to be seen, whilst +the clink of swords against the wooden boards and frequent volleys of +loudly spoken French oaths, testified to the absence of those Puritanic +fashions and customs which had become the general rule even in London. + +Some of the company sat in groups round the green-topped tables whereon +cards or dice and heaps of gold and smaller coins lay in profusion. +Others stood about watching the games or chatting to one another. Mostly +men they were, some old, some young--but there were women too, women in +showy kirtles, with bare shoulders showing well above the colverteen +kerchief and faces wherein every line had been obliterated by plentiful +daubs of cosmetics. They moved about the room from table to table, +laughing, talking, making comments on the games as these proceeded. + +The men apparently were all intent--either as actual participants or +merely as spectators--upon a form of amusement which His Highness the +Lord Protector had condemned as wanton and contrary to law. + +The newcomers soon divested themselves of their immense dark cloaks, +and they, too, appeared in showy apparel of silk and satin, with tiny +bows of ribands at the ends of the long curls which fell both sides of +their faces, and with enormous frills of lace inside the turned-over +tops of their boots. + +Lord Walterton quite straddled in his gait, so wide were his boot tops, +and there was an extraordinary maze of tags and ribands round the edge +of Sir James Overbury's breeches. + +"Make your game, gentlemen, make your game," said the latter as he +advanced further into the room. And his tired, sleepy eyes brightened at +sight of the several tables covered with cards and dice, the guttering +candles, the mountains of gold and small coin scattered on the green +baize tops. + +"Par Dieu! but 'tis a sight worth seeing after the ugly sour faces one +meets in town these days!" he added, gleefully rubbing his beringed +hands one against the other. + +"But where is our gracious hostess?" added Lord Walterton, a +melancholy-looking young man with pale-colored eyes and lashes, and a +narrow chest. + +"You are thrice welcome, my lord!" said Editha de Chavasse, whose +elegant figure now detached itself from amongst her guests. + +She looked very handsome in her silken kirtle of a brilliant greenish +hue, lace primer, and high-heeled shoes--relics of her theatrical days; +her head was adorned with the bunches of false curls which the modish +hairdressers were trying to introduce. The plentiful use of cosmetics +had obliterated the ravages of time and imparted a youthful appearance +to her face, whilst excitement not unmixed with apprehension lent a +bright glitter to her dark eyes. + +Lord Walterton and Sir James Overbury lightly touched with their lips +the hand which she extended to them. Their bow, too, was slight, though +they tossed their curls as they bent their heads in the most approved +French fashion. But there was a distinct note of insolence, not +altogether unmixed with irony, in the freedom with which they had +greeted her. + +"I met de Chavasse in town to-day," said Lord Walterton, over his +shoulder before he mixed with the crowd. + +"Yes! he will be here to-night," she rejoined. Sir James Overbury also +made a casual remark, but it was evident that the intention and purpose +of these gay gentlemen was not the courteous entertainment of their +hostess. Like so many men of all times and all nations in this world, +they were ready enough to enjoy what she provided for them--the illicit +pastime which they could not get elsewhere--but they despised her for +giving it them, and cared naught for the heavy risks she ran in keeping +up this house for their pleasure. + + + + +CHAPTER XV + +A GAME OF PRIMERO + + +At a table in the immediate center of the room a rotund gentleman in +doublet and breeches of cinnamon brown taffeta and voluminous lace cuffs +at the wrists was presiding over a game of Spanish primero. + +A simple game enough, not difficult of comprehension, yet vastly +exciting, if one may form a judgment of its qualities through watching +the faces of the players. + +The rotund gentleman dealt a card face downwards to each of his +opponents, who then looked at their cards and staked on them, by pushing +little piles of gold or silver forward. + +Then the dealer turned up his own card, and gave the amount of the +respective stakes to those players whose cards were of higher value than +his own, whilst sweeping all other moneys to swell his own pile. + +A simple means, forsooth, of getting rid of any superfluity of cash. + +"Art winning, Endicott?" queried Lord Walterton as, he stood over the +other man, looking down on the game. + +Endicott shrugged his fat shoulders, and gave an enigmatic chuckle. + +"I pay King and Ace only," he called out imperturbably, as he turned up +a Queen. + +Most of the stakes came to swell his own pile, but he passed a handful +of gold to a hollow-eyed youth who sat immediately opposite to him, and +who clutched at the money with an eager, trembling grasp. + +"You have all the luck to-night, Segrave," he said with an oily smile +directed at the winner. + +"Make your game, gentlemen," he added almost directly, as he once more +began to deal. + +"I pay knave upwards!" he declared, turning up the ten of clubs. + +"Mine is the ten of hearts," quoth one of the players. + +"Ties pay the bank," quoth Endicott imperturbably. + +"Mine is a queen," said Segrave in a hollow tone of voice. + +Endicott with a comprehensive oath threw the entire pack of cards into a +distant corner of the room. + +"A fresh pack, mistress!" he shouted peremptorily. + +Then as an overdressed, florid woman, with high bullhead fringe and +old-fashioned Spanish farthingale, quickly obeyed his behests, he said +with a coarse laugh: + +"Fresh cards may break Master Segrave's luck and improve yours, Sir +Michael." + +"Before this round begins," said Sir James Overbury who was standing +close behind Lord Walterton, also watching the game, "I will bet you, +Walterton, that Segrave wins again." + +"Done with you," replied the other, "and I'll back mine own opinion by +taking a hand." + +The florid woman brought him a chair, and he sat down at the table, as +Endicott once more began to deal. + +"Five pounds that Segrave wins," said Overbury. + +"A queen," said Endicott, turning up his card. "I pay king and ace +only." + +Everyone had to pay the bank, for all turned up low cards; Segrave alone +had not yet turned up his. + +"Well! what is your card, Master Segrave?" queried Lord Walterton +lightly. + +"An ace!" said Segrave simply, displaying the ace of hearts. + +"No good betting against the luck," said young Walterton lightly, as he +handed five sovereigns over to his friend, "moreover it spoils my +system." + +"Ye play primero on a system!" quoth Sir Michael Isherwood in deep +amazement. + +"Yes!" replied the young man. "I have played on it for years ... and it +is infallible, 'pon my honor." + +In the meanwhile the doors leading to the second room had been thrown +open; serving men and women advanced carrying trays on which were +displayed glasses and bottles filled with Rhenish wine and Spanish +canary and muscadel, also buttered ale and mead and hypocras for the +ladies. + +Editha did not occupy herself with serving but the florid woman was +most attentive to the guests. She darted in and out between the tables, +managing her unwieldy farthingale with amazing skill. She poured out the +wines, and offered tarts and dishes of anchovies and of cheese, also +strange steaming beverages lately imported into England called coffee +and chocolate. + +The women liked the latter, and supped it out of mugs, with many little +cries of astonishment and appreciation of its sugariness. + +The men drank heavily, chiefly of the heady Spanish wines; they ate the +anchovies and cheese with their fingers, and continually called for more +refreshments. + +Play was of necessity interrupted. Groups of people eating and drinking +congregated round the tables. The men mostly discussed various phases of +the game; there was so little else for idlers to talk about these days. +No comedies or other diversions, neither cock-fighting nor bear-baiting, +and abuse of my Lord Protector and his rigorous disciplinarian laws had +already become stale. + +The women talked dress and coiffure, the new puffs, the fanciful +pinners. + +But at the center table Segrave still sat, refusing all refreshment, +waiting with obvious impatience for the ending of this unwelcome +interval. When first he found himself isolated in the crowd, he had +counted over with febrile eagerness the money which lay in a substantial +heap before him. + +"Saved!" he muttered between his teeth, speaking to himself like one +who is dreaming, "saved! Thank God! ... Two hundred and fifty pounds ... +only another fifty and I'll never touch these cursed cards again ... +only another fifty...." + +He buried his face in his hands; the moisture stood out in heavy drops +on his forehead. He looked all round him with ever-growing impatience. + +"My God! why don't they come back! ... Another fifty pounds ... and I +can put the money back ... before it has been missed.... Oh! why don't +they come back!" + +Quite a tragedy expressed in those few muttered words, in the trembling +hands, the damp forehead. Money taken from an unsuspecting parent, +guardian or master, which? What matter? A tragedy of ordinary occurrence +even in those days when social inequalities were being abolished by act +of Parliament. + +In the meanwhile Lord Walterton, halting of speech, insecure of +foothold, after his third bumper of heady sack, was explaining to Sir +Michael Isherwood the mysteries of his system for playing the noble game +of primero. + +"It is sure to break the bank in time," he said confidently, "I am for +going to Paris where play runs high, and need not be carried on in this +hole and corner fashion to suit cursed Puritanical ideas." + +"Tell me your secret, Walterton," urged worthy Sir Michael, whose broad +Shropshire acres were heavily mortgaged, after the rapine and pillage +of civil war. + +"Well! I can but tell you part, my friend," rejoined the other, "yet +'tis passing simple. You begin with one golden guinea ... and lose it +... then you put up two and lose again...." + +"Passing simple," assented Sir Michael ironically. + +"But after that you put up four guineas." + +"And lose it." + +"Yea! yea! mayhap you lose it ... but then you put up eight guineas ... +and win. Whereupon you are just as you were before." + +And with a somewhat unsteady hand the young man raised a bumper to his +lips, whilst eying Sir Michael with the shifty and inquiring eye +peculiar to the intoxicated. + +"Meseems that if you but abstain from playing altogether," quoth Sir +Michael impatiently, "the result would still be the same.... And suppose +you lose the eight guineas, what then?" + +"Oh! 'tis vastly simple--you put up sixteen." + +"But if you lose that?" + +"Put up thirty-two...." + +"But if you have not thirty-two guineas to put up?" urged Sir Michael, +who was obstinate. + +"Nay! then, my friend," said Lord Walterton with a laugh which soon +broke into an ominous hiccough, "ye must not in that case play upon my +system." + +"Well said, my lord," here interposed Endicott, who had most moderately +partaken of a cup of hypocras, and whose eye and hand were as steady as +heretofore. "Well said, pardi! ... My old friend the Marquis of +Swarthmore used oft to say in the good old days of Goring's Club, that +'twas better to lose on a system, than to play on no system at all." + +"A smart cavalier, old Swarthmore," assented Sir Michael gruffly, "and +nathless, a true friend to you, Endicott," he added significantly. + +"Another deal, Master Endicott," said Segrave, who for the last quarter +of an hour had vainly tried to engage the bank-holder's attention. + +Nor was Lord Walterton averse to this. The more the wine got into his +head, the more unsteady his hand became, the more strong was his desire +to woo the goddess whose broken-nosed image seemed to be luring him to +fortune. + +"You are right, Master Segrave," he said thickly, "we are wasting +valuable time. Who knows but what old Noll's police-patrol is lurking in +this cutthroat alley? ... Endicott, take the bank again.... I'll swear +I'll ruin ye ere the moon--which I do not see--disappears down the +horizon. Sir Michael, try my system.... Overbury, art a laggard? ... Let +us laugh and be merry--to-morrow is the Jewish Sabbath--and after that +Puritanic Sunday ... after which mayhap, we'll all go to hell, driven +thither by my Lord Protector. Wench, another bumper ... canary, sack or +muscadel ... no thin Rhenish wine shall e'er defile this throat! +Gentlemen, take your places.... Mistress Endicott, can none of these +wenches discourse sweet music whilst we do homage to the goddess of +Fortune? ... To the tables ... to the tables, gentlemen ... here's to +King Charles, whom may God protect ... and all in defiance of my Lord +Protector!" + + + + +CHAPTER XVI + +A CONFLICT + + +In the hubbub which immediately followed Lord Walterton's tirade, Editha +de Chavasse beckoned to the florid woman--who seemed to be her +henchwoman--and drew her aside to a distant corner of the room, where +there were no tables nigh and where the now subdued hum of the voices, +mingling with the sound of music on virginal and stringed instruments, +made a murmuring noise which effectually drowned the talk between the +two women. + +"Have you arranged everything, Mistress Endicott?" asked Editha, +speaking in a whisper. + +"Everything, mistress," replied the other. + +"Endicott understands?" + +"Perfectly," said the woman, with perceptible hesitation, "but ..." + +"What ails you, mistress?" asked Editha haughtily, noting the +hesitation, and frowning with impatience thereat. + +"My husband thinks the game too dangerous." + +"I was not aware," retorted Mistress de Chavasse dryly, "that I had +desired Master Endicott's opinion on the subject." + +"Mayhap not," rejoined the other, equally dryly, "but you did desire his +help in the matter ... and he seems unmindful to give it." + +"Why?" + +"I have explained ... the game is too dangerous." + +"Or the payment insufficient?" sneered Editha. "Which is it?" + +"Both, mayhap," assented Mistress Endicott with a careless shrug of her +fat shoulders, "the risks are very great. To-night especially...." + +"Why especially to-night?" + +"Because ever since you have been away from it, this house--though we +did our best to make it seem deserted--hath been watched--of that I feel +very sure.... My Lord Protector's watchmen have a suspicion of our ... +our evening entertainments ... and I doubt not but that they desire to +see for themselves how our guests enjoy themselves these nights." + +"Well?" rejoined Editha lightly. "What of that?" + +"As you know, we did not play for nigh on twelve months now.... Endicott +thought it too dangerous ... and to-night ..." + +She checked herself abruptly, for Editha had turned an angry face and +flashing eyes upon her. + +"To-night?" said Mistress de Chavasse curtly, but peremptorily, "what of +to-night? ... I sent you orders from Thanet that I wished the house +opened to-night ... Lord Walterton, Sir James Overbury and as many of +our usual friends as were in the town, apprised that play would be in +full progress.... Meseems," she added, casting a searching look all +round the room, "that we have singularly few players." + +"It was difficult," retorted the other with somewhat more diffidence in +her tone than had characterized her speech before now. "Young Squire +Delamere committed suicide ... you remember him? ... and Lord Cooke +killed Sir Humphrey Clinton in a duel after that fracas we had here, +when the police-patrol well-nigh seized upon your person.... Squire +Delamere's suicide and Sir Humphrey's death caused much unpleasant talk. +And old Mistress Delamere, the mother, hath I fear me, still a watchful +eye on us. She means to do us lasting mischief.... It had been wiser to +tarry yet awhile.... Twelve months is not sufficient for throwing the +dust of ages over us and our doings.... That is my husband's opinion and +also mine.... A scandal such as you propose to have to-night, will bring +the Protector's spies about our ears ... his police too, mayhap ... and +then Heaven help us all, mistress ... for you, in the country, cannot +conceive how rigorously are the laws enforced now against gambling, +betting, swearing or any other form of innocent amusement.... Why! two +wenches were whipped at the post by the public hangman only last week, +because forsooth they were betting on the winner amongst themselves, +whilst watching a bout of pell-mell.... And you know that John Howthill +stood in the pillory for two hours and had both his hands bored through +with a hot iron for allowing gambling inside his coffeehouse. ... And +so, mistress, you will perceive that I am speaking but in your own +interests...." + +Editha, who had listened to the long tirade with marked impatience, here +interrupted the voluble lady, with harsh command. + +"I crave your pardon, mistress," she said peremptorily. "My interests +pre-eminently consist in being obeyed by those whom I pay for doing my +behests. Now you and your worthy husband live here rent free and derive +a benefit of ten pounds every time our guests assemble.... Well! in +return for that, I make use of you and your names, in case of any +unpleasantness with the vigilance patrol ... or in case of a scandal +which might reach my Lord Protector's ears.... Up to this time your +positions here have been a sinecure.... I even bore the brunt of the +last fracas whilst you remained practically scathless.... But to-night, +I own it, there may be some risks ... but of a truth you have been well +paid to take them." + +"But if we refuse to take the risks," retorted the other. + +"If you refuse, mistress," said Editha with a careless shrug of the +shoulders, "you and your worthy lord go back to the gutter where I +picked you up ... and within three months of that time, I should +doubtless have the satisfaction of seeing you both at the whipping-post, +for of a truth you would be driven to stealing or some other equally +unavowable means of livelihood." + +"We could send _you_ there," said Mistress Endicott, striving to +suppress her own rising fury, "if we but said the word." + +"Nay! you would not be believed, mistress ... but even so, I do not +perceive how my social ruin would benefit you." + +"Since we are doomed anyhow ... after this night's work," said the woman +sullenly. + +"Nay! but why should you take so gloomy a view of the situation? ... My +Lord Protector hath forgot our existence by now, believe me ... and of a +surety his patrol hath not yet knocked at our door.... And methinks, +mistress," added Editha significantly, "'tis not in _your_ interest to +quarrel with me." + +"I have no wish to quarrel with you," quoth Mistress Endicott, who +apparently had come to the end of her resistance, and no doubt had known +all along that her fortunes were too much bound up with those of +Mistress de Chavasse to allow of a rupture between them. + +"Then everything is vastly satisfactory," said Editha with forced +gayety. "I rely on you, mistress, and on Endicott's undoubted talents to +bring this last matter to a successful issue to-night. ... Remember, +mistress ... I rely on you." + +Perhaps Mistress Endicott would have liked to prolong the argument. As a +matter of fact, neither she nor her husband counted the risks of a +midnight fracas of great moment to themselves: they had so very little +to lose. A precarious existence based on illicit deeds of all sorts had +rendered them hard and reckless. + +All they wished was to be well paid for the risks they ran; neither of +them was wholly unacquainted with the pillory, and it held no great +terrors for them. There were so many unavowable pleasures these days, +which required a human cloak to cover the identity of the real +transgressor, that people like Master and Mistress Endicott prospered +vastly. + +The case of Mistress de Chavasse's London house wherein the ex-actress +had some few years ago established a gaming club, together with its +various emoluments attached thereunto, suited the Endicotts' +requirements to perfection: but the woman desired an increase of payment +for the special risk she would run to-night, and was sorely vexed that +she could not succeed in intimidating Editha with threats of +vigilance-patrol and whipping-posts. + +Mistress de Chavasse knew full well that the Endicotts did not intend to +quarrel with her, and having threatened rupture unless her commands were +obeyed, she had no wish to argue the matter further with her henchwoman. + +At that moment, too, there came the sound of significant and methodical +rappings at the door. Editha, who had persistently throughout her +discussion with Mistress Endicott, kept one ear open for that sound, +heard it even through the buzz of talk. She made a scarcely visible +gesture of the hand, bidding the other woman to follow her: that gesture +was quickly followed by a look of command. + +Mistress Endicott presumably had finally made up her mind to obey. She +shrugged her fat shoulders and followed Mistress de Chavasse as far as +the center of the room. + +"Remember that you are the hostess now," murmured Editha to her, as she +herself went to the door and opened it. + +With an affected cry of surprise and pleasure she welcomed Sir Marmaduke +de Chavasse, who was standing on the threshold, prepared to enter and +escorted by his young secretary, Master Richard Lambert. + + + + +CHAPTER XVII + +RUS IN URBE + + +One or two of the men looked up as de Chavasse entered, but no one took +much notice of him. + +Most of those present remembered him from the past few years when still +with pockets well filled through having forestalled Lady Sue's +maintenance money, he was an habitual frequenter of some of the smart +secret clubs in town; but here, just the same as elsewhere, Sir +Marmaduke was not a popular man, and many there were who had unpleasant +recollections of his surly temper and uncouth ways, whenever fickle +Fortune happened not to favor him. + +Even now, he looked sullen and disagreeable as, having exchanged a +significant glance with his sister-in-law, he gave a comprehensive nod +to the assembled guests, which had nothing in it either of cordiality or +of good-will. He touched Editha's finger tips with his lips, and then +advanced into the room. + +Here he was met by Mistress Endicott, who had effectually thrown off the +last vestige of annoyance and of rebellion, for she greeted the newcomer +with marked good-humor and an encouraging smile. + +"It is indeed a pleasure to see that Sir Marmaduke de Chavasse hath not +forgot old friends," she said pleasantly. + +"It was passing kind, gracious mistress," he responded, forcing himself +to speak naturally and in agreeable tones, "to remember an insignificant +country bumpkin like myself ... and you see I have presumed on your +lavish hospitality and brought my young friend, Master Richard Lambert, +to whom you extended so gracious an invitation." + +He turned to Lambert, who a little dazed to find himself in such +brilliant company, had somewhat timidly kept close to the heels of his +employer. He thought Mistress Endicott vulgar and overdressed the moment +he felt bold enough to raise his eyes to hers. But he chided himself +immediately for thus daring to criticize his betters. + +His horizon so far had been very limited; only quite vaguely had he +heard of town and Court life. The little cottage where dwelt the old +Quakeress who had brought him and his brother up, and the tumble-down, +dilapidated house of Sir Marmaduke de Chavasse were the only habitations +in which he was intimate. The neighboring Kentish Squires, Sir Timothy +Harrison, Squire Pyncheon and Sir John Boatfield, were the only +presentations of "gentlemen" he had ever seen. + +Sir Marmaduke de Chavasse had somewhat curtly given him orders the day +before, that he was to accompany him to London, whither he himself had +to go to consult his lawyer. Lambert had naturally obeyed, without +murmur, but with vague trepidations at thought of this, his first +journey into the great town. + +Sir Marmaduke had been very kind, had given him a new suit of grogram, +lined with flowered silk, which Lambert thought the richest garment he +had ever seen. He was very loyal in his thoughts to his employer, +bearing with the latter's violence and pandering to his fits of +ill-humor for the sake of the home which Sir Marmaduke had provided for +him. + +To Lambert's mind, Sir Marmaduke's kindness to him was wholly +gratuitous. His own position as secretary being but a sinecure, the +young man readily attributed de Chavasse's interest in himself to innate +goodness of heart, and desire to help the poor orphan lad. + +This estimate of his employer's character Richard Lambert had not felt +any cause to modify. He continued to serve him faithfully, to look after +his interests in and around Acol Court to the best of his ability; above +all he continued to be whole-heartedly grateful. He was so absolutely +conscious of the impassable social barrier which existed between himself +and the rich daughter of the great Earl of Dover, that he never for a +moment resented Sir Marmaduke's sneers when they were directed against +his obvious, growing love for Sue. + +Remember that he had no cause to suspect Sir Marmaduke de Chavasse of +any nefarious projects or of any evil intentions with regard to himself, +when he told him that together they would go this night to the house of +an old friend, Mrs. Endicott, where they would derive much pleasure and +entertainment. + +They had spent the previous night at the Swan Inn in Fleet Street and +the day in visiting the beautiful sights of London, which caused the +young lad from the country to open wide eyes in astonishment and +pleasure. + +Sir Marmaduke had been peculiarly gracious, even taking Richard with him +to the Frenchman's house in Queen's Head Alley, where that curious +beverage called coffee was dispensed and where several clever people met +and discussed politics in a manner which was vastly interesting to the +young man. + +Then when the evening began to draw in, and Lambert thought it high time +to go to bed, for 'twas a pity to burn expensive candles longer than was +necessary, Sir Marmaduke had astonished his secretary by telling him +that he must now clean and tidy himself for they would proceed to the +house of a great lady named Mistress Endicott--a friend of the ex-Queen +Henrietta Maria and a lady of peculiar virtues and saintliness, who +would give them vast and pleasing entertainment. + +Lambert was only too ready to obey. Enjoyment came naturally to him +beneath his Quaker bringing-up: his youth, good-health and pure, +naturally noble intellect, all craved companionship, with its attendant +pleasures and joys. He himself could not afterwards have said exactly +how he had pictured in his mind the saintly lady--friend of the unhappy +Queen--whom he was to meet this night. + +Certainly Mistress Endicott, with her red face surmounted by masses of +curls that were obviously false, since they did not match the rest of +her hair, was not the ideal paragon of all the virtues, and when he was +first made to greet her, a strange, unreasoning instinct seemed to draw +him away from her, to warn him to fly from this noisy company, from the +sight of those many faces, all unnaturally flushed, and from the sounds +of those strange oaths which greeted his ears from every side. + +A great wave of thankfulness came over him that, his gracious +lady--innocent, tender, beautiful Lady Sue, had not come to London with +her guardian. Whilst he gazed on the marvels of Westminster Hall and of +old Saint Paul's he had longed that she should be near him, so that he +might watch the brilliance of her eyes, and the glow of pleasure which, +of a surety would have mantled in her cheeks when she was shown the +beauties of the great city. + +But now he was glad--very glad, that Sir Marmaduke had so sternly +ordained that she should remain these few days alone at Acol in charge +of Mistress Charity and of Master Busy. At the time he had chafed +bitterly at his own enforced silence: he would have given all he +possessed in the world for the right to warn Sir Marmaduke de Chavasse +that a wolf was prowling in the fold under cover of the night. He had +seen Lady Sue's eyes brighten at the dictum that she was to remain +behind--they told him in eloquent language the joy she felt to be free +for two days that she might meet her prince undisturbed. + +But all these thoughts and fears had fled the moment Lambert found +himself in the midst of these people, whom he innocently believed to be +great ladies and noble gentlemen, friends of his employer Sir Marmaduke +de Chavasse. It seemed to him at once as if there was something here--in +this room--which he would not wish Lady Sue to see. + +He was clumsy and _gauche_ in his movements as he took the hand which +Mistress Endicott extended to him, but he tried to imitate the salute +which he had seen his employer give on the flat--not very +clean--finger-tips of the lady. + +She was exceedingly gracious to him, saying with great kindliness and a +melancholy sigh: + +"Ah! you come from the country, master? ... So delightful, of a +truth.... Milk for breakfast, eh? ... You get up at dawn and go to bed +at sunset? ... I know country life well--though alas! duty now keeps me +in town.... But 'tis small wonder that you look so young!" + +He tried to talk to her of the country, for here she had touched on a +topic which was dear to him. He knew all about the birds and beasts, the +forests and the meadows, and being unused to the art of hypocritical +interest, he took for real sympathy the lady's vapid exclamations of +enthusiasm, with which she broke in now and again upon his flow of +eloquence. + +Sir Marmaduke de Chavasse, who was watching the young man with febrile +keenness, had the satisfaction to note that very soon Richard began to +throw off his bucolic timidity, his latent yet distinctly perceptible +disapproval of the company into which he had been brought. He sought out +his sister-in-law and drew her attention to Lambert in close +conversation with Mrs. Endicott. + +"Is everything arranged?" he asked under his breath. + +"Everything," she replied. + +"No trouble with our henchmen?" + +"A little ... but they are submissive now." + +"What is the arrangement?" + +"Persuade young Lambert to take a hand at primero ... Endicott will do +the rest." + +"Who is in the know?" he queried, after a slight pause, during which he +watched his unsuspecting victim with a deep frown of impatience and of +hate. + +"Only the Endicotts," she explained. "But do you think that he will +play?" she added, casting an anxious look on her brother-in-law's face. + +He nodded affirmatively. + +"Yes!" he said curtly. "I can arrange that, as soon as you are ready." + +She turned from him and walked to the center table. She watched the game +for a while, noting that young Segrave was still the winner, and that +Lord Walterton was very flushed and excited. + +Then she caught Endicott's eye, and immediately lowered her lashes +twice in succession. + +"Ventre-saint-gris!" swore Endicott with an unmistakable British accent +in the French expletive, "but I'll play no more.... The bank is broken +... and I have lost too much money. Mr. Segrave there has nearly cleaned +me out and still I cannot break his luck." + +He rose abruptly from his chair, even as Mistress de Chavasse quietly +walked away from the table. + +But Lord Walterton placed a detaining, though very trembling hand, on +the cinnamon-colored sleeve. + +"Nay! parbleu! ye cannot go like this ... good Master Endicott ..." he +said, speaking very thickly, "I want another round or two ... 'pon my +honor I do ... I haven't lost nearly all I meant to lose." + +"Ye cannot stop play so abruptly, master," said Segrave, whose eyes +shone with an unnatural glitter, and whose cheeks were covered with a +hectic flush, "ye cannot leave us all in the lurch." + +"Nay, I doubt not, my young friend," quoth Endicott gruffly, "that you +would wish to play all night.... You have won all my money and Lord +Walterton's, too." + +"And most of mine," added Sir Michael Isherwood ruefully. + +"Why should not Master Segrave take the bank," here came in shrill +accents from Mistress Endicott, who throughout her conversation with +Lambert had kept a constant eye on what went on around her husband's +table. "He seems the only moneyed man amongst you all," she added with a +laugh, which grated most unpleasantly on Richard's ear. + +"I will gladly take the bank," said Segrave eagerly. + +"Pardi! I care not who hath the bank," quoth Lord Walterton, with the +slow emphasis of the inebriated. "My system takes time to work.... And I +stand to lose a good deal unless ... hic ... unless I win!" + +"You are not where you were, when you began," commented Sir Michael +grimly. + +"By Gad, no! ... hic ... but 'tis no matter.... Give me time!" + +"Methought I saw Sir Marmaduke de Chavasse just now," said Endicott, +looking about him. "Ah! and here comes our worthy baronet," he added +cheerily as Sir Marmaduke's closely cropped head--very noticeable in the +crowd of periwigs--emerged from amidst the group that clustered round +Mistress Endicott. "A hand at primero, sir?" + +"I thank you, no!" replied Sir Marmaduke, striving to master his +habitual ill-humor and to speak pleasantly. "My luck hath long since +deserted me, if it e'er visited me at all. A fact of which I grow daily +more doubtful." + +"But ventre-saint-gris!" ejaculated Lord Walterton, who showed an +inclination to become quarrelsome in his cups, "we must have someone to +take Endicott's place, I cannot work my system hic ... if so few +play...." + +"Perhaps your young friend, Sir Marmaduke ..." suggested Mistress +Endicott, waving an embroidered handkerchief in the direction of Richard +Lambert. + +"No doubt! no doubt!" rejoined Sir Marmaduke, turning with kindly +graciousness to his secretary. "Master Lambert, these gentlemen are +requiring another hand for their game ... I pray you join in with +them...." + +"I would do so with pleasure, sir," replied Lambert, still unsuspecting, +"but I fear me I am a complete novice at cards.... What is the game?" + +He was vaguely distrustful of cards, for he had oft heard this pastime +condemned as ungodly by those with whom he had held converse in his +early youth, nevertheless it did not occur to him that there might be +anything wrong in a game which was countenanced by Sir Marmaduke de +Chavasse, whom he knew to be an avowed Puritan, and by the saintly lady +who had been the friend of ex-Queen Henrietta Maria. + +"'Tis a simple round game," said Sir Marmaduke lightly, "you would soon +learn." + +"And ..." said Lambert diffidently questioning, and eying the gold and +silver which lay in profusion on the table, "there is no money at stake +... of course? ..." + +"Oh! only a little," rejoined Mistress Endicott, "a paltry trifle ... +to add zest to the enjoyment of the game." + +"However little it may be, Sir Marmaduke," said Lambert firmly, speaking +directly to his employer, "I humbly pray you to excuse me before these +gentlemen ..." + +The three players at the table, as well as the two Endicotts, had +listened to this colloquy with varying feelings. Segrave was burning +with impatience, Lord Walterton was getting more and more fractious, +whilst Sir Michael Isherwood viewed the young secretary with marked +hauteur. At the last words spoken by Lambert there came from all these +gentlemen sundry ejaculations, expressive of contempt or annoyance, +which caused an ugly frown to appear between de Chavasse's eyes, and a +deep blush to rise in the young man's pale cheek. + +"What do you mean?" queried Sir Marmaduke harshly. + +"There are other gentlemen here," said Lambert, speaking with more +firmness and decision now that he encountered inimical glances and felt +as if somehow he was on his trial before all these people, "and I am not +rich enough to afford the luxury of gambling." + +"Nay! if that is your difficulty," rejoined Sir Marmaduke, "I pray you, +good master, to command my purse ... you are under my wing to-night ... +and I will gladly bear the burden of your losses." + +"I thank you, Sir Marmaduke," said the young man, with quiet dignity," +and I entreat you once again to excuse me.... I have never staked at +cards, either mine own money or that of others. I would prefer not to +begin." + +"Meseems ... hic ... de Chavasse, that this ... this young friend of +yours is a hic ... damned Puritan ..." came in ever thickening accents +from Lord Walterton. + +"I hope, Sir Marmaduke de Chavasse," here interposed Endicott with much +pompous dignity, "that your ... hem ... your young friend doth not +desire to bring insinuations doubts, mayhap, against the honor of my +house ... or of my friends!" + +"Nay! nay! good Endicott," said Sir Marmaduke, speaking in tones that +were so conciliatory, so unlike his own quarrelsome temper, quick at +taking offense, that Richard Lambert could not help wondering what was +causing this change, "Master Lambert hath no such intention--'pon my +honor ... He is young ... and ... and he misunderstands.... You see, my +good Lambert," he added, once more turning to the young man, and still +speaking with unwonted kindness and patience, "you are covering yourself +with ridicule and placing me--who am your protector to-night--in a very +awkward position. Had I known you were such a gaby I should have left +you to go to bed alone." + +"Nay! Sir Marmaduke," here came in decisive accents from portly +Mistress Endicott, "methinks 'tis you who misunderstand Master Lambert. +He is of a surety an honorable gentleman, and hath no desire to insult +me, who have ne'er done him wrong, nor yet my friends by refusing a +friendly game of cards in my house!" + +She spoke very pointedly, causing her speech to seem like a menace, even +though the words betokened gentleness and friendship. + +Lambert's scruples and his desire to please struggled hopelessly in his +mind. Mistress Endicott's eye held him silent even while it urged him to +speak. What could he say? Sir Marmaduke, toward whom he felt gratitude +and respect, surely would not urge what he thought would be wrong for +Lambert. + +And if a chaste and pure woman did not disapprove of a game of primero +among friends, what right had he to set up his own standard of right or +wrong against hers? What right had he to condemn what she approved? To +offend his generous employer, and to bring opprobrium and ridicule on +himself which would of necessity redound against Sir Marmaduke also? + +Vague instinct still entered a feeble protest, but reason and common +sense and a certain undetermined feeling of what was due to himself +socially--poor country bumpkin!--fought a hard battle too. + +"I am right, am I not, good Master Lambert?" came in dulcet tones from +the virtuous hostess, "that you would not really refuse a quiet game of +cards with my friends, at my entreaty ... in my house?" + +And Lambert, with a self-deprecatory sigh, and a shrug of the shoulders, +said quietly: + +"I have no option, gracious mistress!" + + + + +CHAPTER XVIII + +THE TRAP + + +Richard Lambert fortunately for his own peace of mind and the retention +of his dignity, was able to wave aside the hand full of gold and silver +coins which Sir Marmaduke extended towards him. + +"I thank you, sir," he said calmly; "I am able to bear the cost of mine +own unavoidable weakness. I have money of mine own." + +From out his doublet he took a tiny leather wallet containing a few gold +coins, his worldly all bequeathed to him the same as to his brother--so +the old friend who had brought the lads up had oft explained--by his +grandmother. The little satchel never left his person from the moment +that the old Quakeress had placed it in his hands. There were but five +guineas in all, to which he had added from time to time the few +shillings which Sir Marmaduke paid him as salary. + +He chided his own weakness inwardly, when he felt the hot tears surging +to his eyes at thought of the unworthy use to which his little hoard was +about to be put. + +But he walked to the table with a bold step; there was nothing now of +the country lout about him; on the contrary, he moved with remarkable +dignity, and bore himself so well that many a pair of feminine eyes +watched him kindly, as he took his seat at the baize-covered table. + +"Will one of you gentlemen teach me the game?" he asked simply. + +It was remarkable that no one sneered at him again, and in these days of +arrogance peculiar to the upper classes this was all the more +noticeable, as these secret clubs were thought to be very exclusive, the +resort pre-eminently of gentlemen and noblemen who were anti-Puritan, +anti-Republican, and very jealous of their ranks and privileges. + +Yet when after those few unpleasant moments of hesitation Lambert boldly +accepted the situation and with much simple dignity took his seat at the +table, everyone immediately accepted him as an equal, nor did anyone +question his right to sit there on terms of equality with Lord Walterton +or Sir Michael Isherwood. + +His own state of mind was very remarkable at the moment. + +Of course he disapproved of what he did: he would not have been the +Puritanically trained, country-bred lad that he was, if he had accepted +with an easy conscience the idea of tossing about money from hand to +hand, money that he could in no sense afford to lose, or money that no +one was making any honest effort to win. + +He knew--somewhat vaguely perhaps, yet with some degree of +certainty--that gambling was an illicit pastime, and that therefore +he--by sitting at this table with these gentlemen, was deliberately +contravening the laws of his country. + +Against all that, it is necessary to note that Richard Lambert took two +matters very much in earnest: first, his position as a paid dependent; +second, his gratitude to Sir Marmaduke de Chavasse. + +And both these all-pervading facts combined to force him against his +will into this anomalous position of gentlemanly gambler, which suited +neither his temperament nor his principles. + +With it all Lambert's was one of those dispositions, often peculiar to +those who have led an isolated and introspective life, which never do +anything half-heartedly; and just as he took his somewhat empty +secretarial duties seriously, so did he look on this self-imposed task, +against which his better judgment rebelled, with earnestness and +determination. + +He listened attentively to the preliminary explanations given him sotto +voce by Endicott. Segrave in the meanwhile had taken the latter's place +at the head of the table. He had put all his money in front of him, some +two hundred and sixty pounds all told, for his winnings during the last +half hour had not been as steady as heretofore, and he had not yet +succeeded altogether in making up that sum of money for which he yearned +with all the intensity of a disturbed conscience, eager to redeem one +miserable fault by another hardly more avowable. + +He shuffled the cards and dealt just as Endicott had done. + +"Now will you look at your card, young sir," said Endicott, who stood +behind Lambert's chair, whispering directions in his ear. "A splendid +card, begad! and one on which you must stake freely.... Nay! nay! that +is not enough," he added, hurriedly restraining the young man's hand, +who had timidly pushed a few silver coins forward. "'Tis thus you must +do!" + +And before Lambert had time to protest the rotund man in the cinnamon +doublet and the wide lace cuffs, had emptied the contents of the little +leather wallet upon the table. + +Five golden guineas rested on Lambert's card. Segrave turned up his own +and declared: + +"I pay queen and upwards!" + +"A two, by gad!" said Lord Walterton, too confused in his feeble head +now to display any real fury. "Did anyone ever see such accursed luck?" + +"And look at this nine," quoth Sir Michael, who had become very sullen; +"not a card to-night!" + +"I have a king," said Lambert quietly. + +"And as I had the pleasure to remark before, my dear young friend," said +Endicott blandly, "'tis a mighty good card to hold.... And see," he +continued, as Segrave without comment added five more golden guineas to +Lambert's little hoard, "see how wise it was to stake a goodly sum ... +That is the whole art of the game of primero ... to know just what to +stake on each card in accordance with its value and the law of +averages.... But you will learn in time, young man you will learn...." + +"The game doth not appear to be vastly complicated," assented Lambert +lightly. + +"I have played primero on a system for years ..." quoth Lord Walterton +sententiously, "but to-night ... hic ... by Gad! ... I cannot make the +system work right ... hic!" + +But already Segrave was dealing again. Lambert staked more coolly now. +In his mind he had already set aside the original five guineas which +came from his grandmother. With strange ease and through no merit of his +own, yet perfectly straightforwardly and honestly, he had become the +owner of another five; these he felt more justified in risking on the +hazard of the game. + +But the goddess of Fortune smiling benignly on this country-bred lad, +had in a wayward mood apparently taken him under her special protection. +He staked and won again, and then again pleased at his success ... in +spite of himself feeling the subtle poison of excitement creeping into +his veins ... yet remaining perfectly calm outwardly the while. + +Segrave, on the other hand, was losing in exact proportion to the +newcomer's winnings: already his pile of gold had perceptibly +diminished, whilst the hectic flush on his cheeks became more and more +accentuated, the glitter in his eyes more unnatural and feverish, his +hands as they shuffled and dealt the cards more trembling and febrile. + +"'Pon my honor," quoth Sir Marmaduke, throwing a careless glance at the +table, "meseems you are in luck, my good Lambert. Doubtless, you are not +sorry now that you allowed yourself to be persuaded." + +"'Tis not unpleasant to win," rejoined Lambert lightly, "but believe me, +sir, the game itself gives me no pleasure." + +"I pay knave and upwards," declared Segrave in a dry and hollow voice, +and with burning eyes fixed upon his new and formidable opponent. + +"My last sovereign, par Dieu!" swore Lord Walterton, throwing the money +across to Segrave with an unsteady hand. + +"And one of my last," said Sir Michael, as he followed suit. + +"And what is your stake, Master Lambert?" queried Segrave. + +"Twenty pounds I see," replied the young man, as with a careless hand he +counted over the gold which lay pell-mell on his card; "I staked on the +king without counting." + +Segrave in his turn pushed some gold towards him. The pile in front of +him was not half the size it had been before this stranger from the +country had sat down to play. He tried to remain master of himself, not +to show before these egotistical, careless cavaliers all the agony of +mind which he now endured and which had turned to positive physical +torture. + +The ghost of stolen money, of exposure, of pillory and punishment which +had so perceptibly paled as he saw the chance of replacing by his +unexpected winnings that which he had purloined, once more rose to +confront him. Again he saw before him the irascible employer, pointing +with relentless finger at the deficiency in the accounts, again he saw +his weeping mother, his stern father,--the disgrace, the irretrievable +past. + +"You are not leaving off playing, Sir Michael?" he asked anxiously, as +the latter having handed him over a golden guinea, rose from the table +and without glancing at his late partners in the game, turned his back +on them all. + +"Par Dieu!" he retorted, speaking roughly, and none too civilly over his +shoulder, "my pockets are empty.... Like Master Lambert here," he added +with an unmistakable sneer, "I find no pleasure in _this_ sort of game!" + +"What do you mean?" queried Segrave hotly. + +"Oh, nothing," rejoined the other dryly, "you need not heed my remark. +Are you not losing, too?" + +"What does he mean?" said Lambert with a puzzled frown, instinctively +turning to his employer. + +"Naught! naught! my good Lambert," replied Sir Marmaduke, dropping his +voice to a whisper. "Sir Michael Isherwood hath lost more than he can +afford and is somewhat choleric of temper, that is all." + +"And in a little quiet game, my good young friend," added Endicott, +also in a whisper, "'tis wisest to take no heed of a loser's vapors." + +"I pay ace only!" quoth Segrave triumphantly, who in the meanwhile had +continued the game. + +Lord Walterton swore a loud and prolonged oath. He had staked five +guineas on a king and had lost. + +"Ventre-saint-gris, and likewise par le sang-bleu!" he said, "the first +time I have had a king! Segrave, ye must leave me these few little +yellow toys, else I cannot pay for my lodgings to-night.... I'll give +you a bill ... but I've had enough of this, by Gad!" + +And somewhat sobered, though still unsteady, he rose from the table. + +"Surely, my lord, you are not leaving off, too?" asked Segrave. + +"Nay! ... how can I continue?" He turned his breeches pockets +ostentatiously inside out. "Behold, friend, these two beautiful and +innocent little dears!" + +"You can give me more bills ..." urged Segrave, "and you lose ... you +may not lose after this ... 'tis lucky to play on credit ... and ... and +your bills are always met, my lord ..." + +He spoke with feverish volubility, though his throat was parched and +every word he uttered caused him pain. But he was determined that the +game should proceed. + +He had won a little of his own back again the last few rounds. +Certainly his luck would turn once more. His luck _must_ turn once more, +or else ... + +"Nay! nay! I've had enough," said Lord Walterton, nodding a heavy head +up and down, "there are too many of my bills about as it is.... I've had +enough." + +"Methinks, of a truth," said Lambert decisively, "that the game has +indeed lasted long enough.... And if some other gentleman would but take +my place ..." + +He made a movement as if to rise from the table, but was checked by a +harsh laugh and a peremptory word from Segrave. + +"Impossible," said the latter, "you, Master Lambert, cannot leave off in +any case.... My lord ... another hand ..." he urged again. + +"Nay! nay! my dear Segrave," replied Lord Walterton, shaking himself +like a sleepy dog, "the game hath ceased to have any pleasure for me, as +our young friend here hath remarked.... I wish you good luck ... and +good-night." + +Whereupon he turned on his heel and straddled away to another corner of +the room, away from the temptation of that green-covered table. + +"We two then, Master Lambert," said Segrave with ever-growing +excitement, "what say you? Double or quits?" + +And he pointed, with that same febrile movement of his, to the heap of +gold standing on the table beside Lambert. + +"As you please," replied the latter quietly, as he pushed the entire +pile forward. + +Segrave dealt, then turned up his card. + +"Ten!" he said curtly. + +"Mine is a knave," rejoined Lambert. + +"How do we stand?" queried the other, as with a rapid gesture he passed +a trembling hand over his burning forehead. + +"Methinks you owe me a hundred pounds," replied Richard, who seemed +strangely calm in the very midst of this inexplicable and volcanic +turmoil which he felt was seething all round him. He had won a hundred +pounds--a fortune in those days for a country lad like himself; but for +the moment the thought of what that hundred pounds would mean to him and +to his brother Adam, was lost in the whirl of excitement which had risen +to his head like wine. + +He had steadily refused the glasses of muscadel or sack which Mistress +Endicott had insinuatingly and persistently been offering him, ever +since he began to play; yet he felt intoxicated, with strange currents +of fire which seemed to run through his veins. + +The subtle poison had done its work. Any remorse which he may have felt +at first, for thus acting against his own will and better judgment, and +for yielding like a weakling to persuasion, which had no moral rectitude +for basis, was momentarily smothered by the almost childish delight of +winning, of seeing the pile of gold growing in front of him. He had +never handled money before; it was like a fascinating yet insidious toy +which he could not help but finger. + +"Are you not playing rather high, gentlemen?" came in dulcet tones from +Mistress Endicott; "I do not allow high play in my house. Master +Lambert, I would fain ask you to cease." + +"I am more than ready, madam," said Richard with alacrity. + +"Nay! but I am not ready," interposed Segrave vehemently. "Nay! nay!" he +repeated with feverish insistence, "Master Lambert cannot cease playing +now. He is bound in honor to give me a chance for revenge.... Double or +quits, Master Lambert! ... Double or quits?" + +"As you please," quoth Lambert imperturbably. + +"Ye cannot cut to each other," here interposed Endicott didactically. +"The rules of primero moreover demand that if there are but two players, +a third and disinterested party shall deal the cards." + +"Then will you cut and deal, Master Endicott," said Segrave impatiently; +"I care not so long as I can break Master Lambert's luck and redeem mine +own.... Double or quits, Master Lambert.... Double or quits.... I shall +either owe you two hundred pounds or not one penny.... In which case we +can make a fresh start...." + +Lambert eyed him with curiosity, sympathetically too, for the young man +was in a state of terrible mental agitation, whilst he himself felt +cooler than before. + +Endicott dealt each of the two opponents a card face downwards, but even +as he did so, the one which he had dealt to Lambert fluttered to the +ground. + +He stooped and picked it up. + +Segrave's eyes at the moment were fixed on his own card, Lambert's on +the face of his opponent. No one else in the room was paying any +attention to the play of the two young men, for everyone was busy with +his own affairs. Play was general, the hour late. The wines had been +heady, and all tempers were at fever pitch. + +No one, therefore, was watching Endicott's movements at the moment when +he ostensibly stooped to pick up the fallen card. + +"It is not faced," he said, "what shall we do?" + +"Give it to Master Lambert forsooth," quoth Mistress Endicott, "'tis +unlucky to re-deal ... providing," she added artfully, "that Master +Segrave hath no objection." + +"Nay! nay!" said the latter. "Begad! why should we stop the game for a +trifle?" + +Then as Lambert took the card from Endicott and casually glanced at it, +Segrave declared: + +"Queen!" + +"King!" retorted Lambert, with the same perfect calm. "King of diamonds +... that card has been persistently faithful to me to-night." + +"The devil himself hath been faithful to you, Master Lambert ..." said +Segrave tonelessly, "you have the hell's own luck.... What do I pay you +now?" + +"It was double or quits, Master Segrave," rejoined Lambert, "which +brings it up to two hundred pounds.... You will do me the justice to own +that I did not seek this game." + +In his heart he had already resolved not to make use of his own +winnings. Somehow as in a flash of intuition he perceived the whole +tragedy of dishonor and of ruin which seemed to be writ on his +opponent's face. He understood that what he had regarded as a +toy--welcome no doubt, but treacherous for all that--was a matter of +life or death--nay! more mayhap to that pallid youth, with the hectic +flush, the unnaturally bright eyes and trembling hands. + +There was silence for a while round the green-topped table, whilst +thoughts, feelings, presentiments of very varied kinds congregated +there. With Endicott and his wife, and also with Sir Marmaduke, it was +acute tension, the awful nerve strain of anticipation. The seconds for +them seemed an eternity, the obsession of waiting was like lead on their +brains. + +During that moment of acute suspense Richard Lambert was quietly +co-ordinating his thoughts. + +With that one mental flash-light which had shown up to him the hitherto +unsuspected tragedy, the latent excitement in him had vanished. He saw +his own weakness in its true light, despised himself for having yielded, +and looked upon the heap of gold before him as so much ill-gotten +wealth, which it would be a delight to restore to the hand from whence +it came. + +He heartily pitied the young man before him, and was forming vague +projects of how best to make him understand in private and without +humiliation that the money which he had lost would be returned to him in +full. Strangely enough he was still holding in his hand that king of +diamonds which Endicott had dealt to him. + + + + +CHAPTER XIX + +DISGRACE + + +Segrave, too, had been silent, of course. In his mind there was neither +suspense nor calm. It was utter, dull and blank despair which assailed +him, the ruin of his fondest hopes, an awful abyss of disgrace, of +punishment, of death at best, which seemed to yawn before him from the +other side of the baize-covered table. + +Instinct--that ever-present instinct of self-control peculiar to the +gently-bred race of mankind--caused him to make frantic efforts to keep +himself and his nerves in check. He would--even at this moment of +complete ruin--have given the last shreds of his worldly possessions to +be able to steady the febrile movements of his hand. + +The pack of cards was on the table, just as Endicott had put it down, +after dealing, with the exception of the queen of hearts in front of +Segrave and the lucky king of diamonds on which Lambert was still +mechanically gazing. + +He was undoubtedly moved by the desire to hide the trembling of his +hands and the gathering tears in his eyes when he began idly to scatter +the pack upon the table, spreading out the cards, fingering them one by +one, setting his teeth the while lest that latent cry of misery should +force its way across his lips. + +Suddenly he paused in this idle fingering of the cards. His eyes which +already were burning with hot tears, seemed to take on an almost savage +glitter. A hoarse cry escaped his parched lips. + +"In the name of Heaven, Master Segrave, what ails you?" cried Endicott +with well-feigned concern. + +Segrave's hand wandered mechanically to his own neck; he tugged at the +fastening of his lace collar, as if, in truth, he were choking. + +"The king.... The king of diamonds," he murmured in a hollow voice. "Two +... two kings of diamonds...." + +He laughed, a long, harsh laugh, the laugh of a maniac, or of a man +possessed, whilst one long thin finger pointed tremblingly to the card +still held by Richard Lambert, and then to its counterpart in the midst +of the scattered pack. + +That laugh seemed to echo all round the room. Dames and cavaliers, +players and idlers, looked up to see whence that weird sound had come. +Instinctively the crowd drew nigh, dice and cards were pushed aside. +Some strange drama was being enacted between two young men, more +interesting even than the caprices of Fortune. + +But already Endicott and also Sir Marmaduke de Chavasse had followed the +beckonings of Segrave's feverish hand. + +There could be no mistake in what they saw nor yet in the ominous +consequences which it foretold. There was a king of diamonds in the +scattered pack of cards upon the table, and yet the card which Lambert +held, in consequence of which he had just won two hundred pounds, was +also the king of diamonds. + +"Two kings of diamonds ... by all that's damnable!" quoth Lord +Walterton, who had been the first to draw nigh. + +"But in Heaven's name, what does it all mean?" exclaimed Lambert, gazing +at the two cards, hearing the comments round him, yet utterly unable to +understand. + +Segrave jumped to his feet. + +"It means, young man," he ejaculated in a wild state of frenzy, maddened +by his losses, his former crime, his present ruin, "it means that you +are a damned thief." + +And with frantic, excited gesture he gathered up the cards and threw +them violently into Richard Lambert's face. + +A curious sound went round the room--a gasp, hardly a cry--and all those +present held their breath, silent, appalled at the terrible tragedy +expressed by these two young men standing face to face on the brink of a +deathly and almost blasphemous conflict. + +Mistress Endicott was the first to utter a cry. + +"Silence! silence!" she shouted shrilly. "Master Segrave, I adjure you +to be silent.... I'll not permit you to insult my guest." + +Already Lambert had made a quick movement to throw himself on Segrave. +The elemental instinct of self-defense, of avenging a terrible insult by +physical violence, rose within him, whispering of strength and power, of +the freedom, muscle-giving life of the country as against the +enervating, weakening influence of the town. + +He knew that in a hand-to-hand struggle with the feverish, emaciated +townsman, he, the country-bred lad, the haunter of woods and cliffs, the +dweller of the Thanet smithy, would be more than a match for his +opponent. But even as his whole body stiffened for a spring, his muscles +tightened and his fists clenched, a dozen restraining hands held him +back from his purpose, whilst Mistress Endicott's shrill tones seemed to +bring him back to the realities of his own peril. + +"Mistress Endicott," he said, turning a proud, yet imploring look to the +lady whose virtues had been so loudly proclaimed in his ears, "Madam, I +appeal to you ... I implore you to listen ... a frightful insult which +you have witnessed ... an awful accusation on which I scarce can trust +myself to dwell has been hurled at me.... I entreat you to allow me to +challenge these two gentlemen to explain." + +And he pointed both to Segrave and to Endicott, The former, after his +mad outburst of ungovernable rage, had regained a certain measure of +calm. He stood, facing Lambert, with arms folded across his chest, +whilst a smile of insulting irony curled his thin lips. + +Endicott's eyes seemed to be riveted on Lambert's breast. + +At mention of his own name, he suddenly darted forward, and seemed to be +plunging his hand--the hand which almost disappeared within the ample +folds of the voluminous lace cuff--into the breast pocket of the young +man's doublet. + +His movements were so quick, so sure and so unexpected that no +one--least of all Lambert--could possibly guess what was his purpose. + +The next moment--less than a second later--he had again withdrawn his +hand, but now everyone could see that he held a few cards in it. These +he dropped with an exclamation of loathing and contempt upon the table, +whilst those around, instinctively drew back a step or two as if fearful +of coming in contact with something impure and terrible. + +Endicott's movements, his quick gestures, well aided by the wide lace +cuffs which fell over his hand, his exclamation of contempt, had all +contributed to make it seem before the spectators as if he had found a +few winning cards secreted inside the lining of Richard Lambert's +doublet. + +"Nay! young sir," he said with an evil sneer, "meseems that explanations +had best come from you. Here," he added, pointing significantly at the +cards which he had just dropped out of his own hand, "here is a vastly +pleasing collection ... aces and kings ... passing serviceable in a +quiet game of primero among friends." + +Lambert had been momentarily dumfounded, for undoubtedly he had not +perceived Endicott's treacherous movements, and had absolutely no idea +whence had come those awful cards which somehow or other seemed to be +convicting him of lying and cheating: so conscious was he of his own +innocence, that never for a moment did the slightest fear cross his mind +that he could not immediately make clear his own position, and proclaim +his own integrity. + +"This is an infamous plot," he said calmly, but very firmly. "Sir +Marmaduke de Chavasse," he added, turning to face his employer, who +still stood motionless and silent in the background, "in the name of +Heaven I beg of you to explain to these gentlemen that you have known me +from boyhood. Will you speak?" he added insistently, conscious of a +strange tightening of his heartstrings as the man on whom he relied, +remained impassive and made no movement to come to his help. "Will you +tell them, I pray you, sir, that you know me to be a man of honor, +incapable of such villainy as they suggest? ... You know that I did not +even wish to play ..." + +"That reluctance of yours, my good Lambert, seems to have been a pretty +comedy forsooth," replied Sir Marmaduke lightly, "and you played to some +purpose, meseems, when you once began.... Nay! I pray you," he added +with unmitigated harshness, "do not drag me into your quarrels.... I +cannot of a truth champion your virtue." + +Lambert's cheeks became deathly pale. The first inkling of the deadly +peril of his own situation had suddenly come to him with Sir Marmaduke's +callous words. It seemed to him as if the very universe must stand still +in the face of such treachery. The man whom he loved with all the fervor +of a grateful nature, the man who knew him and whom he had wholly +trusted, was proving his most bitter, most damning enemy. + +After Sir Marmaduke's speech, his own employer's repudiation, he felt +that all his chances of clearing his character before these sneering +gentlemen had suddenly vanished. + +"This is cruel, and infamous," he protested, conscious innocence within +him still striving to fight a hard battle against overwhelming odds. +"Gentlemen! ... as I am a man of honor, I swear that I do not know what +all this means!" + +"It means, young man, that you are an accursed cheat ... a thief ... a +liar!" shouted Segrave, whose last vestige of self-control suddenly +vanished, whilst mad frenzy once more held him in its grip. "I swear by +God that you shall pay me for this!" + +He threw himself with all the strength of a raving maniac upon Lambert, +who for the moment was taken unawares, and yielded to the suddenness of +the onslaught. But it was indeed a conflict 'twixt town and country, +the simple life against nightly dissipations, the forests and cliffs of +Thanet against the enervating atmosphere of the city. + +After that first onrush, Lambert, with marvelous agility and quick +knowledge of a hand-to-hand fight, had shaken himself free of his +opponent's trembling grasp. It was his turn now to have the upper hand, +and in a trice he had, with a vigorous clutch, gripped his opponent by +the throat. + +In a sense, his calmness had not forsaken him, his mind was as quiet, as +clear as heretofore; it was only his muscle--his bodily energy in the +face of a violent and undeserved attack--which had ceased to be under +his control. + +"Man! man!" he murmured, gazing steadily into the eyes of his +antagonist, "ye shall swallow those words--or by Heaven I will kill +you!" + +The tumult which ensued drowned everything save itself ... everything, +even the sound of that slow and measured tramp, tramp, tramp, which was +wafted up from the street. + +The women shouted, the men swore. Some ran like frightened sheep to the +distant corners of the room, fearful lest they be embroiled in this +unpleasant fracas ... others crowded round Segrave and Lambert, trying +to pacify them, to drag the strong youth away from his weaker +opponent--almost his victim now. + +Some were for forcibly separating them, others for allowing them to +fight their own battles and loud-voiced arguments, subsidiary quarrels, +mingled with the shrill cries of terror and caused a din which grew in +deafening intensity, degenerating into a wild orgy as glasses were +knocked off the tables, cards strewn about, candles sent flying and +spluttering upon the ground. + +And still that measured tramp down the street, growing louder, more +distinct, a muffled "Halt!" the sound of arms, of men moving about +beneath that yawning archway and along the dark and dismal passage with +its hermetically closed front door. + + + + +CHAPTER XX + +MY LORD PROTECTOR'S PATROL + + +Alone, Sir Marmaduke de Chavasse had taken no part in the confused +turmoil which raged around the personalities of Segrave and Richard +Lambert. From the moment that he had--with studied callousness--turned +his back on his erstwhile protégé he had held aloof from the crowd which +had congregated around the two young men. + +He saw before him the complete success of his nefarious plan, which had +originated in the active brain of Editha, but had been perfected in his +own--of heaping dire and lasting disgrace on the man who had become +troublesome and interfering of late, who was a serious danger to his +more important schemes. + +After the fracas of this night Richard Lambert forsooth could never show +his face within two hundred miles of London, the ugly story of his +having cheated at cards and been publicly branded as a liar and a thief +by a party of gentlemen would of a surety penetrate even within the +fastnesses of Thanet. + +So far everything was for the best, nay, it might be better still, for +Segrave enraged and maddened at his losses, might succeed in getting +Lambert imprisoned for stealing, and cheating, even at the cost of his +own condemnation to a fine for gambling. + +The Endicotts had done their part well. The man especially, with his +wide cuffs and his quick movements. No one there present could have the +slightest doubt but that Lambert was guilty. Satisfied, therefore, that +all had gone according to his own wishes, Sir Marmaduke withdrew from +further conflict or argument with the unfortunate young man, whom he had +so deliberately and so hopelessly ruined. + +And because he thus kept aloof, his ears were not so completely filled +with the din, nor his mind so wholly engrossed by the hand-to-hand +struggle between the two young men, that he did not perceive that other +sound, which, in spite of barred windows and drawn curtains, came up +from the street below. + +At first he had only listened carelessly to the measured tramp. But the +cry of "Halt!" issuing from immediately beneath the windows caused his +cheeks to blanch and his muscles to stiffen with a sudden sense of fear. + +He cast a rapid glance all around. Segrave and Lambert--both flushed and +panting--were forcibly held apart. Sir Marmaduke noted with a grim smile +that the latter was obviously the center of a hostile group, whilst +Segrave was surrounded by a knot of sympathizers who were striving +outwardly to pacify him, whilst in reality urging him on through their +unbridled vituperations directed against the other man. + +The noise of arguments, of shrill voices, of admonitions and violent +abuse had in no sense abated. + +Over the sea of excited faces Sir Marmaduke caught the wide-open, +terrified eyes of Editha de Chavasse. + +She too, had heard. + +He beckoned to her across the room with a slight gesture of the hand, +and she obeyed the silent call as quickly as she dared, working her way +round to him, without arousing the attention of the crowd. + +"Do not lose your head," he whispered as soon as she was near him and +seeing the wild terror expressed in every line of her face. "Slip into +the next room ... and leave the door ajar.... Do this as quietly as may +be ... now ... at once ... then wait there until I come." + +Again she obeyed him silently and swiftly, for she knew what that cry of +"Halt!" meant, uttered at the door of her house. She had heard it, even +as Sir Marmaduke had done, and after it the peremptory knocks, the loud +call, the word of command, followed by the sound of an awed and +supplicating voice, entering a feeble protest. + +She knew what all that meant, and she was afraid. + +As soon as Sir Marmaduke saw that she had done just as he had ordered, +he deliberately joined the noisy groups which were congregated around +Segrave and Lambert. + +He pushed his way forward and anon stood face to face with the young man +on whom he had just wreaked such an irreparable wrong. Not a thought of +compunction or remorse rose in his mind as he looked down at the +handsome flushed face--quite calm and set outwardly in spite of the +terrible agony raging within heart and mind. + +"Lambert!" he said gruffly, "listen to me.... Your conduct hath been +most unseemly.... Mistress Endicott has for my sake, already shown you +much kindness and forbearance ... Had she acted as she had the right to +do, she would have had you kicked out of the house by her servants.... +In your own interests now I should advise you to follow me quietly out +of the house...." + +But this suggestion raised a hot protest on the part of all the +spectators. + +"He shall not go!" declared Segrave violently. + +"Not without leaving behind him what he has deliberately stolen," +commented Endicott, raising his oily voice above the din. + +Lambert had waited patiently, whilst his employer spoke. The last +remnant of that original sense of deference and of gratitude caused him +to hold himself in check lest he should strike that treacherous coward +in the face. Sir Marmaduke's callousness in the face of his peril and +unmerited disgrace, had struck Lambert with an overwhelming feeling of +disappointment and loneliness. But his cruel insults now quashed despair +and roused dormant indignation to fever pitch. One look at Sir +Marmaduke's sneering face had told him not only that he could expect no +help from the man who--by all the laws of honor--should have stood by +him in his helplessness, but that he was the fount and source, the +instigator of the terrible wrong and injustice which was about to land +an innocent man in the veriest abyss of humiliation and irretrievable +disgrace. + +"And so this was your doing, Sir Marmaduke de Chavasse," he said, +looking his triumphant enemy boldly in the face, even whilst compelling +silent attention from those who were heaping opprobrious epithets upon +him. "You enticed me here.... You persuaded me to play, ... Then you +tried to rob me of mine honor, of my good name, the only valuable assets +which I possess.... Hell and all its devils alone know why you did this +thing, but I swear before God that your hideous crime shall not remain +unpunished...." + +"Silence!" commanded Sir Marmaduke, who was the first to perceive the +strange, almost supernatural, effect produced on all those present, by +the young man's earnestness, his impressive calm. Segrave himself stood +silent and abashed, whilst everyone listened, unconsciously awed by that +unmistakable note of righteousness which somehow rang through Lambert's +voice. + +"Nay! but I'll not be silent," quoth Richard unperturbed. "I have been +condemned ... and I have the right to speak.... You have disgraced me +... and I have the right to defend mine honor ... by protesting mine +innocence.... And now I will leave this house," he added loudly and +firmly, "for it is accursed and infamous ... but God is my witness that +I leave it without a stain upon my soul...." + +He pointed to the fateful table whereon a pile of gold lay scattered in +an untidy heap, with the tiny leather wallet containing his five guineas +conspicuously in its midst. + +"There lies the money," he said, speaking directly to Segrave, "take it, +sir, for I had never the intention to touch a penny of it.... This I +swear by all that I hold most sacred.... Take it without fear or +remorse--even though you thought such evil things of me ... and let him +who still thinks me a thief, repeat it now to my face--an he dare!" + +Even as the last of his loudly uttered words resounded through the room, +there was a loud knock at the door, and a peremptory voice commanded: + +"Open! in the name of His Highness, the Lord Protector of England!" + +In the dead silence that followed, the buzz of a fly, the spluttering of +wax candles, could be distinctly heard. + +In a moment with the sound of that peremptory call outside, tumultuous +passions seemed to sink to rest, every cheek paled, and masculine hands +instinctively sought the handles of swords whilst lace handkerchiefs +were hastily pressed to trembling lips, in order to smother the cry of +terror which had risen to feminine throats. + +"Open! in the name of His Highness, the Lord Protector of England." + +Mistress Endicott was the color of wax, her husband was gripping her +wrist with a clutch of steel, trying, through the administration of +physical pain, to keep alive her presence of mind. + +And for the third time came the loud summons: + +"Open! in the name of His Highness the Lord, Protector of England!" + +Still that deathly silence in the room, broken only now by the firm step +of Endicott, who went to open the door. + +Resistance had been worse than useless. The door would have yielded at +the first blow. There was a wailing, smothered cry from a dozen +terrified throats, and a general rush for the inner room. But this door +now was bolted and barred, Sir Marmaduke--unperceived--had slipped +quickly within, even whilst everyone held his breath in the first moment +of paralyzed terror. + +Had there been time, there would doubtless have ensued a violent attack +against that locked door, but already a man in leather doublet and +wearing a steel cap and collar had peremptorily pushed Endicott aside, +who was making a futile effort to bar the way, after he had opened the +door. + +This man now advanced into the center of the room, whilst a couple of +soldierly-looking, stalwart fellows remained at attention on the +threshold. + +"Let no one attempt to leave this room," he commanded. "Here, Bradden," +he added, turning back to his men, "take Pyott with you and search that +second room there ... then seize all those cards and dice and also that +money." + +It was not likely that these hot-headed cavaliers would submit thus +quietly to an arbitrary act of confiscation and of arrest. Hardly were +the last words out of the man's mouth than a dozen blades flashed out of +their scabbards. + +The women screamed, and like so many frightened hens, ran into the +corner of the room furthest out of reach of my Lord Protector's +police-patrol, the men immediately forming a bulwark in front of them. + +The whole thing was not very heroic perhaps. A few idlers caught in an +illicit act and under threat of arrest. The consequences--of a +truth--would not be vastly severe for the frequenters of this secret +club; fines mayhap, which most of those present could ill afford to pay, +and at worst a night's detention in one of those horrible wooden +constructions which had lately been erected on the river bank for the +express purpose of causing sundry lordly offenders to pass an +uncomfortable night. + +These were days of forcible levelings: and my lord who had contravened +old Noll's laws against swearing and gambling, fared not one whit better +than the tramp who had purloined a leg of mutton from an eating-house. + +Nay! in a measure my lord fared a good deal worse, for he looked upon +his own detention through the regicide usurper's orders, as an indignity +to himself; hence the reason why in this same house wherein a few idle +scions of noble houses indulged in their favorite pastime, when orders +rang out in the name of His Highness, swords jumped out of their +sheaths, and resistance was offered out of all proportion to the threat. + +The man who seemed to be the captain of the patrol smiled somewhat +grimly when he saw himself confronted by this phalanx of gentlemanly +weapons. He was a tall, burly fellow, broad of shoulder and well-looking +in his uniform of red with yellow facings; his round bullet-shaped head, +covered by the round steel cap, was suggestive of obstinacy, even of +determination. + +He eyed the flushed and excited throng with some amusement not wholly +unmixed with contempt. Oh! he knew some of the faces well enough by +sight--for he had originally served in the train-bands of London, and +had oft seen my Lord Walterton, for instance, conspicuous at every +entertainment--now pronounced illicit by His Highness, and Sir Anthony +Bridport, a constant frequenter at Exeter House, and young Lord +Naythmire the son of the Judge. He also had certainly seen young Segrave +before this, whose father had been a member of the Long Parliament; the +only face that was totally strange to him was that of the youngster in +the dark suit of grogram, who stood somewhat aloof from the irate crowd, +and seemed to be viewing the scene with astonishment rather than with +alarm. + +Lord Walterton, flushed with wine, more than with anger, constituted +himself the spokesman of the party: + +"Who are you?" he asked somewhat unsteadily, "and what do you want?" + +"My name is Gunning," replied the man curtly, "captain commanding His +Highness' police. What I want is that you gentlemen offer no resistance, +but come with me quietly to answer on the morrow before Judge Parry, a +charge of contravening the laws against betting and gambling." + +A ribald and prolonged laugh greeted this brief announcement, and some +twenty pairs of gentlemanly shoulders were shrugged in token of +derision. + +"Hark at the man!" quoth Sir James Overbury lightly, "methinks, +gentlemen, that our wisest course would be to put up our swords and to +throw the fellows downstairs, what say you?" + +"Aye! aye!" came in cheerful accents from the defiant little group. + +"Out with you fellow, we've no time to waste in bandying words with ye +..." said Walterton, with the tone of one accustomed to see the churl +ever cringe before the lord, "and let one of thy myrmidons touch a thing +in this room if he dare!" + +The young cavalier was standing somewhat in advance of his friends, +having stepped forward in order to emphasize the peremptoriness of his +words. The women were still in the background well protected by a +phalanx of resolute defenders who, encouraged by the captain's silence +and Walterton's haughty attitude, were prepared to force the patrol of +police to beat a hasty retreat. + +Endicott and his wife had seemed to think it prudent to keep well out of +sight: the former having yielded to Gunning's advance had discreetly +retired amongst the petticoats. + +No one, least of all Walterton, who remained the acknowledged leader of +the little party of gamesters, had any idea of the numerical strength of +the patrol whose interference with gentlemanly pastimes was +unwarrantable and passing insolent. In the gloom on the landing beyond, +a knot of men could only be vaguely discerned. Captain Gunning and his +lieutenant, Bradden, had alone advanced into the room. + +But now apparently Gunning gave some sign, which Bradden then +interpreted to the men outside. The sign itself must have been very +slight for none of the cavaliers perceived it--certainly no actual word +of command had been spoken, but the next moment--within thirty seconds +of Walterton's defiant speech, the room itself, the doorway and +apparently the landing and staircase too, were filled with men, each one +attired in scarlet and yellow, all wearing leather doublets and steel +caps, and all armed with musketoons which they were even now pointing +straight at the serried ranks of the surprised and wholly unprepared +gamesters. + +"I would fain not give an order to fire," said Captain Gunning curtly, +"and if you, gentlemen, will follow me quietly, there need be no +bloodshed." + +It may be somewhat unromantic but it is certainly prudent, to listen at +times to the dictates of common sense, and one of wisdom's most cogent +axioms is undoubtedly that it is useless to stand up before a volley of +musketry at a range of less than twelve feet, unless a heroic death is +in contemplation. + +It was certainly very humiliating to be ordered about by a close-cropped +Puritan, who spoke in nasal tones, and whose father probably had mended +boots or killed pigs in his day, but the persuasion of twenty-four +musketoons, whose muzzles pointed collectively in one direction, was +bound--in the name of common sense--to prevail ultimately. + +Of a truth, none of these gentlemen--who were now content to oppose a +comprehensive vocabulary of English and French oaths to the brand-new +weapons of my Lord Protector's police--were cowards in any sense of the +word. Less than a decade ago they had proved their mettle not only sword +in hand, but in the face of the many privations, sorrows and +humiliations consequent on the failure of their cause and the defeat, +and martyrdom of their king. There was, therefore, nothing mean or +pusillanimous in their attitude when having exhausted their vocabulary +of oaths and still seeing before them the muzzles of four-and-twenty +musketoons pointed straight at them, they one after another dropped +their sword points and turned to read in each other's faces uniform +desire to surrender to _force majeure_. + +The Captain watched them--impassive and silent--until the moment when he +too, could discern in the sullen looks cast at him by some twenty pairs +of eyes, that these elegant gentlemen had conquered their impulse to +hot-headed resistance. + +But the four-and-twenty musketoons were still leveled, nor did the +round-headed Captain give the order to lower the firearms. + +"I can release most of you, gentlemen, on parole," he said, "an you'll +surrender your swords to me, you may go home this night, under promise +to attend the Court to-morrow morning." + +Bradden in the meanwhile had gone to the inner door and finding it +locked had ordered his companion to break it open. It yielded to the +first blow dealt with a vigorous shoulder. The lieutenant went into the +room, but finding it empty, he returned and soon was busy in collecting +the various "_pièces de convictions_," which would go to substantiate +the charges of gambling and betting against these noble gentlemen. No +resistance now was offered, and after a slight moment of hesitation and +a brief consultation 'twixt the more prominent cavaliers there present, +Lord Walterton stepped forward and having unbuckled his sword, threw it +with no small measure of arrogance and disdain at the feet of Captain +Gunning. + +His example was followed by all his friends, Gunning with arms folded +across his chest, watching the proceeding in silence. When Endicott +stood before him, however, he said curtly: + +"Not you, I think. Meseems I know you too well, fine sir, to release you +on parole. Bradden," he added, turning to his lieutenant, "have this +man duly guarded and conveyed to Queen's Head Alley to-night." + +Then as Endicott tried to protest, and Gunning gave a sharp order for +his immediate removal, Segrave pushed his way forward; he wore no sword, +and like Lambert, had stood aloof throughout this brief scene of +turbulent yet futile resistance, sullen, silent, and burning with a +desire for revenge against the man who had turned the current of his +luck, and brought him back to that abyss of despair, whence he now knew +there could be no release. + +"Captain," he said firmly, "though I wear no sword I am at one with all +these gentlemen, and I accept my release on parole. To-morrow I will +answer for my offense of playing cards, which apparently, is an illicit +pastime. I am one of the pigeons who have been plucked in this house." + +"By that gentleman?" queried Gunning with a grim smile and nodding over +his shoulder in the direction where Endicott was being led away by a +couple of armed men. + +"No! not by him!" replied Segrave boldly. + +With a somewhat theatrical gesture he pointed to Lambert, who, more of a +spectator than a participant in the scene, had been standing mutely by +outside the defiant group, absorbed in his own misery, wondering what +effect the present unforeseen juncture would have on his future chances +of rehabilitating himself. + +He was also vaguely wondering what had become of Sir Marmaduke and +Mistress de Chavasse. + +But now Segrave's voice was raised, and once more Lambert found himself +the cynosure of a number of hostile glances. + +"There stands the man who has robbed us all," said Segrave wildly, "and +now he has heaped disgrace upon us, upon me and mine.... Curse him! ... +curse him, I say!" he continued, whilst all the pent-up fury, forcibly +kept in check all this while by the advent of the police, now once more +found vent in loud vituperation and almost maniacal expressions of rage. +"Liar ... cheat! ... Look at him, Captain! there stands the man who must +bear the full brunt of the punishment, for he is the decoy, he is the +thief! ... The pillory for him ... the pillory ... the lash ... the +brand! ... Curse him! ... Curse him! ... the thief! ..." + +He was surrounded and forcibly silenced. The foam had risen to his lips, +impotent fury and agonized despair had momentarily clouded his brain. +Lambert tried to speak, but the Captain, unwilling to prolong a conflict +over which he was powerless to arbitrate, gave a sign to Bradden and +anon the two young men were led away in the wake of Endicott. + +The others on giving their word that they would appear before the Court +on the morrow, and answer to the charge preferred against them, were +presently allowed to walk out of the room in single file between a +double row of soldiers whose musketoons were still unpleasantly +conspicuous. + +Thus they passed out one by one, across the passage and down the dark +staircase. The door below they found was also guarded; as well as the +passage and the archway giving on the street. + +Here they were permitted to collect or disperse at will. The ladies, +however, had not been allowed to participate in the order for release. +Gunning knew most of them by sight,--they were worthy neither of +consideration nor respect,--paid satellites of Mistress Endicott's, +employed to keep up the good spirits of that lady's clientèle. + +The soldiers drove them all together before them, in a compact, +shrinking and screaming group. Then the word of command was given. The +soldiers stood at attention, turned and finally marched out of the room +with their prisoners, Gunning being the last to leave. + +He locked the door behind him and in the wake of his men presently +wended his way down the tortuous staircase. + +Once more the measured tramp was heard reverberating through the house, +the cry of "Attention!" of "Quick march!" echoed beneath the passage +and the tumble-down archway, and anon the last of these ominous sounds +died away down the dismal street in the direction of the river. + +And in one of the attics at the top of the now silent and lonely house +in Bath Street--lately the scene of so much gayety and joy, of such +turmoil of passions and intensity of despair--two figures, a man and a +woman, crouched together in a dark corner, listening for the last dying +echo of that measured tramp. + + + + +PART III + + + + +CHAPTER XXI + +IN THE MEANWHILE + + +The news of the police raid on a secret gambling club in London, +together with the fracas which it entailed, had of necessity reached +even as far as sea-girt Thanet. Squire Boatfield had been the first to +hear of it; he spread the news as fast as he could, for he was overfond +of gossip, and Dame Harrison over at St. Lawrence had lent him able +assistance. + +Sir Marmaduke had, of course, the fullest details concerning the affair, +for he himself owned to having been present in the very house where the +disturbance had occurred. He was not averse to his neighbors knowing +that he was a frequenter of those exclusive and smart gambling clubs, +which were avowedly the resort of the most elegant cavaliers of the day, +and his account of some of the events of that memorable night had been +as entertaining as it was highly-colored. + +He avowed, however, that, disgusted at Richard Lambert's shameful +conduct, he had quitted the place early, some little while before my +Lord Protector's police had made a descent upon the gamblers. As for +Mistress de Chavasse, her name was never mentioned in connection with +the affair. She had been in London at the time certainly, staying with +a friend, who was helping her in the choice of a new gown for the coming +autumn. + +She returned to Acol Court with her brother-in-law, apparently as +horrified as he was at the disgrace which she vowed Richard Lambert had +heaped upon them all. + +The story of the young man being caught in the very act of cheating at +cards lost nothing in the telling. He had been convicted before Judge +Parry of obtaining money by lying and other illicit means, had been +condemned to fine and imprisonment and as he refused to pay the +former--most obstinately declaring that he was penniless--he was made to +stand for two hours in the pillory, and was finally dragged through the +streets in a rickety cart in full sight of a jeering crowd, sitting with +his back to the nag in company of the public hangman, and attired in +shameful and humiliating clothes. + +What happened to him after undergoing this wonderfully lenient +sentence--for many there were who thought he should have been publicly +whipped and branded as a cheat--nobody knew or cared. + +They kept him in prison for over ten weeks, it seems, but Sir Marmaduke +did not know what had become of him since then. + +The other gentlemen got off fairly lightly with fines and brief periods +of imprisonment. Young Segrave, so 'twas said, had been shipped to New +England by his father, but Master and Mistress Endicott had gone beyond +the seas at the expense of the State, and not for their own pleasure or +advancement. It appears that my Lord Protector's vigilance patrol had +kept a very sharp eye on these two people, who had more than once had to +answer for illicit acts before the Courts. They tried in a most shameful +manner it appears, to implicate Sir Marmaduke and Mistress de Chavasse +in their disgrace, but as the former very pertinently remarked, "How +could he, a simple Kentish squire have aught to do with a smart London +club? and people of such evil repute as the Endicotts could of a truth +never be believed." + +All these rumors and accounts had, of course, also reached Sue's ears. +At first she took up an attitude of aggressive incredulity when her +former friend was accused: nothing but the plain facts as set forth in +the _Public Advertiser_ of August the 5th would convince her that +Richard Lambert could be so base and mean as Sir Marmaduke had averred. + +Even then, in her innermost heart, a vague and indefinable instinct +called out to her in Lambert's name, not to believe all that was said of +him. She could not think of him as lying, and cheating at a game of +cards, when common sense itself told her that he was not sufficiently +conversant with its rules to turn them to his own advantage. Her +hot-headed partisanship of him gave way of necessity as the weeks sped +by, to a more passive disapproval of his condemnation, and this in its +turn to a kindly charity for what she thought must have been his +ignorance rather than his sin. + +What worried her most was that he was not nigh her, now that her +sentimental romance was reaching its super-acute crisis. During her +guardian's temporary absence from Acol she had made earnest and resolute +efforts to see her mysterious lover. She thought that he must know that +Sir Marmaduke and Mistress de Chavasse were away and that she herself +was free momentarily from watchful eyes. + +Yet though with pathetic persistence she haunted the park and the +woodlands around the Court, she never even once caught sight of the +broad-brimmed hat and drooping plume of her romantic prince. It seemed +as if the earth had swallowed him up. + +Upset and vaguely terrified, she had on one occasion thrown prudence to +the winds and sought out the old Quakeress and Adam Lambert with whom he +lodged. But the old Quakeress was very deaf, and explanations with her +were laborious and unsatisfactory, whilst Adam seemed to entertain a +sullen and irresponsible dislike for the foreigner. + +All she gathered from these two was that there was nothing unusual in +this sudden disappearance of their lodger. He came and went most +erratically, went no one knew whither, returned at most unexpected +moments, never slept more than an hour or two in his bed which he +quitted at amazingly early hours, strolling out of the cottage when all +decent folk were just beginning their night's rest, and wandering off +unseen, unheard, only to return as he had gone. + +He paid his money for his room regularly, however, and this was vastly +acceptable these hard times. + +But to Sue it was passing strange that her prince should be out of her +reach, just when Sir Marmaduke's and Mistress de Chavasse's absence had +made their meetings more easy and pleasant. + +Yet with it all, she was equally conscious of an unaccountable feeling +of relief, and every evening, when at about eight o'clock she returned +homewards after having vainly awaited the prince, there was nothing of +the sadness and disappointment in her heart which a maiden should feel +when she has failed to see her lover. + +She was just as much in love with him as ever!--oh! of that she felt +quite sure! she still thrilled at thought of his heroic martyrdom for +the cause which he had at heart, she still was conscious of a wonderful +feeling of elation when she was with him, and of pride when she saw this +remarkable hero, this selfless patriot at her feet, and heard his +impassioned declarations of love, even when these were alloyed with +frantic outbursts of jealousy. She still yearned for him when she did +not see him, even though she dreaded his ill-humor when he was nigh. + +She had promised to be his wife, soon and in secret, for he had vowed +that she did not love him if she condemned him to three long months of +infinite torture from jealousy and suspense. + +This promise she had given him freely and whole-heartedly more than a +fortnight ago. Since that memorable evening when she had thus plighted +her troth to him, when she had without a shadow of fear or a tremor of +compunction entrusted her entire future, her heart and soul to his +keeping, since then she had not seen him. + +Sir Marmaduke had gone to London, also Mistress de Chavasse, and she had +not even caught sight of the weird silhouette of her French prince. +Lambert, too, had gone, put out of her way temporarily--or mayhap, +forever--through the irresistible force of a terrible disgrace. There +was no one to spy on her movements, no one to dog her footsteps, yet she +had not seen him. + +When her guardian returned, he seemed so engrossed with Lambert's +misdeeds that he gave little thought to his ward. He and Mistress de +Chavasse were closeted together for hours in the small withdrawing-room, +whilst she was left to roam about the house and grounds unchallenged. + +Then at last one evening--it was late August then--when despair had +begun to grip her heart, and she herself had become the prey of vague +fears, of terrors for his welfare, his life mayhap, on which he had oft +told her that the vengeful King of France had set a price--one evening +he came to greet her walking through the woods, treading the soft carpet +of moss with a light elastic step. + +Oh! that had been a rapturous evening! one which she oft strove to +recall, now that sadness had once more overwhelmed her. He had been all +tenderness, all love, all passion! He vowed that he adored her as an +idolater would worship his divinity. Jealous? oh, yes! madly, insanely +jealous! for she was fair above all women and sweet and pure and +tempting to all men like some ripe and juicy fruit ready to fall into a +yearning hand. + +But his jealousy took on a note of melancholy and of humility. He +worshiped her so and wished to feel her all his own. She listened +entranced, forgetting her terrors, her disappointments, the vague ennui +which had assailed her of late. She yielded herself to the delights of +his caresses, to the joy of this hour of solitude and rapture. The night +was close and stormy; from afar, muffled peals of thunder echoed through +the gigantic elms, whilst vivid flashes of lightning weirdly lit up at +times the mysterious figure of this romantic lover, with his face +forever in shadow, one eye forever hidden behind a black band, his voice +forever muffled. + +But it was a tempestuous wooing, a renewal of that happy evening in the +spring--oh! so long ago it seemed now!--when first he had poured in her +ear the wild torrents of his love. The girl--so young, so inexperienced, +so romantic--was literally swept off her feet; she listened to his wild +words, yielded her lips to his kiss, and whilst she half feared the +impetuosity of his mood, she delighted in the very terrors it evoked. + +A secret marriage? Why, of course! since he suffered so terribly through +not feeling her all his own. Soon!--at once!--at Dover before the +clergyman at All Souls, with whom he--her prince--had already spoken. + +Yes! it would have to be at Dover, for the neighboring villages might +prove too dangerous. Sir Marmaduke might hear of it, mayhap. It would +rest with her to free herself for one day. + +Then came that delicious period of scheming, of stage-managing +everything for the all-important day. He would arrange about a chaise, +and she should walk up to the Canterbury Road to meet it. He would await +her in the church at Dover, for 'twas best that they should not be seen +together until after the happy knot was tied, when he declared that he +would be ready to defy the universe. + +It had been a long interview, despite the tempest that raged above and +around them. The great branches of the elms groaned and cracked under +fury of the wind, the thunder pealed overhead and then died away with +slow majesty out towards the sea. From afar could be heard the angry +billows dashing themselves against the cliffs. + +They had to seek shelter under the colonnaded porch of the summerhouse, +and Sue had much ado to keep the heavy drops of rain from reaching her +shoes and the bottom of her kirtle. + +But she was attune with the storm, she loved to hear the weird sh-sh-sh +of the leaves, the monotonous drip of the rain on the roof of the summer +house, and in the intervals of intense blackness to catch sight of her +lover's face, pale of hue, with one large eye glancing cyclops-like into +hers, as a vivid flash of lightning momentarily tore the darkness +asunder and revealed him still crouching at her feet. + +Intense lassitude followed the wild mental turmoil of that night. She +had arranged to meet him again two days hence in order to repeat to him +what she had heard the while of Sir Marmaduke's movements, and when she +was like to be free to go to Dover. During those intervening two days +she tried hard to probe her own thoughts; her mind, her feelings: but +what she found buried in the innermost recesses of her heart frightened +her so, that she gave up thinking. + +She lay awake most of the night, telling herself how much she loved her +prince; she spent half a day in the perusal of a strange book called +_The Tragedie of Romeo and Juliet_ by one William Shakespeare who had +lived not so long ago: and found herself pondering as to whether her own +sentiments with regard to her prince were akin to those so exquisitely +expressed by those two young people who had died because they loved one +another so dearly. + +Then she heard that towards the end of the week Sir Marmaduke and +Mistress de Chavasse would be journeying together to Canterbury in order +to confer with Master Skyffington the lawyer, anent her own fortune, +which was to be handed to her in its entirety in less than three months, +when she would be of age. + + + + +CHAPTER XXII + +BREAKING THE NEWS + + +Sir Marmaduke talked openly of this plan of going to Canterbury with +Editha de Chavasse, mentioning the following Friday as the most likely +date for his voyage. + +Full of joy she brought the welcome news to her lover that same evening; +nor had she cause to regret then her ready acquiescence to his wishes. +He was full of tenderness then, of gentle discretion in his caresses, +showing the utmost respect to his future princess. He talked less of his +passion and more of his plans, in which now she would have her full +share. He confided some of his schemes to her: they were somewhat vague +and not easy to understand, but the manner in which he put them before +her, made them seem wonderfully noble and selfless. + +In a measure this evening--so calm and peaceful in contrast to the +turbulence of the other night--marked one of the great crises in the +history of her love. Even when she heard that Fate itself was conspiring +to help on the clandestine marriage by causing Sir Marmaduke and +Mistress de Chavasse to absent themselves at a most opportune moment, +she had resolved to break the news to her lover of her own immense +wealth. + +Of this he was still in total ignorance. One or two innocent remarks +which he had let fall at different times convinced her of that. Nor was +this ignorance of his to be wondered at: he saw no one in or about the +village except the old Quakeress and Adam Lambert with whom he lodged. +The woman was deaf and uncommunicative, whilst there seemed to be some +sort of tacit enmity against the foreigner, latent in the mind of the +blacksmith. It was, therefore, quite natural that he should suppose her +no whit less poor than Sir Marmaduke de Chavasse or the other +neighboring Kentish squires whose impecuniousness was too blatant a fact +to be unknown even to a stranger in the land. + +Sue, therefore, was eagerly looking forward to the happy moment when she +would explain to her prince that her share in the wonderful enterprise +which he always vaguely spoke of as his "great work" would not merely be +one of impassiveness. Where he could give the benefit of his +personality, his eloquence, his knowledge of men and things, she could +add the weight of her wealth. + +Of course she was very, very young, but already from him she had +realized that it is impossible even to regenerate mankind and give it +political and religious freedom without the help of money. + +Prince Amédé d'Orléans himself was passing rich: the fact that he chose +to hide in a lonely English village and to live as a poor man would +live, was only a part of his schemes. For the moment, too, owing to that +ever-present vengefulness of the King of France, his estates and +revenues were under sequestration. All this Sue understood full well, +and it added quite considerably to her joy to think that soon she could +relieve the patriot and hero from penury, and that the news that she +could do so would be a glad surprise for him. + +Nor must Lady Sue Aldmarshe on this account be condemned for an ignorant +or a vain fool. Though she was close on twenty-one years of age, she had +had absolutely no experience of the world or of mankind: all she knew of +either had been conceived in the imaginings of her own romantic brain. + +Her entire childhood, her youth and maidenhood had gone by in silent and +fanciful dreamings, whilst one of the greatest conflicts the world had +ever known was raging between men of the same kith and the same blood. +The education of women--even of those of rank and wealth--was avowedly +upon a very simple plan. Most of the noble ladies of that time knew not +how to spell--most of them were content to let the world go by them, +without giving it thought or care, others had accomplished prodigies of +valor, of heroism, aye! and of determination to help their brothers, +husbands, fathers during the worst periods of the civil war. + +But Sue had been too young when these same prodigies were being +accomplished, and her father died before she had reached the age when +she could take an active part in the great questions of the day. A +mother she had never known, she had no brothers and sisters. A brief +time under the care of an old aunt and a duenna in a remote Surrey +village, and her stay at Pegwell Court under Sir Marmaduke's +guardianship, was all that she had ever seen of life. + +Prince Amédé d'Orléans was the embodiment of all her dreams--or nearly +so! The real hero of her dreams had been handsomer, and also more gentle +and more trusting, but on the whole, he had not been one whit more +romantic in his personality and his doings. + +The manner in which he received the news that unbeknown to him, he had +been wooing one of the richest brides in the land, was characteristic of +him. He seemed boundlessly disappointed. + +It was a beautiful clear night and she could see his face quite +distinctly, and could note how its former happy expression was marred +suddenly by a look of sorrow. He owned to being disappointed. He had +loved the idea, so he explained, of taking her to him, just as she was, +beautiful beyond compare, but penniless--having only her exquisite self +to give. + +Oh! the joy after that of coaxing him back to smiles! the pride of +proving herself his Egeria for the nonce, teaching him how to look upon +wealth merely as a means for attaining his great ends, for continuing +his great work. + +It had been perhaps the happiest evening in her short life of love. + +For that day at Dover now only seemed a dream. The hurried tramp to the +main road in a torrent of pouring rain: the long drive in the stuffy +chaise, the arrival just in time for the brief--very brief--ceremony in +the dark church, with the clergyman in a plain black gown muttering +unintelligible words, and the local verger and the church cleaner acting +as the witnesses to her marriage. + +Her marriage! + +How differently had she conceived that great, that wonderful day, the +turning point of a maiden's life. Music, flowers, beautiful gowns and +sweet scents filling the air! the sunlight peeping gold, red, purple or +blue through the glass windows of some exquisite cathedral! The +bridegroom arrayed in white, full of joy and pride, she the bride with a +veil of filmy lace falling over her face to hide the happy blushes! + +It was a beautiful dream, and the reality was so very, very different. + +A dark little country church, with the plaster peeling off the walls! +the drone of a bewhiskered, bald-headed parson being the sole music +which greeted her ears. The rain beating against the broken +window-panes, through which icy cold draughts of damp air reached her +shoulders and caused her to shiver beneath her kerchief. She wore her +pretty dove-colored gown, but it was not new nor had she a veil over her +face, only a straw hat such as countrywomen wore, for though she was an +heiress and passing rich, her guardian did but ill provide her with +smart clothing. + +And the bridegroom? + +He had been waiting for her inside the church, and seemed impatient +when she arrived. No one had helped her to alight from the rickety +chaise, and she had to run in the pouring rain, through the miserable +and deserted churchyard. + +His face seemed to scowl as she finally stood up beside him, in front of +that black-gowned man, who was to tie between them the sacred and +irrevocable knot of matrimony. His hand had perceptibly trembled when he +slipped the ring on her finger, whilst she felt that her own was +irresponsive and icy cold. + +She tried to speak the fateful "I will!" buoyantly and firmly, but +somehow--owing to the cold, mayhap--the two little words almost died +down in her throat. + +Aye! it had all been very gloomy, and inexpressibly sad. The +ceremony--the dear, sweet, sacred ceremony which was to give her wholly +to him, him unreservedly to her--was mumbled and hurried through in less +than ten minutes. + +Her bridegroom said not a word. Together they went into the tiny vestry +and she was told to sign her name in a big book, which the bald-headed +parson held open before her. + +The prince also signed his name, and then kissed her on the forehead. + +The clergyman also shook hands and it was all over. + +She understood that she had been married by a special license, and that +she was now legally and irretrievably the wife of Amédé Henri, Prince +d'Orléans, de Bourgogne and several other places and dependencies +abroad. + +She also understood from what the bald-headed clergyman had spoken when +he stood before them in the church and read the marriage service that +she as the wife owed obedience to her husband in all things, for she had +solemnly sworn so to do. She herself, body and soul and mind, her goods +and chattels, her wealth and all belongings were from henceforth the +property of her husband. + +Yes, she had sworn to all that, willingly, and there was no going back +on that, now or ever! + +But, oh! how she wished it had been different! + +Afterwards, when in the privacy of her own little room at Acol Court, +she thought over the whole of that long and dismal day, she oft found +herself wondering what it was through it all that had seemed so +terrifying to her, so strange, so unreal. + +Something had struck her as weird: something which she could not then +define; but she was quite sure that it was not merely the unusual +chilliness of that rainy summer's day, which had caused her to tremble +so, when--in the vestry--her husband had taken her hand and kissed her. + +She had then looked into his face, which--though the vestry was but ill +lighted by a tiny very dusty window--she had never seen quite so clearly +before, and then it was that that amazing sense of something awful and +unreal had descended upon her like a clammy shroud. + +He had very swiftly averted his own gaze from her, but she had seen +something in his face which she did not understand, over which she had +pondered ever since without coming to any solution of this terrible +riddle. + +She had pondered over it during that interminable journey back from +Dover to Acol. Her husband had not even suggested accompanying her on +her homeward way, nor did she ask him to do so. She did not even think +it strange that he gave her no explanation of the reason why he should +not return to his lodgings at Acol. She felt like a somnambulist, and +wondered how soon she would wake and find herself in her small and +uncomfortable bed at the Court. + +The next day that feeling of unreality was still there; that sensation +of mystery, of something supernatural which persistently haunted her. + +One thing was quite sure; that all joy had gone out of her life. It was +possible that love was still there--she did not know--she was too young +to understand the complex sensations which suddenly had made a woman of +her ... but it was a joyless love now: and all that she knew of a +certainty about her own feelings at the present was that she hoped she +would never have to gaze into her lover's face again ... and ... Heaven +help her! ... that he might never touch her again with his lips. + +Obedient to his behests--hurriedly spoken as she stepped into the chaise +at Dover after the marriage ceremony--she had wandered out every +evening beyond the ha-ha into the park, on the chance of meeting him. + +The evenings now were soft and balmy after the rain: the air carried a +pungent smell of dahlias and of oak-leaved geraniums to her nostrils, +which helped her to throw off that miserable feeling of mental lassitude +which had weighed her down ever since that fateful day at Dover. She +walked slowly along, treading the young tendrils of the moss, watching +with wistful eyes the fleecy clouds, as they appeared through the +branches of the elms, scurrying swiftly out towards the sea ... out +towards freedom. + +But evening after evening passed away, and she saw no sign of him. She +felt the futility, the humiliating uselessness of these nightly +peregrinations in search of a man who seemed to have a hundred more +desirable occupations than that of meeting his wife. But she had not the +power to drift out towards freedom now. She obeyed mechanically because +she must. She had sworn to obey and he had bidden her come and wait for +him. + +August yielded to September, the oak-leaved geraniums withered whilst +from tangled bosquets the melancholy eyes of the Michaelmas daisies +peeped out questioningly upon the coming autumn. + +Then one evening his voice suddenly sounded close to her ear, causing +her to utter a quickly-smothered cry. It had been the one dull day +throughout this past glorious month, the night was dark and a warm +drizzle had soaked through to her shoulders and wetted the bottom of her +kirtle so that it hung heavy and dank round her ankles. He had come to +her as usual from out the gloom, just as she was about to cross the +little bridge which spanned the sunk fence. + +She realized then, with one of those sudden quivers of her +sensibilities, to which, alas! she had become so accustomed of late, +that he had always met her thus in the gloom--always chosen nights when +she could scarce see him distinctly, and this recollection still further +enhanced that eerie feeling of terror which had assailed her since that +fateful moment in the vestry. + +But she tried to be natural and even gay with him, though at the first +words of tender reproach with which she gently chided him for his +prolonged absence, he broke into one of those passionate accesses of +fury which had always frightened her, but now left her strangely cold +and unresponsive. + +Was the subtle change in him as well as in her? She could not say. +Certain it is that, though his hands had sought hers in the darkness, +and pressed them vehemently, when first they met he had not attempted to +kiss her. + +For this she was immeasurably grateful. + +He was obviously constrained, and so was she, and when she opposed a +cold silence to his outburst of passion, he immediately, and seemingly +without any effort, changed his tone and talked more reasonably, even +glibly of his work, which he said was awaiting him now in France. + +Everything was ready there, he explained, for the great political +propaganda which he had planned and which could be commenced +immediately. + +All that was needed now was the money. In what manner it would be needed +and for what definite purpose he did not condescend to explain, nor did +she care to ask. But she told him that she would be sole mistress of her +fortune on the 2d of November, the date of her twenty-first birthday. + +After that he spoke no more of money, but promised to meet her at +regular intervals during the six weeks which would intervene until the +great day when she would be free to proclaim her marriage and place +herself unreservedly in the hands of her husband. + + + + +CHAPTER XXIII + +THE ABSENT FRIEND + + +The prince kept his word, and she was fairly free to see him at least +once a week, somewhere within the leafy thicknesses of the park or in +the woods, usually at the hour when dusk finally yields to the +overwhelming embrace of night. + +Sir Marmaduke was away. In London or Canterbury, she could not say, but +she had scarcely seen him since that terrible time, when he came back +from town having left Richard Lambert languishing in disgrace and in +prison. + +Oh! how she missed the silent and thoughtful friend who in those days of +pride and of joy had angered her so, because he seemed to stand for +conscience and for prudence, when she only thought of happiness and of +love. + +There was an almost humiliating isolation about her now. Nobody seemed +to care whither she went, nor when she came home. Mistress de Chavasse +talked from time to time about Sue's infatuation for the mysterious +foreign adventurer, but always as if this were a thing of the past, and +from which Sue herself had long since recovered. + +Thus there was no one to say her nay, when she went out into the garden +after evening repast, and stayed there until the shades of night had +long since wrapped the old trees in gloom. + +And strangely enough this sense of freedom struck her with a chill sense +of loneliness. She would have loved to suddenly catch sight of Lambert's +watchful figure, and to hear his somewhat harsh voice, warning her +against the foreigner. + +This had been wont to irritate her twelve weeks ago. How mysteriously +everything had altered round her! + +And yearning for her friend, she wondered what had become of him. The +last she had heard was toward the middle of October when Sir Marmaduke, +home from one of his frequent journeyings, one day said that Lambert had +been released after ten weeks spent in prison, but that he could not say +whither he had gone since then. + +All Sue's questionings anent the young man only brought forth violent +vituperations from Sir Marmaduke, and cold words of condemnation from +Mistress de Chavasse; therefore, she soon desisted, storing up in her +heart pathetic memories of the one true friend she had in the world. + +She saw without much excitement, and certainly without tremor, the rapid +advance of that date early in November when she would perforce have to +leave Acol Court in order to follow her husband whithersoever he chose +to command her. + +The last time that they had met there had been a good deal of talk +between them, about her fortune and its future disposal. He declared +himself ready to administer it all himself, as he professed a distrust +of those who had watched over it so far--Master Skyffington, the lawyer, +and Sir Marmaduke de Chavasse, both under the control of the Court of +Chancery. + +She explained to him that the bulk of her wealth consisted of +obligations and shares in the Levant and Russian Companies, her mother +having been the only daughter and heiress of Peter Ford the great +Levantine and Oriental merchant; her marriage with the proud Earl of +Dover having caused no small measure of comment in Court circles in +those days. + +There were also deeds of property owned in Holland, grants of monopolies +for trading given by Ivan the Terrible to her grandfather, and receipts +for moneys deposited in the great banks of Amsterdam and Vienna. Master +Skyffington had charge of all those papers now: they represented nearly +five hundred thousand pounds of money and she told her husband that they +would all be placed in her own keeping, the day she was of age. + +He appeared to lend an inattentive ear to all these explanations, which +she gave in those timid tones, which had lately become habitual to her, +but once--when she made a slip, and talked about a share which she +possessed in the Russian Company being worth £50,000, he corrected her +and said it was a good deal more, and gave her some explanations as to +the real distribution of her capital, which astonished her by their +lucidity and left her vaguely wondering how it happened that he knew. +She had finally to promise to come to him at the cottage in Acol on the +2d of November--her twenty-first birthday--directly after her interview +with the lawyer and with her guardian, and having obtained possession of +all the share papers, the obligations, the grants of monopolies and the +receipts from the Amsterdam and Vienna banks, to forthwith bring them +over to the cottage and place them unreservedly in her husband's hands. + +And she would in her simplicity and ignorance gladly have given every +scrap of paper--now in Master Skyffington's charge--in exchange for a +return of those happy illusions which had surrounded the early history +of her love with a halo of romance. She would have given this mysterious +prince, now her husband, all the money that he wanted for this wonderful +"great work" of his, if he would but give her back some of that +enthusiastic belief in him which had so mysteriously been killed within +her, that fateful moment in the vestry at Dover. + + + + +CHAPTER XXIV + +NOVEMBER THE 2D + + +A dreary day, with a leaden sky overhead and the monotonous patter of +incessant rain against the window panes. + +Sir Marmaduke de Chavasse had just come downstairs, and opening the door +which lead from the hall to the small withdrawing-room on the right, he +saw Mistress de Chavasse, half-sitting, half-crouching in one of the +stiff-backed chairs, which she had drawn close to the fire. + +There was a cheerful blaze on the hearth, and the room itself--being +small--always looked cozier than any other at Acol Court. + +Nevertheless, Editha's face was pallid and drawn, and she stared into +the fire with eyes which seemed aglow with anxiety and even with fear. +Her cloak was tied loosely about her shoulders, and at sight of Sir +Marmaduke she started, then rising hurriedly, she put her hood over her +head, and went towards the door. + +"Ah! my dear Editha!" quoth her brother-in-law, lightly greeting her, +"up betimes like the lark I see.... Are you going without?" he added as +she made a rapid movement to brush past him and once more made for the +door. + +"Yes!" she replied dully, "I must fain move about ... tire myself out +if I can ... I am consumed with anxiety." + +"Indeed?" he retorted blandly, "why should you be anxious? Everything is +going splendidly ... and to-night at the latest a fortune of nigh on +£500,000 will be placed in my hands by a fond and adoring woman." + +He caught the glitter in her eyes, that suggestion of power and of +unspoken threats which she had adopted since the episode in the Bath +Street house. For an instant an ugly frown further disfigured his sour +face: but this frown was only momentary, it soon gave way to a suave +smile. He took her hand and lightly touched it with his lips. + +"After which, my dear Editha," he said, "I shall be able to fulfill +those obligations, which my heart originally dictated." + +She seemed satisfied at this assurance, for she now spoke in less +aggressive tones: + +"Are you so sure of the girl, Marmaduke?" she asked. + +"Absolutely," he replied, his thoughts reverting to a day spent at Dover +nearly three months ago, when a knot was tied of which fair Editha was +not aware, but which rendered Sir Marmaduke de Chavasse very sure of a +fortune. + +"Yet you have oft told me that Sue's love for her mysterious prince had +vastly cooled of late!" urged Editha still anxiously. + +"Why yes! forsooth!" he retorted grimly, "Sue's sentimental fancy for +the romantic exile hath gone the way of all such unreasoning +attachments; but she has ventured too far to draw back.... And she will +not draw back," he concluded significantly. + +"Have a care, Marmaduke! ... the girl is more willful than ye wot of.... +You may strain at a cord until it snap." + +"Pshaw!" he said, with a shrug of his wide shoulders, "you are suffering +from vapors, my dear Editha ... or you would grant me more knowledge of +how to conduct mine own affairs.... Do you remember, perchance, that the +bulk of Sue's fortune will be handed over to her this day?" + +"Aye! I remember!" + +"Begad, then to-night I'll have that bulk out of her hands. You may take +an oath on that!" he declared savagely. + +"And afterwards?" she asked simply. + +"Afterwards?" + +"Yes ... afterwards? ... when Sue has discovered how she has been +tricked? ... Are you not afraid of what she might do? ... Even though +her money may pass into your hands ... even though you may inveigle her +into a clandestine marriage ... she is still the daughter of the late +Earl of Dover ... she has landed estates, wealth, rich and powerful +relations.... There must be an 'afterwards,' remember! ..." + +His ironical laugh grated on her nerves, as he replied lightly: + +"Pshaw! my dear Editha! of a truth you are not your own calm self +to-day, else you had understood that forsooth! in the love affairs of +Prince Amédé d'Orléans and Lady Susannah Aldmarshe there must and can be +no 'afterwards.'" + +"I don't understand you." + +"Yet, 'tis simple enough. Sue is my wife." + +"Your wife! ..." she exclaimed. + +"Hush! An you want to scream, I pray you question me not, for what I say +is bound to startle you. Sue is my wife. I married her, having obtained +a special license to do so in the name of Prince Amédé Henri d'Orléans, +and all the rest of the romantic paraphernalia. She is my wife, and +therefore, her money and fortune are mine, every penny of it, without +question or demur." + +"She will appeal to the Court to have the marriage annulled ... she'll +rouse public indignation against you to such a pitch that you'll not be +able to look one of your kith and kin in the face.... The whole shameful +story of the mysterious French prince ... your tricks to win the hand of +your ward by lying, cheating and willful deceit will resound from one +end of the country to the other.... What is the use of a mint of money +if you have to herd with outcasts, and not an honest man will shake you +by the hand?" + +"None, my dear Editha, none," he replied quietly, "and 'tis of still +less use for you to rack your nerves in order to place before me a +gruesome picture of the miserable social pariah which I should become, +if the story of my impersonation of a romantic exile for the purpose of +capturing the hand of my ward came to the ears of those in authority." + +"Whither it doubtless would come!" she affirmed hotly. + +"Whither it doubtless would come," he assented, "and therefore, my dear +Editha, once the money is safely in my hands I will leave her Royal +Highness the Princesse d'Orléans in full possession, not only of her +landed estates but of the freedom conferred on her by widowhood, for +Prince Amédé, her husband, will vanish like the beautiful dream which he +always was." + +"But how? ... how?" she reiterated, puzzled, anxious, scenting some +nefarious scheme more unavowable even than the last. + +"Ah! time will show! ... But he will vanish, my dear Editha, take my +word on it. Shall we say that he will fly up into the clouds and her +Highness the Princess will know him no more?" + +"Then why have married her?" she exclaimed: some womanly instinct within +her crying out against this outrage. "'Twas cruel and unnecessary." + +He shrugged his shoulders. + +"Cruel perhaps! ... But surely no more than necessary. I doubt if she +would have entrusted her fortune to anyone but her husband." + +"Had she ceased to trust her romantic prince then?" + +"Perhaps. At any rate, I chose to make sure of the prize.... I have +worked hard to get it and would not fail for lack of a simple ceremony +... moreover ..." + +"Moreover?" + +"Moreover, my dear Editha, there is always the possibility ... remote, +no doubt ... but nevertheless tangible ... that at some time or other +... soon or late--who knows?--the little deception practiced on Lady Sue +may come to the light of day.... In that case, even if the marriage be +annulled on the ground of fraud ... which methinks is more than doubtful +... no one could deny my right as the heiress's ... hem ... shall we +say?--temporary husband--to dispose of her wealth as I thought fit. If I +am to become a pariah and an outcast, as you so eloquently suggested +just now ... I much prefer being a rich one.... With half a million in +the pocket of my doublet the whole world is open to me." + +There was so much cool calculation, such callous contempt for the +feelings and thoughts of the unfortunate girl whom he had so terribly +wronged, in this exposé of the situation, that Mistress de Chavasse +herself was conscious of a sense of repulsion from the man whom she had +aided hitherto. + +She believed that she held him sufficiently in her power, through her +knowledge of his schemes and through the help which she was rendering +him, to extract a promise from him that he would share his ill-gotten +spoils in equal portions with her. At one time after the fracas in Bath +Street, he had even given her a vague promise of marriage; therefore, he +had kept secret from her the relation of that day spent at Dover. Now +she felt that even if he were free, she would never consent to link her +future irretrievably with his. + +But her share of the money she meant to have. She was tired of poverty, +tired of planning and scheming, of debt and humiliation. She was tired +of her life of dependence at Acol Court, and felt a sufficiency of youth +and buoyancy in herself yet, to enjoy a final decade of luxury and +amusement in London. + +Therefore, she closed her ears to every call of conscience, she shut her +heart against the lonely young girl who so sadly needed the counsels and +protection of a good woman, and she was quite ready to lend a helping +hand to Sir Marmaduke, at least until a goodly share of Lady Sue's +fortune was safely within her grasp. + +One point occurred to her now, which caused her to ask anxiously: + +"Have you not made your reckonings without Richard Lambert, Marmaduke? +He is back in these parts, you know?" + +"Ah!" he ejaculated, with a quick scowl of impatience. "He has +returned?" + +"Yes! Charity was my informant. He looks very ill, so the wench says: he +has been down with fever, it appears, all the while that he was in +prison, and was only discharged because they feared that he would die. +He contrived to work or beg his way back here, and now he is staying in +the village.... I thought you would have heard." + +"No! I never speak to the old woman ... and Adam Lambert avoids me as he +would the plague.... I see as little of them as I can.... I had to be +prudent these last, final days." + +"Heaven grant he may do nothing fatal to-day!" she murmured. + +"Nay! my dear Editha," he retorted with a harsh laugh, "'tis scarcely +Heaven's business to look after our schemes. But Lambert can do us very +little harm now! For his own sake, he will keep out of Sue's way." + +"At what hour does Master Skyffington arrive?" + +"In half an hour." + +Then as he saw that she was putting into effect her former resolve of +going out, despite the rain, and was once more readjusting her hood for +that purpose, he opened the door for her, and whispered as he followed +her out: + +"An you will allow me, my dear Editha, I'll accompany you on your walk +... we might push on down the Canterbury Road, and perchance meet Master +Skyffington.... I understand that Sue has been asking for me, and I +would prefer to meet her as seldom as possible just now.... This is my +last day," he concluded with a laugh, "and I must be doubly careful." + + + + +CHAPTER XXV + +AN INTERLUDE + + +Master Hymn-of-Praise Busy was vastly perturbed. Try how he might, he +had been unable to make any discovery with regard to the mysterious +events, which he felt sure were occurring all round him, a discovery +which--had he but made it--would have enabled him to apply with more +chance of success, for one of the posts in my Lord Protector's secret +service, and moreover, would have covered his name with glory. + +This last contingency was always uppermost in his mind. Not from any +feeling of personal pride, for of a truth vanity is a mortal sin, but +because Mistress Charity had of late cast uncommonly kind eyes on that +cringing worm, Master Courage Toogood, and the latter, emboldened by the +minx's favors, had been more than usually insolent to his betters. + +To have the right to administer serious physical punishment to the +youth, and moral reproof to the wench, was part of Master Busy's +comprehensive scheme for his own advancement and the confusion of all +the miscreants who dwelt in Acol Court. For this he had glued both eye +and ear to draughty keyholes, had lain for hours under cover of prickly +thistles in the sunk fence which surrounded the flower garden. For this +he now emerged, on that morning of November 2, accompanied by a terrific +clatter and a volley of soot from out the depth of the monumental +chimney in the hall of Acol Court. + +As soon as he had recovered sufficient breath, and shaken off some of +the soot from his hair and face, he looked solemnly about him, and was +confronted by two pairs of eyes round with astonishment and two mouths +agape with surprise and with fear. + +Mistress Charity and Master Courage Toogood--interrupted in the midst of +their animated conversation--were now speechless with terror, at sight +of this black apparition, which, literally, had descended on them from +the skies. + +"Lud love ye, Master Busy!" ejaculated Mistress Charity, who was the +first to recognize in the sooty wraith the manly form of her betrothed, +"where have ye come from, pray?" + +"Have you been scouring the chimney, good master?" queried Master +Courage, with some diffidence, for the saintly man looked somewhat out +of humor. + +"No!" replied Hymn-of-Praise solemnly, "I have not. But I tell ye both +that my hour hath come. I knew that something was happening in this +house, and I climbed up that chimney in order to find out what it was." + +Pardonable curiosity caused Mistress Charity to venture a little nearer +to the soot-covered figure of her adorer. + +"And did you hear anything, Master Busy?" she asked eagerly. "I did see +Sir Marmaduke and the mistress in close conversation here this +morning." + +"So they thought," said Master Hymn-of-Praise with weird significance. + +"Well? ... And what happened, good master?" + +"Thou beest in too mighty an hurry, mistress," he retorted with quiet +dignity. "I am under no obligation to report matters to thee." + +"Oh! but Master Busy," she rejoined coyly, "methought I was to be your +... hem ... thy partner in life ... and so ..." + +"My partner? My partner, didst thou say, sweet Charity? ... Nay, then, +an thou'lt permit me to salute thee with a kiss, I'll tell thee all I +know." + +And in asking for that chaste salute we may assume that Master +Hymn-of-Praise was actuated with at least an equal desire to please +Mistress Charity, to gratify his own wishes, and to effectually annoy +Master Courage. + +But Mistress Charity was actuated by curiosity alone, and without +thought of her betrothed's grimy appearance, she presented her cheek to +him for the kiss. + +The result caused Master Courage an uncontrollable fit of hilarity. + +"Oh, mistress," he said, pointing to the black imprint left on her face +by her lover's kiss, "you should gaze into a mirror now." + +But already Mistress Charity had guessed what had occurred, her good +humor vanished, and she began scouring her cheek with her pinner. + +"I'll never forgive you, master," she said crossly. "You had no right to +... hem ... with your face in that condition.... And you have not yet +told us what happened." + +"What happened?" + +"Aye! you promised to tell me if I allowed you to kiss me. 'Tis +done...." + +"I well nigh broke my back," said Master Busy sententiously. "I hurt my +knee ... that is what happened.... I am well-nigh choked with soot.... +Ugh! ... that is what happened." + +"Lud love you, Master Busy," she retorted with a saucy toss of her head, +"I trust your life's partner will not need to hide herself in chimneys." + +"Listen, wench, and I'll tell thee. No kind of servant of my Lord +Protector's should ever be called upon to hide in chimneys. They are not +comfortable and they are not clean." + +"Bless the man!" she cried angrily, "are you ever going to tell us what +did happen whilst you were there?" + +"I was about to come to that point," he said imperturbably, "hadst thou +not interrupted me. What with holding on so as not to fall, and the soot +falling in my ears...." + +"Aye! aye! ..." + +"I heard nothing," he concluded solemnly. "Master Courage," he added +with becoming severity, seeing that the youth was on the verge of +making a ribald remark, which of necessity had to be checked betimes, +"come into my room with me and help me to clean the traces of my +difficult task from off my person. Come!" + +And with ominous significance, he approached the young scoffer, his hand +on an exact level with the latter's ear, his right foot raised to +indicate a possible means of enforcing obedience to his commands. + +On the whole, Master Courage thought it wise to repress both his +hilarity and his pertinent remarks, and to follow the pompous, if +begrimed, butler to the latter's room upstairs. + + + + +CHAPTER XXVI + +THE OUTCAST + + +It took Mistress Charity some little time to recover her breath. + +She had thrown herself into a chair, with her pinner over her face, in +an uncontrollable fit of laughter. + +When this outburst of hilarity had subsided, she sat up, and looked +round her with eyes still streaming with merry tears. + +But the laughter suddenly died on her lips and the merriment out of her +eyes. A dull, tired voice had just said feebly: + +"Is Sir Marmaduke de Chavasse within?" + +Charity jumped up from the chair and stared stupidly at the speaker. + +"The Lord love you, Master Richard Lambert," she murmured. "I thought +you were your ghost!" + +"Forgive me, mistress, if I have frightened you," he said. "It is mine +own self, I give you assurance of that, and I, fain would have speech +with Sir Marmaduke." + +Mistress Charity was visibly embarrassed. She began mechanically to rub +the black stain on her cheek. + +"Sir Marmaduke is without just at present, Master Lambert," she +stammered shyly, "... and ..." + +"Yes? ... and? ..." he asked, "what is it, wench? ... speak out? ..." + +"Sir Marmaduke gave orders, Master Lambert," she began with obvious +reluctance, "that ..." + +She paused, and he concluded the sentence for her: + +"That I was not to be allowed inside his house.... Was that it?" + +"Alas! yes, good master." + +"Never mind, girl," he rejoined as he deliberately crossed the hall and +sat down in the chair which she had just vacated. "You have done your +duty: but you could not help admitting me, could you? since I walked in +of mine own accord ... and now that I am here I will remain until I have +seen Sir Marmaduke...." + +"Well! of a truth, good master," she said with a smile, for 'twas but +natural that her feminine sympathies should be on the side of a young +and good-looking man, somewhat in her own sphere of life, as against the +ill-humored, parsimonious master whom she served, "an you sit there so +determinedly, I cannot prevent you, can I? ..." + +Then as she perceived the look of misery on the young man's face, his +pale cheeks, his otherwise vigorous frame obviously attenuated by fear, +the motherly instinct present in every good woman's heart caused her to +go up to him and to address him timidly, offering such humble solace as +her simple heart could dictate: + +"Lud preserve you, good master, I pray you do not take on so.... You +know Master Courage and I, now, never believed all those stories about +ye. Of a truth Master Busy, he had his own views, but then ... you see, +good master, he and I do not always agree, even though I own that he is +vastly clever with his discoveries and his clews; but Master Courage now +... Master Courage is a wonderful lad ... and he thinks that you are a +persecuted hero! ... and I am bound to say that I, too, hold that +view...." + +"Thank you! ... thank you, kind mistress," said Lambert, smiling despite +his dejection, at the girl's impulsive efforts at consolation. + +His head had sunk down on his breast, and he sat there in the +high-backed chair, one hand resting on each leather-covered arm, his +pale face showing almost ghostlike against the dark background, and with +the faint November light illumining the dark-circled eyes, the bloodless +lips, and deeply frowning brow. + +Mistress Charity gazed down on him with mute and kindly compassion. + +Then suddenly a slight rustling noise as of a kirtle sweeping the +polished oak of the stairs caused the girl to look up, then to pause a +brief while, as if what she had now seen had brought forth a new train +of thought; finally, she tiptoed silently out through the door of the +dining-hall. + +"Charity! Mistress Charity, I want you! ..." called Lady Sue from +above. + +We must presume, however, that the wench had closed the heavy door +behind her, for certainly she did not come in answer to the call. On the +other hand, Richard Lambert had heard it; he sprang to his feet and saw +Sue descending the stairs. + +She saw him, too, and it seemed as if at sight of him she had turned and +meant to fly. But a word from him detained her. + +"Sue!" + +Only once had he thus called her by her name before, that long ago night +in the woods, but now the cry came from out his heart, brought forth by +his misery and his sorrow, his sense of terrible injustice and of an +irretrievable wrong. + +It never occurred to her to resent the familiarity. At sound of her name +thus spoken by him she had looked down from the stairs and seen his +pallid face turned up to her in such heartrending appeal for sympathy, +that all her womanly instincts of tenderness and pity were aroused, all +her old feeling of trustful friendship for him. + +She, too, felt much of that loneliness which his yearning eyes expressed +so pathetically; she, too, was conscious of grave injustice and of an +irretrievable wrong, and her heart went out to him immediately in +kindness and in love. + +"Don't go, for pity's sake," he added entreatingly, for he thought that +she meant to turn away from him; "surely you will not begrudge me a few +words of kindness. I have gone through a great deal since I saw +you...." + +She descended a few steps, her delicate hand still resting on the +banisters, her silken kirtle making a soft swishing noise against the +polished oak of the stairs. It was a solace to him, even to watch her +now. The sight of his adored mistress was balm to his aching eyes. Yet +he was quick to note--with that sharp intuition peculiar to Love--that +her dear face had lost much of its brightness, of its youth, of its joy +of living. She was as exquisite to look on as ever, but she seemed +older, more gentle, and, alas! a trifle sad. + +"I heard you had been ill," she said softly, "I was very sorry, believe +me, but ... Oh! do you not think," she added with sudden inexplicable +pathos, whilst she felt hot tears rising to her eyes and causing her +voice to quiver, "do you not think that an interview between us now can +only be painful to us both?" + +He mistook the intention of her words, as was only natural, and whilst +she mistrusted her own feelings for him, fearing to betray that yearning +for his friendship and his consolation, which had so suddenly +overwhelmed her at sight of him, he thought that she feared the +interview because of her condemnation of him. + +"Then you believed me guilty?" he said sadly. "They told you this +hideous tale of me, and you believed them, without giving the absent +one, who alas! could not speak in his own defense, the benefit of the +doubt." + +For one of those subtle reasons of which women alone possess the secret, +and which will forever remain inexplicable to the more logical sex, she +steeled her heart against him, even when her entire sensibilities went +out to him in passionate sympathy. + +"I could not help but believe, good master," she said a little coldly. +"Sir Marmaduke de Chavasse, who, with all his faults of temper, is a man +of honor, confirmed that horrible story which appeared in the newspaper +and of which everyone in Thanet hath been talking these weeks past." + +"And am _I_ not a man of honor?" he retorted hotly. "Because I am poor +and must work in order to live, am _I_ to be condemned unheard? Is a +whole life's record of self-education and honest labor to be thus +obliterated by the word of my most bitter enemy?" + +"Your bitter enemy? ..." she asked. "Sir Marmaduke? ..." + +"Aye! Sir Marmaduke de Chavasse. It seems passing strange, does it not?" +he rejoined bitterly. "Yet somehow in my heart, I feel that Sir +Marmaduke hates me, with a violent and passionate hatred. Nay! I know +it, though I can explain neither its cause nor its ultimate aim...." + +He drew nearer to the stairs whereon she still stood, her graceful +figure slightly leaning towards him; he now stood close to her, his head +just below the level of her own; his hand had he dared to raise it, +could have rested on hers. + +"Sue! my beautiful and worshiped lady," he cried impassionedly, "I +entreat you to look into my eyes! ... Can you see in them the reflex of +those shameful deeds which have been imputed to me? Do I look like a +liar and a cheat? In the name of pity and of justice, for the sweet sake +of our first days of friendship, I beg of you not to condemn me +unheard." + +He lowered his head, and rested his aching brow against her cool, white +hand. She did not withdraw it, for a great joy had suddenly filled her +heart, mingling with its sadness, a sense of security and of bitter, yet +real, happiness pervaded her whole being: a happiness which she could +not--wished not--to explain, but which prompted her to stoop yet further +towards him, and to touch his hair with her lips. + +Hot tears which he tried vainly to repress fell upon her fingers. He had +felt the kiss descending on him almost like a benediction. The exquisite +fragrance of her person filled his soul with a great delight which was +almost pain. Never had he loved her so ardently, so passionately, as at +this moment, when he felt that she too loved him, and yet was lost to +him irrevocably. + +"Nay! but I will hear you, good master," she murmured with infinite +gentleness, "for the sake of that friendship, and because now that I +have seen you again I no longer believe any evil of you." + +"God bless my dear lady," he replied fervently. "Heaven is my witness +that I am innocent of those abominable crimes imputed to me. Sir +Marmaduke took me to that house of evil, and a cruel plot was there +concocted to make me appear before all men as a liar and a cheat, and to +disgrace me before the world and before you. That the object of this +plot was to part me from you," added Richard Lambert more calmly and +firmly, "I am absolutely confident; what its deeper motive was I dare +not even think. It was known that I ... loved you, Sue ... that I would +give my life to save you from trouble ... I was your slave, your +watch-dog.... I was forcibly removed, torn from you, my name disgraced, +my health broken down.... But my life was not for them ... it belongs to +my lady alone.... Heaven would not allow it to be sacrificed to their +villainous schemes. I fought against sickness and death with all the +energy of despair.... It was a hand-to-hand fight, for discouragement, +and anon despair, ranged themselves among my foes.... And now I have +come back," he said with proud energy, "broken mayhap, yet still +standing ... a snapped oak yet full of vigor, yet ... I have come back, +and with God's help will be even with them yet." + +He had straightened his young figure, and his strong, somewhat harsh +voice echoed through the oak-paneled hall. He cared not if all the world +heard him, if his enemies lurked about striving to spy upon him. His +profession of love and of service to his lady was the sole remaining +pride of his life, and now that he knew that she believed and trusted +him, he longed for every man to hear what he had to say. + +"Nay! what you say, kind Richard, fills me with dread," said Sue after a +little pause. "I am glad ... glad that you have come back.... For some +weeks, nay, months past, I have had the presentiment of some coming +evil.... I have ... I have felt lonely and...." + +"Not unhappy?" he asked with his usual earnestness. "I would not have my +lady unhappy for all the treasures of this world." + +"No!" she replied meditatively, striving to be conscious of her own +feelings, "I do not think that I am unhappy ... only anxious ... and ... +a little lonely: that is all.... Sir Marmaduke is oft away: when he is +at home, I scarce ever see him, and he but rarely speaks to me ... and +methinks there is but scant sympathy 'twixt Mistress de Chavasse and me, +though she is kind at times in her way." + +Then she turned her eyes, bright with unshed tears, down again to him. + +"But all seems right again!" she said with a sweet, sad smile, "now that +you have come back, my dear ... dear friend!" + +"God bless you for these words!" + +"I grieved terribly when I heard ... about you ... at first ..." she +said almost gaily now, "yet somehow I could not believe it all ... and +now...." + +"Yes? ... and now?" he asked. + +"Now I believe in you," she replied simply. "I believe that you care for +me, and that you are my friend." + +"Your friend, indeed, for I would give my life for you." + +Once more he stooped, but now he kissed her hand. He was her friend, and +had the right to do this. He had gradually mastered his emotion, his +sense of wrong, and with that exquisite selflessness which real love +alone can kindle in a human heart, he had succeeded in putting aside all +thought of his own great misery, his helplessness and the hopelessness +of his position, and remembered only that she looked fragile, a little +older, sadder, and had need of his help. + +"And now, sweet lady," he said, forcing himself to speak calmly of that +which always set his heart and senses into a turmoil of passionate +jealousy, "will you tell me something about him." + +"Him?" + +"The prince...." he suggested. + +But she shook her head resolutely. + +"No, kind Richard," she said gently, "I will not speak to you of the +prince. I know that you do not think well of him.... I wish to look upon +you as my friend, and I could not do that if you spoke ill of him, +because ..." + +She paused, for what she now had to tell him was very hard to say, and +she knew what a terrible blow she would be dealing to his heart, from +the wild beating of her own. + +"Yes?" he asked. "Because? ..." + +"Because he is my husband," she whispered. + +Her head fell forward on her breast. She would not trust herself to look +at him now, for she knew that the sight of his grief was more than she +could bear. She was conscious that at her words he had drawn his hand +away from hers, but he spoke no word, nor did the faintest exclamation +escape his lips. + +Thus they remained for a few moments longer side by side: she slightly +above him, with head bent, with hot tears falling slowly from her +downcast eyes, her heart well-nigh breaking with the consciousness of +the irreparable; he somewhat below, silent too, and rigid, all passion, +all emotion, love even, numbed momentarily by the violence, the +suddenness of this terrible blow. + +Then without a word, without a sigh or look, he turned, and she heard +his footsteps echoing across the hall, then dying away on the threshold +of the door beyond. Anon the door itself closed to with a dull bang +which seemed to find an echo in her heart like the tolling of a passing +bell. + +Then only did she raise her head, and look about her. The hall was +deserted and seemed infinitely lonely, silent, and grim. The young +girl-wife, who had just found a friend only to lose him again, called +out in mute appeal to this old house, the oak-covered walls, the very +stones themselves, for sympathy. + +She was so infinitely, so immeasurably lonely, with that awful, +irretrievable day at Dover behind her, with all its dreariness, its +silent solemnity, its weird finish in the vestry, the ring upon her +finger, her troth plighted to a man whom she feared and no longer loved. + +Oh! the pity of it all! the broken young life! the vanished dreams! + +Sue bent her head down upon her hands, her lips touched her own fingers +there where her friend's had rested in gratitude and love, and she +cried, cried like a broken-hearted woman, cried for her lost illusions, +and the end of her brief romance! + + + + +CHAPTER XXVII + +LADY SUE'S FORTUNE + + +Less than an hour later four people were assembled in the small +withdrawing-room of Acol Court. + +Master Skyffington sat behind a central table, a little pompous of +manner, clad in sober black with well-starched linen cuffs and collar, +his scanty hair closely cropped, his thin hands fingering with assurance +and perfect calm the various documents laid out before him. Near him Sir +Marmaduke de Chavasse, sitting with his back to the dim November light, +which vainly strove to penetrate the tiny glass panes of the casement +windows. + +In a more remote corner of the room sat Editha de Chavasse, vainly +trying to conceal the agitation which her trembling hands, her quivering +face and restless eyes persistently betrayed. And beside the central +table, near Master Skyffington and facing Sir Marmaduke, was Lady +Susannah Aldmarshe, only daughter and heiress of the late Earl of Dover, +this day aged twenty-one years, and about to receive from the hands of +her legal guardians the vast fortune which her father had bequeathed to +her, and which was to become absolutely hers this day to dispose of as +she list. + +"And now, my dear child," said Master Skyffington with due solemnity, +when he had disposed a number of documents and papers in methodical +order upon the table, "let me briefly explain to you the object ... hem +... of this momentous meeting here to-day." + +"I am all attention, master," said Sue vaguely, and her eyes wide-open, +obviously absent, she gazed fixedly on the silhouette of Sir Marmaduke, +grimly outlined against the grayish window-panes. + +"I must tell you, my dear child," resumed Master Skyffington after a +slight pause, during which he had studied with vague puzzledom the +inscrutable face of the young girl, "I must tell you that your late +father, the noble Earl of Dover, had married the heiress of Peter Ford, +the wealthiest merchant this country hath ever known. She was your own +lamented mother, and the whole of her fortune, passing through her +husband's hands, hath now devolved upon you. My much-esteemed patron--I +may venture to say friend--Sir Marmaduke de Chavasse, having been +appointed your legal guardian by the Court of Chancery, and I myself +being thereupon named the repository of your securities, these have been +administered by me up to now.... You are listening to me, are you not, +my dear young lady?" + +The question was indeed necessary, for even to Master Skyffington's +unobservant mind it was apparent that Sue's eyes had a look of aloofness +in them, of detachment from her surroundings, which was altogether +inexplicable to the worthy attorney's practical sense of the due fitness +of things. + +At his query she made a sudden effort to bring her thoughts back from +the past to the present, to drag her heart and her aching brain away +from that half-hour spent in the hall, from that conversation with her +friend, from the recollection of that terribly cruel blow which she had +been forced to deal to the man who loved her best in all the world. + +"Yes, yes, kind master," she said, "I am listening." + +And she fixed her eyes resolutely on the attorney's solemn face, forcing +her mind to grasp what he was about to say. + +"By the terms of your noble father's will," continued Master +Skyffington, as soon as he had satisfied himself that he at last held +the heiress's attention, "the securities, receipts and all other moneys +are to be given over absolutely and unconditionally into your own hands +on your twenty-first birthday." + +"Which is to-day," said Sue simply. + +"Which is to-day," assented the lawyer. "The securities, receipts and +other bonds, grants of monopolies and so forth lie before you on this +table.... They represent in value over half a million of English +money.... A very large sum indeed for so young a girl to have full +control of.... Nevertheless, it is yours absolutely and unconditionally, +according to the wishes of your late noble father ... and Sir Marmaduke +de Chavasse, your late guardian, and I myself, have met you here this +day for the express purpose of handing these securities, grants and +receipts over to you, and to obtain in exchange your own properly +attested signature in full discharge of any further obligation on our +part." + +Master Skyffington was earnestly gazing into the young girl's face, +whilst he thus literally dangled before her the golden treasures of +wealth, which were about to become absolutely her own. He thought, not +unnaturally, that a girl of her tender years, brought up in the +loneliness and seclusion of a not too luxurious home, would feel in a +measure dazzled and certainly overjoyed at the brilliant prospect which +such independent and enormous wealth opened out before her. + +But the amiable attorney was vastly disappointed to see neither +pleasure, nor even interest, expressed in Lady Sue's face, which on this +joyous and momentous occasion looked unnaturally calm and pallid. Even +now when he paused expectant and eager, waiting for some comment or +exclamation of approval or joy from her, she was silent for a while, and +then said in a stolidly inquiring tone: + +"Then after to-day ... I shall have full control of my money?" + +"Absolute control, my dear young lady," he rejoined, feeling strangely +perturbed at this absence of emotion. + +"And no one ... after to-day ... will have the right to inquire as to +the use I make of these securities, grants or whatever you, Master +Skyffington, have called them?" she continued with the same placidity. + +"No one, of a surety, my dear Sue," here interposed Sir Marmaduke, +speaking in his usual harsh and dictatorial way, "but this is a strange +and somewhat peremptory question for a young maid to put at this +juncture. Master Skyffington and I myself had hoped that you would +listen to counsels of prudence, and would allow him, who hath already +administered your fortune in a vastly able manner, to continue so to do, +for a while at any rate." + +"That question we can discuss later on, Sir Marmaduke," said Sue now, +with sudden hauteur. "Shall we proceed with our business, master?" she +added, turning deliberately to the lawyer, ignoring with calm disdain +the very presence of her late guardian. + +The studied contempt of his ward's manner, however, seemed not to +disturb the serenity of Sir Marmaduke to any appreciable extent. Casting +a quick, inquisitorial glance at Sue, he shrugged his shoulders in token +of indifference and said no more. + +"Certainly, certainly," responded Master Skyffington, somewhat +embarrassed, "my dear young lady ... hem ... as ... er ... as you wish +... but ..." + +Then he turned deliberately to Sir Marmaduke, once more bringing him +into the proceedings, and tacitly condemning her ladyship's +extraordinary attitude towards his distinguished patron. + +"Having now explained to Lady Sue Aldmarshe the terms of her noble +father's will," he said, "methinks that she is ready to receive the +moneys from our hands, good Sir Marmaduke, and thereupon to give us the +proper receipt prescribed by law, for the same ..." + +He checked himself for a moment, and then made a respectful, if pointed, +suggestion: + +"Mistress de Chavasse?" he said inquiringly. + +"Mistress de Chavasse is a member of the family," replied Sir Marmaduke, +"the business can be transacted in her presence." + +"Nothing therefore remains to be said, my dear young lady," rejoined +Master Skyffington, once more speaking directly to Sue and placing his +lean hands with fingers outstretched, over the bundles of papers lying +before him. "Here are your securities, your grants, moneys and receipts, +worth £500,000 of the present currency of this realm.... These I, in +mine own name and that of my honored friend and patron, Sir Marmaduke de +Chavasse, do hereby hand over to you. You will, I pray, verify and sign +the receipt in proper and due form." + +He began sorting and overlooking the papers, muttering half audibly the +while, as he transferred each bundle from his own side of the table to +that beside which Lady Sue was sitting: + +"The deeds of property in Holland ... hem.... Receipt of moneys +deposited at the bank of Amsterdam.... The same from the Bank of +Vienna.... Grant of monopoly for the hemp trade in Russia.... hem ..." + +Thus he mumbled for some time, as these papers, representing a fortune, +passed out of his keeping into those of a young maid but recently out of +her teens. Sue watched him silently and placidly, just as she had done +throughout this momentous interview, which was, of a truth, the starting +point of her independent life. + +Her face expressed neither joy nor excitement of any kind. She knew that +all the wealth which now lay before her, would only pass briefly through +her hands. She knew that the prince--her husband--was waiting for it +even now. Doubtless, he was counting the hours when his young wife's +vast fortune would come to him as the realization of all his dreams. + +In spite of her present disbelief in his love, in spite of the bitter +knowledge that her own had waned, Sue had no misgivings as yet as to the +honor, the truth, the loyalty of the man whose name she now bore. Her +illusions were gone, her romance had become dull reality, but to one +thought she clung with all the tenacity of despair, and that was to the +illusion that Prince Amédé d'Orléans was the selfless patriot, the +regenerator of downtrodden France, which he represented himself to be. + +Because of that belief she welcomed the wealth, which she would this day +be able to place in his hands. Her own girlish dreams had vanished, but +her temperament was far too romantic and too poetic not to recreate +illusions, even when the old ones had been so ruthlessly shattered. + +But this recreation would occur anon--not just now, not at the very +moment when her heart ached with an intolerable pain at thought of the +sorrow which she had caused to her one friend. Presently, no doubt, when +she met her husband, when his usual grandiloquent phrases had once more +succeeded in arousing her enthusiasm for the cause which he pleaded, she +would once more feel serene and happy at thought of the help which she, +with her great wealth, would be giving him; for the nonce the whole +transaction grated on her sense of romance; money passing from hand to +hand, a man waiting somewhere in the dark to receive wealth from a +woman's hand. + +Master Skyffington desired her to look over the papers, ere she signed +the formal receipt for them, but she waved them gently aside: + +"Quite unnecessary, kind master," she said decisively, "since I receive +them at your hands." + +She bent over the document which the lawyer now placed before her, and +took the pen from him. + +"Where shall I sign?" she asked. + +Sir Marmaduke and Editha de Chavasse watched her keenly, as with a bold +stroke of the pen she wrote her name across the receipt. + +"Now the papers, please, master," said Lady Sue peremptorily. + +But the prudent lawyer had still a word of protest to enter here. + +"My dear young lady," he said tentatively, awed in spite of himself by +the self-possessed behavior of a maid whom up to now he had regarded as +a mere child, "let me, as a man of vast experience in such matters, +repeat to you the well-meant advice which Sir Marmaduke ..." + +But she checked him decisively, though kindly. + +"You said, Master Skyffington, did you not," she said, "that after +to-day no one had the slightest control over my actions or over my +fortune?" + +"That is so, certainly," he rejoined, "but ..." + +"Well, then, kind master, I pray you," she said authoritatively, "to +hand me over all those securities, grants and moneys, for which I have +just signed a receipt." + +There was naught to do for a punctilious lawyer, as was Master +Skyffington, but to obey forthwith. This he did, without another word, +collecting the various bundles of paper and placing them one by one in +the brown leather wallet which he had brought for the purpose. Sue +watched him quietly, and when the last of the important documents had +been deposited in the wallet, she held out her hand for it. + +With a grave bow, and an unconsciously pompous gesture, Master +Skyffington, attorney-at-law, handed over that wallet which now +contained a fortune to Lady Susannah Aldmarshe. + +She took it, and graciously bowed her head to him in acknowledgment. +Then, after a slight, distinctly haughty nod to Sir Marmaduke and to +Editha, she turned and walked silently out of the room. + + + + +CHAPTER XXVIII + +HUSBAND AND WIFE + + +Mistress Martha Lambert was a dignified old woman, on whose wrinkled +face stern virtues, sedulously practiced, had left their lasting +imprint. Among these virtues which she had thus somewhat ruthlessly +exercised throughout her long life, cleanliness and orderliness stood +out pre-eminently. They undoubtedly had brought some of the deepest +furrows round her eyes and mouth, as indeed they had done round those of +Adam Lambert, who having lived with her all his life, had had to suffer +from her passion of scrubbing and tidying more than anyone else. + +But her cottage was resplendent: her chief virtues being apparent in +every nook and corner of the orderly little rooms which formed her home +and that of the two lads whom a dying friend had entrusted to her care. + +The parlor below, with its highly polished bits of furniture, its +spotless wooden floor and whitewashed walls, was a miracle of +cleanliness. The table in the center was laid with a snowy white cloth, +on it the pewter candlesticks shone like antique silver. Two +straight-backed mahogany chairs were drawn cozily near to the hearth, +wherein burned a bright fire made up of ash logs. There was a quaint +circular mirror in a gilt frame over the hearth, a relic of former, +somewhat more prosperous times. + +In one of the chairs lolled the mysterious lodger, whom a strange Fate +in a perverse mood seemed to have wafted to this isolated little cottage +on the outskirts of the loneliest village in Thanet. + +Prince Amédé d'Orléans was puffing at that strange weed which of late +had taken such marked hold of most men, tending to idleness in them, for +it caused them to sit staring at the smoke which they drew from pipes +made of clay; surely the Lord had never intended such strange doings, +and Mistress Martha would willingly have protested against the +unpleasant odor thus created by her lodger when he was puffing away, +only that she stood somewhat in awe of his ill-humor and of his violent +language, especially when Adam himself was from home. + +On these occasions--such, for instance, as the present one--she had, +perforce, to be content with additional efforts at cleanliness, and, as +she was convinced that so much smoke must be conducive to soot and dirt, +she plied her dusting-cloth with redoubled vigor and energy. Whilst the +prince lolled and pulled at his clay pipe, she busied herself all round +the tiny room, polishing the backs of the old elm chairs, and the brass +handles of the chest of drawers. + +"How much longer are you going to fuss about, my good woman?" quoth +Prince Amédé d'Orléans impatiently after a while. "This shuffling round +me irritates my nerves." + +Mistress Martha, however, suffered from deafness. She could see from the +quick, angry turn of the head that her lodger was addressing her, but +did not catch his words. She drew a little nearer, bending her ear to +him. + +"Eh? ... what?" she queried in that high-pitched voice peculiar to the +deaf. "I am somewhat hard of hearing just now. I did not hear thee." + +But he pushed her roughly aside with a jerk of his elbow. + +"Go away!" he said impatiently. "Do not worry me!" + +"Ah! the little pigs?" she rejoined blithely. "I thank thee ... they be +doing nicely, thank the Lord ... six of them and ... eh? what? ... I'm a +bit hard of hearing these times." + +He had some difficulty in keeping up even a semblance of calm. The +placidity of the old Quakeress irritated him beyond endurance. He +dreaded the return of Adam Lambert from his work, and worse still, he +feared the arrival of Richard. Fortunately he had gathered from Martha +that the young man had come home early in the day in a state of high +nervous tension, bordering on acute fever. He had neither eaten nor +drunk, but after tidying his clothes and reassuring her as to his future +movements, he had sallied out into the woods and had not returned since +then. + +Sir Marmaduke had quickly arrived at the conclusion that Richard Lambert +had seen and spoken to Lady Sue and had learned from her that she was +now irrevocably married to him, whom she always called her prince. +Doubtless, the young man was frenzied with grief, and in his weak state +of health after the terrible happenings of the past few weeks, would +mayhap, either go raving mad, or end his miserable existence over the +cliffs. Either eventuality would suit Sir Marmaduke admirably, and he +sighed with satisfaction at the thought that the knot between the +heiress and himself was indeed tied sufficiently firm now to ensure her +obedience to his will. + +There was to be one more scene in the brief and cruel drama which he had +devised for the hoodwinking and final spoliation of a young and +inexperienced girl. She had earlier in the day been placed in possession +of all the negotiable part of her fortune. This, though by no means +representing the whole of her wealth, which also lay in landed estates, +was nevertheless of such magnitude that the thought of its possession +caused every fiber in Sir Marmaduke's body to thrill with the delight of +expectancy. + +One more brief scene in the drama: the handing over of that vast +fortune, by the young girl-wife--blindly and obediently--to the man whom +she believed to be her husband. Once that scene enacted, the curtain +would fall on the love episode 'twixt a romantic and ignorant maid and +the most daring scoundrel that had ever committed crime to obtain a +fortune. + +In anticipation of that last and magnificent _dénouement_, Sir Marmaduke +had once more donned the disguise of the exiled Orléans prince: the +elaborate clothes, the thick perruque, the black silk shade over the +left eye, which gave him such a sinister expression. + +Now he was literally devoured with the burning desire to see Sue +arriving with that wallet in her hand, which contained securities and +grants to the value of £500,000. A brief interlude with her, a few words +of perfunctory affection, a few assurances of good faith, and he--as her +princely husband--would vanish from her ken forever. + +He meant to go abroad immediately--this very night, if possible. +Prudence and caution could easily be thrown to the winds, once the +negotiable securities were actually in his hands. What he could convert +into money, he would do immediately, going to Amsterdam first, to +withdraw the sum standing at the bank there on deposit, and for which +anon, he would possess the receipt; after that the sale of the grant of +monopolies should be easy of accomplishment. Sir Marmaduke had boundless +faith in his own ability to carry through his own business. He might +stand to lose some of the money perhaps; prudence and caution might +necessitate the relinquishing of certain advantages, but even then he +would be rich and passing rich, and he knew that he ran but little risk +of detection. The girl was young, inexperienced and singularly +friendless: Sir Marmaduke felt convinced that none of the foreign +transactions could ever be directly traced to himself. + +He would be prudent and Europe was wide, and he meant to leave English +grants and securities severely alone. + +He had mused and pondered on his plans all day. The evening found him +half-exhausted with nerve-strain, febrile and almost sick with the agony +of waiting. + +He had calculated that Sue would be free towards seven o'clock, as he +had given Editha strict injunctions to keep discreetly out of the way, +whilst at a previous meeting in the park, it had been arranged that the +young girl should come to the cottage with the money, on the evening of +her twenty-first birthday and there hand her fortune over to her +rightful lord. + +Now Sir Marmaduke cursed himself and his folly for having made this +arrangement. He had not known--when he made it--that Richard would be +back at Acol then. Adam the smith, never came home before eight o'clock +and the old Quakeress herself would not have been much in the way. + +Even now she had shuffled back into her kitchen, leaving her ill-humored +lodger to puff away at the malodorous weed as he chose. But Richard +might return at any moment, and then ... + +Sir Marmaduke had never thought of that possible contingency. If +Richard Lambert came face to face with him, he would of a surety pierce +the disguise of the prince, and recognize the man who had so deeply +wronged poor, unsuspecting Lady Sue. If only a kindly Fate had kept the +young man away another twenty-four hours! or better still, if it led the +despairing lover's footsteps to the extremest edge of the cliffs! + +Sir Marmaduke now paced the narrow room up and down in an agony of +impatience. Nine o'clock had struck long ago, but Sue had not yet come. +The wildest imaginings run riot in the schemer's brain: every hour, nay! +every minute spent within was fraught with danger. He sought his +broad-brimmed hat, determined now to meet Sue in the park, to sally +forth at risk of missing her, at risk of her arriving here at the +cottage when he was absent, and of her meeting Richard Lambert perhaps, +before the irrevocable deed of gift had been accomplished. + +But the suspense was intolerable. + +With a violent oath Sir Marmaduke pressed the hat over his head, and +strode to the door. + +His hand was on the latch, when he heard a faint sound from without: a +girl's footsteps, timorous yet swift, along the narrow flagged path +which led down the tiny garden gate. + +The next moment he had thrown open the door and Sue stood before him. + +Anyone but a bold and unscrupulous schemer would have been struck by the +pathos of the solitary figure which now appeared in the tiny doorway. +The penetrating November drizzle had soaked through the dark cloak and +hood which now hung heavy and dank round the young girl's shoulders. +Framed by the hood, her face appeared preternaturally pale, her lips +were quivering and her eyes, large and dilated, had almost a hunted look +in them. + +Oh! the pity and sadness of it all! For in her small and trembling hands +she was clutching with pathetic tenacity a small, brown wallet which +contained a fortune worthy of a princess. + +She looked eagerly into her husband's face, dreading the scowl, the +outburst of anger or jealousy mayhap with which of late, alas! he had so +oft greeted her arrival. But as was his wont, he stood with his back to +the lighted room, and she could not read the expression of that one +cyclops-like eye, which to-night appeared more sinister than ever +beneath the thick perruque and broad-brimmed hat. + +"I am sorry to be so late," she said timidly, "the evening repast at the +Court was interminable and Mistress de Chavasse full of gossip." + +"Yes, yes, I know," he replied, "am I not used to seeing that your +social duties oft make you forget your husband?" + +"You are unjust, Amédé," she rejoined. + +She entered the little parlor and stood beside the table, making no +movement to divest herself of her dripping cloak, or to sit down, nor +indeed did her husband show the slightest inclination to ask her to do +either. He had closed the door behind her, and followed her to the +center of the room. Was it by accident or design that as he reached the +table he threw his broad-brimmed hat, down with such an unnecessary +flourish of the arm that he knocked over one of the heavy pewter +candlesticks, so that it rolled down upon the floor, causing the tallow +candle to sputter and die out with a weird and hissing sound? + +Only one dim yellow light now illumined the room, it shone full into the +pallid face of the young wife standing some three paces from the table, +whilst Prince Amédé d'Orléans' face between her and the light, was once +more in deep shadow. + +"You are unjust," she repeated firmly. "Have I not run the gravest +possible risks for your sake, and those without murmur or complaint, for +the past six months? Did I not compromise my reputation for you by +meeting you alone ... of nights? ..." + +"I was laboring under the idea, my wench, that you were doing all that +because you cared for me," he retorted with almost brutal curtness, "and +because you had the desire to become the Princess d'Orléans; that desire +is now gratified and ..." + +He had not really meant to be unkind. There was of a truth no object to +be gained by being brutal to her now. But that wallet, which she held so +tightly clutched, acted as an irritant to his nerves. Never of very +equable temperament and holding all women in lofty scorn, he chafed +against all parleyings with his wife, now that the goal of his ambition +was so close at hand. + +She winced at the insult, and the tears which she fain would have hidden +from him, rose involuntarily to her eyes. + +"Ah!" she sighed, "if you only knew how little I care for that title of +princess! ... Did you perchance think that I cared? ... Nay! how gladly +would I give up all thought of ever bearing that proud appellation, in +exchange for a few more happy illusions such as I possessed three months +ago." + +"Illusions are all very well for a school-girl, my dear Suzanne," he +remarked with a cool shrug of his massive shoulders. "Reality should be +more attractive to you now...." + +He looked her up and down, realizing perhaps for the first time that she +was exquisitely beautiful; beautiful always, but more so now in the +pathos of her helplessness. Somewhat perfunctorily, because in his +ignorance of women he thought that it would please her, and also because +vaguely something human and elemental had suddenly roused his pulses, he +relinquished his nonchalant attitude, and came a step nearer to her. + +"You are very beautiful, my Suzanne," he said half-ironically, and with +marked emphasis on the possessive. + +Again he drew nearer, not choosing to note the instinctive stiffening of +her figure, the shrinking look in her eyes. He caught her arm and drew +her to him, laughing a low mocking laugh as he did so, for she had +turned her face away from him. + +"Come," he said lightly, "will you not kiss me, my beautiful Suzanne? +... my wife, my princess." + +She was silent, impassive, indifferent so he thought, although the arm +which he held trembled within his grip. + +He stretched out his other hand, and taking her chin between his +fingers, he forcibly turned her face towards him. Something in her face, +in her attitude, now roused a certain rough passion in him. Mayhap the +weary wailing during the day, the agonizing impatience, or the golden +argosy so near to port, had strung up his nerves to fever pitch. + +Irritation against her impassiveness, in such glaring contrast to her +glowing ardor of but a few weeks ago, mingled with that essentially male +desire to subdue and to conquer that which is inclined to resist, sent +the blood coursing wildly through his veins. + +"Ah!" he said with a sigh half of desire, half of satisfaction, as he +looked into her upturned face, "the chaste blush of the bride is vastly +becoming to you, my Suzanne! ... it acts as fuel to the flames of my +love ... since I can well remember the passionate kisses you gave me so +willingly awhile ago." + +The thought of that happy past, gave her sudden strength. Catching him +unawares she wrenched herself free from his hold. + +"This is a mockery, prince," she said with vehemence, and meeting his +half-mocking glance with one of scorn. "Do you think that I have been +blind these last few weeks? ... Your love for me hath changed, if indeed +it ever existed, whilst I ..." + +"Whilst you, my beautiful Suzanne," he rejoined lightly, "are mine ... +irrevocably, irretrievably mine ... mine because I love you, and because +you are my wife ... and owe me that obedience which you vowed to Heaven +that you would give me.... That is so, is it not?" + +There was a moment's silence in the tiny cottage parlor now, whilst +he--gauging the full value of his words, knowing by instinct that he had +struck the right cord in that vibrating girlish heart, watched the +subtle change in her face from defiance and wrath to submission and +appeal. + +"Yes, Amédé," she murmured after a while, "I owe you obedience, honor +and love, and you need not fear that I will fail in either. But you," +she added with pathetic anxiety, "you do care for me still? do you not?" + +"Of course I care for you," he remarked, "I worship you.... There! ... +will that satisfy you? ... And now?" he added peremptorily, "have you +brought the money?" + +The short interlude of passion was over. His eye had accidentally rested +for one second on the leather wallet, which she still held tightly +clutched, and all thoughts of her beauty, of his power or his desires, +had flown out to the winds. + +"Yes," she replied meekly, "it is all here, in the wallet." + +She laid it down upon the table, feeling neither anxiety nor remorse. He +was her husband and had a right to her fortune, as he had to her person +and to her thoughts and heart an he wished. Nor did she care about the +money, as to the value of which she was, of course, ignorant. + +Her wealth, up to now, had only had a meaning for her, as part of some +noble scheme for the regeneration of mankind. Now she hoped vaguely, as +she put that wallet down on the table, then pushed it towards her +husband, that she was purchasing her freedom with her wealth. + +Certainly she realized that his thoughts had very quickly been diverted +from her beauty to the contents of the wallet. The mocking laugh died +down on his lips, giving place to a sigh of deep satisfaction. + +"You were very prudent, my dear Suzanne, to place this portion of your +wealth in my charge," he said as he slipped the bulky papers into the +lining of his doublet. "Of course it is all yours, and I--your +husband--am but the repository and guardian of your fortune. And now +methinks 'twere prudent for you to return to the Court. Sir Marmaduke de +Chavasse will be missing you...." + +It did not seem to strike her as strange that he should dismiss her thus +abruptly, and make no attempt to explain what his future plans might +be, nor indeed what his intentions were with regard to herself. + +The intensity of her disappointment, the utter loneliness and +helplessness of her position had caused a veritable numbing of her +faculties and of her spirit and for the moment she was perhaps primarily +conscious of a sense of relief at her dismissal. + +Like her wedding in the dismal little church, this day of her birthday, +of her independence, of her handing over her fortune to her husband for +the glorious purposes of his selfless schemes had been so very, very +different to what she had pictured to herself in her girlish and +romantic dreams. + +The sordidness of it all had ruthlessly struck her; for the first time +in her intercourse with this man, she doubted the genuineness of his +motives. With the passing of her fortune from her hands to his, the last +vestige of belief in him died down with appalling suddenness. + +It could not have been because of the expression in his eyes, as he +fingered the wallet, for this she could not see, since his face was +still in shadow. It must have been just instinct--that, and the mockery +of his attempt to make love to her. Had he ever loved her, he could not +have mocked ... not now, that she was helpless and entirely at his +mercy. + +Love once felt, is sacred to him who feels: mockery even of the ashes of +love is an impossible desecration, one beyond the power of any man. +Then, if he had never loved her, why had he pretended? Why have deceived +her with a semblance of passion? + +And the icy whisper of reason blew into her mental ear, the ugly word: +"Money." + +He opened the door for her, and without another word, she passed out +into the dark night. Only when she reached the tiny gate at the end of +the flagged path, did she realize that he was walking with her. + +"I can find my way alone through the woods," she said coldly. "I came +alone." + +"It was earlier then," he rejoined blandly, "and I prefer to see you +safely as far as the park." + +And they walked on side by side in silence. Overhead the melancholy drip +of moisture falling from leaf to leaf, and from leaf to the ground, was +the only sound that accompanied their footsteps. Sue shivered beneath +her damp cloak; but she walked as far away from him as the width of the +woodland path allowed. He seemed absorbed in his own thoughts and not to +notice how she shrank from the slightest contact with him. + +At the park gate he paused, having opened it for her to pass through. + +"I must bid you good-night here, Suzanne," he said lightly, "there may +be footpads about and I must place your securities away under lock and +key. I may be absent a few days for that purpose.... London, you know," +he added vaguely. + +Then as she made no comment: + +"I will arrange for our next meeting," he said, "anon, there will be no +necessity to keep our marriage a secret, but until I give you permission +to speak of it, 'twere better that you remained silent on that score." + +She contrived to murmur: + +"As you will." + +And presently, as he made no movement towards her, she said: + +"Good-night!" + +This time he had not even desired to kiss her. + +The next moment she had disappeared in the gloom. She fled as fast as +she dared in the inky blackness of this November night. She could have +run for miles, or for hours, away! away from all this sordidness, this +avarice, this deceit and cruelty! Away! away from him!! + +How glad she was that darkness enveloped her, for now she felt horribly +ashamed. Instinct, too, is cruel at times! Instinct had been silent so +long during the most critical juncture of her own folly. Now it spoke +loudly, warningly; now that it was too late. + +Ashamed of her own stupidity and blindness! her vanity mayhap had alone +led her to believe the passionate protestations of a liar. + +A liar! a mean, cowardly schemer, but her husband for all that! She owed +him love, honor and obedience; if he commanded, she must obey; if he +called she must fain go to him. + +Oh! please God! that she had succeeded in purchasing her freedom from +him by placing £500,000 in his hands. + +Shame! shame that this should be! that she should have mistaken vile +schemes for love, that a liar's kisses should have polluted her soul! +that she should be the wife, the bondswoman of a cheat! + + + + +CHAPTER XXIX + +GOOD-BYE + + +"Sue!" + +The cry rang out in the night close to her, and arrested her fleeing +footsteps. She was close to the ha-ha, having run on blindly, madly, +guided by that unaccountable instinct which makes for the shelter of +home. + +In a moment she had recognized the voice. In a moment she was beside her +friend. Her passionate mood passed away, leaving her calm and almost at +peace. Shame still caused her cheeks to burn, but the night was dark and +doubtless he would not see. + +But she could feel that he was near her, therefore, there was no fear in +her. What had guided her footsteps hither she did not know. Of course he +had guessed that she had been to meet her husband. + +There were no exclamations or protestations between them. She merely +said quite simply: + +"I am glad that you came to say 'good-bye!'" + +The park was open here. The nearest trees were some fifty paces away, +and in the ghostly darkness they could just perceive one another's +silhouettes. The mist enveloped them as with a shroud, the damp cold air +caused them to shiver as under the embrace of death. + +"It is good-bye," he rejoined calmly. + +"Mayhap that I shall go abroad soon," she said. + +"With that man?" + +The cry broke out from the bitterness of his heart, but a cold little +hand was placed restrainingly on his. + +"When I go ... if I go," she murmured, "I shall do so with my +husband.... You see, my friend, do you not, that there is naught else to +say but 'good-bye'?" + +"And you will be happy, Sue?" he asked. + +"I hope so!" she sighed wistfully. + +"You will always remember, will you not, my dear lady, that wherever you +may be, there is always someone in remote Thanet, who is ready at any +time to give his life for you?" + +"Yes! I will remember," she said simply. + +"And you must promise me," he insisted, "promise me now, Sue, that if +... which Heaven forbid ... you are in any trouble or sorrow, and I can +do aught for you, that you will let me know and send for me ... and I +will come." + +"Yes, Richard, I promise.... Good-bye." + +And she was gone. The mist, the gloom hid her completely from view. He +waited by the little bridge, for the night was still and he would have +heard if she called. + +He heard her light footsteps on the gravel, then on the flagged walk. +Anon came the sound of the opening and shutting of a door. After that, +silence: the silence of a winter's night, when not a breath of wind +stirs the dead branches of the trees, when woodland and field and park +are wrapped in the shroud of the mist. + +Richard Lambert turned back towards the village. + +Sue--married to another man--had passed out of his life forever. + + + + +CHAPTER XXX + +ALL BECAUSE OF THE TINDER-BOX + + +How oft it is in life that Fate, leading a traveler in easy gradients +upwards along a road of triumph, suddenly assumes a madcap mood and with +wanton hand throws a tiny obstacle in his way; an obstacle at times +infinitesimal, scarce visible on that way towards success, yet powerful +enough to trip the unwary traveler and bring him down to earth with +sudden and woeful vigor. + +With Sir Marmaduke so far everything had prospered according to his +wish. He had inveigled the heiress into a marriage which bound her to +his will, yet left him personally free; she had placed her fortune +unreservedly and unconditionally in his hands, and had, so far as he +knew, not even suspected the treachery practiced upon her by her +guardian. + +Not a soul had pierced his disguise, and the identity of Prince Amédé +d'Orléans was unknown even to his girl-wife. + +With the disappearance of that mysterious personage, Sir Marmaduke +having realized Lady Sue's fortune, could resume life as an independent +gentleman, with this difference, that henceforth he would be passing +rich, able to gratify his ambition, to cut a figure in the world as he +chose. + +Fortune which had been his idol all his life, now was indeed his slave. +He had it, he possessed it. It lay snug and safe in a leather wallet +inside the lining of his doublet. + +Sue had gone out of his sight, desirous apparently of turning her back +on him forever. He was free and rich. The game had been risky, daring +beyond belief, yet he had won in the end. He could afford to laugh now +at all the dangers, the subterfuges, the machinations which had all gone +to the making of that tragic comedy in which he had been the principal +actor. + +The last scene in the drama had been successfully enacted. The curtain +had been finally lowered; and Sir Marmaduke swore that there should be +no epilogue to the play. + +Then it was that Fate--so well-named the wanton jade--shook herself from +out the torpor in which she had wandered for so long beside this Kentish +squire. A spirit of mischief seized upon her and whispered that she had +held this man quite long enough by the hand and that it would be far +more amusing now to see him measure his length on the ground. + +And all that Fate did, in order to satisfy this spirit of mischief, was +to cause Sir Marmaduke to forget his tinder-box in the front parlor of +Mistress Martha Lambert's cottage. + +A tinder-box is a small matter! an object of infinitesimal importance +when the broad light of day illumines the interior of houses or the +bosquets of a park, but it becomes an object of paramount importance, +when the night is pitch dark, and when it is necessary to effect an +exchange of clothing within the four walls of a pavilion. + +Sir Marmaduke had walked to the park gates with his wife, not so much +because he was anxious for her safety, but chiefly because he meant to +retire within the pavilion, there to cast aside forever the costume and +appurtenances of Prince Amédé d'Orléans and to reassume the +sable-colored doublet and breeches of the Roundhead squire, which +proceeding he had for the past six months invariably accomplished in the +lonely little building on the outskirts of his own park. + +As soon, therefore, as he realized that Sue had gone, he turned his +steps towards the pavilion. The night seemed additionally dark here +under the elms, and Sir Marmaduke searched in his pocket for his +tinder-box. + +It was not there. He had left it at the cottage, and quickly recollected +seeing it lying on the table at the very moment that Sue pushed the +leather wallet towards him. + +He had mounted the few stone steps which led up to the building, but +even whilst he groped for the latch with an impatient hand, he realized +how impossible it would be for him anon, to change his clothes, in the +dark; not only to undress and dress again, but to collect the belongings +of the Prince d'Orléans subsequently, for the purpose of destroying them +at an early opportunity. + +Groping about in inky blackness might mean the forgetting of some +article of apparel, which, if found later on, might lead to suspicion or +even detection of the fraud. Sir Marmaduke dared not risk it. + +Light he needed, and light he ought to have. The tinder-box had become +of paramount importance, and it was sheer wantonness on the part of Fate +that she should have allowed that little article to rest forgotten on +the table in Mistress Lambert's cottage. + +Sir Marmaduke remained pondering--in the darkness and the mist--for a +while. His own doublet and breeches, shoes and stockings were in the +pavilion: would he ever be able to get at them without a light? No, +certainly not! nor could he venture to go home to the Court in his +present disguise, and leave his usual clothes in this remote building. + +Prying, suspicious eyes--such as those of Master Hymn-of-Praise Busy, +for instance, might prove exceedingly uncomfortable and even dangerous. + +On the other hand, would it not be ten thousand times more dangerous to +go back to the cottage now and risk meeting Richard Lambert face to +face? + +And it was Richard whom Sir Marmaduke feared. + +He had, therefore, almost decided to try his luck at dressing in the +dark, and was once more fumbling with the latch of the pavilion door, +when through the absolute silence of the air, there came to his ear +through the mist the sound of a young voice calling the name of "Sue!" + +The voice was that of Richard Lambert. + +The coast would be clear then. Richard had met Sue in the park: no +doubt he would hold her a few moments in conversation. The schemer cared +not what the two young people would or would not say to one another; all +that interested him now was the fact that Richard was not at the +cottage, and that, therefore, it would be safe to run back and fetch the +tinder-box. + +All this was a part of Fate's mischievous prank. Sir Marmaduke was not +afraid of meeting the old Quakeress, nor yet the surly smith; Richard +being out of the way, he had no misgivings in his mind when he retraced +his steps towards the cottage. + +It was close on eight o'clock then, in fact the tiny bell in Acol church +struck the hour even as Sir Marmaduke lifted the latch of the little +garden gate. + +The old woman was in the parlor, busy as usual with her dusting-cloth. +Without heeding her, Sir Marmaduke strode up to the table and pushing +the crockery, which now littered it, aside, he searched for his +tinder-box. + +It was not there. With an impatient oath, he turned to Mistress Martha, +and roughly demanded if she had seen it. + +"Eh? ... What?" she queried, shuffling a little nearer to him, "I am +somewhat hard of hearing ... as thou knowest...." + +"Have you seen my tinder-box?" he repeated with ever-growing irritation. + +"Ah, yea, the fog!" she said blandly, "'tis damp too, of a truth, and +..." + +"Hold your confounded tongue!" he shouted wrathfully, "and try and hear +me. My tinder-box...." + +"Thy what? I am a bit ..." + +"Curse you for an old fool," swore Sir Marmaduke, who by now was in a +towering passion. + +With a violent gesture he pushed the old woman aside and turning on her +in an uncontrolled access of fury, with both arms upraised, he shouted: + +"If you don't hear me now, I'll break every bone in your ugly body.... +Where is my ..." + +It had all happened in a very few seconds: his entrance, his search for +the missing box, the growing irritation in him which had caused him to +lose control of his temper. And now, even before the threatening words +were well out of his mouth, he suddenly felt a vigorous onslaught from +the rear, and his own throat clutched by strong and sinewy fingers. + +"And I'll break every bone in thy accursed body!" shouted a hoarse voice +close to his ear, "if thou darest so much as lay a finger on the old +woman." + +The struggle was violent and brief. Sir Marmaduke already felt himself +overmastered. Adam Lambert had taken him unawares. He was rough and very +powerful. Sir Marmaduke was no weakling, yet encumbered by his fantastic +clothes he was no match for the smith. Adam turned him about in his +nervy hands like a puppet. + +Now he was in front and above him, glaring down at the man he hated with +eyes which would have searched the very depths of his enemy's soul. + +"Thou damned foreigner!" he growled between clenched teeth, "thou +vermin! ... Thou toad! Thou ... on thy knees! ... on thy knees, I say +... beg her pardon for thy foul language ... now at once ... dost hear? +... ere I squeeze the breath out of thee...." + +Sir Marmaduke felt his knees giving way under him, the smith's grasp on +his throat had in no way relaxed. Mistress Martha vainly tried to +interpose. She was all for peace, and knew that the Lord liked not a +fiery temper. But the look in Adam's face frightened her, and she had +always been in terror of the foreigner. Without thought, and imagining +that 'twas her presence which irritated the lodger, she beat a hasty +retreat to her room upstairs, even as Adam Lambert finally succeeded in +forcing Sir Marmaduke down on his knees, not ceasing to repeat the +while: + +"Her pardon ... beg her pardon, my fine prince ... lick the dust in an +English cottage, thou foreign devil ... or, by God, I will kill thee! +..." + +"Let me go!" gasped Sir Marmaduke, whom the icy fear of imminent +discovery gripped more effectually even than did the village +blacksmith's muscular fingers, "let me go ... damn you!" + +"Not before I have made thee lick the dust," said Adam grimly, bringing +one huge palm down on the elaborate perruque, and forcing Sir +Marmaduke's head down, down towards the ground, "lick it ... lick it +... Prince of Orléans...." + +He burst out laughing in the midst of his fury, at sight of this +disdainful gentleman, with the proud title, about to come in violent +contact with a cottage floor. But Sir Marmaduke struggled violently +still. He had been wiser no doubt, to take the humiliation quietly, to +lick the dust and to pacify the smith: but what man is there who would +submit to brute force without using his own to protect himself? + +Then Fate at last worked her wanton will. + +In the struggle the fantastic perruque and heavy mustache of Prince +Amédé d'Orléans remained in the smith's hand whilst it was the round +head and clean-shaven face of Sir Marmaduke de Chavasse which came in +contact with the floor. + +In an instant, stricken at first dumb with surprise and horror, but +quickly recovering the power of speech, Adam Lambert murmured: + +"You? ... You? ... Sir Marmaduke de Chavasse! ... Oh! my God! ..." + +His grip on his enemy had, of course, relaxed. Sir Marmaduke was able to +struggle to his feet. Fate had dealt him a blow as unexpected as it was +violent. But he had not been the daring schemer that he was, if +throughout the past six months, the possibility of such a moment as this +had not lurked at the back of his mind. + +The blow, therefore, did not find him quite unprepared. It had been +stunning but not absolutely crushing. Even whilst Adam Lambert was +staring with almost senseless amazement alternately at him and at the +bundle of false hair which he was still clutching, Sir Marmaduke had +struggled to his feet. + + + + +CHAPTER XXXI + +THE ASSIGNATION + + +He had recovered his outward composure at any rate, and the next moment +was busy re-adjusting his doublet and bands before the mirror over the +hearth. + +"Yes! my violent friend!" he said coolly, speaking over his shoulder, +"of a truth it is mine own self! Your landlord you see, to whom that +worthy woman upstairs owes this nice cottage which she has had rent free +for over ten years ... not the foreign vermin, you see," he added with a +pleasant laugh, "which maketh your actions of just now, somewhat +unpleasant to explain. Is that not so?" + +"Nay! but by the Lord!" quoth Adam Lambert, still somewhat dazed, +vaguely frightened himself now at the magnitude, the importance of what +he had done, "meseems that 'tis thine actions, friend, which will be +unpleasant to explain. Thou didst not put on these play-actor's robes +for a good purpose, I'll warrant! ... I cannot guess what is thy game, +but methinks her young ladyship would wish to know something of its +rules ... or mayhap, my brother Richard who is no friend of thine, +forsooth." + +Gradually his voice had become steadier, his manner more assured. A +glimmer of light on the Squire's strange doings had begun to penetrate +his simple, dull brain. Vaguely he guessed the purport of the disguise +and of the lies, and the mention of Lady Sue's name was not an arrow +shot thoughtlessly into the air. At the same time he had not perceived +the slightest quiver of fear or even of anxiety on Sir Marmaduke's face. + +The latter had in the meanwhile put his crumpled toilet in order and now +turned with an urbane smile to his glowering antagonist. + +"I will not deny, kind master," he said pleasantly, "that you might +cause me a vast amount of unpleasantness just now ... although of a +truth, I do not perceive that you would benefit yourself overmuch +thereby. On the contrary, you would vastly lose. Your worthy aunt, +Mistress Lambert, would lose a pleasant home, and you would never know +what you and your brother Richard have vainly striven to find out these +past ten years." + +"What may that be, pray?" queried the smith sullenly. + +"Who you both are," rejoined Sir Marmaduke blandly, as he calmly sat +down in one of the stiff-backed elm chairs beside the hearth, "and why +worthy Mistress Lambert never speaks to you of your parentage." + +"Who we both are?" retorted Lambert with obvious bitterness, "two poor +castaways, who, but for the old woman would have been left to starve, +and who have tried, therefore, to be a bit grateful to her, and to earn +an honest livelihood. That is what we are, Sir Marmaduke de Chavasse; +and now prithee tell me, who the devil art thou?" + +"You are overfond of swearing, worthy master," quoth Sir Marmaduke +lightly, "'tis sinful so I'm told, for one of your creed. But that is no +matter to me. You are, believe me, somewhat more interesting than you +imagine. Though I doubt if to a Quaker, being heir to title and vast +estates hath more than a fleeting interest." + +But the smith had shrugged his broad shoulders and uttered an +exclamation of contempt. + +"Title and vast estates?" he said with an ironical laugh. "Nay! Sir +Marmaduke de Chavasse, the bait is passing clumsy. An you wish me to +hold my tongue about you and your affairs, you'll have to be vastly +sharper than that." + +"You mistake me, friend smith, I am not endeavoring to purchase your +silence. I hold certain information relating to your parentage. This I +would be willing to impart to a friend, yet loath to do so to an enemy. +A man doth not like to see his enemy in possession of fifteen thousand +pounds a year. Does he?" + +And Sir Marmaduke appeared absorbed in the contemplation of his left +shoe, whilst Adam Lambert repeated stupidly and vaguely: + +"Fifteen thousand pounds a year? I?" + +"Even you, my friend." + +This was said so simply, and with such conviction-carrying +certainty--that in spite of himself Lambert's sulkiness vanished. He +drew nearer to Sir Marmaduke, looked down on him silently for a second +or two, then muttered through his teeth: + +"You have the proofs?" + +"They will be at your service, my choleric friend," replied the other +suavely, "in exchange for your silence." + +Adam Lambert drew a chair close to his whilom enemy, sat down opposite +to him, with elbows resting on his knee, his clenched fists supporting +his chin, and his eyes--anxious, eager, glowing, fixed resolutely on de +Chavasse. + +"I'll hold my tongue, never fear," he said curtly. "Show me the proofs." + +Sir Marmaduke gave a pleasant little laugh. + +"Not so fast, my friend," he said, "I do not carry such important papers +about in my breeches' pocket." + +And he rose from his chair, picked up the perruque and false mustache +which the other man had dropped upon the floor, and adjusting these on +his head and face he once more presented the appearance of the exiled +Orléans prince. + +"But thou'lt show them to me to-night," insisted the smith roughly. + +"How can I, mine impatient friend?" quoth de Chavasse lightly, "the hour +is late already." + +"Nay! what matter the lateness of the hour? I am oft abroad at night, +early and late, and thou, methinks, hast oft had the midnight hour for +company. When and where wilt meet me?" added Lambert peremptorily, "I +must see those proofs to-night, before many hours are over, lest the +blood in my veins burn my body to ashes with impatience. When wilt meet +me? Eleven? ... Midnight? ... or the small hours of the morn?" + +He spoke quickly, jerking out his words through closed teeth, his eyes +burning with inward fever, his fists closing and unclosing with rapid +febrile movements of the fingers. + +The pent-up disappointment and rebellion of a whole lifetime against +Fate, was expressed in the man's attitude, the agonizing eagerness which +indeed seemed to be consuming him. + +De Chavasse, on the other hand, had become singularly calm. The black +shade as usual hid one of his eyes, masking and distorting the +expression of his face; the false mustache, too, concealed the movements +of his lips, and the more his opponent's eyes tried to search the +schemer's face, the more inscrutable and bland did the latter become. + +"Nay, my friend," he said at last, "I do not know that the thought of a +midnight excursion with you appeals to my sense of personal security. I +..." + +But with a violent oath, Adam had jumped to his feet, and kicked the +chair away from under him so that it fell backwards with a loud clatter. + +"Thou'lt meet me to-night," he said loudly and threateningly now, +"thou'lt meet me on the path near the cliffs of Epple Bay half an hour +before midnight, and if thou hast lied to me, I'll throw thee over and +Thanet then will be rid of thee ... but if thou dost not come, I'll to +my brother Richard even before the church clock of Acol hath sounded the +hour of midnight." + +De Chavasse watched him silently for the space of three seconds, +realizing, of course, that he was completely in that man's power, and +also that the smith meant every word that he said. The discovery of the +monstrous fraud by Richard Lambert within the next few hours was a +contingency which he could not even contemplate without shuddering. He +certainly would much prefer to give up to this uncouth laborer the +proofs of his parentage which eventually might mean an earldom and a +fortune to a village blacksmith. + +Sir Marmaduke had reflected on all this, of course, before broaching the +subject to Adam Lambert at all. Now he was prepared to go through with +the scheme to the end if need be. His uncle, the Earl of Northallerton, +might live another twenty years, whilst he himself--if pursued for +fraud, might have to spend those years in jail. + +On the whole it was simpler to purchase the smith's silence ... this way +or another. Sir Marmaduke's reflections at this moment would have +delighted those evil spirits who are supposed to revel in the misdoings +of mankind. + +The thought of the lonely path near the cliffs of Epple Bay tickled his +fancy in a manner for which perhaps at this moment he himself could not +have accounted. He certainly did not fear Adam Lambert and now said +decisively: + +"Very well, my friend, an you wish it, I'll come." + +"Half an hour before midnight," insisted Lambert, "on the cliffs at +Epple Bay." + +"Half an hour before midnight: on the cliffs of Epple Bay," assented the +other. + +He picked up his hat. + +"Where art going?" queried the smith suspiciously. + +"To change my clothing," replied Sir Marmaduke, who was fingering that +fateful tinder-box which alone had brought about the present crisis, +"and to fetch those proofs which you are so anxious to see." + +"Thou'lt not fail me?" + +"Surely not," quoth de Chavasse, as he finally went out of the room. + + + + +CHAPTER XXXII + +THE PATH NEAR THE CLIFFS + + +The mist had not lifted. Over the sea it hung heavy and dank like a huge +sheet of gray thrown over things secret and unavowable. It was thickest +down in the bay lurking in the crevices of the chalk, in the great +caverns and mighty architecture carved by the patient toil of the +billows in the solid mass of the cliffs. + +Up above it was slightly less dense: allowing distinct peeps of the +rough carpet of coarse grass, of the downtrodden path winding towards +Acol, of the edge of the cliff, abrupt, precipitous, with a drop of some +ninety feet into that gray pall of mist to the sands below. + +And higher up still, above the mist itself, a deep blue sky dotted with +stars, and a full moon, pale and circled with luminous vapors. A gentle +breeze had risen about half an hour ago and was blowing the mist hither +and thither, striving to disperse it, but not yet succeeding in +mastering it, for it only shifted restlessly to and fro, like the giant +garments of titanic ghosts, revealing now a distant peep of sea, anon +the interior of a colonnaded cavern, abode of mysterious ghouls, or +again a nest of gulls in a deep crevice of the chalk: revealing and +hiding again:--a shroud dragged listlessly over monstrous dead things. + +Sir Marmaduke de Chavasse had some difficulty in keeping to the footpath +which leads from the woods of Acol straight toward the cliffs. Unlike +Adam Lambert, his eyes were unaccustomed to pierce the moist pall which +hid the distance from his view. + +Strangely enough he had not cast aside the fantastic accouterments of +the French prince, and though these must have been as singularly +uncomfortable, as they were inappropriate, for a midnight walk, +nevertheless, he still wore the heavy perruque, the dark mustache, +broad-brimmed hat, and black shade which were so characteristic of the +mysterious personage. + +He had heard the church clock at Acol village strike half an hour after +eleven and knew that the smith would already be waiting for him. + +The acrid smell of seaweed struck forcibly now upon his nostrils. The +grass beneath his feet had become more sparse and more coarse. The +moisture which clung to his face had a taste of salt in it. Obviously he +was quite close to the edge of the cliffs. + +The next moment and without any warning a black outline appeared in the +moon-illumined density. It was Adam Lambert pacing up and down with the +impatience of an imprisoned beast of prey. + +A second or two later the febrile hand of the smith had gripped Sir +Marmaduke's shoulder. + +"You have brought those proofs?" he queried hoarsely. + +His face was wet with the mist, and he had apparently oft wiped it with +his hand or sleeve, for great streaks of dirt marked his cheeks and +forehead, giving him a curious satanic expression, whilst his short lank +hair obviously roughed up by impatient fingers, bristled above his +square-built head like the coat of a shaggy dog. + +In absolute contrast to him, Sir Marmaduke looked wonderfully calm and +tidy. In answer to the other man's eager look of inquiry, he made +pretense of fumbling in his pockets, as he said quietly: + +"Yes! all of them!" + +As if idly musing, he continued to walk along the path, whilst the smith +first stooped to pick up a small lantern which he had obviously brought +with him in order to examine the papers by its light, and then strode in +the wake of Sir Marmaduke. + +The breeze was getting a bother hold on the mist, and was tossing it +about from sea to cliff and upwards with more persistence and more +vigor. + +The pale, cold moon glistened visibly on the moist atmosphere, and far +below and far beyond weird streaks of shimmering silver edged the +surface of the sea. The breeze itself had scarcely stirred the water; +or,--the soft sound of tiny billows lapping the outstanding boulders was +wafted upwards as the tide drew in. + +The two men had reached the edge of the cliff. With a slight laugh, +indicative of nervousness, Sir Marmaduke had quickly stepped back a +pace or two. + +"I have brought the proofs," he said, as if wishing to conciliate a +dangerous enemy, "we need not stand so near the edge, need we?" + +But Adam Lambert shrugged his shoulders in token of contempt at the +other's cowardice. + +"I'll not harm thee," he said, "an thou hast not lied to me...." + +He deposited his lantern by the side of a heap of white chalk, which +had, no doubt, been collected at some time or other by idle or childish +hands, and stood close to the edge of the cliff. Sir Marmaduke now took +his stand beside it, one foot placed higher than the other. Close to him +Adam in a frenzy of restlessness had thrown himself down on the heap; +below them a drop of ninety feet to the seaweed covered beach. + +"Let me see the papers," quoth Adam impatiently. + +"Gently, gently, kind sir," said de Chavasse lightly. "Did you think +that you could dictate your own terms quite so easily?" + +"What dost thou mean?" queried the other. + +"I mean that I am about to place in your hands the proof that you are +heir to a title and fifteen thousand pounds a year, but at the same time +I wish to assure myself that you will be pleasant over certain matters +which concern me." + +"Have I not said that I would hold my tongue." + +"Of a truth you did say so my friend, and therefore, I am convinced +that you will not refuse to give me a written promise to that effect." + +"I cannot write," said Adam moodily. + +"Oh! just your signature!" said de Chavasse pleasantly. "You can write +your name?" + +"Not well." + +"The initials A. and L. They would satisfy me," + +"Why dost thou want written promises," objected the smith, looking up +with sullen wrath at Sir Marmaduke. "Is not the word of an honest man +sufficient for thee?" + +"Quite sufficient," rejoined de Chavasse blandly, "those initials are a +mere matter of form. You cannot object if your intentions are honest." + +"I do not object. Hast brought ink or paper?" + +"Yes, and the form to which you only need to affix your initials." + +Sir Marmaduke now drew a packet of papers from the inner lining of his +doublet. + +"These are the proofs of your parentage," he said lightly. + +Then he took out another single sheet of paper from his pocket, unfolded +it and handed it to Lambert. "Can you read it?" he asked. + +He stooped and picked up the lantern, whilst handing the paper to Adam. +The smith took the document from him, and Sir Marmaduke held the lantern +so that he might read. + +Adam Lambert was no scholar. The reading of printed matter was oft a +difficulty to him, written characters were a vast deal more trouble, +but suspicion lurked in the smith's mind, and though his very sinews +ached with the desire to handle the proofs, he would not put his +initials to any writing which he did not fully comprehend. + +It was all done in a moment. Adam was absorbed in deciphering the +contents of the paper. De Chavasse held the lantern up with one hand, +but at such an angle that Lambert was obliged to step back in order to +get its full light. + +Then with the other hand, the right, Sir Marmaduke drew a double-edged +Italian knife from his girdle, and with a rapid and vigorous gesture, +drove it straight between the smith's shoulder blades. + +Adam uttered a groan: + +"My God ... I am ..." + +Then he staggered and fell. + +Fell backwards down the edge of the cliff into the mist-enveloped abyss +below. + +Sir Marmaduke had fallen on one knee and his trembling fingers clutched +at the thick short grass, sharp as the blade of a knife, to stop himself +from swooning--from falling backwards in the wake of Adam the smith. + +A gust of wind wafted the mist upwards, covering him with its humid +embrace. But he remained quite still, crouching on his stomach now, his +hands clutching the grass for support, whilst great drops of +perspiration mingled with the moisture of the mist on his face. + +Anon he raised his head a little and turned to look at the edge of the +cliff. On hands and knees, like a gigantic reptile, he crawled, then lay +flat on the ground, on the extreme edge, his eyes peering down into +those depths wherein floating vapors lolled and stirred, with subtle +movements like spirits in unrest. + +As far as the murderer's eye could reach and could penetrate the density +of the fog, white crag succeeded white crag, with innumerable +projections which should have helped to toss a falling and inert mass as +easily as if it had been an air bubble. + +Sir Marmaduke tried to penetrate the secrets which the gray and shifting +veil still hid from his view. Beside him lay the Italian knife, its +steely surface shimmering in the vaporous light, there where a dull and +ruddy stain had not dimmed its brilliant polish. The murderer gazed at +his tool and shuddered feebly. But he picked up the knife and +mechanically wiped it in the grass, before he restored it to his belt. + +Then he gazed downwards again, straining his eyes to pierce the mist, +his ears to hear a sound. + +But nothing came upwards from that mighty abyss save the now more +distinct lapping of the billows round the boulders, for the tide was +rapidly setting in. + +Down the white sides of the cliff the projections seemed ready to afford +a foothold bearing somewhat toward the right, the descent was not so +abrupt as it was immediately in front. The chalk of a truth looked slimy +and green, and might cause the unwary to trip, but there was that to +see down below and that to do, which would make any danger of a fall +well worth the risking. + +Sir Marmaduke de Chavasse slowly rose to his feet. His knees were still +shaking under him, and there was a nervous tremor in his jaw and in his +wrists which he tried vainly to conquer. + +Nevertheless he managed to readjust his clothes, his perruque, his +broad-brimmed hat. The papers he slipped back into his pocket together +with the black silk shade and false mustache, then, with the lantern in +his left hand he took the first steps towards the perilous descent. + +There was something down below that he must see, something that he +wished to do. + +He walked sidewise at times, bent nearly double, looking like some +gigantic and unwieldy crab, as the feeble rays of the mist-hidden moon +caught his rounded back in its cloth doublet of a dull reddish hue. At +other times he was forced to sit, and to work his way downwards with his +hands and heels, tearing his clothes, bruising his elbows and his +shoulders against the projections of the titanic masonry. Lumps of chalk +detached themselves from beneath and around him and slipped down the +precipitous sides in advance of him, with a dull reverberating sound +which seemed to rouse the echoes of this silent night. + +The descent seemed interminable. His flesh ached, his sinews creaked, +his senses reeled with the pain, the mind-agony, the horror of it all. + +At last he caught a glimmer of the wet sand, less than ten feet below. +He had just landed on a bit of white tableland wantonly carved in the +naked cliff. The rough gradients which up to now had guided him in his +descent ceased abruptly. Behind him the cliff rose upwards, in front +and, to his right, and left a concave wall, straight down to the beach. + +Exhausted and half-paralyzed, de Chavasse perforce had to throw himself +down these last ten feet, hardly pausing to think whether his head would +or would not come in violent contact with one of the chalk boulders +which stand out here and there in the flat sandy beach. + +He threw down the lantern first, which was extinguished as it fell. Then +he took the final jump, and soon lay half-unconscious, numbed and aching +in every limb in the wet sand. + +Anon he tried to move. His limbs were painful, his shoulders ached, and +he had some difficulty in struggling to his feet. An unusually large +boulder close by afforded a resting place. He reached it and sat down. +His head was still swimming but his limbs were apparently sound. He sat +quietly for a while, recouping his strength, gathering his wandering +senses. The lantern lay close to his feet, extinguished but not broken. + +He groped for his tinder-box, and having found it, proceeded to relight +the tiny tallow dip. It was a difficult proceeding for the tinder was +damp, and the breeze, though very slight in this hollow portion of the +cliffs, nevertheless was an enemy to a trembling little flame. + +But Sir Marmaduke noted with satisfaction that his nerves were already +under his control. He succeeded in relighting the lantern, which he +could not have done if his hands had been as unsteady as they were +awhile ago. + +He rose once more to his feet, stamped them against the boulders, +stretched out his arms, giving his elbows and shoulders full play. +Mayhap he had spent a quarter of an hour thus resting since that final +jump, mayhap it had been an hour or two; he could not say for time had +ceased to be. + +But the mist had penetrated to his very bones and he did not remember +ever having felt quite so cold. + +Now he seized his lantern and began his search, trying to ascertain the +exact position of the portion of the cliff's edge where he and Lambert +the smith had been standing a while ago. + +It was not a difficult matter, nor was the search a long one. Soon he +saw a huddled mass lying in the sand. + +He went up to it and placed the lantern down upon a boulder. + +Horror had entirely left him. The crisis of terror at his own fell deed +had been terrible but brief. His was not a nature to shrink from +unpleasant sights, nor at such times do men have cause to recoil from +contact with the dead. + +In the murderer's heart there was no real remorse for the crime which +he had committed. + +"Bah! why did the fool get in my way?" was the first mental comment +which he made when he caught sight of Lambert's body. + +Then with a final shrug of the shoulders he dismissed pity, horror or +remorse, entirely from his thoughts. + +What he now did was to raise the smith's body from the ground and to +strip it of its clothing. 'Twas a grim task, on which his chroniclers +have never cared to dwell. His purpose was fixed. He had planned and +thought it all out minutely, and he was surely not the man to flinch at +the execution of a project once he had conceived it. + +The death of Adam Lambert should serve a double purpose: the silencing +of an avowed enemy and the wiping out of the personality of Prince Amédé +d'Orléans. + +The latter was as important as the first. It would facilitate the +realizing of the fortune and, above all, clear the way for Sir +Marmaduke's future life. + +Therefore, however gruesome the task, which was necessary in order to +attain that great goal, the schemer accomplished it, with set teeth and +an unwavering hand. + +What he did do on that lonely fog-ridden beach and in the silence of +that dank and misty night, was to dress up the body of Adam Lambert, the +smith, in the fantastic clothing of Prince Amédé d'Orléans: the red +cloth doublet, the lace collars and cuffs, the bunches of ribbon at knee +and waist, and the black silk shade over the left eye. All he omitted +were the perruque and the false mustache. + +Having accomplished this work, he himself donned the clothes of Adam +Lambert. + +This part of his task being done, he had to rest for a while. 'Tis no +easy matter to undress and redress an inert mass. + +The smith, dressed in the elaborate accouterments of the mysterious +French prince, now lay face upwards on the sand. + +The tide was rapidly setting in. In less than half an hour it would +reach this portion of the beach. + +Sir Marmaduke de Chavasse, however, had not yet accomplished all that he +meant to do. He knew that the sea-waves had a habit of returning that +which they took away. Therefore, his purpose was not fully accomplished +when he had dressed the dead smith in the clothes of the Orléans prince. +Else had he wished it, he could have consigned his victim to the tide. + +But Adam--dead--had now to play a part in the grim comedy which Sir +Marmaduke de Chavasse had designed for his own safety, and the more +assured success of all his frauds and plans. + +Therefore, after a brief rest, the murderer set to work again. A more +grim task yet! one from which of a truth more than one evil-doer would +recoil. + +Not so this bold schemer, this mad worshiper of money and of self. +Everything! anything for the safety of Sir Marmaduke de Chavasse, for +the peaceful possession of £500,000. + +Everything! Even the desecration of the dead! + +The murderer was powerful, and there is a strength which madness gives. +Heavy boulders pushed by vigorous arms had to help in the monstrous +deed! + +Heavy boulders thrown and rolled over the face of the dead, so as to +obliterate all identity! + +Nay! had a sound now disturbed the silence of this awesome night, surely +it had been the laughter of demons aghast at such a deed! + +The moon indeed hid her face, retreating once more behind the veils of +mist. The breeze itself was lulled and the fog gathered itself together +and wrapped the unavowable horrors of the night in a gray and ghoul-like +shroud. + +Madness lurked in the eyes of the sacrilegious murderer. Madness which +helped him not only to carry his grim task to the end, but, having +accomplished it, to see that it was well done. + +And his hand did not tremble, as he raised the lantern and looked down +on _that_ which had once been Adam Lambert, the smith. + +Nay, had those laughing demons looked on it, they would have veiled +their faces in awe! + +The gentle wavelets of the torpid tide were creeping round that thing in +red doublet and breeches, in high top boots, lace cuffs and collar. + +Sir Marmaduke looked down calmly upon his work, and did not even shudder +with horror. + +Madness had been upon him and had numbed his brain. + +But the elemental instinct of self-preservation whispered to him that +his work was well done. + +When the sea gave up the dead, only the clothes, the doublet, the +ribands, the lace, the black shade, mayhap, would reveal his identity, +as the mysterious French prince who for a brief while had lodged in a +cottage at Acol. + +But the face was unrecognizable. + + + + +PART IV + + + + +CHAPTER XXXIII + +THE DAY AFTER + + +The feeling which prevailed in Thanet with regard to the murder of the +mysterious foreigner on the sands of Epple Bay was chiefly one of sullen +resentment. + +Here was a man who had come from goodness knows where, whose strange +wanderings and secret appearances in the neighborhood had oft roused the +anger of the village folk, just as his fantastic clothes, his silken +doublet and befrilled shirt had excited their scorn; here was a man, I +say, who came from nowhere, and now he chose--the yokels of the +neighborhood declared it that he chose--to make his exit from the world +in as weird a manner as he had effected his entrance into this remote +and law-abiding little island. + +The farmhands and laborers who dwelt in the cottages dotted about around +St. Nicholas-at-Wade, Epple or Acol were really angry with the stranger +for allowing himself to be murdered on their shores. Thanet itself had +up to now enjoyed a fair reputation for orderliness and temperance, and +that one of her inhabitants should have been tempted to do away with +that interloping foreigner in such a violent manner was obviously the +fault of that foreigner himself. + +The watches had found him on the sands at low tide. One of them walking +along the brow of the cliff had seen the dark object lying prone amongst +the boulders, a black mass in the midst of the whiteness of the chalk. + +The whole thing was shocking, no doubt, gruesome in the extreme, but the +mystery which surrounded this strange death had roused ire rather than +horror. + +Of course the news had traveled slowly from cottage to cottage, although +Petty Constable Pyot, who resided at St. Nicholas, had immediately +apprised Squire Boatfield and Sir Marmaduke de Chavasse of the awesome +discovery made by the watches on the sands of Epple Bay. + +Squire Boatfield was major-general of the district and rode over from +Sarre directly he heard the news. The body in the meanwhile had been +placed under the shelter of one of the titanic caves which giant hands +have carved in the acclivities of the chalk. Squire Boatfield ordered it +to be removed. It was not fitting that birds of prey should be allowed +to peck at the dead, nor that some unusually high tide should once more +carry him out to sea, ere his murderer had been brought to justice. + +Therefore, the foreigner with the high-sounding name was conveyed by the +watches at the squire's bidding to the cottage of the Lamberts over at +Acol, the only place in Thanet which he had ever called his home. + +The old Quakeress, wrathful and sullen, had scarce understood what the +whole pother was about. She was hard of hearing, and Petty Constable +Pyot was at great pains to explain to her that by the major-general's +orders the body of the murdered man should be laid decently under +shelter, until such time as proper burial could be arranged for it. + +Fortunately before the small cortège bearing the gruesome burden had +arrived at the cottage, young Richard Lambert had succeeded in making +the old woman understand what was expected of her. + +Even then she flatly and obstinately refused to have the stranger +brought into her house. + +"He was a heathen," she declared emphatically, "his soul hath mayhap +gone to hell. His thoughts were evil, and God had him not in His +keeping. 'Tis not fit that the mortal hulk of a damned soul should +pollute the saintliness of mine own abode." + +Pyot thought that the old woman was raving, but Master Lambert very +peremptorily forbade him to interfere with her. The young man, though +quite calm, looked dangerous--so thought the petty constable--and +between them, the old Quakeress and the young student defied the +constables and the watches and barred the cottage to the entrance of the +dead. + +Unfortunately, the smith was from home. Pyot thought that the latter had +been more reasonable, that he would have understood the weight of +authority, and also of seemliness, which was of equally grave +importance. + +There was a good deal of parleying before it was finally decided to +place the body in the forge, which was a wooden lean-to, resting against +the north wall of the cottage. There was no direct access from the +cottage to the forge, and old Mistress Lambert seemed satisfied that the +foreigner should rest there, at any rate until the smith came home, +when, mayhap, he would decide otherwise. + +At the instance of the petty constable she even brought out a sheet, +which smelt sweetly of lavender, and gave it to the watchmen, so that +they might decently cover up the dead; she also gave them three elm +chairs on which to lay him down. + +Across those three chairs the body now lay, covered over with the +lavender-scented sheet, in the corner of the blacksmith's forge, over by +the furnace. A watchman stayed beside it, to ward off sacrilege: anyone +who desired could come, and could--if his nerves were strong +enough--view the body and state if, indeed, it was that of the foreigner +who all through last summer had haunted the woods and park of Acol. + +Of a truth there was no doubt at all as to the identity of the dead. His +fantastic clothes were unmistakable. Many there were who had seen him +wandering in the woods of nights, and several could swear to the black +silk shade and the broad-brimmed hat which the watchmen had found--high +and dry--on a chalk boulder close to where the body lay. + +Mistress Lambert had refused to look on the dead. 'Twas, of course, no +fit sight for females, and the constable had not insisted thereon: but +she knew the black silk shade again, and young Master Lambert had +caught sight of the murdered man's legs and feet, and had thereupon +recognized the breeches and the quaint boots with their overwide tops +filled with frills of lace. + +Master Hymn-of-Praise Busy, too, though unwilling to see a corpse, +thought it his duty to help the law in investigating this mysterious +crime. He had oft seen the foreigner of nights in the park, and never +doubted for a moment that the body which lay across the elm chairs in +the smith's forge was indeed that of the stranger. + +Squire Boatfield was now quite satisfied that the identity of the victim +was firmly established, and anon he did his best--being a humane man--to +obtain Christian burial for the stranger. After some demur, the parson +at Minster declared himself willing to do the pious deed. + +Heathen or not, 'twas not for Christian folk to pass judgment on him who +no longer now could give an explanation of his own mysterious doings, +and had of a truth carried his secrets with him in silence to the grave. + +Was it not strange that anyone should have risked the gallows for the +sake of putting out of the way a man who of a surety was not worth +powder or shot? + +And the nerve and strength which the murderer had shown! ... displacing +great boulders with which to batter in his victim's face so that not +even his own kith and kin could recognize that now! + + + + +CHAPTER XXXIV + +AFTERWARDS + + +Sir Marmaduke de Chavasse cursed the weather and cursed himself for +being a fool. + +He had started from Acol Court on horseback, riding an old nag, for the +roads were heavy with mud, and the short cut through the woods quite +impassable. + +The icy downpour beat against his face and lashed the poor mare's ears +and mane until she tossed her head about blindly and impatiently, scarce +heeding where she placed her feet. The rider's cloak was already soaked +through, and soon even his shirt clung dank and cold to his aching back; +the bridle was slippery with the wet, and his numbed fingers could +hardly feel its resistance as the mare went stumbling on her way. + +Beside horse and rider, Master Hymn-of-Praise Busy and Master Courage +Toogood walked ankle-deep in mud--one on each side of the mare, and +lantern in hand, for the shades of evening would have drawn in ere the +return journey could be undertaken. The two men had taken off their +shoes and stockings and had slung them over their shoulders, for 'twas +better to walk barefoot than to feel the icy moisture soaking through +leather and worsted. + +It was then close on two o'clock of an unusually bleak November +afternoon. The winds of Heaven, which of a truth do oft use the isle of +Thanet as a meeting place, wherein to discuss the mischief which they +severally intend to accomplish in sundry quarters later on, had been +exceptionally active this day. The southwesterly hurricane had brought, +a deluge of rain with it a couple of hours ago, then--satisfied with +this prowess--had handed the downpour over to his brother of the +northeast, who breathing on it with his icy breath, had soon converted +it into sleet: whereupon he turned his back on the mainland altogether, +and wandered out towards the ocean, determined to worry the deep-sea +fishermen who were out with their nets: but not before he had deputed +his brother of the northeast to marshal his army of snow-laden cloud on +the firmament. + +This the northeast, was over-ready to do, and in answer to his whim a +leaden, inky pall now lay over Thanet, whilst the gale continued its +mighty, wanton frolic, lashing the sleet against the tiny window-panes +of the cottage, or sending it down the chimneys, upon the burning logs +below, causing them to splutter and to hiss ere they changed their glow +to black and smoking embers. + +'Twere impossible to imagine a more discomforting atmosphere in which to +be abroad: yet Sir Marmaduke de Chavasse was trudging through the mire, +and getting wet to the skin, even when he might just as well be sitting +beside the fire in the withdrawing-room at the Court. + +He was on his way to the smith's forge at Acol and had ordered his +serving-men to accompany him thither: and of a truth neither of them +were loath to go. They cared naught about the weather, and the +excitement which centered round the Quakeress's cottage at Acol more +than counterbalanced the discomfort of a tramp through the mud. + +A rumor had reached the Court that the funeral of the murdered man +would, mayhap, take place this day, and Master Busy would not have +missed such an event for the world, not though the roads lay thick with +snow and the drifts rendered progress impossible to all save to the +keenest enthusiast. He for one was glad enough that his master had +seemed so unaccountably anxious for the company of his own serving men. +Sir Marmaduke had ever been overfond of wandering about the lonely woods +of Thanet alone. + +But since that gruesome murder on the beach forty-eight hours ago and +more, both the quality and the yokels preferred to venture abroad in +company. + +At the same time neither Master Busy nor young Courage Toogood could +imagine why Sir Marmaduke de Chavasse should endure such amazing +discomfort in order to attend the funeral of an obscure adventurer, who +of a truth was as naught to him. + +Nor, if the truth were known, could Sir Marmaduke himself have accounted +for his presence here on this lonely road, and on one of the most +dismal, bleak and unpleasant afternoons that had ever been experienced +in Thanet of late. + +He should at this moment have been on the other side of the North Sea. +The most elemental prudence should indeed have counseled an immediate +journey to Amsterdam and a prompt negotiation of all marketable +securities which Lady Sue Aldmarshe had placed in his hands. + +Yet twice twenty-four hours had gone by since that awful night, when, +having finally relinquished his victim to the embrace of the tide, he +had picked his way up the chalk cliffs and through the terror-haunted +woods to his own room in Acol Court. + +He should have left for abroad the next day, ere the news of the +discovery of a mysterious murder had reached the precincts of his own +park. But he had remained in England. Something seemed to have rooted +him to the spot, something to be holding him back whenever he was ready +to flee. + +At first it had been a mere desire to know. On the morning following his +crime he made a vigorous effort to rally his scattered senses, to walk, +to move, and to breathe as if nothing had happened, as if nothing lay +out there on the sands of Epple, high and dry now, for the tide would +have gone out. + +Whether he had slept or not since the moment when he had crept +stealthily into his own house, silently as the bird of prey when +returning to its nest--he could not have said. Undoubtedly he had +stripped off the dead man's clothes, the rough shirt and cord breeches +which had belonged to Lambert, the smith. Undoubtedly, too, he had made +a bundle of these things, hiding them in a dark recess at the bottom of +an old oak cupboard which stood in his room. With these clothes he had +placed the leather wallet which contained securities worth half a +million of solid money. + +All this he had done, preparatory to destroying the clothes by fire, and +to converting the securities into money abroad. After that he had thrown +himself on the bed, without thought, without sensations save those of +bodily ache and of numbing fatigue. + +Vaguely, as the morning roused him to consciousness, he realized that he +must leave for Dover as soon as may be and cross over to France by the +first packet available, or, better still, by boat specially chartered. +And yet, when anon he rose and dressed, he felt at once that he would +not go just yet; that he could not go until certain queries which had +formed in his brain had been answered by events. + +How soon would the watches find the body? Having found it, what would +they do? Would the body be immediately identified by the clothes upon +it? or would doubt on that score arise in the minds of the neighboring +folk? Would the disappearance of Adam Lambert be known at once and +commented upon in connection with the crime? + +Curiosity soon became an obsession; he wandered down into the hall where +the serving-wench was plying her duster. He searched her face, +wondering if she had heard the news. + +The mist of the night had yielded to an icy drizzle, but Sir Marmaduke +could not remain within. His footsteps guided him in the direction of +Acol, on towards Epple Bay. On the path which leads to the edge of the +cliffs he met the watches who were tramping on towards the beach. + +The men saluted him and went on their way, but he turned and fled as +quickly as he dared. + +In the afternoon Master Busy brought the news down from Prospect Inn. +The body of the man who had called himself a French prince had been +found murdered and shockingly mutilated on the sands at Epple. Sir +Marmaduke was vastly interested. He, usually so reserved and ill-humored +with his servants, had kept Hymn-of-Praise in close converse for nigh +upon an hour, asking many questions about the crime, about the petty +constables' action in the matter and the comments made by the village +folk. + +At the same time he gave strict injunctions to Master Busy not to +breathe a word of the gruesome subject to the ladies, nor yet to the +serving-wench; 'twas not a matter fit for women's ears. + +Sir Marmaduke then bade his butler push on as far as Acol, to glean +further information about the mysterious event. + +That evening he collected all the clothes which had belonged to Lambert, +the smith, and wrapping up the leather wallet with them which contained +the securities, he carried this bundle to the lonely pavilion on the +outskirts of the park. + +He was not yet ready to go abroad. + +Master Busy returned from his visit to Acol full of what he had seen. He +had been allowed to view the body, and to swear before Squire Boatfield +that he recognized the clothes as being those usually worn by the +mysterious foreigner who used to haunt the woods and park of Acol all +last summer. + +Hymn-of-Praise had his full meed of pleasure that evening, and the next +day, too, for Sir Marmaduke seemed never tired of hearing him recount +all the gossip which obtained at Acol and at St. Nicholas: the surmises +as to the motive of the horrible crime, the talk about the stranger and +his doings, the resentment caused by his weird demise, and the +conjectures as to what could have led a miscreant to do away with so +insignificant a personage. + +All that day--the second since the crime--Sir Marmaduke still lingered +in Thanet. Prudence whispered urgent counsels that he should go, and yet +he stayed, watching the progress of events with that same morbid and +tenacious curiosity. + +And now it was the thought of what folk would say when they heard that +Adam Lambert had disappeared, and was, of a truth, not returning home, +which kept Sir Marmaduke still lingering in England. + +That and the inexplicable enigma which ever confronts the searcher of +human motives: the overwhelming desire of the murderer to look once +again upon his victim. + +Master Busy had on that second morning brought home the news from Acol, +that Squire Boatfield had caused a rough deal coffin to be made by the +village carpenter at the expense of the county, and that mayhap the +stranger would be laid therein this very afternoon and conveyed down to +Minster, where he would be accorded Christian burial. + +Then Sir Marmaduke realized that it would be impossible for him to leave +England until after he had gazed once more on the dead body of the +smith. + +After that he would go. He would shake the sand of Thanet from his heels +forever. + +When he had learned all that he wished to know he would be free from the +present feeling of terrible obsession which paralyzed his movements to +the extent of endangering his own safely. + +He was bound to look upon his victim once again: an inexplicable and +titanic force compelled him to that. Mayhap, that same force would +enable him to keep his nerves under control when, presently, he should +be face to face with the dead. + +Face to face? ... Good God! ... + +Yet neither fear nor remorse haunted him. It was only curosity, and, at +one thought, a nameless horror! ... Not at the thought of murder ... +there he had no compunction, but at that of the terrible deed which from +instinct of self-protection had perforce to succeed the graver crime. + +The weight of those chalk boulders seemed still to weigh against the +muscles of his back. He felt that Sisyphus-like he was forever rolling, +rolling a gigantic stone which, failing of its purpose--recoiled on him, +rolling back down a precipitous incline, and crushing him beneath its +weight ... only to release him again ... to leave him free to endure the +same torture over and over again ... and yet again ... forever the same +weight ... forever the self-same, intolerable agony.... + + + + +CHAPTER XXXV + +THE SMITH'S FORGE + + +Up to the hour of his departure from Acol Court, Sir Marmaduke had been +convinced that neither his sister-in-law nor Lady Sue had heard of the +news which had set the whole of Thanet in commotion. Acol Court lies +very isolated, well off the main Canterbury Road, and just for two days +and a half Master Hymn-of-Praise Busy had contrived to hold his tongue. + +Most of the village gossips, too, met at the local public bars, and had +had up to now no time to wander as far as the Court, nor any reason to +do so, seeing that Master Busy was always to be found at Prospect Inn +and always ready to discuss the mystery in all its bearings, with anyone +who would share a pint of ale with him. + +Sir Marmaduke had taken jealous care only to meet the ladies at +meal-time, and under penalty of immediate dismissal had forbidden +Hymn-of-Praise to speak to the serving-wench of the all-absorbing topic. + +So far Master Busy had obeyed, but at the last moment, just before +starting for Acol village, Sir Marmaduke had caught sight of Mistress +Charity talking to the stableman in the yard. Something in the wench's +eyes told him--with absolute certainty that she had just heard of the +murder. + +That morbid and tenacious curiosity once more got hold of him. He would +have given all he possessed at this moment--the entire fruits of his +crime perhaps--to know what that ignorant girl thought of it all, and it +caused him acute, almost physical pain, to refrain from questioning her. + +There was enough of the sense of self-protection in him, however, to +check himself from betraying such extraordinary interest in the matter: +but he turned on his heel and went quickly back to the house. He wanted +to catch sight of Editha's face, if only for a moment; he wanted to see +for himself, then and there, if she had also heard the news. + +As he entered the hall, she was coming down the stairs. She had on her +cloak and hood as if preparing to go out. Their eyes met and he saw that +she knew. + +Knew what? He broke into a loud and fierce laugh as he met her wildly +questioning gaze. There was a look almost of madness in the hopeless +puzzlement of her expression. + +Of course Editha must be hopelessly puzzled. The very thought of her +vague conjecturings had caused him to laugh as maniacs laugh at times. + +The mysterious French prince had been found on the sands murdered and +mutilated.... But then ... + +Still laughing, Sir Marmaduke once more turned, running away from the +house now and never pausing until his foot had touched the stirrup and +his fingers were entangled in the damp mane of the mare. Even whilst he +settled himself into the saddle as comfortably as he could, the grim +humor of Editha's bewilderment caused him to laugh, within himself. + +The nag stepped slowly along in the mud at first, then broke into a +short trot. The two serving-men had started on ahead with their +lanterns; they would, of course, be walking all the way. + +The icy rain mingled with tiny flakes of snow was insufferably cutting +and paralyzing: yet Sir Marmaduke scarcely heeded it, until the mare +became unpleasantly uncertain in her gait. Once she stumbled and nearly +pitched her rider forward into the mud: whereupon, lashing into her, he +paid more heed to her doings. + +Once just past the crossroad toward St. Nicholas, he all but turned his +horse's head back towards Acol Court. It seemed as if he must find out +now at once whether Editha had spoken to Lady Sue and what the young +girl had done and said when she heard, in effect, that her husband had +been murdered. + +Nothing but the fear of missing the last look at the body of Adam +Lambert ere the lid of the coffin was nailed down stopped him from +returning homewards. + +Anon he came upon Busy and Toogood painfully trudging in the mire, and +singing lustily to keep themselves cheerful and warm. + +Sir Marmaduke drew the mare in, so as to keep pace with his men. On the +whole, the road had been more lonely than he liked and he was glad of +company. + +Outside the Lamberts' cottage a small crowd had collected. From the +crest of the hill the tiny bell of Acol church struck the hour of two. + +Squire Boatfield had ridden over from Sarre, and Sir Marmaduke--as he +dismounted--caught sight of the heels and crupper of the squire's +well-known cob. The little crowd had gathered in the immediate +neighborhood of the forge, and de Chavasse, from where he now stood, +could not see the entrance of the lean-to, only the blank side wall of +the shed, and the front of the Lamberts' cottage, the doors and windows +of which were hermetically closed. + +Up against the angle formed by the wall of the forge and that of the +cottage, the enterprising landlord of the local inn had erected a small +trestle table, from behind which he was dispensing spiced ale, and +bottled Spanish wines. + +Squire Boatfield was standing beside that improvised bar, and at sight +of Sir Marmaduke he put down the pewter mug which he was in the act of +conveying to his lips, and came forward to greet his friend. + +"What is the pother about this foreigner, eh, Boatfield?" queried de +Chavasse with gruff good-nature as he shook hands with the squire and +allowed himself to be led towards that tempting array of bottles and +mugs on the trestle table. + +The yokels who were assembled at the entrance of the forge turned to +gaze with some curiosity at the squire of Acol. De Chavasse was not +often seen even in this village: he seldom went beyond the boundary of +his own park. + +All the men touched their forelocks with deferential respect. Master +Jeremy Mounce humbly whispered a query as to what His Honor would +condescend to take. + +Sir Marmaduke desired a mug of buttered ale or of lamb's wool, which +Master Mounce soon held ready for him. He emptied the mug at one +draught. The spiced liquor went coursing through his body, and he felt +better and more sure of himself. He desired a second mug. + +"With more substance in it, Master Landlord," he said pleasantly. "Nay, +man! ye are not giving milk to children, but something warm to cheer a +man's inside." + +"I have a half bottle of brandy here, good Sir Marmaduke," suggested +Master Mounce with some diffidence, for brandy was an over-expensive +commodity which not many Kentish squires cared to afford. + +"Brandy, of course, good master!" quoth de Chavasse lustily, "brandy is +the nectar of the gods. Here!" he added, drawing a piece of gold from a +tiny pocket concealed in the lining of his doublet, "will this pay for +thy half-bottle of nectar." + +"Over well, good Sir Marmaduke," said Master Mounce, as he stooped to +the ground. From underneath the table he now drew forth a glass and a +bottle: the latter he uncorked with slow and deliberate care, and then +filled the glass with its contents, whilst Sir Marmaduke watched him +with impatient eyes. + +"Will you join me, squire?" asked de Chavasse, as he lifted the small +tumbler and gazed with marked appreciation at the glistening and +transparent liquid. + +"Nay, thanks," replied Boatfield with a laugh, "I care naught for these +foreign decoctions. Another mug, or even two, of buttered ale, good +landlord," he added, turning to Master Mounce. + +In the meanwhile petty constable Pyot had stood respectfully at +attention ready to relate for the hundredth time, mayhap, all that he +knew and all that he meant to know about the mysterious crime. + +Sir Marmaduke would of a surety ask many questions, for it was passing +strange that he had taken but little outward interest in the matter up +to now. + +"Well, Pyot," he now said, beckoning to the man to approach, "tell us +what you know. By Gad, 'tis not often we indulge in a genuine murder in +Thanet! Where was it done? Not on my land, I hope." + +"The watches found the body on the beach, your Honor," replied Pyot, +"the head was mutilated past all recognition ... the heavy chalk +boulders, your Honor ... and a determined maniac methinks, sir, who +wanted revenge against a personal enemy.... Else how to account for such +a brutal act? ..." + +"I suppose," quoth Sir Marmaduke lightly, as he sipped the brandy, +"that the identity of the man has been quite absolutely determined." + +"Aye! aye! your Honor," rejoined Pyot gravely, "the opinion of all those +who have seen the body is that it is that of a foreigner ... Prince of +Orleans he called himself, who has been lodging these past months at +this place here!" + +And the petty constable gave a quick nod in the direction of the +cottage. + +"Ah! I know but little about him," now said Sir Marmaduke, turning to +speak to Squire Boatfield, "although he lived here, on what is my own +property, and haunted my park, too ... so I've been told. There was a +good deal of talk about him among the wenches in the village." + +"Aye! I had heard all about that prince," said Squire Boatfield +meditatively, "lodging in this cottage ... 'twas passing strange." + +"He was a curious sort of man, your Honor," here interposed Pyot. "We +got what information about him we could, seeing that the smith is from +home, and that Mistress Lambert, his aunt, I think, is hard of hearing, +and gave us many crooked answers. But she told us that the stranger paid +for his lodging regularly, and would arrive at the cottage unawares of +an evening and stay part of the night ... then he would go off again at +cock-crow, and depart she knew not whither." + +The man paused in his narrative. Something apparently had caused Sir +Marmaduke to turn giddy. + +He tugged at his neckbands and his hand fell heavily against the +trestle-table. + +"Nay! 'tis nothing," he said with a harsh laugh as Master Mounce with an +ejaculation of deep concern ran round to him with a chair, whilst Squire +Boatfield quickly put out an arm as if he were afraid that his friend +would fall. "'Tis nothing," he repeated, "the tramp in the cold, then +this heady draught.... I am well I assure you." + +He drank half a glass of brandy at a draught, and now the hand which +replaced the glass upon the table had not the slightest tremor in it. + +"'Tis all vastly interesting," he remarked lightly. "Have you seen the +body, Boatfield?" + +"Aye! aye!" quoth the squire, speaking with obvious reluctance, for he +hated this gruesome subject. "'Tis no pleasant sight. And were I in your +shoes, de Chavasse, I would not go in there," and he nodded +significantly towards the forge. + +"Nay! 'tis my duty as a magistrate," said Sir Marmaduke airily. + +He had to steady himself against the table again for a moment or two, +ere he turned his back on the hospitable board, and started to walk +round towards the forge: no doubt the shaking of his knees was +attributable to the strong liquor which he had consumed. + +The little crowd parted and dispersed at his approach. The lean-to +wherein Adam Lambert was wont to do his work consisted of four walls, +one of which was that of the cottage, whilst the other immediately +facing it, had a wide opening which formed the only entrance to the +shed. A man standing in that entrance would have the furnace on his +left: and now in addition to that furnace also the three elm chairs, +whereon rested a rough deal case, without a lid, but partly covered with +a sheet. + +To anyone coming from the outside, this angle of the forge would always +seem weird and even mysterious even when the furnace was blazing and the +sparks flying from the anvil, beneath the smith's powerful blows, or +when--as at present--the fires were extinguished and this part of the +shed, innocent of windows, was in absolute darkness. + +Sir Marmaduke paused a moment under the lintel which dominated the broad +entrance. His eyes had some difficulty in penetrating the density which +seemed drawn across the place on his left like some ink-smeared and +opaque curtain. + +The men assembled outside, watched him from a distance with silent +respect. In these days the fact of a gentleman drinking more liquor than +was good for him was certes not to his discredit. + +The fact that Sir Marmaduke seemed to sway visibly on his legs, as he +thus stood for a moment outlined against the dark interior beyond, +roused no astonishment in the minds of those who saw him. + +Presently he turned deliberately to his left and the next moment his +figure was merged in the gloom. + +Round the angle of the wall Squire Boatfield was still standing, sipping +buttered ale. + +Less than two minutes later, Sir Marmaduke reappeared in the doorway. +His face was a curious color, and there were beads of perspiration on +his forehead, and as he came forward he would have fallen, had not one +of the men stepped quickly up to him and offered a steadying arm. But +there was nothing strange in that. + +The sight of that which lay in Adam Lambert's forge had unmanned a good +many ere this. + +"I am inclined to believe, my good Boatfield," quoth Sir Marmaduke, as +he went back to the trestle-table, and poured himself out another +half-glass full of brandy, "I am inclined to believe that when you +advised me not to go in there, you spoke words of wisdom which I had +done well to follow." + + + + +CHAPTER XXXVI + +THE GIRL-WIFE + + +But the effort of the past few moments had been almost more than +Marmaduke de Chavasse could bear. + +Anon when the church bell over at Acol began a slow and monotonous toll +he felt as if his every nerve must give way: as if he must laugh, laugh +loudly and long at the idiocy, the ignorance of all these people who +thought that they were confronted by an impenetrable mystery, whereas it +was all so simple ... so very, very simple. + +He had a curious feeling as if he must grip every one of these men here +by the throat and demand from each one separately an account of what he +thought and felt, what he surmised and what he guessed when standing +face to face with the weird enigma presented by that mutilated thing in +its rough deal case. He would have given worlds to know what his friend +Boatfield thought of it all, or what had been the petty constable's +conjectures. + +A haunting and devilish desire seized him to break open the skulls of +all these yokels and to look into their brains. Above all now the +silence of the cottage close to him had become unendurable torment. That +closed door, the tiny railing which surrounded the bit of front garden, +that little gate the latch of which he himself so oft had lifted, all +seemed to hold the key to some terrible mystery, the answer to some +fearful riddle which he felt would drive him mad if he could not hit +upon it now at once. + +The brandy had fired his veins: he no longer felt numb with the cold. A +passion of rage was seething in him, and he longed to attack with fists +and heels those curtained windows which now looked like eyes turned +mutely and inquiringly upon him. + +But there was enough sanity in him yet to prevent his doing anything +rash: an uncontrolled act might cause astonishment, suspicion mayhap, in +the minds of those who witnessed it. He made a violent effort to steady +himself even now, above all to steady his voice and to veil that excited +glitter which he knew must be apparent in his eyes. + +"Meseems that 'tis somewhat strange," he said quite calmly, even +lightly, to Squire Boatfield who seemed to be preparing to go, "that +these people--the Lamberts--who alone knew the ... the murdered man +intimately, should keep so persistently, so determinedly out of the +way." + +Even while the words escaped his mouth--certes involuntarily--he knew +that the most elementary prudence should have dictated silence on this +score, and at this juncture. The man was about to be buried, the +disappearance of the smith had passed off so far without comment. Peace, +the eternal peace of the grave, would soon descend on the weird events +which occupied everyone's mind for the present. + +What the old Quakeress thought and felt, what Richard--the +brother--feared and conjectured was easy for Sir Marmaduke to guess: for +him, but for no one else. To these others the silence of the cottage, +the absence of the Lamberts from this gathering was simple enough of +explanation, seeing that they themselves felt such bitter resentment +against the dead man. They quite felt with the old woman's sullenness, +her hatred of the foreigner who had disturbed the serenity of her life. + +Everyone else was willing to let her be, not to drag her and young +Lambert into the unpleasant vortex of these proceedings. Their home was +an abode of mourning: it was proper and seemly for them to remain +concealed and silent within their cottage; seemly, too, to have +curtained their windows and closed their doors. + +No one wished to disturb them; no one but Sir Marmaduke, and with him it +was once again that morbid access of curiosity, the passionate, intense +desire to know and to probe every tiny detail in connection with his own +crime. + +"The old woman Lambert should be made to identify the body, before it is +buried," he now repeated with angry emphasis, seeing that a look of +disapproval had crossed Squire Boatfield's pleasant face. + +"We are satisfied as to the man's identity," rejoined the squire +impatiently, "and the sight is not fit for women's eyes." + +"Nay, then she should be shown the clothes and effects.... And, if I +mistake not, there's Richard Lambert, my late secretary, has he laid +sworn information about the man?" + +"Yes, I believe so," said Boatfield with some hesitation. + +"Nay, Boatfield, an you are so reluctant to do your duty in this matter, +I'll speak to these people myself.... You are chief constable of the +district ... indeed, 'tis you should do it ... and in the meanwhile I +pray you, at least to give orders that the coffin be not nailed down." + +The kindly squire would have entered a further protest. He did not see +the necessity of confronting an old woman with the gruesome sight of a +mutilated corpse, nor did he perceive justifiable cause for further +formalities of identification. + +But Sir Marmaduke having spoken very peremptorily, had already turned on +his heel without waiting for his friend's protest, and was striding +across the patch of rough stubble, which bordered the railing round the +front of the cottage. Squire Boatfield reluctantly followed him. The +next moment de Chavasse had lifted the latch of the gate, crossed the +short flagged path and now knocked loudly against the front door. + +Apparently there was no desire for secrecy or rebellion on the part of +the dwellers of the cottage, for hardly had Sir Marmaduke's imperious +knock echoed against the timbered walls, than the door was opened from +within by Richard Lambert who, seeing the two gentlemen standing on the +threshold, stepped back immediately, allowing them to pass. + +The old Quakeress and Richard were seemingly not alone. Two ladies sat +in those same straight-backed chairs, wherein, some fifty hours ago Adam +Lambert and the French prince had agreed upon that fateful meeting on +the brow of the cliff. + +Sir Marmaduke's restless eyes took in at a glance every detail of that +little parlor, which he had known so intimately. The low lintel of the +door, which had always forced him to stoop as he entered, the central +table with the pewter candlesticks upon it, the elm chairs shining like +mirrors in response to the Quakeress' maddening passion for cleanliness. + +Everything was just as it had been those few hours ago, when last he had +picked up his broad-brimmed hat from the table and walked out of the +cottage into the night. Everything was the same as it had been when his +young girl-wife pushed a leather wallet across the table to him: the +wallet which contained the fortune that he had not yet dared to turn +fully to his own account. + +Aye! it was all just the same: for even at this moment as he stood there +in the room, Sue, pale and still, faced him from across the table. For a +moment he was silent, nor did anybody speak. Squire Boatfield felt +unaccountably embarrassed, certain that he was intruding, vaguely +wondering why the atmosphere in the cottage was so heavy and +oppressive. + +Behind him, Richard Lambert had quietly closed the front door; the old +woman stood in the background; the dusting-cloth which she had been +plying so vigorously had dropped out of her hand when the two gentlemen +had appeared in her little parlor so unexpectedly. + +Sir Marmaduke was the first to break the silence. + +"My dear Sue," he said curtly, "this is a strange place indeed wherein +to find your ladyship." + +He cast a sharp, inquiring glance at her, then at his sister-in-law, who +was still sitting by the hearth. + +"She insisted on coming," said Mistress de Chavasse with a shrug of the +shoulders, "and I had not the power to stop her; I thought it best, +therefore, to accompany her." + +She was wearing the cloak and hood which Sir Marmaduke had seen round +her shoulders when awhile ago he had met her in the hall of the Court. +Apparently she had started out with Sue in his immediate wake, and now +he had a distinct recollection that while the mare was slowly ambling +along, he had looked back once or twice and seen two dark figures +walking some fifty yards behind him on the road which he himself had +just traversed. + +At the moment he had imagined that they were some village folk, wending +their way towards Acol: now he was conscious of nerve-racking irritation +at the thought that if he had only turned the mare's head back toward +the Court--as he had at one time intended to do--he could have averted +this present meeting--it almost seemed like a confrontation--here, in +this cottage on the self-same spot, where thought of murder had first +struck upon his brain. + +There was something inexplicable, strangely puzzling now in Sue's +attitude. + +When de Chavasse had entered, she had risen from her chair and, as if +deliberately, had walked over to the spot where she had stood during +that momentous interview, when she relinquished her fortune entirely and +without protest, into the hands of the man whom she had married, and +whom she believed to be her lord. + +Her gaze now--calm and fixed, and withal vaguely searching--rested on +her guardian's face. The fixity of her look increased his nerve-tension. +The others, too, were regarding him with varying feelings which were +freely expressed in their eyes. Boatfield seemed upset and somewhat +resentful, the old woman sullen, despite the deference in her attitude, +Lambert defiant, wrathful, nay! full of an incipient desire to avenge +past wrongs. + +And dominating all, there was Editha's look of bewilderment, of +puzzledom in her face at a mystery whereat her senses were beginning to +reel, that mute questioning of the eyes, which speaks of turbulent +thoughts within. + +Sir Marmaduke uttered an exclamation of impatience. + +"You must return to the Court and at once," he said, avoiding Sue's +gaze and speaking directly to Editha, "the men are outside, with +lanterns. You'll have to walk quickly an you wish to reach home before +twilight." + +But even while he spoke, Sue--not heeding him--had turned to Squire +Boatfield. She went up to him, holding out her hands as if in +instinctive childlike appeal for protection, to a kindly man. + +"This mystery is horrible!" she murmured. + +Boatfield took her small hands in his, patting them gently the while, +desiring to soothe and comfort her, for she seemed deeply agitated and +there was a wild look of fear from time to time in her pale face. + +"Sir Marmaduke is right," said the squire gently, "this is indeed no +place for your ladyship. I did not see you arrive or I had at once +persuaded you to go." + +De Chavasse would again have interposed. He stooped and picked up Sue's +cloak which had fallen to the ground, and as he went up to her with the +obvious intention of replacing it around her shoulders, she checked him, +with a slight motion of her hand. + +"I only heard of this terrible crime an hour ago," she said, speaking +once more to Boatfield, "and as I methinks, am the only person in the +world who can throw light upon this awesome mystery, I thought it my +duty to come." + +"Of a truth 'twas brave of your ladyship," quoth the squire, feeling a +little bewildered at this strange announcement, "but surely ... you +did not know this man?" + +"If the rumor which hath reached me be correct," she replied quietly, +"then indeed did I know the murdered man intimately. Prince Amédé +d'Orléans was my husband." + + + + +CHAPTER XXXVII + +THE OLD WOMAN + + +There was silence in the tiny cottage parlor as the young girl made this +extraordinary announcement in a firm if toneless voice, without +flinching and meeting with a sort of stubborn pride the five pairs of +eyes which were now riveted upon her. + +From outside came the hum of many voices, dull and subdued, like the +buzzing of a swarm of bees, and against the small window panes the +incessant patter of icy rain driven and lashed by the gale. Anon the +wind moaned in the wide chimney, ... it seemed like the loud sigh of the +Fates, satisfied at the tangle wrought by their relentless fingers in +the threads of all these lives. + +Sir Marmaduke, after a slight pause, had contrived to utter an +oath--indicative of the wrath he, as Lady Sue's guardian, should have +felt at her statement. Squire Boatfield frowned at the oath. He had +never liked de Chavasse and disapproved more than ever of the man's +attitude towards his womenkind now. + +The girl was in obvious, terrible distress: what she was feeling at this +moment when she was taking those around her into her confidence could be +as nothing compared to what she must have endured when she first heard +the news that her strange bridegroom had been murdered. + +The kindly squire, though admitting the guardian's wrath, thought that +its violent expression was certainly ill-timed. He allowed Sue to +recover herself, for the more calm was her attitude outwardly, the more +terrible must be the effort which she was making at self-control. + +Sue's eyes were fixed steadily upon her guardian, and Richard Lambert's +upon her. Both these young people who had carved their own Fate in the +very rock which now had shattered their lives, seemed to be searching +for something vague, unavowed and mysterious which instinct told them +was there, but which was so elusive, so intangible that the soul of each +recoiled, even whilst it tried to probe. + +Entirely against her will Sue--whilst she looked on her guardian--could +think of nothing save of that day in Dover, the lonely church, the +gloomy vestry, and that weird patter of the rain against the window +panes. + +She was not ashamed of what she had done, only of what she had felt for +him, whom she now believed to be dead; that she gave him her fortune was +nothing, she neither regretted nor cared about that. What, in the mind +of a young and romantic girl, was the value of a fortune squandered, +when that priceless treasure--her first love--had already been thrown +away? But now she would no longer judge the dead. The money which he had +filched from her, Fate and a murderous hand had quickly taken back from +him, crushing beneath those chalk boulders his many desires, his vast +ambitions, a worthless life and incomparable greed. + +Her love, which he had stolen ... that he could not give back: not that +ardent, whole-souled, enthusiastic love; not the romantic idealism, the +hero-worship, that veil of fantasy behind which first love is wont to +hide its ephemerality. But she would not now judge the dead. Her +romantic love lay buried in the lonely church at Dover, and she was +striving not to think even of its grave. + +Squire Boatfield's kindly voice recalled her to her immediate +surroundings and to the duty--self-imposed--which had brought her +thither. + +"My dear child," he said, speaking with unwonted solemnity, "if what you +have just stated be, alas! the truth, then indeed, you and you only can +throw some light on the terrible mystery which has been puzzling us all +... you may be the means which God hath chosen for bringing an evildoer +to justice.... Will you, therefore, try ... though it may be very +painful to you ... will you try and tell us everything that is in your +mind ... everything which may draw the finger of God and our poor eyes +to the miscreant who hath committed such an awful crime." + +"I fear me I have not much to tell," replied Sue simply, "but I feel +that it is my duty to suggest to the two magistrates here present what I +think was the motive which prompted this horrible crime." + +"You can suggest a motive for the crime?" interposed Sir Marmaduke, +striving to sneer, although his voice sounded quite toneless, for his +throat was parched and his tongue clove to the roof of his mouth, "by +Gad! 'twere vastly interesting to hear your ladyship's views." + +He tried to speak flippantly, at which Squire Boatfield frowned +deprecation. Lambert, without a word, had brought a chair near to Lady +Sue, and with a certain gentle authority, he forced her to sit down. + +"It was a crime, of that I feel sure," said Sue, "nathless, that can be +easily proven ... when ... when it has been discovered whether money and +securities contained in a wallet of leather have been found among Prince +Amédé's effects." + +"Money and securities?" ejaculated Sir Marmaduke with a loud oath, which +he contrived to bring forth with the violence of genuine wrath, "Money +and securities? ... Forsooth, I trust ..." + +"My money and my securities, sir," she interposed with obvious hauteur, +"which I had last night and in this self-same room placed in the hands +of Prince Amédé d'Orléans, my husband." + +She said this with conscious pride. Whatever change her feelings may +have undergone towards the man who had at one time been the embodiment +of her most cherished dreams, she would not let her sneering guardian +see that she had repented of her choice. + +Death had endowed her exiled prince with a dignity which had never been +his in life, and the veil of tragedy which now lay over the mysterious +stranger and his still more mysterious life, had called forth to its +uttermost the young wife's sense of loyalty to him. + +"Not your entire fortune, my dear, dear child, I hope ..." ejaculated +Squire Boatfield, more horror-struck this time than he had been when +first he had heard of the terrible murder. + +"The wallet contained my entire fortune," rejoined Sue calmly, "all that +Master Skyffington had placed in my hands on the day that my father +willed that it should be given me." + +"Such folly is nothing short of criminal," said Sir Marmaduke roughly, +"nathless, had not the gentleman been murdered that night he would have +shown Thanet and you a clean pair of heels, taking your money with him, +of course." + +"Aye! aye! but he was murdered," said Squire Boatfield firmly, "the +question only is by whom?" + +"Some footpad who haunts the cliffs," rejoined de Chavasse lightly, +"'tis simple enough." + +"Simple, mayhap ..." mused the squire, "yet ..." + +He paused a moment and once more silence fell on all those assembled in +the small cottage parlor. Sir Marmaduke felt as if every vein in his +body was gradually being turned to stone. + +The sense of expectancy was so overwhelming that it completely paralyzed +every other faculty within him, and Editha's searching eyes seemed like +a corroding acid touching an aching wound. Yet for the moment there was +no danger. He had so surrounded himself and his crimes with mystery that +it would take more than a country squire's slowly moving brain to draw +aside that weird and ghostlike curtain which hid his evil deeds. + +No! there was no danger--as yet! + +But he cursed himself for a fool and a coward, not to have gone +away--abroad--long ere such a possible confrontation threatened him. He +cursed himself for being here at all--and above all for having left the +smith's clothes and the leather wallet in that lonely pavilion in the +park. + +Squire Boatfield's kind eyes now rested on the old woman, who, awed and +silent--shut out by her infirmities from this strange drama which was +being enacted in her cottage--had stood calm and impassive by, trying to +read with that wonderful quickness of intuition which the poverty of one +sense gives to the others--what was going on round her, since she could +not hear. + +Her eyes--pale and dim, heavy-lidded and deeply-lined--rested often on +the face of Richard Lambert, who, leaning against the corner of the +hearth, had watched the proceedings silently and intently. When the +Quakeress's faded gaze met that of the young man, there was a quick and +anxious look which passed from her to him: a look of entreaty for +comfort, one of fear and of growing horror. + +"And so the exiled prince lodged in your cottage, mistress?" said +Squire Boatfield, after a while, turning to Mistress Lambert. + +The old woman's eyes wandered from Richard to the squire. The look of +fear in them vanished, giving place to good-natured placidity. She +shuffled forward, in the manner which had so oft irritated her lodger. + +"Eh? ... what?" she queried, approaching the squire, "I am somewhat hard +of hearing these times." + +"We were speaking of your lodger, mistress," rejoined Boatfield, raising +his voice, "harm hath come to him, you know." + +"Aye! aye!" she replied blandly, "harm hath come to our lodger.... Nay! +the Lord hath willed it so.... The stranger was queer in his ways.... I +don't wonder that harm hath come to him...." + +"You remember him well, mistress?--him and the clothes he used to wear?" +asked Squire Boatfield. + +"Oh, yes! I remember the clothes," she rejoined. "I saw them again on +the dead who now lieth in Adam's forge ... the same curious clothes of a +truth ... clothes the Lord would condemn as wantonness and vanity.... I +saw them again on the dead man," she reiterated garrulously, "the frills +and furbelows ... things the Lord hateth ... and which no Christian +should place upon his person ... yet the foreigner wore them ... he had +none other ... and went out with them on him that night that the Lord +sent him down into perdition...." + +"Did you see him go out that night, mistress?" asked the squire. + +"Eh? ... what? ..." + +"Did he go out alone?" + +The dimmed eyes of the old woman roamed restlessly from face to face. It +seemed as if that look of horror and of fear once more struggled to +appear within the pale orbs. Yet the squire looked on her with kindness, +and Lady Sue's tear-veiled eyes expressed boundless sympathy. Richard, +on the other hand, did not look at her, his gaze was riveted on Sir +Marmaduke de Chavasse with an intensity which caused the latter to meet +that look, trying to defy it, and then to flinch before its expression +of passionate wrath. + +"We wish to know where your nephew Adam is, mistress," now broke in de +Chavasse roughly, "the squire and I would wish to ask him a few +questions." + +Then as the Quakeress did not reply, he added almost savagely: + +"Why don't you answer, woman? Are ye still hard of hearing?" + +"Your pardon, Sir Marmaduke," interposed Lambert firmly, "my aunt is old +and feeble. She hath been much upset and over anxious ... seeing that my +brother Adam is still from home." + +Sir Marmaduke broke into a loud and prolonged laugh. + +"Ha! ha! ha! good master ... so I understand ... your brother is from +home ... whilst the wallet containing her ladyship's fortune has +disappeared along with him, eh?" + +"What are they saying, lad?" queried the old woman in her trembling +voice, "what are they saying? I am fearful lest there's something wrong +with Adam...." + +"Nay, nay, dear ... there's naught amiss," said Lambert soothingly, +"there's naught amiss...." + +Instinctively now Sue had risen. Sir Marmaduke's cruel laugh had grated +horribly on her ear, rousing an echo in her memory which she could not +understand but which caused her to encircle the trembling figure of the +old Quakeress with young, protecting arms. + +"Are Squire Boatfield and I to understand, Lambert," continued Sir +Marmaduke, speaking to the young man, "that your brother Adam has +unaccountably disappeared since the night on which the foreigner met +with his tragic fate? Nay, Boatfield," he added, turning to the squire, +as Lambert had remained silent, "methinks you, as chief magistrate, +should see your duty clearly. 'Tis a warrant you should sign and +quickly, too, ere a scoundrel slip through the noose of justice. I can +on the morrow to Dover, there to see the chief constable, but Pyot and +his men should not be idle the while." + +"What is he saying, my dear?" murmured Mistress Lambert, timorously, as +she clung with pathetic fervor to the young girl beside her, "what is +the trouble?" + +"Where is your nephew Adam?" said de Chavasse roughly. + +"I do not know," she retorted with amazing strength of voice, as she +gently but firmly disengaged herself from the restraining arms that +would have kept her back. "I do not know," she repeated, "what is it to +thee, where he is? Art accusing him perchance of doing away with that +foreign devil?" + +Her voice rose shrill and resonant, echoing in the low-ceilinged room; +her pale eyes, dimmed with many tears, with hard work, and harder piety +were fixed upon the man who had dared to accuse her lad. + +He tried not to flinch before that gaze, to keep up the air of mockery, +the sound of a sneer. Outside the murmur of voices had become somewhat +louder, the shuffling of bare feet on the flag-stones could now be +distinctly heard. + + + + +CHAPTER XXXVIII + +THE VOICE OF THE DEAD + + +The next moment a timid knock against the front door caused everyone to +start. A strange eerie feeling descended on the hearts of all, of +innocent and of guilty, of accuser and of defender. The knock seemed to +have come from spectral hands, for 'twas followed by no further sound. + +Then again the knock. + +Lambert went to the door and opened it. + +"Be the quality here?" queried a timid voice. + +"Squire Boatfield is here and Sir Marmaduke de Chavasse," replied +Lambert, "what is it, Mat? Come in." + +The squire had risen at sound of his name, and now went to the door, +glad enough to shake himself free from that awful oppression which hung +on the cottage like a weight of evil. + +"What is it, Mat?" he asked. + +A man in rough shirt and coarse breeches and with high boots reaching up +to the thigh was standing humbly in the doorway. He was bareheaded and +his lanky hair, wet with rain and glittering with icy moisture, was +blown about by the gale. At sight of the squire he touched his forelock. + +"The hour is getting late, squire," he said hesitatingly, "we carriers +be ready.... 'Tis an hour or more down to Minster ... walking with a +heavy burden I mean.... If your Honor would give the order, mayhap we +might nail down the coffin lid now and make a start." + +Marmaduke de Chavasse, too, had turned towards the doorway. Both men +looked out on the little crowd which had congregated beyond the little +gate. It was long past three o'clock now, and the heavy snow clouds +overhead obscured the scanty winter light, and precipitated the approach +of evening. In the gray twilight, a group of men could be seen standing +somewhat apart from the others. All were bareheaded, and all wore rough +shirts and breeches of coarse worsted, drab or brown in color, toning in +with the dull monochrome of the background. + +Between them in the muddy road stood the long deal coffin. The sheet +which covered it, rendered heavy with persistent wet, flapped dismally +against the wooden sides of the box. Overhead a group of rooks were +circling whilst uttering their monotonous call. + +A few women had joined their men-folk, attracted by the novelty of the +proceedings, yielding their momentary comfort to their feeling of +curiosity. They had drawn their kirtles over their heads and looked like +gigantic oval balls, gray or black, with small mud-stained feet peeping +out below. + +Sue had thrown an appealing look at Squire Boatfield, when she saw that +dismal cortège. Her husband, her prince! the descendant of the Bourbons, +the regenerator of France lying there--unrecognizable, horrible and +loathsome--in a rough wooden coffin hastily nailed together by a village +carpenter. + +She did not wish to look on him: and with mute eyes begged the squire to +spare her and to spare the old woman, who, through the doorway had +caught sight of the drabby little crowd, and of the deal box on the +ground. + +Lambert, too, at sight of the cortège had gone to the Quakeress, the +kind soul who had cared for him and his brother, two nameless lads, +without home save the one she had provided for them. He trusted in +Squire Boatfield's sense of humanity not to force this septuagenarian to +an effort of nerve and will altogether beyond her powers. + +Together the two young people were using gentle persuasion to get the +old woman to the back room, whence she could not see the dreary scene +now or presently, the slow winding of the dismal little procession down +the road which leads to Minster, and whence she could not hear that +weird flapping of the wet sheet against the side of the coffin, an echo +to the slow and muffled tolling of the church bell some little distance +away. + +But the old woman was obstinate. She struggled against the persuasion of +young arms. Things had been said in her cottage just now, which she must +hear more distinctly: vague accusations had been framed, a cruel and +sneering laugh had echoed through the house from whence one of her +lads--Adam--was absent. + +"No! no!" she said with quiet firmness, as Lambert urged her to +withdraw, "let be, lad ... let be ... ye cannot deceive the old woman +all of ye.... The Lord hath put wool in my ears, so I cannot hear ... +but my eyes are good.... I can see your faces.... I can read them.... +Speak man!" she said, as she suddenly disengaged herself from Richard's +restraining arms and walked deliberately up to Marmaduke de Chavasse, +"speak man.... Didst thou accuse Adam?" + +An involuntary "No!" escaped from the squire's kindly heart and lips. +But Sir Marmaduke shrugged his shoulders. + +The crisis which by his own acts, by his own cowardice, he himself had +precipitated, was here now. Fatality had overtaken him. Whether the +whole truth would come to light he did not know. Truly at this moment he +hardly cared. He did not feel as if he were himself, but another being +before whom stood another Sir Marmaduke de Chavasse, on whom he--a +specter, a ghoul, a dream figure--was about to pass judgment. + +He knew that he need do nothing now, for without his help or any effort +on his part, that morbid curiosity which had racked his brain for two +days would be fully satisfied. He would know absolutely now, exactly +what everyone thought of the mysterious French prince and of his +terrible fate on Epple sands. + +Thank Satan and all his hordes of devils that heavy chalk boulders had +done so complete a work of obliteration. + +But whilst he looked down with complete indifference on the old woman, +she looked about from one face to the other, trying to read what cruel +thoughts of Adam lurked behind those obvious expressions of sympathy. + +"So that foreign devil hath done mischief at last," she now said loudly, +her tremulous voice gaining in strength as she spoke, "the Lord would +not allow him to do it living ... so the devil hath helped him to it now +that he is dead.... But I tell you that Adam is innocent.... There was +no harm in the lad ... a little rough at times ... but no harm ... he'd +no father to bring him up ... and his mother was a wanton ... so there +was only the foolish old woman to look after the boys ... but there's no +harm in the lad ... there's no harm!" + +Her voice broke down now in a sob, her throat seemed choked, but with an +effort which seemed indeed amazing in one of her years, she controlled +her tears, and for a moment was silent. The gray twilight crept in +through the door of the cottage, where Mat, bareheaded and humble, still +waited for the order to go. + +Sir Marmaduke would have interrupted the old woman's talk ere this, but +his limbs were now completely paralyzed: he might have been made of +stone, so rigid did he feel himself to be: a marble image, or else a +specter, a shadow-figure that existed yet could not move. + +There was such passionate earnestness in the old woman's words that +everyone else remained dumb. Richard, whose heart was filled with dread, +who had endured agonies of anxiety since the disappearance of his +brother, had but one great desire, which was to spare to the kind soul a +knowledge which would mean death or worse to her. + +As for Editha de Chavasse, she was a mere spectator still: so puzzled, +so bewildered that she was quite convinced at this moment, that she must +be mad. She could not encounter Marmaduke's eyes, try how she might. The +look in his face horrified her less than it mystified her. She +alone--save the murderer himself--knew that the man who lay in that deal +coffin out there was not the mysterious foreigner who had never existed. + +But if not the stranger, then who was it, who was dead? and what had +Adam Lambert to do with the whole terrible deed? + +Sue once more tried to lead Mistress Lambert gently away, but she pushed +the young girl aside quite firmly: + +"Ye don't believe me?" she asked, looking from one face to the other, +"ye don't believe me, yet I tell ye all that Adam is innocent ... and +that the Lord will not allow the innocent to be unjustly condemned.... +Aye! He will e'en let the dead arise, I say, and proclaim the innocence +of my lad!" + +Her eyes--with dilated pupils and pale opaque rims--had the look of the +seer in them now; she gazed straight out before her into the rain-laden +air, and it seemed almost as if in it she could perceive visions of +avenging swords, of defending angels and accusing ghouls, that she could +hear whisperings of muffled voices and feel beckoning hands guiding her +to a world peopled by specters and evil beings that prey upon the dead. + +"Let me pass!" she said with amazing vigor, as Squire Boatfield, with +kindly concern, tried to bar her exit through the door, "let me pass I +say! the dead and I have questions to ask of one another." + +"This is madness!" broke in Marmaduke de Chavasse with an effort; "that +body is not a fit sight for a woman to look upon." + +He would have seized the Quakeress by the arm in order to force her +back, but Richard Lambert already stood between her and him. + +"Let no one dare to lay a hand on her," he said quietly. + +And the old woman escaping from all those who would have restrained her, +walked rapidly through the doorway and down the flagged path rendered +slippery with the sleet. The gale caught the white wings of her coif, +causing them to flutter about her ears, and freezing strands of her gray +locks which stood out now all round her head like a grizzled halo. + +She could scarcely advance, for the wind drove her kirtle about her lean +thighs, and her feet with the heavy tan shoes sank ankle deep in the +puddles formed by the water in the interstices of the flagstones. The +rain beat against her face, mingling with the tears which now flowed +freely down her cheeks. But she did not heed the discomfort nor yet the +cold, and she would not be restrained. + +The next moment she stood beside the rough wooden coffin and with a +steady hand had lifted the wet sheet, which continued to flap with dull, +mournful sound round the feet of the dead. + +The Quakeress looked down upon the figure stretched out here in +death--neither majestic nor peaceful, but horrible and weirdly +mysterious. She did not flinch at the sight. Resentment against the +foreigner dimmed her sense of horror. + +"So my fine prince," she said, whilst awed at the spectacle of this old +woman parleying with the dead, carriers and mourners had instinctively +moved a few steps away from her, "so thou wouldst harm my boy! ... Thou +always didst hate him ... thou with thy grand airs, and thy rough +ways.... Had the Lord allowed it, this hand of thine would ere now have +been raised against him ... as it oft was raised against the old woman +... whose infirmities should have rendered her sacred in thy sight." + +She stooped, and deliberately raised the murdered man's hand in hers, +and for one moment fixed her gaze upon it. For that one moment she was +silent, looking down at the rough fingers, the coarse nails, the +blistered palm. + +Then still holding the hand in hers, she looked up, then round at every +face which was turned fixedly upon her. Thus she encountered the eyes of +the men and women, present here only to witness an unwonted spectacle, +then those of the kindly squire, of Lady Sue, of Mistress de Chavasse, +and of her other lad--Richard--all of whom had instinctively followed +her down the short flagged path in the wake of her strange and prophetic +pilgrimage. + +Lastly her eyes met those of Marmaduke de Chavasse. Then she spoke +slowly in a low muffled voice, which gradually grew more loud and more +full of passionate strength. + +"Aye! the Lord is just," she said, "the Lord is great! It is the dead +which shall rise again and proclaim the innocence of the just, and the +guilt of the wicked." + +She paused a while, and stooped to kiss the marble-like hand which she +held tightly grasped in hers. + +"Adam!" she murmured, "Adam, my boy! ... my lad! ..." + +The men and women looked on, stupidly staring, not understanding yet, +what new tragedy had suddenly taken the place of the old. + +"Aunt, aunt dear," whispered Lambert, who had pushed his way forward, +and now put his arm round the old woman, for she had begun to sway, +"what is the matter, dear?" he repeated anxiously, "what does it mean?" + +And conquering his own sense of horror and repulsion, he tried to +disengage the cold and rigid hand of the dead from the trembling grasp +of the Quakeress. But she would not relinquish her hold, only she turned +and looked steadily at the young lad, whilst her voice rose firm and +harsh above the loud patter of the rain and the moaning of the wind +through the distant; trees. + +"It means, my lad," she said, "it means all of you ... that what I said +was true ... that Adam is innocent of crime ... for he lies here dead +... and the Lord will see that his death shall not remain unavenged." + +Once more she kissed the rough hand, beautiful now with that cold beauty +which the rigidity of death imparts; then she replaced it reverently, +silently, and fell upon her knees in the wet mud, beside the coffin. + + + + +CHAPTER XXXIX + +THE HOME-COMING OF ADAM LAMBERT + + +All heads were bent; none of the ignorant folk who stood around would +have dared even to look at the old woman kneeling beside that rough deal +box which contained the body of her lad. A reverent feeling had killed +all curiosity: bewilderment at the extraordinary and wholly unexpected +turn of events had been merged in a sense of respectful awe, which +rendered every mouth silent, and lowered every lid. + +Squire Boatfield, almost paralyzed with astonishment, had murmured half +stupidly: + +"Adam Lambert ... dead? ... I do not understand." + +He turned to Marmaduke de Chavasse as if vaguely, instinctively +expecting an answer to the terrible puzzle from him. + +De Chavasse's feet, over which he himself seemed to have no control, had +of a truth led him forward, so that he, too, stood not far from the old +woman now. He had watched her--silent and rigid,--conscious only of one +thing--a trivial matter certes--of Editha's inquiring eyes fixed +steadily upon him. + +Everything else had been merged in a kind of a dream. But the mute +question in those eyes was what concerned him. It seemed to represent +the satisfaction of that morbid curiosity which had been such a terrible +obsession during these past nerve-racking days. + +Editha, realizing the identity of the dead man, would there and then +know the entire truth. But Editha's fate was too closely linked to his +own to render her knowledge of that truth dangerous to de Chavasse: +therefore, with him it was merely a sense of profound satisfaction that +someone would henceforth share his secret with him. + +It is quite impossible to analyze the thoughts of the man who thus stood +by--a silent and almost impassive spectator--of a scene, wherein his +fate, his life, an awful retribution and deadly justice, were all +hanging in the balance. He was not mad, nor did he act with either +irrelevance or rashness. The sense of self-protection was still keen in +him ... violently keen ... although undoubtedly he, and he alone, was +responsible for the events which culminated in the present crisis. + +The whole aspect of affairs had changed from the moment that the real +identity of the dead had been established. Everyone here present would +regard this new mystery in an altogether different light to that by +which they had viewed the former weird problem; but still there need be +no danger to the murderer. + +Editha would know, of course, but no one else, and it would be vastly +curious anon to see what lady Sue would do. + +Therefore, Sir Marmaduke was chiefly conscious of Editha's presence, +and then only of Sue. + +"Some old woman's folly," he now said roughly, in response to Squire +Boatfield's mute inquiry, "awhile ago she identified the clothes as +having belonged to the foreign prince." + +"Aye, the clothes, de Chavasse," murmured the squire meditatively, "the +clothes, but not the man ... and 'twas you yourself who just now...." + +"Master Lambert should know his own brother," here came in a suppressed +murmur from one or two of the men, who respectful before the quality, +had now become too excited to keep altogether silent. + +"Of course I know my brother," retorted Richard Lambert boldly, "and can +but curse mine own cowardice in not defending him ere this." + +"What more lies are we to hear?" sneered de Chavasse, "surely, +Boatfield, this stupid scene hath lasted long enough." + +"Put my knowledge to the test, sir," rejoined Lambert. "My brother's arm +was scarred by a deep cut from shoulder to elbow, caused by the fall of +a sharp-bladed ax--'twas the right arm ... will you see, Sir Marmaduke, +or will you allow me to lay bare the right arm of this man ... to see if +I had lied? ..." + +Squire Boatfield, conquering his reluctance, had approached nearer to +the coffin; he, too, lifted the dead man's arm, as the old woman had +done just now, and he gazed down meditatively at the hand, which though +shapely, was obviously rough and toil-worn. Then, with a firm and +deliberate gesture, he undid the sleeve of the doublet and pushed it +back, baring the arm up to the shoulder. + +He looked at the lifeless flesh for a moment, there where a deep and +long scar stood out plainly between the elbow and shoulder like the +veining in a block of marble. Then he pulled the sleeve down again. + +"Neither you, nor Mistress Lambert have lied, master," he said simply. +"'Tis Adam Lambert who lies here ... murdered ... and if that be so," he +continued firmly, "then the man who put these clothes upon the body of +the smith is his murderer ... the foreigner who called himself Prince +Amédé d'Orléans." + +"The husband of Lady Sue Aldmarshe," quoth Sir Marmaduke, breaking into +a loud laugh. + +The rain had momentarily ceased, although the gale, promising further +havoc, still continued that mournful swaying of the dead branches of the +trees. But a gentle drip-drip had replaced that incessant patter. The +humid atmosphere had long ago penetrated through rough shirts and +worsted breeches, causing the spectators of this weird tragedy to shiver +with the cold. + +The shades of evening had begun to gather in. It were useless now to +attempt to reach Minster before nightfall: nor presumably would the old +Quakeress thus have parted from the dead body of her lad. + +Richard Lambert had begged that the coffin might be taken into the +cottage. The old woman's co-religionists would help her to obtain for +Adam fitting and Christian burial. + +After Sir Marmaduke's sneering taunt no one had spoken. For these yokels +and their womenfolk the matter had passed altogether beyond their ken. +Bewildered, not understanding, above all more than half fearful, they +consulted one another vaguely and mutely with eyes and quaint expressive +gestures, wondering what had best be done. + +'Twas fortunate that the rain had ceased. One by one the women, still +holding their kirtles tightly round their shoulders, began to move away. +The deal box seemed to have reached a degree of mystery from which 'twas +best to keep at a distance. The men, too--those who had come as +spectators--were gradually edging away; some walked off with their +womenfolk, others hung back in groups of three or four discussing the +most hospitable place to which 'twere best to adjourn. + +All wore a strangely shamed expression of timidity--almost of +self-deprecation, as if apologetic for their presence here when the +quality had matters of such grave import to discuss. No one had really +understood Sir Marmaduke's sneering taunt, only they felt instinctively +that there were some secrets which it had been disrespectful even to +attempt to guess. + +Those who had been prepared to carry the coffin to Minster were the last +to hang back. Squire Boatfield was obviously giving some directions to +their foreman, Mat, who tugged at his forelock at intervals, indicating +that he was prepared to obey. The others stood aside waiting for +instructions. + +Thus the deal box remained on the ground, exactly opposite the tiny +wooden gate, strangely isolated and neglected-looking after the +dispersal of the interested crowd which had surrounded it awhile ago. It +seemed as if with the establishment of the real identity of the dead the +intensity of the excitement had vanished. The mysterious foreigner had a +small court round him; Adam Lambert, only his brother and the old +Quakeress. + +They remained beside the coffin, she kneeling with her head buried in +her wrinkled hands, he standing silent and passionately wrathful both +against one man and against destiny. He had almost screamed with horror +when de Chavasse thus brutally uttered Lady Sue's name: he had seen the +young girl almost sway on her feet, as she smothered the cry of agony +and horror which at her guardian's callous taunt had risen to her lips. + +He had seen and in his heart worshiped her for the heroic effort which +she made to remain outwardly calm, not to betray before a crowd the +agonizing horror, the awful fear and the burning shame which of a truth +would have crushed most women of her tender years. And because he saw +that she did not wish to betray one single thought or emotion, he did +not approach, nor attempt to show the overwhelming sympathy which he +felt. + +He knew that any word from him to her would only call forth more +malicious sneers from that strange man, who seemed to be pursuing Lady +Sue and also himself--Lambert--with a tenacious and incomprehensible +hatred. + +Richard remained, therefore, beside his dead brother's coffin, +supporting and anon gently raising the old woman from the ground. + +Mat--the foreman--had joined his comrades and after a word of +explanation, they once more gathered round the wooden box. Stooping to +their task, their sinews cracking under the effort, the perspiration +streaming from their foreheads, they raised the mortal remains of Adam +Lambert from the ground and hoisted the burden upon their shoulders. + +Then they turned into the tiny gate and slowly walked with it along the +little flagged path to the cottage. The men had to stoop as they crossed +the threshold, and the heavy box swayed above their powerful shoulders. + +The Quakeress and Richard followed, going within in the wake of the six +men. The parlor was then empty, and thus it was that Adam Lambert +finally came home. + +The others--Squire Boatfield and Mistress de Chavasse, Lady Sue and Sir +Marmaduke--had stood aside in the small fore-court, to enable the small +cortège to pass. Directly Richard Lambert and the old woman disappeared +within the gloom of the cottage interior, these four people--each +individually the prey of harrowing thoughts--once more turned their +steps towards the open road. + +There was nothing more to be done here at this cottage, where the veil +of mystery which had fallen over the gruesome murder had been so +unexpectedly lifted by a septuagenarian's hand. + + + + +CHAPTER XL + +EDITHA'S RETURN + + +Squire Boatfield was vastly perturbed. Never had his position as +magistrate seemed so onerous to him, nor his duties as major-general +quite so arduous. A vague and haunting fear had seized him, a fear +that--if he did do his duty, if he did continue his investigations of +the mysterious crime--he would learn something vastly horrible and +awesome, something he had best never know. + +He tried to take indifferent leave of the ladies, yet he quite dreaded +to meet Lady Sue's eyes. If all the misery, the terror which she must +feel, were expressed in them, then indeed, would her young face be a +heart-breaking sight for any man to see. + +He kissed the hand of Editha de Chavasse, and bowed in mute and +deferential sympathy to the young girl-wife, who of a truth had this day +quaffed at one draught the brimful cup of sorrow and of shame. + +An inexplicable instinct restrained him from taking de Chavasse's hand; +he was quite glad indeed that the latter seemingly absorbed in thoughts +was not heeding his going. + +The squire in his turn now passed out of the little gate. The evening +was drawing in over-rapidly now, and it would be a long and dismal ride +from here to Sarre. + +Fortunately he had two serving-men with him, each with a lantern. They +were now standing beside their master's cob, some few yards down the +road, which from this point leads in a straight course down to Sarre. + +Not far from the entrance to the forge, Boatfield saw petty-constable +Pyot in close converse with Master Hymn-of-Praise Busy, butler to Sir +Marmaduke. The man was talking with great volubility, and obvious +excitement, and Pyot was apparently torn between his scorn for the +narrator's garrulousness, and his fear of losing something of what the +talker had to say. + +At sight of Boatfield, Pyot unceremoniously left Master Busy standing, +open-mouthed, in the very midst of a voluble sentence, and approached +the squire, doffing his cap respectfully as he did so. + +"Will your Honor sign a warrant?" he asked. + +"A warrant? What warrant?" queried the worthy squire, who of a truth, +was falling from puzzlement to such absolute bewilderment that he felt +literally as if his head would burst with the weight of so much mystery +and with the knowledge of such dire infamy. + +"I think that the scoundrel is cleverer than we thought, your Honor," +continued the petty constable, "we must not allow him to escape." + +"I am quite bewildered," murmured the squire. "What is the warrant for?" + +"For the apprehension of the man whom the folk about here called the +Prince of Orléans. I can set the watches on the go this very night, nay! +they shall scour the countryside to some purpose--the murderer cannot be +very far, we know that he is dressed in the smith's clothes, we'll get +him soon enough, but he may have friends...." + +"Friends?" + +"He may have been a real prince, your Honor," said Pyot with a laugh, +which contradicted his own suggestion. + +"Aye! aye! ... Mayhap!" + +"He may have powerful friends ... or such as would resist the watches +... resist us, mayhap ... a warrant would be useful...." + +"Aye! aye! you are right, constable," said Boatfield, still a little +bewildered, "do you come along to Sarre with me, I'll give you a warrant +this very night. Have you a horse here?" + +"Nay, your Honor," rejoined the man, "an it please you, my going to +Sarre would delay matters and the watches could not start their search +this night." + +"Then what am I to do?" exclaimed the squire, somewhat impatient of the +whole thing now, longing to get away, and to forget, beside his own +comfortable fireside, all the harrowing excitement of this unforgettable +day. + +"Young Lambert is a bookworm, your Honor," suggested Pyot, who was keen +on the business, seeing that his zeal, if accompanied by success, would +surely mean promotion; "there'll be ink and paper in the cottage.... An +your Honor would but write a few words and sign them, something I could +show to a commanding officer, if perchance I needed the help of +soldiery, or to the chief constable resident at Dover, for methinks some +of us must push on that way ... your Honor must forgive ... we should be +blamed--punished, mayhap--if we allowed such a scoundrel to remain +unhung...." + +"As you will, man, as you will," sighed the worthy squire impatiently, +"but wait!" he added, as Pyot, overjoyed, had already turned towards the +cottage, "wait until Sir Marmaduke de Chavasse and the ladies have +gone." + +He called his serving-men to him and ordered them to start on their way +towards home, but to wait for him, with his cob, at the bend of the +road, just in the rear of the little church. + +Some instinct, for which he could not rightly have accounted, roused in +him the desire to keep his return to the cottage a secret from Sir +Marmaduke. Attended by Pyot, he followed his men down the road, and the +angle of the cottage soon hid him from view. + +De Chavasse in the meanwhile had ordered his own men to escort the +ladies home. Busy and Toogood lighted their lanterns, whilst Sue and +Editha, wrapping their cloaks and hoods closely round their heads and +shoulders, prepared to follow them. + +Anon the little procession began slowly to wind its way back towards +Acol Court. + +Sir Marmaduke lingered behind for a while, of set purpose: he had no +wish to walk beside either Editha or Lady Sue, so he took some time in +mounting his nag, which had been tethered in the rear of the forge. His +intention was to keep the men with the lanterns in sight, for--though +there were no dangerous footpads in Thanet--yet Sir Marmaduke's mood was +not one that courted isolation on a dark and lonely road. + +Therefore, just before he saw the dim lights of the lanterns +disappearing down the road, which at this point makes a sharp dip before +rising abruptly once more on the outskirts of the wood, Sir Marmaduke +finally put his foot in the stirrup and started to follow. + +The mare had scarce gone a few paces before he saw the figure of a woman +detaching itself from the little group on ahead, and then turning and +walking rapidly back towards the village. He could not immediately +distinguish which of the two ladies it was, for the figure was totally +hidden beneath the ample folds of cloak and hood, but soon as it +approached, he perceived that it was Editha. + +He would have stopped her by barring the way, he even thought of +dismounting, thinking mayhap that she had left something behind at the +cottage, and cursing his men for allowing her to return alone, but quick +as a flash of lightning she ran past him, dragging her hood closer over +her face as she ran. + +He hesitated for a few seconds, wondering what it all meant: he even +turned the mare's head round to see whither Editha was going. She had +already reached the railing and gate in front of the cottage; the next +moment she had lifted the latch, and Sir Marmaduke could see her blurred +outline, through the rising mist, walking quickly along the flagged +path, and then he heard her peremptory knock at the cottage door. + +He waited a while, musing, checking the mare, who longed to be getting +home. He fully expected to see Editha return within the next minute or +so, for--vaguely through the fast-gathering gloom--he had perceived that +someone had opened the door from within, a thin ray of yellowish light +falling on Editha's cloaked figure. Then she disappeared into the +cottage. + +On ahead the swaying lights of the lanterns were rapidly becoming more +and more indistinguishable in the distance. Apparently Editha's +departure from out the little group had not been noticed by the others. +The men were ahead, and Sue, mayhap, was too deeply absorbed in thought +to pay much heed as to what was going on round her. + +Sir Marmaduke still hesitated. Editha was not returning, and the cottage +door was once more closed. Courtesy demanded that he should wait so as +to escort her home. + +But the fact that she had gone back to the cottage, at risk of having to +walk back all alone and along a dark and dreary road, bore a weird +significance to this man's tortuous mind. Editha, troubled with a mass +of vague fears and horrible conjectures, had, mayhap, desired to have +them set at rest, or else to hear their final and terrible confirmation. + +In either case Marmaduke de Chavasse had no wish now for a slow amble +homewards in company with the one being in the world who knew him for +what he was. + +That thought and also the mad desire to get away at last, to cease with +this fateful procrastination and to fly from this country with the +golden booty, which he had gained at such awful risks, these caused him +finally to turn the mare's head towards home, leaving Editha to follow +as best she might, in the company of one of the serving-men whom he +would send back to meet her. + +The mare was ready to go. He spurred her to a sharp trot. Then having +joined the little group on ahead, he sent Master Courage Toogood back +with his lantern, with orders to inquire at the cottage for Mistress de +Chavasse and there to await her pleasure. + +He asked Lady Sue to mount behind him, but this she refused to do. So he +put his nag back to foot space, and thus the much-diminished little +party slowly walked back to Acol Court. + + + + +CHAPTER XLI + +THEIR NAME + + +What had prompted Editha de Chavasse to return thus alone to the +Quakeress's cottage, she herself could not exactly have told. + +It must have been a passionate and irresistible desire to heap certainty +upon a tangle of horrible surmises. + +With Adam Lambert lying dead--obviously murdered--and in the clothes +affected by de Chavasse when masquerading as the French hero, there +could be only one conclusion. But this to Editha--who throughout had +given a helping hand in the management of the monstrous comedy--was so +awful a solution of the puzzle that she could not but recoil from it, +and strive to deny it while she had one sane thought left in her madly +whirling brain. + +But though she fought against the conclusion with all her might, she did +not succeed in driving it from her thoughts: and through it all there +was a vein of uncertainty, that slender thread of hope that after all +she might be the prey of some awful delusion, which a word from someone +who really knew would anon easily dissipate. + +Someone who really knew? Nay! that someone could only be Marmaduke, and +of him she dared not ask questions. + +Mayhap that on the other hand the old woman and Richard Lambert knew +more than they had cared to say. Sue was indeed deeply absorbed in +thoughts, walking with head bent and eyes fixed on the ground like a +somnambulist. Editha, moved by unreasoning instinct, determined to see +the Quakeress again, also the man who now lay dead, hoping that from him +mayhap she might glean the real solution of that mystery which sooner or +later would undoubtedly drive her mad. + +Running rapidly past horse and rider, for she would not speak to +Marmaduke, she reached the cottage soon enough. + +In response to her knock, Master Lambert opened the door to her. + +The dim light of a couple of tallow candles flickered weirdly in the +draught. Editha looked around her in amazement, astonished that--like +herself--Squire Boatfield had also evidently retraced his steps and was +sitting now in one of the high-backed chairs beside the hearth, whilst +the old Quakeress stood not far from him, her attitude indicative of +obstinacy, even of defiance, in the face of a duty with which apparently +the squire had been charging her. + +At sight of Mistress de Chavasse, Boatfield rose. A look of annoyance +crossed his face, at thought that Editha's arrival had, mayhap, +endangered the success of his present purpose. Ink and paper were on the +table close to his elbow, and it was obvious that he had been +questioning the old woman very closely on a subject which she +apparently desired to keep secret from him. + +Mistress Lambert's attitude had also changed at sight of Editha, who +stood for a moment undecided on the threshold ere she ventured within. +The look of obstinacy died out of the wrinkled face; the eyes took on a +strange expression of sullen wrath. + +"Enter, my fine lady, I pray thee, enter," said the Quakeress; "art also +a party to these cross-questionings? ... art anxious to probe the +secrets which the old woman hath kept hidden within the walls of this +cottage?" + +She laughed, a low, chuckling laugh, mirthless and almost cruel, as she +surveyed Editha's cloaked figure and then the lady's scared and anxious +face. + +"Nay, I crave your pardon, mistress," said Editha, feeling oddly timid +before the strange personality of the Quakeress. "I would of a truth +desire to ask your help in ... in ... I would not intrude ... and I ..." + +"Nay! nay! prithee enter, fair mistress," rejoined Mistress Lambert +dryly. "Strange, that I should hear thy words so plainly.... Thy words +seem to find echo in my brain ... raising memories which thou hast +buried long ago.... Enter, I prithee, and sit thee down," she added, +shuffling towards the chair; "shut the door, Dick lad ... and ask this +fair mistress to sit.... The squire is asking many questions ... mayhap +that I'll answer them, now that she is here...." + +In obedience to the quaint peremptoriness of her manner, Richard had +closed the outer door, and drawn the chair forward, asking Mistress de +Chavasse to sit. Squire Boatfield, who was visibly embarrassed, was +still standing and tried to murmur some excuse, being obviously anxious +to curtail this interview and to postpone his further questionings. + +"I'll come some other time, mistress," he said with obvious nervousness. +"Mistress de Chavasse desires to speak with you, and I'll return later +on in the evening ... when you are alone...." + +"Nay! nay, man! ..." rejoined the Quakeress, "prithee, sit again ... the +evening is young yet ... and what I may tell thee now has something to +do with this fine lady here. Wilt question me again? I would mayhap +reply." + +She stood close to the table, one wrinkled hand resting upon it; the +guttering candles cast strange, fantastic lights on her old face, +surmounted with the winged coif, and weird shadows down one side of her +face. Editha, awed and subdued, gazed on her with a kind of fear, even +of horror. + +In a dark corner of the little room the straight outline of the long +deal box could only faintly be perceived in the gloom. Richard Lambert, +silent and oppressed, stood close beside it, his face in shadow, his +eyes fixed with a sense of inexplicable premonition on the face of +Editha de Chavasse. + +"Now, wilt question me again, man?" asked the old Quakeress, turning to +the squire, "the Lord hath willed that my ears be clear to-day. Wilt +question me? ... I'll hear thee ... and I'll give answer to thy +questions...." + +"Nay, mistress," replied the squire, pointing to the ink and the paper +on the table, "methought you would wish to see the murderer of your ... +your nephew ... swing on the gallows for his crime.... I would sign this +paper here ordering the murderer of the smith of Acol to be apprehended +as soon as found ... and to be brought forthwith before the magistrate +... there to give an account of his doings.... I asked you then to give +me the full Christian and surname of the man whom the neighborhood and I +myself thought was your nephew ... and to my surprise, you seemed to +hesitate and ..." + +"And I'll hesitate no longer," she interposed firmly. "Let the lad there +ask me his dead brother's name and I'll tell him.... I'll tell him ... +if he asks ..." + +"Justice must be done against Adam's murderer, dear mistress," said +Richard gently, for the old woman had paused and turned to him, +evidently waiting for him to speak. "My brother's real name, his +parentage, might explain the motive which led an evildoer to commit such +an appalling crime. Therefore, dear mistress, do I ask thee to tell us +my brother's name, and mine own." + +"'Tis well done, lad ... 'tis well done," she rejoined when Richard had +ceased speaking, and silence had fallen for awhile on that tiny cottage +parlor, "'tis well done," she reiterated. "The secret hath weighed +heavily upon my old shoulders these past few years, since thou and Adam +were no longer children.... But I swore to thy grandmother who died in +the Lord, that thou and Adam should never hear of thy mother's +wantonness and shame.... I swore it on her death-bed and I have kept my +oath ... but I am old now.... After this trouble, mine hour will surely +come.... I am prepared but I will not take thy secret, lad, with me into +my grave." + +She shuffled across to the old oak dresser which occupied one wall of +the little room. Two pairs of glowing eyes followed her every movement; +those of Richard Lambert, who seemed to see a vision of his destiny +faintly outlined--still blurred--but slowly unfolding itself in the +tangled web of fate; and then those of Editha, who even as the old woman +spoke had felt a tidal wave of long-forgotten memories sweeping right +over her senses. The look in the Quakeress's eyes, the words she +uttered--though still obscure and enigmatical--had already told her the +whole truth. As in a flash she saw before her, her youth and all its +follies, the gay life of thoughtlessness and pleasures, the cradles of +her children, the tiny boys who to the woman of fashion were but a +hindrance and a burden. + +She saw her own mother, rigid and dour, the counterpart of this same old +Puritan who had not hesitated to part two children from their mother for +over a score of years, any more than she hesitated now to fling insult +upon insult on the wretched woman who had more than paid her debt to +her own careless frivolity of long ago. + +"Thy brother's name was Henry Adam de Chavasse, and thine Michael +Richard de Chavasse, sons of Rowland de Chavasse, and of the wanton who +was his wife." + +The old woman had taken a packet of papers, yellow with age and stained +with many tears, from out a secret drawer of the old oak dresser. + +Her voice was no longer tremulous as it was wont to be, but firm and +dull, monotonous in tone like that of one who speaks whilst in a trance. +Squire Boatfield had uttered an exclamation of boundless astonishment. +Mechanically he took the packet of papers from the Quakeress's hand and +after an instant's hesitation, and in response to an appealing look from +Richard, he broke the string which held the documents together and +perused them one by one. + +But Editha, even as the last of the old woman's words ceased to echo in +the narrow room, had risen to her feet. Her heavy cloak glided off her +shoulders down upon the ground; her eyes, preternaturally large, glowing +and full of awe, were now fixed upon the young man--her son. + +"De Chavasse," she murmured, her brain whirling, her heart filled not +only with an awful terror, but also with a great and overwhelming joy. +"My sons ... then I am ..." + +But with a peremptory gesture the Quakeress had stopped the word in her +mouth. + +"Nay!" she said loudly, "do not pollute that sacred name by letting it +pass through thy lips. Women such as thou were not made for +motherhood.... Thy own mother knew that, when she took thy children from +thee and cursed thee on her death-bed for thy sins and for thy shame! +Thy sons were honest, God-fearing men, but 'tis no thanks to thee. Thou +alone hast heaped shame upon their dead father's name and hast contrived +to wreak ruin on the sons who knew thee not." + +The Quakeress paused a moment, her pale opaque eyes lighted with an +inward glow of wrath and of satisfied vengeance. She and her dead friend +and all their co-religionists had hated the woman, who, in defiance of +her own Puritanic upbringing, had cast aside her friends and her home in +order to throw herself in that vortex of pleasure, which her mother +considered evil and infamous. + +Together they had all rejoiced over this woman's subsequent humiliation, +her sorrow and longing for her children, the ceaseless search, the +ever-recurrent disappointments. Now the Quakeress's hour had come, hers +and that of the whole of the dour sect who had taken it upon itself to +punish and to avenge. + +Editha, shamed and miserable, not even daring now to approach her own +son and to beg for affection with a look, stood quite rigid and pale, +allowing the torrent of the old woman's pent-up hatred to fall upon her +and to crush her with its rough cruelty. + +Squire Boatfield would have interposed. He had glanced at the various +documents--the proofs of what the old woman had asserted--and was +satisfied that the horrible tale of what seemed to him unparalleled +cruelty was indeed true, and that the narrow bigotry of a community had +succeeded in performing that monstrous crime of parting this wretched +woman for twenty years from her sons. + +Vaguely in his mind, the kindly squire hoped that he--as +magistrate--could fitly punish this crime of child-stealing, and the +expression with which he now regarded the old Quakeress was certainly +not one of good-will. + +Mistress Lambert had, in the meanwhile, approached Editha. She now took +the younger woman's hand in hers and dragged her towards the coffin. + +"There lies one of thy sons," she said with the same relentless energy, +"the eldest, who should have been thy pride, murdered in a dark spot by +some skulking criminal.... Curse thee! ... curse thee, I say ... as thy +mother cursed thee on her death-bed ... curse thee now that retribution +has come at last!" + +Her words died away, as some mournful echo against these whitewashed +walls. + +For a moment she stood wrathful and defiant, upright and stern like a +justiciary between the dead son and the miserable woman, who of a truth +was suffering almost unendurable agony of mind and of heart. + +Then in the midst of the awesome silence that followed on that loudly +spoken curse, there was the sound of a firm footstep on the rough deal +floor, and the next moment Michael Richard de Chavasse was kneeling +beside his mother, and covering her icy cold hand with kisses. + +A heart-broken moan escaped her throat. She stooped and with trembling +lips gently touched the young head bent in simple love and uninquiring +reverence before her. + +Then without a word, without a look cast either at her cruel enemy, or +at the silent spectator of this terrible drama, she turned and ran +rapidly out of the room, out into the dark and dismal night. + +With a deep sigh of content, Mistress Lambert fell on her knees and +thence upon the floor. + +The old heart which had contained so much love and so much hatred, such +stern self-sacrifice and such deadly revenge, had ceased to beat, now +the worker's work was done. + + + + +CHAPTER XLII + +THE RETURN + + +Master Courage Toogood had long ago given up all thought of waiting for +the mistress. He had knocked repeatedly at the door of the cottage, from +behind the thick panels of which he had heard loud and--he +thought--angry voices, speaking words which he could not, however, quite +understand. + +No answer had come to his knocking and tired with the excitement of the +day, fearful, too, at the thought of the lonely walk which now awaited +him, he chose to believe that mayhap he had either misunderstood his +master's orders, or that Sir Marmaduke himself had been mistaken when he +thought the mistress back at the cottage. + +These surmises were vastly to Master Courage Toogood's liking, whose +name somewhat belied his timid personality. Swinging his lantern and +striving to keep up his spirits by the aid of a lusty song, he +resolutely turned his steps towards home. + +The whole landscape seemed filled with eeriness: the events of the day +had left their impress on this dark November night, causing the sighs of +the gale to seem more spectral and weird than usual, and the dim outline +of the trees with their branches turned away from the coastline, to +seem like unhappy spirits with thin, gaunt arms stretched dejectedly out +toward the unresponsive distance. + +Master Toogood tried not to think of ghosts, nor of the many stories of +pixies and goblins which are said to take a malicious pleasure in the +timorousness of mankind, but of a truth he nearly uttered a cry of +terror, and would have fallen on his knees in the mud, when a dark +object quite undistinguishable in the gloom suddenly loomed before him. + +Yet this was only the portly figure of Master Pyot, the petty constable, +who seemed to be mounting guard just outside the cottage, and who was +vastly amused at Toogood's pusillanimity. He entered into converse with +the young man--no doubt he, too, had been feeling somewhat lonely in the +midst of this darkness, which was peopled with unseen shadows. Master +Courage was ready enough to talk. He had acquired some of Master Busy's +eloquence on the subject of secret investigations, and the mystery which +had gained an intensity this afternoon, through the revelations of the +old Quakeress, was an all-engrossing one to all. + +The attention which Pyot vouchsafed to his narration greatly enhanced +Master Toogood's own delight therein, more especially as the petty +constable had, as if instinctively, measured his steps with those of the +younger man and was accompanying him on his way towards the Court. + +Courage told his attentive listener all about Master Busy's surmises and +his determination to probe the secrets of the mysterious crime, +which--to be quite truthful--the worthy butler with the hard toes had +scented long ere it was committed, seeing that he used to spend long +hours in vast discomfort in the forked branches of the old elms which +surrounded the pavilion at the boundary of the park. + +Toogood had no notion if Master Busy had ever discovered anything of +interest in the neighborhood of that pavilion, and he was quite, quite +sure that the saintly man had never dared to venture inside that archaic +building, which had the reputation of being haunted; still, he was +over-gratified to perceive that the petty constable was vastly +interested in his tale--in spite of these obvious defects in its +completeness--and that, moreover, Master Pyot showed no signs of turning +on his heel, but continued to trudge along the gloomy road in company +with Sir Marmaduke's youngest serving-man. + +Thus Editha, when she ran out of Mistress Lambert's cottage, her ears +ringing with the fanatic's curses, her heart breaking with the joy of +that reverent filial kiss imprinted upon her hands, found the road and +the precincts of the cottage entirely deserted. + +The night was pitch dark after the rain. Great heavy clouds still hung +above, and an icy blast caught her skirts as she lifted the latch of the +gate and turned into the open. + +But she cared little about the inclemency of the weather. She knew her +way about well enough and her mind was too full of terrible thoughts of +what was real, to yield to the subtle and feeble fears engendered by +imaginings of the supernatural. + +Nay! she would, mayhap, have welcomed the pixies and goblins who by +mischievous pranks had claimed her attention. They would, of a truth, +have diverted her mind from the contemplation of that awful and +monstrous deed accomplished by the man whom she would meet anon. + +If he whom the villagers had called Adam Lambert was her son, Henry Adam +de Chavasse, then Sir Marmaduke was the murderer of her child. All the +curses which the old Quakeress had so vengefully poured upon her were as +nothing compared with that awful, that terrible fact. + +Her son had been murdered ... her eldest son whom she had never known, +and she--involuntarily mayhap, compulsorily certes--had in a measure +helped to bring about those events which had culminated in that +appalling crime. + +She had known of Marmaduke's monstrous fraud on the confiding girl whom +he now so callously abandoned to her fate. She had known of it and +helped him towards its success by luring her other son Richard to that +vile gambling den where he had all but lost his honor, or else his +reason. + +This knowledge and the help she had given was the real curse upon her +now: a curse far more horrible and deadly than that which had driven +Cain forth into the wilderness. This knowledge and the help she had +given had stained her hands with the blood of her own child. + +No wonder that she sighed for ghouls and for shadowy monsters, +well-nigh longing for a sight of distorted faces, of ugly deformed +bodies, and loathsome shapes far less hideous than that specter of an +inhuman homicide which followed her along this dark road as she ran--ran +on--ran towards the home where dwelt the living monster of evil, the man +who had done the deed, which she had helped to accomplish. + +Complete darkness reigned all around her, she could not see a yard of +the road in front of her, but she went on blindly, guided by instinct, +led by that unseen shadow which was driving her on. All round her the +gale was moaning in the creaking branches of the trees, branches which +were like arms stretched forth in appeal towards the unattainable. + +Her progress was slow for she was walking in the very teeth of the +hurricane, and her shoes ever and anon remained glued to the slimy mud. +But the road was straight enough, she knew it well, and she felt neither +fatigue nor discomfort. + +Of Sue she did not think. The wrongs done to the defenseless girl were +as nothing to her compared with the irreparable--the wrongs done to her +sons, the living and the dead: for the one the foul dagger of an inhuman +assassin, for the other shame and disgrace. + +Sue was young. Sue would soon forget. The girl-wife would soon regain +her freedom.... But what of the mother who had on her soul the taint of +the murder of her child? + +The gate leading to the Court from the road was wide open: it had been +left so for her, no doubt, when Sir Marmaduke returned. The house itself +was dark, no light save one pierced the interstices of the ill-fitting +shutters. Editha paused a moment at the gate, looking at the house--a +great black mass, blacker than the surrounding gloom. That had been her +home for many years now, ever since her youth and sprightliness had +vanished, and she had had nowhere to go for shelter. It had been her +home ever since Richard, her youngest boy, had entered it, too, as a +dependent. + +Oh! what an immeasurable fool she had been, how she had been tricked and +fooled all these years by the man who two days ago had put a crown upon +his own infamy. He knew where the boys were, he helped to keep them away +from their mother, so as to filch from them their present, and above +all, future inheritance. How she loathed him now, and loathed herself +for having allowed him to drag her down. Aye! of a truth he had wronged +her worse even than he had wronged his brother's sons! + +She fixed her eyes steadily on the one light which alone pierced the +inky blackness of the solid mass of the house. It came from the little +withdrawing-room, which was on the left of this entrance to the hall; +but the place itself--beyond just that one tiny light--appeared quite +silent and deserted. Even from the stableyard on her right and from the +serving-men's quarters not a sound came to mingle with the weird +whisperings of the wind. + +Editha approached and stooping to the ground, she groped in the mud +until her hands encountered two or three pebbles. + +She picked them up, then going close to the house, she threw these +pebbles one by one against the half-closed shutter of the +withdrawing-room. + +The next moment, she heard the latch of the casement window being lifted +from within, and anon the rickety shutter flew back with a thin creaking +sound like that of an animal in pain. + +The upper part of Sir Marmaduke's figure appeared in the window +embrasure, like a dark and massive silhouette against the yellowish +light from within. He stooped forward, seeming to peer into the +darkness. + +"Is that you, Editha?" he queried presently. + +"Yes," she replied. "Open!" + +She then waited a moment or two, whilst he closed both the shutter and +the window, she standing the while on the stone step before the portico. +In the stillness she could hear him open the drawing-room door, then +cross the hall and finally unbolt the heavy outer door. + +She pushed past him over the threshold and went into the gloomy hall, +pitch dark save for the flickering light of the candle which he held. +She waited until he had re-closed the door, then she stood quite still, +confronting him, allowing him to look into her face, to read the +expression of her eyes. + +In order to do this he had raised the candle, his hand trembling +perceptibly, and the feeble light quivered in his grasp, illumining her +face at fitful intervals, creeping down her rigid shoulders and arms, as +far as her hands, which were tightly clenched. It danced upon his face +too, lighting it with weird gleams and fitful sparks, showing the wild +look in his eyes, the glitter almost of madness in the dilated pupils, +the dark iris sharply outlined against the glassy orbs. It licked the +trembling lips and distorted mouth, the drawn nostrils and dank hair, +almost alive with that nameless fear. + +"You would denounce me?" he murmured, and the cry--choked and +toneless--could scarce rise from the dry parched throat. + +"Yes!" she said. + +He uttered a violent curse. + +"You devil ... you ..." + +"You have time to go," she said calmly, "'tis a long while 'twixt now +and dawn." + +He understood. She only would denounce him if he stayed. She wished him +no evil, only desired him out of her sight. He tried to say something +flippant, something cruel and sneering, but she stopped him with a +peremptory gesture. + +"Go!" she said, "or I might forget everything save that you killed my +son." + +For a moment she thought that her life was in danger at his hands, so +awful in its baffled rage was the expression of his face when he +understood that indeed she knew everything. She even at that moment +longed that his cruel instincts should prompt him to kill her. He could +never succeed in hiding that crime and retributive justice would of a +surety overtake him then, without any help from her. + +No doubt he, too, thought of this as the weird flicker of the +candle-light showed him her unflinching face, for the next moment, with +another muttered curse, and a careless shrug of the shoulders, he turned +on his heel, and slowly went upstairs, candle in hand. + +Editha watched him until his massive figure was merged in the gloom of +the heavy oak stairway. Then she went into the withdrawing-room and +waited. + + + + +CHAPTER XLIII + +THE SANDS OF EPPLE + + +Five minutes later Sir Marmaduke de Chavasse, clad in thick dark doublet +and breeches and wearing a heavy cloak, once more descended the stairs +of Acol Court. He saw the light in the withdrawing-room and knew that +Editha was there, mutely watching his departure. + +But he did not care to speak to her again. His mind had been quickly +made up, nay! his actions in the immediate future should of a truth have +been accomplished two days ago, ere the meddlesomeness of women had +well-nigh jeopardized his own safety. + +All that he meant to do now was to go quickly to the pavilion, find the +leather wallet then return to his own stableyard, saddle one of his nags +and start forthwith for Dover. Eighteen miles would soon be covered, and +though the night was dark, the road was straight and broad. De Chavasse +knew it well, and had little fear of losing his way. + +With plenty of money in his purse, he would have no difficulty in +chartering a boat which, with a favorable tide on the morrow, should +soon take him over to France. + +All that he ought to have done two days ago! Of a truth, he had been a +cowardly fool. + +He did not cross the hall this time but went out through the +dining-room by the garden entrance. Not a glimmer of light came from +above, but as he descended the few stone steps he felt that a few soft +flakes of snow tossed by the hurricane were beginning to fall. Of course +he knew every inch of his own garden and park and had oft wandered about +on the further side of the ha-ha whilst indulging in lengthy +sweetly-spoken farewells with his love-sick Sue. + +Absorbed in the thoughts of his immediate future plans, he nevertheless +walked along cautiously, for the paths had become slippery with the +snow, which froze quickly even as it fell. + +He did not pause, however, for he wished to lose no time. If he was to +ride to Dover this night, he would have to go at foot-pace, for the road +would be like glass if this snow and ice continued. Moreover, he was +burning to feel that wallet once more between his fingers and to hear +the welcome sound of the crushing of crisp papers. + +He had plunged resolutely into the thickness of the wood. Here he could +have gone blindfolded, so oft had he trodden this path which leads under +the overhanging elms straight to the pavilion, walking with Sue's little +hand held tightly clasped in his own. + +The spiritual presence of the young girl seemed even now to pervade the +thicket, her sweet fragrance to fill the frost-laden air. + +Bah! he was not the man to indulge in retrospective fancy. The girl was +naught to him, and there was no sense of remorse in his soul for the +terrible wrongs which he had inflicted on her. All that he thought of +now was the wallet which contained the fortune. That which would forever +compensate him for the agony, the madness of the past two days. + +The bend behind that last group of elms should now reveal the outline of +the pavilion. Sir Marmaduke advanced more cautiously, for the trees here +were very close together. + +The next moment he had paused, crouching suddenly like a carnivorous +beast, balked of its prey. There of a truth was the pavilion, but on the +steps three men were standing, talking volubly and in whispers. Two of +these men carried stable lanterns, and were obviously guiding their +companion up to the door of the pavilion. + +The light of the lanterns illumined one face after another. De Chavasse +recognized his two serving-men, Busy and Toogood; the man who was with +them was petty-constable Pyot. Marmaduke with both hands clutching the +ivy which clung round the gnarled stem of an old elm, watched from out +the darkness what these three men were doing here, beside this pavilion, +which had always been so lonely and deserted. + +He could not distinguish what they said for they spoke in whispers and +the creaking branches groaning beneath the wind drowned every sound +which came from the direction of the pavilion and the listener on the +watch, straining his every sense in order to hear, dared not creep any +closer lest he be perceived. + +Anon, the three men examined the door of the pavilion, and shaking the +rusty bolts, found that they would not yield. But evidently they were of +set purpose, for the next moment all three put their shoulder to the +worm-eaten woodwork, and after the third vigorous effort the door +yielded to their assault. + +Men and lanterns disappeared within the pavilion. Sir Marmaduke heard an +ejaculation of surprise, then one of profound satisfaction. + +For the space of a few seconds he remained rooted to the spot. It almost +seemed to him as if with the knowledge that the wallet and the discarded +clothes of the smith had been found, with the certitude that this +discovery meant his own undoing probably, and in any case the final loss +of the fortune for which he had plotted and planned, lied and +masqueraded, killed a man and cheated a girl, that with the knowledge of +all this, death descended upon him: so cold did he feel, so unable was +he to make the slightest movement. + +But this numbness only lasted a few seconds. Obviously the three men +would return in a minute or so; equally obviously his own presence +here--if discovered--would mean certain ruin to him. Even while he was +making the effort to collect his scattered senses and to move from this +fateful and dangerous spot, he saw the three men reappear in the +doorway of the pavilion. + +The breeches and rough shirt of the smith hung over the arm of +Hymn-of-Praise Busy; the dark stain on the shirt was plainly visible by +the light of one of the lanterns. + +Petty constable Pyot had the leather wallet in his hand, and was peeping +down with grave curiosity at the bundle of papers which it contained. + +Then with infinite caution, Marmaduke de Chavasse worked his way between +the trees towards the old wall which encircled his park. The three men +obviously would be going back either to Acol Court, or mayhap, straight +to the village. + +Sir Marmaduke knew of a gap in the wall which it was quite easy to +climb, even in the dark; a path through the thicket at that point led +straight out towards the coast. + +He had struck that path from the road on the night when he met the smith +on the cliffs. + +The snow only penetrated in sparse flakes to the thicket here. Although +the branches of the trees were dead, they interlaced so closely overhead +that they formed ample protection against the wet. + +But the fury of the gale seemed terrific amongst these trees and the +groaning of the branches seemed like weird cries proceeding from hell. + +Anon, the midnight walker reached the open. Here a carpet of coarse +grass peeping through the thin layer of snow gave insecure foothold. He +stumbled as he pursued his way. He was walking in the teeth of the +northwesterly blast now and he could scarcely breathe, for the great +gusts caught his throat, causing him to choke. + +Still he walked resolutely on. Icy moisture clung to his hair, and to +his lips, and soon he could taste the brine in the air. The sound of the +breakers some ninety feet below mingled weirdly with the groans of the +wind. + +He knew the path well. Had he not trodden it three nights ago, on his +way to meet the smith? Already in the gloom he could distinguish the +broken line of the cliffs sharply defined against the gray density of +the horizon. + +As he drew nearer the roar of the breakers became almost deafening. A +heavy sea was rolling in on the breast of the tide. + +Still he walked along, towards the brow of the cliffs. Soon he could +distinguish the irregular heap of chalk against which Adam had stood, +whilst he had held the lantern in one hand and gripped the knife in the +other. + +The hurricane nearly swept him off his feet. He had much ado to steady +himself against that heap of chalk. The snow had covered his cloak and +his hat, and he liked to think that he, too, now--snow-covered--must +look like a monstrous chalk boulder, weird and motionless outlined +against the leaden grayness of the ocean beyond. + +The smith was not by his side now. There was no lantern, no paper, no +double-edged dagger. Down nearly a hundred feet below the smith had lain +until the turn of the tide. The man's eyes, becoming accustomed to the +gloom, could distinguish the points of the great boulders springing +boldly from out the sand. The surf as it broke all round and over them +was tipped with a phosphorescent light. + +The gale, in sheer wantonness, caught the midnight prowler's hat and +with a wild sound as of the detonation of a hundred guns, tossed it to +the waves below. The snow in a few moments had thrown a white pall over +the watcher's head. + +He could see quite clearly the tall boulder untouched by the tide, on +which he had placed the black silk shade that night, also the +broad-brimmed hat, so that these things should be found high and dry and +be easily recognizable. + +Some twenty feet further on was the smooth stretch of sand where had +lain the smith, after he had been dressed up in the fantastic clothes of +the mysterious French prince. + +Marmaduke de Chavasse gazed upon that spot. The breakers licked it now +and again, leaving behind them as they retreated a track of slimy foam, +which showed white in this strange gray gloom, rendered alive and moving +by the falling snow. + +The surf covered that stretch of sand more and more frequently now, and +retreated less and less far: the slimy foam floated now over an inky +pool; soon that too disappeared. The breakers sought other boulders +round which to play their titanic hide-and-seek. The tide had +completely hidden the place where Adam Lambert had lain. + +Then the watcher walked on--one step and then another--and then the one +beyond the edge as he stepped down, down into the abyss ninety feet +below. + + + + +THE EPILOGUE + + +The chronicles of the time tell us that the mysterious disappearance of +Sir Marmaduke de Chavasse was but a nine days' wonder in that great +world which lies beyond the boundaries of sea-girt Thanet. + +What Thanet thought of it all, the little island kept secret, hiding its +surmises in the thicket of her own archaic forests. + +Squire Boatfield did his best to wrap the disappearance of his whilom +friend in impenetrable veils of mystery. He was a humane and a kindly +man and feeling that the guilty had been amply punished, he set to work +to cheer and to rehabilitate the innocent. + +All of us who have read the memoirs of Editha de Chavasse, written when +she was a woman of nearly sixty, remember that she, too, has drawn a +thick curtain over the latter days of her brother-in-law's life. It is +to her pen that we owe the record of what happened subsequently. + +She tells us, for instance, how Master Skyffington, after sundry +interviews with my Lord Northallerton, had the honor of bringing to his +lordship's notice the young student--so long known as Richard +Lambert--who, of a truth, was sole heir to the earldom and to its +magnificent possessions and dependencies. + +From the memoirs of Editha de Chavasse we also know that Lady Sue +Aldmarshe, girl-wife and widow, did, after a period of mourning, marry +Michael Richard de Chavasse, sole surviving nephew and heir presumptive +of his lordship the Earl of Northallerton. + +But it is to the brush of Sir Peter Lely that we owe that exquisite +portrait of Sue, when she was Countess of Northallerton, the friend of +Queen Catherine, the acknowledged beauty at the Court of the +Restoration. + +It is a sweet face, whereon the half-obliterated lines of sorrow vie +with that look of supreme happiness which first crept into her eyes when +she realized that the dear and constant friend who had loved her so +dearly, was as true to her in his joy as he had been in those dark days +when a terrible crisis had well-nigh wrecked her life. + +Lord and Lady Northallerton did not often stay in London. The brilliance +of the Court had few attractions for them. Happiness came to them after +terrible sorrows. They liked to hide it and their great love in the calm +and mystery of forest-covered Thanet. + + +THE END + + + + + +End of Project Gutenberg's The Nest of the Sparrowhawk, by Baroness Orczy + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE NEST OF THE SPARROWHAWK *** + +***** This file should be named 12175-8.txt or 12175-8.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + https://www.gutenberg.org/1/2/1/7/12175/ + +Produced by Steven desJardins and Distributed Proofreaders + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. 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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: The Nest of the Sparrowhawk + +Author: Baroness Orczy + +Release Date: April 27, 2004 [EBook #12175] +[Date last updated: March 1, 2006] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1 + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE NEST OF THE SPARROWHAWK *** + + + + +Produced by Steven desJardins and Distributed Proofreaders + + + + + +</pre> + +<p> </p> +<h1>THE NEST OF THE SPARROWHAWK</h1> +<h4> +<i>A ROMANCE OF THE XVIIth CENTURY</i> +</h4> +<h2> +BY THE BARONESS ORCZY +</h2> +<h4> +<i>November, 1909</i> +</h4> + +<hr> + +<a name="TOC"><!-- TOC --></a> +<h2> + CONTENTS +</h2> + + +<h3><a href="#PART1">PART I</a></h3> +<h4>CHAPTER I.—<a href="#CH1">THE HOUSE OF A KENTISH SQUIRE</a></h4> +<h4>CHAPTER II.—<a href="#CH2">ON A JULY AFTERNOON</a></h4> +<h4>CHAPTER III.—<a href="#CH3">THE EXILE</a></h4> +<h4>CHAPTER IV.—<a href="#CH4">GRINDING POVERTY</a></h4> +<h4>CHAPTER V.—<a href="#CH5">THE LEGAL ASPECT</a></h4> +<h4>CHAPTER VI.—<a href="#CH6">UNDER THE SHADOW OF THE ELMS</a></h4> +<h4>CHAPTER VII.—<a href="#CH7">THE STRANGER WITHIN THE GATES</a></h4> +<h4>CHAPTER VIII.—<a href="#CH8">PRINCE AMÉDÉ D'ORLÉANS</a></h4> +<h4>CHAPTER IX.—<a href="#CH9">SECRET SERVICE</a></h4> +<h4>CHAPTER X.—<a href="#CH10">AVOWED ENMITY</a></h4> +<h4>CHAPTER XI.—<a href="#CH11">SURRENDER</a></h4> +<h4>CHAPTER XII.—<a href="#CH12">A WOMAN'S HEART</a></h4> +<h4>CHAPTER XIII.—<a href="#CH13">AN IDEA</a></h4> +<hr> +<h3><a href="#PART2">PART II</a></h3> +<h4>CHAPTER XIV.—<a href="#CH14">THE HOUSE IN LONDON</a></h4> +<h4>CHAPTER XV.—<a href="#CH15">A GAME OF PRIMERO</a></h4> +<h4>CHAPTER XVI.—<a href="#CH16">A CONFLICT</a></h4> +<h4>CHAPTER XVII.—<a href="#CH17">RUS IN URBE</a></h4> +<h4>CHAPTER XVIII.—<a href="#CH18">THE TRAP</a></h4> +<h4>CHAPTER XIX.—<a href="#CH19">DISGRACE</a></h4> +<h4>CHAPTER XX.—<a href="#CH20">MY LORD PROTECTOR'S PATROL</a></h4> +<hr> +<h3><a href="#PART3">PART III</a></h3> +<h4>CHAPTER XXI.—<a href="#CH21">IN THE MEANWHILE</a></h4> +<h4>CHAPTER XXII.—<a href="#CH22">BREAKING THE NEWS</a></h4> +<h4>CHAPTER XXIII.—<a href="#CH23">THE ABSENT FRIEND</a></h4> +<h4>CHAPTER XXIV.—<a href="#CH24">NOVEMBER THE 2D</a></h4> +<h4>CHAPTER XXV.—<a href="#CH25">AN INTERLUDE</a></h4> +<h4>CHAPTER XXVI.—<a href="#CH26">THE OUTCAST</a></h4> +<h4>CHAPTER XXVII.—<a href="#CH27">LADY SUE'S FORTUNE</a></h4> +<h4>CHAPTER XXVIII.—<a href="#CH28">HUSBAND AND WIFE</a></h4> +<h4>CHAPTER XXIX.—<a href="#CH29">GOOD-BYE</a></h4> +<h4>CHAPTER XXX.—<a href="#CH30">ALL BECAUSE OF THE TINDER-BOX</a></h4> +<h4>CHAPTER XXXI.—<a href="#CH31">THE ASSIGNATION</a></h4> +<h4>CHAPTER XXXII.—<a href="#CH32">THE PATH NEAR THE CLIFFS</a></h4> +<hr> +<h3><a href="#PART4">PART IV</a></h3> +<h4>CHAPTER XXXIII.—<a href="#CH33">THE DAY AFTER</a></h4> +<h4>CHAPTER XXXIV.—<a href="#CH34">AFTERWARDS</a></h4> +<h4>CHAPTER XXXV.—<a href="#CH35">THE SMITH'S FORGE</a></h4> +<h4>CHAPTER XXXVI.—<a href="#CH36">THE GIRL-WIFE</a></h4> +<h4>CHAPTER XXXVII.—<a href="#CH37">THE OLD WOMAN</a></h4> +<h4>CHAPTER XXXVIII.—<a href="#CH38">THE VOICE OF THE DEAD</a></h4> +<h4>CHAPTER XXXIX.—<a href="#CH39">THE HOME-COMING OF ADAM LAMBERT</a></h4> +<h4>CHAPTER XL.—<a href="#CH40">EDITHA'S RETURN</a></h4> +<h4>CHAPTER XLI.—<a href="#CH41">THEIR NAME</a></h4> +<h4>CHAPTER XLII.—<a href="#CH42">THE RETURN</a></h4> +<h4>CHAPTER XLIII.—<a href="#CH43">THE SANDS OF EPPLE</a></h4> +<h4>CHAPTER XLIV.—<a href="#CH44">THE EPILOGUE</a></h4> +<hr> + + +<p> </p> +<p> </p> +<a name="PART1"><!-- PART1 --></a> +<h2> + PART I +</h2> + +<h2> +The Nest of the Sparrowhawk +</h2> + + + +<p> </p> +<p> </p> +<a name="CH1"><!-- CH1 --></a> +<h2> + CHAPTER I +</h2> + +<h3> +THE HOUSE OF A KENTISH SQUIRE +</h3><p> </p> +<p> +Master Hymn-of-Praise Busy folded his hands before him ere he spoke: +</p> +<p> +"Nay! but I tell thee, woman, that the Lord hath no love for such +frivolities! and alack! but 'tis a sign of the times that an English +Squire should favor such evil ways." +</p> +<p> +"Evil ways? The Lord love you, Master Hymn-of-Praise, and pray do you +call half an hour at the skittle alley 'evil ways'?" +</p> +<p> +"Aye, evil it is to indulge our sinful bodies in such recreation as doth +not tend to the glorification of the Lord and the sanctification of our +immortal souls." +</p> +<p> +He who sermonized thus unctuously and with eyes fixed with stern +disapproval on the buxom wench before him, was a man who had passed the +meridian of life not altogether—it may be surmised—without having +indulged in some recreations which had not always the sanctification of +his own immortal soul for their primary object. The bulk of his figure +testified that he was not averse to good cheer, and there was a certain +hidden twinkle underlying the severe expression of his eyes as they +rested on the pretty face and round figure of Mistress Charity that did +not necessarily tend to the glorification of the Lord. +</p> +<p> +Apparently, however, the admonitions of Master Hymn-of-Praise made but a +scanty impression on the young girl's mind, for she regarded him with a +mixture of amusement and contempt as she shrugged her plump shoulders +and said with sudden irrelevance: +</p> +<p> +"Have you had your dinner yet, Master Busy?" +</p> +<p> +"'Tis sinful to address a single Christian person as if he or she were +several," retorted the man sharply. "But I'll tell thee in confidence, +mistress, that I have not partaken of a single drop more comforting than +cold water the whole of to-day. Mistress de Chavasse mixed the +sack-posset with her own hands this morning, and locked it in the +cellar, of which she hath rigorously held the key. Ten minutes ago when +she placed the bowl on this table, she called my attention to the fact +that the delectable beverage came to within three inches of the brim. +Meseems I shall have to seek for a less suspicious, more +Christian-spirited household, whereon to bestow in the near future my +faithful services." +</p> +<p> +Hardly had Master Hymn-of-Praise finished speaking when he turned very +sharply round and looked with renewed sternness—wholly untempered by a +twinkle this time—in the direction whence he thought a suppressed +giggle had just come to his ears. But what he saw must surely have +completely reassured him; there was no suggestion of unseemly ribaldry +about the young lad who had been busy laying out the table with spoons +and mugs, and was at this moment vigorously—somewhat ostentatiously, +perhaps—polishing a carved oak chair, bending to his task in a manner +which fully accounted for the high color in his cheeks. +</p> +<p> +He had long, lanky hair of a pale straw-color, a thin face and high +cheek-bones, and was dressed—as was also Master Hymn-of-Praise Busy—in +a dark purple doublet and knee breeches, all looking very much the worse +for wear; the brown tags and buttons with which these garments had +originally been roughly adorned were conspicuous in a great many places +by their absence, whilst all those that remained were mere skeletons of +their former selves. +</p> +<p> +The plain collars and cuffs which relieved the dull color of the men's +doublets were of singularly coarse linen not beyond reproach as to +cleanliness, and altogether innocent of starch; whilst the thick brown +worsted stockings displayed many a hole through which the flesh peeped, +and the shoes of roughly tanned leather were down at heel and worn +through at the toes. +</p> +<p> +Undoubtedly even in these days of more than primitive simplicity and of +sober habiliments Master Hymn-of-Praise Busy, butler at Acol Court in +the county of Kent, and his henchman, Master Courage Toogood, would have +been conspicuous for the shabbiness and poverty of the livery which they +wore. +</p> +<p> +The hour was three in the afternoon. Outside a glorious July sun spread +radiance and glow over an old-fashioned garden, over tall yew hedges, +and fantastic forms of green birds and heads of beasts carefully cut and +trimmed, over clumps of late roses and rough tangles of marguerites and +potentillas, of stiff zinnias and rich-hued snapdragons. +</p> +<p> +Through the open window came the sound of wood knocking against wood, of +exclamations of annoyance or triumph as the game proceeded, and every +now and then a ripple of prolonged laughter, girlish, fresh, pure as the +fragrant air, clear as the last notes of the cuckoo before he speaks his +final farewell to summer. +</p> +<p> +Every time that echo of youth and gayety penetrated into the +oak-raftered dining-room, Master Hymn-of-Praise Busy pursed his thick +lips in disapproval, whilst the younger man, had he dared, would no +doubt have gone to the window, and leaning out as far as safety would +permit, have tried to catch a glimpse of the skittle alley and of a +light-colored kirtle gleaming among the trees. But as it was he caught +the older man's stern eyes fixed reprovingly upon him, he desisted from +his work of dusting and polishing, and, looking up to the heavy oak-beam +above him, he said with becoming fervor: +</p> +<p> +"Lord! how beautifully thou dost speak, Master Busy!" +</p> +<p> +"Get on with thy work, Master Courage," retorted the other relentlessly, +"and mix not thine unruly talk with the wise sayings of thy betters." +</p> +<p> +"My work is done, Master." +</p> +<p> +"Go fetch the pasties then, the quality will be in directly," rejoined +the other peremptorily, throwing a scrutinizing look at the table, +whereon a somewhat meager collation of cherries, raspberries and +gooseberries and a more generous bowl of sack-posset had been arranged +by Mistress Charity and Master Courage under his own supervision. +</p> +<p> +"Doubtless, doubtless," here interposed the young maid somewhat +hurriedly, desirous perhaps of distracting the grave butler's attention +from the mischievous oglings of the lad as he went out of the room, "as +you remark—hem—as thou remarkest, this place of service is none to the +liking of such as . . . thee . . ." +</p> +<p> +She threw him a coy glance from beneath well-grown lashes, which caused +the saintly man to pass his tongue over his lips, an action which of a +surety had not the desire for spiritual glory for its mainspring. With +dainty hands Mistress Charity busied herself with the delicacies upon +the table. She adjusted a gooseberry which seemed inclined to tumble, +heaped up the currants into more graceful pyramids. Womanlike, whilst +her eyes apparently followed the motions of her hands they nevertheless +took stock of Master Hymn-of-Praise's attitude with regard to herself. +</p> +<p> +She knew that in defiance of my Lord Protector and all his Puritans she +was looking her best this afternoon: though her kirtle was as threadbare +as Master Courage's breeches it was nevertheless just short enough to +display to great advantage her neatly turned ankle and well-arched foot +on which the thick stockings—well-darned—and shabby shoes sat not at +all amiss. +</p> +<p> +Her kerchief was neatly folded, white and slightly starched, her cuffs +immaculately and primly turned back just above her round elbow and +shapely arm. +</p> +<p> +On the whole Mistress Charity was pleased with her own appearance. Sir +Marmaduke de Chavasse and the mistress were seeing company this +afternoon, and the neighboring Kentish squires who had come to play +skittles and to drink sack-posset might easily find a less welcome sight +than that of the serving maid at Acol Court. +</p> +<p> +"As for myself," now resumed Mistress Charity, after a slight pause, +during which she had felt Master Busy's admiring gaze fixed persistently +upon her, "as for myself, I'll seek service with a lady less like to +find such constant fault with a hard-working maid." +</p> +<p> +Master Courage had just returned carrying a large dish heaped up with +delicious looking pasties fresh from the oven, brown and crisp with +butter, and ornamented with sprigs of burrage which made them appear +exceedingly tempting. +</p> +<p> +Charity took the dish from the lad and heavy as it was, she carried it +to the table and placed it right in the very center of it. She +rearranged the sprigs of burrage, made a fresh disposition of the +baskets of fruit, whilst both the men watched her open-mouthed, agape at +so much loveliness and grace. +</p> +<p> +"And," she added significantly, looking with ill-concealed covetousness +at the succulent pasties, "where there's at least one dog or cat about +the place." +</p> +<p> +"I know not, mistress," said Hymn-of-Praise, "that thou wast over-fond +of domestic pets . . . 'Tis sinful to . . ." +</p> +<p> +"La! Master Busy, you . . . hem . . . thou mistakest my meaning. I have no +love for such creatures—but without so much as a kitten about the +house, prithee how am I to account to my mistress for the pasties and +. . . and comfits . . . not to speak of breakages." +</p> +<p> +"There is always Master Courage," suggested Hymn-of-Praise, with a +movement of the left eyelid which in the case of any one less saintly +might have been described as a sly wink. +</p> +<p> +"That there is not," interrupted the lad decisively; "my stomach rebels +against comfits, and sack-posset could never be laid to my door." +</p> +<p> +"I give thee assurance, Master Busy," concluded the young girl, "that +the county of Kent no longer suits my constitution. 'Tis London for me, +and thither will I go next year." +</p> +<p> +"'Tis a den of wickedness," commented Busy sententiously, "in spite of +my Lord Protector, who of a truth doth turn his back on the Saints and +hath even allowed the great George Fox and some of the Friends to +languish in prison, whilst profligacy holds undisputed sway. Master +Courage, meseems those mugs need washing a second time," he added, with +sudden irrelevance. "Take them to the kitchen, and do not let me set +eyes on thee until they shine like pieces of new silver." +</p> +<p> +Master Courage would have either resisted the order altogether, or at +any rate argued the point of the cleanliness of the mugs, had he dared; +but the saintly man possessed on occasions a heavy hand, and he also +wore boots which had very hard toes, and the lad realized from the +peremptory look in the butler's eyes that this was an occasion when both +hand and boot would serve to emphasize Master Busy's orders with +unpleasant force if he himself were at all slow to obey. +</p> +<p> +He tried to catch Charity's eye, but was made aware once more of the +eternal truth that women are perverse and fickle creatures, for she +would not look at him, and seemed absorbed in the rearrangement of her +kerchief. +</p> +<p> +With a deep sigh which should have spoken volumes to her adamantine +heart, Courage gathered all the mugs together by their handles, and +reluctantly marched out of the room once more. +</p> +<p> +Hymn-of-Praise Busy waited a moment or two until the clattering of the +pewter died away in the distance, then he edged a little closer to the +table whereat Mistress Charity seemed still very busy with the fruit, +and said haltingly: +</p> +<p> +"Didst thou really wish to go, mistress . . . to leave thy fond, adoring +Hymn-of-Praise . . . to go, mistress? . . . and to break my heart?" +</p> +<p> +Charity's dainty head—with its tiny velvet cap edged with lawn which +hardly concealed sufficiently the wealth of her unruly brown hair—sank +meditatively upon her left shoulder. +</p> +<p> +"Lord, Master Busy," she said demurely, "how was a poor maid to know +that you meant it earnestly?" +</p> +<p> +"Meant it earnestly?" +</p> +<p> +"Yes . . . a new kirtle . . . a gold ring . . . flowers . . . and sack-posset +and pasties to all the guests," she explained. "Is that what you mean +. . . hem . . . what <i>thou</i>, meanest, Master Busy?" +</p> +<p> +"Of a surety, mistress . . . and if thou wouldst allow me to . . . to . . ." +</p> +<p> +"To what, Master Busy?" +</p> +<p> +"To salute thee," said the saintly man, with a becoming blush, "as the +Lord doth allow his creatures to salute one another . . . with a chaste +kiss, mistress." +</p> +<p> +Then as she seemed to demur, he added by way of persuasion: +</p> +<p> +"I am not altogether a poor man, mistress; and there is that in my +coffer upstairs put by, as would please thee in the future." +</p> +<p> +"Nay! I was not thinking of the money, Master Busy," said this daughter +of Eve, coyly, as she held a rosy cheek out in the direction of the +righteous man. +</p> +<p> +'Tis the duty even of a veracious chronicler to draw a discreet veil +over certain scenes full of blissful moments for those whom he portrays. +</p> +<p> +There are no data extant as to what occurred during the next few +seconds in the old oak-beamed dining-room of Acol Court in the Island of +Thanet. Certain it is that when next we get a peep at Master +Hymn-of-Praise Busy and Mistress Charity Haggett, they are standing side +by side, he looking somewhat shame-faced in the midst of his obvious +joy, and she supremely unconcerned, once more absorbed in the apparently +never-ending adornment of the refreshment table. +</p> +<p> +"Thou'lt have no cause to regret this, mistress," said Busy +complacently, "we will be married this very autumn, and I have it in my +mind—an it please the Lord—to go up to London and take secret service +under my Lord Protector himself." +</p> +<p> +"Secret service, Master Busy . . . hem . . . I mean Hymn-of-Praise, dear . . . +secret service? . . . What may that be?" +</p> +<p> +"'Tis a noble business, Charity," he replied, "and one highly commended +by the Lord: the business of tracking the wicked to their lair, of +discovering evil where 'tis hidden in dark places, conspiracies against +my Lord Protector, adherence to the cause of the banished tyrants and +. . . and . . . so forth." +</p> +<p> +"Sounds like spying to me," she remarked curtly. +</p> +<p> +"Spying? . . . Spying, didst thou say?" he exclaimed indignantly. "Fie on +thee, Charity, for the thought! Secret service under my Lord Protector +'tis called, and a highly lucrative business too, and one for which I +have remarkable aptitude." +</p> +<p> +"Indeed?" +</p> +<p> +"Aye! See the manner in which I find things out, mistress. This house +now . . . thou wouldst think 'tis but an ordinary house . . . eh?" +</p> +<p> +His manner changed; the saintliness vanished from his attitude; the +expression of his face became sly and knowing. He came nearer to +Charity, took hold of her wrist, whilst he raised one finger to his +lips. +</p> +<p> +"Thou wouldst think 'tis an ordinary house . . . wouldst thou not?" he +repeated, sinking his voice to a whisper, murmuring right into her ear +so that his breath blew her hair about, causing it to tickle her cheek. +</p> +<p> +She shuddered with apprehension. His manner was so mysterious. +</p> +<p> +"Yes . . . yes . . ." she murmured, terrified. +</p> +<p> +"But I tell thee that there's something going on," he added +significantly. +</p> +<p> +"La, Master Busy . . . you . . . you terrify me!" she said, on the verge of +tears. "What could there be going on?" +</p> +<p> +Master Busy raised both his hands and with the right began counting off +the fingers of the left. +</p> +<p> +"Firstly," he began solemnly, "there's an heiress! secondly our +master—poor as a church mouse—thirdly a young scholar—secretary, they +call him, though he writes no letters, and is all day absorbed in his +studies . . . Well, mistress," he concluded, turning a triumphant gaze on +her, "tell me, prithee, what happens?" +</p> +<p> +"What happens, Master Hymn-of-Praise? . . . I do not understand. What +does happen?" +</p> +<p> +"I'll tell thee," he replied sententiously, "when I have found out; but +mark my words, mistress, there's something going on in this house . . . +Hush! not a word to that young jackanapes," he added as a distant +clatter of pewter mugs announced the approach of Master Courage. "Watch +with me, mistress, thou'lt perceive something. And when I have found +out, 'twill be the beginning of our fortunes." +</p> +<p> +Once more he placed a warning finger on his lips; once more he gave +Mistress Charity a knowing wink, and her wrist an admonitory pressure, +then he resumed his staid and severe manner, his saintly mien and +somewhat nasal tones, as from the gay outside world beyond the +window-embrasure the sound of many voices, the ripple of young laughter, +the clink of heeled boots on the stone-flagged path, proclaimed the +arrival of the quality. +</p> + + + +<p> </p> +<p> </p> +<a name="CH2"><!-- CH2 --></a> +<h2> + CHAPTER II +</h2> + +<h3> +ON A JULY AFTERNOON +</h3><p> </p> +<p> +In the meanwhile in a remote corner of the park the quality was +assembled round the skittle-alley. +</p> +<p> +Imagine Sir Marmaduke de Chavasse standing there, as stiff a Roundhead +as ever upheld my Lord Protector and his Puritanic government in this +remote corner of the county of Kent: dour in manner, harsh-featured and +hollow-eyed, dressed in dark doublet and breeches wholly void of tags, +ribands or buttons. His closely shorn head is flat at the back, square +in front, his clean-shaven lips though somewhat thick are always held +tightly pressed together. Not far from him sits on a rough wooden seat, +Mistress Amelia Editha de Chavasse, widow of Sir Marmaduke's elder +brother, a good-looking woman still, save for the look of discontent, +almost of suppressed rebellion, apparent in the perpetual dark frown +between the straight brows, in the downward curve of the well-chiseled +mouth, and in the lowering look which seems to dwell for ever in the +handsome dark eyes. +</p> +<p> +Dame Harrison, too, was there: the large and portly dowager, florid of +face, dictatorial in manner, dressed in the supremely unbecoming style +prevalent at the moment, when everything that was beautiful in art as +well as in nature was condemned as sinful and ungodly; she wore the dark +kirtle and plain, ungainly bodice with its hard white kerchief folded +over her ample bosom; her hair was parted down the middle and brushed +smoothly and flatly to her ears, where but a few curls were allowed to +escape with well-regulated primness from beneath the horn-comb, and the +whole appearance of her looked almost grotesque, surmounted as it was by +the modish high-peaked beaver hat, a marvel of hideousness and +discomfort, since the small brim afforded no protection against the sun, +and the tall crown was a ready prey to the buffetings of the wind. +</p> +<p> +Mistress Fairsoul Pyncheon too, was there, the wife of the Squire of +Ashe; thin and small, a contrast to Dame Harrison in her mild and +somewhat fussy manner; her plain petticoat, too, was embellished with +paniers, and in spite of the heat of the day she wore a tippet edged +with fur: both of which frivolous adornments had obviously stirred up +the wrath of her more Puritanical neighbor. +</p> +<p> +Then there were the men: busy at this moment with hurling wooden balls +along the alley, at the further end of which a hollow-eyed scraggy +youth, in shirt and rough linen trousers, was employed in propping up +again the fallen nine-pins. Squire John Boatfield had ridden over from +Eastry, Sir Timothy Harrison had come in his aunt's coach, and young +Squire Pyncheon with his doting mother. +</p> +<p> +And in the midst of all these sober folk, of young men in severe +garments, of portly dames and frowning squires, a girlish figure, +young, alert, vigorous, wearing with the charm of her own youth and +freshness the unbecoming attire, which disfigured her elders yet seemed +to set off her own graceful form, her dainty bosom and pretty arms. Her +kirtle, too, was plain, and dull in color, of a soft dovelike gray, +without adornment of any kind, but round her shoulders her kerchief was +daintily turned, edged with delicate lace, and showing through its filmy +folds peeps of her own creamy skin. +</p> +<p> +'Twas years later that Sir Peter Lely painted Lady Sue when she was a +great lady and the friend of the Queen: she was beautiful then, in the +full splendor of her maturer charms, but never so beautiful as she was +on that hot July afternoon in the year of our Lord 1657, when, heated +with the ardor of the game, pleased undoubtedly with the adulation which +surrounded her on every side, she laughed and chatted with the men, +teased the women, her cheeks aglow, her eyes bright, her brown +hair—persistently unruly—flying in thick curls over her neck and +shoulders. +</p> +<p> +"A remarkable talent, good Sir Marmaduke," Dame Harrison was saying to +her host, as she cast a complacent eye on her nephew, who had just +succeeded in overthrowing three nine-pins at one stroke: "Sir Timothy +hath every aptitude for outdoor pursuits, and though my Lord Protector +deems all such recreations sinful, yet do I think they tend to the +development of muscular energy, which later on may be placed at the +service of the Commonwealth." +</p> +<p> +Sir Timothy Harrison at this juncture had the misfortune of expending +his muscular energy in hitting Squire Boatfield violently on the shin +with an ill-aimed ball. +</p> +<p> +"Damn!" ejaculated the latter, heedless of the strict fines imposed by +my Lord Protector on unseemly language. "I . . . verily beg the ladies' +pardon . . . but . . . this young jackanapes nearly broke my shin-bone." +</p> +<p> +There certainly had been an exclamation of horror on the part of the +ladies at Squire Boatfield's forcible expression of annoyance, Dame +Harrison taking no pains to conceal her disapproval. +</p> +<p> +"Horrid, coarse creature, this neighbor of yours, good Sir Marmaduke," +she said with her usual air of decision. "Meseems he is not fit company +for your ward." +</p> +<p> +"Dear Squire Boatfield," sighed Mistress Pyncheon, who was evidently +disposed to be more lenient, "how good-humoredly he bears it! Clumsy +people should not be trusted in a skittle alley," she added in a mild +way, which seemed to be peculiarly exasperating to Dame Harrison's +irascible temper. +</p> +<p> +"I pray you, Sir Timothy," here interposed Lady Sue, trying to repress +the laughter which would rise to her lips, "forgive poor Squire John. +You scarce can expect him to moderate his language under such +provocation." +</p> +<p> +"Oh! his insults leave me completely indifferent," said the young man +with easy unconcern, "his calling me a jackanapes doth not of necessity +make me one." +</p> +<p> +"No!" retorted Squire Boatfield, who was still nursing his shin-bone, +"maybe not, Sir Timothy, but it shows how observant I am." +</p> +<p> +"Oliver, pick up Lady Sue's handkerchief," came in mild accents from +Mistress Pyncheon. +</p> +<p> +"Quite unnecessary, good mistress," rejoined Dame Harrison decisively, +"Sir Timothy has already seen it." +</p> +<p> +And while the two young men made a quick and not altogether successful +dive for her ladyship's handkerchief, colliding vigorously with one +another in their endeavor to perform this act of gallantry +single-handed, Lady Sue gazed down on them, with good-humored contempt, +laughter and mischief dancing in her eyes. She knew that she was good to +look at, that she was rich, and that she had the pick of the county, +aye, of the South of England, did she desire to wed. Perhaps she thought +of this, even whilst she laughed at the antics of her bevy of courtiers, +all anxious to win her good graces. +</p> +<p> +Yet even as she laughed, her face suddenly clouded over, a strange, +wistful look came into her eyes, and her laughter was lost in a quick, +short sigh. +</p> +<p> +A young man had just crossed the tiny rustic bridge which spanned the +ha-ha dividing the flower-garden from the uncultivated park. He walked +rapidly through the trees, towards the skittle alley, and as he came +nearer, the merry lightheartedness seemed suddenly to vanish from Lady +Sue's manner: the ridiculousness of the two young men at her feet, +glaring furiously at one another whilst fighting for her handkerchief, +seemed now to irritate her; she snatched the bit of delicate linen from +their hands, and turned somewhat petulantly away. +</p> +<p> +"Shall we continue the game?" she said curtly. +</p> +<p> +The young man, all the while that he approached, had not taken his eyes +off Lady Sue. Twice he had stumbled against rough bits of root or branch +which he had not perceived in the grass through which he walked. He had +seen her laughing gaily, whilst Squire Boatfield used profane language, +and smile with contemptuous merriment at the two young men at her feet; +he had also seen the change in her manner, the sudden wistful look, the +quick sigh, the irritability and the petulance. +</p> +<p> +But his own grave face expressed neither disapproval at the one mood nor +astonishment at the other. He walked somewhat like a somnambulist, with +eyes fixed—almost expressionless in the intensity of their gaze. +</p> +<p> +He was very plainly, even poorly clad, and looked a dark figure even +amongst these soberly appareled gentry. The grass beneath his feet had +deadened the sound of his footsteps but Sir Marmaduke had apparently +perceived him, for he beckoned to him to approach. +</p> +<p> +"What is it, Lambert?" he asked kindly. +</p> +<p> +"Your letter to Master Skyffington, Sir Marmaduke," replied the young +man, "will you be pleased to sign it?" +</p> +<p> +"Will it not keep?" said Sir Marmaduke. +</p> +<p> +"Yes, an you wish it, Sir. I fear I have intruded. I did not know you +were busy." +</p> +<p> +The young man had a harsh voice, and a strange brusqueness of manner +which somehow suggested rebellion against the existing conditions of +life. He no longer looked at Lady Sue now, but straight at Sir +Marmaduke, speaking the brief apology between his teeth, without opening +his mouth, as if the words hurt him when they passed his lips. +</p> +<p> +"You had best speak to Master Skyffington himself about the business," +rejoined Sir Marmaduke, not heeding the mumbled apology, "he will be +here anon." +</p> +<p> +He turned abruptly away, and the young man once more left to himself, +silently and mechanically moved again in the direction of the house. +</p> +<p> +"You will join us in a bowl of sack-posset, Master Lambert," said +Mistress de Chavasse, striving to be amiable. +</p> +<p> +"You are very kind," he said none too genially, "in about half-an-hour +if you will allow me. There is another letter yet to write." +</p> +<p> +No one had taken much notice of him. Even in these days when kingship +and House of Lords were abolished, the sense of social inequality +remained keen. To this coterie of avowed Republicans, young Richard +Lambert—secretary or what-not to Sir Marmaduke, a paid dependent at any +rate—was not worth more than a curt nod of the head, a condescending +acknowledgment of his existence at best. +</p> +<p> +But Lady Sue had not even bestowed the nod. She had not actually taken +notice of his presence when he came; the wistful look had vanished as +soon as the young man's harsh voice had broken on her ear: she did not +look on him now that he went. +</p> +<p> +She was busy with her game. Nathless her guardian's secretary was of no +more importance in the rich heiress's sight than that mute row of +nine-pins at the end of the alley, nor was there, mayhap, in her mind +much social distinction between the hollow-eyed lad who set them up +stolidly from time to time, and the silent young student who wrote those +letters which Sir Marmaduke had not known how to spell. +</p> + + + +<p> </p> +<p> </p> +<a name="CH3"><!-- CH3 --></a> +<h2> + CHAPTER III +</h2> + +<h3> +THE EXILE +</h3><p> </p> +<p> +But despite outward indifference, with the brief appearance of the +soberly-garbed young student upon the scene and his abrupt and silent +departure, all the zest seemed to have gone out of Lady Sue's mood. +</p> +<p> +The ingenuous flatteries of her little court irritated her now: she no +longer felt either amused or pleased by the extravagant compliments +lavished upon her beauty and skill by portly Squire John, by Sir Timothy +Harrison or the more diffident young Squire Pyncheon. +</p> +<p> +"Of a truth, I sometimes wish, Lady Sue, that I could find out if you +have any faults," remarked Squire Boatfield unctuously. +</p> +<p> +"Nay, Squire," she retorted sharply, "pray try to praise me to my female +friends." +</p> +<p> +In vain did Mistress Pyncheon admonish her son to be more bold in his +wooing. +</p> +<p> +"You behave like a fool, Oliver," she said meekly. +</p> +<p> +"But, Mother . . ." +</p> +<p> +"Go, make yourself pleasing to her ladyship." +</p> +<p> +"But, Mother . . ." +</p> +<p> +"I pray you, my son," she retorted with unusual acerbity, "do you want a +million or do you not?" +</p> +<p> +"But, Mother . . ." +</p> +<p> +"Then go at once and get it, ere that fool Sir Timothy or the odious +Boatfield capture it under your very nose." +</p> +<p> +"But, Mother . . ." +</p> +<p> +"Go! say something smart to her at once . . . talk about your gray mare +. . . she is over fond of horses . . ." +</p> +<p> +Then as the young Squire, awkward and clumsy in his manner, more +accustomed to the company of his own servants than to that of highborn +ladies, made sundry unfortunate attempts to enchain the attention of the +heiress, his worthy mother turned with meek benignity to Sir Marmaduke. +</p> +<p> +"A veritable infatuation, good Sir Marmaduke," she said with a sigh, +"quite against my interests, you know. I had no thought to see the dear +lad married so soon, nor to give up my home at the Dene yet, in favor of +a new mistress. Not but that Oliver is not a good son to his +mother—such a good lad!—and such a good husband he would be to any +girl who . . ." +</p> +<p> +"A strange youth that secretary of yours, Sir Marmaduke," here +interposed Dame Harrison in her loud, dictatorial voice, breaking in on +Mistress Pyncheon's dithyrambs, "modest he appears to be, and silent +too: a paragon meseems!" +</p> +<p> +She spoke with obvious sarcasm, casting covert glances at Lady Sue to +see if she heard. +</p> +<p> +Sir Marmaduke shrugged his shoulders. +</p> +<p> +"Lambert is very industrious," he said curtly. +</p> +<p> +"I thought secretaries never did anything but suck the ends of their +pens," suggested Mistress Pyncheon mildly. +</p> +<p> +"Sometimes they make love to their employer's daughter," retorted Dame +Harrison spitefully, for Lady Sue was undoubtedly lending an ear to the +conversation now that it had the young secretary for object. She was not +watching Squire Boatfield who was wielding the balls just then with +remarkable prowess, and at this last remark from the portly old dame, +she turned sharply round and said with a strange little air of +haughtiness which somehow became her very well: +</p> +<p> +"But then you see, mistress, Master Lambert's employer doth not possess +a daughter of his own—only a ward . . . mayhap that is the reason why his +secretary performs his duties so well in other ways." +</p> +<p> +Her cheeks were glowing as she said this, and she looked quite defiant, +as if challenging these disagreeable mothers and aunts of +fortune-hunting youths to cast unpleasant aspersions on a friend whom +she had taken under her special protection. +</p> +<p> +Sir Marmaduke looked at her keenly; a deep frown settled between his +eyes at sight of her enthusiasm. His face suddenly looked older, and +seemed more dour, more repellent than before. +</p> +<p> +"Sue hath such a romantic temperament," he said dryly, speaking between +his teeth and as if with an effort. "Lambert's humble origin has fired +her imagination. He has no parents and his elder brother is the +blacksmith down at Acol; his aunt, who seems to have had charge of the +boys ever since they were children, is just a common old woman who lives +in the village—a strict adherent, so I am told, of this new sect, whom +Justice Bennet of Derby hath so justly nicknamed 'Quakers.' They talk +strangely, these people, and believe in a mighty queer fashion. I know +not if Lambert be of their creed, for he does not use the 'thee' and +'thou' when speaking as do all Quakers, so I am told; but his empty +pockets, a smattering of learning which he has picked up the Lord knows +where, and a plethora of unspoken grievances, have all proved a sure +passport to Lady Sue's sympathy." +</p> +<p> +"Nay, but your village of Acol seems full of queer folk, good Sir +Marmaduke," said Mistress Pyncheon. "I have heard talk among my servants +of a mysterious prince hailed from France, who has lately made one of +your cottages his home." +</p> +<p> +"Oh! ah! yes!" quoth Sir Marmaduke lightly, "the interesting exile from +the Court of King Louis. I did not know that his fame had reached you, +mistress." +</p> +<p> +"A French prince?—in this village?" exclaimed Dame Harrison sharply, +"and pray, good Sir Marmaduke, where did you go a-fishing to get such a +bite?" +</p> +<p> +"Nay!" replied Sir Marmaduke with a short laugh, "I had naught to do +with his coming; he wandered to Acol from Dover about six months ago it +seems, and found refuge in the Lamberts' cottage, where he has remained +ever since. A queer fellow I believe. I have only seen him once or +twice in my fields . . . in the evening, usually . . ." +</p> +<p> +Perhaps there was just a curious note of irritability in Sir Marmaduke's +voice as he spoke of this mysterious inhabitant of the quiet village of +Acol; certain it is that the two matchmaking old dames seemed smitten at +one and the same time with a sense of grave danger to their schemes. +</p> +<p> +An exile from France, a prince who hides his identity and his person in +a remote Kentish village, and a girl with a highly imaginative +temperament like Lady Sue! here was surely a more definite, a more +important rival to the pretensions of homely country youths like Sir +Timothy Harrison or Squire Pyncheon, than even the student of humble +origin whose brother was a blacksmith, whose aunt was a Quakeress, and +who wandered about the park of Acol with hollow eyes fixed longingly on +the much-courted heiress. +</p> +<p> +Dame Harrison and Mistress Pyncheon both instinctively turned a +scrutinizing gaze on her ladyship. Neither of them was perhaps +ordinarily very observant, but self-interest had made them keen, and it +would have been impossible not to note the strange atmosphere which +seemed suddenly to pervade the entire personality of the young girl. +</p> +<p> +There was nothing in her face now expressive of whole-hearted +partisanship for an absent friend, such as she had displayed when she +felt that young Lambert was being unjustly sneered at; rather was it a +kind of entranced and arrested thought, as if her mind, having come in +contact with one all-absorbing idea, had ceased to function in any other +direction save that one. +</p> +<p> +Her cheeks no longer glowed, they seemed pale and transparent like those +of an ascetic; her lips were slightly parted, her eyes appeared +unconscious of everything round her, and gazing at something enchanting +beyond that bank of clouds which glimmered, snow-white, through the +trees. +</p> +<p> +"But what in the name of common sense is a French prince doing in Acol +village?" ejaculated Dame Harrison in her most strident voice, which had +the effect of drawing every one's attention to herself and to Sir +Marmaduke, whom she was thus addressing. +</p> +<p> +The men ceased playing and gathered nearer. The spell was broken. That +strange and mysterious look vanished from Lady Sue's face; she turned +away from the speakers and idly plucked a few bunches of acorn from an +overhanging oak. +</p> +<p> +"Of a truth," replied Sir Marmaduke, whose eyes were still steadily +fixed on his ward, "I know as little about the fellow, ma'am, as you do +yourself. He was exiled from France by King Louis for political reasons, +so he explained to the old woman Lambert, with whom he is still lodging. +I understand that he hardly ever sleeps at the cottage, that his +appearances there are short and fitful and that his ways are passing +mysterious. . . . And that is all I know," he added in conclusion, with a +careless shrug of the shoulders. +</p> +<p> +"Quite a romance!" remarked Mistress Pyncheon dryly. +</p> +<p> +"You should speak to him, good Sir Marmaduke," said Dame Harrison +decisively, "you are a magistrate. 'Tis your duty to know more of this +fellow and his antecedents." +</p> +<p> +"Scarcely that, ma'am," rejoined Sir Marmaduke, "you understand . . . I +have a young ward living for the nonce in my house . . . she is very rich, +and, I fear me, of a very romantic disposition . . . I shall try to get +the man removed from hence, but until that is accomplished, I prefer to +know nothing about him . . ." +</p> +<p> +"How wise of you, good Sir Marmaduke!" quoth Mistress Pyncheon with a +sigh of content. +</p> +<p> +A sentiment obviously echoed in the hearts of a good many people there +present. +</p> +<p> +"One knows these foreign adventurers," concluded Sir Marmaduke with +pleasant irony, "with their princely crowns and forlorn causes . . . half +a million of English money would no doubt regild the former and bolster +up the latter." +</p> +<p> +He rose from his seat as he spoke, boldly encountering even as he did +so, a pair of wrathful and contemptuous girlish eyes fixed steadily upon +him. +</p> +<p> +"Shall we go within?" he said, addressing his guests, and returning his +young ward's gaze haughtily, even commandingly; "a cup of sack-posset +will be welcome after the fatigue of the game. Will you honor my poor +house, mistress? and you, too, ma'am? Gentlemen, you must fight among +yourselves for the privilege of escorting Lady Sue to the house, and if +she prove somewhat disdainful this beautiful summer's afternoon, I pray +you remember that faint heart never won fair lady, and that the citadel +is not worth storming an it is not obdurate." +</p> +<p> +The suggestion of sack-posset proved vastly to the liking of the merry +company. Mistress de Chavasse who had been singularly silent all the +afternoon, walked quickly in advance of her brother-in-law's guests, no +doubt in order to cast a scrutinizing eye over the arrangements of the +table, which she had entrusted to the servants. +</p> +<p> +Sir Marmaduke followed at a short distance, escorting the older women, +making somewhat obvious efforts to control his own irritability, and to +impart some sort of geniality to the proceedings. +</p> +<p> +Then in a noisy group in the rear came the three men still fighting for +the good graces of Lady Sue, whilst she, silent, absorbed, walked +leisurely along, paying no heed to the wrangling of her courtiers, her +fingers tearing up with nervous impatience the delicate cups of the +acorns, which she then threw from her with childish petulance. +</p> +<p> +And her eyes still sought the distance beyond the boundaries of Sir +Marmaduke's private grounds, there where cornfields and sky and sea were +merged by the summer haze into a glowing line of emerald and purple and +gold. +</p> + + + +<p> </p> +<p> </p> +<a name="CH4"><!-- CH4 --></a> +<h2> + CHAPTER IV +</h2> + +<h3> +GRINDING POVERTY +</h3><p> </p> +<p> +It was about an hour later. Sir Marmaduke's guests had departed, Dame +Harrison in her rickety coach, Mistress Pyncheon in her chaise, whilst +Squire Boatfield was riding his well-known ancient cob. +</p> +<p> +Everyone had drunk sack-posset, had eaten turkey pasties, and enjoyed +the luscious fruit: the men had striven to be agreeable to the heiress, +the old ladies to be encouraging to their protégés. Sir Marmaduke had +tried to be equally amiable to all, whilst favoring none. He was an +unpopular man in East Kent and he knew it, doing nothing to +counterbalance the unpleasing impression caused invariably by his surly +manner, and his sarcastic, often violent, temper. +</p> +<p> +Mistress Amelia Editha de Chavasse was now alone with her brother-in-law +in the great bare hall of the Court, Lady Sue having retired to her room +under pretext of the vapors, and young Lambert been finally dismissed +from work for the day. +</p> +<p> +"You are passing kind to the youth, Marmaduke," said Mistress de +Chavasse meditatively when the young man's darkly-clad figure had +disappeared up the stairs. +</p> +<p> +She was sitting in a high-backed chair, her head resting against the +carved woodwork. The folds of her simple gown hung primly round her +well-shaped figure. Undoubtedly she was still a very good-looking woman, +though past the hey-day of her youth and beauty. The half-light caused +by the depth of the window embrasure, and the smallness of the glass +panes through which the summer sun hardly succeeded in gaining +admittance, added a certain softness to her chiseled features, and to +the usually hard expression of her large dark eyes. +</p> +<p> +She was gazing out of the tall window, wherein the several broken panes +were roughly patched with scraps of paper, out into the garden and the +distance beyond, where the sea could be always guessed at, even when not +seen. Sir Marmaduke had his back to the light: he was sitting astride a +low chair, his high-booted foot tapping the ground impatiently, his +fingers drumming a devil's tattoo against the back of the chair. +</p> +<p> +"Lambert would starve if I did not provide for him," he said with a +sneer. "Adam, his brother, could do naught for him: he is poor as a +church-mouse, poorer even than I—but nathless," he added with a violent +oath, "it strikes everyone as madness that I should keep a secretary +when I scarce can pay the wages of a serving maid." +</p> +<p> +"'Twere better you paid your servants' wages, Marmaduke," she retorted +harshly, "they were insolent to me just now. Why do you not pay the +girl's arrears to-day?" +</p> +<p> +"Why do I not climb up to the moon, my dear Editha, and bring down a +few stars with me in my descent," he replied with a shrug of his broad +shoulders. "I have come to my last shilling." +</p> +<p> +"The Earl of Northallerton cannot live for ever." +</p> +<p> +"He hath vowed, I believe, that he would do it, if only to spite me. And +by the time that he come to die this accursed Commonwealth will have +abolished all titles and confiscated every estate." +</p> +<p> +"Hush, Marmaduke," she said, casting a quick, furtive look all round +her, "there may be spies about." +</p> +<p> +"Nay, I care not," he rejoined roughly, jumping to his feet and kicking +the chair aside so that it struck with a loud crash against the flagged +floor. "'Tis but little good a man gets for cleaving loyally to the +Commonwealth. The sequestrated estates of the Royalists would have been +distributed among the adherents of republicanism, and not held to +bolster up a military dictatorship. Bah!" he continued, allowing his +temper to overmaster him, speaking in harsh tones and with many a +violent oath, "it had been wiser to embrace the Royal cause. The Lord +Protector is sick, so 'tis said. His son Richard hath no backbone, and +the present tyranny is worse than the last. I cannot collect my rents; I +have been given neither reward nor compensation for the help I gave in +'46. So much for their boasted gratitude and their many promises! My +Lord Protector feasts the Dutch ambassadors with music and with wine, my +Lords Ireton and Fairfax and Hutchinson and the accursed lot of canting +Puritans flaunt it in silks and satins, whilst I go about in a ragged +doublet and with holes in my shoes." +</p> +<p> +"There's Lady Sue," murmured Mistress de Chavasse soothingly. +</p> +<p> +"Pshaw! the guardianship of a girl who comes of age in three months!" +</p> +<p> +"You can get another by that time." +</p> +<p> +"Not I. I am not a sycophant hanging round White Hall! 'Twas sheer good +luck and no merit of mine that got me the guardianship of Sue. Lord +Middlesborough, her kinsman, wanted it; the Courts would have given her +to him, but old Noll thought him too much of a 'gentleman,' whilst I—an +out-at-elbows country squire, was more to my Lord Protector's liking. +'Tis the only thing he ever did for me." +</p> +<p> +There was intense bitterness and a harsh vein of sarcasm running through +Sir Marmaduke's talk. It was the speech of a disappointed man, who had +hoped, and striven, and fought once; had raised longing hands towards +brilliant things and sighed after glory, or riches, or fame, but whose +restless spirit had since been tamed, crushed under the heavy weight of +unsatisfied ambition. +</p> +<p> +Poverty—grinding, unceasing, uninteresting poverty, had been Sir +Marmaduke's relentless tormentor ever since he had reached man's estate. +His father, Sir Jeremy de Chavasse, had been poor before him. The +younger son of that Earl of Northallerton who cut such a brilliant +figure at the Court of Queen Elizabeth, Jeremy had married Mistress +Spanton of Acol Court, who had brought him a few acres of land heavily +burdened with mortgage as her dowry. They were a simple-minded, +unostentatious couple who pinched and scraped and starved that their two +sons might keep up the appearances of gentlemen at the Court of King +Charles. +</p> +<p> +But both the young men seemed to have inherited from their brilliant +grandfather luxurious tastes and a love of gambling and of show—but +neither his wealth nor yet his personal charm of manner. The eldest, +Rowland, however, soon disappeared from the arena of life. He married +when scarce twenty years of age a girl who had been a play-actress. This +marriage nearly broke his doting mother's heart, and his own, too, for +the matter of that, for the union was a most unhappy one. Rowland de +Chavasse died very soon after, unreconciled to his father and mother, +who refused to see him or his family, even on his deathbed. +</p> +<p> +Jeremy de Chavasse's few hopes now centered on his younger son, +Marmaduke. In order to enable the young man to remain in London, to mix +freely and to hold his own in that set into which family traditions had +originally gained him admittance, the fond mother and indulgent father +denied themselves the very necessities of life. +</p> +<p> +Marmaduke took everything that was given him, whilst chafing at the +paucity of his allowance. Determined to cut a figure at Court, he spent +two years and most of his mother's dowry in a vain attempt to capture +the heart of one or the other of the rich heiresses who graced the +entourage of Charles I. +</p> +<p> +But Nature who had given Marmaduke boundless ambition, had failed to +bestow on him those attributes which would have helped him on towards +its satisfaction. He was neither sufficiently prepossessing to please an +heiress, nor sufficiently witty and brilliant to catch the royal eye or +the favor of his uncle, the present Earl of Northallerton. His efforts +in the direction of advantageous matrimony had earned for him at Court +the nickname of "The Sparrowhawk." But even these efforts had soon to be +relinquished for want of the wherewithal. +</p> +<p> +The doting mother no longer could supply him with a sufficiency of money +to vie with the rich gallants at the Court, and the savings which Sir +Jeremy had been patiently accumulating with a view to freeing the Acol +estates from mortgage went instead to rescue young Marmaduke from a +debtor's prison. +</p> +<p> +Poor Sir Jeremy did not long survive his disappointment. Marmaduke +returned to Acol Court only to find his mother a broken invalid, and his +father dead. +</p> +<p> +Since then it had been a perpetual struggle against poverty and debt, a +bitter revolt against Fate, a burning desire to satisfy ambition which +had received so serious a check. +</p> +<p> +When the great conflict broke out between King and Parliament, he threw +himself into it, without zest and without conviction, embracing the +cause of the malcontents with a total lack of enthusiasm, merely out of +disappointment—out of hatred for the brilliant Court and circle in +which he had once hoped to become a prominent figure. +</p> +<p> +He fought under Ireton, was commended as a fairly good soldier, though +too rebellious to be very reliable, too self-willed to be wholly +trusted. +</p> +<p> +Even in these days of brilliant reputations quickly made, he remained +obscure and practically unnoticed. Advancement never came his way and +whilst younger men succeeded in attracting the observant eye of old +Noll, he was superseded at every turn, passed over—anon forgotten. +</p> +<p> +When my Lord Protector's entourage was formed, the Household organized, +no one thought of the Sparrowhawk for any post that would have satisfied +his desires. Once more he cursed his own poverty. Money—the want of +it—he felt was at the root of all his disappointments. A burning desire +to obtain it at any cost, even that of honor, filled his entire being, +his mind, his soul, his thoughts, every nerve in his body. Money, and +social prestige! To be somebody at Court or elsewhere, politically, +commercially,—he cared not. To handle money and to command attention! +</p> +<p> +He became wary, less reckless, striving to obtain by diplomatic means +that which he had once hoped to snatch by sheer force of personality. +The Court of Chancery having instituted itself sole guardian and +administrator of the revenues and fortunes of minors whose fathers had +fought on the Royalist side, and were either dead or in exile, and +arrogating unto itself the power to place such minors under the +tutelage of persons whose loyalty to the Commonwealth was undoubted, Sir +Marmaduke bethought himself of applying for one of these official +guardianships which were known to be very lucrative and moreover, +practically sinecures. +</p> +<p> +Fate for once favored him; a half-contemptuous desire to do something +for this out-at-elbows Kentish squire who had certainly been a loyal +adherent of the Commonwealth, caused my Lord Protector to favor his +application. The rich daughter of the Marquis of Dover was placed under +the guardianship of Sir Marmaduke de Chavasse with an allowance of +£4,000 a year for her maintenance, until she came of age. A handsome +fortune and stroke of good luck for a wise and prudent man:—a drop in +an ocean of debts, difficulties and expensive tastes, in the case of Sir +Marmaduke. +</p> +<p> +A prolonged visit to London with a view either of gaining a foothold in +the new Court, or of drawing the attention of the malcontents, of Monk +and his party, or even of the Royalists, to himself, resulted in further +debts, in more mortgages, more bitter disappointments. +</p> +<p> +The man himself did not please. His personality was unsympathetic; Lady +Sue's money which he now lavished right and left, bought neither +friendship nor confidence. He joined all the secret clubs which in +defiance of Cromwell's rigid laws against betting and gambling, were the +resort of all the smart gentlemen in the town. Ill-luck at hazard and +dice pursued him: he was a bad loser, quarrelsome and surly. His +ambition had not taught him the salutary lesson of how to make friends +in order to attain his desires. +</p> +<p> +His second return to the ancestral home was scarcely less disastrous +than the first; a mortgage on his revenues as guardian of Lady Sue +Aldmarshe just saved him this time from the pursuit of his creditors, +and this mortgage he had only obtained through false statements as to +his ward's age. +</p> +<p> +As he told his sister-in-law a moment ago, he was at his last gasp. He +had perhaps just begun to realize that he would never succeed through +the force of his own individuality. Therefore, money had become a still +more imperative necessity to him. He was past forty now. Disappointed +ambition and an ever rebellious spirit had left severe imprints on his +face: his figure was growing heavy, his prominent lips, unadorned by a +mustache, had an unpleasant downward droop, and lately he had even +noticed that the hair on the top of his head was not so thick as of +yore. +</p> +<p> +The situation was indeed getting desperate, since Lady Sue would be of +age in three months, when all revenues for her maintenance would cease. +</p> +<p> +"Methinks her million will go to one of those young jackanapes who hang +about her," sighed Mistress de Chavasse, with almost as much bitterness +as Sir Marmaduke had shown. +</p> +<p> +Her fortunes were in a sense bound up with those of her brother-in-law. +He had been most unaccountably kind to her of late, a kindness which his +many detractors attributed either to an infatuation for his brother's +widow, or to a desire to further irritate his uncle the Earl of +Northallerton, who—a rigid Puritan himself—hated the play-actress and +her connection with his own family. +</p> +<p> +"Can naught be done, Marmaduke?" she asked after a slight pause, during +which she had watched anxiously the restless figure of her +brother-in-law as he paced up and down the narrow hall. +</p> +<p> +"Can you suggest anything, my dear Editha?" he retorted roughly. +</p> +<p> +"Pshaw!" she ejaculated with some impatience, "you are not so old, but +you could have made yourself agreeable to the wench." +</p> +<p> +"You think that she would have fallen in love with her middle-aged +guardian?" he exclaimed with a harsh, sarcastic laugh. "That girl? . . . +with her head full of romantic nonsense . . . and I . . . in ragged doublet, +with a bald head, and an evil temper . . . Bah!!! . . . But," he added, with +an unpleasant sneer, "'tis unselfish and disinterested on your part, my +dear Editha, even to suggest it. Sue does not like you. Her being +mistress here would not be conducive to your comfort." +</p> +<p> +"Nay! 'tis no use going on in this manner any longer, Marmaduke," she +said dejectedly. "Pleasant times will not come my way so long as you +have not a shilling to give me for a new gown, and cannot afford to keep +up my house in London." +</p> +<p> +She fully expected another retort from him—brutal and unbridled as was +his wont when money affairs were being discussed. He was not accustomed +to curb his violence in her presence. She had been his helpmeet in many +unavowable extravagances, in the days when he was still striving after a +brilliant position in town. There had been certain rumors anent a +gambling den, whereat Mistress de Chavasse had been the presiding spirit +and which had come under the watchful eye of my Lord Protector's spies. +</p> +<p> +Now she had perforce to share her brother-in-law's poverty. At any rate +he provided a roof over her head. On the advent of Lady Sue Aldmarshe +into his bachelor establishment he called on his sister-in-law for the +part of duenna. +</p> +<p> +At one time the fair Editha had exercised her undoubted charms over +Marmaduke's violent nature, but latterly she had become a mere butt for +his outbursts of rage. But now to her astonishment, and in response to +her petulant reproach, his fury seemed to fall away from him. He threw +his head back and broke out into uncontrolled, half-sarcastic, almost +defiant laughter. +</p> +<p> +"How blind you are, my dear Editha," he said with a shrug of his broad +shoulders. "Nay! an I mistake not, in that case there will be some +strange surprises for you within the next three months. I pray you try +and curb your impatience until then, and to bear with the insolence of a +serving wench, 'Twill serve you well, mine oath on that!" he added +significantly. +</p> +<p> +Then without vouchsafing further explanations of his enigmatic +utterances, he turned on his heel—still laughing apparently at some +pleasing thought—and walked upstairs, leaving her to meditate. +</p> + + + +<p> </p> +<p> </p> +<a name="CH5"><!-- CH5 --></a> +<h2> + CHAPTER V +</h2> + +<h3> +THE LEGAL ASPECT +</h3><p> </p> +<p> +Mistress de Chavasse sat musing, in that high-backed chair, for some +considerable time. Anon Sir Marmaduke once more traversed the hall, +taking no heed of her as he went out into the garden. She watched his +broad figure moving along the path and then crossing the rustic bridge +until it disappeared among the trees of the park. +</p> +<p> +There was something about his attitude of awhile ago which puzzled her. +And with puzzlement came an inexplicable fear: she had known Marmaduke +in all his moods, but never in such an one as he had displayed before +her just now. There had been a note almost of triumph in the laughter +with which he had greeted her last reproach. The cry of the sparrowhawk +when it seizes its prey. +</p> +<p> +Triumph in Sir Marmaduke filled her with dread. No one knew better than +she did the hopeless condition of his financial status. Debt—prison +perhaps—was waiting for him at every turn. Yet he seemed triumphant! +She knew him to have reached those confines of irritability and +rebellion against poverty which would cause him to shrink from nothing +for the sake of gaining money. Yet he seemed triumphant! +</p> +<p> +Instinctively she shuddered as she thought of Sue. She had no cause to +like the girl, yet would she not wish to see her come to harm. +</p> +<p> +She did not dare avow even to herself the conviction which she had, that +if Sir Marmaduke could gain anything by the young girl's death, he would +not hesitate to . . . Nay! she would not even frame that thought. +Marmaduke had been kind to her; she could but hope that temptation such +as that, would never come his way. +</p> +<p> +Hymn-of-Praise Busy broke in on her meditations. His nasal tones—which +had a singular knack of irritating her as a rule—struck quite +pleasingly on her ear, as a welcome interruption to the conflict of her +thoughts. +</p> +<p> +"Master Skyffington, ma'am," he said in his usual drawly voice, "he is +on his way to Dover, and desired his respects, an you wish to see him." +</p> +<p> +"Yes! yes! I'll see Master Skyffington," she said with alacrity, rising +from her chair, "go apprise Sir Marmaduke, and ask Master Skyffington to +come within." +</p> +<p> +She was all agitation now, eager, excited, and herself went forward to +meet the quaint, little wizened figure which appeared in the doorway. +</p> +<p> +Master Skyffington, attorney-at-law, was small and thin—looked doubly +so, in fact, in the black clothes which he wore. His eyes were blue and +watery, his manner peculiarly diffident. He seemed to present a +perpetual apology to the world for his own existence therein. +</p> +<p> +Even now as Mistress de Chavasse seemed really overjoyed to see him, he +backed his meager person out of the doorway as she approached, whereupon +she—impatiently—clutched his arm and dragged him forward into the +hall. +</p> +<p> +"Sit down there, master," she said, speaking with obvious agitation, and +almost pushing the poor little man off his feet whilst dragging him to a +chair. "Sir Marmaduke will see you anon, but 'twas a kind thought to +come and bring me news." +</p> +<p> +"Hem! . . . hem! . . ." stammered Master Skyffington, "I . . . that is . . . hem +. . . I left Canterbury this morning and was on my way to Dover . . . hem +. . . this lies on my way, ma'am . . . and . . ." +</p> +<p> +"Yes! yes!" she said impatiently, "but you have some news, of course?" +</p> +<p> +"News! . . . news!" he muttered apologetically, and clutching at his +collar, which seemed to be choking him, "what news—er—I pray you, +ma'am?" +</p> +<p> +"That clew?" she insisted. +</p> +<p> +"It was very slight," he stammered. +</p> +<p> +"And it led to naught?" +</p> +<p> +"Alas!" +</p> +<p> +Her eagerness vanished. She sank back into her chair and moaned. +</p> +<p> +"My last hope!" she said dully. +</p> +<p> +"Nay! nay!" rejoined Master Skyffington quite cheerfully, his courage +seemingly having risen with her despair. "We must not be despondent. The +noble Earl of Northallerton hath interested himself of late in the +search and . . ." +</p> +<p> +But she shrugged her shoulders, whilst a short, bitter laugh escaped her +lips: +</p> +<p> +"At last?" she said with biting sarcasm. "After twelve years!" +</p> +<p> +"Nay! but remember, ma'am, that his lordship now is very ill . . . and +nigh on seventy years old. . . . Failing your late husband, Master +Rowland—whom the Lord hath in His keeping—your eldest son is . . . hem +. . . that is . . . by law, ma'am, . . . and with all respect due to Sir +Marmaduke . . . your eldest son is heir to the Earldom." +</p> +<p> +"And though his lordship hates me, he still prefers that my son should +succeed to his title, rather than Sir Marmaduke whom he abhors." +</p> +<p> +But that suggestion was altogether too much for poor Master +Skyffington's sense of what was due to so noble a family, and to its +exalted head. +</p> +<p> +"That is . . . er . . ." he muttered in supreme discomfort, swallowing great +gulps which rose to his throat at this rash and disrespectful speech +from the ex-actress. "Family feuds . . . hem . . . er . . . very distressing +of a truth . . . and . . . that is . . ." +</p> +<p> +"I fear me his lordship will be disappointed," she rejoined, quite +heedless of the little attorney's perturbation, "and that under these +circumstances Sir Marmaduke will surely succeed." +</p> +<p> +"I was about to remark," he rejoined, "that now, with my lord's +help—his wealth and influence . . . now, that is, . . . that he has +interested himself in the matter . . . hem . . . we might make fresh +inquiries . . . that is . . . er . . ." +</p> +<p> +"It will be useless, master. I have done all that is humanly possible. I +loved my boys dearly—and it was because of my love for them that I +placed them under my mother's care. . . . I loved them, you understand, but +I was living in a gay world in London . . . my husband was dead . . . I +could do naught for their comfort. . . . I thought it would be best for +them . . ." +</p> +<p> +It was her turn now to speak humbly, almost apologetically, whilst her +eyes sought those of the simple little attorney, trying to read approval +in his glance, or at any rate an absence of reproof. He was shaking his +head, sighing with visible embarrassment the while. In his innermost +soul, he could find no excuse for the frivolous mother, anxious to avoid +the responsibilities which the Lord Himself had put upon her: anxious to +be rid of her children in order that she might pursue with greater +freedom and ease that life of enjoyment and thoughtlessness which she +craved. +</p> +<p> +"My mother was a strange woman," continued Mistress de Chavasse +earnestly and placing her small white hand on the black sleeve of the +attorney, "she cared little enough for me, and not at all for London +and for society. She did not understand the many duties that devolve on +a woman of fashion. . . . And I was that in those days! . . . twenty years +ago!" +</p> +<p> +"Ah! Truly! truly!" sighed Master Skyffington. +</p> +<p> +"Mayhap she acted according to her own lights. . . . After some years she +became a convert to that strange new faith . . . of the people who call +themselves 'Friends' . . . who salute no one with the hat, and who talk so +strangely, saying: 'thee' and 'thou' even when addressing their betters. +One George Fox had a great hold on her. He was quite a youth then, but +she thought him a saint. 'Tis he, methinks, poisoned her mind against +me, and caused her to curse me on her deathbed." +</p> +<p> +She gave a little shudder—of superstition, perhaps. The maternal +curse—she felt—was mayhap bearing fruit after all. Master +Skyffington's watery eyes expressed gentle sympathy. His calling had +taught him many of the hidden secrets of human nature and of Life: he +guessed that the time—if not already here—was nigh at hand, when this +unfortunate woman would realize the emptiness of her life, and would +begin to reap the bitter harvest of the barren seeds which she had sown. +</p> +<p> +"Aye! I lay it all at the door of these 'Friends' who turned a mother's +heart against her own daughter," continued Mistress de Chavasse +vehemently. "She never told me that she was sick, sent me neither letter +nor message; only after her death a curt note came to me, writ in her +hand, entrusted to one of her own co-worshipers, a canting, mouthing +creature, who grinned whilst I read the heartless message. My mother had +sent her grandchildren away, so she told me in the letter, when she felt +that the Lord was calling her to Him. She had placed my boys—my boys, +master!—in the care of a trusted 'friend' who would bring them up in +the fear of God, away from the influence of their mother. My boys, +master, remember! . . . they were to be brought up in ignorance of their +name—of the very existence of their mother. The 'friend,' doubtless a +fellow Quaker—had agreed to this on my mother's deathbed." +</p> +<p> +"Hm! 'tis passing strange, and passing sad," said the attorney, with +real sympathy now, for there was a pathetic note of acute sorrow in +Mistress de Chavasse's voice, "but at the time . . . hem . . . and with +money and influence . . . hem . . . much might have been done." +</p> +<p> +"Ah! believe me, master, I did what I could. I was in London then. . . . I +flew to Canterbury where my mother lived. . . . I found her dead . . . and +the boys gone . . . none of the neighbors could tell me whither. . . . All +they knew was that a woman had been living with my mother of late and +had gone away, taking the boys with her. . . . My boys, master, and no one +could tell me whither they had gone! I spent what money I had, and Sir +Marmaduke nobly bore his share in the cost of a ceaseless search, as the +Earl of Northallerton would do nothing then to help me." +</p> +<p> +"Passing strange . . . passing sad," murmured Master Skyffington, shaking +his head, "but methinks I recollect . . . hem . . . some six years ago . . . a +quest which led to a clew . . . er . . . that is . . . two young gentlemen +. . ." +</p> +<p> +"Impostors, master," she rejoined, "aye! I have heard of many such since +then. At first I used to believe their stories . . ." +</p> +<p> +"At first?" he ejaculated in amazement, "but surely . . . hem . . . the +faces . . . your own sons, ma'am . . ." +</p> +<p> +"Ah! the faces!" she said, whilst a blush of embarrassment, even of +shame, now suffused her pale cheeks. "I mean . . . you understand . . . I +. . . I had not seen my boys since they were babes in arms . . . they were +ten years old when they were taken away . . . but . . . but it is nigh on +twenty-two years since I have set eyes on their faces. I would not know +them, if they passed me by." +</p> +<p> +Tears choked her voice. Shame had added its bitter sting to the agony of +her sorrow. Of a truth it was a terrible epilogue of misery, following +on a life-story of frivolity and of heartlessness which Mistress de +Chavasse had almost unconsciously related to the poor ignorant country +attorney. Desirous at all costs of retaining her freedom, she had parted +from her children with a light heart, glad enough that their +grandmother was willing to relieve her of all responsibility. Time +slipped by whilst she enjoyed herself, danced and flirted, gambled and +played her part in that world of sport and Fashion wherein a mother's +heart was an unnecessary commodity. Ten years are a long while in the +life of an old woman who lives in a remote country town, and sees Death +approaching with slow yet certain stride; but that same decade is but as +a fleeting hour to the woman who is young and who lives for the moment. +</p> +<p> +The boys had been forgotten long ere they disappeared! Forgotten? +perhaps not!—but their memory put away in a hidden cell of the mind +where other inconvenient thoughts were stored: only to be released and +gazed upon when other more agreeable ones had ceased to fill the brain. +</p> +<p> +She felt humbled before this simple-minded man, whom she knew she had +shocked by the recital of her callousness. With innate gentleness of +disposition he tried to hide his feelings and to set aside the subject +for the moment. +</p> +<p> +"Sir Marmaduke was very disinterested, when he aided you in the quest," +he said meekly, glad to be able to praise one whom he felt it his duty +to respect, "for under present circumstances . . . hem! . . ." +</p> +<p> +"I will raise no difficulties in Sir Marmaduke's way," she rejoined, +"there is no doubt in my mind that my boys are dead, else I had had news +of them ere this." +</p> +<p> +He looked at her keenly—as keenly as he dared with his mild, blue +eyes. It was hard to keep in sympathy with her. Her moods seemed to +change as she spoke of her boys and then of Sir Marmaduke. Her last +remark seemed to argue that her callousness with regard to her sons had +not entirely yielded to softer emotions yet. +</p> +<p> +"In case of my Lord Northallerton's death," she continued lightly, "I +shall not put in a claim on behalf of any son of mine." +</p> +<p> +"Whereupon—hem Sir Marmaduke as next-of-kin, would have the enjoyment +of the revenues—and mayhap would have influence enough then to make +good his claim to the title before the House of Lords . . ." +</p> +<p> +He checked himself: looked furtively round and added: +</p> +<p> +"Provided it please God and my Lord Protector that the House of Lords +come back to Westminster by that time." +</p> +<p> +"I thank you, master," said Mistress de Chavasse, rising from her chair, +intimating that this interview was now over, "you have told me all that +I wish to know. Let me assure you, that I will not prove ungrateful. +Your services will be amply repaid by whomever succeeds to the title and +revenues of Northallerton. Did you wish to see Sir Marmaduke?" +</p> +<p> +"I thank you, mistress, not to-day," replied Master Skyffington somewhat +dryly. The lady's promises had not roused his enthusiasm. He would have +preferred to see more definite reward for his labors, for he had worked +faithfully and was substantially out of pocket in this quest after the +two missing young men. +</p> +<p> +But he was imbued with that deep respect for the family he had served +all his life, which no conflict between privilege and people would ever +eradicate, and though Mistress de Chavasse's origin was of the humblest, +she was nevertheless herself now within the magic circle into which +Master Skyffington never gazed save with the deepest reverence. +</p> +<p> +He thought it quite natural that she should dismiss him with a curt and +condescending nod, and when she had swept majestically out of the room, +he made his way humbly across the hall, then by the garden door out +towards the tumble-down barn where he had tethered his old mare. +</p> +<p> +Master Courage helped him to mount, and he rode away in the direction of +the Dover Road, his head bent, his thoughts dwelling in puzzlement and +wonder on the strange doings of those whom he still reverently called +his betters. +</p> + + + +<p> </p> +<p> </p> +<a name="CH6"><!-- CH6 --></a> +<h2> + CHAPTER VI +</h2> + +<h3> +UNDER THE SHADOW OF THE ELMS +</h3><p> </p> +<p> +Her head full of romantic nonsense! Well! perhaps that was the true +keynote of Sue's character; perhaps, too, it was that same romantic +temperament which gave such peculiar charm to her personality. It was +not mere beauty—of which she had a plentiful share—nor yet altogether +her wealth which attracted so many courtiers to her feet. Men who knew +her in those days at Acol and subsequently at Court said that Lady Sue +was magnetic. +</p> +<p> +She compelled attention, she commanded admiration, through that very +romanticism of hers which caused her eyes to glow at the recital of +valor, or sorrow, or talent, which caused her to see beauty of thought +and mind and character there where it lay most deeply hidden, +there—sometimes—where it scarce existed. +</p> +<p> +The dark figure of her guardian's secretary had attracted her attention +from the moment when she first saw him moving silently about the house +and park: the first words she spoke to him were words of sympathy. His +life-story—brief and simple as it had been—had interested her. He +seemed so different from these young and old country squires who +frequented Acol Court. He neither wooed nor flattered her, yet seemed +to find great joy in her company. His voice at times was harsh, his +manner abrupt and even rebellious, but at others it fell to infinite +gentleness when he talked to her of Nature and the stars, both of which +he had studied deeply. +</p> +<p> +He never spoke of religion. That subject which was on everybody's +tongue, together with the free use of the most sacred names, he +rigorously avoided, also politics, and my Lord Protector's government, +his dictatorship and ever-growing tyranny: but he knew the name of every +flower that grew in meadow or woodland, the note of every bird as it +trilled its song. +</p> +<p> +There is no doubt that but for the advent of that mysterious personality +into Acol village, the deep friendship which had grown in Sue's heart +for Richard Lambert would have warmed into a more passionate attachment. +</p> +<p> +But she was too young to reflect, too impulsive to analyze her feelings. +The mystery which surrounded the foreigner who lodged at the Quakeress's +cottage had made strong appeal to her idealism. +</p> +<p> +His first introduction to her notice, in the woods beyond the park gate +on that cold January evening, with the moon gleaming weirdly through the +branches of the elms, his solitary figure leaning against a tree, had +fired her imagination and set it wildly galloping after mad fantasies. +</p> +<p> +He had scarcely spoken on that first occasion, but his silence was +strangely impressive. She made up her mind that he was singularly +handsome, although she could not judge of that very clearly for he wore +a heavy mustache, and a shade over one eye; but he was tall, above the +average, and carried the elaborate habiliments which the Cavaliers still +affected, with consummate grace and ease. She thought, too, that the +thick perruque became him very well, and his muffled voice, when he +spoke, sounded singularly sweet. +</p> +<p> +Since then she had seen him constantly. At rare intervals at first, for +maidenly dignity forbade that she should seem eager to meet him. He was +<a name="note-sure"><!-- Note Anchor sure --></a>ignorant of whom she was—oh! of that she felt quite quite sure: she +always wore a dark tippet round her shoulders, and a hood to cover her +head. He seemed pleased to see her, just to hear her voice. Obviously he +was lonely and in deep trouble. +</p> +<p> +Then one night—it was the first balmy evening after the winter +frosts—the moon was singularly bright, and the hood had fallen back +from her head, just as her face was tilted upwards and her eyes glowing +with enthusiasm. Then she knew that he had learnt to love her, not +through any words which he spoke, for he was silent; his face was in +shadow, and he did not even touch her; therefore it was not through any +of her natural senses that she guessed his love. Yet she knew it, and +her young heart was overfilled with happiness. +</p> +<p> +That evening when they parted he knelt at her feet and kissed the hem of +her kirtle. After which, when she was back again in her own little room +at Acol Court, she cried for very joy. +</p> +<p> +They did not meet very often. Once a week at most. He had vaguely +promised to tell her, some day, of his great work for the regeneration +of France, which he was carrying out in loneliness and exile here in +England, a work far greater and more comprehensive than that which had +secured for England religious and political liberty; this work it was +which made him a wanderer on the face of the earth and caused his +frequent and lengthy absences from the cottage in which he lodged. +</p> +<p> +She was quite content for the moment with these vague promises: in her +heart she was evolving enchanting plans for the future, when she would +be his helpmate in this great and mysterious work. +</p> +<p> +In the meanwhile she was satisfied to live in the present, to console +and comfort the noble exile, to lavish on him the treasures of her young +and innocent love, to endow him in her imagination with all those mental +and physical attributes which her romantic nature admired most. +</p> +<p> +The spring had come, clothing the weird branches of the elms with a +tender garb of green, the anemones in the woods yielded to the bluebells +and these to carpets of primroses and violets. The forests of Thanet +echoed with songs of linnets and white-throats. She was happy and she +was in love. +</p> +<p> +With the lengthened days came some petty sorrows. He was obviously +worried, sometimes even impatient. Their meetings became fewer and +shorter, for the evening hours were brief. She found it difficult to +wander out so late across the park, unperceived, and he would never +meet her by day-light. +</p> +<p> +This no doubt had caused him to fret. He loved her and desired her all +his own. Yet 'twere useless of a surety to ask Sir Marmaduke's consent +to her marriage with her French prince. He would never give it, and +until she came of age he had absolute power over her choice of a +husband. +</p> +<p> +She had explained this to him and he had sighed and murmured angry +words, then pressed her with increased passion to his heart. +</p> +<p> +To-night as she walked through the park, she was conscious—for the +first time perhaps—of a certain alloy mixed with her gladness. Yet she +loved him—oh, yes! just, just as much as ever. The halo of romance with +which she had framed in his mystic personality was in no way dimmed, but +in a sense she almost feared him, for at times his muffled voice sounded +singularly vehement, and his words betrayed the uncontrolled violence of +his nature. +</p> +<p> +She had hoped to bring him some reassuring news anent Sir Marmaduke de +Chavasse's intentions with regard to herself, but the conversation round +the skittle-alley, her guardian's cruel allusions to "the foreign +adventurer," had shown her how futile were such hopes. +</p> +<p> +Yet, there were only three months longer of this weary waiting. Surely +he could curb his impatience until she was of age and mistress of her +own hand! Surely he trusted her! +</p> +<p> +She sighed as this thought crossed her mind, and nearly fell up against +a dark figure which detached itself from among the trees. +</p> +<p> +"Master Lambert!" she said, uttering a little cry of surprise, pressing +her hand against her heart which was palpitating with emotion. "I had no +thought of meeting you here." +</p> +<p> +"And I still less of seeing your ladyship," he rejoined coldly. +</p> +<p> +"How cross you are," she retorted with childish petulance, "what have I +done that you should be so unkind?" +</p> +<p> +"Unkind?" +</p> +<p> +"Aye! I had meant to speak to you of this ere now—but you always avoid +me . . . you scarce will look at me . . . and . . . and I wished to ask you if +I had offended you?" +</p> +<p> +They were standing on a soft carpet of moss, overhead the gentle summer +breeze stirred the great branches of the elms, causing the crisp leaves +to mutter a long-drawn hush-sh-sh in the stillness of the night. From +far away came the appealing call of a blackbird chased by some marauding +owl, while on the ground close by, the creaking of tiny branches +betrayed the quick scurrying of a squirrel. From the remote and infinite +distance came the subdued roar of the sea. +</p> +<p> +The peace of the woodland, the sighing of the trees, the dark evening +sky above, filled his heart with an aching longing for her. +</p> +<p> +"Offended me?" he murmured, passing his hand across his forehead, for +his temples throbbed and his eyes were burning. "Nay! why should you +think so?" +</p> +<p> +"You are so cold, so distant now," she said gently. "We were such good +friends when first I came here. Thanet is a strange country to me. It +seems weird and unkind—the woods are dark and lonely, that persistent +sound of the sea fills me with a strange kind of dread. . . . My home was +among the Surrey hills you know. . . . It is far from here. . . . I cannot +afford to lose a friend. . . ." +</p> +<p> +She sighed, a quaint, wistful little sigh, curiously out of place, he +thought, in this exquisite mouth framed only for smiles. +</p> +<p> +"I have so few real friends," she added in a whisper, so low that he +thought she had not spoken, and that the elms had sighed that pathetic +phrase into his ear. +</p> +<p> +"Believe me, Lady Sue, I am neither cold nor distant," he said, almost +smiling now, for the situation appeared strange indeed, that this +beautiful young girl, rich, courted, surrounded by an army of +sycophants, should be appealing to a poor dependent for friendship. "I +am only a little dazed . . . as any man would be who had been dreaming . . . +and saw that dream vanish away. . . ." +</p> +<p> +"Dreaming?" +</p> +<p> +"Yes!—we all dream sometimes you know . . . and a penniless man like +myself, without prospects or friends is, methinks, more prone to it than +most." +</p> +<p> +"We all have dreams sometimes," she said, speaking very low, whilst her +eyes sought to pierce the darkness beyond the trees. "I too . . ." +</p> +<p> +She paused abruptly, and was quite still for a moment, almost holding +her breath, he thought, as if she were listening. But not a sound came +to disturb the silence of the woods. Blackbird and owl had ceased their +fight for life, the squirrel had gone to rest: the evening air was +filled only by the great murmur of the distant sea. +</p> +<p> +"Tell me your dream," she said abruptly. +</p> +<p> +"Alas! it is too foolish! . . . too mad! . . . too impossible. . . ." +</p> +<p> +"But you said once that you would be my friend and would try to cheer my +loneliness." +</p> +<p> +"So I will, with all my heart, an you will permit." +</p> +<p> +"Yet is there no friendship without confidence," she retorted. "Tell me +your dream." +</p> +<p> +"What were the use? You would only laugh . . . and justly too." +</p> +<p> +"I should never laugh at that which made you sad," she said gently. +</p> +<p> +"Sad?" he rejoined with a short laugh, which had something of his usual +bitterness in it. "Sad? Mayhap! Yet I hardly know. Think you that the +poor peasant lad would be sad because he had dreamed that the fairy +princess whom he had seen from afar in her radiance, was sweet and +gracious to him one midsummer's day? It was only a dream, remember: when +he woke she had vanished . . . gone out of his sight . . . hidden from him +by a barrier of gold. . . . In front of this barrier stood his pride . . . +which perforce would have to be trampled down and crushed ere he could +reach the princess." +</p> +<p> +She did not reply, only bent her sweet head, lest he should perceive the +tears which had gathered in her eyes. All round them the wood seemed to +have grown darker and more dense, whilst from afar the weird voice of +that distant sea murmured of infinity and of the relentlessness of Fate. +</p> +<p> +They could not see one another very clearly, yet she knew that he was +gazing at her with an intensity of love and longing in his heart which +caused her own to ache with sympathy; and he knew that she was crying, +that there was something in that seemingly brilliant and happy young +life, which caused the exquisite head to droop as if under a load of +sorrow. +</p> +<p> +A broken sigh escaped her lips, or was it the sighing of the wind in the +elms? +</p> +<p> +He was smitten with remorse to think that he should have helped to make +her cry. +</p> +<p> +"Sue—my little, beautiful Sue," he murmured, himself astonished at his +own temerity in thus daring to address her. It was her grief which had +brought her down to his level: the instinct of chivalry, of protection, +of friendship which had raised him up to hers. +</p> +<p> +"Will you ever forgive me?" he said, "I had no right to speak to you as +I have done. . . . And yet . . ." +</p> +<p> +He paused and she repeated his last two words—gently, encouragingly. +</p> +<p> +"And yet . . . good master?" +</p> +<p> +"Yet at times, when I see the crowd of young, empty-headed +fortune-seeking jackanapes, who dare to aspire to your ladyship's hand +. . . I have asked myself whether perchance I had the right to remain +silent, whilst they poured their farrago of nonsense into your ear. I +love you, Sue!" +</p> +<p> +"No! no! good master!" she ejaculated hurriedly, while a nameless, +inexplicable fear seemed suddenly to be holding her in its grip, as he +uttered those few very simple words which told the old, old tale. +</p> +<p> +But those words once uttered, Richard felt that he could not now draw +back. The jealously-guarded secret had escaped his lips, passion refused +to be held longer in check. A torrent of emotion overmastered him. He +forgot where he was, the darkness of the night, the lateness of the +hour, the melancholy murmur of the wind in the trees, he forgot that she +was rich and he a poor dependent, he only remembered that she was +exquisitely fair and that he—poor fool!—was mad enough to worship her. +</p> +<p> +It was very dark now, for a bank of clouds hid the glory of the evening +sky, and he could see only the mere outline of the woman whom he so +passionately loved, the small head with the fluttering curls fanned by +the wind, the graceful shoulders and arms folded primly across her +bosom. +</p> +<p> +He put out his hand and found hers. Oh! the delight of raising it to his +lips. +</p> +<p> +"By the heaven above us, Sue, by all my hopes of salvation I swear to +you that my love is pure and selfless," he murmured tenderly, all the +while that her fragrant little hand was pressed against his lips. "But +for your fortune, I had come to you long ago and said to you 'Let me +work for you!—My love will help me to carve a fortune for you, which it +shall be my pride to place at your feet.'—Every nameless child, so 'tis +said, may be a king's son . . . and I, who have no name that I can of +verity call mine own—no father—no kith or kindred—I would conquer a +kingdom, Sue, if you but loved me too." +</p> +<p> +His voice broke in a sob. Ashamed of his outburst he tried to hide his +confusion from her, by sinking on one knee on that soft carpet of moss. +From the little village of Acol beyond the wood, came the sound of the +church bell striking the hour of nine. Sue was silent and absorbed, +intensely sorrowful to see the grief of her friend. He was quite lost in +the shadows at her feet now, but she could hear the stern efforts which +he made to resume control over himself and his voice. +</p> +<p> +"Richard . . . good Richard," she said soothingly, "believe me, I am very, +very sorry for this. . . . I . . . I vow I did not know. . . . I had no +thought—how could I have? that you cared for me like . . . like this. . . . +You believe me, good master, do you not?" she entreated. "Say that you +believe me, when I say that I would not willingly have caused you such +grief." +</p> +<p> +"I believe that you are the most sweet and pure woman in all the +world," he murmured fervently, "and that you are as far beyond my reach +as are the stars." +</p> +<p> +"Nay, nay, good master, you must not talk like that. . . . Truly, truly I +am only a weak and foolish girl, and quite unworthy of your deep +devotion . . . and you must try . . . indeed, indeed you must . . . to forget +what happened under these trees to-night." +</p> +<p> +"Of that I pray you have no fear," he replied more calmly, as he rose +and once more stood before her—a dark figure in the midst of the dark +wood—immovable, almost impassive, with head bent and arms folded across +his chest. "Nathless 'tis foolish for a nameless peasant even to talk of +his honor, yet 'tis mine honor, Lady Sue, which will ever help me to +remember that a mountain of gold and vast estates stand between me and +the realization of my dream." +</p> +<p> +"No, no," she rejoined earnestly, "it is not that only. You are my +friend, good Richard, and I do not wish to see you eating out your heart +in vain and foolish regrets. What you . . . what you wish could +never—never be. Good master, if you were rich to-morrow and I +penniless, I could never be your wife." +</p> +<p> +"You mean that you could never love me?" he asked. +</p> +<p> +She was silent. A fierce wave of jealousy—mad, insane, elemental +jealousy seemed suddenly to sweep over him. +</p> +<p> +"You love someone else?" he demanded brusquely. +</p> +<p> +"What right have you to ask?" +</p> +<p> +"The right of a man who would gladly die to see you happy." +</p> +<p> +He spoke harshly, almost brutally. Jealousy had killed all humility in +him. Love—proud, passionate and defiant—stood up for its just claims, +for its existence, its right to dominate, its desire to conquer. +</p> +<p> +But even as he thus stood before her, almost frightening her now by the +violence of his speech, by the latent passion in him, which no longer +would bear to be held in check, the bank of clouds which up to now had +obscured the brilliance of the summer sky, finally swept away eastwards, +revealing the luminous firmament and the pale crescent moon which now +glimmered coldly through the branches of the trees. +</p> +<p> +A muffled sound as of someone treading cautiously the thick bed of moss, +and the creaking of tiny twigs caused Richard Lambert to look up +momentarily from the form of the girl whom he so dearly loved, and to +peer beyond her into the weirdly illumined density of the wood. +</p> +<p> +Not twenty yards from where they were, a low wall divided the park +itself from the wood beyond, which extended down to Acol village. At an +angle of the wall there was an iron gate, also the tumble-down pavilion, +ivy-grown and desolate, with stone steps leading up to it, through the +cracks of which weeds and moss sprouted up apace. +</p> +<p> +A man had just emerged from out the thicket and was standing now to the +farther side of the gate looking straight at Lambert and at Sue, who +stood in the full light of the moon. A broad-brimmed hat, such as +cavaliers affected, cast a dark shadow over his face. +</p> +<p> +It was a mere outline only vaguely defined against the background of +trees, but in that outline Lambert had already recognized the mysterious +stranger who lodged in his brother's cottage down in Acol. +</p> +<p> +The fixed intensity of the young man's gaze caused Sue to turn and to +look in the same direction. She saw the stranger, who encountering two +pairs of eyes fixed on him, raised his hat with a graceful flourish of +the arm: then, with a short ironical laugh, went his way, and was once +more lost in the gloom. +</p> +<p> +The girl instinctively made a movement as if to follow him, whilst a +quickly smothered cry—half of joy and half of fear—escaped her lips. +She checked the movement as well as the cry, but not before Richard +Lambert had perceived both. +</p> +<p> +With the perception came the awful, overwhelming certitude. +</p> +<p> +"That adventurer!" he exclaimed involuntarily. "Oh my God!" +</p> +<p> +But she looked him full in the face, and threw back her head with a +gesture of pride and of wrath. +</p> +<p> +"Master Lambert," she said haughtily, "methinks 'twere needless to +remind you that—since I inadvertently revealed my most cherished secret +to you—it were unworthy a man of honor to betray it to any one." +</p> +<p> +"My lady . . . Sue," he said, feeling half-dazed, bruised and crushed by +the terrible moral blow, which he had just received, "I . . . I do not +quite understand. Will you deign to explain?" +</p> +<p> +"There is naught to explain," she retorted coldly. "Prince Amédé +d'Orléans loves me and I have plighted my troth to him." +</p> +<p> +"Nay! I entreat your ladyship," he said, feeling—knowing the while, how +useless it was to make an appeal against the infatuation of a hot-headed +and impulsive girl, yet speaking with the courage which ofttimes is born +of despair, "I beg of you, on my knees to listen. This foreign +adventurer . . ." +</p> +<p> +"Silence!" she retorted proudly, and drawing back from him, for of a +truth he had sunk on his knees before her, "an you desire to be my +friend, you must not breathe one word of slander against the man I love. +. . ." +</p> +<p> +Then, as he said nothing, realizing, indeed, how futile would be any +effort or word from him, she said, with growing enthusiasm, whilst her +glowing eyes fixed themselves upon the gloom which had enveloped the +mysterious apparition of her lover: +</p> +<p> +"Prince Amédé d'Orléans is the grandest, most selfless patriot this +world hath ever known. For the sake of France, of tyrannized, oppressed +France, which he adores, he has sacrificed everything! his position, his +home, his wealth and vast estates: he is own kinsman to King Louis, yet +he is exiled from his country whilst a price is set upon his head, +because he cannot be mute whilst he sees tyranny and oppression grind +down the people of France. He could return to Paris to-day a rich and +free man, a prince among his kindred,—if he would but sacrifice that +for which he fights so bravely: the liberty of France!" +</p> +<p> +"Sue! my adored lady," he entreated, "in the name of Heaven listen to +me. . . . You do believe, do you not, that I am your friend? . . . I would +give my life for you. . . . I swear to you that you have been deceived and +tricked by this adventurer, who, preying upon your romantic imagination +. . ." +</p> +<p> +"Silence, master, an you value my friendship!" she commanded. "I will +not listen to another word. Nay! you should be thankful that I deal not +more harshly with you—that I make allowances for your miserable +jealousy. . . . Oh! why did you make me say that," she added with one of +those swift changes of mood, which were so characteristic of her, and +with sudden contrition, for an involuntary moan had escaped his lips. +"In the name of Heaven, go—go now I entreat . . . leave me to myself . . . +lest anger betray me into saying cruel things . . . I am safe—quite safe +. . . I entreat you to let me return to the house alone." +</p> +<p> +Her voice sounded more and more broken as she spoke: sobs were evidently +rising in her throat. He pulled himself together, feeling that it were +unmanly to worry her now, when emotion was so obviously overmastering +her. +</p> +<p> +"Forgive me, sweet lady," he said quite gently, as he rose from his +knees. "I said more than I had any right to say. I entreat you to +forgive the poor, presuming peasant who hath dared to raise his eyes to +the fairy princess of his dreams. I pray you to try and forget all that +hath happened to-night beneath the shadows of these elms—and only to +remember one thing: that my life—my lonely, humble, unimportant +life—is yours . . . to serve or help you, to worship or comfort you if +need be . . . and that there could be no greater happiness for me than to +give it for your sweet sake." +</p> +<p> +He bowed very low, until his hand could reach the hem of her kirtle, +which he then raised to his lips. She was infinitely sorry for him; all +her anger against him had vanished. +</p> +<p> +He was very reluctant to go, for this portion of the park was some +distance from the house. But she had commanded and he quite understood +that she wished to be alone: love such as that which he felt for his +sweet lady is ever watchful, yet ever discreet. Was it not natural that +she did not care to look on him after he had angered her so? +</p> +<p> +She seemed impatient too, and although her feelings towards him had +softened, she repeated somewhat nervously: "I pray you go! Good master, +I would be alone." +</p> +<p> +Lambert hesitated a while longer, he looked all round him as if +suspicious of any marauders that might be lurking about. The hour was +not very late, and had she not commanded him to go? +</p> +<p> +Nor would he seem to pry on her movements. Having once made up his mind +to obey, he did so without reserve. Having kissed the hem of her kirtle +he turned towards the house. +</p> +<p> +He meant to keep on the tiny footpath, which she would be bound to +traverse after him, when she returned. He felt sure that something would +warn him if she really needed his help. +</p> +<p> +The park and woodland were still: only the mournful hooting of an owl, +the sad sighing of the wind in the old elms broke the peaceful silence +of this summer's night. +</p> + + + +<p> </p> +<p> </p> +<a name="CH7"><!-- CH7 --></a> +<h2> + CHAPTER VII +</h2> + +<h3> +THE STRANGER WITHIN THE GATES +</h3><p> </p> +<p> +Sue waited—expectant and still—until the last sound of the young man's +footsteps had died away in the direction of the house. +</p> +<p> +Then with quick impulsive movements she ran to the gate; her hands +sought impatiently in the dark for the primitive catch which held it to. +A large and rusty bolt! she pulled at it—clumsily, for her hands were +trembling. At last the gate flew open; she was out in the woods, peering +into the moonlit thicket, listening for that most welcome sound, the +footsteps of the man she loved. +</p> +<p> +"My prince!" she exclaimed, for already he was beside her—apparently he +had lain in wait for her, and now held her in his arms. +</p> +<p> +"My beautiful and gracious lady," he murmured in that curiously muffled +voice of his, which seemed to endow his strange personality with +additional mystery. +</p> +<p> +"You heard? . . . you saw just now? . . ." she asked timidly, fearful of +encountering his jealous wrath, that vehement temper of his which she +had learned to dread. +</p> +<p> +Strangely enough he replied quite gently: "Yes . . . I saw . . . the young +man loves you, my beautiful Suzanne! . . . and he will hate me now . . ." +</p> +<p> +He had always called her Suzanne—and her name thus spoken by him, and +with that quaint foreign intonation of his had always sounded infinitely +sweet. +</p> +<p> +"But I love you with all my heart," she said earnestly, tenderly, her +whole soul—young, ardent, full of romance, going out to him with all +the strength of its purity and passion. "What matter if all the world +were against you?" +</p> +<p> +As a rule when they met thus on the confines of the wood, they would +stand together by the gate, forming plans, talking of the future and of +their love. Then after a while they would stroll into the park, he +escorting her, as far as he might approach the house without being seen. +</p> +<p> +She had no thought that Richard Lambert would be on the watch. Nay! so +wholly absorbed was she in her love for this man, once she was in his +presence, that already—womanlike—she had forgotten the young student's +impassioned avowal, his jealousy, his very existence. +</p> +<p> +And she loved these evening strolls in the great, peaceful park, at +evening, when the birds were silent in their nests, and the great +shadows of ivy-covered elms enveloped her and her romance. From afar a +tiny light gleamed here and there in some of the windows of Acol Court. +</p> +<p> +She had hated the grim, bare house at first, so isolated in the midst of +the forests of Thanet, so like the eyrie of a bird of prey. +</p> +<p> +But now she loved the whole place; the bit of ill-kept tangled garden, +with its untidy lawn and weed-covered beds, in which a few standard +rose-trees strove to find a permanent home; she loved the dark and +mysterious park, the rusty gate, that wood with its rich carpet which +varied as each season came around. +</p> +<p> +To-night her lover was more gentle than had been his wont of late. They +walked cautiously through the park, for the moon was brilliant and +outlined every object with startling vividness. The trees here were +sparser. Close by was the sunk fence and the tiny rustic bridge—only a +plank or two—which spanned it. +</p> +<p> +Some thirty yards ahead of them they could see the dark figure of +Richard Lambert walking towards the house. +</p> +<p> +"One more stroll beneath the trees, <i>ma mie</i>," he said lightly, "you'll +not wish to encounter your ardent suitor again." +</p> +<p> +She loved him in this brighter mood, when he had thrown from him that +mantle of jealousy and mistrust which of late had sat on him so ill. +</p> +<p> +He seemed to have set himself the task of pleasing her to-night—of +making her forget, mayhap, the wooing of the several suitors who had +hung round her to-day. He talked to her—always in that mysterious, +muffled voice, with the quaint rolling of the r's and the foreign +intonation of the vowels—he talked to her of King Louis and his tyranny +over the people of France: of his own political aims to which he had +already sacrificed fortune, position, home. Of his own brilliant past at +the most luxurious court the world had ever known. He fired her +enthusiasm, delighted her imagination, enchained her soul to his: she +was literally swept off the prosy face of this earth and whirled into a +realm of romance, enchanting, intoxicating, mystic—almost divine. +</p> +<p> +She forgot fleeting time, and did not even hear the church bell over at +Acol village striking the hour of ten. +</p> +<p> +He had to bring her back to earth, and to guide her reluctant footsteps +again towards the house. But she was too happy to part from him so +easily. She forced him to escort her over the little bridge, under the +pretense of terror at the lateness of the hour. She vowed that he could +not be perceived from the house, since all the lights were out, and +everyone indeed must be abed. Her guardian's windows, moreover, gave on +the other side of the house; and he of a surety would not be moon or +star gazing at this hour of the night. +</p> +<p> +Her mood was somewhat reckless. The talk with which he had filled her +ears had gone to her brain like wine. She felt intoxicated with the +atmosphere of mystery, of selfless patriotism, of great and fallen +fortunes, with which he knew so well how to surround himself. Mayhap, +that in her innermost heart now there was a scarce conscious desire to +precipitate a crisis, to challenge discovery, to step boldly before her +guardian, avowing her love, demanding the right to satisfy it. +</p> +<p> +She refused to bid him adieu save at the garden door. Three steps led +up straight into the dining-room from the flagged pathway which skirted +the house. She ran up these steps, silently and swiftly as a little +mouse, and then turned her proud and happy face to him. +</p> +<p> +"Good-night, sweet prince," she whispered, extending her delicate hand +to him. +</p> +<p> +She stood in the full light of the moon dominating him from the top of +the steps, an exquisite vision of youth and beauty and romance. +</p> +<p> +He took off his broad-brimmed hat, but his face was still in shadow, for +the heavy perruque fell in thick dark curls covering both his cheeks. He +bent very low and kissed the tips of her fingers. +</p> +<p> +"When shall we meet again, my prince?" she asked. +</p> +<p> +"This day week, an it please you, my queen," he murmured. +</p> +<p> +And then he turned to go. She meant to stand there and watch him cross +the tangled lawn, and the little bridge, and to see him lose himself +amidst the great shadows of the park. +</p> +<p> +But he had scarce gone a couple of steps when a voice, issuing from the +doorway close behind her, caused her to turn in quick alarm. +</p> +<p> +"Sue! in the name of Heaven! what doth your ladyship here and at this +hour?" +</p> +<p> +The crisis which the young girl had almost challenged, had indeed +arrived. Mistress de Chavasse—carrying a lighted and guttering candle, +was standing close behind her. At the sound of her voice and Sue's +little cry of astonishment rather than fear, Prince Amédé d'Orléans too, +had paused, with a muttered curse on his lips, his foot angrily tapping +the flagstones. +</p> +<p> +But it were unworthy a gallant gentleman of the most chivalrous Court in +the world to beat a retreat when his mistress was in danger of an +unpleasant quarter of an hour. +</p> +<p> +Sue was more than a little inclined to be defiant. +</p> +<p> +"Mistress de Chavasse," she said quietly, "will you be good enough to +explain by what right you have spied on me to-night? Hath my guardian +perchance set you to dog my footsteps?" +</p> +<p> +"There was no thought in my mind of spying on your ladyship," rejoined +Mistress de Chavasse coldly. "I was troubled in my sleep and came +downstairs because I heard a noise, and feared those midnight marauders +of which we have heard so much of late. I myself had locked this door, +and was surprised to find it unlatched. I opened it and saw you standing +there." +</p> +<p> +"Then we'll all to bed, fair mistress," rejoined Sue gayly. She was too +happy, too sure of herself and of her lover to view this sudden +discovery of her secret with either annoyance or alarm. She would be +free in three months, and he would be faithful to her. Love proverbially +laughs at bars and bolts, and even if her stern guardian, apprised of +her evening wanderings, prevented her from seeing her prince for the +next three months, pshaw! a hundred days at most, and nothing could keep +her from his side. +</p> +<p> +"Good-night, fair prince," she repeated tenderly, extending her hand +towards her lover once more, while throwing a look of proud defiance to +Mistress de Chavasse. He could not help but return to the foot of the +steps; any pusillanimity on his part at this juncture, any reluctance to +meet Editha face to face or to bear the brunt of her reproaches and of +her sneers, might jeopardize the romance of his personality in the eyes +of Sue. Therefore he boldly took her hand and kissed it with mute +fervor. +</p> +<p> +She gave a happy little laugh and added pertly: +</p> +<p> +"Good-night, mistress . . . I'll leave you to make your own adieux to +Monseigneur le Prince d'Orléans. I'll warrant that you and he—despite +the lateness of the hour—will have much to say to one another." +</p> +<p> +And without waiting to watch the issue of her suggestion, her eyes +dancing with mischief, she turned and ran singing and laughing into the +house. +</p> + + + +<p> </p> +<p> </p> +<a name="CH8"><!-- CH8 --></a> +<h2> + CHAPTER VIII +</h2> + +<h3> +PRINCE AMÉDÉ D'ORLÉANS +</h3><p> </p> +<p> +At first it seemed as if the stranger meant to beat a precipitate and +none too dignified retreat now that the adoring eyes of Lady Sue were no +longer upon him. But Mistress de Chavasse had no intention of allowing +him to extricate himself quite so easily from an unpleasant position. +</p> +<p> +"One moment, master," she said loudly and peremptorily. "Prince or +whatever you may wish to call yourself . . . ere you show me a clean pair +of heels, I pray you to explain your presence here on Sir Marmaduke's +doorstep at ten o'clock at night, and in company with his ward." +</p> +<p> +For a moment—a second or two only—the stranger appeared to hesitate. +He paused with one foot still on the lowest of the stone steps, the +other on the flagged path, his head bent, his hand upraised in the act +of re-adjusting his broad-brimmed hat. +</p> +<p> +Then a sudden thought seemed to strike him, he threw back his head, gave +a short laugh as if he were pleased with this new thought, then turned, +meeting Mistress de Chavasse's stern gaze squarely and fully. He threw +his hat down upon the steps and crossed his arms over his chest. +</p> +<p> +"One moment, mistress?" he said with an ironical bow. "I do not need +one moment. I have already explained." +</p> +<p> +"Explained? how?" she retorted, "nay! I'll not be trifled with, master, +and methinks you will find that Sir Marmaduke de Chavasse will expect +some explanation—which will prove unpleasant to yourself—for your +unwarrantable impudence in daring to approach his ward." +</p> +<p> +He put up his hand in gentle deprecation. +</p> +<p> +"Impudence? Oh, mistress?" he said reproachfully. +</p> +<p> +"Let me assure you, master," she continued with relentless severity, +"that you were wise an you returned straightway to your lodgings now . . . +packed your worldly goods and betook yourself and them to anywhere you +please." +</p> +<p> +"Ah!" he sighed gently, "that is impossible." +</p> +<p> +"You would dare? . . ." she retorted. +</p> +<p> +"I would dare remain there, where my humble presence is most +desired—beside the gracious lady who honors me with her love." +</p> +<p> +"You are insolent, master . . . and Sir Marmaduke . . ." +</p> +<p> +"Oh!" he rejoined lightly, "Sir Marmaduke doth not object." +</p> +<p> +"There, I fear me, you are in error, master! and in his name I now +forbid you ever to attempt to speak to Lady Susannah Aldmarshe again." +</p> +<p> +This command, accompanied by a look of withering scorn, seemed to afford +the stranger vast entertainment. He made the wrathful lady a low, +ironical bow, and clapped his hands together laughing and exclaiming: +</p> +<p> +"Brava! brava! of a truth but this is excellent! Pray, mistress, will +you deign to tell me if in this your bidding you have asked Sir +Marmaduke for his opinion?" +</p> +<p> +"I need not to ask him. I ask you to go." +</p> +<p> +"Go? Whither?" he asked blandly. +</p> +<p> +"Out of my sight and off these grounds at once, ere I rouse the servants +and have you whipped off like a dog!" she said, angered beyond measure +at his audacity, his irony, his manner, suggestive of insolent triumph. +His muffled voice with its curious foreign accent irritated her, as did +the shadow of his perruque over his brow, and the black silk shade which +he wore over one eye. +</p> +<p> +Even now in response to her violent outburst he broke into renewed +laughter. +</p> +<p> +"Better and better! Ah, mistress," he said with a shake of the head, "of +a truth you are more blind than I thought." +</p> +<p> +"You are more insolent, master, than I had thought possible." +</p> +<p> +"Yet meseems, fair lady, that in the lonely and mysterious stranger you +might have remembered your humble and devoted servant," he said, drawing +his figure up towards her. +</p> +<p> +"You! an old friend!" she said contemptuously. "I have ne'er set eyes on +you in my life before." +</p> +<p> +"To think that the moon should be so treacherous," he rejoined +imperturbably. "Will you not look a little closer, fair mistress, the +shadows are somewhat dark, mayhap." +</p> +<p> +She felt his one eye fixed upon her with cold intentness, a strange +feeling of superstitious dread suddenly crept over her from head to +foot. Like a bird fascinated by a snake she came a little nearer, down +the steps, towards him, her eyes, too, riveted on his face, that curious +face of his, surrounded by the heavy perruque hiding ears and cheeks, +the mouth overshadowed by the dark mustache, one eye concealed beneath +the black silk shade. +</p> +<p> +He seemed amused at her terror and as she came nearer to him, he too, +advanced a little until their eyes met—his, mocking, amused, restless; +hers, intent and searching. +</p> +<p> +Thus they gazed at one another for a few seconds, whilst silence reigned +around and the moon peered down cold and chaste from above, illumining +the old house, the neglected garden, the vast park with its innumerable +dark secrets and the mysteries which it hid. +</p> +<p> +She was the first to step back, to recoil before the ironical intensity +of that fixed gaze. She felt as if she were in a dream, as if a +nightmare assailed her, which in her wakeful hours would be dissipated +by reason, by common sense, by sound and sober fact. +</p> +<p> +She even passed her hand across her eyes as if to sweep away from before +her vision, a certain image which fancy had conjured up. +</p> +<p> +His laugh—strident and mocking—roused her from this dreamlike state. +</p> +<p> +"I . . . I . . . do not understand," she murmured. +</p> +<p> +"Yet it is so simple," he replied, "did you not ask me awhile ago if +nothing could be done?" +</p> +<p> +"Who . . . who are you?" she whispered, and then repeated once again: "Who +are you?" +</p> +<p> +"I am His Royal Highness, Prince Amédé d'Orléans," said Sir Marmaduke de +Chavasse lightly, "the kinsman of His Majesty, King Louis of France, the +mysterious foreigner who works for the religious and political freedom +of his country, and on whose head <i>le roi soleil</i> hath set a price . . . +and who, moreover, hath enflamed the romantic imagination of a beautiful +young girl, thus winning her ardent love in the present and in the near +future together with her vast fortune and estates." +</p> +<p> +He made a movement as if to remove his perruque but she stopped him with +a gesture. She had understood. And in the brilliant moonlight a complete +revelation of his personality might prove dangerous. Lady Sue herself +might still—for aught they knew—be standing in the dark room +behind—unseen yet on the watch. +</p> +<p> +He seemed vastly amused at her terror, and boldly took the hand with +which she had arrested his act of total revelation. +</p> +<p> +"Nay! do you recognize your humble servant at last, fair Editha?" he +queried. "On my honor, madam, Lady Sue is deeply enamored of me. What +think you of my chances now?" +</p> +<p> +"You? You?" she repeated at intervals, mechanically, dazed still, lost +in a whirl of conflicting emotions wherein fear, amazement, and a +certain vein of superstitious horror fought a hard battle in her dizzy +brain. +</p> +<p> +"The risks," she murmured more coherently. +</p> +<p> +"Bah!" +</p> +<p> +"If she discover you, before . . . before . . ." +</p> +<p> +"Before she is legally my wife? Pshaw! . . . Then of a truth my scheme +will come to naught . . . But will you not own, Editha, that 'tis worth +the risk?" +</p> +<p> +"Afterwards?" she asked, "afterwards?" +</p> +<p> +"Afterwards, mistress," he rejoined enigmatically, "afterwards sits on +the knees of the gods." +</p> +<p> +And with a flourish of his broad-brimmed hat he turned on his heel and +anon was lost in the shadows of the tall yew hedge. +</p> +<p> +How long she stood there watching that spot whereon he had been +standing, she could not say. Presently she shivered; the night had +turned cold. She heard the cry of some small bird attacked by a midnight +prowler; was it the sparrow-hawk after its prey? +</p> +<p> +From the other side of the house came the sound of slow and firm +footsteps, then the opening and shutting of a door. +</p> +<p> +Sir Marmaduke de Chavasse had played his part for to-night: silently as +he had gone, so he returned to his room, whilst in another corner of the +sparrow-hawk's nest a young girl slept, dreaming dreams of patriots and +heroes, of causes nobly won, of poverty and obscurity gloriously +endured. +</p> +<p> +Mistress de Chavasse with a sigh half of regret, half of indifference, +finally turned her back on the moonlit garden and went within. +</p> + + + +<p> </p> +<p> </p> +<a name="CH9"><!-- CH9 --></a> +<h2> + CHAPTER IX +</h2> + +<h3> +SECRET SERVICE +</h3><p> </p> +<p> +Master Hymn-of-Praise Busy was excessively perturbed. Matters at the +Court were taking a curious turn. That something of unusual moment had +happened within the last few days he was thoroughly convinced, and still +having it in his mind that he was especially qualified for the lucrative +appointments in my Lord Protector's secret service—he thought this an +excellent opportunity for perfecting himself in the art of +investigation, shrewdly conducted, which he understood to be most +essential for the due fulfillment of such appointments. +</p> +<p> +Thus we see him some few days later on a late afternoon, with back bent +nearly double, eyes fixed steadily on the ground and his face a perfect +mirror of thoughtful concentration within, slowly walking along the tiny +footpath which wound in and out the groups of majestic elms in the park. +</p> +<p> +Musing and meditating, at times uttering strange and enigmatical +exclamations, he reached the confines of the private grounds, the spot +where the surrounding wall gave place to a low iron gate, where the +disused pavilion stood out gray and forlorn-looking in the midst of the +soft green of the trees, and where through the woods beyond the gate, +could just be perceived the tiny light which issued from the +blacksmith's cottage, the most outlying one in the village of Acol. +</p> +<p> +Master Hymn-of-Praise leaned thoughtfully against the ivy-covered wall. +His eyes, roaming, searching, restless, pried all around him. +</p> +<p> +"Footprints!" he mused, "footprints which of a surety must mean that +human foot hath lately trod this moss. Footprints moreover, which lead +up the steps to the door of that pavilion, wherein to my certain +knowledge, no one hath had access of late." +</p> +<p> +Something, of course, was going on at Acol Court, that strange and +inexplicable something which he had tried to convey by covert suggestion +to Mistress Charity's female—therefore inferior—brain. +</p> +<p> +Sir Marmaduke's temper was more sour and ill even than of yore, and +there was still an unpleasant sensation in the lumbar regions of Master +Busy's spine, whenever he sat down, which recalled a somewhat vigorous +outburst of his master's ill-humor. +</p> +<p> +Mistress de Chavasse went about the house like a country wench +frightened by a ghost, and Mistress Charity averred that she seldom went +to bed now before midnight. Certain it is that Master Busy himself had +met the lady wandering about the house candle in hand at an hour when +all respectable folk should be abed, and when she almost fell up against +Hymn-of-Praise in the dark she gave a frightened scream as if she had +suddenly come face to face with the devil. +</p> +<p> +Then there was her young ladyship. +</p> +<p> +She was neither ill-tempered nor yet under the ban of fear, but Master +Busy vowed unto himself that she was suffering from ill-concealed +melancholy, from some hidden secret or wild romance. She seldom laughed, +she had spoken with discourtesy and impatience to Squire Pyncheon, who +rode over the other day on purpose to bring her a bunch of sweet +marjoram which grew in great profusion in his mother's garden: she +markedly avoided the company of her guardian, and wandered about the +park alone, at all hours of the day—a proceeding which in a young lady +of her rank was quite unseemly. +</p> +<p> +All these facts neatly docketed in Master Busy's orderly brain, +disturbed him not a little. He had not yet made up his mind as to the +nature of the mystery which was surrounding the Court and its inmates, +but vaguely he thought of abductions and elopements, which the presence +of the richest heiress in the South of England in the house of the +poorest squire in the whole country, more than foreshadowed. +</p> +<p> +This lonely, somewhat eerie corner of the park appeared to be the center +around which all the mysterious happenings revolved, and Master +Hymn-of-Praise had found his way hither on this fine July afternoon, +because he had distinct hopes of finding out something definite, certain +facts which he then could place before Squire Boatfield who was +major-general of the district, and who would then, doubtless, commend +him for his ability and shrewdness in forestalling what might prove to +be a terrible crime. +</p> +<p> +The days were getting shorter now; it was little more than eight +o'clock and already the shades of evening were drawing closely in: the +last rays of the setting sun had long disappeared in a glowing haze of +gold, and the fantastic branches of the old elms, intertwined with the +parasitic ivy looked grim and threatening, silhouetted against the lurid +after glow. Master Busy liked neither the solitude, nor yet the silence +of the woods; he had just caught sight of a bat circling over the +dilapidated roof of the pavilion, and he hated bats. Though he belonged +to a community which denied the angels and ignored the saints, he had a +firm belief in the existence of a tangible devil, and somehow he could +not dissociate his ideas of hell and of evil spirits from those which +related to the mysterious flutterings of bats. +</p> +<p> +Moreover he thought that his duties in connection with the science of +secret investigation, had been sufficiently fulfilled for the day, and +he prepared to wend his way back to the house, when the sound of voices, +once more aroused his somnolent attention. +</p> +<p> +"Someone," he murmured within himself, "the heiress and the abductor +mayhap." +</p> +<p> +This might prove the opportunity of his life, the chance which would +place him within the immediate notice of the major-general, perhaps of +His Highness the Protector himself. He felt that to vacate his post of +observation at this moment would be unworthy the moral discipline which +an incipient servant of the Commonwealth should impose upon himself. +</p> +<p> +Striving to smother a sense of terror, or to disguise it even to +himself under the mask of officiousness, he looked about for a +hiding-place—a post of observation as he called it. +</p> +<p> +A tree with invitingly forked branches seemed to be peculiarly adapted +to his needs. Hymn-of-Praise was neither very young nor very agile, but +dreams of coming notoriety lent nimbleness to his limbs. +</p> +<p> +By the time that the voices drew nearer, the sober butler of Acol Court +was installed astride an elm bough, hidden by the dense foliage and by +the leaf-laden strands of ivy, enfolded by the fast gathering shadows of +evening, supremely uncomfortable physically, none too secure on his +perch, yet proud and satisfied in the consciousness of fulfilled duty. +</p> +<p> +The next moment he caught sight of Mistress Charity—Mistress Charity so +please you, who had plighted her troth to him, walking arm in arm with +Master Courage Toogood, as impudent, insolent and debauched a young +jackanapes as ever defaced the forests of Thanet. +</p> +<p> +"Mistress, fair mistress," he was sighing, and murmuring in her ear, +"the most beautiful and gracious thing on God's earth, when I hold you +pressed thus against my beating heart . . ." +</p> +<p> +Apparently his feelings were too deep to be expressed in the words of +his own vocabulary, for he paused a while, sighed audibly, and then +asked anxiously: +</p> +<p> +"You do hear my heart beating, mistress, do you not?" +</p> +<p> +She blushed, for she was naught but a female baggage, and though Master +Busy's impassioned protestations of less than half an hour ago, must be +still ringing in her ears, she declared emphatically that she could hear +the throbbing of that young vermin's heart. +</p> +<p> +Master Busy up aloft was quite sure that what she heard was a few sheep +and cattle of Sir Marmaduke's who were out to grass in a field close by, +and had been scared into a canter. +</p> +<p> +What went on for the next moment or two the saintly man on the elm tree +branch could not rightly perceive, but the next words from Mistress +Charity's lips sent a thrill of indignation through his heart. +</p> +<p> +"Oh! Master Courage," she said with a little cry, "you must not squeeze +me so! I vow you have taken the breath out of my body! The Lord love +you, child! think you I can stay here all this while and listen to your +nonsense?" +</p> +<p> +"Just one minute longer, fair mistress," entreated the young reprobate, +"the moon is not yet up, the birds have gone to their nests for sleep, +will ye not tarry a while here with me? That old fool Busy will never +know!" +</p> +<p> +It is a fact that at this juncture the saintly man well-nigh fell off +his perch, and when Master Courage, amidst many coy shrieks from the +fickle female, managed to drag her down beside him, upon the carpet of +moss immediately beneath the very tree whereon Hymn-of-Praise was +holding watch, the unfortunate man had need of all his strength of mind +and of purpose not to jump down with both feet upon the lying face of +that young limb of Satan. +</p> +<p> +But he felt that the discovery of his somewhat undignified position by +these two evil-doers would not at this moment be quite opportune, so he +endeavored to maintain his equilibrium at the cost of supreme +discomfort, and the loud cracking of the branch on which he was perched. +</p> +<p> +Mistress Charity gave a cry of terror. +</p> +<p> +"What was that?" +</p> +<p> +"Nothing, nothing, mistress, I swear," rejoined Courage reassuringly, +"there are always noises in old elm trees, the ivy hangs heavy and . . ." +</p> +<p> +"I have heard it said of late that the pavilion is haunted," she +murmured under her breath. +</p> +<p> +"No! not haunted, mistress! I vow 'tis but the crackling of loose +branches, and there is that which I would whisper in your ear . . ." +</p> +<p> +But before Master Courage had the time to indulge in this, the desire of +his heart, something fell upon the top of his lean head which certainly +never grew on the elm tree overhead. Having struck his lanky hair the +object fell straight into his lap. +</p> +<p> +It was a button. An ordinary, brown, innocent enough looking button. But +still a button. Master Courage took it in his hand and examined it +carefully, turning it over once or twice. The little thing certainly +wore a familiar air. Master Courage of a truth had seen such an one +before. +</p> +<p> +"That thing never grew up there, master," said Mistress Charity in an +agitated whisper. +</p> +<p> +"No!" he rejoined emphatically, "nor yet doth a button form part of the +habiliments of a ghost." +</p> +<p> +But not a sound came from above: and though Courage and Charity peered +upwards with ever-increasing anxiety, the fast gathering darkness +effectually hid the mystery which lurked within that elm. +</p> +<p> +"I vow that there's something up there, mistress," said the youth with +sudden determination. +</p> +<p> +"Could it be bats, master?" she queried with a shudder. +</p> +<p> +"Nay! but bats do not wear buttons," he replied sententiously. "Yet of a +surety, I mean to make an investigation of the affair as that old fool +Hymn-of-Praise would say." +</p> +<p> +Whereupon, heedless of Mistress Charity's ever-growing agitation, he ran +towards the boundary wall of the park, and vaulted the low gate with an +agile jump even as she uttered a pathetic appeal to him not to leave her +alone in the dark. +</p> +<p> +Fear had rooted the girl to the spot. She dared not move away, fearful +lest her running might entice that mysterious owner of the brown button +to hurry in her track. Yet she would have loved to follow Master +Courage, and to put at least a gate and wall between herself and those +terrible elms. +</p> +<p> +She was just contemplating a comprehensive and vigorous attack of +hysterics when she heard Master Courage's voice from the other side of +the gate. +</p> +<p> +"Hist! Hist, mistress! Quick!" +</p> +<p> +She gathered up what shreds of valor she possessed and ran blindly in +the direction whence came the welcome voice. +</p> +<p> +"I pray you take this," said the youth, who was holding a wooden bucket +out over the gate, "whilst I climb back to you." +</p> +<p> +"But what is it, master?" she asked, as—obeying him mechanically—she +took the bucket from him. It was heavy, for it was filled almost to the +brim with a liquid which seemed very evil-smelling. +</p> +<p> +The next moment Master Courage was standing beside her. He took the +bucket from her and then walked as rapidly as he could with it back +towards the elm tree. +</p> +<p> +"It will help me to dislodge the bats, mistress," he said enigmatically, +speaking over his shoulder as he walked. +</p> +<p> +She followed him—excited but timorous—until together they once more +reached the spot, where Master Courage's amorous declarations had been +so rudely interrupted. He put the bucket down beside him, and rubbed his +hands together whilst uttering certain sounds which betrayed his glee. +</p> +<p> +Then only did she notice that he was carrying under one arm a long +curious-looking instrument—round and made of tin, with a handle at one +end. +</p> +<p> +She looked curiously into the bucket and at the instrument. +</p> +<p> +"'Tis the tar-water used for syringing the cattle," she whispered, "ye +must not touch it, master. Where did you find it?" +</p> +<p> +"Just by the wall," he rejoined. "I knew it was kept there. They wash +the sheep with it to destroy the vermin in them. This is the squirt for +it," he added calmly, placing the end of the instrument in the liquid, +"and I will mayhap destroy the vermin which is lodged in that elm tree." +</p> +<p> +A cry of terror issuing from above froze the very blood in Mistress +Charity's veins. +</p> +<p> +"Stop! stop! you young limb of Satan!" came from Master Busy's nearly +choking throat. +</p> +<p> +"It's evildoers or evil spirits, master," cried Mistress Charity in an +agony of fear. +</p> +<p> +"Whatever it be, mistress, this should destroy it!" said Master Courage +philosophically, as turning the syringe upwards he squirted the whole of +its contents straight into the fork of the ivy-covered branches. +</p> +<p> +There was a cry of rage, followed by a cry of terror, then Master +Hymn-of-Praise Busy with a terrific clatter of breaking boughs, fell in +a heap upon the soft carpet of moss. +</p> +<p> +Master Courage be it said to the eternal shame of venturesome youth, +took incontinently to his heels, leaving Mistress Charity to bear the +brunt of the irate saintly man's wrath. +</p> +<p> +Master Busy, we must admit had but little saintliness left in him now. +Let us assume that—as he explained afterwards—he was not immediately +aware of Mistress Charity's presence, and that his own sense of +propriety and of decorum had been drowned in a cataract of tar water. +Certain it is that a volley of oaths, which would have surprised Sir +Marmaduke himself, escaped his lips. +</p> +<p> +Had he not every excuse? He was dripping from head to foot, spluttering, +blinded, choked and bruised. +</p> +<p> +He shook himself like a wet spaniel. Then hearing the sound of a +smothered exclamation which did not seem altogether unlike a giggle, he +turned round savagely and perceived the dim outline of Mistress +Charity's dainty figure. +</p> +<p> +"The Lord love thee, Master Hymn-of-Praise," she began, somewhat +nervously, "but you have made yourself look a sight." +</p> +<p> +"And by G—d I'll make that young jackanapes look a sight ere I take my +hand off him," he retorted savagely. +</p> +<p> +"But what were you . . . hem! what wert thou doing up in the elm tree, +friend Hymn-of-Praise?" she asked demurely. +</p> +<p> +"Thee me no thou!" he said with enigmatic pompousness, followed by a +distinctly vicious snarl, "Master Busy will be my name in future for a +saucy wench like thee." +</p> +<p> +He turned towards the house. Mistress Charity following meekly—somewhat +subdued, for Master Busy was her affianced husband, and she had no mind +to mar her future, through any of young Courage's dare-devil escapades. +</p> +<p> +"Thou wouldst wish to know what I was doing up in that forked tree?" he +asked her with calm dignity after a while, when the hedges of the flower +garden came in sight. "I was making a home for thee, according to the +commands of the Lord." +</p> +<p> +"Not in the elm trees of a surety, Master Busy?" +</p> +<p> +"I was making a home for thee," he repeated without heeding her flippant +observation, "by rendering myself illustrious. I told thee, wench, did I +not? that something was happening within the precincts of Acol Court, +and that it is my duty to lie in wait and to watch. The heiress is about +to be abducted, and it is my task to frustrate the evil designs of the +mysterious criminal." +</p> +<p> +She looked at him in speechless amazement. He certainly looked strangely +weird in the semi-darkness with his lanky hair plastered against his +cheeks, his collar half torn from round his neck, the dripping, oily +substance flowing in rivulets from his garments down upon the ground. +</p> +<p> +The girl had no longer any desire to laugh, and when Master Busy strode +majestically across the rustic bridge, then over the garden paths to the +kitchen quarter of the house, she followed him without a word, awed by +his extraordinary utterances, vaguely feeling that in his dripping +garments he somehow reminded her of Jonah and the whale. +</p> + + + +<p> </p> +<p> </p> +<a name="CH10"><!-- CH10 --></a> +<h2> + CHAPTER X +</h2> + +<h3> +AVOWED ENMITY +</h3><p> </p> +<p> +The pavilion had been built some fifty years ago, by one of the Spantons +of Acol who had a taste for fanciful architecture. +</p> +<p> +It had been proudly held by several deceased representatives of the +family to be the reproduction of a Greek temple. It certainly had +columns supporting the portico, and steps leading thence to the ground. +It was also circular in shape and was innocent of windows, deriving its +sole light from the door, when it was open. +</p> +<p> +The late Sir Jeremy, I believe, had been very fond of the place. Being +of a somewhat morose and taciturn disposition, he liked the seclusion of +this lonely corner of the park. He had a chair or two put into the +pavilion and 'twas said that he indulged there in the smoking of that +fragrant weed which of late had been more generously imported into this +country. +</p> +<p> +After Sir Jeremy's death, the pavilion fell into disuse. Sir Marmaduke +openly expressed his dislike of the forlorn hole, as he was wont to call +it. He caused the door to be locked, and since then no one had entered +the little building. The key, it was presumed, had been lost; the lock +certainly looked rusty. The roof, too, soon fell into disrepair, and no +doubt within, the place soon became the prey of damp and mildew, the +nest of homing birds, or the lair of timid beasts. Very soon the proud +copy of an archaic temple took on that miserable and forlorn look +peculiar to uninhabited spots. +</p> +<p> +From an air of abandonment to that of eeriness was but a step, and now +the building towered in splendid isolation, in this remote corner of the +park, at the confines of the wood, with a reputation for being the abode +of ghosts, of bats and witches, and other evil things. +</p> +<p> +When Master Busy sought for tracks of imaginary criminals bent on +abducting the heiress he naturally drifted to this lonely spot; when +Master Courage was bent on whispering sweet nothings into the ear of the +other man's betrothed, he enticed her to that corner of the park where +he was least like to meet the heavy-booted saint. +</p> +<p> +Thus it was that these three met on the one spot where as a rule at a +late hour of the evening Prince Amédé d'Orléans was wont to commence his +wanderings, sure of being undisturbed, and with the final disappearance +of Master Busy and Mistress Charity the place was once more deserted. +</p> +<p> +The bats once more found delight in this loneliness and from all around +came that subdued murmur, that creaking of twigs, that silence so full +of subtle sounds, which betrays the presence of animal life on the +prowl. +</p> +<p> +Anon there came the harsh noise of a key grating in a rusty lock. The +door of the pavilion was cautiously opened from within and the +mysterious French prince, bewigged, booted and hatted, emerged into the +open. The night had drawn a singularly dark mantle over the woods. Banks +of cloud obscured the sky; the tall elm trees with their ivy-covered +branches, and their impenetrable shadows beneath, formed a dense wall +which the sight of human creatures was not keen enough to pierce. Sir +Marmaduke de Chavasse, in spite of this darkness, which he hailed +gleefully, peered cautiously and intently round as he descended the +steps. +</p> +<p> +He had not met Lady Sue in the capacity of her romantic lover since that +evening a week ago, when his secret had been discovered by Mistress de +Chavasse. The last vision he had had of the young girl was one redolent +of joy and love and trust, sufficient to reassure him that all was well +with her, in regard to his schemes; but on that same evening a week ago +he had gazed upon another little scene, which had not filled him with +either joy or security. +</p> +<p> +He had seen Lady Sue standing beside a young man whose personality—to +say the least—was well-nigh as romantic as that of the exiled scion of +the house of Orléans. He had seen rather than heard a young and +passionate nature pouring into girlish ears the avowal of an unselfish +and ardent love which had the infinite merit of being real and true. +</p> +<p> +However well he himself might play his part of selfless hero and of +vehement lover, there always lurked the danger that the falseness of his +protestations would suddenly ring a warning note to the subtle sense of +the confiding girl. Were it not for the intense romanticism of her +disposition, which beautified and exalted everything with which it came +in contact, she would of a surety have detected the lie ere this. He had +acted his dual rôle with consummate skill, the contrast between the +surly Puritanical guardian, with his round cropped head and shaven face, +and the elegantly dressed cavalier, with a heavy mustache, an enormous +perruque and a shade over one eye, was so complete that even Mistress de +Chavasse—alert, suspicious, wholly unromantic, had been momentarily +deceived, and would have remained so but for his voluntary revelation of +himself. +</p> +<p> +But the watchful and disappointed young lover was the real danger: a +danger complicated by the fact that the Prince Amédé d'Orléans actually +dwelt in the cottage owned by Lambert's brother, the blacksmith. The +mysterious prince had perforce to dwell somewhere; else, whenever spied +by a laborer or wench from the village, he would have excited still +further comment, and his movements mayhap would have been more +persistently dogged. +</p> +<p> +For this reason Sir Marmaduke had originally chosen Adam Lambert's +cottage to be his headquarters; it stood on the very outskirts of the +village and as he had only the wood to traverse between it and the +pavilion where he effected his change of personality, he ran thus but +few risks of meeting prying eyes. Moreover, Adam Lambert, the +blacksmith, and the old woman who kept house for him, both belonged to +the new religious sect which Judge Bennett had so pertinently dubbed the +Quakers, and they kept themselves very much aloof from gossip and the +rest of the village. +</p> +<p> +True, Richard Lambert oft visited his brother and the old woman, but did +so always in the daytime when Prince Amédé d'Orléans carefully kept out +of the way. Sir Marmaduke de Chavasse had all the true instincts of the +beast or bird of prey. He prowled about in the dark, and laid his snares +for the seizure of his victim under cover of the night. +</p> +<p> +This evening certain new schemes had found birth in his active mind; he +was impatient that the victim tarried, when his brain was alive with +thoughts of how to effect a more speedy capture. He leaned against the +wall, close by the gate as was his wont when awaiting Sue, smiling +grimly to himself at thought of the many little subterfuges she would +employ to steal out of the house, without encountering—as she +thought—her watchful guardian. +</p> +<p> +A voice close behind him—speaking none too kindly—broke in on his +meditations, causing him to start—almost to crouch like a frightened +cat. +</p> +<p> +The next moment he had recognized the gruff and nasal tones of Adam +Lambert. Apparently the blacksmith had just come from the wood through +the gate, and had almost stumbled in the dark against the rigid figure +of his mysterious lodger. +</p> +<p> +"Friend, what dost thou here?" he asked peremptorily. But already Sir +Marmaduke had recovered from that sudden sense of fear which had caused +him to start in alarm. +</p> +<p> +"I would ask the same question of you, my friend," he retorted airily, +speaking in the muffled voice and with the markedly foreign accent which +he had assumed for the rôle of the Prince, "might I inquire what you are +doing here?" +</p> +<p> +"I have to see a sick mare down Minster way," replied Lambert curtly, +"this is a short cut thither, and Sir Marmaduke hath granted me leave. +But he liketh not strangers loitering in his park." +</p> +<p> +"Then, friend," rejoined the other lightly, "when Sir Marmaduke doth +object to my strolling in his garden, he will doubtless apprise me of +the fact, without interference from you." +</p> +<p> +Adam Lambert, after his uncivil greeting of his lodger, had already +turned his back on him, loath to have further speech with a man whom he +hated and despised. +</p> +<p> +Like the majority of country folk these days, the blacksmith had a +wholesale contempt for every foreigner, and more particularly for those +who hailed from France: that country—in the estimation of all Puritans, +Dissenters and Republicans—being the happy abode of every kind of +immorality and debauchery. +</p> +<p> +Prince Amédé d'Orléans—as he styled himself—with his fantastic +clothes, his airs and graces and long, curly hair was an object of +special aversion to the Quaker, even though the money which the +despised foreigner paid for his lodgings was passing welcome these hard +times. +</p> +<p> +Adam resolutely avoided speech with the Prince, whenever possible, but +the latter's provocative and sarcastic speech roused his dormant hatred; +like a dog who has been worried, he now turned abruptly round and faced +Sir Marmaduke, stepping close up to him, his eyes glaring with +vindictive rage, a savage snarl rising in his throat. +</p> +<p> +"Take notice, friend," he said hoarsely, "that I'll not bear thine +impudence. Thou mayest go and bully the old woman at the cottage when I +am absent—Oh! I've heard thee!" he added with unbridled savagery, +"ordering her about as if she were thy serving wench . . . but let me tell +thee that she is no servant of thine, nor I . . . so have done, my fine +prince . . . dost understand?" +</p> +<p> +"Prithee, friend, do not excite yourself," said Sir Marmaduke blandly, +drawing back against the wall as far as he could to avoid close +proximity with his antagonist. "I have never wished to imply that +Mistress Lambert was aught but my most obliging, most amiable +landlady—nor have I, to my certain knowledge, overstepped the +privileges of a lodger. I trust that your worthy aunt hath no cause for +complaint. Mistress Lambert is your aunt?" he added superciliously, "is +she not?" +</p> +<p> +"That is nothing to thee," muttered the other, "if she be my aunt or no, +as far as I can see." +</p> +<p> +"Surely not. I asked in a spirit of polite inquiry." +</p> +<p> +But apparently this subject was one which had more than any other the +power to rouse the blacksmith's savage temper. He fought with it for a +moment or two, for anger is the Lord's, and strict Quaker discipline +forbade such unseemly wrangling. But Adam was a man of violent +temperament which his strict religious training had not altogether +succeeded in holding in check: the sneers of the foreign prince, his +calm, supercilious attitude, broke the curb which religion had set upon +his passion. +</p> +<p> +"Aye! thou art mighty polite to me, my fine gentleman," he said +vehemently. "Thou knowest what I think of thy lazy foreign ways . . . why +dost thou not do a bit of honest work, instead of hanging round her +ladyship's skirts? . . . If I were to say a word to Sir Marmaduke, 'twould +be mightily unpleasant for thee, an I mistake not. Oh! I know what +thou'rt after, with thy fine ways, and thy romantic, lying talk of +liberty and patriotism! . . . the heiress, eh, friend? That is thy +design. . . . I am not blind, I tell thee. . . . I have seen thee and her . . ." +</p> +<p> +Sir Marmaduke laughed lightly, shrugging his shoulders in token of +indifference. +</p> +<p> +"Quite so, quite so, good master," he said suavely, "do ye not waste +your breath in speaking thus loudly. I understand that your sentiments +towards me do not partake of that Christian charity of which ye and +yours do prate at times so loudly. But I'll not detain you. Doubtless +worthy Mistress Lambert will be awaiting you, or is it the sick mare +down Minster way that hath first claim on your amiability? I'll not +detain you." +</p> +<p> +He turned as if to go, but Adam's hard grip was on his shoulder in an +instant. +</p> +<p> +"Nay! thou'lt not detain me—'tis I am detaining thee!" said the +blacksmith hoarsely, "for I desired to tell thee that thy ugly French +face is abhorrent to me . . . I do not hold with princes. . . . For a prince +is none better than another man nay, he is worse an he loafs and steals +after heiresses and their gold . . . and will not do a bit of honest +work. . . . Work makes the man. . . . Work and prayer . . . not your titles and +fine estates. This is a republic now . . . understand? . . . no king, no +House of Lords—please the Lord neither clergymen nor noblemen soon. . . . +I work with my hands . . . and am not ashamed. The Lord Saviour was a +carpenter and not a prince. . . . My brother is a student and a +gentleman—as good as any prince—understand? Ten thousand times as good +as thee." +</p> +<p> +He relaxed his grip which had been hard as steel on Sir Marmaduke's +shoulder. It was evident that he had been nursing hatred and loathing +against his lodger for some time, and that to-night the floodgates of +his pent-up wrath had been burst asunder through the mysterious prince's +taunts, and insinuations anent the cloud and secrecy which hung round +the Lamberts' parentage. +</p> +<p> +Though his shoulder was painful and bruised under the pressure of the +blacksmith's rough fingers, Sir Marmaduke did not wince. He looked his +avowed enemy boldly in the face, with no small measure of contempt for +the violence displayed. +</p> +<p> +His own enmity towards those who thwarted him was much more subtle, +silent and cautious. He would never storm and rage, show his enmity +openly and caution his antagonist through an outburst of rage. Adam +Lambert still glaring into his lodger's eye, encountered nothing therein +but irony and indulgent contempt. +</p> +<p> +Religion forbade him to swear. Yet was he sorely tempted, and we may +presume that he cursed inwardly, for his enemy refused to be drawn into +wordy warfare, and he himself had exhausted his vocabulary of sneering +abuse, even as he had exhausted his breath. +</p> +<p> +Perhaps in his innermost heart he was ashamed of his outburst. After +all, he had taken this man's money, and had broken bread with him. His +hand dropped to his side, and his head fell forward on his breast even +as with a pleasant laugh the prince carelessly turned away, and with an +affected gesture brushed his silken doublet, there where the +blacksmith's hard grip had marred the smoothness of the delicate fabric. +</p> +<p> +Had Adam Lambert possessed that subtle sixth sense, which hears and sees +that which goes on in the mind of others, he had perceived a thought in +his lodger's brain cells which might have caused him to still further +regret his avowal of open enmity. +</p> +<p> +For as the blacksmith finally turned away and walked off through the +park, skirting the boundary wall, Sir Marmaduke looked over his shoulder +at the ungainly figure which was soon lost in the gloom, and muttered a +round oath between his teeth. +</p> +<p> +"An exceedingly unpleasant person," he vowed within himself, "you will +have to be removed, good master, an you get too troublesome." +</p> + + + +<p> </p> +<p> </p> +<a name="CH11"><!-- CH11 --></a> +<h2> + CHAPTER XI +</h2> + +<h3> +SURRENDER +</h3><p> </p> +<p> +But this interview with the inimical Quaker had more than strengthened +Sir Marmaduke's design to carry his bold scheme more rapidly to its +successful issue. +</p> +<p> +The game which he had played with grave risks for over three months now +had begun to be dangerous. The mysterious patriot from France could not +afford to see prying enemies at his heels. +</p> +<p> +Anon when the graceful outline of Lady Sue's figure emerged from out the +surrounding gloom, Sir Marmaduke went forward to meet her, and clasped +her to him in a passionate embrace. +</p> +<p> +"My gracious lady . . . my beautiful Sue . . ." he murmured whilst he +covered her hands, her brow, her hair with ardent kisses, "you have come +so late—and I have been so weary of waiting . . . waiting for you." +</p> +<p> +He led her through the gardens to where one gigantic elm, grander than +its fellows, had thrown out huge gnarled roots which protruded from out +the ground. One of these, moss-covered, green and soft, formed a perfect +resting place. He drew her down, begging her to sit. She obeyed, scared +somewhat as was her wont when she found him so unfettered and violent. +</p> +<p> +He stretched himself at full length at her feet, extravagant now in his +acts and gestures like a man who no longer can hold turbulent passion in +check. He kissed the edge of her kirtle, then her cloak and the tips of +her little shoes: +</p> +<p> +"It was cruel to keep me waiting . . . gracious lady—it was cruel," he +murmured in the intervals between these ardent caresses. +</p> +<p> +"I am so sorry, Amédé," she repeated, grieving to see him so sorrowful, +not a little frightened at his vehemence,—trying to withdraw her hands +from his grasp. "I was detained . . ." +</p> +<p> +"Detained," he rejoined harshly, "detained by someone else . . . someone +who had a greater claim on your time than the poor exile . . ." +</p> +<p> +"Nay! 'tis unkind thus to grieve me," she said with tender reproach as +she felt the hot tears gather in her eyes. "You know—as I do—that I am +not my own mistress yet." +</p> +<p> +"Yes! yes! forgive me—my gracious, sweet, sweet lady. . . . I am mad when +you are not nigh me. . . . You do not know—how could you? . . . what +torments I endure, when I think of you so beautiful, so exquisite, so +adorable, surrounded by other men who admire you . . . desire you, +mayhap. . . . Oh! my God! . . ." +</p> +<p> +"But you need have no fear," she protested gently, "you know that I gave +my whole heart willingly to you . . . my prince . . ." +</p> +<p> +"Nay, but you cannot know," he persisted violently, "sweet, gentle +creature that you are, you cannot guess the agonies which a strong man +endures when he is gnawed by ruthless insane jealousy . . ." +</p> +<p> +She gave a cry of pain. +</p> +<p> +"Amédé!" for she felt hurt, deeply wounded by his mistrust of her, when +she had so wholly, so fully trusted him. +</p> +<p> +"I know . . . I know," he said with quick transition of tone, fearful that +he had offended her, striving to master his impatience, to find words +which best pleased her young, romantic temperament, "Nay! but you must +think me mad. . . . Mayhap you despise me," he added with a gentle note of +sadness. "Oh, God! . . . mayhap you will turn from me now. . . ." +</p> +<p> +"No! no!" +</p> +<p> +"Yet do I worship you . . . my saint . . . my divinity . . . my Suzanne. . . . +You are more beautiful, more adorable than any woman in the world . . . +and I am so unworthy." +</p> +<p> +"You unworthy!" she retorted, laughing gayly through her tears. "You, my +prince, my king! . . ." +</p> +<p> +"Say that once more, my Suzanne," he murmured with infinite gentleness, +"oh! the exquisite sweetness of your voice, which is like dream-music in +mine ears. . . . Oh! to hold you in my arms thus, for ever . . . until death, +sweeter than life . . . came to me in one long passionate kiss." +</p> +<p> +She allowed him to put his arms round her now, glad that the darkness +hid the blush on her cheeks; thus she loved him, thus she had first +learned to love him, ardent, oh, yes! but so gentle, so meek, yet so +great and exalted in his selfless patriotism. +</p> +<p> +"'Tis not of death you should speak, sweet prince," she said, ineffably +happy now that she felt him more subdued, more trusting and fond, +"rather should you speak of life . . . with me, your own Suzanne . . . of +happiness in the future, when you and I, hand in hand, will work +together for that great cause you hold so dear . . . the freedom and +liberties of France." +</p> +<p> +"Ah, yes!" he sighed in utter dejection, "when that happy time comes . . . +but . . ." +</p> +<p> +"You do not trust me?" she asked reproachfully. +</p> +<p> +"With all my heart, my Suzanne," he replied, "but you are so beautiful, +so rich . . . and other men . . ." +</p> +<p> +"There are no other men for me," she retorted simply. "I love you." +</p> +<p> +"Will you prove it to me?" +</p> +<p> +"How can I?" +</p> +<p> +"Be mine . . . mine absolutely," he urged eagerly with passion just +sufficiently subdued to make her pulses throb. "Be my wife . . . my +princess . . . let me feel that no one could come between us. . . ." +</p> +<p> +"But my guardian would never consent," she protested. +</p> +<p> +"Surely your love for me can dispense with Sir Marmaduke's consent. . . ." +</p> +<p> +"A secret marriage?" she asked, terrified at this strange vista which +his fiery imagination was conjuring up before her. +</p> +<p> +"You refuse? . . ." he asked hoarsely. +</p> +<p> +"No! no! . . . but . . ." +</p> +<p> +"Then you do not love me, Suzanne." +</p> +<p> +The coolness in his tone struck a sudden chill to her heart. She felt +the clasp of his arms round her relax, she felt rather than saw that he +withdrew markedly from her. +</p> +<p> +"Ah! forgive me! forgive me!" she murmured, stretching her little hands +out to him in a pathetic and childlike appeal. "I have never deceived +anyone in my life before. . . . How could I live a lie? . . . married to you, +yet seemingly a girl. . . . Whilst in three months. . . ." +</p> +<p> +She paused in her eagerness, for he had jumped to his feet and was now +standing before her, a rigid, statuesque figure, with head bent and arms +hanging inert by his side. +</p> +<p> +"You do not love me, Suzanne," he said with an infinity of sadness, +which went straight to her own loving heart, "else you would not dream +of thus condemning me to three months of exquisite torture. . . . I have +had my answer. . . . Farewell, my gracious lady . . . not mine, alas! but +another man's . . . and may Heaven grant that he love you well . . . not as +I do, for that were impossible. . . ." +</p> +<p> +His voice had died away in a whisper, which obviously was half-choked +with tears. She, too, had risen while he spoke, all her hesitation +gone, her heart full of reproaches against herself, and of love for him. +</p> +<p> +"What do you mean?" she asked trembling. +</p> +<p> +"That I must go," he replied simply, "since you do not love me. . . ." +</p> +<p> +Oh! how thankful she was that this merciful darkness enwrapped her so +tenderly. She was so young, so innocent and pure, that she felt half +ashamed of the expression of her own great love which went out to him in +a veritable wave of passion, when she began to fear that she was about +to lose him. +</p> +<p> +"No, no," she cried vehemently, "you shall not go . . . you shall not." +</p> +<p> +Her hands sought his in the gloom, and found them, clung to them with +ever-growing ardor; she came quite close to him trying to peer into his +face and to let him read in hers all the pathetic story of her own deep +love for him. +</p> +<p> +"I love you," she murmured through her tears. And again she repeated: "I +love you. See," she added with sudden determination, "I will do e'en as +you wish. . . . I will follow you to the uttermost ends of the earth. . . . I +. . . I will marry you . . . secretly . . . an you wish." +</p> +<p> +Welcome darkness that hid her blushes! . . . she was so young—so ignorant +of life and of the world—yet she felt that by her words, her promise, +her renunciation of her will, she was surrendering something to this +man, which she could never, never regain. +</p> +<p> +Did the first thought of fear, or misgiving cross her mind at this +moment? It were impossible to say. The darkness which to her was so +welcome was—had she but guessed it—infinitely cruel too, for it hid +the look of triumph, of rapacity, of satisfied ambition which at her +selfless surrender had involuntarily crept into Marmaduke's eyes. +</p> + + + +<p> </p> +<p> </p> +<a name="CH12"><!-- CH12 --></a> +<h2> + CHAPTER XII +</h2> + +<h3> +A WOMAN'S HEART +</h3><p> </p> +<p> +It is difficult, perhaps, to analyze rightly the feelings and sensations +of a young girl, when she is literally being swept off her feet in a +whirlpool of passion and romance. +</p> +<p> +Some few years later when Lady Sue wrote those charming memoirs which +are such an interesting record of her early life, she tried to note with +faithful accuracy what was the exact state of her mind when three months +after her first meeting with Prince Amédé d'Orléans, she plighted her +troth to him and promised to marry him in secret and in defiance of her +guardian's more than probable opposition. +</p> +<p> +Her sentiments with regard to her mysterious lover were somewhat +complex, and undoubtedly she was too young, too inexperienced then to +differentiate between enthusiastic interest in a romantic personality, +and real, lasting, passionate love for a man, as apart from any halo of +romance which might be attached to him. +</p> +<p> +When she was a few years older she averred that she could never have +really loved her prince, because she always feared him. Hers, therefore, +was not the perfect love that casteth out fear. She was afraid of him in +his ardent moods, almost as much as when he allowed his unbridled temper +free rein. Whenever she walked through the dark bosquets of the park, +on her way to a meeting with her lover, she was invariably conscious of +a certain trepidation of all her nerves, a wonderment as to what he +would say when she saw him, how he would act; whether chide, or rave, or +merely reproach. +</p> +<p> +It was the gentle and pathetic terror of a child before a stern yet +much-loved parent. Yet she never mistrusted him . . . perhaps because she +had never really seen him—only in outline, half wrapped in shadows, or +merely silhouetted against a weirdly lighted background. His appearance +had no tangible reality for her. She was in love with an ideal, not with +a man . . . he was merely the mouthpiece of an individuality which was of +her own creation. +</p> +<p> +Added to all this there was the sense of isolation. She had lost her +mother when she was a baby; her father fell at Naseby. She herself had +been an only child, left helplessly stranded when the civil war +dispersed her relations and friends, some into exile, others in splendid +revolt within the fastnesses of their own homes, impoverished by pillage +and sequestration, rebellious, surrounded by spies, watching that +opportunity for retaliation which was so slow in coming. +</p> +<p> +Tossed hither and thither by Fate in spite of—or perhaps because +of—her great wealth, she had found a refuge, though not a home, at Acol +Court; she had been of course too young at the time to understand +rightly the great conflict between the King's party and the Puritans, +but had naturally embraced the cause—for which her father's life had +been sacrificed—blindly, like a child of instinct, not like a woman of +thought. +</p> +<p> +Her guardian and Mistress de Chavasse stood for that faction of +Roundheads at which her father and all her relatives had sneered even +while they were being conquered and oppressed by them. She disliked them +both from the first; and chafed at the parsimonious habits of the house, +which stood in such glaring contrast to the easy lavishness of her own +luxurious home. +</p> +<p> +Fortunately for her, her guardian avoided rather than sought her +company. She met him at meals and scarcely more often than that, and +though she often heard his voice about the house, usually raised in +anger or impatience, he was invariably silent and taciturn when she was +present. +</p> +<p> +The presence of Richard Lambert, his humble devotion, his whole-hearted +sympathy and the occasional moments of conversation which she had with +him were the only bright moments in her dull life at the Court: and +there is small doubt but that the friendship and trust which +characterized her feelings towards him would soon have ripened into more +passionate love, but for the advent into her life of the mysterious +hero, who by his personality, his strange, secretive ways, his talk of +patriotism and liberty, at once took complete possession of her girlish +imagination. +</p> +<p> +She was perhaps just too young when she met Lambert; she had not yet +reached that dangerous threshold when girlhood looks from out obscure +ignorance into the glaring knowledge of womanhood. She was a child when +Lambert showed his love for her by a thousand little simple acts of +devotion and by the mute adoration expressed in his eyes. Lambert drew +her towards the threshold by his passionate love, and held her back +within the refuge of innocent girlhood by the sincerity and exaltation +of his worship. +</p> +<p> +With the first word of vehement, unreasoning passion, the mysterious +prince dragged the girl over that threshold into womanhood. He gave her +no time to think, no time to analyze her feelings; he rushed her into a +torrent of ardor and of excitement in which she never could pause in +order to draw breath. +</p> +<p> +To-night she had promised to marry him secretly—to surrender herself +body and soul to this man whom she hardly knew, whom she had never +really seen; she felt neither joy nor remorse, only a strange sense of +agitation, an unnatural and morbid impatience to see the end of the next +few days of suspense. +</p> +<p> +For the first time since she had come to Acol, and encountered the +kindly sympathy of Richard Lambert, she felt bitterly angered against +him when, having parted from the prince at the door of the pavilion, she +turned, to walk back towards the house and came face to face with the +young man. +</p> +<p> +A narrow path led through the trees, from the ha-ha to the gate, and +Richard Lambert was apparently walking along aimlessly, in the direction +of the pavilion. +</p> +<p> +"I came hoping to meet your ladyship and to escort you home. The night +seems very dark," he explained simply in answer to a sudden, haughty +stiffening of her young figure, which he could not help but notice. +</p> +<p> +"I was taking a stroll in the park," she rejoined coldly, "the evening +is sweet and balmy but . . . I have no need of escort, Master Lambert . . . +I thank you. . . . It is late and I would wish to go indoors alone." +</p> +<p> +"It is indeed late, gracious lady," he said gently, "and the park is +lonely at night . . . will you not allow me to walk beside you as far as +the house?" +</p> +<p> +But somehow his insistence, his very gentleness struck a jarring note, +for which she herself could not have accounted. Was it the contrast +between two men, which unaccountably sent a thrill of disappointment, +almost of apprehension, through her heart? +</p> +<p> +She was angry with Lambert, bitterly angry because he was kind and +gentle and long-suffering, whilst the other was violent, even brutal at +times. +</p> +<p> +"I must repeat, master, that I have no need of your escort," she said +haughtily, "I have no fear of marauders, nor yet of prowling beasts. And +for the future I should be grateful to you," she added, conscious of her +own cruelty, determined nevertheless to be remorselessly cruel, "if you +were to cease that system which you have adopted of late—that of +spying on my movements." +</p> +<p> +"Spying?" +</p> +<p> +The word had struck him in the face like a blow. And she, womanlike, +with that strange, impulsive temperament of hers, was not at all sorry +that she had hurt him. Yet surely he had done her no wrong, save by +being so different from the other man, and by seeming to belittle that +other in her sight, against her will and his own. +</p> +<p> +"I am grieved, believe me," she said coldly, "if I seem unkind . . . but +you must see for yourself, good master, that we cannot go on as we are +doing now. . . . Whenever I go out, you follow me . . . when I return I find +you waiting for me. . . . I have endeavored to think kindly of your +actions, but if you value my friendship, as you say you do, you will let +me go my way in peace." +</p> +<p> +"Nay! I humbly beg your ladyship's gracious forgiveness," he said; "if I +have transgressed, it is because I am blind to all save your ladyship's +future happiness, and at times the thought of that adventurer is more +than I can bear." +</p> +<p> +"You do yourself no good, Master Lambert, by talking thus to me of the +man I love and honor beyond all things in this world. You are blind and +see not things as they are: blind to the merits of one who is as +infinitely above you as the stars. But nathless I waste my breath +again. . . . I have no power to convince you of the grievous error which +you commit. But if you cared for me, as you say you do . . ." +</p> +<p> +"If I cared!" he murmured, with a pathetic emphasis on that little word +"if." +</p> +<p> +"As a friend I mean," she rejoined still cold, still cruel, still +womanlike in that strange, inexplicable desire to wound the man who +loved her. "If you care for me as a friend, you will not throw yourself +any more in the way of my happiness. Now you may escort me home, an you +wish. This is the last time that I shall speak to you as a friend, in +response to your petty attacks on the man whom I love. Henceforth you +must chose 'twixt his friendship and my enmity!" +</p> +<p> +And without vouchsafing him another word or look, she gathered her cloak +more closely about her, and walked rapidly away along the narrow path. +</p> +<p> +He followed with head bent, meditating, wondering! Wondering! +</p> + + + +<p> </p> +<p> </p> +<a name="CH13"><!-- CH13 --></a> +<h2> + CHAPTER XIII +</h2> + +<h3> +AN IDEA +</h3><p> </p> +<p> +The triumph was complete. But of a truth the game was waxing dangerous. +</p> +<p> +Lady Sue Aldmarshe had promised to marry her prince. She would keep her +word, of that Sir Marmaduke was firmly convinced. But there would of +necessity be two or three days delay and every hour added to the +terrors, the certainty of discovery. +</p> +<p> +There was a watch-dog at Sue's heels, stern, alert, unyielding. Richard +Lambert was probing the secret of the mysterious prince, with the +unerring eye of the disappointed lover. +</p> +<p> +The meeting to-night had been terribly dangerous. Sir Marmaduke knew +that Lambert was lurking somewhere in the park. +</p> +<p> +At present even the remotest inkling of the truth must still be far from +the young man's mind. The whole scheme was so strange, so daring, so +foreign to the simple ideas of the Quaker-bred lad, that its very +boldness had defied suspicion. But the slightest mischance now, a +meeting at the door of the pavilion, an altercation—face to face, eye +to eye—and Richard Lambert would be on the alert. His hatred would not +be so blind, nor yet so clumsy, as that of his brother, the blacksmith. +There is no spy so keen in all the world as a jealous lover. +</p> +<p> +This had been the prince's first meeting with Sue, since that memorable +day when the secret of their clandestine love became known to Lambert. +Sir Marmaduke knew well that it had been fraught with danger; that every +future meeting would wax more and more perilous still, and that the +secret marriage itself, however carefully and secretively planned, would +hardly escape the prying eyes of the young man. +</p> +<p> +The unmasking of Prince Amédé d'Orléans before Sue had become legally +his wife was a possibility which Sir Marmaduke dared not even think of, +lest the very thought should drive him mad. Once she was his wife! . . . +well, let her look to herself. . . . The marriage tie would be a binding +one, he would see to that, and her fortune should be his, even though he +had won her by a lie. +</p> +<p> +He had staked his very existence on the success of his scheme. Lady +Sue's fortune was the one aim of his life, for it he had worked and +striven, and lied: he would not even contemplate a future without it, +now that his plans had brought him so near the goal. +</p> +<p> +He had one faithful ally, though not a powerful one, in Editha, who, +lured by some vague promises of his, desperate too, as regarded her own +future, had chosen to throw in her lot whole-heartedly with his. +</p> +<p> +He was closeted with her on the following day, in the tiny +withdrawing-room which leads out of the hall at Acol Court. When he had +stolen into the house in the small hours of the morning he had seen +Richard Lambert leaning out of one of the windows which gave upon the +park. +</p> +<p> +It seemed as if the young man must have seen him when he skirted the +house, for though there was no moonlight, the summer's night was +singularly clear. That Lambert had been on the watch—spying, as Sir +Marmaduke said with a bitter oath of rage—was beyond a doubt. +</p> +<p> +Editha too was uneasy; she thought that Lambert had purposely avoided +her the whole morning. +</p> +<p> +"I lingered in the garden for as long as I could," she said to her +brother-in-law, watching with keen anxiety his restless movements to and +fro in the narrow room, "I thought Lambert would keep within doors if he +saw me about. He did not actually see you, Marmaduke, did he?" she +queried with ever-growing disquietude. +</p> +<p> +"No. Not face to face," he replied curtly. "I contrived to avoid him in +the park, and kept well within the shadows, when I saw him spying +through the window. +</p> +<p> +"Curse him!" he added with savage fury, "curse him, for a meddlesome, +spying cur!" +</p> +<p> +"The whole thing is becoming vastly dangerous," she sighed. +</p> +<p> +"Yet it must last for another few weeks at least. . . ." +</p> +<p> +"I know . . . and Lambert is a desperate enemy: he dogs Sue's footsteps, +he will come upon you one day when you are alone, or with her . . . he +will provoke a quarrel. . . ." +</p> +<p> +"I know—I know . . ." he retorted impatiently, "'tis no use +recapitulating the many evil contingencies that might occur. . . . I know +that Lambert is dangerous . . . damn him! . . . Would to God I could be rid +of him . . . somehow." +</p> +<p> +"You can dismiss him," she suggested, "pay him his wages and send him +about his business." +</p> +<p> +"What were the use? He would remain in the village—in his brother's +cottage mayhap . . . with more time on his hands for his spying work. . . . +He would dog the wench's steps more jealously than eve. . . . No! no!" he +added, whilst he cast a quick, furtive look at her—a look which somehow +caused her to shiver with apprehension more deadly than heretofore. +</p> +<p> +"That's not what I want," he said significantly. +</p> +<p> +"What's to be done?" she murmured, "what's to be done?" +</p> +<p> +"I must think," he rejoined harshly. "But we must get that love-sick +youth out of the way . . . him and his airs of Providence in disguise. . . . +Something must be done to part him from the wench effectually and +completely . . . something that would force him to quit this neighborhood +. . . forever, if possible." +</p> +<p> +She did not reply immediately, but fixed her large, dark eyes upon him, +silently for a while, then she murmured: +</p> +<p> +"If I only knew!" +</p> +<p> +"Knew what?" +</p> +<p> +"If I could trust you, Marmaduke!" +</p> +<p> +He laughed, a harsh, cruel laugh which grated upon her ear. +</p> +<p> +"We know too much of one another, my dear Editha, not to trust each +other." +</p> +<p> +"My whole future depends on you. I am penniless. If you marry Sue. . . ." +</p> +<p> +"I can provide for you," he interrupted roughly. "What can I do now? My +penury is worse than yours. So, my dear, if you have a plan to propound +for the furtherance of my schemes, I pray you do not let your fear of +the future prevent you from lending me a helping hand." +</p> +<p> +"A thought crossed my mind," she said eagerly, "the thought of something +which would effectually force Richard Lambert to quit this neighborhood +for ever." +</p> +<p> +"What were that?" +</p> +<p> +"Disgrace." +</p> +<p> +"Disgrace?" he exclaimed. "Aye! you are right. Something mean . . . paltry +. . . despicable . . . something that would make her gracious ladyship turn +away from him in disgust . . . and would force him to go away from here +. . . for ever." +</p> +<p> +He looked at her closely, scrutinizing her face, trying to read her +thoughts. +</p> +<p> +"A thought crossed your mind," he demanded peremptorily. "What is it?" +</p> +<p> +"The house in London," she murmured. +</p> +<p> +"You are not afraid?" +</p> +<p> +"Oh!" she said with a careless shrug of the shoulders. +</p> +<p> +"The Protector's spies are keen," he urged, eager to test her courage, +her desire to help him. +</p> +<p> +"They'll scarce remember me after two years." +</p> +<p> +"Hm! Their memory is keen . . . and the new laws doubly severe." +</p> +<p> +"We'll be cautious." +</p> +<p> +"How can you let your usual clients know? They are dispersed." +</p> +<p> +"Oh, no! My Lord Walterton is as keen as ever and Sir James Overbury +would brave the devil for a night at hazard. A message to them and we'll +have a crowd every night." +</p> +<p> +"'Tis well thought on, Editha," he said approvingly. "But we must not +delay. Will you go to London to-morrow?" +</p> +<p> +"An you approve." +</p> +<p> +"Aye! you can take the Dover coach and be in town by nightfall. Then +write your letters to my Lord Walterton and Sir James Overbury. Get a +serving wench from Alverstone's in the Strand, and ask the gentlemen to +bring their own men, for the sake of greater safety. They'll not +refuse." +</p> +<p> +"Refuse?" she said with a light laugh, "oh, no!" +</p> +<p> +"To-day being Tuesday, you should have your first evening entertainment +on Friday. Everything could be ready by then." +</p> +<p> +"Oh, yes!" +</p> +<p> +"Very well then, on Friday, I, too, will arrive in London, my dear +Editha, escorted by my secretary, Master Richard Lambert, and together +we will call and pay our respects at your charming house in Bath +Street." +</p> +<p> +"I will do my share. You must do yours, Marmaduke. Endicott will help +you: he is keen and clever. And if Lambert but takes a card in his hand +. . ." +</p> +<p> +"Nay! he will take the cards, mine oath on that! Do you but arrange it +all with Endicott." +</p> +<p> +"And, Marmaduke, I entreat you," she urged now with sudden earnestness, +"I entreat you to beware of my Lord Protector's spies. Think of the +consequences for me!" +</p> +<p> +"Aye!" he said roughly, laughing that wicked, cruel laugh of his, which +damped her eagerness, and struck chill terror into her heart, "aye! the +whipping-post for you, fair Editha, for keeping a gaming-house. What? Of +a truth I need not urge you to be cautious." +</p> +<p> +Probably at this moment she would have given worlds—had she possessed +them—if she could but have dissociated herself from her +brother-in-law's future altogether. Though she was an empty-headed, +brainless kind of woman, she was not by nature a wicked one. Necessity +had driven her into linking her fortunes with those of Sir Marmaduke. +And he had been kind to her, when she was in deep distress: but for him +she would probably have starved, for her beauty had gone and her career +as an actress had been, for some inexplicable reason, quite suddenly cut +short, whilst a police raid on the gaming-house over which she presided +had very nearly landed her in a convict's cell. +</p> +<p> +She had escaped severe punishment then, chiefly because Cromwell's laws +against gambling were not so rigorous at the time as they had since +become, also because she was able to plead ignorance of them, and +because of the status of first offense. +</p> +<p> +Therefore she knew quite well what she risked through the scheme which +she had so boldly propounded to Sir Marmaduke. Dire disgrace and infamy, +if my Lord Protector's spies once more came upon the gamesters in her +house—unawares. +</p> +<p> +Utter social ruin and worse! Yet she risked it all, in order to help +him. She did not love him, nor had she any hopes that he would of his +own free will do more than give her a bare pittance for her needs once +he had secured Lady Sue's fortune; but she was shrewd enough to reckon +that the more completely she was mixed up in his nefarious projects, the +more absolutely forced would he be to accede to her demands later on. +The word blackmail had not been invented in those days, but the deed +itself existed and what Editha had in her mind when she risked ostracism +for Sir Marmaduke's sake was something very akin to it. +</p> +<p> +But he, in the meanwhile, had thrown off his dejection. He was full of +eagerness, of anticipated triumph now. +</p> +<p> +The rough idea which was to help him in his schemes had originated in +Editha's brain, but already he had elaborated it; had seen in the plan a +means not only of attaining his own ends with regard to Sue, but also +of wreaking a pleasing vengeance on the man who was trying to frustrate +him. +</p> +<p> +"I pray you, be of good cheer, fair Editha," he said quite gaily. "Your +plan is good and sound, and meseems as if the wench's fortune were +already within my grasp." +</p> +<p> +"Within our grasp, you mean, Marmaduke," she said significantly. +</p> +<p> +"Our grasp of course, gracious lady," he said with a marked sneer, which +she affected to ignore. "What is mine is yours. Am I not tied to the +strings of your kirtle by lasting bonds of infinite gratitude?" +</p> +<p> +"I will start to-morrow then. By chaise to Dover and thence by coach," +she said coldly, taking no heed of his irony. "'Twere best you did not +assume your romantic rôle again until after your own voyage to London. +You can give me some money I presume. I can do nothing with an empty +purse." +</p> +<p> +"You shall have the whole contents of mine, gracious Editha," he said +blandly, "some ten pounds in all, until the happy day when I can place +half a million at your feet." +</p> + + + +<p> </p> +<p> </p> +<a name="PART2"><!-- PART2 --></a> +<h2> + PART II +</h2> + + + + +<p> </p> +<p> </p> +<a name="CH14"><!-- CH14 --></a> +<h2> + CHAPTER XIV +</h2> + +<h3> +THE HOUSE IN LONDON +</h3><p> </p> +<p> +It stood about midway down an unusually narrow by-street off the Strand. +</p> +<p> +A tumble-down archway, leaning to one side like a lame hen, gave access +to a dark passage, dank with moisture, whereon the door of the house +gave some eighteen feet up on the left. +</p> +<p> +The unpaved street, undrained and unutterably filthy, was ankle-deep in +mud, even at the close of this hot August day. Down one side a long +blank wall, stone-built and green with mildew, presented an unbroken +frontage: on the other the row of houses with doors perpetually barred, +and windows whereon dust and grit had formed effectual curtains against +prying eyes, added to the sense of loneliness, of insecurity, of unknown +dangers lurking behind that crippled archway, or beneath the shadows of +the projecting eaves, whence the perpetual drip-drip of soot water came +as a note of melancholy desolation. +</p> +<p> +From all the houses the plaster was peeling off in many places, a prey +to the inclemencies of London winters; all presented gray facades, with +an air of eeriness about their few windows, flush with the outside +wall—at one time painted white, no doubt, but now of uniform dinginess +with the rest of the plaster work. +</p> +<p> +There was a grim hint about the whole street of secret meetings, and of +unavowable deeds done under cover of isolation and of darkness, whilst +the great crooked mouth of the archway disclosing the blackness and +gloom of the passage beyond, suggested the lair of human wild beasts who +only went about in the night. +</p> +<p> +As a rule but few passers-by availed themselves of this short and narrow +cut down to the river-side. Nathless, the unarmed citizen was scared by +these dank and dreary shadows, whilst the city watchman, mindful of his +own safety, was wont to pass the mean street by. +</p> +<p> +Only my Lord Protector's new police-patrol fresh to its onerous task, +solemnly marched down it once in twenty-four hours, keeping shoulder to +shoulder, looking neither to right nor left, thankful when either issue +was once more within sight. +</p> +<p> +But in this same evening in August, 1657, it seemed as if quite a number +of people had business in Bath Street off the Strand. At any rate this +was specially noticeable after St. Mary's had struck the hour of nine, +when several cloaked and hooded figures slipped, one after another, some +singly, others in groups of two or three, into the shadow of the narrow +lane. +</p> +<p> +They all walked in silence, and did not greet one another as they +passed; some cast from time to time furtive looks behind them; but +every one of these evening prowlers seemed to have the same objective, +for as soon as they reached the crippled archway, they disappeared +within the gloom of its yawning mouth. +</p> +<p> +Anon when the police-patrol had gone by and was lost in the gloom there +where Bath Street debouches on the river bank, two of these heavily +cloaked figures walked rapidly down from the Strand, and like the others +slipped quickly under the archway, and made straight for the narrow door +on the left of the passage. +</p> +<p> +This door was provided with a heavy bronze knocker, but strangely enough +the newcomers did not avail themselves of its use, but rapped on the +wooden panels with their knuckles, giving three successive raps at +regular intervals. +</p> +<p> +They were admitted almost immediately, the door seemingly opening of +itself, and they quickly stepped across the threshold. +</p> +<p> +Within the house was just as dark and gloomy as it was without, and as +the two visitors entered, a voice came from out the shadows, and said, +in a curious monotone and with strange irrelevance: +</p> +<p> +"The hour is late!" +</p> +<p> +"And 'twill be later still," replied one of the newcomers. +</p> +<p> +"Yet the cuckoo hath not called," retorted the voice. +</p> +<p> +"Nor is the ferret on the prowl," was the enigmatic reply. Whereupon +the voice speaking in more natural tones added sententiously: +</p> +<p> +"Two flights of steps, and 'ware the seventeenth step on the first +flight. Door on the left, two raps, then three." +</p> +<p> +"Thank you, friend," rejoined one of the newcomers, "'tis pleasant to +feel that so faithful a watch guards the entrance of this palace of +pleasure." +</p> +<p> +Thereupon the two visitors, who of a truth must have been guided either +by instinct or by intimate knowledge of the place, for not a gleam of +light illumined the entrance hall, groped their way to a flight of stone +stairs which led in a steep curve to the upper floors of the house. +</p> +<p> +A rickety banister which gave ominously under the slightest pressure +helped to guide the visitors in this utter darkness: but obviously the +warning uttered by that mysterious challenging voice below was not +superfluous, for having carefully counted sixteen steps in an upward +direction, the newcomers came to a halt, and feeling their way forward +now with uttermost caution, their feet met a yawning hole, which had +soon caused a serious accident to a stranger who had ventured thus far +in ignorance of pitfalls. +</p> +<p> +A grim laugh, echoed by a lighter one, showed that the visitors had +encountered only what they had expected, and after this brief episode +they continued their journey upwards with a firmer sense of security; a +smoky oil lamp on the first floor landing guided their footsteps by +casting a flickering light on the narrow stairway, whereon slime and +filth crept unchecked through the broken crevices between the stones. +</p> +<p> +But now as they advanced, the silence seemed more broken: a distinct hum +as of many voices was soon perceptible, and anon a shrill laugh, +followed by another more deep in tone, and echoed by others which +presently died away in the distance. +</p> +<p> +By the time the two men had reached the second floor landing these many +noises had become more accentuated, also more distinct; still muffled +and subdued as if proceeding from behind heavy doors, but nevertheless +obvious as the voices of men and women in lively converse. +</p> +<p> +The newcomers gave the distinctive raps prescribed by their first +mentor, on the thick panels of a solid oak door on their left. +</p> +<p> +The next moment the door itself was thrown open from within; a flood of +light burst forth upon the gloomy landing from the room beyond, the +babel of many voices became loud and clear, and as the two men stood for +a moment beneath the lintel a veritable chorus of many exclamations +greeted them from every side. +</p> +<p> +"Walterton! begad!" +</p> +<p> +"And Overbury, too!" +</p> +<p> +"How late ye come!" +</p> +<p> +"We thought ye'd fallen a victim to Noll's myrmidons!" +</p> +<p> +It was of a truth a gay and merry company that stood, and moved, +chatted and laughed, within the narrow confines of that small +second-floor room in the gloomy house in Bath Street. +</p> +<p> +The walls themselves were dingy and bare, washed down with some grayish +color, which had long since been defaced by the grime and dust of +London. Thick curtains of a nondescript hue fell in straight folds +before each window, and facing these there was another door—double +paneled—which apparently led to an inner room. +</p> +<p> +But the place itself was brilliantly illuminated with many wax candles +set in chandeliers. These stood on the several small tables which were +dotted about the room. +</p> +<p> +These tables—covered with green baize, and a number of chairs of +various shapes and doubtful solidity were the only furniture of the +room, but in an arched recess in the wall a plaster figure holding a +cornucopia, from whence fell in thick profusion the plaster presentments +of the fruits of this earth, stood on an elevated pedestal, which had +been draped with crimson velvet. +</p> +<p> +The goddess of Fortune, with a broken nose and a paucity of fingers, +dominated the brilliant assembly, from the height of her crimson throne. +Her head had been crowned with a tall peaked modish beaver hat, from +which a purple feather rakishly swept over the goddess's left ear. An +ardent devotee had deposited a copper coin in her extended, thumbless +hand, whilst another had fixed a row of candle stumps at her feet. +</p> +<p> +There was nothing visible in this brilliantly lighted room of the sober +modes to which the eye of late had become so accustomed. Silken doublets +of bright and even garish colors stood out in bold contrast against the +gray monotone of the walls and hangings. Fantastic buttons, tags and +laces, gorgeously embroidered cuffs and collars edged with priceless +Mechlin or d'Alençon, bunches of ribands at knee and wrists, full +periwigs and over-wide boot-hose tops were everywhere to be seen, whilst +the clink of swords against the wooden boards and frequent volleys of +loudly spoken French oaths, testified to the absence of those Puritanic +fashions and customs which had become the general rule even in London. +</p> +<p> +Some of the company sat in groups round the green-topped tables whereon +cards or dice and heaps of gold and smaller coins lay in profusion. +Others stood about watching the games or chatting to one another. Mostly +men they were, some old, some young—but there were women too, women in +showy kirtles, with bare shoulders showing well above the colverteen +kerchief and faces wherein every line had been obliterated by plentiful +daubs of cosmetics. They moved about the room from table to table, +laughing, talking, making comments on the games as these proceeded. +</p> +<p> +The men apparently were all intent—either as actual participants or +merely as spectators—upon a form of amusement which His Highness the +Lord Protector had condemned as wanton and contrary to law. +</p> +<p> +The newcomers soon divested themselves of their immense dark cloaks, +and they, too, appeared in showy apparel of silk and satin, with tiny +bows of ribands at the ends of the long curls which fell both sides of +their faces, and with enormous frills of lace inside the turned-over +tops of their boots. +</p> +<p> +Lord Walterton quite straddled in his gait, so wide were his boot tops, +and there was an extraordinary maze of tags and ribands round the edge +of Sir James Overbury's breeches. +</p> +<p> +"Make your game, gentlemen, make your game," said the latter as he +advanced further into the room. And his tired, sleepy eyes brightened at +sight of the several tables covered with cards and dice, the guttering +candles, the mountains of gold and small coin scattered on the green +baize tops. +</p> +<p> +"Par Dieu! but 'tis a sight worth seeing after the ugly sour faces one +meets in town these days!" he added, gleefully rubbing his beringed +hands one against the other. +</p> +<p> +"But where is our gracious hostess?" added Lord Walterton, a +melancholy-looking young man with pale-colored eyes and lashes, and a +narrow chest. +</p> +<p> +"You are thrice welcome, my lord!" said Editha de Chavasse, whose +elegant figure now detached itself from amongst her guests. +</p> +<p> +She looked very handsome in her silken kirtle of a brilliant greenish +hue, lace primer, and high-heeled shoes—relics of her theatrical days; +her head was adorned with the bunches of false curls which the modish +hairdressers were trying to introduce. The plentiful use of cosmetics +had obliterated the ravages of time and imparted a youthful appearance +to her face, whilst excitement not unmixed with apprehension lent a +bright glitter to her dark eyes. +</p> +<p> +Lord Walterton and Sir James Overbury lightly touched with their lips +the hand which she extended to them. Their bow, too, was slight, though +they tossed their curls as they bent their heads in the most approved +French fashion. But there was a distinct note of insolence, not +altogether unmixed with irony, in the freedom with which they had +greeted her. +</p> +<p> +"I met de Chavasse in town to-day," said Lord Walterton, over his +shoulder before he mixed with the crowd. +</p> +<p> +"Yes! he will be here to-night," she rejoined. Sir James Overbury also +made a casual remark, but it was evident that the intention and purpose +of these gay gentlemen was not the courteous entertainment of their +hostess. Like so many men of all times and all nations in this world, +they were ready enough to enjoy what she provided for them—the illicit +pastime which they could not get elsewhere—but they despised her for +giving it them, and cared naught for the heavy risks she ran in keeping +up this house for their pleasure. +</p> + + + +<p> </p> +<p> </p> +<a name="CH15"><!-- CH15 --></a> +<h2> + CHAPTER XV +</h2> + +<h3> +A GAME OF PRIMERO +</h3><p> </p> +<p> +At a table in the immediate center of the room a rotund gentleman in +doublet and breeches of cinnamon brown taffeta and voluminous lace cuffs +at the wrists was presiding over a game of Spanish primero. +</p> +<p> +A simple game enough, not difficult of comprehension, yet vastly +exciting, if one may form a judgment of its qualities through watching +the faces of the players. +</p> +<p> +The rotund gentleman dealt a card face downwards to each of his +opponents, who then looked at their cards and staked on them, by pushing +little piles of gold or silver forward. +</p> +<p> +Then the dealer turned up his own card, and gave the amount of the +respective stakes to those players whose cards were of higher value than +his own, whilst sweeping all other moneys to swell his own pile. +</p> +<p> +A simple means, forsooth, of getting rid of any superfluity of cash. +</p> +<p> +"Art winning, Endicott?" queried Lord Walterton as, he stood over the +other man, looking down on the game. +</p> +<p> +Endicott shrugged his fat shoulders, and gave an enigmatic chuckle. +</p> +<p> +"I pay King and Ace only," he called out imperturbably, as he turned up +a Queen. +</p> +<p> +Most of the stakes came to swell his own pile, but he passed a handful +of gold to a hollow-eyed youth who sat immediately opposite to him, and +who clutched at the money with an eager, trembling grasp. +</p> +<p> +"You have all the luck to-night, Segrave," he said with an oily smile +directed at the winner. +</p> +<p> +"Make your game, gentlemen," he added almost directly, as he once more +began to deal. +</p> +<p> +"I pay knave upwards!" he declared, turning up the ten of clubs. +</p> +<p> +"Mine is the ten of hearts," quoth one of the players. +</p> +<p> +"Ties pay the bank," quoth Endicott imperturbably. +</p> +<p> +"Mine is a queen," said Segrave in a hollow tone of voice. +</p> +<p> +Endicott with a comprehensive oath threw the entire pack of cards into a +distant corner of the room. +</p> +<p> +"A fresh pack, mistress!" he shouted peremptorily. +</p> +<p> +Then as an overdressed, florid woman, with high bullhead fringe and +old-fashioned Spanish farthingale, quickly obeyed his behests, he said +with a coarse laugh: +</p> +<p> +"Fresh cards may break Master Segrave's luck and improve yours, Sir +Michael." +</p> +<p> +"Before this round begins," said Sir James Overbury who was standing +close behind Lord Walterton, also watching the game, "I will bet you, +Walterton, that Segrave wins again." +</p> +<p> +"Done with you," replied the other, "and I'll back mine own opinion by +taking a hand." +</p> +<p> +The florid woman brought him a chair, and he sat down at the table, as +Endicott once more began to deal. +</p> +<p> +"Five pounds that Segrave wins," said Overbury. +</p> +<p> +"A queen," said Endicott, turning up his card. "I pay king and ace +only." +</p> +<p> +Everyone had to pay the bank, for all turned up low cards; Segrave alone +had not yet turned up his. +</p> +<p> +"Well! what is your card, Master Segrave?" queried Lord Walterton +lightly. +</p> +<p> +"An ace!" said Segrave simply, displaying the ace of hearts. +</p> +<p> +"No good betting against the luck," said young Walterton lightly, as he +handed five sovereigns over to his friend, "moreover it spoils my +system." +</p> +<p> +"Ye play primero on a system!" quoth Sir Michael Isherwood in deep +amazement. +</p> +<p> +"Yes!" replied the young man. "I have played on it for years . . . and it +is infallible, 'pon my honor." +</p> +<p> +In the meanwhile the doors leading to the second room had been thrown +open; serving men and women advanced carrying trays on which were +displayed glasses and bottles filled with Rhenish wine and Spanish +canary and muscadel, also buttered ale and mead and hypocras for the +ladies. +</p> +<p> +Editha did not occupy herself with serving but the florid woman was +most attentive to the guests. She darted in and out between the tables, +managing her unwieldy farthingale with amazing skill. She poured out the +wines, and offered tarts and dishes of anchovies and of cheese, also +strange steaming beverages lately imported into England called coffee +and chocolate. +</p> +<p> +The women liked the latter, and supped it out of mugs, with many little +cries of astonishment and appreciation of its sugariness. +</p> +<p> +The men drank heavily, chiefly of the heady Spanish wines; they ate the +anchovies and cheese with their fingers, and continually called for more +refreshments. +</p> +<p> +Play was of necessity interrupted. Groups of people eating and drinking +congregated round the tables. The men mostly discussed various phases of +the game; there was so little else for idlers to talk about these days. +No comedies or other diversions, neither cock-fighting nor bear-baiting, +and abuse of my Lord Protector and his rigorous disciplinarian laws had +already become stale. +</p> +<p> +The women talked dress and coiffure, the new puffs, the fanciful +pinners. +</p> +<p> +But at the center table Segrave still sat, refusing all refreshment, +waiting with obvious impatience for the ending of this unwelcome +interval. When first he found himself isolated in the crowd, he had +counted over with febrile eagerness the money which lay in a substantial +heap before him. +</p> +<p> +"Saved!" he muttered between his teeth, speaking to himself like one +who is dreaming, "saved! Thank God! . . . Two hundred and fifty pounds . . . +only another fifty and I'll never touch these cursed cards again . . . +only another fifty. . . ." +</p> +<p> +He buried his face in his hands; the moisture stood out in heavy drops +on his forehead. He looked all round him with ever-growing impatience. +</p> +<p> +"My God! why don't they come back! . . . Another fifty pounds . . . and I +can put the money back . . . before it has been missed. . . . Oh! why don't +they come back!" +</p> +<p> +Quite a tragedy expressed in those few muttered words, in the trembling +hands, the damp forehead. Money taken from an unsuspecting parent, +guardian or master, which? What matter? A tragedy of ordinary occurrence +even in those days when social inequalities were being abolished by act +of Parliament. +</p> +<p> +In the meanwhile Lord Walterton, halting of speech, insecure of +foothold, after his third bumper of heady sack, was explaining to Sir +Michael Isherwood the mysteries of his system for playing the noble game +of primero. +</p> +<p> +"It is sure to break the bank in time," he said confidently, "I am for +going to Paris where play runs high, and need not be carried on in this +hole and corner fashion to suit cursed Puritanical ideas." +</p> +<p> +"Tell me your secret, Walterton," urged worthy Sir Michael, whose broad +Shropshire acres were heavily mortgaged, after the rapine and pillage +of civil war. +</p> +<p> +"Well! I can but tell you part, my friend," rejoined the other, "yet +'tis passing simple. You begin with one golden guinea . . . and lose it +. . . then you put up two and lose again. . . ." +</p> +<p> +"Passing simple," assented Sir Michael ironically. +</p> +<p> +"But after that you put up four guineas." +</p> +<p> +"And lose it." +</p> +<p> +"Yea! yea! mayhap you lose it . . . but then you put up eight guineas . . . +and win. Whereupon you are just as you were before." +</p> +<p> +And with a somewhat unsteady hand the young man raised a bumper to his +lips, whilst eying Sir Michael with the shifty and inquiring eye +peculiar to the intoxicated. +</p> +<p> +"Meseems that if you but abstain from playing altogether," quoth Sir +Michael impatiently, "the result would still be the same. . . . And suppose +you lose the eight guineas, what then?" +</p> +<p> +"Oh! 'tis vastly simple—you put up sixteen." +</p> +<p> +"But if you lose that?" +</p> +<p> +"Put up thirty-two. . . ." +</p> +<p> +"But if you have not thirty-two guineas to put up?" urged Sir Michael, +who was obstinate. +</p> +<p> +"Nay! then, my friend," said Lord Walterton with a laugh which soon +broke into an ominous hiccough, "ye must not in that case play upon my +system." +</p> +<p> +"Well said, my lord," here interposed Endicott, who had most moderately +partaken of a cup of hypocras, and whose eye and hand were as steady as +heretofore. "Well said, pardi! . . . My old friend the Marquis of +Swarthmore used oft to say in the good old days of Goring's Club, that +'twas better to lose on a system, than to play on no system at all." +</p> +<p> +"A smart cavalier, old Swarthmore," assented Sir Michael gruffly, "and +nathless, a true friend to you, Endicott," he added significantly. +</p> +<p> +"Another deal, Master Endicott," said Segrave, who for the last quarter +of an hour had vainly tried to engage the bank-holder's attention. +</p> +<p> +Nor was Lord Walterton averse to this. The more the wine got into his +head, the more unsteady his hand became, the more strong was his desire +to woo the goddess whose broken-nosed image seemed to be luring him to +fortune. +</p> +<p> +"You are right, Master Segrave," he said thickly, "we are wasting +valuable time. Who knows but what old Noll's police-patrol is lurking in +this cutthroat alley? . . . Endicott, take the bank again. . . . I'll swear +I'll ruin ye ere the moon—which I do not see—disappears down the +horizon. Sir Michael, try my system. . . . Overbury, art a laggard? . . . Let +us laugh and be merry—to-morrow is the Jewish Sabbath—and after that +Puritanic Sunday . . . after which mayhap, we'll all go to hell, driven +thither by my Lord Protector. Wench, another bumper . . . canary, sack or +muscadel . . . no thin Rhenish wine shall e'er defile this throat! +Gentlemen, take your places. . . . Mistress Endicott, can none of these +wenches discourse sweet music whilst we do homage to the goddess of +Fortune? . . . To the tables . . . to the tables, gentlemen . . . here's to +King Charles, whom may God protect . . . and all in defiance of my Lord +Protector!" +</p> + + + +<p> </p> +<p> </p> +<a name="CH16"><!-- CH16 --></a> +<h2> + CHAPTER XVI +</h2> + +<h3> +A CONFLICT +</h3><p> </p> +<p> +In the hubbub which immediately followed Lord Walterton's tirade, Editha +de Chavasse beckoned to the florid woman—who seemed to be her +henchwoman—and drew her aside to a distant corner of the room, where +there were no tables nigh and where the now subdued hum of the voices, +mingling with the sound of music on virginal and stringed instruments, +made a murmuring noise which effectually drowned the talk between the +two women. +</p> +<p> +"Have you arranged everything, Mistress Endicott?" asked Editha, +speaking in a whisper. +</p> +<p> +"Everything, mistress," replied the other. +</p> +<p> +"Endicott understands?" +</p> +<p> +"Perfectly," said the woman, with perceptible hesitation, "but . . ." +</p> +<p> +"What ails you, mistress?" asked Editha haughtily, noting the +hesitation, and frowning with impatience thereat. +</p> +<p> +"My husband thinks the game too dangerous." +</p> +<p> +"I was not aware," retorted Mistress de Chavasse dryly, "that I had +desired Master Endicott's opinion on the subject." +</p> +<p> +"Mayhap not," rejoined the other, equally dryly, "but you did desire his +help in the matter . . . and he seems unmindful to give it." +</p> +<p> +"Why?" +</p> +<p> +"I have explained . . . the game is too dangerous." +</p> +<p> +"Or the payment insufficient?" sneered Editha. "Which is it?" +</p> +<p> +"Both, mayhap," assented Mistress Endicott with a careless shrug of her +fat shoulders, "the risks are very great. To-night especially. . . ." +</p> +<p> +"Why especially to-night?" +</p> +<p> +"Because ever since you have been away from it, this house—though we +did our best to make it seem deserted—hath been watched—of that I feel +very sure. . . . My Lord Protector's watchmen have a suspicion of our . . . +our evening entertainments . . . and I doubt not but that they desire to +see for themselves how our guests enjoy themselves these nights." +</p> +<p> +"Well?" rejoined Editha lightly. "What of that?" +</p> +<p> +"As you know, we did not play for nigh on twelve months now. . . . Endicott +thought it too dangerous . . . and to-night . . ." +</p> +<p> +She checked herself abruptly, for Editha had turned an angry face and +flashing eyes upon her. +</p> +<p> +"To-night?" said Mistress de Chavasse curtly, but peremptorily, "what of +to-night? . . . I sent you orders from Thanet that I wished the house +opened to-night . . . Lord Walterton, Sir James Overbury and as many of +our usual friends as were in the town, apprised that play would be in +full progress. . . . Meseems," she added, casting a searching look all +round the room, "that we have singularly few players." +</p> +<p> +"It was difficult," retorted the other with somewhat more diffidence in +her tone than had characterized her speech before now. "Young Squire +Delamere committed suicide . . . you remember him? . . . and Lord Cooke +killed Sir Humphrey Clinton in a duel after that fracas we had here, +when the police-patrol well-nigh seized upon your person. . . . Squire +Delamere's suicide and Sir Humphrey's death caused much unpleasant talk. +And old Mistress Delamere, the mother, hath I fear me, still a watchful +eye on us. She means to do us lasting mischief. . . . It had been wiser to +tarry yet awhile. . . . Twelve months is not sufficient for throwing the +dust of ages over us and our doings. . . . That is my husband's opinion and +also mine. . . . A scandal such as you propose to have to-night, will bring +the Protector's spies about our ears . . . his police too, mayhap . . . and +then Heaven help us all, mistress . . . for you, in the country, cannot +conceive how rigorously are the laws enforced now against gambling, +betting, swearing or any other form of innocent amusement. . . . Why! two +wenches were whipped at the post by the public hangman only last week, +because forsooth they were betting on the winner amongst themselves, +whilst watching a bout of pell-mell. . . . And you know that John Howthill +stood in the pillory for two hours and had both his hands bored through +with a hot iron for allowing gambling inside his coffeehouse. . . . And +so, mistress, you will perceive that I am speaking but in your own +interests. . . ." +</p> +<p> +Editha, who had listened to the long tirade with marked impatience, here +interrupted the voluble lady, with harsh command. +</p> +<p> +"I crave your pardon, mistress," she said peremptorily. "My interests +pre-eminently consist in being obeyed by those whom I pay for doing my +behests. Now you and your worthy husband live here rent free and derive +a benefit of ten pounds every time our guests assemble. . . . Well! in +return for that, I make use of you and your names, in case of any +unpleasantness with the vigilance patrol . . . or in case of a scandal +which might reach my Lord Protector's ears. . . . Up to this time your +positions here have been a sinecure. . . . I even bore the brunt of the +last fracas whilst you remained practically scathless. . . . But to-night, +I own it, there may be some risks . . . but of a truth you have been well +paid to take them." +</p> +<p> +"But if we refuse to take the risks," retorted the other. +</p> +<p> +"If you refuse, mistress," said Editha with a careless shrug of the +shoulders, "you and your worthy lord go back to the gutter where I +picked you up . . . and within three months of that time, I should +doubtless have the satisfaction of seeing you both at the whipping-post, +for of a truth you would be driven to stealing or some other equally +unavowable means of livelihood." +</p> +<p> +"We could send <i>you</i> there," said Mistress Endicott, striving to +suppress her own rising fury, "if we but said the word." +</p> +<p> +"Nay! you would not be believed, mistress . . . but even so, I do not +perceive how my social ruin would benefit you." +</p> +<p> +"Since we are doomed anyhow . . . after this night's work," said the woman +sullenly. +</p> +<p> +"Nay! but why should you take so gloomy a view of the situation? . . . My +Lord Protector hath forgot our existence by now, believe me . . . and of a +surety his patrol hath not yet knocked at our door. . . . And methinks, +mistress," added Editha significantly, "'tis not in <i>your</i> interest to +quarrel with me." +</p> +<p> +"I have no wish to quarrel with you," quoth Mistress Endicott, who +apparently had come to the end of her resistance, and no doubt had known +all along that her fortunes were too much bound up with those of +Mistress de Chavasse to allow of a rupture between them. +</p> +<p> +"Then everything is vastly satisfactory," said Editha with forced +gayety. "I rely on you, mistress, and on Endicott's undoubted talents to +bring this last matter to a successful issue to-night. . . . Remember, +mistress . . . I rely on you." +</p> +<p> +Perhaps Mistress Endicott would have liked to prolong the argument. As a +matter of fact, neither she nor her husband counted the risks of a +midnight fracas of great moment to themselves: they had so very little +to lose. A precarious existence based on illicit deeds of all sorts had +rendered them hard and reckless. +</p> +<p> +All they wished was to be well paid for the risks they ran; neither of +them was wholly unacquainted with the pillory, and it held no great +terrors for them. There were so many unavowable pleasures these days, +which required a human cloak to cover the identity of the real +transgressor, that people like Master and Mistress Endicott prospered +vastly. +</p> +<p> +The case of Mistress de Chavasse's London house wherein the ex-actress +had some few years ago established a gaming club, together with its +various emoluments attached thereunto, suited the Endicotts' +requirements to perfection: but the woman desired an increase of payment +for the special risk she would run to-night, and was sorely vexed that +she could not succeed in intimidating Editha with threats of +vigilance-patrol and whipping-posts. +</p> +<p> +Mistress de Chavasse knew full well that the Endicotts did not intend to +quarrel with her, and having threatened rupture unless her commands were +obeyed, she had no wish to argue the matter further with her henchwoman. +</p> +<p> +At that moment, too, there came the sound of significant and methodical +rappings at the door. Editha, who had persistently throughout her +discussion with Mistress Endicott, kept one ear open for that sound, +heard it even through the buzz of talk. She made a scarcely visible +gesture of the hand, bidding the other woman to follow her: that gesture +was quickly followed by a look of command. +</p> +<p> +Mistress Endicott presumably had finally made up her mind to obey. She +shrugged her fat shoulders and followed Mistress de Chavasse as far as +the center of the room. +</p> +<p> +"Remember that you are the hostess now," murmured Editha to her, as she +herself went to the door and opened it. +</p> +<p> +With an affected cry of surprise and pleasure she welcomed Sir Marmaduke +de Chavasse, who was standing on the threshold, prepared to enter and +escorted by his young secretary, Master Richard Lambert. +</p> + + + +<p> </p> +<p> </p> +<a name="CH17"><!-- CH17 --></a> +<h2> + CHAPTER XVII +</h2> + +<h3> +RUS IN URBE +</h3><p> </p> +<p> +One or two of the men looked up as de Chavasse entered, but no one took +much notice of him. +</p> +<p> +Most of those present remembered him from the past few years when still +with pockets well filled through having forestalled Lady Sue's +maintenance money, he was an habitual frequenter of some of the smart +secret clubs in town; but here, just the same as elsewhere, Sir +Marmaduke was not a popular man, and many there were who had unpleasant +recollections of his surly temper and uncouth ways, whenever fickle +Fortune happened not to favor him. +</p> +<p> +Even now, he looked sullen and disagreeable as, having exchanged a +significant glance with his sister-in-law, he gave a comprehensive nod +to the assembled guests, which had nothing in it either of cordiality or +of good-will. He touched Editha's finger tips with his lips, and then +advanced into the room. +</p> +<p> +Here he was met by Mistress Endicott, who had effectually thrown off the +last vestige of annoyance and of rebellion, for she greeted the newcomer +with marked good-humor and an encouraging smile. +</p> +<p> +"It is indeed a pleasure to see that Sir Marmaduke de Chavasse hath not +forgot old friends," she said pleasantly. +</p> +<p> +"It was passing kind, gracious mistress," he responded, forcing himself +to speak naturally and in agreeable tones, "to remember an insignificant +country bumpkin like myself . . . and you see I have presumed on your +lavish hospitality and brought my young friend, Master Richard Lambert, +to whom you extended so gracious an invitation." +</p> +<p> +He turned to Lambert, who a little dazed to find himself in such +brilliant company, had somewhat timidly kept close to the heels of his +employer. He thought Mistress Endicott vulgar and overdressed the moment +he felt bold enough to raise his eyes to hers. But he chided himself +immediately for thus daring to criticize his betters. +</p> +<p> +His horizon so far had been very limited; only quite vaguely had he +heard of town and Court life. The little cottage where dwelt the old +Quakeress who had brought him and his brother up, and the tumble-down, +dilapidated house of Sir Marmaduke de Chavasse were the only habitations +in which he was intimate. The neighboring Kentish Squires, Sir Timothy +Harrison, Squire Pyncheon and Sir John Boatfield, were the only +presentations of "gentlemen" he had ever seen. +</p> +<p> +Sir Marmaduke de Chavasse had somewhat curtly given him orders the day +before, that he was to accompany him to London, whither he himself had +to go to consult his lawyer. Lambert had naturally obeyed, without +murmur, but with vague trepidations at thought of this, his first +journey into the great town. +</p> +<p> +Sir Marmaduke had been very kind, had given him a new suit of grogram, +lined with flowered silk, which Lambert thought the richest garment he +had ever seen. He was very loyal in his thoughts to his employer, +bearing with the latter's violence and pandering to his fits of +ill-humor for the sake of the home which Sir Marmaduke had provided for +him. +</p> +<p> +To Lambert's mind, Sir Marmaduke's kindness to him was wholly +gratuitous. His own position as secretary being but a sinecure, the +young man readily attributed de Chavasse's interest in himself to innate +goodness of heart, and desire to help the poor orphan lad. +</p> +<p> +This estimate of his employer's character Richard Lambert had not felt +any cause to modify. He continued to serve him faithfully, to look after +his interests in and around Acol Court to the best of his ability; above +all he continued to be whole-heartedly grateful. He was so absolutely +conscious of the impassable social barrier which existed between himself +and the rich daughter of the great Earl of Dover, that he never for a +moment resented Sir Marmaduke's sneers when they were directed against +his obvious, growing love for Sue. +</p> +<p> +Remember that he had no cause to suspect Sir Marmaduke de Chavasse of +any nefarious projects or of any evil intentions with regard to himself, +when he told him that together they would go this night to the house of +an old friend, Mrs. Endicott, where they would derive much pleasure and +entertainment. +</p> +<p> +They had spent the previous night at the Swan Inn in Fleet Street and +the day in visiting the beautiful sights of London, which caused the +young lad from the country to open wide eyes in astonishment and +pleasure. +</p> +<p> +Sir Marmaduke had been peculiarly gracious, even taking Richard with him +to the Frenchman's house in Queen's Head Alley, where that curious +beverage called coffee was dispensed and where several clever people met +and discussed politics in a manner which was vastly interesting to the +young man. +</p> +<p> +Then when the evening began to draw in, and Lambert thought it high time +to go to bed, for 'twas a pity to burn expensive candles longer than was +necessary, Sir Marmaduke had astonished his secretary by telling him +that he must now clean and tidy himself for they would proceed to the +house of a great lady named Mistress Endicott—a friend of the ex-Queen +Henrietta Maria and a lady of peculiar virtues and saintliness, who +would give them vast and pleasing entertainment. +</p> +<p> +Lambert was only too ready to obey. Enjoyment came naturally to him +beneath his Quaker bringing-up: his youth, good-health and pure, +naturally noble intellect, all craved companionship, with its attendant +pleasures and joys. He himself could not afterwards have said exactly +how he had pictured in his mind the saintly lady—friend of the unhappy +Queen—whom he was to meet this night. +</p> +<p> +Certainly Mistress Endicott, with her red face surmounted by masses of +curls that were obviously false, since they did not match the rest of +her hair, was not the ideal paragon of all the virtues, and when he was +first made to greet her, a strange, unreasoning instinct seemed to draw +him away from her, to warn him to fly from this noisy company, from the +sight of those many faces, all unnaturally flushed, and from the sounds +of those strange oaths which greeted his ears from every side. +</p> +<p> +A great wave of thankfulness came over him that, his gracious +lady—innocent, tender, beautiful Lady Sue, had not come to London with +her guardian. Whilst he gazed on the marvels of Westminster Hall and of +old Saint Paul's he had longed that she should be near him, so that he +might watch the brilliance of her eyes, and the glow of pleasure which, +of a surety would have mantled in her cheeks when she was shown the +beauties of the great city. +</p> +<p> +But now he was glad—very glad, that Sir Marmaduke had so sternly +ordained that she should remain these few days alone at Acol in charge +of Mistress Charity and of Master Busy. At the time he had chafed +bitterly at his own enforced silence: he would have given all he +possessed in the world for the right to warn Sir Marmaduke de Chavasse +that a wolf was prowling in the fold under cover of the night. He had +seen Lady Sue's eyes brighten at the dictum that she was to remain +behind—they told him in eloquent language the joy she felt to be free +for two days that she might meet her prince undisturbed. +</p> +<p> +But all these thoughts and fears had fled the moment Lambert found +himself in the midst of these people, whom he innocently believed to be +great ladies and noble gentlemen, friends of his employer Sir Marmaduke +de Chavasse. It seemed to him at once as if there was something here—in +this room—which he would not wish Lady Sue to see. +</p> +<p> +He was clumsy and <i>gauche</i> in his movements as he took the hand which +Mistress Endicott extended to him, but he tried to imitate the salute +which he had seen his employer give on the flat—not very +clean—finger-tips of the lady. +</p> +<p> +She was exceedingly gracious to him, saying with great kindliness and a +melancholy sigh: +</p> +<p> +"Ah! you come from the country, master? . . . So delightful, of a +truth. . . . Milk for breakfast, eh? . . . You get up at dawn and go to bed +at sunset? . . . I know country life well—though alas! duty now keeps me +in town. . . . But 'tis small wonder that you look so young!" +</p> +<p> +He tried to talk to her of the country, for here she had touched on a +topic which was dear to him. He knew all about the birds and beasts, the +forests and the meadows, and being unused to the art of hypocritical +interest, he took for real sympathy the lady's vapid exclamations of +enthusiasm, with which she broke in now and again upon his flow of +eloquence. +</p> +<p> +Sir Marmaduke de Chavasse, who was watching the young man with febrile +keenness, had the satisfaction to note that very soon Richard began to +throw off his bucolic timidity, his latent yet distinctly perceptible +disapproval of the company into which he had been brought. He sought out +his sister-in-law and drew her attention to Lambert in close +conversation with Mrs. Endicott. +</p> +<p> +"Is everything arranged?" he asked under his breath. +</p> +<p> +"Everything," she replied. +</p> +<p> +"No trouble with our henchmen?" +</p> +<p> +"A little . . . but they are submissive now." +</p> +<p> +"What is the arrangement?" +</p> +<p> +"Persuade young Lambert to take a hand at primero . . . Endicott will do +the rest." +</p> +<p> +"Who is in the know?" he queried, after a slight pause, during which he +watched his unsuspecting victim with a deep frown of impatience and of +hate. +</p> +<p> +"Only the Endicotts," she explained. "But do you think that he will +play?" she added, casting an anxious look on her brother-in-law's face. +</p> +<p> +He nodded affirmatively. +</p> +<p> +"Yes!" he said curtly. "I can arrange that, as soon as you are ready." +</p> +<p> +She turned from him and walked to the center table. She watched the game +for a while, noting that young Segrave was still the winner, and that +Lord Walterton was very flushed and excited. +</p> +<p> +Then she caught Endicott's eye, and immediately lowered her lashes +twice in succession. +</p> +<p> +"Ventre-saint-gris!" swore Endicott with an unmistakable British accent +in the French expletive, "but I'll play no more. . . . The bank is broken +. . . and I have lost too much money. Mr. Segrave there has nearly cleaned +me out and still I cannot break his luck." +</p> +<p> +He rose abruptly from his chair, even as Mistress de Chavasse quietly +walked away from the table. +</p> +<p> +But Lord Walterton placed a detaining, though very trembling hand, on +the cinnamon-colored sleeve. +</p> +<p> +"Nay! parbleu! ye cannot go like this . . . good Master Endicott . . ." he +said, speaking very thickly, "I want another round or two . . . 'pon my +honor I do . . . I haven't lost nearly all I meant to lose." +</p> +<p> +"Ye cannot stop play so abruptly, master," said Segrave, whose eyes +shone with an unnatural glitter, and whose cheeks were covered with a +hectic flush, "ye cannot leave us all in the lurch." +</p> +<p> +"Nay, I doubt not, my young friend," quoth Endicott gruffly, "that you +would wish to play all night. . . . You have won all my money and Lord +Walterton's, too." +</p> +<p> +"And most of mine," added Sir Michael Isherwood ruefully. +</p> +<p> +"Why should not Master Segrave take the bank," here came in shrill +accents from Mistress Endicott, who throughout her conversation with +Lambert had kept a constant eye on what went on around her husband's +table. "He seems the only moneyed man amongst you all," she added with a +laugh, which grated most unpleasantly on Richard's ear. +</p> +<p> +"I will gladly take the bank," said Segrave eagerly. +</p> +<p> +"Pardi! I care not who hath the bank," quoth Lord Walterton, with the +slow emphasis of the inebriated. "My system takes time to work. . . . And I +stand to lose a good deal unless . . . hic . . . unless I win!" +</p> +<p> +"You are not where you were, when you began," commented Sir Michael +grimly. +</p> +<p> +"By Gad, no! . . . hic . . . but 'tis no matter. . . . Give me time!" +</p> +<p> +"Methought I saw Sir Marmaduke de Chavasse just now," said Endicott, +looking about him. "Ah! and here comes our worthy baronet," he added +cheerily as Sir Marmaduke's closely cropped head—very noticeable in the +crowd of periwigs—emerged from amidst the group that clustered round +Mistress Endicott. "A hand at primero, sir?" +</p> +<p> +"I thank you, no!" replied Sir Marmaduke, striving to master his +habitual ill-humor and to speak pleasantly. "My luck hath long since +deserted me, if it e'er visited me at all. A fact of which I grow daily +more doubtful." +</p> +<p> +"But ventre-saint-gris!" ejaculated Lord Walterton, who showed an +inclination to become quarrelsome in his cups, "we must have someone to +take Endicott's place, I cannot work my system hic . . . if so few +play. . . ." +</p> +<p> +"Perhaps your young friend, Sir Marmaduke . . ." suggested Mistress +Endicott, waving an embroidered handkerchief in the direction of Richard +Lambert. +</p> +<p> +"No doubt! no doubt!" rejoined Sir Marmaduke, turning with kindly +graciousness to his secretary. "Master Lambert, these gentlemen are +requiring another hand for their game . . . I pray you join in with +them. . . ." +</p> +<p> +"I would do so with pleasure, sir," replied Lambert, still unsuspecting, +"but I fear me I am a complete novice at cards. . . . What is the game?" +</p> +<p> +He was vaguely distrustful of cards, for he had oft heard this pastime +condemned as ungodly by those with whom he had held converse in his +early youth, nevertheless it did not occur to him that there might be +anything wrong in a game which was countenanced by Sir Marmaduke de +Chavasse, whom he knew to be an avowed Puritan, and by the saintly lady +who had been the friend of ex-Queen Henrietta Maria. +</p> +<p> +"'Tis a simple round game," said Sir Marmaduke lightly, "you would soon +learn." +</p> +<p> +"And . . ." said Lambert diffidently questioning, and eying the gold and +silver which lay in profusion on the table, "there is no money at stake +. . . of course? . . ." +</p> +<p> +"Oh! only a little," rejoined Mistress Endicott, "a paltry trifle . . . +to add zest to the enjoyment of the game." +</p> +<p> +"However little it may be, Sir Marmaduke," said Lambert firmly, speaking +directly to his employer, "I humbly pray you to excuse me before these +gentlemen . . ." +</p> +<p> +The three players at the table, as well as the two Endicotts, had +listened to this colloquy with varying feelings. Segrave was burning +with impatience, Lord Walterton was getting more and more fractious, +whilst Sir Michael Isherwood viewed the young secretary with marked +hauteur. At the last words spoken by Lambert there came from all these +gentlemen sundry ejaculations, expressive of contempt or annoyance, +which caused an ugly frown to appear between de Chavasse's eyes, and a +deep blush to rise in the young man's pale cheek. +</p> +<p> +"What do you mean?" queried Sir Marmaduke harshly. +</p> +<p> +"There are other gentlemen here," said Lambert, speaking with more +firmness and decision now that he encountered inimical glances and felt +as if somehow he was on his trial before all these people, "and I am not +rich enough to afford the luxury of gambling." +</p> +<p> +"Nay! if that is your difficulty," rejoined Sir Marmaduke, "I pray you, +good master, to command my purse . . . you are under my wing to-night . . . +and I will gladly bear the burden of your losses." +</p> +<p> +"I thank you, Sir Marmaduke," said the young man, with quiet dignity," +and I entreat you once again to excuse me. . . . I have never staked at +cards, either mine own money or that of others. I would prefer not to +begin." +</p> +<p> +"Meseems . . . hic . . . de Chavasse, that this . . . this young friend of +yours is a hic . . . damned Puritan . . ." came in ever thickening accents +from Lord Walterton. +</p> +<p> +"I hope, Sir Marmaduke de Chavasse," here interposed Endicott with much +pompous dignity, "that your . . . hem . . . your young friend doth not +desire to bring insinuations doubts, mayhap, against the honor of my +house . . . or of my friends!" +</p> +<p> +"Nay! nay! good Endicott," said Sir Marmaduke, speaking in tones that +were so conciliatory, so unlike his own quarrelsome temper, quick at +taking offense, that Richard Lambert could not help wondering what was +causing this change, "Master Lambert hath no such intention—'pon my +honor . . . He is young . . . and . . . and he misunderstands. . . . You see, my +good Lambert," he added, once more turning to the young man, and still +speaking with unwonted kindness and patience, "you are covering yourself +with ridicule and placing me—who am your protector to-night—in a very +awkward position. Had I known you were such a gaby I should have left +you to go to bed alone." +</p> +<p> +"Nay! Sir Marmaduke," here came in decisive accents from portly +Mistress Endicott, "methinks 'tis you who misunderstand Master Lambert. +He is of a surety an honorable gentleman, and hath no desire to insult +me, who have ne'er done him wrong, nor yet my friends by refusing a +friendly game of cards in my house!" +</p> +<p> +She spoke very pointedly, causing her speech to seem like a menace, even +though the words betokened gentleness and friendship. +</p> +<p> +Lambert's scruples and his desire to please struggled hopelessly in his +mind. Mistress Endicott's eye held him silent even while it urged him to +speak. What could he say? Sir Marmaduke, toward whom he felt gratitude +and respect, surely would not urge what he thought would be wrong for +Lambert. +</p> +<p> +And if a chaste and pure woman did not disapprove of a game of primero +among friends, what right had he to set up his own standard of right or +wrong against hers? What right had he to condemn what she approved? To +offend his generous employer, and to bring opprobrium and ridicule on +himself which would of necessity redound against Sir Marmaduke also? +</p> +<p> +Vague instinct still entered a feeble protest, but reason and common +sense and a certain undetermined feeling of what was due to himself +socially—poor country bumpkin!—fought a hard battle too. +</p> +<p> +"I am right, am I not, good Master Lambert?" came in dulcet tones from +the virtuous hostess, "that you would not really refuse a quiet game of +cards with my friends, at my entreaty . . . in my house?" +</p> +<p> +And Lambert, with a self-deprecatory sigh, and a shrug of the shoulders, +said quietly: +</p> +<p> +"I have no option, gracious mistress!" +</p> + + + +<p> </p> +<p> </p> +<a name="CH18"><!-- CH18 --></a> +<h2> + CHAPTER XVIII +</h2> + +<h3> +THE TRAP +</h3><p> </p> +<p> +Richard Lambert fortunately for his own peace of mind and the retention +of his dignity, was able to wave aside the hand full of gold and silver +coins which Sir Marmaduke extended towards him. +</p> +<p> +"I thank you, sir," he said calmly; "I am able to bear the cost of mine +own unavoidable weakness. I have money of mine own." +</p> +<p> +From out his doublet he took a tiny leather wallet containing a few gold +coins, his worldly all bequeathed to him the same as to his brother—so +the old friend who had brought the lads up had oft explained—by his +grandmother. The little satchel never left his person from the moment +that the old Quakeress had placed it in his hands. There were but five +guineas in all, to which he had added from time to time the few +shillings which Sir Marmaduke paid him as salary. +</p> +<p> +He chided his own weakness inwardly, when he felt the hot tears surging +to his eyes at thought of the unworthy use to which his little hoard was +about to be put. +</p> +<p> +But he walked to the table with a bold step; there was nothing now of +the country lout about him; on the contrary, he moved with remarkable +dignity, and bore himself so well that many a pair of feminine eyes +watched him kindly, as he took his seat at the baize-covered table. +</p> +<p> +"Will one of you gentlemen teach me the game?" he asked simply. +</p> +<p> +It was remarkable that no one sneered at him again, and in these days of +arrogance peculiar to the upper classes this was all the more +noticeable, as these secret clubs were thought to be very exclusive, the +resort pre-eminently of gentlemen and noblemen who were anti-Puritan, +anti-Republican, and very jealous of their ranks and privileges. +</p> +<p> +Yet when after those few unpleasant moments of hesitation Lambert boldly +accepted the situation and with much simple dignity took his seat at the +table, everyone immediately accepted him as an equal, nor did anyone +question his right to sit there on terms of equality with Lord Walterton +or Sir Michael Isherwood. +</p> +<p> +His own state of mind was very remarkable at the moment. +</p> +<p> +Of course he disapproved of what he did: he would not have been the +Puritanically trained, country-bred lad that he was, if he had accepted +with an easy conscience the idea of tossing about money from hand to +hand, money that he could in no sense afford to lose, or money that no +one was making any honest effort to win. +</p> +<p> +He knew—somewhat vaguely perhaps, yet with some degree of +certainty—that gambling was an illicit pastime, and that therefore +he—by sitting at this table with these gentlemen, was deliberately +contravening the laws of his country. +</p> +<p> +Against all that, it is necessary to note that Richard Lambert took two +matters very much in earnest: first, his position as a paid dependent; +second, his gratitude to Sir Marmaduke de Chavasse. +</p> +<p> +And both these all-pervading facts combined to force him against his +will into this anomalous position of gentlemanly gambler, which suited +neither his temperament nor his principles. +</p> +<p> +With it all Lambert's was one of those dispositions, often peculiar to +those who have led an isolated and introspective life, which never do +anything half-heartedly; and just as he took his somewhat empty +secretarial duties seriously, so did he look on this self-imposed task, +against which his better judgment rebelled, with earnestness and +determination. +</p> +<p> +He listened attentively to the preliminary explanations given him sotto +voce by Endicott. Segrave in the meanwhile had taken the latter's place +at the head of the table. He had put all his money in front of him, some +two hundred and sixty pounds all told, for his winnings during the last +half hour had not been as steady as heretofore, and he had not yet +succeeded altogether in making up that sum of money for which he yearned +with all the intensity of a disturbed conscience, eager to redeem one +miserable fault by another hardly more avowable. +</p> +<p> +He shuffled the cards and dealt just as Endicott had done. +</p> +<p> +"Now will you look at your card, young sir," said Endicott, who stood +behind Lambert's chair, whispering directions in his ear. "A splendid +card, begad! and one on which you must stake freely. . . . Nay! nay! that +is not enough," he added, hurriedly restraining the young man's hand, +who had timidly pushed a few silver coins forward. "'Tis thus you must +do!" +</p> +<p> +And before Lambert had time to protest the rotund man in the cinnamon +doublet and the wide lace cuffs, had emptied the contents of the little +leather wallet upon the table. +</p> +<p> +Five golden guineas rested on Lambert's card. Segrave turned up his own +and declared: +</p> +<p> +"I pay queen and upwards!" +</p> +<p> +"A two, by gad!" said Lord Walterton, too confused in his feeble head +now to display any real fury. "Did anyone ever see such accursed luck?" +</p> +<p> +"And look at this nine," quoth Sir Michael, who had become very sullen; +"not a card to-night!" +</p> +<p> +"I have a king," said Lambert quietly. +</p> +<p> +"And as I had the pleasure to remark before, my dear young friend," said +Endicott blandly, "'tis a mighty good card to hold. . . . And see," he +continued, as Segrave without comment added five more golden guineas to +Lambert's little hoard, "see how wise it was to stake a goodly sum . . . +That is the whole art of the game of primero . . . to know just what to +stake on each card in accordance with its value and the law of +averages. . . . But you will learn in time, young man you will learn. . . ." +</p> +<p> +"The game doth not appear to be vastly complicated," assented Lambert +lightly. +</p> +<p> +"I have played primero on a system for years . . ." quoth Lord Walterton +sententiously, "but to-night . . . hic . . . by Gad! . . . I cannot make the +system work right . . . hic!" +</p> +<p> +But already Segrave was dealing again. Lambert staked more coolly now. +In his mind he had already set aside the original five guineas which +came from his grandmother. With strange ease and through no merit of his +own, yet perfectly straightforwardly and honestly, he had become the +owner of another five; these he felt more justified in risking on the +hazard of the game. +</p> +<p> +But the goddess of Fortune smiling benignly on this country-bred lad, +had in a wayward mood apparently taken him under her special protection. +He staked and won again, and then again pleased at his success . . . in +spite of himself feeling the subtle poison of excitement creeping into +his veins . . . yet remaining perfectly calm outwardly the while. +</p> +<p> +Segrave, on the other hand, was losing in exact proportion to the +newcomer's winnings: already his pile of gold had perceptibly +diminished, whilst the hectic flush on his cheeks became more and more +accentuated, the glitter in his eyes more unnatural and feverish, his +hands as they shuffled and dealt the cards more trembling and febrile. +</p> +<p> +"'Pon my honor," quoth Sir Marmaduke, throwing a careless glance at the +table, "meseems you are in luck, my good Lambert. Doubtless, you are not +sorry now that you allowed yourself to be persuaded." +</p> +<p> +"'Tis not unpleasant to win," rejoined Lambert lightly, "but believe me, +sir, the game itself gives me no pleasure." +</p> +<p> +"I pay knave and upwards," declared Segrave in a dry and hollow voice, +and with burning eyes fixed upon his new and formidable opponent. +</p> +<p> +"My last sovereign, par Dieu!" swore Lord Walterton, throwing the money +across to Segrave with an unsteady hand. +</p> +<p> +"And one of my last," said Sir Michael, as he followed suit. +</p> +<p> +"And what is your stake, Master Lambert?" queried Segrave. +</p> +<p> +"Twenty pounds I see," replied the young man, as with a careless hand he +counted over the gold which lay pell-mell on his card; "I staked on the +king without counting." +</p> +<p> +Segrave in his turn pushed some gold towards him. The pile in front of +him was not half the size it had been before this stranger from the +country had sat down to play. He tried to remain master of himself, not +to show before these egotistical, careless cavaliers all the agony of +mind which he now endured and which had turned to positive physical +torture. +</p> +<p> +The ghost of stolen money, of exposure, of pillory and punishment which +had so perceptibly paled as he saw the chance of replacing by his +unexpected winnings that which he had purloined, once more rose to +confront him. Again he saw before him the irascible employer, pointing +with relentless finger at the deficiency in the accounts, again he saw +his weeping mother, his stern father,—the disgrace, the irretrievable +past. +</p> +<p> +"You are not leaving off playing, Sir Michael?" he asked anxiously, as +the latter having handed him over a golden guinea, rose from the table +and without glancing at his late partners in the game, turned his back +on them all. +</p> +<p> +"Par Dieu!" he retorted, speaking roughly, and none too civilly over his +shoulder, "my pockets are empty. . . . Like Master Lambert here," he added +with an unmistakable sneer, "I find no pleasure in <i>this</i> sort of game!" +</p> +<p> +"What do you mean?" queried Segrave hotly. +</p> +<p> +"Oh, nothing," rejoined the other dryly, "you need not heed my remark. +Are you not losing, too?" +</p> +<p> +"What does he mean?" said Lambert with a puzzled frown, instinctively +turning to his employer. +</p> +<p> +"Naught! naught! my good Lambert," replied Sir Marmaduke, dropping his +voice to a whisper. "Sir Michael Isherwood hath lost more than he can +afford and is somewhat choleric of temper, that is all." +</p> +<p> +"And in a little quiet game, my good young friend," added Endicott, +also in a whisper, "'tis wisest to take no heed of a loser's vapors." +</p> +<p> +"I pay ace only!" quoth Segrave triumphantly, who in the meanwhile had +continued the game. +</p> +<p> +Lord Walterton swore a loud and prolonged oath. He had staked five +guineas on a king and had lost. +</p> +<p> +"Ventre-saint-gris, and likewise par le sang-bleu!" he said, "the first +time I have had a king! Segrave, ye must leave me these few little +yellow toys, else I cannot pay for my lodgings to-night. . . . I'll give +you a bill . . . but I've had enough of this, by Gad!" +</p> +<p> +And somewhat sobered, though still unsteady, he rose from the table. +</p> +<p> +"Surely, my lord, you are not leaving off, too?" asked Segrave. +</p> +<p> +"Nay! . . . how can I continue?" He turned his breeches pockets +ostentatiously inside out. "Behold, friend, these two beautiful and +innocent little dears!" +</p> +<p> +"You can give me more bills . . ." urged Segrave, "and you lose . . . you +may not lose after this . . . 'tis lucky to play on credit . . . and . . . and +your bills are always met, my lord . . ." +</p> +<p> +He spoke with feverish volubility, though his throat was parched and +every word he uttered caused him pain. But he was determined that the +game should proceed. +</p> +<p> +He had won a little of his own back again the last few rounds. +Certainly his luck would turn once more. His luck <i>must</i> turn once more, +or else . . . +</p> +<p> +"Nay! nay! I've had enough," said Lord Walterton, nodding a heavy head +up and down, "there are too many of my bills about as it is. . . . I've had +enough." +</p> +<p> +"Methinks, of a truth," said Lambert decisively, "that the game has +indeed lasted long enough. . . . And if some other gentleman would but take +my place . . ." +</p> +<p> +He made a movement as if to rise from the table, but was checked by a +harsh laugh and a peremptory word from Segrave. +</p> +<p> +"Impossible," said the latter, "you, Master Lambert, cannot leave off in +any case. . . . My lord . . . another hand . . ." he urged again. +</p> +<p> +"Nay! nay! my dear Segrave," replied Lord Walterton, shaking himself +like a sleepy dog, "the game hath ceased to have any pleasure for me, as +our young friend here hath remarked. . . . I wish you good luck . . . and +good-night." +</p> +<p> +Whereupon he turned on his heel and straddled away to another corner of +the room, away from the temptation of that green-covered table. +</p> +<p> +"We two then, Master Lambert," said Segrave with ever-growing +excitement, "what say you? Double or quits?" +</p> +<p> +And he pointed, with that same febrile movement of his, to the heap of +gold standing on the table beside Lambert. +</p> +<p> +"As you please," replied the latter quietly, as he pushed the entire +pile forward. +</p> +<p> +Segrave dealt, then turned up his card. +</p> +<p> +"Ten!" he said curtly. +</p> +<p> +"Mine is a knave," rejoined Lambert. +</p> +<p> +"How do we stand?" queried the other, as with a rapid gesture he passed +a trembling hand over his burning forehead. +</p> +<p> +"Methinks you owe me a hundred pounds," replied Richard, who seemed +strangely calm in the very midst of this inexplicable and volcanic +turmoil which he felt was seething all round him. He had won a hundred +pounds—a fortune in those days for a country lad like himself; but for +the moment the thought of what that hundred pounds would mean to him and +to his brother Adam, was lost in the whirl of excitement which had risen +to his head like wine. +</p> +<p> +He had steadily refused the glasses of muscadel or sack which Mistress +Endicott had insinuatingly and persistently been offering him, ever +since he began to play; yet he felt intoxicated, with strange currents +of fire which seemed to run through his veins. +</p> +<p> +The subtle poison had done its work. Any remorse which he may have felt +at first, for thus acting against his own will and better judgment, and +for yielding like a weakling to persuasion, which had no moral rectitude +for basis, was momentarily smothered by the almost childish delight of +winning, of seeing the pile of gold growing in front of him. He had +never handled money before; it was like a fascinating yet insidious toy +which he could not help but finger. +</p> +<p> +"Are you not playing rather high, gentlemen?" came in dulcet tones from +Mistress Endicott; "I do not allow high play in my house. Master +Lambert, I would fain ask you to cease." +</p> +<p> +"I am more than ready, madam," said Richard with alacrity. +</p> +<p> +"Nay! but I am not ready," interposed Segrave vehemently. "Nay! nay!" he +repeated with feverish insistence, "Master Lambert cannot cease playing +now. He is bound in honor to give me a chance for revenge. . . . Double or +quits, Master Lambert! . . . Double or quits?" +</p> +<p> +"As you please," quoth Lambert imperturbably. +</p> +<p> +"Ye cannot cut to each other," here interposed Endicott didactically. +"The rules of primero moreover demand that if there are but two players, +a third and disinterested party shall deal the cards." +</p> +<p> +"Then will you cut and deal, Master Endicott," said Segrave impatiently; +"I care not so long as I can break Master Lambert's luck and redeem mine +own. . . . Double or quits, Master Lambert. . . . Double or quits. . . . I shall +either owe you two hundred pounds or not one penny. . . . In which case we +can make a fresh start. . . ." +</p> +<p> +Lambert eyed him with curiosity, sympathetically too, for the young man +was in a state of terrible mental agitation, whilst he himself felt +cooler than before. +</p> +<p> +Endicott dealt each of the two opponents a card face downwards, but even +as he did so, the one which he had dealt to Lambert fluttered to the +ground. +</p> +<p> +He stooped and picked it up. +</p> +<p> +Segrave's eyes at the moment were fixed on his own card, Lambert's on +the face of his opponent. No one else in the room was paying any +attention to the play of the two young men, for everyone was busy with +his own affairs. Play was general, the hour late. The wines had been +heady, and all tempers were at fever pitch. +</p> +<p> +No one, therefore, was watching Endicott's movements at the moment when +he ostensibly stooped to pick up the fallen card. +</p> +<p> +"It is not faced," he said, "what shall we do?" +</p> +<p> +"Give it to Master Lambert forsooth," quoth Mistress Endicott, "'tis +unlucky to re-deal . . . providing," she added artfully, "that Master +Segrave hath no objection." +</p> +<p> +"Nay! nay!" said the latter. "Begad! why should we stop the game for a +trifle?" +</p> +<p> +Then as Lambert took the card from Endicott and casually glanced at it, +Segrave declared: +</p> +<p> +"Queen!" +</p> +<p> +"King!" retorted Lambert, with the same perfect calm. "King of diamonds +. . . that card has been persistently faithful to me to-night." +</p> +<p> +"The devil himself hath been faithful to you, Master Lambert . . ." said +Segrave tonelessly, "you have the hell's own luck. . . . What do I pay you +now?" +</p> +<p> +"It was double or quits, Master Segrave," rejoined Lambert, "which +brings it up to two hundred pounds. . . . You will do me the justice to own +that I did not seek this game." +</p> +<p> +In his heart he had already resolved not to make use of his own +winnings. Somehow as in a flash of intuition he perceived the whole +tragedy of dishonor and of ruin which seemed to be writ on his +opponent's face. He understood that what he had regarded as a +toy—welcome no doubt, but treacherous for all that—was a matter of +life or death—nay! more mayhap to that pallid youth, with the hectic +flush, the unnaturally bright eyes and trembling hands. +</p> +<p> +There was silence for a while round the green-topped table, whilst +thoughts, feelings, presentiments of very varied kinds congregated +there. With Endicott and his wife, and also with Sir Marmaduke, it was +acute tension, the awful nerve strain of anticipation. The seconds for +them seemed an eternity, the obsession of waiting was like lead on their +brains. +</p> +<p> +During that moment of acute suspense Richard Lambert was quietly +co-ordinating his thoughts. +</p> +<p> +With that one mental flash-light which had shown up to him the hitherto +unsuspected tragedy, the latent excitement in him had vanished. He saw +his own weakness in its true light, despised himself for having yielded, +and looked upon the heap of gold before him as so much ill-gotten +wealth, which it would be a delight to restore to the hand from whence +it came. +</p> +<p> +He heartily pitied the young man before him, and was forming vague +projects of how best to make him understand in private and without +humiliation that the money which he had lost would be returned to him in +full. Strangely enough he was still holding in his hand that king of +diamonds which Endicott had dealt to him. +</p> + + + +<p> </p> +<p> </p> +<a name="CH19"><!-- CH19 --></a> +<h2> + CHAPTER XIX +</h2> + +<h3> +DISGRACE +</h3><p> </p> +<p> +Segrave, too, had been silent, of course. In his mind there was neither +suspense nor calm. It was utter, dull and blank despair which assailed +him, the ruin of his fondest hopes, an awful abyss of disgrace, of +punishment, of death at best, which seemed to yawn before him from the +other side of the baize-covered table. +</p> +<p> +Instinct—that ever-present instinct of self-control peculiar to the +gently-bred race of mankind—caused him to make frantic efforts to keep +himself and his nerves in check. He would—even at this moment of +complete ruin—have given the last shreds of his worldly possessions to +be able to steady the febrile movements of his hand. +</p> +<p> +The pack of cards was on the table, just as Endicott had put it down, +after dealing, with the exception of the queen of hearts in front of +Segrave and the lucky king of diamonds on which Lambert was still +mechanically gazing. +</p> +<p> +He was undoubtedly moved by the desire to hide the trembling of his +hands and the gathering tears in his eyes when he began idly to scatter +the pack upon the table, spreading out the cards, fingering them one by +one, setting his teeth the while lest that latent cry of misery should +force its way across his lips. +</p> +<p> +Suddenly he paused in this idle fingering of the cards. His eyes which +already were burning with hot tears, seemed to take on an almost savage +glitter. A hoarse cry escaped his parched lips. +</p> +<p> +"In the name of Heaven, Master Segrave, what ails you?" cried Endicott +with well-feigned concern. +</p> +<p> +Segrave's hand wandered mechanically to his own neck; he tugged at the +fastening of his lace collar, as if, in truth, he were choking. +</p> +<p> +"The king. . . . The king of diamonds," he murmured in a hollow voice. "Two +. . . two kings of diamonds. . . ." +</p> +<p> +He laughed, a long, harsh laugh, the laugh of a maniac, or of a man +possessed, whilst one long thin finger pointed tremblingly to the card +still held by Richard Lambert, and then to its counterpart in the midst +of the scattered pack. +</p> +<p> +That laugh seemed to echo all round the room. Dames and cavaliers, +players and idlers, looked up to see whence that weird sound had come. +Instinctively the crowd drew nigh, dice and cards were pushed aside. +Some strange drama was being enacted between two young men, more +interesting even than the caprices of Fortune. +</p> +<p> +But already Endicott and also Sir Marmaduke de Chavasse had followed the +beckonings of Segrave's feverish hand. +</p> +<p> +There could be no mistake in what they saw nor yet in the ominous +consequences which it foretold. There was a king of diamonds in the +scattered pack of cards upon the table, and yet the card which Lambert +held, in consequence of which he had just won two hundred pounds, was +also the king of diamonds. +</p> +<p> +"Two kings of diamonds . . . by all that's damnable!" quoth Lord +Walterton, who had been the first to draw nigh. +</p> +<p> +"But in Heaven's name, what does it all mean?" exclaimed Lambert, gazing +at the two cards, hearing the comments round him, yet utterly unable to +understand. +</p> +<p> +Segrave jumped to his feet. +</p> +<p> +"It means, young man," he ejaculated in a wild state of frenzy, maddened +by his losses, his former crime, his present ruin, "it means that you +are a damned thief." +</p> +<p> +And with frantic, excited gesture he gathered up the cards and threw +them violently into Richard Lambert's face. +</p> +<p> +A curious sound went round the room—a gasp, hardly a cry—and all those +present held their breath, silent, appalled at the terrible tragedy +expressed by these two young men standing face to face on the brink of a +deathly and almost blasphemous conflict. +</p> +<p> +Mistress Endicott was the first to utter a cry. +</p> +<p> +"Silence! silence!" she shouted shrilly. "Master Segrave, I adjure you +to be silent. . . . I'll not permit you to insult my guest." +</p> +<p> +Already Lambert had made a quick movement to throw himself on Segrave. +The elemental instinct of self-defense, of avenging a terrible insult by +physical violence, rose within him, whispering of strength and power, of +the freedom, muscle-giving life of the country as against the +enervating, weakening influence of the town. +</p> +<p> +He knew that in a hand-to-hand struggle with the feverish, emaciated +townsman, he, the country-bred lad, the haunter of woods and cliffs, the +dweller of the Thanet smithy, would be more than a match for his +opponent. But even as his whole body stiffened for a spring, his muscles +tightened and his fists clenched, a dozen restraining hands held him +back from his purpose, whilst Mistress Endicott's shrill tones seemed to +bring him back to the realities of his own peril. +</p> +<p> +"Mistress Endicott," he said, turning a proud, yet imploring look to the +lady whose virtues had been so loudly proclaimed in his ears, "Madam, I +appeal to you . . . I implore you to listen . . . a frightful insult which +you have witnessed . . . an awful accusation on which I scarce can trust +myself to dwell has been hurled at me. . . . I entreat you to allow me to +challenge these two gentlemen to explain." +</p> +<p> +And he pointed both to Segrave and to Endicott, The former, after his +mad outburst of ungovernable rage, had regained a certain measure of +calm. He stood, facing Lambert, with arms folded across his chest, +whilst a smile of insulting irony curled his thin lips. +</p> +<p> +Endicott's eyes seemed to be riveted on Lambert's breast. +</p> +<p> +At mention of his own name, he suddenly darted forward, and seemed to be +plunging his hand—the hand which almost disappeared within the ample +folds of the voluminous lace cuff—into the breast pocket of the young +man's doublet. +</p> +<p> +His movements were so quick, so sure and so unexpected that no +one—least of all Lambert—could possibly guess what was his purpose. +</p> +<p> +The next moment—less than a second later—he had again withdrawn his +hand, but now everyone could see that he held a few cards in it. These +he dropped with an exclamation of loathing and contempt upon the table, +whilst those around, instinctively drew back a step or two as if fearful +of coming in contact with something impure and terrible. +</p> +<p> +Endicott's movements, his quick gestures, well aided by the wide lace +cuffs which fell over his hand, his exclamation of contempt, had all +contributed to make it seem before the spectators as if he had found a +few winning cards secreted inside the lining of Richard Lambert's +doublet. +</p> +<p> +"Nay! young sir," he said with an evil sneer, "meseems that explanations +had best come from you. Here," he added, pointing significantly at the +cards which he had just dropped out of his own hand, "here is a vastly +pleasing collection . . . aces and kings . . . passing serviceable in a +quiet game of primero among friends." +</p> +<p> +Lambert had been momentarily dumfounded, for undoubtedly he had not +perceived Endicott's treacherous movements, and had absolutely no idea +whence had come those awful cards which somehow or other seemed to be +convicting him of lying and cheating: so conscious was he of his own +innocence, that never for a moment did the slightest fear cross his mind +that he could not immediately make clear his own position, and proclaim +his own integrity. +</p> +<p> +"This is an infamous plot," he said calmly, but very firmly. "Sir +Marmaduke de Chavasse," he added, turning to face his employer, who +still stood motionless and silent in the background, "in the name of +Heaven I beg of you to explain to these gentlemen that you have known me +from boyhood. Will you speak?" he added insistently, conscious of a +strange tightening of his heartstrings as the man on whom he relied, +remained impassive and made no movement to come to his help. "Will you +tell them, I pray you, sir, that you know me to be a man of honor, +incapable of such villainy as they suggest? . . . You know that I did not +even wish to play . . ." +</p> +<p> +"That reluctance of yours, my good Lambert, seems to have been a pretty +comedy forsooth," replied Sir Marmaduke lightly, "and you played to some +purpose, meseems, when you once began. . . . Nay! I pray you," he added +with unmitigated harshness, "do not drag me into your quarrels. . . . I +cannot of a truth champion your virtue." +</p> +<p> +Lambert's cheeks became deathly pale. The first inkling of the deadly +peril of his own situation had suddenly come to him with Sir Marmaduke's +callous words. It seemed to him as if the very universe must stand still +in the face of such treachery. The man whom he loved with all the fervor +of a grateful nature, the man who knew him and whom he had wholly +trusted, was proving his most bitter, most damning enemy. +</p> +<p> +After Sir Marmaduke's speech, his own employer's repudiation, he felt +that all his chances of clearing his character before these sneering +gentlemen had suddenly vanished. +</p> +<p> +"This is cruel, and infamous," he protested, conscious innocence within +him still striving to fight a hard battle against overwhelming odds. +"Gentlemen! . . . as I am a man of honor, I swear that I do not know what +all this means!" +</p> +<p> +"It means, young man, that you are an accursed cheat . . . a thief . . . a +liar!" shouted Segrave, whose last vestige of self-control suddenly +vanished, whilst mad frenzy once more held him in its grip. "I swear by +God that you shall pay me for this!" +</p> +<p> +He threw himself with all the strength of a raving maniac upon Lambert, +who for the moment was taken unawares, and yielded to the suddenness of +the onslaught. But it was indeed a conflict 'twixt town and country, +the simple life against nightly dissipations, the forests and cliffs of +Thanet against the enervating atmosphere of the city. +</p> +<p> +After that first onrush, Lambert, with marvelous agility and quick +knowledge of a hand-to-hand fight, had shaken himself free of his +opponent's trembling grasp. It was his turn now to have the upper hand, +and in a trice he had, with a vigorous clutch, gripped his opponent by +the throat. +</p> +<p> +In a sense, his calmness had not forsaken him, his mind was as quiet, as +clear as heretofore; it was only his muscle—his bodily energy in the +face of a violent and undeserved attack—which had ceased to be under +his control. +</p> +<p> +"Man! man!" he murmured, gazing steadily into the eyes of his +antagonist, "ye shall swallow those words—or by Heaven I will kill +you!" +</p> +<p> +The tumult which ensued drowned everything save itself . . . everything, +even the sound of that slow and measured tramp, tramp, tramp, which was +wafted up from the street. +</p> +<p> +The women shouted, the men swore. Some ran like frightened sheep to the +distant corners of the room, fearful lest they be embroiled in this +unpleasant fracas . . . others crowded round Segrave and Lambert, trying +to pacify them, to drag the strong youth away from his weaker +opponent—almost his victim now. +</p> +<p> +Some were for forcibly separating them, others for allowing them to +fight their own battles and loud-voiced arguments, subsidiary quarrels, +mingled with the shrill cries of terror and caused a din which grew in +deafening intensity, degenerating into a wild orgy as glasses were +knocked off the tables, cards strewn about, candles sent flying and +spluttering upon the ground. +</p> +<p> +And still that measured tramp down the street, growing louder, more +distinct, a muffled "Halt!" the sound of arms, of men moving about +beneath that yawning archway and along the dark and dismal passage with +its hermetically closed front door. +</p> + + + +<p> </p> +<p> </p> +<a name="CH20"><!-- CH20 --></a> +<h2> + CHAPTER XX +</h2> + +<h3> +MY LORD PROTECTOR'S PATROL +</h3><p> </p> +<p> +Alone, Sir Marmaduke de Chavasse had taken no part in the confused +turmoil which raged around the personalities of Segrave and Richard +Lambert. From the moment that he had—with studied callousness—turned +his back on his erstwhile protégé he had held aloof from the crowd which +had congregated around the two young men. +</p> +<p> +He saw before him the complete success of his nefarious plan, which had +originated in the active brain of Editha, but had been perfected in his +own—of heaping dire and lasting disgrace on the man who had become +troublesome and interfering of late, who was a serious danger to his +more important schemes. +</p> +<p> +After the fracas of this night Richard Lambert forsooth could never show +his face within two hundred miles of London, the ugly story of his +having cheated at cards and been publicly branded as a liar and a thief +by a party of gentlemen would of a surety penetrate even within the +fastnesses of Thanet. +</p> +<p> +So far everything was for the best, nay, it might be better still, for +Segrave enraged and maddened at his losses, might succeed in getting +Lambert imprisoned for stealing, and cheating, even at the cost of his +own condemnation to a fine for gambling. +</p> +<p> +The Endicotts had done their part well. The man especially, with his +wide cuffs and his quick movements. No one there present could have the +slightest doubt but that Lambert was guilty. Satisfied, therefore, that +all had gone according to his own wishes, Sir Marmaduke withdrew from +further conflict or argument with the unfortunate young man, whom he had +so deliberately and so hopelessly ruined. +</p> +<p> +And because he thus kept aloof, his ears were not so completely filled +with the din, nor his mind so wholly engrossed by the hand-to-hand +struggle between the two young men, that he did not perceive that other +sound, which, in spite of barred windows and drawn curtains, came up +from the street below. +</p> +<p> +At first he had only listened carelessly to the measured tramp. But the +cry of "Halt!" issuing from immediately beneath the windows caused his +cheeks to blanch and his muscles to stiffen with a sudden sense of fear. +</p> +<p> +He cast a rapid glance all around. Segrave and Lambert—both flushed and +panting—were forcibly held apart. Sir Marmaduke noted with a grim smile +that the latter was obviously the center of a hostile group, whilst +Segrave was surrounded by a knot of sympathizers who were striving +outwardly to pacify him, whilst in reality urging him on through their +unbridled vituperations directed against the other man. +</p> +<p> +The noise of arguments, of shrill voices, of admonitions and violent +abuse had in no sense abated. +</p> +<p> +Over the sea of excited faces Sir Marmaduke caught the wide-open, +terrified eyes of Editha de Chavasse. +</p> +<p> +She too, had heard. +</p> +<p> +He beckoned to her across the room with a slight gesture of the hand, +and she obeyed the silent call as quickly as she dared, working her way +round to him, without arousing the attention of the crowd. +</p> +<p> +"Do not lose your head," he whispered as soon as she was near him and +seeing the wild terror expressed in every line of her face. "Slip into +the next room . . . and leave the door ajar. . . . Do this as quietly as may +be . . . now . . . at once . . . then wait there until I come." +</p> +<p> +Again she obeyed him silently and swiftly, for she knew what that cry of +"Halt!" meant, uttered at the door of her house. She had heard it, even +as Sir Marmaduke had done, and after it the peremptory knocks, the loud +call, the word of command, followed by the sound of an awed and +supplicating voice, entering a feeble protest. +</p> +<p> +She knew what all that meant, and she was afraid. +</p> +<p> +As soon as Sir Marmaduke saw that she had done just as he had ordered, +he deliberately joined the noisy groups which were congregated around +Segrave and Lambert. +</p> +<p> +He pushed his way forward and anon stood face to face with the young man +on whom he had just wreaked such an irreparable wrong. Not a thought of +compunction or remorse rose in his mind as he looked down at the +handsome flushed face—quite calm and set outwardly in spite of the +terrible agony raging within heart and mind. +</p> +<p> +"Lambert!" he said gruffly, "listen to me. . . . Your conduct hath been +most unseemly. . . . Mistress Endicott has for my sake, already shown you +much kindness and forbearance . . . Had she acted as she had the right to +do, she would have had you kicked out of the house by her servants. . . . +In your own interests now I should advise you to follow me quietly out +of the house. . . ." +</p> +<p> +But this suggestion raised a hot protest on the part of all the +spectators. +</p> +<p> +"He shall not go!" declared Segrave violently. +</p> +<p> +"Not without leaving behind him what he has deliberately stolen," +commented Endicott, raising his oily voice above the din. +</p> +<p> +Lambert had waited patiently, whilst his employer spoke. The last +remnant of that original sense of deference and of gratitude caused him +to hold himself in check lest he should strike that treacherous coward +in the face. Sir Marmaduke's callousness in the face of his peril and +unmerited disgrace, had struck Lambert with an overwhelming feeling of +disappointment and loneliness. But his cruel insults now quashed despair +and roused dormant indignation to fever pitch. One look at Sir +Marmaduke's sneering face had told him not only that he could expect no +help from the man who—by all the laws of honor—should have stood by +him in his helplessness, but that he was the fount and source, the +instigator of the terrible wrong and injustice which was about to land +an innocent man in the veriest abyss of humiliation and irretrievable +disgrace. +</p> +<p> +"And so this was your doing, Sir Marmaduke de Chavasse," he said, +looking his triumphant enemy boldly in the face, even whilst compelling +silent attention from those who were heaping opprobrious epithets upon +him. "You enticed me here. . . . You persuaded me to play, . . . Then you +tried to rob me of mine honor, of my good name, the only valuable assets +which I possess. . . . Hell and all its devils alone know why you did this +thing, but I swear before God that your hideous crime shall not remain +unpunished. . . ." +</p> +<p> +"Silence!" commanded Sir Marmaduke, who was the first to perceive the +strange, almost supernatural, effect produced on all those present, by +the young man's earnestness, his impressive calm. Segrave himself stood +silent and abashed, whilst everyone listened, unconsciously awed by that +unmistakable note of righteousness which somehow rang through Lambert's +voice. +</p> +<p> +"Nay! but I'll not be silent," quoth Richard unperturbed. "I have been +condemned . . . and I have the right to speak. . . . You have disgraced me +. . . and I have the right to defend mine honor . . . by protesting mine +innocence. . . . And now I will leave this house," he added loudly and +firmly, "for it is accursed and infamous . . . but God is my witness that +I leave it without a stain upon my soul. . . ." +</p> +<p> +He pointed to the fateful table whereon a pile of gold lay scattered in +an untidy heap, with the tiny leather wallet containing his five guineas +conspicuously in its midst. +</p> +<p> +"There lies the money," he said, speaking directly to Segrave, "take it, +sir, for I had never the intention to touch a penny of it. . . . This I +swear by all that I hold most sacred. . . . Take it without fear or +remorse—even though you thought such evil things of me . . . and let him +who still thinks me a thief, repeat it now to my face—an he dare!" +</p> +<p> +Even as the last of his loudly uttered words resounded through the room, +there was a loud knock at the door, and a peremptory voice commanded: +</p> +<p> +"Open! in the name of His Highness, the Lord Protector of England!" +</p> +<p> +In the dead silence that followed, the buzz of a fly, the spluttering of +wax candles, could be distinctly heard. +</p> +<p> +In a moment with the sound of that peremptory call outside, tumultuous +passions seemed to sink to rest, every cheek paled, and masculine hands +instinctively sought the handles of swords whilst lace handkerchiefs +were hastily pressed to trembling lips, in order to smother the cry of +terror which had risen to feminine throats. +</p> +<p> +"Open! in the name of His Highness, the Lord Protector of England." +</p> +<p> +Mistress Endicott was the color of wax, her husband was gripping her +wrist with a clutch of steel, trying, through the administration of +physical pain, to keep alive her presence of mind. +</p> +<p> +And for the third time came the loud summons: +</p> +<p> +"Open! in the name of His Highness the Lord, Protector of England!" +</p> +<p> +Still that deathly silence in the room, broken only now by the firm step +of Endicott, who went to open the door. +</p> +<p> +Resistance had been worse than useless. The door would have yielded at +the first blow. There was a wailing, smothered cry from a dozen +terrified throats, and a general rush for the inner room. But this door +now was bolted and barred, Sir Marmaduke—unperceived—had slipped +quickly within, even whilst everyone held his breath in the first moment +of paralyzed terror. +</p> +<p> +Had there been time, there would doubtless have ensued a violent attack +against that locked door, but already a man in leather doublet and +wearing a steel cap and collar had peremptorily pushed Endicott aside, +who was making a futile effort to bar the way, after he had opened the +door. +</p> +<p> +This man now advanced into the center of the room, whilst a couple of +soldierly-looking, stalwart fellows remained at attention on the +threshold. +</p> +<p> +"Let no one attempt to leave this room," he commanded. "Here, Bradden," +he added, turning back to his men, "take Pyott with you and search that +second room there . . . then seize all those cards and dice and also that +money." +</p> +<p> +It was not likely that these hot-headed cavaliers would submit thus +quietly to an arbitrary act of confiscation and of arrest. Hardly were +the last words out of the man's mouth than a dozen blades flashed out of +their scabbards. +</p> +<p> +The women screamed, and like so many frightened hens, ran into the +corner of the room furthest out of reach of my Lord Protector's +police-patrol, the men immediately forming a bulwark in front of them. +</p> +<p> +The whole thing was not very heroic perhaps. A few idlers caught in an +illicit act and under threat of arrest. The consequences—of a +truth—would not be vastly severe for the frequenters of this secret +club; fines mayhap, which most of those present could ill afford to pay, +and at worst a night's detention in one of those horrible wooden +constructions which had lately been erected on the river bank for the +express purpose of causing sundry lordly offenders to pass an +uncomfortable night. +</p> +<p> +These were days of forcible levelings: and my lord who had contravened +old Noll's laws against swearing and gambling, fared not one whit better +than the tramp who had purloined a leg of mutton from an eating-house. +</p> +<p> +Nay! in a measure my lord fared a good deal worse, for he looked upon +his own detention through the regicide usurper's orders, as an indignity +to himself; hence the reason why in this same house wherein a few idle +scions of noble houses indulged in their favorite pastime, when orders +rang out in the name of His Highness, swords jumped out of their +sheaths, and resistance was offered out of all proportion to the threat. +</p> +<p> +The man who seemed to be the captain of the patrol smiled somewhat +grimly when he saw himself confronted by this phalanx of gentlemanly +weapons. He was a tall, burly fellow, broad of shoulder and well-looking +in his uniform of red with yellow facings; his round bullet-shaped head, +covered by the round steel cap, was suggestive of obstinacy, even of +determination. +</p> +<p> +He eyed the flushed and excited throng with some amusement not wholly +unmixed with contempt. Oh! he knew some of the faces well enough by +sight—for he had originally served in the train-bands of London, and +had oft seen my Lord Walterton, for instance, conspicuous at every +entertainment—now pronounced illicit by His Highness, and Sir Anthony +Bridport, a constant frequenter at Exeter House, and young Lord +Naythmire the son of the Judge. He also had certainly seen young Segrave +before this, whose father had been a member of the Long Parliament; the +only face that was totally strange to him was that of the youngster in +the dark suit of grogram, who stood somewhat aloof from the irate crowd, +and seemed to be viewing the scene with astonishment rather than with +alarm. +</p> +<p> +Lord Walterton, flushed with wine, more than with anger, constituted +himself the spokesman of the party: +</p> +<p> +"Who are you?" he asked somewhat unsteadily, "and what do you want?" +</p> +<p> +"My name is Gunning," replied the man curtly, "captain commanding His +Highness' police. What I want is that you gentlemen offer no resistance, +but come with me quietly to answer on the morrow before Judge Parry, a +charge of contravening the laws against betting and gambling." +</p> +<p> +A ribald and prolonged laugh greeted this brief announcement, and some +twenty pairs of gentlemanly shoulders were shrugged in token of +derision. +</p> +<p> +"Hark at the man!" quoth Sir James Overbury lightly, "methinks, +gentlemen, that our wisest course would be to put up our swords and to +throw the fellows downstairs, what say you?" +</p> +<p> +"Aye! aye!" came in cheerful accents from the defiant little group. +</p> +<p> +"Out with you fellow, we've no time to waste in bandying words with ye +. . ." said Walterton, with the tone of one accustomed to see the churl +ever cringe before the lord, "and let one of thy myrmidons touch a thing +in this room if he dare!" +</p> +<p> +The young cavalier was standing somewhat in advance of his friends, +having stepped forward in order to emphasize the peremptoriness of his +words. The women were still in the background well protected by a +phalanx of resolute defenders who, encouraged by the captain's silence +and Walterton's haughty attitude, were prepared to force the patrol of +police to beat a hasty retreat. +</p> +<p> +Endicott and his wife had seemed to think it prudent to keep well out of +sight: the former having yielded to Gunning's advance had discreetly +retired amongst the petticoats. +</p> +<p> +No one, least of all Walterton, who remained the acknowledged leader of +the little party of gamesters, had any idea of the numerical strength of +the patrol whose interference with gentlemanly pastimes was +unwarrantable and passing insolent. In the gloom on the landing beyond, +a knot of men could only be vaguely discerned. Captain Gunning and his +lieutenant, Bradden, had alone advanced into the room. +</p> +<p> +But now apparently Gunning gave some sign, which Bradden then +interpreted to the men outside. The sign itself must have been very +slight for none of the cavaliers perceived it—certainly no actual word +of command had been spoken, but the next moment—within thirty seconds +of Walterton's defiant speech, the room itself, the doorway and +apparently the landing and staircase too, were filled with men, each one +attired in scarlet and yellow, all wearing leather doublets and steel +caps, and all armed with musketoons which they were even now pointing +straight at the serried ranks of the surprised and wholly unprepared +gamesters. +</p> +<p> +"I would fain not give an order to fire," said Captain Gunning curtly, +"and if you, gentlemen, will follow me quietly, there need be no +bloodshed." +</p> +<p> +It may be somewhat unromantic but it is certainly prudent, to listen at +times to the dictates of common sense, and one of wisdom's most cogent +axioms is undoubtedly that it is useless to stand up before a volley of +musketry at a range of less than twelve feet, unless a heroic death is +in contemplation. +</p> +<p> +It was certainly very humiliating to be ordered about by a close-cropped +Puritan, who spoke in nasal tones, and whose father probably had mended +boots or killed pigs in his day, but the persuasion of twenty-four +musketoons, whose muzzles pointed collectively in one direction, was +bound—in the name of common sense—to prevail ultimately. +</p> +<p> +Of a truth, none of these gentlemen—who were now content to oppose a +comprehensive vocabulary of English and French oaths to the brand-new +weapons of my Lord Protector's police—were cowards in any sense of the +word. Less than a decade ago they had proved their mettle not only sword +in hand, but in the face of the many privations, sorrows and +humiliations consequent on the failure of their cause and the defeat, +and martyrdom of their king. There was, therefore, nothing mean or +pusillanimous in their attitude when having exhausted their vocabulary +of oaths and still seeing before them the muzzles of four-and-twenty +musketoons pointed straight at them, they one after another dropped +their sword points and turned to read in each other's faces uniform +desire to surrender to <i>force majeure</i>. +</p> +<p> +The Captain watched them—impassive and silent—until the moment when he +too, could discern in the sullen looks cast at him by some twenty pairs +of eyes, that these elegant gentlemen had conquered their impulse to +hot-headed resistance. +</p> +<p> +But the four-and-twenty musketoons were still leveled, nor did the +round-headed Captain give the order to lower the firearms. +</p> +<p> +"I can release most of you, gentlemen, on parole," he said, "an you'll +surrender your swords to me, you may go home this night, under promise +to attend the Court to-morrow morning." +</p> +<p> +Bradden in the meanwhile had gone to the inner door and finding it +locked had ordered his companion to break it open. It yielded to the +first blow dealt with a vigorous shoulder. The lieutenant went into the +room, but finding it empty, he returned and soon was busy in collecting +the various "<i>pièces de convictions</i>," which would go to substantiate +the charges of gambling and betting against these noble gentlemen. No +resistance now was offered, and after a slight moment of hesitation and +a brief consultation 'twixt the more prominent cavaliers there present, +Lord Walterton stepped forward and having unbuckled his sword, threw it +with no small measure of arrogance and disdain at the feet of Captain +Gunning. +</p> +<p> +His example was followed by all his friends, Gunning with arms folded +across his chest, watching the proceeding in silence. When Endicott +stood before him, however, he said curtly: +</p> +<p> +"Not you, I think. Meseems I know you too well, fine sir, to release you +on parole. Bradden," he added, turning to his lieutenant, "have this +man duly guarded and conveyed to Queen's Head Alley to-night." +</p> +<p> +Then as Endicott tried to protest, and Gunning gave a sharp order for +his immediate removal, Segrave pushed his way forward; he wore no sword, +and like Lambert, had stood aloof throughout this brief scene of +turbulent yet futile resistance, sullen, silent, and burning with a +desire for revenge against the man who had turned the current of his +luck, and brought him back to that abyss of despair, whence he now knew +there could be no release. +</p> +<p> +"Captain," he said firmly, "though I wear no sword I am at one with all +these gentlemen, and I accept my release on parole. To-morrow I will +answer for my offense of playing cards, which apparently, is an illicit +pastime. I am one of the pigeons who have been plucked in this house." +</p> +<p> +"By that gentleman?" queried Gunning with a grim smile and nodding over +his shoulder in the direction where Endicott was being led away by a +couple of armed men. +</p> +<p> +"No! not by him!" replied Segrave boldly. +</p> +<p> +With a somewhat theatrical gesture he pointed to Lambert, who, more of a +spectator than a participant in the scene, had been standing mutely by +outside the defiant group, absorbed in his own misery, wondering what +effect the present unforeseen juncture would have on his future chances +of rehabilitating himself. +</p> +<p> +He was also vaguely wondering what had become of Sir Marmaduke and +Mistress de Chavasse. +</p> +<p> +But now Segrave's voice was raised, and once more Lambert found himself +the cynosure of a number of hostile glances. +</p> +<p> +"There stands the man who has robbed us all," said Segrave wildly, "and +now he has heaped disgrace upon us, upon me and mine. . . . Curse him! . . . +curse him, I say!" he continued, whilst all the pent-up fury, forcibly +kept in check all this while by the advent of the police, now once more +found vent in loud vituperation and almost maniacal expressions of rage. +"Liar . . . cheat! . . . Look at him, Captain! there stands the man who must +bear the full brunt of the punishment, for he is the decoy, he is the +thief! . . . The pillory for him . . . the pillory . . . the lash . . . the +brand! . . . Curse him! . . . Curse him! . . . the thief! . . ." +</p> +<p> +He was surrounded and forcibly silenced. The foam had risen to his lips, +impotent fury and agonized despair had momentarily clouded his brain. +Lambert tried to speak, but the Captain, unwilling to prolong a conflict +over which he was powerless to arbitrate, gave a sign to Bradden and +anon the two young men were led away in the wake of Endicott. +</p> +<p> +The others on giving their word that they would appear before the Court +on the morrow, and answer to the charge preferred against them, were +presently allowed to walk out of the room in single file between a +double row of soldiers whose musketoons were still unpleasantly +conspicuous. +</p> +<p> +Thus they passed out one by one, across the passage and down the dark +staircase. The door below they found was also guarded; as well as the +passage and the archway giving on the street. +</p> +<p> +Here they were permitted to collect or disperse at will. The ladies, +however, had not been allowed to participate in the order for release. +Gunning knew most of them by sight,—they were worthy neither of +consideration nor respect,—paid satellites of Mistress Endicott's, +employed to keep up the good spirits of that lady's clientèle. +</p> +<p> +The soldiers drove them all together before them, in a compact, +shrinking and screaming group. Then the word of command was given. The +soldiers stood at attention, turned and finally marched out of the room +with their prisoners, Gunning being the last to leave. +</p> +<p> +He locked the door behind him and in the wake of his men presently +wended his way down the tortuous staircase. +</p> +<p> +Once more the measured tramp was heard reverberating through the house, +the cry of "Attention!" of "Quick march!" echoed beneath the passage +and the tumble-down archway, and anon the last of these ominous sounds +died away down the dismal street in the direction of the river. +</p> +<p> +And in one of the attics at the top of the now silent and lonely house +in Bath Street—lately the scene of so much gayety and joy, of such +turmoil of passions and intensity of despair—two figures, a man and a +woman, crouched together in a dark corner, listening for the last dying +echo of that measured tramp. +</p> + + + +<p> </p> +<p> </p> +<a name="PART3"><!-- PART3 --></a> +<h2> + PART III +</h2> + + + + +<p> </p> +<p> </p> +<a name="CH21"><!-- CH21 --></a> +<h2> + CHAPTER XXI +</h2> + +<h3> +IN THE MEANWHILE +</h3><p> </p> +<p> +The news of the police raid on a secret gambling club in London, +together with the fracas which it entailed, had of necessity reached +even as far as sea-girt Thanet. Squire Boatfield had been the first to +hear of it; he spread the news as fast as he could, for he was overfond +of gossip, and Dame Harrison over at St. Lawrence had lent him able +assistance. +</p> +<p> +Sir Marmaduke had, of course, the fullest details concerning the affair, +for he himself owned to having been present in the very house where the +disturbance had occurred. He was not averse to his neighbors knowing +that he was a frequenter of those exclusive and smart gambling clubs, +which were avowedly the resort of the most elegant cavaliers of the day, +and his account of some of the events of that memorable night had been +as entertaining as it was highly-colored. +</p> +<p> +He avowed, however, that, disgusted at Richard Lambert's shameful +conduct, he had quitted the place early, some little while before my +Lord Protector's police had made a descent upon the gamblers. As for +Mistress de Chavasse, her name was never mentioned in connection with +the affair. She had been in London at the time certainly, staying with +a friend, who was helping her in the choice of a new gown for the coming +autumn. +</p> +<p> +She returned to Acol Court with her brother-in-law, apparently as +horrified as he was at the disgrace which she vowed Richard Lambert had +heaped upon them all. +</p> +<p> +The story of the young man being caught in the very act of cheating at +cards lost nothing in the telling. He had been convicted before Judge +Parry of obtaining money by lying and other illicit means, had been +condemned to fine and imprisonment and as he refused to pay the +former—most obstinately declaring that he was penniless—he was made to +stand for two hours in the pillory, and was finally dragged through the +streets in a rickety cart in full sight of a jeering crowd, sitting with +his back to the nag in company of the public hangman, and attired in +shameful and humiliating clothes. +</p> +<p> +What happened to him after undergoing this wonderfully lenient +sentence—for many there were who thought he should have been publicly +whipped and branded as a cheat—nobody knew or cared. +</p> +<p> +They kept him in prison for over ten weeks, it seems, but Sir Marmaduke +did not know what had become of him since then. +</p> +<p> +The other gentlemen got off fairly lightly with fines and brief periods +of imprisonment. Young Segrave, so 'twas said, had been shipped to New +England by his father, but Master and Mistress Endicott had gone beyond +the seas at the expense of the State, and not for their own pleasure or +advancement. It appears that my Lord Protector's vigilance patrol had +kept a very sharp eye on these two people, who had more than once had to +answer for illicit acts before the Courts. They tried in a most shameful +manner it appears, to implicate Sir Marmaduke and Mistress de Chavasse +in their disgrace, but as the former very pertinently remarked, "How +could he, a simple Kentish squire have aught to do with a smart London +club? and people of such evil repute as the Endicotts could of a truth +never be believed." +</p> +<p> +All these rumors and accounts had, of course, also reached Sue's ears. +At first she took up an attitude of aggressive incredulity when her +former friend was accused: nothing but the plain facts as set forth in +the <i>Public Advertiser</i> of August the 5th would convince her that +Richard Lambert could be so base and mean as Sir Marmaduke had averred. +</p> +<p> +Even then, in her innermost heart, a vague and indefinable instinct +called out to her in Lambert's name, not to believe all that was said of +him. She could not think of him as lying, and cheating at a game of +cards, when common sense itself told her that he was not sufficiently +conversant with its rules to turn them to his own advantage. Her +hot-headed partisanship of him gave way of necessity as the weeks sped +by, to a more passive disapproval of his condemnation, and this in its +turn to a kindly charity for what she thought must have been his +ignorance rather than his sin. +</p> +<p> +What worried her most was that he was not nigh her, now that her +sentimental romance was reaching its super-acute crisis. During her +guardian's temporary absence from Acol she had made earnest and resolute +efforts to see her mysterious lover. She thought that he must know that +Sir Marmaduke and Mistress de Chavasse were away and that she herself +was free momentarily from watchful eyes. +</p> +<p> +Yet though with pathetic persistence she haunted the park and the +woodlands around the Court, she never even once caught sight of the +broad-brimmed hat and drooping plume of her romantic prince. It seemed +as if the earth had swallowed him up. +</p> +<p> +Upset and vaguely terrified, she had on one occasion thrown prudence to +the winds and sought out the old Quakeress and Adam Lambert with whom he +lodged. But the old Quakeress was very deaf, and explanations with her +were laborious and unsatisfactory, whilst Adam seemed to entertain a +sullen and irresponsible dislike for the foreigner. +</p> +<p> +All she gathered from these two was that there was nothing unusual in +this sudden disappearance of their lodger. He came and went most +erratically, went no one knew whither, returned at most unexpected +moments, never slept more than an hour or two in his bed which he +quitted at amazingly early hours, strolling out of the cottage when all +decent folk were just beginning their night's rest, and wandering off +unseen, unheard, only to return as he had gone. +</p> +<p> +He paid his money for his room regularly, however, and this was vastly +acceptable these hard times. +</p> +<p> +But to Sue it was passing strange that her prince should be out of her +reach, just when Sir Marmaduke's and Mistress de Chavasse's absence had +made their meetings more easy and pleasant. +</p> +<p> +Yet with it all, she was equally conscious of an unaccountable feeling +of relief, and every evening, when at about eight o'clock she returned +homewards after having vainly awaited the prince, there was nothing of +the sadness and disappointment in her heart which a maiden should feel +when she has failed to see her lover. +</p> +<p> +She was just as much in love with him as ever!—oh! of that she felt +quite sure! she still thrilled at thought of his heroic martyrdom for +the cause which he had at heart, she still was conscious of a wonderful +feeling of elation when she was with him, and of pride when she saw this +remarkable hero, this selfless patriot at her feet, and heard his +impassioned declarations of love, even when these were alloyed with +frantic outbursts of jealousy. She still yearned for him when she did +not see him, even though she dreaded his ill-humor when he was nigh. +</p> +<p> +She had promised to be his wife, soon and in secret, for he had vowed +that she did not love him if she condemned him to three long months of +infinite torture from jealousy and suspense. +</p> +<p> +This promise she had given him freely and whole-heartedly more than a +fortnight ago. Since that memorable evening when she had thus plighted +her troth to him, when she had without a shadow of fear or a tremor of +compunction entrusted her entire future, her heart and soul to his +keeping, since then she had not seen him. +</p> +<p> +Sir Marmaduke had gone to London, also Mistress de Chavasse, and she had +not even caught sight of the weird silhouette of her French prince. +Lambert, too, had gone, put out of her way temporarily—or mayhap, +forever—through the irresistible force of a terrible disgrace. There +was no one to spy on her movements, no one to dog her footsteps, yet she +had not seen him. +</p> +<p> +When her guardian returned, he seemed so engrossed with Lambert's +misdeeds that he gave little thought to his ward. He and Mistress de +Chavasse were closeted together for hours in the small withdrawing-room, +whilst she was left to roam about the house and grounds unchallenged. +</p> +<p> +Then at last one evening—it was late August then—when despair had +begun to grip her heart, and she herself had become the prey of vague +fears, of terrors for his welfare, his life mayhap, on which he had oft +told her that the vengeful King of France had set a price—one evening +he came to greet her walking through the woods, treading the soft carpet +of moss with a light elastic step. +</p> +<p> +Oh! that had been a rapturous evening! one which she oft strove to +recall, now that sadness had once more overwhelmed her. He had been all +tenderness, all love, all passion! He vowed that he adored her as an +idolater would worship his divinity. Jealous? oh, yes! madly, insanely +jealous! for she was fair above all women and sweet and pure and +tempting to all men like some ripe and juicy fruit ready to fall into a +yearning hand. +</p> +<p> +But his jealousy took on a note of melancholy and of humility. He +worshiped her so and wished to feel her all his own. She listened +entranced, forgetting her terrors, her disappointments, the vague ennui +which had assailed her of late. She yielded herself to the delights of +his caresses, to the joy of this hour of solitude and rapture. The night +was close and stormy; from afar, muffled peals of thunder echoed through +the gigantic elms, whilst vivid flashes of lightning weirdly lit up at +times the mysterious figure of this romantic lover, with his face +forever in shadow, one eye forever hidden behind a black band, his voice +forever muffled. +</p> +<p> +But it was a tempestuous wooing, a renewal of that happy evening in the +spring—oh! so long ago it seemed now!—when first he had poured in her +ear the wild torrents of his love. The girl—so young, so inexperienced, +so romantic—was literally swept off her feet; she listened to his wild +words, yielded her lips to his kiss, and whilst she half feared the +impetuosity of his mood, she delighted in the very terrors it evoked. +</p> +<p> +A secret marriage? Why, of course! since he suffered so terribly through +not feeling her all his own. Soon!—at once!—at Dover before the +clergyman at All Souls, with whom he—her prince—had already spoken. +</p> +<p> +Yes! it would have to be at Dover, for the neighboring villages might +prove too dangerous. Sir Marmaduke might hear of it, mayhap. It would +rest with her to free herself for one day. +</p> +<p> +Then came that delicious period of scheming, of stage-managing +everything for the all-important day. He would arrange about a chaise, +and she should walk up to the Canterbury Road to meet it. He would await +her in the church at Dover, for 'twas best that they should not be seen +together until after the happy knot was tied, when he declared that he +would be ready to defy the universe. +</p> +<p> +It had been a long interview, despite the tempest that raged above and +around them. The great branches of the elms groaned and cracked under +fury of the wind, the thunder pealed overhead and then died away with +slow majesty out towards the sea. From afar could be heard the angry +billows dashing themselves against the cliffs. +</p> +<p> +They had to seek shelter under the colonnaded porch of the summerhouse, +and Sue had much ado to keep the heavy drops of rain from reaching her +shoes and the bottom of her kirtle. +</p> +<p> +But she was attune with the storm, she loved to hear the weird sh-sh-sh +of the leaves, the monotonous drip of the rain on the roof of the summer +house, and in the intervals of intense blackness to catch sight of her +lover's face, pale of hue, with one large eye glancing cyclops-like into +hers, as a vivid flash of lightning momentarily tore the darkness +asunder and revealed him still crouching at her feet. +</p> +<p> +Intense lassitude followed the wild mental turmoil of that night. She +had arranged to meet him again two days hence in order to repeat to him +what she had heard the while of Sir Marmaduke's movements, and when she +was like to be free to go to Dover. During those intervening two days +she tried hard to probe her own thoughts; her mind, her feelings: but +what she found buried in the innermost recesses of her heart frightened +her so, that she gave up thinking. +</p> +<p> +She lay awake most of the night, telling herself how much she loved her +prince; she spent half a day in the perusal of a strange book called +<i>The Tragedie of Romeo and Juliet</i> by one William Shakespeare who had +lived not so long ago: and found herself pondering as to whether her own +sentiments with regard to her prince were akin to those so exquisitely +expressed by those two young people who had died because they loved one +another so dearly. +</p> +<p> +Then she heard that towards the end of the week Sir Marmaduke and +Mistress de Chavasse would be journeying together to Canterbury in order +to confer with Master Skyffington the lawyer, anent her own fortune, +which was to be handed to her in its entirety in less than three months, +when she would be of age. +</p> + + + +<p> </p> +<p> </p> +<a name="CH22"><!-- CH22 --></a> +<h2> + CHAPTER XXII +</h2> + +<h3> +BREAKING THE NEWS +</h3><p> </p> +<p> +Sir Marmaduke talked openly of this plan of going to Canterbury with +Editha de Chavasse, mentioning the following Friday as the most likely +date for his voyage. +</p> +<p> +Full of joy she brought the welcome news to her lover that same evening; +nor had she cause to regret then her ready acquiescence to his wishes. +He was full of tenderness then, of gentle discretion in his caresses, +showing the utmost respect to his future princess. He talked less of his +passion and more of his plans, in which now she would have her full +share. He confided some of his schemes to her: they were somewhat vague +and not easy to understand, but the manner in which he put them before +her, made them seem wonderfully noble and selfless. +</p> +<p> +In a measure this evening—so calm and peaceful in contrast to the +turbulence of the other night—marked one of the great crises in the +history of her love. Even when she heard that Fate itself was conspiring +to help on the clandestine marriage by causing Sir Marmaduke and +Mistress de Chavasse to absent themselves at a most opportune moment, +she had resolved to break the news to her lover of her own immense +wealth. +</p> +<p> +Of this he was still in total ignorance. One or two innocent remarks +which he had let fall at different times convinced her of that. Nor was +this ignorance of his to be wondered at: he saw no one in or about the +village except the old Quakeress and Adam Lambert with whom he lodged. +The woman was deaf and uncommunicative, whilst there seemed to be some +sort of tacit enmity against the foreigner, latent in the mind of the +blacksmith. It was, therefore, quite natural that he should suppose her +no whit less poor than Sir Marmaduke de Chavasse or the other +neighboring Kentish squires whose impecuniousness was too blatant a fact +to be unknown even to a stranger in the land. +</p> +<p> +Sue, therefore, was eagerly looking forward to the happy moment when she +would explain to her prince that her share in the wonderful enterprise +which he always vaguely spoke of as his "great work" would not merely be +one of impassiveness. Where he could give the benefit of his +personality, his eloquence, his knowledge of men and things, she could +add the weight of her wealth. +</p> +<p> +Of course she was very, very young, but already from him she had +realized that it is impossible even to regenerate mankind and give it +political and religious freedom without the help of money. +</p> +<p> +Prince Amédé d'Orléans himself was passing rich: the fact that he chose +to hide in a lonely English village and to live as a poor man would +live, was only a part of his schemes. For the moment, too, owing to that +ever-present vengefulness of the King of France, his estates and +revenues were under sequestration. All this Sue understood full well, +and it added quite considerably to her joy to think that soon she could +relieve the patriot and hero from penury, and that the news that she +could do so would be a glad surprise for him. +</p> +<p> +Nor must Lady Sue Aldmarshe on this account be condemned for an ignorant +or a vain fool. Though she was close on twenty-one years of age, she had +had absolutely no experience of the world or of mankind: all she knew of +either had been conceived in the imaginings of her own romantic brain. +</p> +<p> +Her entire childhood, her youth and maidenhood had gone by in silent and +fanciful dreamings, whilst one of the greatest conflicts the world had +ever known was raging between men of the same kith and the same blood. +The education of women—even of those of rank and wealth—was avowedly +upon a very simple plan. Most of the noble ladies of that time knew not +how to spell—most of them were content to let the world go by them, +without giving it thought or care, others had accomplished prodigies of +valor, of heroism, aye! and of determination to help their brothers, +husbands, fathers during the worst periods of the civil war. +</p> +<p> +But Sue had been too young when these same prodigies were being +accomplished, and her father died before she had reached the age when +she could take an active part in the great questions of the day. A +mother she had never known, she had no brothers and sisters. A brief +time under the care of an old aunt and a duenna in a remote Surrey +village, and her stay at Pegwell Court under Sir Marmaduke's +guardianship, was all that she had ever seen of life. +</p> +<p> +Prince Amédé d'Orléans was the embodiment of all her dreams—or nearly +so! The real hero of her dreams had been handsomer, and also more gentle +and more trusting, but on the whole, he had not been one whit more +romantic in his personality and his doings. +</p> +<p> +The manner in which he received the news that unbeknown to him, he had +been wooing one of the richest brides in the land, was characteristic of +him. He seemed boundlessly disappointed. +</p> +<p> +It was a beautiful clear night and she could see his face quite +distinctly, and could note how its former happy expression was marred +suddenly by a look of sorrow. He owned to being disappointed. He had +loved the idea, so he explained, of taking her to him, just as she was, +beautiful beyond compare, but penniless—having only her exquisite self +to give. +</p> +<p> +Oh! the joy after that of coaxing him back to smiles! the pride of +proving herself his Egeria for the nonce, teaching him how to look upon +wealth merely as a means for attaining his great ends, for continuing +his great work. +</p> +<p> +It had been perhaps the happiest evening in her short life of love. +</p> +<p> +For that day at Dover now only seemed a dream. The hurried tramp to the +main road in a torrent of pouring rain: the long drive in the stuffy +chaise, the arrival just in time for the brief—very brief—ceremony in +the dark church, with the clergyman in a plain black gown muttering +unintelligible words, and the local verger and the church cleaner acting +as the witnesses to her marriage. +</p> +<p> +Her marriage! +</p> +<p> +How differently had she conceived that great, that wonderful day, the +turning point of a maiden's life. Music, flowers, beautiful gowns and +sweet scents filling the air! the sunlight peeping gold, red, purple or +blue through the glass windows of some exquisite cathedral! The +bridegroom arrayed in white, full of joy and pride, she the bride with a +veil of filmy lace falling over her face to hide the happy blushes! +</p> +<p> +It was a beautiful dream, and the reality was so very, very different. +</p> +<p> +A dark little country church, with the plaster peeling off the walls! +the drone of a bewhiskered, bald-headed parson being the sole music +which greeted her ears. The rain beating against the broken +window-panes, through which icy cold draughts of damp air reached her +shoulders and caused her to shiver beneath her kerchief. She wore her +pretty dove-colored gown, but it was not new nor had she a veil over her +face, only a straw hat such as countrywomen wore, for though she was an +heiress and passing rich, her guardian did but ill provide her with +smart clothing. +</p> +<p> +And the bridegroom? +</p> +<p> +He had been waiting for her inside the church, and seemed impatient +when she arrived. No one had helped her to alight from the rickety +chaise, and she had to run in the pouring rain, through the miserable +and deserted churchyard. +</p> +<p> +His face seemed to scowl as she finally stood up beside him, in front of +that black-gowned man, who was to tie between them the sacred and +irrevocable knot of matrimony. His hand had perceptibly trembled when he +slipped the ring on her finger, whilst she felt that her own was +irresponsive and icy cold. +</p> +<p> +She tried to speak the fateful "I will!" buoyantly and firmly, but +somehow—owing to the cold, mayhap—the two little words almost died +down in her throat. +</p> +<p> +Aye! it had all been very gloomy, and inexpressibly sad. The +ceremony—the dear, sweet, sacred ceremony which was to give her wholly +to him, him unreservedly to her—was mumbled and hurried through in less +than ten minutes. +</p> +<p> +Her bridegroom said not a word. Together they went into the tiny vestry +and she was told to sign her name in a big book, which the bald-headed +parson held open before her. +</p> +<p> +The prince also signed his name, and then kissed her on the forehead. +</p> +<p> +The clergyman also shook hands and it was all over. +</p> +<p> +She understood that she had been married by a special license, and that +she was now legally and irretrievably the wife of Amédé Henri, Prince +d'Orléans, de Bourgogne and several other places and dependencies +abroad. +</p> +<p> +She also understood from what the bald-headed clergyman had spoken when +he stood before them in the church and read the marriage service that +she as the wife owed obedience to her husband in all things, for she had +solemnly sworn so to do. She herself, body and soul and mind, her goods +and chattels, her wealth and all belongings were from henceforth the +property of her husband. +</p> +<p> +Yes, she had sworn to all that, willingly, and there was no going back +on that, now or ever! +</p> +<p> +But, oh! how she wished it had been different! +</p> +<p> +Afterwards, when in the privacy of her own little room at Acol Court, +she thought over the whole of that long and dismal day, she oft found +herself wondering what it was through it all that had seemed so +terrifying to her, so strange, so unreal. +</p> +<p> +Something had struck her as weird: something which she could not then +define; but she was quite sure that it was not merely the unusual +chilliness of that rainy summer's day, which had caused her to tremble +so, when—in the vestry—her husband had taken her hand and kissed her. +</p> +<p> +She had then looked into his face, which—though the vestry was but ill +lighted by a tiny very dusty window—she had never seen quite so clearly +before, and then it was that that amazing sense of something awful and +unreal had descended upon her like a clammy shroud. +</p> +<p> +He had very swiftly averted his own gaze from her, but she had seen +something in his face which she did not understand, over which she had +pondered ever since without coming to any solution of this terrible +riddle. +</p> +<p> +She had pondered over it during that interminable journey back from +Dover to Acol. Her husband had not even suggested accompanying her on +her homeward way, nor did she ask him to do so. She did not even think +it strange that he gave her no explanation of the reason why he should +not return to his lodgings at Acol. She felt like a somnambulist, and +wondered how soon she would wake and find herself in her small and +uncomfortable bed at the Court. +</p> +<p> +The next day that feeling of unreality was still there; that sensation +of mystery, of something supernatural which persistently haunted her. +</p> +<p> +One thing was quite sure; that all joy had gone out of her life. It was +possible that love was still there—she did not know—she was too young +to understand the complex sensations which suddenly had made a woman of +her . . . but it was a joyless love now: and all that she knew of a +certainty about her own feelings at the present was that she hoped she +would never have to gaze into her lover's face again . . . and . . . Heaven +help her! . . . that he might never touch her again with his lips. +</p> +<p> +Obedient to his behests—hurriedly spoken as she stepped into the chaise +at Dover after the marriage ceremony—she had wandered out every +evening beyond the ha-ha into the park, on the chance of meeting him. +</p> +<p> +The evenings now were soft and balmy after the rain: the air carried a +pungent smell of dahlias and of oak-leaved geraniums to her nostrils, +which helped her to throw off that miserable feeling of mental lassitude +which had weighed her down ever since that fateful day at Dover. She +walked slowly along, treading the young tendrils of the moss, watching +with wistful eyes the fleecy clouds, as they appeared through the +branches of the elms, scurrying swiftly out towards the sea . . . out +towards freedom. +</p> +<p> +But evening after evening passed away, and she saw no sign of him. She +felt the futility, the humiliating uselessness of these nightly +peregrinations in search of a man who seemed to have a hundred more +desirable occupations than that of meeting his wife. But she had not the +power to drift out towards freedom now. She obeyed mechanically because +she must. She had sworn to obey and he had bidden her come and wait for +him. +</p> +<p> +August yielded to September, the oak-leaved geraniums withered whilst +from tangled bosquets the melancholy eyes of the Michaelmas daisies +peeped out questioningly upon the coming autumn. +</p> +<p> +Then one evening his voice suddenly sounded close to her ear, causing +her to utter a quickly-smothered cry. It had been the one dull day +throughout this past glorious month, the night was dark and a warm +drizzle had soaked through to her shoulders and wetted the bottom of her +kirtle so that it hung heavy and dank round her ankles. He had come to +her as usual from out the gloom, just as she was about to cross the +little bridge which spanned the sunk fence. +</p> +<p> +She realized then, with one of those sudden quivers of her +sensibilities, to which, alas! she had become so accustomed of late, +that he had always met her thus in the gloom—always chosen nights when +she could scarce see him distinctly, and this recollection still further +enhanced that eerie feeling of terror which had assailed her since that +fateful moment in the vestry. +</p> +<p> +But she tried to be natural and even gay with him, though at the first +words of tender reproach with which she gently chided him for his +prolonged absence, he broke into one of those passionate accesses of +fury which had always frightened her, but now left her strangely cold +and unresponsive. +</p> +<p> +Was the subtle change in him as well as in her? She could not say. +Certain it is that, though his hands had sought hers in the darkness, +and pressed them vehemently, when first they met he had not attempted to +kiss her. +</p> +<p> +For this she was immeasurably grateful. +</p> +<p> +He was obviously constrained, and so was she, and when she opposed a +cold silence to his outburst of passion, he immediately, and seemingly +without any effort, changed his tone and talked more reasonably, even +glibly of his work, which he said was awaiting him now in France. +</p> +<p> +Everything was ready there, he explained, for the great political +propaganda which he had planned and which could be commenced +immediately. +</p> +<p> +All that was needed now was the money. In what manner it would be needed +and for what definite purpose he did not condescend to explain, nor did +she care to ask. But she told him that she would be sole mistress of her +fortune on the 2d of November, the date of her twenty-first birthday. +</p> +<p> +After that he spoke no more of money, but promised to meet her at +regular intervals during the six weeks which would intervene until the +great day when she would be free to proclaim her marriage and place +herself unreservedly in the hands of her husband. +</p> + + + +<p> </p> +<p> </p> +<a name="CH23"><!-- CH23 --></a> +<h2> + CHAPTER XXIII +</h2> + +<h3> +THE ABSENT FRIEND +</h3><p> </p> +<p> +The prince kept his word, and she was fairly free to see him at least +once a week, somewhere within the leafy thicknesses of the park or in +the woods, usually at the hour when dusk finally yields to the +overwhelming embrace of night. +</p> +<p> +Sir Marmaduke was away. In London or Canterbury, she could not say, but +she had scarcely seen him since that terrible time, when he came back +from town having left Richard Lambert languishing in disgrace and in +prison. +</p> +<p> +Oh! how she missed the silent and thoughtful friend who in those days of +pride and of joy had angered her so, because he seemed to stand for +conscience and for prudence, when she only thought of happiness and of +love. +</p> +<p> +There was an almost humiliating isolation about her now. Nobody seemed +to care whither she went, nor when she came home. Mistress de Chavasse +talked from time to time about Sue's infatuation for the mysterious +foreign adventurer, but always as if this were a thing of the past, and +from which Sue herself had long since recovered. +</p> +<p> +Thus there was no one to say her nay, when she went out into the garden +after evening repast, and stayed there until the shades of night had +long since wrapped the old trees in gloom. +</p> +<p> +And strangely enough this sense of freedom struck her with a chill sense +of loneliness. She would have loved to suddenly catch sight of Lambert's +watchful figure, and to hear his somewhat harsh voice, warning her +against the foreigner. +</p> +<p> +This had been wont to irritate her twelve weeks ago. How mysteriously +everything had altered round her! +</p> +<p> +And yearning for her friend, she wondered what had become of him. The +last she had heard was toward the middle of October when Sir Marmaduke, +home from one of his frequent journeyings, one day said that Lambert had +been released after ten weeks spent in prison, but that he could not say +whither he had gone since then. +</p> +<p> +All Sue's questionings anent the young man only brought forth violent +vituperations from Sir Marmaduke, and cold words of condemnation from +Mistress de Chavasse; therefore, she soon desisted, storing up in her +heart pathetic memories of the one true friend she had in the world. +</p> +<p> +She saw without much excitement, and certainly without tremor, the rapid +advance of that date early in November when she would perforce have to +leave Acol Court in order to follow her husband whithersoever he chose +to command her. +</p> +<p> +The last time that they had met there had been a good deal of talk +between them, about her fortune and its future disposal. He declared +himself ready to administer it all himself, as he professed a distrust +of those who had watched over it so far—Master Skyffington, the lawyer, +and Sir Marmaduke de Chavasse, both under the control of the Court of +Chancery. +</p> +<p> +She explained to him that the bulk of her wealth consisted of +obligations and shares in the Levant and Russian Companies, her mother +having been the only daughter and heiress of Peter Ford the great +Levantine and Oriental merchant; her marriage with the proud Earl of +Dover having caused no small measure of comment in Court circles in +those days. +</p> +<p> +There were also deeds of property owned in Holland, grants of monopolies +for trading given by Ivan the Terrible to her grandfather, and receipts +for moneys deposited in the great banks of Amsterdam and Vienna. Master +Skyffington had charge of all those papers now: they represented nearly +five hundred thousand pounds of money and she told her husband that they +would all be placed in her own keeping, the day she was of age. +</p> +<p> +He appeared to lend an inattentive ear to all these explanations, which +she gave in those timid tones, which had lately become habitual to her, +but once—when she made a slip, and talked about a share which she +possessed in the Russian Company being worth £50,000, he corrected her +and said it was a good deal more, and gave her some explanations as to +the real distribution of her capital, which astonished her by their +lucidity and left her vaguely wondering how it happened that he knew. +She had finally to promise to come to him at the cottage in Acol on the +2d of November—her twenty-first birthday—directly after her interview +with the lawyer and with her guardian, and having obtained possession of +all the share papers, the obligations, the grants of monopolies and the +receipts from the Amsterdam and Vienna banks, to forthwith bring them +over to the cottage and place them unreservedly in her husband's hands. +</p> +<p> +And she would in her simplicity and ignorance gladly have given every +scrap of paper—now in Master Skyffington's charge—in exchange for a +return of those happy illusions which had surrounded the early history +of her love with a halo of romance. She would have given this mysterious +prince, now her husband, all the money that he wanted for this wonderful +"great work" of his, if he would but give her back some of that +enthusiastic belief in him which had so mysteriously been killed within +her, that fateful moment in the vestry at Dover. +</p> + + + +<p> </p> +<p> </p> +<a name="CH24"><!-- CH24 --></a> +<h2> + CHAPTER XXIV +</h2> + +<h3> +NOVEMBER THE 2D +</h3><p> </p> +<p> +A dreary day, with a leaden sky overhead and the monotonous patter of +incessant rain against the window panes. +</p> +<p> +Sir Marmaduke de Chavasse had just come downstairs, and opening the door +which lead from the hall to the small withdrawing-room on the right, he +saw Mistress de Chavasse, half-sitting, half-crouching in one of the +stiff-backed chairs, which she had drawn close to the fire. +</p> +<p> +There was a cheerful blaze on the hearth, and the room itself—being +small—always looked cozier than any other at Acol Court. +</p> +<p> +Nevertheless, Editha's face was pallid and drawn, and she stared into +the fire with eyes which seemed aglow with anxiety and even with fear. +Her cloak was tied loosely about her shoulders, and at sight of Sir +Marmaduke she started, then rising hurriedly, she put her hood over her +head, and went towards the door. +</p> +<p> +"Ah! my dear Editha!" quoth her brother-in-law, lightly greeting her, +"up betimes like the lark I see. . . . Are you going without?" he added as +she made a rapid movement to brush past him and once more made for the +door. +</p> +<p> +"Yes!" she replied dully, "I must fain move about . . . tire myself out +if I can . . . I am consumed with anxiety." +</p> +<p> +"Indeed?" he retorted blandly, "why should you be anxious? Everything is +going splendidly . . . and to-night at the latest a fortune of nigh on +£500,000 will be placed in my hands by a fond and adoring woman." +</p> +<p> +He caught the glitter in her eyes, that suggestion of power and of +unspoken threats which she had adopted since the episode in the Bath +Street house. For an instant an ugly frown further disfigured his sour +face: but this frown was only momentary, it soon gave way to a suave +smile. He took her hand and lightly touched it with his lips. +</p> +<p> +"After which, my dear Editha," he said, "I shall be able to fulfill +those obligations, which my heart originally dictated." +</p> +<p> +She seemed satisfied at this assurance, for she now spoke in less +aggressive tones: +</p> +<p> +"Are you so sure of the girl, Marmaduke?" she asked. +</p> +<p> +"Absolutely," he replied, his thoughts reverting to a day spent at Dover +nearly three months ago, when a knot was tied of which fair Editha was +not aware, but which rendered Sir Marmaduke de Chavasse very sure of a +fortune. +</p> +<p> +"Yet you have oft told me that Sue's love for her mysterious prince had +vastly cooled of late!" urged Editha still anxiously. +</p> +<p> +"Why yes! forsooth!" he retorted grimly, "Sue's sentimental fancy for +the romantic exile hath gone the way of all such unreasoning +attachments; but she has ventured too far to draw back. . . . And she will +not draw back," he concluded significantly. +</p> +<p> +"Have a care, Marmaduke! . . . the girl is more willful than ye wot of. . . . +You may strain at a cord until it snap." +</p> +<p> +"Pshaw!" he said, with a shrug of his wide shoulders, "you are suffering +from vapors, my dear Editha . . . or you would grant me more knowledge of +how to conduct mine own affairs. . . . Do you remember, perchance, that the +bulk of Sue's fortune will be handed over to her this day?" +</p> +<p> +"Aye! I remember!" +</p> +<p> +"Begad, then to-night I'll have that bulk out of her hands. You may take +an oath on that!" he declared savagely. +</p> +<p> +"And afterwards?" she asked simply. +</p> +<p> +"Afterwards?" +</p> +<p> +"Yes . . . afterwards? . . . when Sue has discovered how she has been +tricked? . . . Are you not afraid of what she might do? . . . Even though +her money may pass into your hands . . . even though you may inveigle her +into a clandestine marriage . . . she is still the daughter of the late +Earl of Dover . . . she has landed estates, wealth, rich and powerful +relations. . . . There must be an 'afterwards,' remember! . . ." +</p> +<p> +His ironical laugh grated on her nerves, as he replied lightly: +</p> +<p> +"Pshaw! my dear Editha! of a truth you are not your own calm self +to-day, else you had understood that forsooth! in the love affairs of +Prince Amédé d'Orléans and Lady Susannah Aldmarshe there must and can be +no 'afterwards.'" +</p> +<p> +"I don't understand you." +</p> +<p> +"Yet, 'tis simple enough. Sue is my wife." +</p> +<p> +"Your wife! . . ." she exclaimed. +</p> +<p> +"Hush! An you want to scream, I pray you question me not, for what I say +is bound to startle you. Sue is my wife. I married her, having obtained +a special license to do so in the name of Prince Amédé Henri d'Orléans, +and all the rest of the romantic paraphernalia. She is my wife, and +therefore, her money and fortune are mine, every penny of it, without +question or demur." +</p> +<p> +"She will appeal to the Court to have the marriage annulled . . . she'll +rouse public indignation against you to such a pitch that you'll not be +able to look one of your kith and kin in the face. . . . The whole shameful +story of the mysterious French prince . . . your tricks to win the hand of +your ward by lying, cheating and willful deceit will resound from one +end of the country to the other. . . . What is the use of a mint of money +if you have to herd with outcasts, and not an honest man will shake you +by the hand?" +</p> +<p> +"None, my dear Editha, none," he replied quietly, "and 'tis of still +less use for you to rack your nerves in order to place before me a +gruesome picture of the miserable social pariah which I should become, +if the story of my impersonation of a romantic exile for the purpose of +capturing the hand of my ward came to the ears of those in authority." +</p> +<p> +"Whither it doubtless would come!" she affirmed hotly. +</p> +<p> +"Whither it doubtless would come," he assented, "and therefore, my dear +Editha, once the money is safely in my hands I will leave her Royal +Highness the Princesse d'Orléans in full possession, not only of her +landed estates but of the freedom conferred on her by widowhood, for +Prince Amédé, her husband, will vanish like the beautiful dream which he +always was." +</p> +<p> +"But how? . . . how?" she reiterated, puzzled, anxious, scenting some +nefarious scheme more unavowable even than the last. +</p> +<p> +"Ah! time will show! . . . But he will vanish, my dear Editha, take my +word on it. Shall we say that he will fly up into the clouds and her +Highness the Princess will know him no more?" +</p> +<p> +"Then why have married her?" she exclaimed: some womanly instinct within +her crying out against this outrage. "'Twas cruel and unnecessary." +</p> +<p> +He shrugged his shoulders. +</p> +<p> +"Cruel perhaps! . . . But surely no more than necessary. I doubt if she +would have entrusted her fortune to anyone but her husband." +</p> +<p> +"Had she ceased to trust her romantic prince then?" +</p> +<p> +"Perhaps. At any rate, I chose to make sure of the prize. . . . I have +worked hard to get it and would not fail for lack of a simple ceremony +. . . moreover . . ." +</p> +<p> +"Moreover?" +</p> +<p> +"Moreover, my dear Editha, there is always the possibility . . . remote, +no doubt . . . but nevertheless tangible . . . that at some time or other +. . . soon or late—who knows?—the little deception practiced on Lady Sue +may come to the light of day. . . . In that case, even if the marriage be +annulled on the ground of fraud . . . which methinks is more than doubtful +. . . no one could deny my right as the heiress's . . . hem . . . shall we +say?—temporary husband—to dispose of her wealth as I thought fit. If I +am to become a pariah and an outcast, as you so eloquently suggested +just now . . . I much prefer being a rich one. . . . With half a million in +the pocket of my doublet the whole world is open to me." +</p> +<p> +There was so much cool calculation, such callous contempt for the +feelings and thoughts of the unfortunate girl whom he had so terribly +wronged, in this exposé of the situation, that Mistress de Chavasse +herself was conscious of a sense of repulsion from the man whom she had +aided hitherto. +</p> +<p> +She believed that she held him sufficiently in her power, through her +knowledge of his schemes and through the help which she was rendering +him, to extract a promise from him that he would share his ill-gotten +spoils in equal portions with her. At one time after the fracas in Bath +Street, he had even given her a vague promise of marriage; therefore, he +had kept secret from her the relation of that day spent at Dover. Now +she felt that even if he were free, she would never consent to link her +future irretrievably with his. +</p> +<p> +But her share of the money she meant to have. She was tired of poverty, +tired of planning and scheming, of debt and humiliation. She was tired +of her life of dependence at Acol Court, and felt a sufficiency of youth +and buoyancy in herself yet, to enjoy a final decade of luxury and +amusement in London. +</p> +<p> +Therefore, she closed her ears to every call of conscience, she shut her +heart against the lonely young girl who so sadly needed the counsels and +protection of a good woman, and she was quite ready to lend a helping +hand to Sir Marmaduke, at least until a goodly share of Lady Sue's +fortune was safely within her grasp. +</p> +<p> +One point occurred to her now, which caused her to ask anxiously: +</p> +<p> +"Have you not made your reckonings without Richard Lambert, Marmaduke? +He is back in these parts, you know?" +</p> +<p> +"Ah!" he ejaculated, with a quick scowl of impatience. "He has +returned?" +</p> +<p> +"Yes! Charity was my informant. He looks very ill, so the wench says: he +has been down with fever, it appears, all the while that he was in +prison, and was only discharged because they feared that he would die. +He contrived to work or beg his way back here, and now he is staying in +the village. . . . I thought you would have heard." +</p> +<p> +"No! I never speak to the old woman . . . and Adam Lambert avoids me as he +would the plague. . . . I see as little of them as I can. . . . I had to be +prudent these last, final days." +</p> +<p> +"Heaven grant he may do nothing fatal to-day!" she murmured. +</p> +<p> +"Nay! my dear Editha," he retorted with a harsh laugh, "'tis scarcely +Heaven's business to look after our schemes. But Lambert can do us very +little harm now! For his own sake, he will keep out of Sue's way." +</p> +<p> +"At what hour does Master Skyffington arrive?" +</p> +<p> +"In half an hour." +</p> +<p> +Then as he saw that she was putting into effect her former resolve of +going out, despite the rain, and was once more readjusting her hood for +that purpose, he opened the door for her, and whispered as he followed +her out: +</p> +<p> +"An you will allow me, my dear Editha, I'll accompany you on your walk +. . . we might push on down the Canterbury Road, and perchance meet Master +Skyffington. . . . I understand that Sue has been asking for me, and I +would prefer to meet her as seldom as possible just now. . . . This is my +last day," he concluded with a laugh, "and I must be doubly careful." +</p> + + + +<p> </p> +<p> </p> +<a name="CH25"><!-- CH25 --></a> +<h2> + CHAPTER XXV +</h2> + +<h3> +AN INTERLUDE +</h3><p> </p> +<p> +Master Hymn-of-Praise Busy was vastly perturbed. Try how he might, he +had been unable to make any discovery with regard to the mysterious +events, which he felt sure were occurring all round him, a discovery +which—had he but made it—would have enabled him to apply with more +chance of success, for one of the posts in my Lord Protector's secret +service, and moreover, would have covered his name with glory. +</p> +<p> +This last contingency was always uppermost in his mind. Not from any +feeling of personal pride, for of a truth vanity is a mortal sin, but +because Mistress Charity had of late cast uncommonly kind eyes on that +cringing worm, Master Courage Toogood, and the latter, emboldened by the +minx's favors, had been more than usually insolent to his betters. +</p> +<p> +To have the right to administer serious physical punishment to the +youth, and moral reproof to the wench, was part of Master Busy's +comprehensive scheme for his own advancement and the confusion of all +the miscreants who dwelt in Acol Court. For this he had glued both eye +and ear to draughty keyholes, had lain for hours under cover of prickly +thistles in the sunk fence which surrounded the flower garden. For this +he now emerged, on that morning of November 2, accompanied by a terrific +clatter and a volley of soot from out the depth of the monumental +chimney in the hall of Acol Court. +</p> +<p> +As soon as he had recovered sufficient breath, and shaken off some of +the soot from his hair and face, he looked solemnly about him, and was +confronted by two pairs of eyes round with astonishment and two mouths +agape with surprise and with fear. +</p> +<p> +Mistress Charity and Master Courage Toogood—interrupted in the midst of +their animated conversation—were now speechless with terror, at sight +of this black apparition, which, literally, had descended on them from +the skies. +</p> +<p> +"Lud love ye, Master Busy!" ejaculated Mistress Charity, who was the +first to recognize in the sooty wraith the manly form of her betrothed, +"where have ye come from, pray?" +</p> +<p> +"Have you been scouring the chimney, good master?" queried Master +Courage, with some diffidence, for the saintly man looked somewhat out +of humor. +</p> +<p> +"No!" replied Hymn-of-Praise solemnly, "I have not. But I tell ye both +that my hour hath come. I knew that something was happening in this +house, and I climbed up that chimney in order to find out what it was." +</p> +<p> +Pardonable curiosity caused Mistress Charity to venture a little nearer +to the soot-covered figure of her adorer. +</p> +<p> +"And did you hear anything, Master Busy?" she asked eagerly. "I did see +Sir Marmaduke and the mistress in close conversation here this +morning." +</p> +<p> +"So they thought," said Master Hymn-of-Praise with weird significance. +</p> +<p> +"Well? . . . And what happened, good master?" +</p> +<p> +"Thou beest in too mighty an hurry, mistress," he retorted with quiet +dignity. "I am under no obligation to report matters to thee." +</p> +<p> +"Oh! but Master Busy," she rejoined coyly, "methought I was to be your +. . . hem . . . thy partner in life . . . and so . . ." +</p> +<p> +"My partner? My partner, didst thou say, sweet Charity? . . . Nay, then, +an thou'lt permit me to salute thee with a kiss, I'll tell thee all I +know." +</p> +<p> +And in asking for that chaste salute we may assume that Master +Hymn-of-Praise was actuated with at least an equal desire to please +Mistress Charity, to gratify his own wishes, and to effectually annoy +Master Courage. +</p> +<p> +But Mistress Charity was actuated by curiosity alone, and without +thought of her betrothed's grimy appearance, she presented her cheek to +him for the kiss. +</p> +<p> +The result caused Master Courage an uncontrollable fit of hilarity. +</p> +<p> +"Oh, mistress," he said, pointing to the black imprint left on her face +by her lover's kiss, "you should gaze into a mirror now." +</p> +<p> +But already Mistress Charity had guessed what had occurred, her good +humor vanished, and she began scouring her cheek with her pinner. +</p> +<p> +"I'll never forgive you, master," she said crossly. "You had no right to +. . . hem . . . with your face in that condition. . . . And you have not yet +told us what happened." +</p> +<p> +"What happened?" +</p> +<p> +"Aye! you promised to tell me if I allowed you to kiss me. 'Tis +done. . . ." +</p> +<p> +"I well nigh broke my back," said Master Busy sententiously. "I hurt my +knee . . . that is what happened. . . . I am well-nigh choked with soot. . . . +Ugh! . . . that is what happened." +</p> +<p> +"Lud love you, Master Busy," she retorted with a saucy toss of her head, +"I trust your life's partner will not need to hide herself in chimneys." +</p> +<p> +"Listen, wench, and I'll tell thee. No kind of servant of my Lord +Protector's should ever be called upon to hide in chimneys. They are not +comfortable and they are not clean." +</p> +<p> +"Bless the man!" she cried angrily, "are you ever going to tell us what +did happen whilst you were there?" +</p> +<p> +"I was about to come to that point," he said imperturbably, "hadst thou +not interrupted me. What with holding on so as not to fall, and the soot +falling in my ears. . . ." +</p> +<p> +"Aye! aye! . . ." +</p> +<p> +"I heard nothing," he concluded solemnly. "Master Courage," he added +with becoming severity, seeing that the youth was on the verge of +making a ribald remark, which of necessity had to be checked betimes, +"come into my room with me and help me to clean the traces of my +difficult task from off my person. Come!" +</p> +<p> +And with ominous significance, he approached the young scoffer, his hand +on an exact level with the latter's ear, his right foot raised to +indicate a possible means of enforcing obedience to his commands. +</p> +<p> +On the whole, Master Courage thought it wise to repress both his +hilarity and his pertinent remarks, and to follow the pompous, if +begrimed, butler to the latter's room upstairs. +</p> + + + +<p> </p> +<p> </p> +<a name="CH26"><!-- CH26 --></a> +<h2> + CHAPTER XXVI +</h2> + +<h3> +THE OUTCAST +</h3><p> </p> +<p> +It took Mistress Charity some little time to recover her breath. +</p> +<p> +She had thrown herself into a chair, with her pinner over her face, in +an uncontrollable fit of laughter. +</p> +<p> +When this outburst of hilarity had subsided, she sat up, and looked +round her with eyes still streaming with merry tears. +</p> +<p> +But the laughter suddenly died on her lips and the merriment out of her +eyes. A dull, tired voice had just said feebly: +</p> +<p> +"Is Sir Marmaduke de Chavasse within?" +</p> +<p> +Charity jumped up from the chair and stared stupidly at the speaker. +</p> +<p> +"The Lord love you, Master Richard Lambert," she murmured. "I thought +you were your ghost!" +</p> +<p> +"Forgive me, mistress, if I have frightened you," he said. "It is mine +own self, I give you assurance of that, and I, fain would have speech +with Sir Marmaduke." +</p> +<p> +Mistress Charity was visibly embarrassed. She began mechanically to rub +the black stain on her cheek. +</p> +<p> +"Sir Marmaduke is without just at present, Master Lambert," she +stammered shyly, ". . . and . . ." +</p> +<p> +"Yes? . . . and? . . ." he asked, "what is it, wench? . . . speak out? . . ." +</p> +<p> +"Sir Marmaduke gave orders, Master Lambert," she began with obvious +reluctance, "that . . ." +</p> +<p> +She paused, and he concluded the sentence for her: +</p> +<p> +"That I was not to be allowed inside his house. . . . Was that it?" +</p> +<p> +"Alas! yes, good master." +</p> +<p> +"Never mind, girl," he rejoined as he deliberately crossed the hall and +sat down in the chair which she had just vacated. "You have done your +duty: but you could not help admitting me, could you? since I walked in +of mine own accord . . . and now that I am here I will remain until I have +seen Sir Marmaduke. . . ." +</p> +<p> +"Well! of a truth, good master," she said with a smile, for 'twas but +natural that her feminine sympathies should be on the side of a young +and good-looking man, somewhat in her own sphere of life, as against the +ill-humored, parsimonious master whom she served, "an you sit there so +determinedly, I cannot prevent you, can I? . . ." +</p> +<p> +Then as she perceived the look of misery on the young man's face, his +pale cheeks, his otherwise vigorous frame obviously attenuated by fear, +the motherly instinct present in every good woman's heart caused her to +go up to him and to address him timidly, offering such humble solace as +her simple heart could dictate: +</p> +<p> +"Lud preserve you, good master, I pray you do not take on so. . . . You +know Master Courage and I, now, never believed all those stories about +ye. Of a truth Master Busy, he had his own views, but then . . . you see, +good master, he and I do not always agree, even though I own that he is +vastly clever with his discoveries and his clews; but Master Courage now +. . . Master Courage is a wonderful lad . . . and he thinks that you are a +persecuted hero! . . . and I am bound to say that I, too, hold that +view. . . ." +</p> +<p> +"Thank you! . . . thank you, kind mistress," said Lambert, smiling despite +his dejection, at the girl's impulsive efforts at consolation. +</p> +<p> +His head had sunk down on his breast, and he sat there in the +high-backed chair, one hand resting on each leather-covered arm, his +pale face showing almost ghostlike against the dark background, and with +the faint November light illumining the dark-circled eyes, the bloodless +lips, and deeply frowning brow. +</p> +<p> +Mistress Charity gazed down on him with mute and kindly compassion. +</p> +<p> +Then suddenly a slight rustling noise as of a kirtle sweeping the +polished oak of the stairs caused the girl to look up, then to pause a +brief while, as if what she had now seen had brought forth a new train +of thought; finally, she tiptoed silently out through the door of the +dining-hall. +</p> +<p> +"Charity! Mistress Charity, I want you! . . ." called Lady Sue from +above. +</p> +<p> +We must presume, however, that the wench had closed the heavy door +behind her, for certainly she did not come in answer to the call. On the +other hand, Richard Lambert had heard it; he sprang to his feet and saw +Sue descending the stairs. +</p> +<p> +She saw him, too, and it seemed as if at sight of him she had turned and +meant to fly. But a word from him detained her. +</p> +<p> +"Sue!" +</p> +<p> +Only once had he thus called her by her name before, that long ago night +in the woods, but now the cry came from out his heart, brought forth by +his misery and his sorrow, his sense of terrible injustice and of an +irretrievable wrong. +</p> +<p> +It never occurred to her to resent the familiarity. At sound of her name +thus spoken by him she had looked down from the stairs and seen his +pallid face turned up to her in such heartrending appeal for sympathy, +that all her womanly instincts of tenderness and pity were aroused, all +her old feeling of trustful friendship for him. +</p> +<p> +She, too, felt much of that loneliness which his yearning eyes expressed +so pathetically; she, too, was conscious of grave injustice and of an +irretrievable wrong, and her heart went out to him immediately in +kindness and in love. +</p> +<p> +"Don't go, for pity's sake," he added entreatingly, for he thought that +she meant to turn away from him; "surely you will not begrudge me a few +words of kindness. I have gone through a great deal since I saw +you. . . ." +</p> +<p> +She descended a few steps, her delicate hand still resting on the +banisters, her silken kirtle making a soft swishing noise against the +polished oak of the stairs. It was a solace to him, even to watch her +now. The sight of his adored mistress was balm to his aching eyes. Yet +he was quick to note—with that sharp intuition peculiar to Love—that +her dear face had lost much of its brightness, of its youth, of its joy +of living. She was as exquisite to look on as ever, but she seemed +older, more gentle, and, alas! a trifle sad. +</p> +<p> +"I heard you had been ill," she said softly, "I was very sorry, believe +me, but . . . Oh! do you not think," she added with sudden inexplicable +pathos, whilst she felt hot tears rising to her eyes and causing her +voice to quiver, "do you not think that an interview between us now can +only be painful to us both?" +</p> +<p> +He mistook the intention of her words, as was only natural, and whilst +she mistrusted her own feelings for him, fearing to betray that yearning +for his friendship and his consolation, which had so suddenly +overwhelmed her at sight of him, he thought that she feared the +interview because of her condemnation of him. +</p> +<p> +"Then you believed me guilty?" he said sadly. "They told you this +hideous tale of me, and you believed them, without giving the absent +one, who alas! could not speak in his own defense, the benefit of the +doubt." +</p> +<p> +For one of those subtle reasons of which women alone possess the secret, +and which will forever remain inexplicable to the more logical sex, she +steeled her heart against him, even when her entire sensibilities went +out to him in passionate sympathy. +</p> +<p> +"I could not help but believe, good master," she said a little coldly. +"Sir Marmaduke de Chavasse, who, with all his faults of temper, is a man +of honor, confirmed that horrible story which appeared in the newspaper +and of which everyone in Thanet hath been talking these weeks past." +</p> +<p> +"And am <i>I</i> not a man of honor?" he retorted hotly. "Because I am poor +and must work in order to live, am <i>I</i> to be condemned unheard? Is a +whole life's record of self-education and honest labor to be thus +obliterated by the word of my most bitter enemy?" +</p> +<p> +"Your bitter enemy? . . ." she asked. "Sir Marmaduke? . . ." +</p> +<p> +"Aye! Sir Marmaduke de Chavasse. It seems passing strange, does it not?" +he rejoined bitterly. "Yet somehow in my heart, I feel that Sir +Marmaduke hates me, with a violent and passionate hatred. Nay! I know +it, though I can explain neither its cause nor its ultimate aim. . . ." +</p> +<p> +He drew nearer to the stairs whereon she still stood, her graceful +figure slightly leaning towards him; he now stood close to her, his head +just below the level of her own; his hand had he dared to raise it, +could have rested on hers. +</p> +<p> +"Sue! my beautiful and worshiped lady," he cried impassionedly, "I +entreat you to look into my eyes! . . . Can you see in them the reflex of +those shameful deeds which have been imputed to me? Do I look like a +liar and a cheat? In the name of pity and of justice, for the sweet sake +of our first days of friendship, I beg of you not to condemn me +unheard." +</p> +<p> +He lowered his head, and rested his aching brow against her cool, white +hand. She did not withdraw it, for a great joy had suddenly filled her +heart, mingling with its sadness, a sense of security and of bitter, yet +real, happiness pervaded her whole being: a happiness which she could +not—wished not—to explain, but which prompted her to stoop yet further +towards him, and to touch his hair with her lips. +</p> +<p> +Hot tears which he tried vainly to repress fell upon her fingers. He had +felt the kiss descending on him almost like a benediction. The exquisite +fragrance of her person filled his soul with a great delight which was +almost pain. Never had he loved her so ardently, so passionately, as at +this moment, when he felt that she too loved him, and yet was lost to +him irrevocably. +</p> +<p> +"Nay! but I will hear you, good master," she murmured with infinite +gentleness, "for the sake of that friendship, and because now that I +have seen you again I no longer believe any evil of you." +</p> +<p> +"God bless my dear lady," he replied fervently. "Heaven is my witness +that I am innocent of those abominable crimes imputed to me. Sir +Marmaduke took me to that house of evil, and a cruel plot was there +concocted to make me appear before all men as a liar and a cheat, and to +disgrace me before the world and before you. That the object of this +plot was to part me from you," added Richard Lambert more calmly and +firmly, "I am absolutely confident; what its deeper motive was I dare +not even think. It was known that I . . . loved you, Sue . . . that I would +give my life to save you from trouble . . . I was your slave, your +watch-dog. . . . I was forcibly removed, torn from you, my name disgraced, +my health broken down. . . . But my life was not for them . . . it belongs to +my lady alone. . . . Heaven would not allow it to be sacrificed to their +villainous schemes. I fought against sickness and death with all the +energy of despair. . . . It was a hand-to-hand fight, for discouragement, +and anon despair, ranged themselves among my foes. . . . And now I have +come back," he said with proud energy, "broken mayhap, yet still +standing . . . a snapped oak yet full of vigor, yet . . . I have come back, +and with God's help will be even with them yet." +</p> +<p> +He had straightened his young figure, and his strong, somewhat harsh +voice echoed through the oak-paneled hall. He cared not if all the world +heard him, if his enemies lurked about striving to spy upon him. His +profession of love and of service to his lady was the sole remaining +pride of his life, and now that he knew that she believed and trusted +him, he longed for every man to hear what he had to say. +</p> +<p> +"Nay! what you say, kind Richard, fills me with dread," said Sue after a +little pause. "I am glad . . . glad that you have come back. . . . For some +weeks, nay, months past, I have had the presentiment of some coming +evil. . . . I have . . . I have felt lonely and. . . ." +</p> +<p> +"Not unhappy?" he asked with his usual earnestness. "I would not have my +lady unhappy for all the treasures of this world." +</p> +<p> +"No!" she replied meditatively, striving to be conscious of her own +feelings, "I do not think that I am unhappy . . . only anxious . . . and . . . +a little lonely: that is all. . . . Sir Marmaduke is oft away: when he is +at home, I scarce ever see him, and he but rarely speaks to me . . . and +methinks there is but scant sympathy 'twixt Mistress de Chavasse and me, +though she is kind at times in her way." +</p> +<p> +Then she turned her eyes, bright with unshed tears, down again to him. +</p> +<p> +"But all seems right again!" she said with a sweet, sad smile, "now that +you have come back, my dear . . . dear friend!" +</p> +<p> +"God bless you for these words!" +</p> +<p> +"I grieved terribly when I heard . . . about you . . . at first . . ." she +said almost gaily now, "yet somehow I could not believe it all . . . and +now. . . ." +</p> +<p> +"Yes? . . . and now?" he asked. +</p> +<p> +"Now I believe in you," she replied simply. "I believe that you care for +me, and that you are my friend." +</p> +<p> +"Your friend, indeed, for I would give my life for you." +</p> +<p> +Once more he stooped, but now he kissed her hand. He was her friend, and +had the right to do this. He had gradually mastered his emotion, his +sense of wrong, and with that exquisite selflessness which real love +alone can kindle in a human heart, he had succeeded in putting aside all +thought of his own great misery, his helplessness and the hopelessness +of his position, and remembered only that she looked fragile, a little +older, sadder, and had need of his help. +</p> +<p> +"And now, sweet lady," he said, forcing himself to speak calmly of that +which always set his heart and senses into a turmoil of passionate +jealousy, "will you tell me something about him." +</p> +<p> +"Him?" +</p> +<p> +"The prince. . . ." he suggested. +</p> +<p> +But she shook her head resolutely. +</p> +<p> +"No, kind Richard," she said gently, "I will not speak to you of the +prince. I know that you do not think well of him. . . . I wish to look upon +you as my friend, and I could not do that if you spoke ill of him, +because . . ." +</p> +<p> +She paused, for what she now had to tell him was very hard to say, and +she knew what a terrible blow she would be dealing to his heart, from +the wild beating of her own. +</p> +<p> +"Yes?" he asked. "Because? . . ." +</p> +<p> +"Because he is my husband," she whispered. +</p> +<p> +Her head fell forward on her breast. She would not trust herself to look +at him now, for she knew that the sight of his grief was more than she +could bear. She was conscious that at her words he had drawn his hand +away from hers, but he spoke no word, nor did the faintest exclamation +escape his lips. +</p> +<p> +Thus they remained for a few moments longer side by side: she slightly +above him, with head bent, with hot tears falling slowly from her +downcast eyes, her heart well-nigh breaking with the consciousness of +the irreparable; he somewhat below, silent too, and rigid, all passion, +all emotion, love even, numbed momentarily by the violence, the +suddenness of this terrible blow. +</p> +<p> +Then without a word, without a sigh or look, he turned, and she heard +his footsteps echoing across the hall, then dying away on the threshold +of the door beyond. Anon the door itself closed to with a dull bang +which seemed to find an echo in her heart like the tolling of a passing +bell. +</p> +<p> +Then only did she raise her head, and look about her. The hall was +deserted and seemed infinitely lonely, silent, and grim. The young +girl-wife, who had just found a friend only to lose him again, called +out in mute appeal to this old house, the oak-covered walls, the very +stones themselves, for sympathy. +</p> +<p> +She was so infinitely, so immeasurably lonely, with that awful, +irretrievable day at Dover behind her, with all its dreariness, its +silent solemnity, its weird finish in the vestry, the ring upon her +finger, her troth plighted to a man whom she feared and no longer loved. +</p> +<p> +Oh! the pity of it all! the broken young life! the vanished dreams! +</p> +<p> +Sue bent her head down upon her hands, her lips touched her own fingers +there where her friend's had rested in gratitude and love, and she +cried, cried like a broken-hearted woman, cried for her lost illusions, +and the end of her brief romance! +</p> + + + +<p> </p> +<p> </p> +<a name="CH27"><!-- CH27 --></a> +<h2> + CHAPTER XXVII +</h2> + +<h3> +LADY SUE'S FORTUNE +</h3><p> </p> +<p> +Less than an hour later four people were assembled in the small +withdrawing-room of Acol Court. +</p> +<p> +Master Skyffington sat behind a central table, a little pompous of +manner, clad in sober black with well-starched linen cuffs and collar, +his scanty hair closely cropped, his thin hands fingering with assurance +and perfect calm the various documents laid out before him. Near him Sir +Marmaduke de Chavasse, sitting with his back to the dim November light, +which vainly strove to penetrate the tiny glass panes of the casement +windows. +</p> +<p> +In a more remote corner of the room sat Editha de Chavasse, vainly +trying to conceal the agitation which her trembling hands, her quivering +face and restless eyes persistently betrayed. And beside the central +table, near Master Skyffington and facing Sir Marmaduke, was Lady +Susannah Aldmarshe, only daughter and heiress of the late Earl of Dover, +this day aged twenty-one years, and about to receive from the hands of +her legal guardians the vast fortune which her father had bequeathed to +her, and which was to become absolutely hers this day to dispose of as +she list. +</p> +<p> +"And now, my dear child," said Master Skyffington with due solemnity, +when he had disposed a number of documents and papers in methodical +order upon the table, "let me briefly explain to you the object . . . hem +. . . of this momentous meeting here to-day." +</p> +<p> +"I am all attention, master," said Sue vaguely, and her eyes wide-open, +obviously absent, she gazed fixedly on the silhouette of Sir Marmaduke, +grimly outlined against the grayish window-panes. +</p> +<p> +"I must tell you, my dear child," resumed Master Skyffington after a +slight pause, during which he had studied with vague puzzledom the +inscrutable face of the young girl, "I must tell you that your late +father, the noble Earl of Dover, had married the heiress of Peter Ford, +the wealthiest merchant this country hath ever known. She was your own +lamented mother, and the whole of her fortune, passing through her +husband's hands, hath now devolved upon you. My much-esteemed patron—I +may venture to say friend—Sir Marmaduke de Chavasse, having been +appointed your legal guardian by the Court of Chancery, and I myself +being thereupon named the repository of your securities, these have been +administered by me up to now. . . . You are listening to me, are you not, +my dear young lady?" +</p> +<p> +The question was indeed necessary, for even to Master Skyffington's +unobservant mind it was apparent that Sue's eyes had a look of aloofness +in them, of detachment from her surroundings, which was altogether +inexplicable to the worthy attorney's practical sense of the due fitness +of things. +</p> +<p> +At his query she made a sudden effort to bring her thoughts back from +the past to the present, to drag her heart and her aching brain away +from that half-hour spent in the hall, from that conversation with her +friend, from the recollection of that terribly cruel blow which she had +been forced to deal to the man who loved her best in all the world. +</p> +<p> +"Yes, yes, kind master," she said, "I am listening." +</p> +<p> +And she fixed her eyes resolutely on the attorney's solemn face, forcing +her mind to grasp what he was about to say. +</p> +<p> +"By the terms of your noble father's will," continued Master +Skyffington, as soon as he had satisfied himself that he at last held +the heiress's attention, "the securities, receipts and all other moneys +are to be given over absolutely and unconditionally into your own hands +on your twenty-first birthday." +</p> +<p> +"Which is to-day," said Sue simply. +</p> +<p> +"Which is to-day," assented the lawyer. "The securities, receipts and +other bonds, grants of monopolies and so forth lie before you on this +table. . . . They represent in value over half a million of English +money. . . . A very large sum indeed for so young a girl to have full +control of. . . . Nevertheless, it is yours absolutely and unconditionally, +according to the wishes of your late noble father . . . and Sir Marmaduke +de Chavasse, your late guardian, and I myself, have met you here this +day for the express purpose of handing these securities, grants and +receipts over to you, and to obtain in exchange your own properly +attested signature in full discharge of any further obligation on our +part." +</p> +<p> +Master Skyffington was earnestly gazing into the young girl's face, +whilst he thus literally dangled before her the golden treasures of +wealth, which were about to become absolutely her own. He thought, not +unnaturally, that a girl of her tender years, brought up in the +loneliness and seclusion of a not too luxurious home, would feel in a +measure dazzled and certainly overjoyed at the brilliant prospect which +such independent and enormous wealth opened out before her. +</p> +<p> +But the amiable attorney was vastly disappointed to see neither +pleasure, nor even interest, expressed in Lady Sue's face, which on this +joyous and momentous occasion looked unnaturally calm and pallid. Even +now when he paused expectant and eager, waiting for some comment or +exclamation of approval or joy from her, she was silent for a while, and +then said in a stolidly inquiring tone: +</p> +<p> +"Then after to-day . . . I shall have full control of my money?" +</p> +<p> +"Absolute control, my dear young lady," he rejoined, feeling strangely +perturbed at this absence of emotion. +</p> +<p> +"And no one . . . after to-day . . . will have the right to inquire as to +the use I make of these securities, grants or whatever you, Master +Skyffington, have called them?" she continued with the same placidity. +</p> +<p> +"No one, of a surety, my dear Sue," here interposed Sir Marmaduke, +speaking in his usual harsh and dictatorial way, "but this is a strange +and somewhat peremptory question for a young maid to put at this +juncture. Master Skyffington and I myself had hoped that you would +listen to counsels of prudence, and would allow him, who hath already +administered your fortune in a vastly able manner, to continue so to do, +for a while at any rate." +</p> +<p> +"That question we can discuss later on, Sir Marmaduke," said Sue now, +with sudden hauteur. "Shall we proceed with our business, master?" she +added, turning deliberately to the lawyer, ignoring with calm disdain +the very presence of her late guardian. +</p> +<p> +The studied contempt of his ward's manner, however, seemed not to +disturb the serenity of Sir Marmaduke to any appreciable extent. Casting +a quick, inquisitorial glance at Sue, he shrugged his shoulders in token +of indifference and said no more. +</p> +<p> +"Certainly, certainly," responded Master Skyffington, somewhat +embarrassed, "my dear young lady . . . hem . . . as . . . er . . . as you wish +. . . but . . ." +</p> +<p> +Then he turned deliberately to Sir Marmaduke, once more bringing him +into the proceedings, and tacitly condemning her ladyship's +extraordinary attitude towards his distinguished patron. +</p> +<p> +"Having now explained to Lady Sue Aldmarshe the terms of her noble +father's will," he said, "methinks that she is ready to receive the +moneys from our hands, good Sir Marmaduke, and thereupon to give us the +proper receipt prescribed by law, for the same . . ." +</p> +<p> +He checked himself for a moment, and then made a respectful, if pointed, +suggestion: +</p> +<p> +"Mistress de Chavasse?" he said inquiringly. +</p> +<p> +"Mistress de Chavasse is a member of the family," replied Sir Marmaduke, +"the business can be transacted in her presence." +</p> +<p> +"Nothing therefore remains to be said, my dear young lady," rejoined +Master Skyffington, once more speaking directly to Sue and placing his +lean hands with fingers outstretched, over the bundles of papers lying +before him. "Here are your securities, your grants, moneys and receipts, +worth £500,000 of the present currency of this realm. . . . These I, in +mine own name and that of my honored friend and patron, Sir Marmaduke de +Chavasse, do hereby hand over to you. You will, I pray, verify and sign +the receipt in proper and due form." +</p> +<p> +He began sorting and overlooking the papers, muttering half audibly the +while, as he transferred each bundle from his own side of the table to +that beside which Lady Sue was sitting: +</p> +<p> +"The deeds of property in Holland . . . hem. . . . Receipt of moneys +deposited at the bank of Amsterdam. . . . The same from the Bank of +Vienna. . . . Grant of monopoly for the hemp trade in Russia. . . . hem . . ." +</p> +<p> +Thus he mumbled for some time, as these papers, representing a fortune, +passed out of his keeping into those of a young maid but recently out of +her teens. Sue watched him silently and placidly, just as she had done +throughout this momentous interview, which was, of a truth, the starting +point of her independent life. +</p> +<p> +Her face expressed neither joy nor excitement of any kind. She knew that +all the wealth which now lay before her, would only pass briefly through +her hands. She knew that the prince—her husband—was waiting for it +even now. Doubtless, he was counting the hours when his young wife's +vast fortune would come to him as the realization of all his dreams. +</p> +<p> +In spite of her present disbelief in his love, in spite of the bitter +knowledge that her own had waned, Sue had no misgivings as yet as to the +honor, the truth, the loyalty of the man whose name she now bore. Her +illusions were gone, her romance had become dull reality, but to one +thought she clung with all the tenacity of despair, and that was to the +illusion that Prince Amédé d'Orléans was the selfless patriot, the +regenerator of downtrodden France, which he represented himself to be. +</p> +<p> +Because of that belief she welcomed the wealth, which she would this day +be able to place in his hands. Her own girlish dreams had vanished, but +her temperament was far too romantic and too poetic not to recreate +illusions, even when the old ones had been so ruthlessly shattered. +</p> +<p> +But this recreation would occur anon—not just now, not at the very +moment when her heart ached with an intolerable pain at thought of the +sorrow which she had caused to her one friend. Presently, no doubt, when +she met her husband, when his usual grandiloquent phrases had once more +succeeded in arousing her enthusiasm for the cause which he pleaded, she +would once more feel serene and happy at thought of the help which she, +with her great wealth, would be giving him; for the nonce the whole +transaction grated on her sense of romance; money passing from hand to +hand, a man waiting somewhere in the dark to receive wealth from a +woman's hand. +</p> +<p> +Master Skyffington desired her to look over the papers, ere she signed +the formal receipt for them, but she waved them gently aside: +</p> +<p> +"Quite unnecessary, kind master," she said decisively, "since I receive +them at your hands." +</p> +<p> +She bent over the document which the lawyer now placed before her, and +took the pen from him. +</p> +<p> +"Where shall I sign?" she asked. +</p> +<p> +Sir Marmaduke and Editha de Chavasse watched her keenly, as with a bold +stroke of the pen she wrote her name across the receipt. +</p> +<p> +"Now the papers, please, master," said Lady Sue peremptorily. +</p> +<p> +But the prudent lawyer had still a word of protest to enter here. +</p> +<p> +"My dear young lady," he said tentatively, awed in spite of himself by +the self-possessed behavior of a maid whom up to now he had regarded as +a mere child, "let me, as a man of vast experience in such matters, +repeat to you the well-meant advice which Sir Marmaduke . . ." +</p> +<p> +But she checked him decisively, though kindly. +</p> +<p> +"You said, Master Skyffington, did you not," she said, "that after +to-day no one had the slightest control over my actions or over my +fortune?" +</p> +<p> +"That is so, certainly," he rejoined, "but . . ." +</p> +<p> +"Well, then, kind master, I pray you," she said authoritatively, "to +hand me over all those securities, grants and moneys, for which I have +just signed a receipt." +</p> +<p> +There was naught to do for a punctilious lawyer, as was Master +Skyffington, but to obey forthwith. This he did, without another word, +collecting the various bundles of paper and placing them one by one in +the brown leather wallet which he had brought for the purpose. Sue +watched him quietly, and when the last of the important documents had +been deposited in the wallet, she held out her hand for it. +</p> +<p> +With a grave bow, and an unconsciously pompous gesture, Master +Skyffington, attorney-at-law, handed over that wallet which now +contained a fortune to Lady Susannah Aldmarshe. +</p> +<p> +She took it, and graciously bowed her head to him in acknowledgment. +Then, after a slight, distinctly haughty nod to Sir Marmaduke and to +Editha, she turned and walked silently out of the room. +</p> + + + +<p> </p> +<p> </p> +<a name="CH28"><!-- CH28 --></a> +<h2> + CHAPTER XXVIII +</h2> + +<h3> +HUSBAND AND WIFE +</h3><p> </p> +<p> +Mistress Martha Lambert was a dignified old woman, on whose wrinkled +face stern virtues, sedulously practiced, had left their lasting +imprint. Among these virtues which she had thus somewhat ruthlessly +exercised throughout her long life, cleanliness and orderliness stood +out pre-eminently. They undoubtedly had brought some of the deepest +furrows round her eyes and mouth, as indeed they had done round those of +Adam Lambert, who having lived with her all his life, had had to suffer +from her passion of scrubbing and tidying more than anyone else. +</p> +<p> +But her cottage was resplendent: her chief virtues being apparent in +every nook and corner of the orderly little rooms which formed her home +and that of the two lads whom a dying friend had entrusted to her care. +</p> +<p> +The parlor below, with its highly polished bits of furniture, its +spotless wooden floor and whitewashed walls, was a miracle of +cleanliness. The table in the center was laid with a snowy white cloth, +on it the pewter candlesticks shone like antique silver. Two +straight-backed mahogany chairs were drawn cozily near to the hearth, +wherein burned a bright fire made up of ash logs. There was a quaint +circular mirror in a gilt frame over the hearth, a relic of former, +somewhat more prosperous times. +</p> +<p> +In one of the chairs lolled the mysterious lodger, whom a strange Fate +in a perverse mood seemed to have wafted to this isolated little cottage +on the outskirts of the loneliest village in Thanet. +</p> +<p> +Prince Amédé d'Orléans was puffing at that strange weed which of late +had taken such marked hold of most men, tending to idleness in them, for +it caused them to sit staring at the smoke which they drew from pipes +made of clay; surely the Lord had never intended such strange doings, +and Mistress Martha would willingly have protested against the +unpleasant odor thus created by her lodger when he was puffing away, +only that she stood somewhat in awe of his ill-humor and of his violent +language, especially when Adam himself was from home. +</p> +<p> +On these occasions—such, for instance, as the present one—she had, +perforce, to be content with additional efforts at cleanliness, and, as +she was convinced that so much smoke must be conducive to soot and dirt, +she plied her dusting-cloth with redoubled vigor and energy. Whilst the +prince lolled and pulled at his clay pipe, she busied herself all round +the tiny room, polishing the backs of the old elm chairs, and the brass +handles of the chest of drawers. +</p> +<p> +"How much longer are you going to fuss about, my good woman?" quoth +Prince Amédé d'Orléans impatiently after a while. "This shuffling round +me irritates my nerves." +</p> +<p> +Mistress Martha, however, suffered from deafness. She could see from the +quick, angry turn of the head that her lodger was addressing her, but +did not catch his words. She drew a little nearer, bending her ear to +him. +</p> +<p> +"Eh? . . . what?" she queried in that high-pitched voice peculiar to the +deaf. "I am somewhat hard of hearing just now. I did not hear thee." +</p> +<p> +But he pushed her roughly aside with a jerk of his elbow. +</p> +<p> +"Go away!" he said impatiently. "Do not worry me!" +</p> +<p> +"Ah! the little pigs?" she rejoined blithely. "I thank thee . . . they be +doing nicely, thank the Lord . . . six of them and . . . eh? what? . . . I'm a +bit hard of hearing these times." +</p> +<p> +He had some difficulty in keeping up even a semblance of calm. The +placidity of the old Quakeress irritated him beyond endurance. He +dreaded the return of Adam Lambert from his work, and worse still, he +feared the arrival of Richard. Fortunately he had gathered from Martha +that the young man had come home early in the day in a state of high +nervous tension, bordering on acute fever. He had neither eaten nor +drunk, but after tidying his clothes and reassuring her as to his future +movements, he had sallied out into the woods and had not returned since +then. +</p> +<p> +Sir Marmaduke had quickly arrived at the conclusion that Richard Lambert +had seen and spoken to Lady Sue and had learned from her that she was +now irrevocably married to him, whom she always called her prince. +Doubtless, the young man was frenzied with grief, and in his weak state +of health after the terrible happenings of the past few weeks, would +mayhap, either go raving mad, or end his miserable existence over the +cliffs. Either eventuality would suit Sir Marmaduke admirably, and he +sighed with satisfaction at the thought that the knot between the +heiress and himself was indeed tied sufficiently firm now to ensure her +obedience to his will. +</p> +<p> +There was to be one more scene in the brief and cruel drama which he had +devised for the hoodwinking and final spoliation of a young and +inexperienced girl. She had earlier in the day been placed in possession +of all the negotiable part of her fortune. This, though by no means +representing the whole of her wealth, which also lay in landed estates, +was nevertheless of such magnitude that the thought of its possession +caused every fiber in Sir Marmaduke's body to thrill with the delight of +expectancy. +</p> +<p> +One more brief scene in the drama: the handing over of that vast +fortune, by the young girl-wife—blindly and obediently—to the man whom +she believed to be her husband. Once that scene enacted, the curtain +would fall on the love episode 'twixt a romantic and ignorant maid and +the most daring scoundrel that had ever committed crime to obtain a +fortune. +</p> +<p> +In anticipation of that last and magnificent <i>dénouement</i>, Sir Marmaduke +had once more donned the disguise of the exiled Orléans prince: the +elaborate clothes, the thick perruque, the black silk shade over the +left eye, which gave him such a sinister expression. +</p> +<p> +Now he was literally devoured with the burning desire to see Sue +arriving with that wallet in her hand, which contained securities and +grants to the value of £500,000. A brief interlude with her, a few words +of perfunctory affection, a few assurances of good faith, and he—as her +princely husband—would vanish from her ken forever. +</p> +<p> +He meant to go abroad immediately—this very night, if possible. +Prudence and caution could easily be thrown to the winds, once the +negotiable securities were actually in his hands. What he could convert +into money, he would do immediately, going to Amsterdam first, to +withdraw the sum standing at the bank there on deposit, and for which +anon, he would possess the receipt; after that the sale of the grant of +monopolies should be easy of accomplishment. Sir Marmaduke had boundless +faith in his own ability to carry through his own business. He might +stand to lose some of the money perhaps; prudence and caution might +necessitate the relinquishing of certain advantages, but even then he +would be rich and passing rich, and he knew that he ran but little risk +of detection. The girl was young, inexperienced and singularly +friendless: Sir Marmaduke felt convinced that none of the foreign +transactions could ever be directly traced to himself. +</p> +<p> +He would be prudent and Europe was wide, and he meant to leave English +grants and securities severely alone. +</p> +<p> +He had mused and pondered on his plans all day. The evening found him +half-exhausted with nerve-strain, febrile and almost sick with the agony +of waiting. +</p> +<p> +He had calculated that Sue would be free towards seven o'clock, as he +had given Editha strict injunctions to keep discreetly out of the way, +whilst at a previous meeting in the park, it had been arranged that the +young girl should come to the cottage with the money, on the evening of +her twenty-first birthday and there hand her fortune over to her +rightful lord. +</p> +<p> +Now Sir Marmaduke cursed himself and his folly for having made this +arrangement. He had not known—when he made it—that Richard would be +back at Acol then. Adam the smith, never came home before eight o'clock +and the old Quakeress herself would not have been much in the way. +</p> +<p> +Even now she had shuffled back into her kitchen, leaving her ill-humored +lodger to puff away at the malodorous weed as he chose. But Richard +might return at any moment, and then . . . +</p> +<p> +Sir Marmaduke had never thought of that possible contingency. If +Richard Lambert came face to face with him, he would of a surety pierce +the disguise of the prince, and recognize the man who had so deeply +wronged poor, unsuspecting Lady Sue. If only a kindly Fate had kept the +young man away another twenty-four hours! or better still, if it led the +despairing lover's footsteps to the extremest edge of the cliffs! +</p> +<p> +Sir Marmaduke now paced the narrow room up and down in an agony of +impatience. Nine o'clock had struck long ago, but Sue had not yet come. +The wildest imaginings run riot in the schemer's brain: every hour, nay! +every minute spent within was fraught with danger. He sought his +broad-brimmed hat, determined now to meet Sue in the park, to sally +forth at risk of missing her, at risk of her arriving here at the +cottage when he was absent, and of her meeting Richard Lambert perhaps, +before the irrevocable deed of gift had been accomplished. +</p> +<p> +But the suspense was intolerable. +</p> +<p> +With a violent oath Sir Marmaduke pressed the hat over his head, and +strode to the door. +</p> +<p> +His hand was on the latch, when he heard a faint sound from without: a +girl's footsteps, timorous yet swift, along the narrow flagged path +which led down the tiny garden gate. +</p> +<p> +The next moment he had thrown open the door and Sue stood before him. +</p> +<p> +Anyone but a bold and unscrupulous schemer would have been struck by the +pathos of the solitary figure which now appeared in the tiny doorway. +The penetrating November drizzle had soaked through the dark cloak and +hood which now hung heavy and dank round the young girl's shoulders. +Framed by the hood, her face appeared preternaturally pale, her lips +were quivering and her eyes, large and dilated, had almost a hunted look +in them. +</p> +<p> +Oh! the pity and sadness of it all! For in her small and trembling hands +she was clutching with pathetic tenacity a small, brown wallet which +contained a fortune worthy of a princess. +</p> +<p> +She looked eagerly into her husband's face, dreading the scowl, the +outburst of anger or jealousy mayhap with which of late, alas! he had so +oft greeted her arrival. But as was his wont, he stood with his back to +the lighted room, and she could not read the expression of that one +cyclops-like eye, which to-night appeared more sinister than ever +beneath the thick perruque and broad-brimmed hat. +</p> +<p> +"I am sorry to be so late," she said timidly, "the evening repast at the +Court was interminable and Mistress de Chavasse full of gossip." +</p> +<p> +"Yes, yes, I know," he replied, "am I not used to seeing that your +social duties oft make you forget your husband?" +</p> +<p> +"You are unjust, Amédé," she rejoined. +</p> +<p> +She entered the little parlor and stood beside the table, making no +movement to divest herself of her dripping cloak, or to sit down, nor +indeed did her husband show the slightest inclination to ask her to do +either. He had closed the door behind her, and followed her to the +center of the room. Was it by accident or design that as he reached the +table he threw his broad-brimmed hat, down with such an unnecessary +flourish of the arm that he knocked over one of the heavy pewter +candlesticks, so that it rolled down upon the floor, causing the tallow +candle to sputter and die out with a weird and hissing sound? +</p> +<p> +Only one dim yellow light now illumined the room, it shone full into the +pallid face of the young wife standing some three paces from the table, +whilst Prince Amédé d'Orléans' face between her and the light, was once +more in deep shadow. +</p> +<p> +"You are unjust," she repeated firmly. "Have I not run the gravest +possible risks for your sake, and those without murmur or complaint, for +the past six months? Did I not compromise my reputation for you by +meeting you alone . . . of nights? . . ." +</p> +<p> +"I was laboring under the idea, my wench, that you were doing all that +because you cared for me," he retorted with almost brutal curtness, "and +because you had the desire to become the Princess d'Orléans; that desire +is now gratified and . . ." +</p> +<p> +He had not really meant to be unkind. There was of a truth no object to +be gained by being brutal to her now. But that wallet, which she held so +tightly clutched, acted as an irritant to his nerves. Never of very +equable temperament and holding all women in lofty scorn, he chafed +against all parleyings with his wife, now that the goal of his ambition +was so close at hand. +</p> +<p> +She winced at the insult, and the tears which she fain would have hidden +from him, rose involuntarily to her eyes. +</p> +<p> +"Ah!" she sighed, "if you only knew how little I care for that title of +princess! . . . Did you perchance think that I cared? . . . Nay! how gladly +would I give up all thought of ever bearing that proud appellation, in +exchange for a few more happy illusions such as I possessed three months +ago." +</p> +<p> +"Illusions are all very well for a school-girl, my dear Suzanne," he +remarked with a cool shrug of his massive shoulders. "Reality should be +more attractive to you now. . . ." +</p> +<p> +He looked her up and down, realizing perhaps for the first time that she +was exquisitely beautiful; beautiful always, but more so now in the +pathos of her helplessness. Somewhat perfunctorily, because in his +ignorance of women he thought that it would please her, and also because +vaguely something human and elemental had suddenly roused his pulses, he +relinquished his nonchalant attitude, and came a step nearer to her. +</p> +<p> +"You are very beautiful, my Suzanne," he said half-ironically, and with +marked emphasis on the possessive. +</p> +<p> +Again he drew nearer, not choosing to note the instinctive stiffening of +her figure, the shrinking look in her eyes. He caught her arm and drew +her to him, laughing a low mocking laugh as he did so, for she had +turned her face away from him. +</p> +<p> +"Come," he said lightly, "will you not kiss me, my beautiful Suzanne? +. . . my wife, my princess." +</p> +<p> +She was silent, impassive, indifferent so he thought, although the arm +which he held trembled within his grip. +</p> +<p> +He stretched out his other hand, and taking her chin between his +fingers, he forcibly turned her face towards him. Something in her face, +in her attitude, now roused a certain rough passion in him. Mayhap the +weary wailing during the day, the agonizing impatience, or the golden +argosy so near to port, had strung up his nerves to fever pitch. +</p> +<p> +Irritation against her impassiveness, in such glaring contrast to her +glowing ardor of but a few weeks ago, mingled with that essentially male +desire to subdue and to conquer that which is inclined to resist, sent +the blood coursing wildly through his veins. +</p> +<p> +"Ah!" he said with a sigh half of desire, half of satisfaction, as he +looked into her upturned face, "the chaste blush of the bride is vastly +becoming to you, my Suzanne! . . . it acts as fuel to the flames of my +love . . . since I can well remember the passionate kisses you gave me so +willingly awhile ago." +</p> +<p> +The thought of that happy past, gave her sudden strength. Catching him +unawares she wrenched herself free from his hold. +</p> +<p> +"This is a mockery, prince," she said with vehemence, and meeting his +half-mocking glance with one of scorn. "Do you think that I have been +blind these last few weeks? . . . Your love for me hath changed, if indeed +it ever existed, whilst I . . ." +</p> +<p> +"Whilst you, my beautiful Suzanne," he rejoined lightly, "are mine . . . +irrevocably, irretrievably mine . . . mine because I love you, and because +you are my wife . . . and owe me that obedience which you vowed to Heaven +that you would give me. . . . That is so, is it not?" +</p> +<p> +There was a moment's silence in the tiny cottage parlor now, whilst +he—gauging the full value of his words, knowing by instinct that he had +struck the right cord in that vibrating girlish heart, watched the +subtle change in her face from defiance and wrath to submission and +appeal. +</p> +<p> +"Yes, Amédé," she murmured after a while, "I owe you obedience, honor +and love, and you need not fear that I will fail in either. But you," +she added with pathetic anxiety, "you do care for me still? do you not?" +</p> +<p> +"Of course I care for you," he remarked, "I worship you. . . . There! . . . +will that satisfy you? . . . And now?" he added peremptorily, "have you +brought the money?" +</p> +<p> +The short interlude of passion was over. His eye had accidentally rested +for one second on the leather wallet, which she still held tightly +clutched, and all thoughts of her beauty, of his power or his desires, +had flown out to the winds. +</p> +<p> +"Yes," she replied meekly, "it is all here, in the wallet." +</p> +<p> +She laid it down upon the table, feeling neither anxiety nor remorse. He +was her husband and had a right to her fortune, as he had to her person +and to her thoughts and heart an he wished. Nor did she care about the +money, as to the value of which she was, of course, ignorant. +</p> +<p> +Her wealth, up to now, had only had a meaning for her, as part of some +noble scheme for the regeneration of mankind. Now she hoped vaguely, as +she put that wallet down on the table, then pushed it towards her +husband, that she was purchasing her freedom with her wealth. +</p> +<p> +Certainly she realized that his thoughts had very quickly been diverted +from her beauty to the contents of the wallet. The mocking laugh died +down on his lips, giving place to a sigh of deep satisfaction. +</p> +<p> +"You were very prudent, my dear Suzanne, to place this portion of your +wealth in my charge," he said as he slipped the bulky papers into the +lining of his doublet. "Of course it is all yours, and I—your +husband—am but the repository and guardian of your fortune. And now +methinks 'twere prudent for you to return to the Court. Sir Marmaduke de +Chavasse will be missing you. . . ." +</p> +<p> +It did not seem to strike her as strange that he should dismiss her thus +abruptly, and make no attempt to explain what his future plans might +be, nor indeed what his intentions were with regard to herself. +</p> +<p> +The intensity of her disappointment, the utter loneliness and +helplessness of her position had caused a veritable numbing of her +faculties and of her spirit and for the moment she was perhaps primarily +conscious of a sense of relief at her dismissal. +</p> +<p> +Like her wedding in the dismal little church, this day of her birthday, +of her independence, of her handing over her fortune to her husband for +the glorious purposes of his selfless schemes had been so very, very +different to what she had pictured to herself in her girlish and +romantic dreams. +</p> +<p> +The sordidness of it all had ruthlessly struck her; for the first time +in her intercourse with this man, she doubted the genuineness of his +motives. With the passing of her fortune from her hands to his, the last +vestige of belief in him died down with appalling suddenness. +</p> +<p> +It could not have been because of the expression in his eyes, as he +fingered the wallet, for this she could not see, since his face was +still in shadow. It must have been just instinct—that, and the mockery +of his attempt to make love to her. Had he ever loved her, he could not +have mocked . . . not now, that she was helpless and entirely at his +mercy. +</p> +<p> +Love once felt, is sacred to him who feels: mockery even of the ashes of +love is an impossible desecration, one beyond the power of any man. +Then, if he had never loved her, why had he pretended? Why have deceived +her with a semblance of passion? +</p> +<p> +And the icy whisper of reason blew into her mental ear, the ugly word: +"Money." +</p> +<p> +He opened the door for her, and without another word, she passed out +into the dark night. Only when she reached the tiny gate at the end of +the flagged path, did she realize that he was walking with her. +</p> +<p> +"I can find my way alone through the woods," she said coldly. "I came +alone." +</p> +<p> +"It was earlier then," he rejoined blandly, "and I prefer to see you +safely as far as the park." +</p> +<p> +And they walked on side by side in silence. Overhead the melancholy drip +of moisture falling from leaf to leaf, and from leaf to the ground, was +the only sound that accompanied their footsteps. Sue shivered beneath +her damp cloak; but she walked as far away from him as the width of the +woodland path allowed. He seemed absorbed in his own thoughts and not to +notice how she shrank from the slightest contact with him. +</p> +<p> +At the park gate he paused, having opened it for her to pass through. +</p> +<p> +"I must bid you good-night here, Suzanne," he said lightly, "there may +be footpads about and I must place your securities away under lock and +key. I may be absent a few days for that purpose. . . . London, you know," +he added vaguely. +</p> +<p> +Then as she made no comment: +</p> +<p> +"I will arrange for our next meeting," he said, "anon, there will be no +necessity to keep our marriage a secret, but until I give you permission +to speak of it, 'twere better that you remained silent on that score." +</p> +<p> +She contrived to murmur: +</p> +<p> +"As you will." +</p> +<p> +And presently, as he made no movement towards her, she said: +</p> +<p> +"Good-night!" +</p> +<p> +This time he had not even desired to kiss her. +</p> +<p> +The next moment she had disappeared in the gloom. She fled as fast as +she dared in the inky blackness of this November night. She could have +run for miles, or for hours, away! away from all this sordidness, this +avarice, this deceit and cruelty! Away! away from him!! +</p> +<p> +How glad she was that darkness enveloped her, for now she felt horribly +ashamed. Instinct, too, is cruel at times! Instinct had been silent so +long during the most critical juncture of her own folly. Now it spoke +loudly, warningly; now that it was too late. +</p> +<p> +Ashamed of her own stupidity and blindness! her vanity mayhap had alone +led her to believe the passionate protestations of a liar. +</p> +<p> +A liar! a mean, cowardly schemer, but her husband for all that! She owed +him love, honor and obedience; if he commanded, she must obey; if he +called she must fain go to him. +</p> +<p> +Oh! please God! that she had succeeded in purchasing her freedom from +him by placing £500,000 in his hands. +</p> +<p> +Shame! shame that this should be! that she should have mistaken vile +schemes for love, that a liar's kisses should have polluted her soul! +that she should be the wife, the bondswoman of a cheat! +</p> + + + +<p> </p> +<p> </p> +<a name="CH29"><!-- CH29 --></a> +<h2> + CHAPTER XXIX +</h2> + +<h3> +GOOD-BYE +</h3><p> </p> +<p> +"Sue!" +</p> +<p> +The cry rang out in the night close to her, and arrested her fleeing +footsteps. She was close to the ha-ha, having run on blindly, madly, +guided by that unaccountable instinct which makes for the shelter of +home. +</p> +<p> +In a moment she had recognized the voice. In a moment she was beside her +friend. Her passionate mood passed away, leaving her calm and almost at +peace. Shame still caused her cheeks to burn, but the night was dark and +doubtless he would not see. +</p> +<p> +But she could feel that he was near her, therefore, there was no fear in +her. What had guided her footsteps hither she did not know. Of course he +had guessed that she had been to meet her husband. +</p> +<p> +There were no exclamations or protestations between them. She merely +said quite simply: +</p> +<p> +"I am glad that you came to say 'good-bye!'" +</p> +<p> +The park was open here. The nearest trees were some fifty paces away, +and in the ghostly darkness they could just perceive one another's +silhouettes. The mist enveloped them as with a shroud, the damp cold air +caused them to shiver as under the embrace of death. +</p> +<p> +"It is good-bye," he rejoined calmly. +</p> +<p> +"Mayhap that I shall go abroad soon," she said. +</p> +<p> +"With that man?" +</p> +<p> +The cry broke out from the bitterness of his heart, but a cold little +hand was placed restrainingly on his. +</p> +<p> +"When I go . . . if I go," she murmured, "I shall do so with my +husband. . . . You see, my friend, do you not, that there is naught else to +say but 'good-bye'?" +</p> +<p> +"And you will be happy, Sue?" he asked. +</p> +<p> +"I hope so!" she sighed wistfully. +</p> +<p> +"You will always remember, will you not, my dear lady, that wherever you +may be, there is always someone in remote Thanet, who is ready at any +time to give his life for you?" +</p> +<p> +"Yes! I will remember," she said simply. +</p> +<p> +"And you must promise me," he insisted, "promise me now, Sue, that if +. . . which Heaven forbid . . . you are in any trouble or sorrow, and I can +do aught for you, that you will let me know and send for me . . . and I +will come." +</p> +<p> +"Yes, Richard, I promise. . . . Good-bye." +</p> +<p> +And she was gone. The mist, the gloom hid her completely from view. He +waited by the little bridge, for the night was still and he would have +heard if she called. +</p> +<p> +He heard her light footsteps on the gravel, then on the flagged walk. +Anon came the sound of the opening and shutting of a door. After that, +silence: the silence of a winter's night, when not a breath of wind +stirs the dead branches of the trees, when woodland and field and park +are wrapped in the shroud of the mist. +</p> +<p> +Richard Lambert turned back towards the village. +</p> +<p> +Sue—married to another man—had passed out of his life forever. +</p> + + + +<p> </p> +<p> </p> +<a name="CH30"><!-- CH30 --></a> +<h2> + CHAPTER XXX +</h2> + +<h3> +ALL BECAUSE OF THE TINDER-BOX +</h3><p> </p> +<p> +How oft it is in life that Fate, leading a traveler in easy gradients +upwards along a road of triumph, suddenly assumes a madcap mood and with +wanton hand throws a tiny obstacle in his way; an obstacle at times +infinitesimal, scarce visible on that way towards success, yet powerful +enough to trip the unwary traveler and bring him down to earth with +sudden and woeful vigor. +</p> +<p> +With Sir Marmaduke so far everything had prospered according to his +wish. He had inveigled the heiress into a marriage which bound her to +his will, yet left him personally free; she had placed her fortune +unreservedly and unconditionally in his hands, and had, so far as he +knew, not even suspected the treachery practiced upon her by her +guardian. +</p> +<p> +Not a soul had pierced his disguise, and the identity of Prince Amédé +d'Orléans was unknown even to his girl-wife. +</p> +<p> +With the disappearance of that mysterious personage, Sir Marmaduke +having realized Lady Sue's fortune, could resume life as an independent +gentleman, with this difference, that henceforth he would be passing +rich, able to gratify his ambition, to cut a figure in the world as he +chose. +</p> +<p> +Fortune which had been his idol all his life, now was indeed his slave. +He had it, he possessed it. It lay snug and safe in a leather wallet +inside the lining of his doublet. +</p> +<p> +Sue had gone out of his sight, desirous apparently of turning her back +on him forever. He was free and rich. The game had been risky, daring +beyond belief, yet he had won in the end. He could afford to laugh now +at all the dangers, the subterfuges, the machinations which had all gone +to the making of that tragic comedy in which he had been the principal +actor. +</p> +<p> +The last scene in the drama had been successfully enacted. The curtain +had been finally lowered; and Sir Marmaduke swore that there should be +no epilogue to the play. +</p> +<p> +Then it was that Fate—so well-named the wanton jade—shook herself from +out the torpor in which she had wandered for so long beside this Kentish +squire. A spirit of mischief seized upon her and whispered that she had +held this man quite long enough by the hand and that it would be far +more amusing now to see him measure his length on the ground. +</p> +<p> +And all that Fate did, in order to satisfy this spirit of mischief, was +to cause Sir Marmaduke to forget his tinder-box in the front parlor of +Mistress Martha Lambert's cottage. +</p> +<p> +A tinder-box is a small matter! an object of infinitesimal importance +when the broad light of day illumines the interior of houses or the +bosquets of a park, but it becomes an object of paramount importance, +when the night is pitch dark, and when it is necessary to effect an +exchange of clothing within the four walls of a pavilion. +</p> +<p> +Sir Marmaduke had walked to the park gates with his wife, not so much +because he was anxious for her safety, but chiefly because he meant to +retire within the pavilion, there to cast aside forever the costume and +appurtenances of Prince Amédé d'Orléans and to reassume the +sable-colored doublet and breeches of the Roundhead squire, which +proceeding he had for the past six months invariably accomplished in the +lonely little building on the outskirts of his own park. +</p> +<p> +As soon, therefore, as he realized that Sue had gone, he turned his +steps towards the pavilion. The night seemed additionally dark here +under the elms, and Sir Marmaduke searched in his pocket for his +tinder-box. +</p> +<p> +It was not there. He had left it at the cottage, and quickly recollected +seeing it lying on the table at the very moment that Sue pushed the +leather wallet towards him. +</p> +<p> +He had mounted the few stone steps which led up to the building, but +even whilst he groped for the latch with an impatient hand, he realized +how impossible it would be for him anon, to change his clothes, in the +dark; not only to undress and dress again, but to collect the belongings +of the Prince d'Orléans subsequently, for the purpose of destroying them +at an early opportunity. +</p> +<p> +Groping about in inky blackness might mean the forgetting of some +article of apparel, which, if found later on, might lead to suspicion or +even detection of the fraud. Sir Marmaduke dared not risk it. +</p> +<p> +Light he needed, and light he ought to have. The tinder-box had become +of paramount importance, and it was sheer wantonness on the part of Fate +that she should have allowed that little article to rest forgotten on +the table in Mistress Lambert's cottage. +</p> +<p> +Sir Marmaduke remained pondering—in the darkness and the mist—for a +while. His own doublet and breeches, shoes and stockings were in the +pavilion: would he ever be able to get at them without a light? No, +certainly not! nor could he venture to go home to the Court in his +present disguise, and leave his usual clothes in this remote building. +</p> +<p> +Prying, suspicious eyes—such as those of Master Hymn-of-Praise Busy, +for instance, might prove exceedingly uncomfortable and even dangerous. +</p> +<p> +On the other hand, would it not be ten thousand times more dangerous to +go back to the cottage now and risk meeting Richard Lambert face to +face? +</p> +<p> +And it was Richard whom Sir Marmaduke feared. +</p> +<p> +He had, therefore, almost decided to try his luck at dressing in the +dark, and was once more fumbling with the latch of the pavilion door, +when through the absolute silence of the air, there came to his ear +through the mist the sound of a young voice calling the name of "Sue!" +</p> +<p> +The voice was that of Richard Lambert. +</p> +<p> +The coast would be clear then. Richard had met Sue in the park: no +doubt he would hold her a few moments in conversation. The schemer cared +not what the two young people would or would not say to one another; all +that interested him now was the fact that Richard was not at the +cottage, and that, therefore, it would be safe to run back and fetch the +tinder-box. +</p> +<p> +All this was a part of Fate's mischievous prank. Sir Marmaduke was not +afraid of meeting the old Quakeress, nor yet the surly smith; Richard +being out of the way, he had no misgivings in his mind when he retraced +his steps towards the cottage. +</p> +<p> +It was close on eight o'clock then, in fact the tiny bell in Acol church +struck the hour even as Sir Marmaduke lifted the latch of the little +garden gate. +</p> +<p> +The old woman was in the parlor, busy as usual with her dusting-cloth. +Without heeding her, Sir Marmaduke strode up to the table and pushing +the crockery, which now littered it, aside, he searched for his +tinder-box. +</p> +<p> +It was not there. With an impatient oath, he turned to Mistress Martha, +and roughly demanded if she had seen it. +</p> +<p> +"Eh? . . . What?" she queried, shuffling a little nearer to him, "I am +somewhat hard of hearing . . . as thou knowest. . . ." +</p> +<p> +"Have you seen my tinder-box?" he repeated with ever-growing irritation. +</p> +<p> +"Ah, yea, the fog!" she said blandly, "'tis damp too, of a truth, and +. . ." +</p> +<p> +"Hold your confounded tongue!" he shouted wrathfully, "and try and hear +me. My tinder-box. . . ." +</p> +<p> +"Thy what? I am a bit . . ." +</p> +<p> +"Curse you for an old fool," swore Sir Marmaduke, who by now was in a +towering passion. +</p> +<p> +With a violent gesture he pushed the old woman aside and turning on her +in an uncontrolled access of fury, with both arms upraised, he shouted: +</p> +<p> +"If you don't hear me now, I'll break every bone in your ugly body. . . . +Where is my . . ." +</p> +<p> +It had all happened in a very few seconds: his entrance, his search for +the missing box, the growing irritation in him which had caused him to +lose control of his temper. And now, even before the threatening words +were well out of his mouth, he suddenly felt a vigorous onslaught from +the rear, and his own throat clutched by strong and sinewy fingers. +</p> +<p> +"And I'll break every bone in thy accursed body!" shouted a hoarse voice +close to his ear, "if thou darest so much as lay a finger on the old +woman." +</p> +<p> +The struggle was violent and brief. Sir Marmaduke already felt himself +overmastered. Adam Lambert had taken him unawares. He was rough and very +powerful. Sir Marmaduke was no weakling, yet encumbered by his fantastic +clothes he was no match for the smith. Adam turned him about in his +nervy hands like a puppet. +</p> +<p> +Now he was in front and above him, glaring down at the man he hated with +eyes which would have searched the very depths of his enemy's soul. +</p> +<p> +"Thou damned foreigner!" he growled between clenched teeth, "thou +vermin! . . . Thou toad! Thou . . . on thy knees! . . . on thy knees, I say +. . . beg her pardon for thy foul language . . . now at once . . . dost hear? +. . . ere I squeeze the breath out of thee. . . ." +</p> +<p> +Sir Marmaduke felt his knees giving way under him, the smith's grasp on +his throat had in no way relaxed. Mistress Martha vainly tried to +interpose. She was all for peace, and knew that the Lord liked not a +fiery temper. But the look in Adam's face frightened her, and she had +always been in terror of the foreigner. Without thought, and imagining +that 'twas her presence which irritated the lodger, she beat a hasty +retreat to her room upstairs, even as Adam Lambert finally succeeded in +forcing Sir Marmaduke down on his knees, not ceasing to repeat the +while: +</p> +<p> +"Her pardon . . . beg her pardon, my fine prince . . . lick the dust in an +English cottage, thou foreign devil . . . or, by God, I will kill thee! +. . ." +</p> +<p> +"Let me go!" gasped Sir Marmaduke, whom the icy fear of imminent +discovery gripped more effectually even than did the village +blacksmith's muscular fingers, "let me go . . . damn you!" +</p> +<p> +"Not before I have made thee lick the dust," said Adam grimly, bringing +one huge palm down on the elaborate perruque, and forcing Sir +Marmaduke's head down, down towards the ground, "lick it . . . lick it +. . . Prince of Orléans. . . ." +</p> +<p> +He burst out laughing in the midst of his fury, at sight of this +disdainful gentleman, with the proud title, about to come in violent +contact with a cottage floor. But Sir Marmaduke struggled violently +still. He had been wiser no doubt, to take the humiliation quietly, to +lick the dust and to pacify the smith: but what man is there who would +submit to brute force without using his own to protect himself? +</p> +<p> +Then Fate at last worked her wanton will. +</p> +<p> +In the struggle the fantastic perruque and heavy mustache of Prince +Amédé d'Orléans remained in the smith's hand whilst it was the round +head and clean-shaven face of Sir Marmaduke de Chavasse which came in +contact with the floor. +</p> +<p> +In an instant, stricken at first dumb with surprise and horror, but +quickly recovering the power of speech, Adam Lambert murmured: +</p> +<p> +"You? . . . You? . . . Sir Marmaduke de Chavasse! . . . Oh! my God! . . ." +</p> +<p> +His grip on his enemy had, of course, relaxed. Sir Marmaduke was able to +struggle to his feet. Fate had dealt him a blow as unexpected as it was +violent. But he had not been the daring schemer that he was, if +throughout the past six months, the possibility of such a moment as this +had not lurked at the back of his mind. +</p> +<p> +The blow, therefore, did not find him quite unprepared. It had been +stunning but not absolutely crushing. Even whilst Adam Lambert was +staring with almost senseless amazement alternately at him and at the +bundle of false hair which he was still clutching, Sir Marmaduke had +struggled to his feet. +</p> + + + +<p> </p> +<p> </p> +<a name="CH31"><!-- CH31 --></a> +<h2> + CHAPTER XXXI +</h2> + +<h3> +THE ASSIGNATION +</h3><p> </p> +<p> +He had recovered his outward composure at any rate, and the next moment +was busy re-adjusting his doublet and bands before the mirror over the +hearth. +</p> +<p> +"Yes! my violent friend!" he said coolly, speaking over his shoulder, +"of a truth it is mine own self! Your landlord you see, to whom that +worthy woman upstairs owes this nice cottage which she has had rent free +for over ten years . . . not the foreign vermin, you see," he added with a +pleasant laugh, "which maketh your actions of just now, somewhat +unpleasant to explain. Is that not so?" +</p> +<p> +"Nay! but by the Lord!" quoth Adam Lambert, still somewhat dazed, +vaguely frightened himself now at the magnitude, the importance of what +he had done, "meseems that 'tis thine actions, friend, which will be +unpleasant to explain. Thou didst not put on these play-actor's robes +for a good purpose, I'll warrant! . . . I cannot guess what is thy game, +but methinks her young ladyship would wish to know something of its +rules . . . or mayhap, my brother Richard who is no friend of thine, +forsooth." +</p> +<p> +Gradually his voice had become steadier, his manner more assured. A +glimmer of light on the Squire's strange doings had begun to penetrate +his simple, dull brain. Vaguely he guessed the purport of the disguise +and of the lies, and the mention of Lady Sue's name was not an arrow +shot thoughtlessly into the air. At the same time he had not perceived +the slightest quiver of fear or even of anxiety on Sir Marmaduke's face. +</p> +<p> +The latter had in the meanwhile put his crumpled toilet in order and now +turned with an urbane smile to his glowering antagonist. +</p> +<p> +"I will not deny, kind master," he said pleasantly, "that you might +cause me a vast amount of unpleasantness just now . . . although of a +truth, I do not perceive that you would benefit yourself overmuch +thereby. On the contrary, you would vastly lose. Your worthy aunt, +Mistress Lambert, would lose a pleasant home, and you would never know +what you and your brother Richard have vainly striven to find out these +past ten years." +</p> +<p> +"What may that be, pray?" queried the smith sullenly. +</p> +<p> +"Who you both are," rejoined Sir Marmaduke blandly, as he calmly sat +down in one of the stiff-backed elm chairs beside the hearth, "and why +worthy Mistress Lambert never speaks to you of your parentage." +</p> +<p> +"Who we both are?" retorted Lambert with obvious bitterness, "two poor +castaways, who, but for the old woman would have been left to starve, +and who have tried, therefore, to be a bit grateful to her, and to earn +an honest livelihood. That is what we are, Sir Marmaduke de Chavasse; +and now prithee tell me, who the devil art thou?" +</p> +<p> +"You are overfond of swearing, worthy master," quoth Sir Marmaduke +lightly, "'tis sinful so I'm told, for one of your creed. But that is no +matter to me. You are, believe me, somewhat more interesting than you +imagine. Though I doubt if to a Quaker, being heir to title and vast +estates hath more than a fleeting interest." +</p> +<p> +But the smith had shrugged his broad shoulders and uttered an +exclamation of contempt. +</p> +<p> +"Title and vast estates?" he said with an ironical laugh. "Nay! Sir +Marmaduke de Chavasse, the bait is passing clumsy. An you wish me to +hold my tongue about you and your affairs, you'll have to be vastly +sharper than that." +</p> +<p> +"You mistake me, friend smith, I am not endeavoring to purchase your +silence. I hold certain information relating to your parentage. This I +would be willing to impart to a friend, yet loath to do so to an enemy. +A man doth not like to see his enemy in possession of fifteen thousand +pounds a year. Does he?" +</p> +<p> +And Sir Marmaduke appeared absorbed in the contemplation of his left +shoe, whilst Adam Lambert repeated stupidly and vaguely: +</p> +<p> +"Fifteen thousand pounds a year? I?" +</p> +<p> +"Even you, my friend." +</p> +<p> +This was said so simply, and with such conviction-carrying +certainty—that in spite of himself Lambert's sulkiness vanished. He +drew nearer to Sir Marmaduke, looked down on him silently for a second +or two, then muttered through his teeth: +</p> +<p> +"You have the proofs?" +</p> +<p> +"They will be at your service, my choleric friend," replied the other +suavely, "in exchange for your silence." +</p> +<p> +Adam Lambert drew a chair close to his whilom enemy, sat down opposite +to him, with elbows resting on his knee, his clenched fists supporting +his chin, and his eyes—anxious, eager, glowing, fixed resolutely on de +Chavasse. +</p> +<p> +"I'll hold my tongue, never fear," he said curtly. "Show me the proofs." +</p> +<p> +Sir Marmaduke gave a pleasant little laugh. +</p> +<p> +"Not so fast, my friend," he said, "I do not carry such important papers +about in my breeches' pocket." +</p> +<p> +And he rose from his chair, picked up the perruque and false mustache +which the other man had dropped upon the floor, and adjusting these on +his head and face he once more presented the appearance of the exiled +Orléans prince. +</p> +<p> +"But thou'lt show them to me to-night," insisted the smith roughly. +</p> +<p> +"How can I, mine impatient friend?" quoth de Chavasse lightly, "the hour +is late already." +</p> +<p> +"Nay! what matter the lateness of the hour? I am oft abroad at night, +early and late, and thou, methinks, hast oft had the midnight hour for +company. When and where wilt meet me?" added Lambert peremptorily, "I +must see those proofs to-night, before many hours are over, lest the +blood in my veins burn my body to ashes with impatience. When wilt meet +me? Eleven? . . . Midnight? . . . or the small hours of the morn?" +</p> +<p> +He spoke quickly, jerking out his words through closed teeth, his eyes +burning with inward fever, his fists closing and unclosing with rapid +febrile movements of the fingers. +</p> +<p> +The pent-up disappointment and rebellion of a whole lifetime against +Fate, was expressed in the man's attitude, the agonizing eagerness which +indeed seemed to be consuming him. +</p> +<p> +De Chavasse, on the other hand, had become singularly calm. The black +shade as usual hid one of his eyes, masking and distorting the +expression of his face; the false mustache, too, concealed the movements +of his lips, and the more his opponent's eyes tried to search the +schemer's face, the more inscrutable and bland did the latter become. +</p> +<p> +"Nay, my friend," he said at last, "I do not know that the thought of a +midnight excursion with you appeals to my sense of personal security. I +. . ." +</p> +<p> +But with a violent oath, Adam had jumped to his feet, and kicked the +chair away from under him so that it fell backwards with a loud clatter. +</p> +<p> +"Thou'lt meet me to-night," he said loudly and threateningly now, +"thou'lt meet me on the path near the cliffs of Epple Bay half an hour +before midnight, and if thou hast lied to me, I'll throw thee over and +Thanet then will be rid of thee . . . but if thou dost not come, I'll to +my brother Richard even before the church clock of Acol hath sounded the +hour of midnight." +</p> +<p> +De Chavasse watched him silently for the space of three seconds, +realizing, of course, that he was completely in that man's power, and +also that the smith meant every word that he said. The discovery of the +monstrous fraud by Richard Lambert within the next few hours was a +contingency which he could not even contemplate without shuddering. He +certainly would much prefer to give up to this uncouth laborer the +proofs of his parentage which eventually might mean an earldom and a +fortune to a village blacksmith. +</p> +<p> +Sir Marmaduke had reflected on all this, of course, before broaching the +subject to Adam Lambert at all. Now he was prepared to go through with +the scheme to the end if need be. His uncle, the Earl of Northallerton, +might live another twenty years, whilst he himself—if pursued for +fraud, might have to spend those years in jail. +</p> +<p> +On the whole it was simpler to purchase the smith's silence . . . this way +or another. Sir Marmaduke's reflections at this moment would have +delighted those evil spirits who are supposed to revel in the misdoings +of mankind. +</p> +<p> +The thought of the lonely path near the cliffs of Epple Bay tickled his +fancy in a manner for which perhaps at this moment he himself could not +have accounted. He certainly did not fear Adam Lambert and now said +decisively: +</p> +<p> +"Very well, my friend, an you wish it, I'll come." +</p> +<p> +"Half an hour before midnight," insisted Lambert, "on the cliffs at +Epple Bay." +</p> +<p> +"Half an hour before midnight: on the cliffs of Epple Bay," assented the +other. +</p> +<p> +He picked up his hat. +</p> +<p> +"Where art going?" queried the smith suspiciously. +</p> +<p> +"To change my clothing," replied Sir Marmaduke, who was fingering that +fateful tinder-box which alone had brought about the present crisis, +"and to fetch those proofs which you are so anxious to see." +</p> +<p> +"Thou'lt not fail me?" +</p> +<p> +"Surely not," quoth de Chavasse, as he finally went out of the room. +</p> + + + +<p> </p> +<p> </p> +<a name="CH32"><!-- CH32 --></a> +<h2> + CHAPTER XXXII +</h2> + +<h3> +THE PATH NEAR THE CLIFFS +</h3><p> </p> +<p> +The mist had not lifted. Over the sea it hung heavy and dank like a huge +sheet of gray thrown over things secret and unavowable. It was thickest +down in the bay lurking in the crevices of the chalk, in the great +caverns and mighty architecture carved by the patient toil of the +billows in the solid mass of the cliffs. +</p> +<p> +Up above it was slightly less dense: allowing distinct peeps of the +rough carpet of coarse grass, of the downtrodden path winding towards +Acol, of the edge of the cliff, abrupt, precipitous, with a drop of some +ninety feet into that gray pall of mist to the sands below. +</p> +<p> +And higher up still, above the mist itself, a deep blue sky dotted with +stars, and a full moon, pale and circled with luminous vapors. A gentle +breeze had risen about half an hour ago and was blowing the mist hither +and thither, striving to disperse it, but not yet succeeding in +mastering it, for it only shifted restlessly to and fro, like the giant +garments of titanic ghosts, revealing now a distant peep of sea, anon +the interior of a colonnaded cavern, abode of mysterious ghouls, or +again a nest of gulls in a deep crevice of the chalk: revealing and +hiding again:—a shroud dragged listlessly over monstrous dead things. +</p> +<p> +Sir Marmaduke de Chavasse had some difficulty in keeping to the footpath +which leads from the woods of Acol straight toward the cliffs. Unlike +Adam Lambert, his eyes were unaccustomed to pierce the moist pall which +hid the distance from his view. +</p> +<p> +Strangely enough he had not cast aside the fantastic accouterments of +the French prince, and though these must have been as singularly +uncomfortable, as they were inappropriate, for a midnight walk, +nevertheless, he still wore the heavy perruque, the dark mustache, +broad-brimmed hat, and black shade which were so characteristic of the +mysterious personage. +</p> +<p> +He had heard the church clock at Acol village strike half an hour after +eleven and knew that the smith would already be waiting for him. +</p> +<p> +The acrid smell of seaweed struck forcibly now upon his nostrils. The +grass beneath his feet had become more sparse and more coarse. The +moisture which clung to his face had a taste of salt in it. Obviously he +was quite close to the edge of the cliffs. +</p> +<p> +The next moment and without any warning a black outline appeared in the +moon-illumined density. It was Adam Lambert pacing up and down with the +impatience of an imprisoned beast of prey. +</p> +<p> +A second or two later the febrile hand of the smith had gripped Sir +Marmaduke's shoulder. +</p> +<p> +"You have brought those proofs?" he queried hoarsely. +</p> +<p> +His face was wet with the mist, and he had apparently oft wiped it with +his hand or sleeve, for great streaks of dirt marked his cheeks and +forehead, giving him a curious satanic expression, whilst his short lank +hair obviously roughed up by impatient fingers, bristled above his +square-built head like the coat of a shaggy dog. +</p> +<p> +In absolute contrast to him, Sir Marmaduke looked wonderfully calm and +tidy. In answer to the other man's eager look of inquiry, he made +pretense of fumbling in his pockets, as he said quietly: +</p> +<p> +"Yes! all of them!" +</p> +<p> +As if idly musing, he continued to walk along the path, whilst the smith +first stooped to pick up a small lantern which he had obviously brought +with him in order to examine the papers by its light, and then strode in +the wake of Sir Marmaduke. +</p> +<p> +The breeze was getting a bother hold on the mist, and was tossing it +about from sea to cliff and upwards with more persistence and more +vigor. +</p> +<p> +The pale, cold moon glistened visibly on the moist atmosphere, and far +below and far beyond weird streaks of shimmering silver edged the +surface of the sea. The breeze itself had scarcely stirred the water; +or,—the soft sound of tiny billows lapping the outstanding boulders was +wafted upwards as the tide drew in. +</p> +<p> +The two men had reached the edge of the cliff. With a slight laugh, +indicative of nervousness, Sir Marmaduke had quickly stepped back a +pace or two. +</p> +<p> +"I have brought the proofs," he said, as if wishing to conciliate a +dangerous enemy, "we need not stand so near the edge, need we?" +</p> +<p> +But Adam Lambert shrugged his shoulders in token of contempt at the +other's cowardice. +</p> +<p> +"I'll not harm thee," he said, "an thou hast not lied to me. . . ." +</p> +<p> +He deposited his lantern by the side of a heap of white chalk, which +had, no doubt, been collected at some time or other by idle or childish +hands, and stood close to the edge of the cliff. Sir Marmaduke now took +his stand beside it, one foot placed higher than the other. Close to him +Adam in a frenzy of restlessness had thrown himself down on the heap; +below them a drop of ninety feet to the seaweed covered beach. +</p> +<p> +"Let me see the papers," quoth Adam impatiently. +</p> +<p> +"Gently, gently, kind sir," said de Chavasse lightly. "Did you think +that you could dictate your own terms quite so easily?" +</p> +<p> +"What dost thou mean?" queried the other. +</p> +<p> +"I mean that I am about to place in your hands the proof that you are +heir to a title and fifteen thousand pounds a year, but at the same time +I wish to assure myself that you will be pleasant over certain matters +which concern me." +</p> +<p> +"Have I not said that I would hold my tongue." +</p> +<p> +"Of a truth you did say so my friend, and therefore, I am convinced +that you will not refuse to give me a written promise to that effect." +</p> +<p> +"I cannot write," said Adam moodily. +</p> +<p> +"Oh! just your signature!" said de Chavasse pleasantly. "You can write +your name?" +</p> +<p> +"Not well." +</p> +<p> +"The initials A. and L. They would satisfy me," +</p> +<p> +"Why dost thou want written promises," objected the smith, looking up +with sullen wrath at Sir Marmaduke. "Is not the word of an honest man +sufficient for thee?" +</p> +<p> +"Quite sufficient," rejoined de Chavasse blandly, "those initials are a +mere matter of form. You cannot object if your intentions are honest." +</p> +<p> +"I do not object. Hast brought ink or paper?" +</p> +<p> +"Yes, and the form to which you only need to affix your initials." +</p> +<p> +Sir Marmaduke now drew a packet of papers from the inner lining of his +doublet. +</p> +<p> +"These are the proofs of your parentage," he said lightly. +</p> +<p> +Then he took out another single sheet of paper from his pocket, unfolded +it and handed it to Lambert. "Can you read it?" he asked. +</p> +<p> +He stooped and picked up the lantern, whilst handing the paper to Adam. +The smith took the document from him, and Sir Marmaduke held the lantern +so that he might read. +</p> +<p> +Adam Lambert was no scholar. The reading of printed matter was oft a +difficulty to him, written characters were a vast deal more trouble, +but suspicion lurked in the smith's mind, and though his very sinews +ached with the desire to handle the proofs, he would not put his +initials to any writing which he did not fully comprehend. +</p> +<p> +It was all done in a moment. Adam was absorbed in deciphering the +contents of the paper. De Chavasse held the lantern up with one hand, +but at such an angle that Lambert was obliged to step back in order to +get its full light. +</p> +<p> +Then with the other hand, the right, Sir Marmaduke drew a double-edged +Italian knife from his girdle, and with a rapid and vigorous gesture, +drove it straight between the smith's shoulder blades. +</p> +<p> +Adam uttered a groan: +</p> +<p> +"My God . . . I am . . ." +</p> +<p> +Then he staggered and fell. +</p> +<p> +Fell backwards down the edge of the cliff into the mist-enveloped abyss +below. +</p> +<p> +Sir Marmaduke had fallen on one knee and his trembling fingers clutched +at the thick short grass, sharp as the blade of a knife, to stop himself +from swooning—from falling backwards in the wake of Adam the smith. +</p> +<p> +A gust of wind wafted the mist upwards, covering him with its humid +embrace. But he remained quite still, crouching on his stomach now, his +hands clutching the grass for support, whilst great drops of +perspiration mingled with the moisture of the mist on his face. +</p> +<p> +Anon he raised his head a little and turned to look at the edge of the +cliff. On hands and knees, like a gigantic reptile, he crawled, then lay +flat on the ground, on the extreme edge, his eyes peering down into +those depths wherein floating vapors lolled and stirred, with subtle +movements like spirits in unrest. +</p> +<p> +As far as the murderer's eye could reach and could penetrate the density +of the fog, white crag succeeded white crag, with innumerable +projections which should have helped to toss a falling and inert mass as +easily as if it had been an air bubble. +</p> +<p> +Sir Marmaduke tried to penetrate the secrets which the gray and shifting +veil still hid from his view. Beside him lay the Italian knife, its +steely surface shimmering in the vaporous light, there where a dull and +ruddy stain had not dimmed its brilliant polish. The murderer gazed at +his tool and shuddered feebly. But he picked up the knife and +mechanically wiped it in the grass, before he restored it to his belt. +</p> +<p> +Then he gazed downwards again, straining his eyes to pierce the mist, +his ears to hear a sound. +</p> +<p> +But nothing came upwards from that mighty abyss save the now more +distinct lapping of the billows round the boulders, for the tide was +rapidly setting in. +</p> +<p> +Down the white sides of the cliff the projections seemed ready to afford +a foothold bearing somewhat toward the right, the descent was not so +abrupt as it was immediately in front. The chalk of a truth looked slimy +and green, and might cause the unwary to trip, but there was that to +see down below and that to do, which would make any danger of a fall +well worth the risking. +</p> +<p> +Sir Marmaduke de Chavasse slowly rose to his feet. His knees were still +shaking under him, and there was a nervous tremor in his jaw and in his +wrists which he tried vainly to conquer. +</p> +<p> +Nevertheless he managed to readjust his clothes, his perruque, his +broad-brimmed hat. The papers he slipped back into his pocket together +with the black silk shade and false mustache, then, with the lantern in +his left hand he took the first steps towards the perilous descent. +</p> +<p> +There was something down below that he must see, something that he +wished to do. +</p> +<p> +He walked sidewise at times, bent nearly double, looking like some +gigantic and unwieldy crab, as the feeble rays of the mist-hidden moon +caught his rounded back in its cloth doublet of a dull reddish hue. At +other times he was forced to sit, and to work his way downwards with his +hands and heels, tearing his clothes, bruising his elbows and his +shoulders against the projections of the titanic masonry. Lumps of chalk +detached themselves from beneath and around him and slipped down the +precipitous sides in advance of him, with a dull reverberating sound +which seemed to rouse the echoes of this silent night. +</p> +<p> +The descent seemed interminable. His flesh ached, his sinews creaked, +his senses reeled with the pain, the mind-agony, the horror of it all. +</p> +<p> +At last he caught a glimmer of the wet sand, less than ten feet below. +He had just landed on a bit of white tableland wantonly carved in the +naked cliff. The rough gradients which up to now had guided him in his +descent ceased abruptly. Behind him the cliff rose upwards, in front +and, to his right, and left a concave wall, straight down to the beach. +</p> +<p> +Exhausted and half-paralyzed, de Chavasse perforce had to throw himself +down these last ten feet, hardly pausing to think whether his head would +or would not come in violent contact with one of the chalk boulders +which stand out here and there in the flat sandy beach. +</p> +<p> +He threw down the lantern first, which was extinguished as it fell. Then +he took the final jump, and soon lay half-unconscious, numbed and aching +in every limb in the wet sand. +</p> +<p> +Anon he tried to move. His limbs were painful, his shoulders ached, and +he had some difficulty in struggling to his feet. An unusually large +boulder close by afforded a resting place. He reached it and sat down. +His head was still swimming but his limbs were apparently sound. He sat +quietly for a while, recouping his strength, gathering his wandering +senses. The lantern lay close to his feet, extinguished but not broken. +</p> +<p> +He groped for his tinder-box, and having found it, proceeded to relight +the tiny tallow dip. It was a difficult proceeding for the tinder was +damp, and the breeze, though very slight in this hollow portion of the +cliffs, nevertheless was an enemy to a trembling little flame. +</p> +<p> +But Sir Marmaduke noted with satisfaction that his nerves were already +under his control. He succeeded in relighting the lantern, which he +could not have done if his hands had been as unsteady as they were +awhile ago. +</p> +<p> +He rose once more to his feet, stamped them against the boulders, +stretched out his arms, giving his elbows and shoulders full play. +Mayhap he had spent a quarter of an hour thus resting since that final +jump, mayhap it had been an hour or two; he could not say for time had +ceased to be. +</p> +<p> +But the mist had penetrated to his very bones and he did not remember +ever having felt quite so cold. +</p> +<p> +Now he seized his lantern and began his search, trying to ascertain the +exact position of the portion of the cliff's edge where he and Lambert +the smith had been standing a while ago. +</p> +<p> +It was not a difficult matter, nor was the search a long one. Soon he +saw a huddled mass lying in the sand. +</p> +<p> +He went up to it and placed the lantern down upon a boulder. +</p> +<p> +Horror had entirely left him. The crisis of terror at his own fell deed +had been terrible but brief. His was not a nature to shrink from +unpleasant sights, nor at such times do men have cause to recoil from +contact with the dead. +</p> +<p> +In the murderer's heart there was no real remorse for the crime which +he had committed. +</p> +<p> +"Bah! why did the fool get in my way?" was the first mental comment +which he made when he caught sight of Lambert's body. +</p> +<p> +Then with a final shrug of the shoulders he dismissed pity, horror or +remorse, entirely from his thoughts. +</p> +<p> +What he now did was to raise the smith's body from the ground and to +strip it of its clothing. 'Twas a grim task, on which his chroniclers +have never cared to dwell. His purpose was fixed. He had planned and +thought it all out minutely, and he was surely not the man to flinch at +the execution of a project once he had conceived it. +</p> +<p> +The death of Adam Lambert should serve a double purpose: the silencing +of an avowed enemy and the wiping out of the personality of Prince Amédé +d'Orléans. +</p> +<p> +The latter was as important as the first. It would facilitate the +realizing of the fortune and, above all, clear the way for Sir +Marmaduke's future life. +</p> +<p> +Therefore, however gruesome the task, which was necessary in order to +attain that great goal, the schemer accomplished it, with set teeth and +an unwavering hand. +</p> +<p> +What he did do on that lonely fog-ridden beach and in the silence of +that dank and misty night, was to dress up the body of Adam Lambert, the +smith, in the fantastic clothing of Prince Amédé d'Orléans: the red +cloth doublet, the lace collars and cuffs, the bunches of ribbon at knee +and waist, and the black silk shade over the left eye. All he omitted +were the perruque and the false mustache. +</p> +<p> +Having accomplished this work, he himself donned the clothes of Adam +Lambert. +</p> +<p> +This part of his task being done, he had to rest for a while. 'Tis no +easy matter to undress and redress an inert mass. +</p> +<p> +The smith, dressed in the elaborate accouterments of the mysterious +French prince, now lay face upwards on the sand. +</p> +<p> +The tide was rapidly setting in. In less than half an hour it would +reach this portion of the beach. +</p> +<p> +Sir Marmaduke de Chavasse, however, had not yet accomplished all that he +meant to do. He knew that the sea-waves had a habit of returning that +which they took away. Therefore, his purpose was not fully accomplished +when he had dressed the dead smith in the clothes of the Orléans prince. +Else had he wished it, he could have consigned his victim to the tide. +</p> +<p> +But Adam—dead—had now to play a part in the grim comedy which Sir +Marmaduke de Chavasse had designed for his own safety, and the more +assured success of all his frauds and plans. +</p> +<p> +Therefore, after a brief rest, the murderer set to work again. A more +grim task yet! one from which of a truth more than one evil-doer would +recoil. +</p> +<p> +Not so this bold schemer, this mad worshiper of money and of self. +Everything! anything for the safety of Sir Marmaduke de Chavasse, for +the peaceful possession of £500,000. +</p> +<p> +Everything! Even the desecration of the dead! +</p> +<p> +The murderer was powerful, and there is a strength which madness gives. +Heavy boulders pushed by vigorous arms had to help in the monstrous +deed! +</p> +<p> +Heavy boulders thrown and rolled over the face of the dead, so as to +obliterate all identity! +</p> +<p> +Nay! had a sound now disturbed the silence of this awesome night, surely +it had been the laughter of demons aghast at such a deed! +</p> +<p> +The moon indeed hid her face, retreating once more behind the veils of +mist. The breeze itself was lulled and the fog gathered itself together +and wrapped the unavowable horrors of the night in a gray and ghoul-like +shroud. +</p> +<p> +Madness lurked in the eyes of the sacrilegious murderer. Madness which +helped him not only to carry his grim task to the end, but, having +accomplished it, to see that it was well done. +</p> +<p> +And his hand did not tremble, as he raised the lantern and looked down +on <i>that</i> which had once been Adam Lambert, the smith. +</p> +<p> +Nay, had those laughing demons looked on it, they would have veiled +their faces in awe! +</p> +<p> +The gentle wavelets of the torpid tide were creeping round that thing in +red doublet and breeches, in high top boots, lace cuffs and collar. +</p> +<p> +Sir Marmaduke looked down calmly upon his work, and did not even shudder +with horror. +</p> +<p> +Madness had been upon him and had numbed his brain. +</p> +<p> +But the elemental instinct of self-preservation whispered to him that +his work was well done. +</p> +<p> +When the sea gave up the dead, only the clothes, the doublet, the +ribands, the lace, the black shade, mayhap, would reveal his identity, +as the mysterious French prince who for a brief while had lodged in a +cottage at Acol. +</p> +<p> +But the face was unrecognizable. +</p> + + + +<p> </p> +<p> </p> +<a name="PART4"><!-- PART4 --></a> +<h2> + PART IV +</h2> + + + + +<p> </p> +<p> </p> +<a name="CH33"><!-- CH33 --></a> +<h2> + CHAPTER XXXIII +</h2> + +<h3> +THE DAY AFTER +</h3><p> </p> +<p> +The feeling which prevailed in Thanet with regard to the murder of the +mysterious foreigner on the sands of Epple Bay was chiefly one of sullen +resentment. +</p> +<p> +Here was a man who had come from goodness knows where, whose strange +wanderings and secret appearances in the neighborhood had oft roused the +anger of the village folk, just as his fantastic clothes, his silken +doublet and befrilled shirt had excited their scorn; here was a man, I +say, who came from nowhere, and now he chose—the yokels of the +neighborhood declared it that he chose—to make his exit from the world +in as weird a manner as he had effected his entrance into this remote +and law-abiding little island. +</p> +<p> +The farmhands and laborers who dwelt in the cottages dotted about around +St. Nicholas-at-Wade, Epple or Acol were really angry with the stranger +for allowing himself to be murdered on their shores. Thanet itself had +up to now enjoyed a fair reputation for orderliness and temperance, and +that one of her inhabitants should have been tempted to do away with +that interloping foreigner in such a violent manner was obviously the +fault of that foreigner himself. +</p> +<p> +The watches had found him on the sands at low tide. One of them walking +along the brow of the cliff had seen the dark object lying prone amongst +the boulders, a black mass in the midst of the whiteness of the chalk. +</p> +<p> +The whole thing was shocking, no doubt, gruesome in the extreme, but the +mystery which surrounded this strange death had roused ire rather than +horror. +</p> +<p> +Of course the news had traveled slowly from cottage to cottage, although +Petty Constable Pyot, who resided at St. Nicholas, had immediately +apprised Squire Boatfield and Sir Marmaduke de Chavasse of the awesome +discovery made by the watches on the sands of Epple Bay. +</p> +<p> +Squire Boatfield was major-general of the district and rode over from +Sarre directly he heard the news. The body in the meanwhile had been +placed under the shelter of one of the titanic caves which giant hands +have carved in the acclivities of the chalk. Squire Boatfield ordered it +to be removed. It was not fitting that birds of prey should be allowed +to peck at the dead, nor that some unusually high tide should once more +carry him out to sea, ere his murderer had been brought to justice. +</p> +<p> +Therefore, the foreigner with the high-sounding name was conveyed by the +watches at the squire's bidding to the cottage of the Lamberts over at +Acol, the only place in Thanet which he had ever called his home. +</p> +<p> +The old Quakeress, wrathful and sullen, had scarce understood what the +whole pother was about. She was hard of hearing, and Petty Constable +Pyot was at great pains to explain to her that by the major-general's +orders the body of the murdered man should be laid decently under +shelter, until such time as proper burial could be arranged for it. +</p> +<p> +Fortunately before the small cortège bearing the gruesome burden had +arrived at the cottage, young Richard Lambert had succeeded in making +the old woman understand what was expected of her. +</p> +<p> +Even then she flatly and obstinately refused to have the stranger +brought into her house. +</p> +<p> +"He was a heathen," she declared emphatically, "his soul hath mayhap +gone to hell. His thoughts were evil, and God had him not in His +keeping. 'Tis not fit that the mortal hulk of a damned soul should +pollute the saintliness of mine own abode." +</p> +<p> +Pyot thought that the old woman was raving, but Master Lambert very +peremptorily forbade him to interfere with her. The young man, though +quite calm, looked dangerous—so thought the petty constable—and +between them, the old Quakeress and the young student defied the +constables and the watches and barred the cottage to the entrance of the +dead. +</p> +<p> +Unfortunately, the smith was from home. Pyot thought that the latter had +been more reasonable, that he would have understood the weight of +authority, and also of seemliness, which was of equally grave +importance. +</p> +<p> +There was a good deal of parleying before it was finally decided to +place the body in the forge, which was a wooden lean-to, resting against +the north wall of the cottage. There was no direct access from the +cottage to the forge, and old Mistress Lambert seemed satisfied that the +foreigner should rest there, at any rate until the smith came home, +when, mayhap, he would decide otherwise. +</p> +<p> +At the instance of the petty constable she even brought out a sheet, +which smelt sweetly of lavender, and gave it to the watchmen, so that +they might decently cover up the dead; she also gave them three elm +chairs on which to lay him down. +</p> +<p> +Across those three chairs the body now lay, covered over with the +lavender-scented sheet, in the corner of the blacksmith's forge, over by +the furnace. A watchman stayed beside it, to ward off sacrilege: anyone +who desired could come, and could—if his nerves were strong +enough—view the body and state if, indeed, it was that of the foreigner +who all through last summer had haunted the woods and park of Acol. +</p> +<p> +Of a truth there was no doubt at all as to the identity of the dead. His +fantastic clothes were unmistakable. Many there were who had seen him +wandering in the woods of nights, and several could swear to the black +silk shade and the broad-brimmed hat which the watchmen had found—high +and dry—on a chalk boulder close to where the body lay. +</p> +<p> +Mistress Lambert had refused to look on the dead. 'Twas, of course, no +fit sight for females, and the constable had not insisted thereon: but +she knew the black silk shade again, and young Master Lambert had +caught sight of the murdered man's legs and feet, and had thereupon +recognized the breeches and the quaint boots with their overwide tops +filled with frills of lace. +</p> +<p> +Master Hymn-of-Praise Busy, too, though unwilling to see a corpse, +thought it his duty to help the law in investigating this mysterious +crime. He had oft seen the foreigner of nights in the park, and never +doubted for a moment that the body which lay across the elm chairs in +the smith's forge was indeed that of the stranger. +</p> +<p> +Squire Boatfield was now quite satisfied that the identity of the victim +was firmly established, and anon he did his best—being a humane man—to +obtain Christian burial for the stranger. After some demur, the parson +at Minster declared himself willing to do the pious deed. +</p> +<p> +Heathen or not, 'twas not for Christian folk to pass judgment on him who +no longer now could give an explanation of his own mysterious doings, +and had of a truth carried his secrets with him in silence to the grave. +</p> +<p> +Was it not strange that anyone should have risked the gallows for the +sake of putting out of the way a man who of a surety was not worth +powder or shot? +</p> +<p> +And the nerve and strength which the murderer had shown! . . . displacing +great boulders with which to batter in his victim's face so that not +even his own kith and kin could recognize that now! +</p> + + + +<p> </p> +<p> </p> +<a name="CH34"><!-- CH34 --></a> +<h2> + CHAPTER XXXIV +</h2> + +<h3> +AFTERWARDS +</h3><p> </p> +<p> +Sir Marmaduke de Chavasse cursed the weather and cursed himself for +being a fool. +</p> +<p> +He had started from Acol Court on horseback, riding an old nag, for the +roads were heavy with mud, and the short cut through the woods quite +impassable. +</p> +<p> +The icy downpour beat against his face and lashed the poor mare's ears +and mane until she tossed her head about blindly and impatiently, scarce +heeding where she placed her feet. The rider's cloak was already soaked +through, and soon even his shirt clung dank and cold to his aching back; +the bridle was slippery with the wet, and his numbed fingers could +hardly feel its resistance as the mare went stumbling on her way. +</p> +<p> +Beside horse and rider, Master Hymn-of-Praise Busy and Master Courage +Toogood walked ankle-deep in mud—one on each side of the mare, and +lantern in hand, for the shades of evening would have drawn in ere the +return journey could be undertaken. The two men had taken off their +shoes and stockings and had slung them over their shoulders, for 'twas +better to walk barefoot than to feel the icy moisture soaking through +leather and worsted. +</p> +<p> +It was then close on two o'clock of an unusually bleak November +afternoon. The winds of Heaven, which of a truth do oft use the isle of +Thanet as a meeting place, wherein to discuss the mischief which they +severally intend to accomplish in sundry quarters later on, had been +exceptionally active this day. The southwesterly hurricane had brought, +a deluge of rain with it a couple of hours ago, then—satisfied with +this prowess—had handed the downpour over to his brother of the +northeast, who breathing on it with his icy breath, had soon converted +it into sleet: whereupon he turned his back on the mainland altogether, +and wandered out towards the ocean, determined to worry the deep-sea +fishermen who were out with their nets: but not before he had deputed +his brother of the northeast to marshal his army of snow-laden cloud on +the firmament. +</p> +<p> +This the northeast, was over-ready to do, and in answer to his whim a +leaden, inky pall now lay over Thanet, whilst the gale continued its +mighty, wanton frolic, lashing the sleet against the tiny window-panes +of the cottage, or sending it down the chimneys, upon the burning logs +below, causing them to splutter and to hiss ere they changed their glow +to black and smoking embers. +</p> +<p> +'Twere impossible to imagine a more discomforting atmosphere in which to +be abroad: yet Sir Marmaduke de Chavasse was trudging through the mire, +and getting wet to the skin, even when he might just as well be sitting +beside the fire in the withdrawing-room at the Court. +</p> +<p> +He was on his way to the smith's forge at Acol and had ordered his +serving-men to accompany him thither: and of a truth neither of them +were loath to go. They cared naught about the weather, and the +excitement which centered round the Quakeress's cottage at Acol more +than counterbalanced the discomfort of a tramp through the mud. +</p> +<p> +A rumor had reached the Court that the funeral of the murdered man +would, mayhap, take place this day, and Master Busy would not have +missed such an event for the world, not though the roads lay thick with +snow and the drifts rendered progress impossible to all save to the +keenest enthusiast. He for one was glad enough that his master had +seemed so unaccountably anxious for the company of his own serving men. +Sir Marmaduke had ever been overfond of wandering about the lonely woods +of Thanet alone. +</p> +<p> +But since that gruesome murder on the beach forty-eight hours ago and +more, both the quality and the yokels preferred to venture abroad in +company. +</p> +<p> +At the same time neither Master Busy nor young Courage Toogood could +imagine why Sir Marmaduke de Chavasse should endure such amazing +discomfort in order to attend the funeral of an obscure adventurer, who +of a truth was as naught to him. +</p> +<p> +Nor, if the truth were known, could Sir Marmaduke himself have accounted +for his presence here on this lonely road, and on one of the most +dismal, bleak and unpleasant afternoons that had ever been experienced +in Thanet of late. +</p> +<p> +He should at this moment have been on the other side of the North Sea. +The most elemental prudence should indeed have counseled an immediate +journey to Amsterdam and a prompt negotiation of all marketable +securities which Lady Sue Aldmarshe had placed in his hands. +</p> +<p> +Yet twice twenty-four hours had gone by since that awful night, when, +having finally relinquished his victim to the embrace of the tide, he +had picked his way up the chalk cliffs and through the terror-haunted +woods to his own room in Acol Court. +</p> +<p> +He should have left for abroad the next day, ere the news of the +discovery of a mysterious murder had reached the precincts of his own +park. But he had remained in England. Something seemed to have rooted +him to the spot, something to be holding him back whenever he was ready +to flee. +</p> +<p> +At first it had been a mere desire to know. On the morning following his +crime he made a vigorous effort to rally his scattered senses, to walk, +to move, and to breathe as if nothing had happened, as if nothing lay +out there on the sands of Epple, high and dry now, for the tide would +have gone out. +</p> +<p> +Whether he had slept or not since the moment when he had crept +stealthily into his own house, silently as the bird of prey when +returning to its nest—he could not have said. Undoubtedly he had +stripped off the dead man's clothes, the rough shirt and cord breeches +which had belonged to Lambert, the smith. Undoubtedly, too, he had made +a bundle of these things, hiding them in a dark recess at the bottom of +an old oak cupboard which stood in his room. With these clothes he had +placed the leather wallet which contained securities worth half a +million of solid money. +</p> +<p> +All this he had done, preparatory to destroying the clothes by fire, and +to converting the securities into money abroad. After that he had thrown +himself on the bed, without thought, without sensations save those of +bodily ache and of numbing fatigue. +</p> +<p> +Vaguely, as the morning roused him to consciousness, he realized that he +must leave for Dover as soon as may be and cross over to France by the +first packet available, or, better still, by boat specially chartered. +And yet, when anon he rose and dressed, he felt at once that he would +not go just yet; that he could not go until certain queries which had +formed in his brain had been answered by events. +</p> +<p> +How soon would the watches find the body? Having found it, what would +they do? Would the body be immediately identified by the clothes upon +it? or would doubt on that score arise in the minds of the neighboring +folk? Would the disappearance of Adam Lambert be known at once and +commented upon in connection with the crime? +</p> +<p> +Curiosity soon became an obsession; he wandered down into the hall where +the serving-wench was plying her duster. He searched her face, +wondering if she had heard the news. +</p> +<p> +The mist of the night had yielded to an icy drizzle, but Sir Marmaduke +could not remain within. His footsteps guided him in the direction of +Acol, on towards Epple Bay. On the path which leads to the edge of the +cliffs he met the watches who were tramping on towards the beach. +</p> +<p> +The men saluted him and went on their way, but he turned and fled as +quickly as he dared. +</p> +<p> +In the afternoon Master Busy brought the news down from Prospect Inn. +The body of the man who had called himself a French prince had been +found murdered and shockingly mutilated on the sands at Epple. Sir +Marmaduke was vastly interested. He, usually so reserved and ill-humored +with his servants, had kept Hymn-of-Praise in close converse for nigh +upon an hour, asking many questions about the crime, about the petty +constables' action in the matter and the comments made by the village +folk. +</p> +<p> +At the same time he gave strict injunctions to Master Busy not to +breathe a word of the gruesome subject to the ladies, nor yet to the +serving-wench; 'twas not a matter fit for women's ears. +</p> +<p> +Sir Marmaduke then bade his butler push on as far as Acol, to glean +further information about the mysterious event. +</p> +<p> +That evening he collected all the clothes which had belonged to Lambert, +the smith, and wrapping up the leather wallet with them which contained +the securities, he carried this bundle to the lonely pavilion on the +outskirts of the park. +</p> +<p> +He was not yet ready to go abroad. +</p> +<p> +Master Busy returned from his visit to Acol full of what he had seen. He +had been allowed to view the body, and to swear before Squire Boatfield +that he recognized the clothes as being those usually worn by the +mysterious foreigner who used to haunt the woods and park of Acol all +last summer. +</p> +<p> +Hymn-of-Praise had his full meed of pleasure that evening, and the next +day, too, for Sir Marmaduke seemed never tired of hearing him recount +all the gossip which obtained at Acol and at St. Nicholas: the surmises +as to the motive of the horrible crime, the talk about the stranger and +his doings, the resentment caused by his weird demise, and the +conjectures as to what could have led a miscreant to do away with so +insignificant a personage. +</p> +<p> +All that day—the second since the crime—Sir Marmaduke still lingered +in Thanet. Prudence whispered urgent counsels that he should go, and yet +he stayed, watching the progress of events with that same morbid and +tenacious curiosity. +</p> +<p> +And now it was the thought of what folk would say when they heard that +Adam Lambert had disappeared, and was, of a truth, not returning home, +which kept Sir Marmaduke still lingering in England. +</p> +<p> +That and the inexplicable enigma which ever confronts the searcher of +human motives: the overwhelming desire of the murderer to look once +again upon his victim. +</p> +<p> +Master Busy had on that second morning brought home the news from Acol, +that Squire Boatfield had caused a rough deal coffin to be made by the +village carpenter at the expense of the county, and that mayhap the +stranger would be laid therein this very afternoon and conveyed down to +Minster, where he would be accorded Christian burial. +</p> +<p> +Then Sir Marmaduke realized that it would be impossible for him to leave +England until after he had gazed once more on the dead body of the +smith. +</p> +<p> +After that he would go. He would shake the sand of Thanet from his heels +forever. +</p> +<p> +When he had learned all that he wished to know he would be free from the +present feeling of terrible obsession which paralyzed his movements to +the extent of endangering his own safely. +</p> +<p> +He was bound to look upon his victim once again: an inexplicable and +titanic force compelled him to that. Mayhap, that same force would +enable him to keep his nerves under control when, presently, he should +be face to face with the dead. +</p> +<p> +Face to face? . . . Good God! . . . +</p> +<p> +Yet neither fear nor remorse haunted him. It was only curosity, and, at +one thought, a nameless horror! . . . Not at the thought of murder . . . +there he had no compunction, but at that of the terrible deed which from +instinct of self-protection had perforce to succeed the graver crime. +</p> +<p> +The weight of those chalk boulders seemed still to weigh against the +muscles of his back. He felt that Sisyphus-like he was forever rolling, +rolling a gigantic stone which, failing of its purpose—recoiled on him, +rolling back down a precipitous incline, and crushing him beneath its +weight . . . only to release him again . . . to leave him free to endure the +same torture over and over again . . . and yet again . . . forever the same +weight . . . forever the self-same, intolerable agony. . . . +</p> + + + +<p> </p> +<p> </p> +<a name="CH35"><!-- CH35 --></a> +<h2> + CHAPTER XXXV +</h2> + +<h3> +THE SMITH'S FORGE +</h3><p> </p> +<p> +Up to the hour of his departure from Acol Court, Sir Marmaduke had been +convinced that neither his sister-in-law nor Lady Sue had heard of the +news which had set the whole of Thanet in commotion. Acol Court lies +very isolated, well off the main Canterbury Road, and just for two days +and a half Master Hymn-of-Praise Busy had contrived to hold his tongue. +</p> +<p> +Most of the village gossips, too, met at the local public bars, and had +had up to now no time to wander as far as the Court, nor any reason to +do so, seeing that Master Busy was always to be found at Prospect Inn +and always ready to discuss the mystery in all its bearings, with anyone +who would share a pint of ale with him. +</p> +<p> +Sir Marmaduke had taken jealous care only to meet the ladies at +meal-time, and under penalty of immediate dismissal had forbidden +Hymn-of-Praise to speak to the serving-wench of the all-absorbing topic. +</p> +<p> +So far Master Busy had obeyed, but at the last moment, just before +starting for Acol village, Sir Marmaduke had caught sight of Mistress +Charity talking to the stableman in the yard. Something in the wench's +eyes told him—with absolute certainty that she had just heard of the +murder. +</p> +<p> +That morbid and tenacious curiosity once more got hold of him. He would +have given all he possessed at this moment—the entire fruits of his +crime perhaps—to know what that ignorant girl thought of it all, and it +caused him acute, almost physical pain, to refrain from questioning her. +</p> +<p> +There was enough of the sense of self-protection in him, however, to +check himself from betraying such extraordinary interest in the matter: +but he turned on his heel and went quickly back to the house. He wanted +to catch sight of Editha's face, if only for a moment; he wanted to see +for himself, then and there, if she had also heard the news. +</p> +<p> +As he entered the hall, she was coming down the stairs. She had on her +cloak and hood as if preparing to go out. Their eyes met and he saw that +she knew. +</p> +<p> +Knew what? He broke into a loud and fierce laugh as he met her wildly +questioning gaze. There was a look almost of madness in the hopeless +puzzlement of her expression. +</p> +<p> +Of course Editha must be hopelessly puzzled. The very thought of her +vague conjecturings had caused him to laugh as maniacs laugh at times. +</p> +<p> +The mysterious French prince had been found on the sands murdered and +mutilated. . . . But then . . . +</p> +<p> +Still laughing, Sir Marmaduke once more turned, running away from the +house now and never pausing until his foot had touched the stirrup and +his fingers were entangled in the damp mane of the mare. Even whilst he +settled himself into the saddle as comfortably as he could, the grim +humor of Editha's bewilderment caused him to laugh, within himself. +</p> +<p> +The nag stepped slowly along in the mud at first, then broke into a +short trot. The two serving-men had started on ahead with their +lanterns; they would, of course, be walking all the way. +</p> +<p> +The icy rain mingled with tiny flakes of snow was insufferably cutting +and paralyzing: yet Sir Marmaduke scarcely heeded it, until the mare +became unpleasantly uncertain in her gait. Once she stumbled and nearly +pitched her rider forward into the mud: whereupon, lashing into her, he +paid more heed to her doings. +</p> +<p> +Once just past the crossroad toward St. Nicholas, he all but turned his +horse's head back towards Acol Court. It seemed as if he must find out +now at once whether Editha had spoken to Lady Sue and what the young +girl had done and said when she heard, in effect, that her husband had +been murdered. +</p> +<p> +Nothing but the fear of missing the last look at the body of Adam +Lambert ere the lid of the coffin was nailed down stopped him from +returning homewards. +</p> +<p> +Anon he came upon Busy and Toogood painfully trudging in the mire, and +singing lustily to keep themselves cheerful and warm. +</p> +<p> +Sir Marmaduke drew the mare in, so as to keep pace with his men. On the +whole, the road had been more lonely than he liked and he was glad of +company. +</p> +<p> +Outside the Lamberts' cottage a small crowd had collected. From the +crest of the hill the tiny bell of Acol church struck the hour of two. +</p> +<p> +Squire Boatfield had ridden over from Sarre, and Sir Marmaduke—as he +dismounted—caught sight of the heels and crupper of the squire's +well-known cob. The little crowd had gathered in the immediate +neighborhood of the forge, and de Chavasse, from where he now stood, +could not see the entrance of the lean-to, only the blank side wall of +the shed, and the front of the Lamberts' cottage, the doors and windows +of which were hermetically closed. +</p> +<p> +Up against the angle formed by the wall of the forge and that of the +cottage, the enterprising landlord of the local inn had erected a small +trestle table, from behind which he was dispensing spiced ale, and +bottled Spanish wines. +</p> +<p> +Squire Boatfield was standing beside that improvised bar, and at sight +of Sir Marmaduke he put down the pewter mug which he was in the act of +conveying to his lips, and came forward to greet his friend. +</p> +<p> +"What is the pother about this foreigner, eh, Boatfield?" queried de +Chavasse with gruff good-nature as he shook hands with the squire and +allowed himself to be led towards that tempting array of bottles and +mugs on the trestle table. +</p> +<p> +The yokels who were assembled at the entrance of the forge turned to +gaze with some curiosity at the squire of Acol. De Chavasse was not +often seen even in this village: he seldom went beyond the boundary of +his own park. +</p> +<p> +All the men touched their forelocks with deferential respect. Master +Jeremy Mounce humbly whispered a query as to what His Honor would +condescend to take. +</p> +<p> +Sir Marmaduke desired a mug of buttered ale or of lamb's wool, which +Master Mounce soon held ready for him. He emptied the mug at one +draught. The spiced liquor went coursing through his body, and he felt +better and more sure of himself. He desired a second mug. +</p> +<p> +"With more substance in it, Master Landlord," he said pleasantly. "Nay, +man! ye are not giving milk to children, but something warm to cheer a +man's inside." +</p> +<p> +"I have a half bottle of brandy here, good Sir Marmaduke," suggested +Master Mounce with some diffidence, for brandy was an over-expensive +commodity which not many Kentish squires cared to afford. +</p> +<p> +"Brandy, of course, good master!" quoth de Chavasse lustily, "brandy is +the nectar of the gods. Here!" he added, drawing a piece of gold from a +tiny pocket concealed in the lining of his doublet, "will this pay for +thy half-bottle of nectar." +</p> +<p> +"Over well, good Sir Marmaduke," said Master Mounce, as he stooped to +the ground. From underneath the table he now drew forth a glass and a +bottle: the latter he uncorked with slow and deliberate care, and then +filled the glass with its contents, whilst Sir Marmaduke watched him +with impatient eyes. +</p> +<p> +"Will you join me, squire?" asked de Chavasse, as he lifted the small +tumbler and gazed with marked appreciation at the glistening and +transparent liquid. +</p> +<p> +"Nay, thanks," replied Boatfield with a laugh, "I care naught for these +foreign decoctions. Another mug, or even two, of buttered ale, good +landlord," he added, turning to Master Mounce. +</p> +<p> +In the meanwhile petty constable Pyot had stood respectfully at +attention ready to relate for the hundredth time, mayhap, all that he +knew and all that he meant to know about the mysterious crime. +</p> +<p> +Sir Marmaduke would of a surety ask many questions, for it was passing +strange that he had taken but little outward interest in the matter up +to now. +</p> +<p> +"Well, Pyot," he now said, beckoning to the man to approach, "tell us +what you know. By Gad, 'tis not often we indulge in a genuine murder in +Thanet! Where was it done? Not on my land, I hope." +</p> +<p> +"The watches found the body on the beach, your Honor," replied Pyot, +"the head was mutilated past all recognition . . . the heavy chalk +boulders, your Honor . . . and a determined maniac methinks, sir, who +wanted revenge against a personal enemy. . . . Else how to account for such +a brutal act? . . ." +</p> +<p> +"I suppose," quoth Sir Marmaduke lightly, as he sipped the brandy, +"that the identity of the man has been quite absolutely determined." +</p> +<p> +"Aye! aye! your Honor," rejoined Pyot gravely, "the opinion of all those +who have seen the body is that it is that of a foreigner . . . Prince of +Orleans he called himself, who has been lodging these past months at +this place here!" +</p> +<p> +And the petty constable gave a quick nod in the direction of the +cottage. +</p> +<p> +"Ah! I know but little about him," now said Sir Marmaduke, turning to +speak to Squire Boatfield, "although he lived here, on what is my own +property, and haunted my park, too . . . so I've been told. There was a +good deal of talk about him among the wenches in the village." +</p> +<p> +"Aye! I had heard all about that prince," said Squire Boatfield +meditatively, "lodging in this cottage . . . 'twas passing strange." +</p> +<p> +"He was a curious sort of man, your Honor," here interposed Pyot. "We +got what information about him we could, seeing that the smith is from +home, and that Mistress Lambert, his aunt, I think, is hard of hearing, +and gave us many crooked answers. But she told us that the stranger paid +for his lodging regularly, and would arrive at the cottage unawares of +an evening and stay part of the night . . . then he would go off again at +cock-crow, and depart she knew not whither." +</p> +<p> +The man paused in his narrative. Something apparently had caused Sir +Marmaduke to turn giddy. +</p> +<p> +He tugged at his neckbands and his hand fell heavily against the +trestle-table. +</p> +<p> +"Nay! 'tis nothing," he said with a harsh laugh as Master Mounce with an +ejaculation of deep concern ran round to him with a chair, whilst Squire +Boatfield quickly put out an arm as if he were afraid that his friend +would fall. "'Tis nothing," he repeated, "the tramp in the cold, then +this heady draught. . . . I am well I assure you." +</p> +<p> +He drank half a glass of brandy at a draught, and now the hand which +replaced the glass upon the table had not the slightest tremor in it. +</p> +<p> +"'Tis all vastly interesting," he remarked lightly. "Have you seen the +body, Boatfield?" +</p> +<p> +"Aye! aye!" quoth the squire, speaking with obvious reluctance, for he +hated this gruesome subject. "'Tis no pleasant sight. And were I in your +shoes, de Chavasse, I would not go in there," and he nodded +significantly towards the forge. +</p> +<p> +"Nay! 'tis my duty as a magistrate," said Sir Marmaduke airily. +</p> +<p> +He had to steady himself against the table again for a moment or two, +ere he turned his back on the hospitable board, and started to walk +round towards the forge: no doubt the shaking of his knees was +attributable to the strong liquor which he had consumed. +</p> +<p> +The little crowd parted and dispersed at his approach. The lean-to +wherein Adam Lambert was wont to do his work consisted of four walls, +one of which was that of the cottage, whilst the other immediately +facing it, had a wide opening which formed the only entrance to the +shed. A man standing in that entrance would have the furnace on his +left: and now in addition to that furnace also the three elm chairs, +whereon rested a rough deal case, without a lid, but partly covered with +a sheet. +</p> +<p> +To anyone coming from the outside, this angle of the forge would always +seem weird and even mysterious even when the furnace was blazing and the +sparks flying from the anvil, beneath the smith's powerful blows, or +when—as at present—the fires were extinguished and this part of the +shed, innocent of windows, was in absolute darkness. +</p> +<p> +Sir Marmaduke paused a moment under the lintel which dominated the broad +entrance. His eyes had some difficulty in penetrating the density which +seemed drawn across the place on his left like some ink-smeared and +opaque curtain. +</p> +<p> +The men assembled outside, watched him from a distance with silent +respect. In these days the fact of a gentleman drinking more liquor than +was good for him was certes not to his discredit. +</p> +<p> +The fact that Sir Marmaduke seemed to sway visibly on his legs, as he +thus stood for a moment outlined against the dark interior beyond, +roused no astonishment in the minds of those who saw him. +</p> +<p> +Presently he turned deliberately to his left and the next moment his +figure was merged in the gloom. +</p> +<p> +Round the angle of the wall Squire Boatfield was still standing, sipping +buttered ale. +</p> +<p> +Less than two minutes later, Sir Marmaduke reappeared in the doorway. +His face was a curious color, and there were beads of perspiration on +his forehead, and as he came forward he would have fallen, had not one +of the men stepped quickly up to him and offered a steadying arm. But +there was nothing strange in that. +</p> +<p> +The sight of that which lay in Adam Lambert's forge had unmanned a good +many ere this. +</p> +<p> +"I am inclined to believe, my good Boatfield," quoth Sir Marmaduke, as +he went back to the trestle-table, and poured himself out another +half-glass full of brandy, "I am inclined to believe that when you +advised me not to go in there, you spoke words of wisdom which I had +done well to follow." +</p> + + + +<p> </p> +<p> </p> +<a name="CH36"><!-- CH36 --></a> +<h2> + CHAPTER XXXVI +</h2> + +<h3> +THE GIRL-WIFE +</h3><p> </p> +<p> +But the effort of the past few moments had been almost more than +Marmaduke de Chavasse could bear. +</p> +<p> +Anon when the church bell over at Acol began a slow and monotonous toll +he felt as if his every nerve must give way: as if he must laugh, laugh +loudly and long at the idiocy, the ignorance of all these people who +thought that they were confronted by an impenetrable mystery, whereas it +was all so simple . . . so very, very simple. +</p> +<p> +He had a curious feeling as if he must grip every one of these men here +by the throat and demand from each one separately an account of what he +thought and felt, what he surmised and what he guessed when standing +face to face with the weird enigma presented by that mutilated thing in +its rough deal case. He would have given worlds to know what his friend +Boatfield thought of it all, or what had been the petty constable's +conjectures. +</p> +<p> +A haunting and devilish desire seized him to break open the skulls of +all these yokels and to look into their brains. Above all now the +silence of the cottage close to him had become unendurable torment. That +closed door, the tiny railing which surrounded the bit of front garden, +that little gate the latch of which he himself so oft had lifted, all +seemed to hold the key to some terrible mystery, the answer to some +fearful riddle which he felt would drive him mad if he could not hit +upon it now at once. +</p> +<p> +The brandy had fired his veins: he no longer felt numb with the cold. A +passion of rage was seething in him, and he longed to attack with fists +and heels those curtained windows which now looked like eyes turned +mutely and inquiringly upon him. +</p> +<p> +But there was enough sanity in him yet to prevent his doing anything +rash: an uncontrolled act might cause astonishment, suspicion mayhap, in +the minds of those who witnessed it. He made a violent effort to steady +himself even now, above all to steady his voice and to veil that excited +glitter which he knew must be apparent in his eyes. +</p> +<p> +"Meseems that 'tis somewhat strange," he said quite calmly, even +lightly, to Squire Boatfield who seemed to be preparing to go, "that +these people—the Lamberts—who alone knew the . . . the murdered man +intimately, should keep so persistently, so determinedly out of the +way." +</p> +<p> +Even while the words escaped his mouth—certes involuntarily—he knew +that the most elementary prudence should have dictated silence on this +score, and at this juncture. The man was about to be buried, the +disappearance of the smith had passed off so far without comment. Peace, +the eternal peace of the grave, would soon descend on the weird events +which occupied everyone's mind for the present. +</p> +<p> +What the old Quakeress thought and felt, what Richard—the +brother—feared and conjectured was easy for Sir Marmaduke to guess: for +him, but for no one else. To these others the silence of the cottage, +the absence of the Lamberts from this gathering was simple enough of +explanation, seeing that they themselves felt such bitter resentment +against the dead man. They quite felt with the old woman's sullenness, +her hatred of the foreigner who had disturbed the serenity of her life. +</p> +<p> +Everyone else was willing to let her be, not to drag her and young +Lambert into the unpleasant vortex of these proceedings. Their home was +an abode of mourning: it was proper and seemly for them to remain +concealed and silent within their cottage; seemly, too, to have +curtained their windows and closed their doors. +</p> +<p> +No one wished to disturb them; no one but Sir Marmaduke, and with him it +was once again that morbid access of curiosity, the passionate, intense +desire to know and to probe every tiny detail in connection with his own +crime. +</p> +<p> +"The old woman Lambert should be made to identify the body, before it is +buried," he now repeated with angry emphasis, seeing that a look of +disapproval had crossed Squire Boatfield's pleasant face. +</p> +<p> +"We are satisfied as to the man's identity," rejoined the squire +impatiently, "and the sight is not fit for women's eyes." +</p> +<p> +"Nay, then she should be shown the clothes and effects. . . . And, if I +mistake not, there's Richard Lambert, my late secretary, has he laid +sworn information about the man?" +</p> +<p> +"Yes, I believe so," said Boatfield with some hesitation. +</p> +<p> +"Nay, Boatfield, an you are so reluctant to do your duty in this matter, +I'll speak to these people myself. . . . You are chief constable of the +district . . . indeed, 'tis you should do it . . . and in the meanwhile I +pray you, at least to give orders that the coffin be not nailed down." +</p> +<p> +The kindly squire would have entered a further protest. He did not see +the necessity of confronting an old woman with the gruesome sight of a +mutilated corpse, nor did he perceive justifiable cause for further +formalities of identification. +</p> +<p> +But Sir Marmaduke having spoken very peremptorily, had already turned on +his heel without waiting for his friend's protest, and was striding +across the patch of rough stubble, which bordered the railing round the +front of the cottage. Squire Boatfield reluctantly followed him. The +next moment de Chavasse had lifted the latch of the gate, crossed the +short flagged path and now knocked loudly against the front door. +</p> +<p> +Apparently there was no desire for secrecy or rebellion on the part of +the dwellers of the cottage, for hardly had Sir Marmaduke's imperious +knock echoed against the timbered walls, than the door was opened from +within by Richard Lambert who, seeing the two gentlemen standing on the +threshold, stepped back immediately, allowing them to pass. +</p> +<p> +The old Quakeress and Richard were seemingly not alone. Two ladies sat +in those same straight-backed chairs, wherein, some fifty hours ago Adam +Lambert and the French prince had agreed upon that fateful meeting on +the brow of the cliff. +</p> +<p> +Sir Marmaduke's restless eyes took in at a glance every detail of that +little parlor, which he had known so intimately. The low lintel of the +door, which had always forced him to stoop as he entered, the central +table with the pewter candlesticks upon it, the elm chairs shining like +mirrors in response to the Quakeress' maddening passion for cleanliness. +</p> +<p> +Everything was just as it had been those few hours ago, when last he had +picked up his broad-brimmed hat from the table and walked out of the +cottage into the night. Everything was the same as it had been when his +young girl-wife pushed a leather wallet across the table to him: the +wallet which contained the fortune that he had not yet dared to turn +fully to his own account. +</p> +<p> +Aye! it was all just the same: for even at this moment as he stood there +in the room, Sue, pale and still, faced him from across the table. For a +moment he was silent, nor did anybody speak. Squire Boatfield felt +unaccountably embarrassed, certain that he was intruding, vaguely +wondering why the atmosphere in the cottage was so heavy and +oppressive. +</p> +<p> +Behind him, Richard Lambert had quietly closed the front door; the old +woman stood in the background; the dusting-cloth which she had been +plying so vigorously had dropped out of her hand when the two gentlemen +had appeared in her little parlor so unexpectedly. +</p> +<p> +Sir Marmaduke was the first to break the silence. +</p> +<p> +"My dear Sue," he said curtly, "this is a strange place indeed wherein +to find your ladyship." +</p> +<p> +He cast a sharp, inquiring glance at her, then at his sister-in-law, who +was still sitting by the hearth. +</p> +<p> +"She insisted on coming," said Mistress de Chavasse with a shrug of the +shoulders, "and I had not the power to stop her; I thought it best, +therefore, to accompany her." +</p> +<p> +She was wearing the cloak and hood which Sir Marmaduke had seen round +her shoulders when awhile ago he had met her in the hall of the Court. +Apparently she had started out with Sue in his immediate wake, and now +he had a distinct recollection that while the mare was slowly ambling +along, he had looked back once or twice and seen two dark figures +walking some fifty yards behind him on the road which he himself had +just traversed. +</p> +<p> +At the moment he had imagined that they were some village folk, wending +their way towards Acol: now he was conscious of nerve-racking irritation +at the thought that if he had only turned the mare's head back toward +the Court—as he had at one time intended to do—he could have averted +this present meeting—it almost seemed like a confrontation—here, in +this cottage on the self-same spot, where thought of murder had first +struck upon his brain. +</p> +<p> +There was something inexplicable, strangely puzzling now in Sue's +attitude. +</p> +<p> +When de Chavasse had entered, she had risen from her chair and, as if +deliberately, had walked over to the spot where she had stood during +that momentous interview, when she relinquished her fortune entirely and +without protest, into the hands of the man whom she had married, and +whom she believed to be her lord. +</p> +<p> +Her gaze now—calm and fixed, and withal vaguely searching—rested on +her guardian's face. The fixity of her look increased his nerve-tension. +The others, too, were regarding him with varying feelings which were +freely expressed in their eyes. Boatfield seemed upset and somewhat +resentful, the old woman sullen, despite the deference in her attitude, +Lambert defiant, wrathful, nay! full of an incipient desire to avenge +past wrongs. +</p> +<p> +And dominating all, there was Editha's look of bewilderment, of +puzzledom in her face at a mystery whereat her senses were beginning to +reel, that mute questioning of the eyes, which speaks of turbulent +thoughts within. +</p> +<p> +Sir Marmaduke uttered an exclamation of impatience. +</p> +<p> +"You must return to the Court and at once," he said, avoiding Sue's +gaze and speaking directly to Editha, "the men are outside, with +lanterns. You'll have to walk quickly an you wish to reach home before +twilight." +</p> +<p> +But even while he spoke, Sue—not heeding him—had turned to Squire +Boatfield. She went up to him, holding out her hands as if in +instinctive childlike appeal for protection, to a kindly man. +</p> +<p> +"This mystery is horrible!" she murmured. +</p> +<p> +Boatfield took her small hands in his, patting them gently the while, +desiring to soothe and comfort her, for she seemed deeply agitated and +there was a wild look of fear from time to time in her pale face. +</p> +<p> +"Sir Marmaduke is right," said the squire gently, "this is indeed no +place for your ladyship. I did not see you arrive or I had at once +persuaded you to go." +</p> +<p> +De Chavasse would again have interposed. He stooped and picked up Sue's +cloak which had fallen to the ground, and as he went up to her with the +obvious intention of replacing it around her shoulders, she checked him, +with a slight motion of her hand. +</p> +<p> +"I only heard of this terrible crime an hour ago," she said, speaking +once more to Boatfield, "and as I methinks, am the only person in the +world who can throw light upon this awesome mystery, I thought it my +duty to come." +</p> +<p> +"Of a truth 'twas brave of your ladyship," quoth the squire, feeling a +little bewildered at this strange announcement, "but surely . . . you +did not know this man?" +</p> +<p> +"If the rumor which hath reached me be correct," she replied quietly, +"then indeed did I know the murdered man intimately. Prince Amédé +d'Orléans was my husband." +</p> + + + +<p> </p> +<p> </p> +<a name="CH37"><!-- CH37 --></a> +<h2> + CHAPTER XXXVII +</h2> + +<h3> +THE OLD WOMAN +</h3><p> </p> +<p> +There was silence in the tiny cottage parlor as the young girl made this +extraordinary announcement in a firm if toneless voice, without +flinching and meeting with a sort of stubborn pride the five pairs of +eyes which were now riveted upon her. +</p> +<p> +From outside came the hum of many voices, dull and subdued, like the +buzzing of a swarm of bees, and against the small window panes the +incessant patter of icy rain driven and lashed by the gale. Anon the +wind moaned in the wide chimney, . . . it seemed like the loud sigh of the +Fates, satisfied at the tangle wrought by their relentless fingers in +the threads of all these lives. +</p> +<p> +Sir Marmaduke, after a slight pause, had contrived to utter an +oath—indicative of the wrath he, as Lady Sue's guardian, should have +felt at her statement. Squire Boatfield frowned at the oath. He had +never liked de Chavasse and disapproved more than ever of the man's +attitude towards his womenkind now. +</p> +<p> +The girl was in obvious, terrible distress: what she was feeling at this +moment when she was taking those around her into her confidence could be +as nothing compared to what she must have endured when she first heard +the news that her strange bridegroom had been murdered. +</p> +<p> +The kindly squire, though admitting the guardian's wrath, thought that +its violent expression was certainly ill-timed. He allowed Sue to +recover herself, for the more calm was her attitude outwardly, the more +terrible must be the effort which she was making at self-control. +</p> +<p> +Sue's eyes were fixed steadily upon her guardian, and Richard Lambert's +upon her. Both these young people who had carved their own Fate in the +very rock which now had shattered their lives, seemed to be searching +for something vague, unavowed and mysterious which instinct told them +was there, but which was so elusive, so intangible that the soul of each +recoiled, even whilst it tried to probe. +</p> +<p> +Entirely against her will Sue—whilst she looked on her guardian—could +think of nothing save of that day in Dover, the lonely church, the +gloomy vestry, and that weird patter of the rain against the window +panes. +</p> +<p> +She was not ashamed of what she had done, only of what she had felt for +him, whom she now believed to be dead; that she gave him her fortune was +nothing, she neither regretted nor cared about that. What, in the mind +of a young and romantic girl, was the value of a fortune squandered, +when that priceless treasure—her first love—had already been thrown +away? But now she would no longer judge the dead. The money which he had +filched from her, Fate and a murderous hand had quickly taken back from +him, crushing beneath those chalk boulders his many desires, his vast +ambitions, a worthless life and incomparable greed. +</p> +<p> +Her love, which he had stolen . . . that he could not give back: not that +ardent, whole-souled, enthusiastic love; not the romantic idealism, the +hero-worship, that veil of fantasy behind which first love is wont to +hide its ephemerality. But she would not now judge the dead. Her +romantic love lay buried in the lonely church at Dover, and she was +striving not to think even of its grave. +</p> +<p> +Squire Boatfield's kindly voice recalled her to her immediate +surroundings and to the duty—self-imposed—which had brought her +thither. +</p> +<p> +"My dear child," he said, speaking with unwonted solemnity, "if what you +have just stated be, alas! the truth, then indeed, you and you only can +throw some light on the terrible mystery which has been puzzling us all +. . . you may be the means which God hath chosen for bringing an evildoer +to justice. . . . Will you, therefore, try . . . though it may be very +painful to you . . . will you try and tell us everything that is in your +mind . . . everything which may draw the finger of God and our poor eyes +to the miscreant who hath committed such an awful crime." +</p> +<p> +"I fear me I have not much to tell," replied Sue simply, "but I feel +that it is my duty to suggest to the two magistrates here present what I +think was the motive which prompted this horrible crime." +</p> +<p> +"You can suggest a motive for the crime?" interposed Sir Marmaduke, +striving to sneer, although his voice sounded quite toneless, for his +throat was parched and his tongue clove to the roof of his mouth, "by +Gad! 'twere vastly interesting to hear your ladyship's views." +</p> +<p> +He tried to speak flippantly, at which Squire Boatfield frowned +deprecation. Lambert, without a word, had brought a chair near to Lady +Sue, and with a certain gentle authority, he forced her to sit down. +</p> +<p> +"It was a crime, of that I feel sure," said Sue, "nathless, that can be +easily proven . . . when . . . when it has been discovered whether money and +securities contained in a wallet of leather have been found among Prince +Amédé's effects." +</p> +<p> +"Money and securities?" ejaculated Sir Marmaduke with a loud oath, which +he contrived to bring forth with the violence of genuine wrath, "Money +and securities? . . . Forsooth, I trust . . ." +</p> +<p> +"My money and my securities, sir," she interposed with obvious hauteur, +"which I had last night and in this self-same room placed in the hands +of Prince Amédé d'Orléans, my husband." +</p> +<p> +She said this with conscious pride. Whatever change her feelings may +have undergone towards the man who had at one time been the embodiment +of her most cherished dreams, she would not let her sneering guardian +see that she had repented of her choice. +</p> +<p> +Death had endowed her exiled prince with a dignity which had never been +his in life, and the veil of tragedy which now lay over the mysterious +stranger and his still more mysterious life, had called forth to its +uttermost the young wife's sense of loyalty to him. +</p> +<p> +"Not your entire fortune, my dear, dear child, I hope . . ." ejaculated +Squire Boatfield, more horror-struck this time than he had been when +first he had heard of the terrible murder. +</p> +<p> +"The wallet contained my entire fortune," rejoined Sue calmly, "all that +Master Skyffington had placed in my hands on the day that my father +willed that it should be given me." +</p> +<p> +"Such folly is nothing short of criminal," said Sir Marmaduke roughly, +"nathless, had not the gentleman been murdered that night he would have +shown Thanet and you a clean pair of heels, taking your money with him, +of course." +</p> +<p> +"Aye! aye! but he was murdered," said Squire Boatfield firmly, "the +question only is by whom?" +</p> +<p> +"Some footpad who haunts the cliffs," rejoined de Chavasse lightly, +"'tis simple enough." +</p> +<p> +"Simple, mayhap . . ." mused the squire, "yet . . ." +</p> +<p> +He paused a moment and once more silence fell on all those assembled in +the small cottage parlor. Sir Marmaduke felt as if every vein in his +body was gradually being turned to stone. +</p> +<p> +The sense of expectancy was so overwhelming that it completely paralyzed +every other faculty within him, and Editha's searching eyes seemed like +a corroding acid touching an aching wound. Yet for the moment there was +no danger. He had so surrounded himself and his crimes with mystery that +it would take more than a country squire's slowly moving brain to draw +aside that weird and ghostlike curtain which hid his evil deeds. +</p> +<p> +No! there was no danger—as yet! +</p> +<p> +But he cursed himself for a fool and a coward, not to have gone +away—abroad—long ere such a possible confrontation threatened him. He +cursed himself for being here at all—and above all for having left the +smith's clothes and the leather wallet in that lonely pavilion in the +park. +</p> +<p> +Squire Boatfield's kind eyes now rested on the old woman, who, awed and +silent—shut out by her infirmities from this strange drama which was +being enacted in her cottage—had stood calm and impassive by, trying to +read with that wonderful quickness of intuition which the poverty of one +sense gives to the others—what was going on round her, since she could +not hear. +</p> +<p> +Her eyes—pale and dim, heavy-lidded and deeply-lined—rested often on +the face of Richard Lambert, who, leaning against the corner of the +hearth, had watched the proceedings silently and intently. When the +Quakeress's faded gaze met that of the young man, there was a quick and +anxious look which passed from her to him: a look of entreaty for +comfort, one of fear and of growing horror. +</p> +<p> +"And so the exiled prince lodged in your cottage, mistress?" said +Squire Boatfield, after a while, turning to Mistress Lambert. +</p> +<p> +The old woman's eyes wandered from Richard to the squire. The look of +fear in them vanished, giving place to good-natured placidity. She +shuffled forward, in the manner which had so oft irritated her lodger. +</p> +<p> +"Eh? . . . what?" she queried, approaching the squire, "I am somewhat hard +of hearing these times." +</p> +<p> +"We were speaking of your lodger, mistress," rejoined Boatfield, raising +his voice, "harm hath come to him, you know." +</p> +<p> +"Aye! aye!" she replied blandly, "harm hath come to our lodger. . . . Nay! +the Lord hath willed it so. . . . The stranger was queer in his ways. . . . I +don't wonder that harm hath come to him. . . ." +</p> +<p> +"You remember him well, mistress?—him and the clothes he used to wear?" +asked Squire Boatfield. +</p> +<p> +"Oh, yes! I remember the clothes," she rejoined. "I saw them again on +the dead who now lieth in Adam's forge . . . the same curious clothes of a +truth . . . clothes the Lord would condemn as wantonness and vanity. . . . I +saw them again on the dead man," she reiterated garrulously, "the frills +and furbelows . . . things the Lord hateth . . . and which no Christian +should place upon his person . . . yet the foreigner wore them . . . he had +none other . . . and went out with them on him that night that the Lord +sent him down into perdition. . . ." +</p> +<p> +"Did you see him go out that night, mistress?" asked the squire. +</p> +<p> +"Eh? . . . what? . . ." +</p> +<p> +"Did he go out alone?" +</p> +<p> +The dimmed eyes of the old woman roamed restlessly from face to face. It +seemed as if that look of horror and of fear once more struggled to +appear within the pale orbs. Yet the squire looked on her with kindness, +and Lady Sue's tear-veiled eyes expressed boundless sympathy. Richard, +on the other hand, did not look at her, his gaze was riveted on Sir +Marmaduke de Chavasse with an intensity which caused the latter to meet +that look, trying to defy it, and then to flinch before its expression +of passionate wrath. +</p> +<p> +"We wish to know where your nephew Adam is, mistress," now broke in de +Chavasse roughly, "the squire and I would wish to ask him a few +questions." +</p> +<p> +Then as the Quakeress did not reply, he added almost savagely: +</p> +<p> +"Why don't you answer, woman? Are ye still hard of hearing?" +</p> +<p> +"Your pardon, Sir Marmaduke," interposed Lambert firmly, "my aunt is old +and feeble. She hath been much upset and over anxious . . . seeing that my +brother Adam is still from home." +</p> +<p> +Sir Marmaduke broke into a loud and prolonged laugh. +</p> +<p> +"Ha! ha! ha! good master . . . so I understand . . . your brother is from +home . . . whilst the wallet containing her ladyship's fortune has +disappeared along with him, eh?" +</p> +<p> +"What are they saying, lad?" queried the old woman in her trembling +voice, "what are they saying? I am fearful lest there's something wrong +with Adam. . . ." +</p> +<p> +"Nay, nay, dear . . . there's naught amiss," said Lambert soothingly, +"there's naught amiss. . . ." +</p> +<p> +Instinctively now Sue had risen. Sir Marmaduke's cruel laugh had grated +horribly on her ear, rousing an echo in her memory which she could not +understand but which caused her to encircle the trembling figure of the +old Quakeress with young, protecting arms. +</p> +<p> +"Are Squire Boatfield and I to understand, Lambert," continued Sir +Marmaduke, speaking to the young man, "that your brother Adam has +unaccountably disappeared since the night on which the foreigner met +with his tragic fate? Nay, Boatfield," he added, turning to the squire, +as Lambert had remained silent, "methinks you, as chief magistrate, +should see your duty clearly. 'Tis a warrant you should sign and +quickly, too, ere a scoundrel slip through the noose of justice. I can +on the morrow to Dover, there to see the chief constable, but Pyot and +his men should not be idle the while." +</p> +<p> +"What is he saying, my dear?" murmured Mistress Lambert, timorously, as +she clung with pathetic fervor to the young girl beside her, "what is +the trouble?" +</p> +<p> +"Where is your nephew Adam?" said de Chavasse roughly. +</p> +<p> +"I do not know," she retorted with amazing strength of voice, as she +gently but firmly disengaged herself from the restraining arms that +would have kept her back. "I do not know," she repeated, "what is it to +thee, where he is? Art accusing him perchance of doing away with that +foreign devil?" +</p> +<p> +Her voice rose shrill and resonant, echoing in the low-ceilinged room; +her pale eyes, dimmed with many tears, with hard work, and harder piety +were fixed upon the man who had dared to accuse her lad. +</p> +<p> +He tried not to flinch before that gaze, to keep up the air of mockery, +the sound of a sneer. Outside the murmur of voices had become somewhat +louder, the shuffling of bare feet on the flag-stones could now be +distinctly heard. +</p> + + + +<p> </p> +<p> </p> +<a name="CH38"><!-- CH38 --></a> +<h2> + CHAPTER XXXVIII +</h2> + +<h3> +THE VOICE OF THE DEAD +</h3><p> </p> +<p> +The next moment a timid knock against the front door caused everyone to +start. A strange eerie feeling descended on the hearts of all, of +innocent and of guilty, of accuser and of defender. The knock seemed to +have come from spectral hands, for 'twas followed by no further sound. +</p> +<p> +Then again the knock. +</p> +<p> +Lambert went to the door and opened it. +</p> +<p> +"Be the quality here?" queried a timid voice. +</p> +<p> +"Squire Boatfield is here and Sir Marmaduke de Chavasse," replied +Lambert, "what is it, Mat? Come in." +</p> +<p> +The squire had risen at sound of his name, and now went to the door, +glad enough to shake himself free from that awful oppression which hung +on the cottage like a weight of evil. +</p> +<p> +"What is it, Mat?" he asked. +</p> +<p> +A man in rough shirt and coarse breeches and with high boots reaching up +to the thigh was standing humbly in the doorway. He was bareheaded and +his lanky hair, wet with rain and glittering with icy moisture, was +blown about by the gale. At sight of the squire he touched his forelock. +</p> +<p> +"The hour is getting late, squire," he said hesitatingly, "we carriers +be ready. . . . 'Tis an hour or more down to Minster . . . walking with a +heavy burden I mean. . . . If your Honor would give the order, mayhap we +might nail down the coffin lid now and make a start." +</p> +<p> +Marmaduke de Chavasse, too, had turned towards the doorway. Both men +looked out on the little crowd which had congregated beyond the little +gate. It was long past three o'clock now, and the heavy snow clouds +overhead obscured the scanty winter light, and precipitated the approach +of evening. In the gray twilight, a group of men could be seen standing +somewhat apart from the others. All were bareheaded, and all wore rough +shirts and breeches of coarse worsted, drab or brown in color, toning in +with the dull monochrome of the background. +</p> +<p> +Between them in the muddy road stood the long deal coffin. The sheet +which covered it, rendered heavy with persistent wet, flapped dismally +against the wooden sides of the box. Overhead a group of rooks were +circling whilst uttering their monotonous call. +</p> +<p> +A few women had joined their men-folk, attracted by the novelty of the +proceedings, yielding their momentary comfort to their feeling of +curiosity. They had drawn their kirtles over their heads and looked like +gigantic oval balls, gray or black, with small mud-stained feet peeping +out below. +</p> +<p> +Sue had thrown an appealing look at Squire Boatfield, when she saw that +dismal cortège. Her husband, her prince! the descendant of the Bourbons, +the regenerator of France lying there—unrecognizable, horrible and +loathsome—in a rough wooden coffin hastily nailed together by a village +carpenter. +</p> +<p> +She did not wish to look on him: and with mute eyes begged the squire to +spare her and to spare the old woman, who, through the doorway had +caught sight of the drabby little crowd, and of the deal box on the +ground. +</p> +<p> +Lambert, too, at sight of the cortège had gone to the Quakeress, the +kind soul who had cared for him and his brother, two nameless lads, +without home save the one she had provided for them. He trusted in +Squire Boatfield's sense of humanity not to force this septuagenarian to +an effort of nerve and will altogether beyond her powers. +</p> +<p> +Together the two young people were using gentle persuasion to get the +old woman to the back room, whence she could not see the dreary scene +now or presently, the slow winding of the dismal little procession down +the road which leads to Minster, and whence she could not hear that +weird flapping of the wet sheet against the side of the coffin, an echo +to the slow and muffled tolling of the church bell some little distance +away. +</p> +<p> +But the old woman was obstinate. She struggled against the persuasion of +young arms. Things had been said in her cottage just now, which she must +hear more distinctly: vague accusations had been framed, a cruel and +sneering laugh had echoed through the house from whence one of her +lads—Adam—was absent. +</p> +<p> +"No! no!" she said with quiet firmness, as Lambert urged her to +withdraw, "let be, lad . . . let be . . . ye cannot deceive the old woman +all of ye. . . . The Lord hath put wool in my ears, so I cannot hear . . . +but my eyes are good. . . . I can see your faces. . . . I can read them. . . . +Speak man!" she said, as she suddenly disengaged herself from Richard's +restraining arms and walked deliberately up to Marmaduke de Chavasse, +"speak man. . . . Didst thou accuse Adam?" +</p> +<p> +An involuntary "No!" escaped from the squire's kindly heart and lips. +But Sir Marmaduke shrugged his shoulders. +</p> +<p> +The crisis which by his own acts, by his own cowardice, he himself had +precipitated, was here now. Fatality had overtaken him. Whether the +whole truth would come to light he did not know. Truly at this moment he +hardly cared. He did not feel as if he were himself, but another being +before whom stood another Sir Marmaduke de Chavasse, on whom he—a +specter, a ghoul, a dream figure—was about to pass judgment. +</p> +<p> +He knew that he need do nothing now, for without his help or any effort +on his part, that morbid curiosity which had racked his brain for two +days would be fully satisfied. He would know absolutely now, exactly +what everyone thought of the mysterious French prince and of his +terrible fate on Epple sands. +</p> +<p> +Thank Satan and all his hordes of devils that heavy chalk boulders had +done so complete a work of obliteration. +</p> +<p> +But whilst he looked down with complete indifference on the old woman, +she looked about from one face to the other, trying to read what cruel +thoughts of Adam lurked behind those obvious expressions of sympathy. +</p> +<p> +"So that foreign devil hath done mischief at last," she now said loudly, +her tremulous voice gaining in strength as she spoke, "the Lord would +not allow him to do it living . . . so the devil hath helped him to it now +that he is dead. . . . But I tell you that Adam is innocent. . . . There was +no harm in the lad . . . a little rough at times . . . but no harm . . . he'd +no father to bring him up . . . and his mother was a wanton . . . so there +was only the foolish old woman to look after the boys . . . but there's no +harm in the lad . . . there's no harm!" +</p> +<p> +Her voice broke down now in a sob, her throat seemed choked, but with an +effort which seemed indeed amazing in one of her years, she controlled +her tears, and for a moment was silent. The gray twilight crept in +through the door of the cottage, where Mat, bareheaded and humble, still +waited for the order to go. +</p> +<p> +Sir Marmaduke would have interrupted the old woman's talk ere this, but +his limbs were now completely paralyzed: he might have been made of +stone, so rigid did he feel himself to be: a marble image, or else a +specter, a shadow-figure that existed yet could not move. +</p> +<p> +There was such passionate earnestness in the old woman's words that +everyone else remained dumb. Richard, whose heart was filled with dread, +who had endured agonies of anxiety since the disappearance of his +brother, had but one great desire, which was to spare to the kind soul a +knowledge which would mean death or worse to her. +</p> +<p> +As for Editha de Chavasse, she was a mere spectator still: so puzzled, +so bewildered that she was quite convinced at this moment, that she must +be mad. She could not encounter Marmaduke's eyes, try how she might. The +look in his face horrified her less than it mystified her. She +alone—save the murderer himself—knew that the man who lay in that deal +coffin out there was not the mysterious foreigner who had never existed. +</p> +<p> +But if not the stranger, then who was it, who was dead? and what had +Adam Lambert to do with the whole terrible deed? +</p> +<p> +Sue once more tried to lead Mistress Lambert gently away, but she pushed +the young girl aside quite firmly: +</p> +<p> +"Ye don't believe me?" she asked, looking from one face to the other, +"ye don't believe me, yet I tell ye all that Adam is innocent . . . and +that the Lord will not allow the innocent to be unjustly condemned. . . . +Aye! He will e'en let the dead arise, I say, and proclaim the innocence +of my lad!" +</p> +<p> +Her eyes—with dilated pupils and pale opaque rims—had the look of the +seer in them now; she gazed straight out before her into the rain-laden +air, and it seemed almost as if in it she could perceive visions of +avenging swords, of defending angels and accusing ghouls, that she could +hear whisperings of muffled voices and feel beckoning hands guiding her +to a world peopled by specters and evil beings that prey upon the dead. +</p> +<p> +"Let me pass!" she said with amazing vigor, as Squire Boatfield, with +kindly concern, tried to bar her exit through the door, "let me pass I +say! the dead and I have questions to ask of one another." +</p> +<p> +"This is madness!" broke in Marmaduke de Chavasse with an effort; "that +body is not a fit sight for a woman to look upon." +</p> +<p> +He would have seized the Quakeress by the arm in order to force her +back, but Richard Lambert already stood between her and him. +</p> +<p> +"Let no one dare to lay a hand on her," he said quietly. +</p> +<p> +And the old woman escaping from all those who would have restrained her, +walked rapidly through the doorway and down the flagged path rendered +slippery with the sleet. The gale caught the white wings of her coif, +causing them to flutter about her ears, and freezing strands of her gray +locks which stood out now all round her head like a grizzled halo. +</p> +<p> +She could scarcely advance, for the wind drove her kirtle about her lean +thighs, and her feet with the heavy tan shoes sank ankle deep in the +puddles formed by the water in the interstices of the flagstones. The +rain beat against her face, mingling with the tears which now flowed +freely down her cheeks. But she did not heed the discomfort nor yet the +cold, and she would not be restrained. +</p> +<p> +The next moment she stood beside the rough wooden coffin and with a +steady hand had lifted the wet sheet, which continued to flap with dull, +mournful sound round the feet of the dead. +</p> +<p> +The Quakeress looked down upon the figure stretched out here in +death—neither majestic nor peaceful, but horrible and weirdly +mysterious. She did not flinch at the sight. Resentment against the +foreigner dimmed her sense of horror. +</p> +<p> +"So my fine prince," she said, whilst awed at the spectacle of this old +woman parleying with the dead, carriers and mourners had instinctively +moved a few steps away from her, "so thou wouldst harm my boy! . . . Thou +always didst hate him . . . thou with thy grand airs, and thy rough +ways. . . . Had the Lord allowed it, this hand of thine would ere now have +been raised against him . . . as it oft was raised against the old woman +. . . whose infirmities should have rendered her sacred in thy sight." +</p> +<p> +She stooped, and deliberately raised the murdered man's hand in hers, +and for one moment fixed her gaze upon it. For that one moment she was +silent, looking down at the rough fingers, the coarse nails, the +blistered palm. +</p> +<p> +Then still holding the hand in hers, she looked up, then round at every +face which was turned fixedly upon her. Thus she encountered the eyes of +the men and women, present here only to witness an unwonted spectacle, +then those of the kindly squire, of Lady Sue, of Mistress de Chavasse, +and of her other lad—Richard—all of whom had instinctively followed +her down the short flagged path in the wake of her strange and prophetic +pilgrimage. +</p> +<p> +Lastly her eyes met those of Marmaduke de Chavasse. Then she spoke +slowly in a low muffled voice, which gradually grew more loud and more +full of passionate strength. +</p> +<p> +"Aye! the Lord is just," she said, "the Lord is great! It is the dead +which shall rise again and proclaim the innocence of the just, and the +guilt of the wicked." +</p> +<p> +She paused a while, and stooped to kiss the marble-like hand which she +held tightly grasped in hers. +</p> +<p> +"Adam!" she murmured, "Adam, my boy! . . . my lad! . . ." +</p> +<p> +The men and women looked on, stupidly staring, not understanding yet, +what new tragedy had suddenly taken the place of the old. +</p> +<p> +"Aunt, aunt dear," whispered Lambert, who had pushed his way forward, +and now put his arm round the old woman, for she had begun to sway, +"what is the matter, dear?" he repeated anxiously, "what does it mean?" +</p> +<p> +And conquering his own sense of horror and repulsion, he tried to +disengage the cold and rigid hand of the dead from the trembling grasp +of the Quakeress. But she would not relinquish her hold, only she turned +and looked steadily at the young lad, whilst her voice rose firm and +harsh above the loud patter of the rain and the moaning of the wind +through the distant; trees. +</p> +<p> +"It means, my lad," she said, "it means all of you . . . that what I said +was true . . . that Adam is innocent of crime . . . for he lies here dead +. . . and the Lord will see that his death shall not remain unavenged." +</p> +<p> +Once more she kissed the rough hand, beautiful now with that cold beauty +which the rigidity of death imparts; then she replaced it reverently, +silently, and fell upon her knees in the wet mud, beside the coffin. +</p> + + + +<p> </p> +<p> </p> +<a name="CH39"><!-- CH39 --></a> +<h2> + CHAPTER XXXIX +</h2> + +<h3> +THE HOME-COMING OF ADAM LAMBERT +</h3><p> </p> +<p> +All heads were bent; none of the ignorant folk who stood around would +have dared even to look at the old woman kneeling beside that rough deal +box which contained the body of her lad. A reverent feeling had killed +all curiosity: bewilderment at the extraordinary and wholly unexpected +turn of events had been merged in a sense of respectful awe, which +rendered every mouth silent, and lowered every lid. +</p> +<p> +Squire Boatfield, almost paralyzed with astonishment, had murmured half +stupidly: +</p> +<p> +"Adam Lambert . . . dead? . . . I do not understand." +</p> +<p> +He turned to Marmaduke de Chavasse as if vaguely, instinctively +expecting an answer to the terrible puzzle from him. +</p> +<p> +De Chavasse's feet, over which he himself seemed to have no control, had +of a truth led him forward, so that he, too, stood not far from the old +woman now. He had watched her—silent and rigid,—conscious only of one +thing—a trivial matter certes—of Editha's inquiring eyes fixed +steadily upon him. +</p> +<p> +Everything else had been merged in a kind of a dream. But the mute +question in those eyes was what concerned him. It seemed to represent +the satisfaction of that morbid curiosity which had been such a terrible +obsession during these past nerve-racking days. +</p> +<p> +Editha, realizing the identity of the dead man, would there and then +know the entire truth. But Editha's fate was too closely linked to his +own to render her knowledge of that truth dangerous to de Chavasse: +therefore, with him it was merely a sense of profound satisfaction that +someone would henceforth share his secret with him. +</p> +<p> +It is quite impossible to analyze the thoughts of the man who thus stood +by—a silent and almost impassive spectator—of a scene, wherein his +fate, his life, an awful retribution and deadly justice, were all +hanging in the balance. He was not mad, nor did he act with either +irrelevance or rashness. The sense of self-protection was still keen in +him . . . violently keen . . . although undoubtedly he, and he alone, was +responsible for the events which culminated in the present crisis. +</p> +<p> +The whole aspect of affairs had changed from the moment that the real +identity of the dead had been established. Everyone here present would +regard this new mystery in an altogether different light to that by +which they had viewed the former weird problem; but still there need be +no danger to the murderer. +</p> +<p> +Editha would know, of course, but no one else, and it would be vastly +curious anon to see what lady Sue would do. +</p> +<p> +Therefore, Sir Marmaduke was chiefly conscious of Editha's presence, +and then only of Sue. +</p> +<p> +"Some old woman's folly," he now said roughly, in response to Squire +Boatfield's mute inquiry, "awhile ago she identified the clothes as +having belonged to the foreign prince." +</p> +<p> +"Aye, the clothes, de Chavasse," murmured the squire meditatively, "the +clothes, but not the man . . . and 'twas you yourself who just now. . . ." +</p> +<p> +"Master Lambert should know his own brother," here came in a suppressed +murmur from one or two of the men, who respectful before the quality, +had now become too excited to keep altogether silent. +</p> +<p> +"Of course I know my brother," retorted Richard Lambert boldly, "and can +but curse mine own cowardice in not defending him ere this." +</p> +<p> +"What more lies are we to hear?" sneered de Chavasse, "surely, +Boatfield, this stupid scene hath lasted long enough." +</p> +<p> +"Put my knowledge to the test, sir," rejoined Lambert. "My brother's arm +was scarred by a deep cut from shoulder to elbow, caused by the fall of +a sharp-bladed ax—'twas the right arm . . . will you see, Sir Marmaduke, +or will you allow me to lay bare the right arm of this man . . . to see if +I had lied? . . ." +</p> +<p> +Squire Boatfield, conquering his reluctance, had approached nearer to +the coffin; he, too, lifted the dead man's arm, as the old woman had +done just now, and he gazed down meditatively at the hand, which though +shapely, was obviously rough and toil-worn. Then, with a firm and +deliberate gesture, he undid the sleeve of the doublet and pushed it +back, baring the arm up to the shoulder. +</p> +<p> +He looked at the lifeless flesh for a moment, there where a deep and +long scar stood out plainly between the elbow and shoulder like the +veining in a block of marble. Then he pulled the sleeve down again. +</p> +<p> +"Neither you, nor Mistress Lambert have lied, master," he said simply. +"'Tis Adam Lambert who lies here . . . murdered . . . and if that be so," he +continued firmly, "then the man who put these clothes upon the body of +the smith is his murderer . . . the foreigner who called himself Prince +Amédé d'Orléans." +</p> +<p> +"The husband of Lady Sue Aldmarshe," quoth Sir Marmaduke, breaking into +a loud laugh. +</p> +<p> +The rain had momentarily ceased, although the gale, promising further +havoc, still continued that mournful swaying of the dead branches of the +trees. But a gentle drip-drip had replaced that incessant patter. The +humid atmosphere had long ago penetrated through rough shirts and +worsted breeches, causing the spectators of this weird tragedy to shiver +with the cold. +</p> +<p> +The shades of evening had begun to gather in. It were useless now to +attempt to reach Minster before nightfall: nor presumably would the old +Quakeress thus have parted from the dead body of her lad. +</p> +<p> +Richard Lambert had begged that the coffin might be taken into the +cottage. The old woman's co-religionists would help her to obtain for +Adam fitting and Christian burial. +</p> +<p> +After Sir Marmaduke's sneering taunt no one had spoken. For these yokels +and their womenfolk the matter had passed altogether beyond their ken. +Bewildered, not understanding, above all more than half fearful, they +consulted one another vaguely and mutely with eyes and quaint expressive +gestures, wondering what had best be done. +</p> +<p> +'Twas fortunate that the rain had ceased. One by one the women, still +holding their kirtles tightly round their shoulders, began to move away. +The deal box seemed to have reached a degree of mystery from which 'twas +best to keep at a distance. The men, too—those who had come as +spectators—were gradually edging away; some walked off with their +womenfolk, others hung back in groups of three or four discussing the +most hospitable place to which 'twere best to adjourn. +</p> +<p> +All wore a strangely shamed expression of timidity—almost of +self-deprecation, as if apologetic for their presence here when the +quality had matters of such grave import to discuss. No one had really +understood Sir Marmaduke's sneering taunt, only they felt instinctively +that there were some secrets which it had been disrespectful even to +attempt to guess. +</p> +<p> +Those who had been prepared to carry the coffin to Minster were the last +to hang back. Squire Boatfield was obviously giving some directions to +their foreman, Mat, who tugged at his forelock at intervals, indicating +that he was prepared to obey. The others stood aside waiting for +instructions. +</p> +<p> +Thus the deal box remained on the ground, exactly opposite the tiny +wooden gate, strangely isolated and neglected-looking after the +dispersal of the interested crowd which had surrounded it awhile ago. It +seemed as if with the establishment of the real identity of the dead the +intensity of the excitement had vanished. The mysterious foreigner had a +small court round him; Adam Lambert, only his brother and the old +Quakeress. +</p> +<p> +They remained beside the coffin, she kneeling with her head buried in +her wrinkled hands, he standing silent and passionately wrathful both +against one man and against destiny. He had almost screamed with horror +when de Chavasse thus brutally uttered Lady Sue's name: he had seen the +young girl almost sway on her feet, as she smothered the cry of agony +and horror which at her guardian's callous taunt had risen to her lips. +</p> +<p> +He had seen and in his heart worshiped her for the heroic effort which +she made to remain outwardly calm, not to betray before a crowd the +agonizing horror, the awful fear and the burning shame which of a truth +would have crushed most women of her tender years. And because he saw +that she did not wish to betray one single thought or emotion, he did +not approach, nor attempt to show the overwhelming sympathy which he +felt. +</p> +<p> +He knew that any word from him to her would only call forth more +malicious sneers from that strange man, who seemed to be pursuing Lady +Sue and also himself—Lambert—with a tenacious and incomprehensible +hatred. +</p> +<p> +Richard remained, therefore, beside his dead brother's coffin, +supporting and anon gently raising the old woman from the ground. +</p> +<p> +Mat—the foreman—had joined his comrades and after a word of +explanation, they once more gathered round the wooden box. Stooping to +their task, their sinews cracking under the effort, the perspiration +streaming from their foreheads, they raised the mortal remains of Adam +Lambert from the ground and hoisted the burden upon their shoulders. +</p> +<p> +Then they turned into the tiny gate and slowly walked with it along the +little flagged path to the cottage. The men had to stoop as they crossed +the threshold, and the heavy box swayed above their powerful shoulders. +</p> +<p> +The Quakeress and Richard followed, going within in the wake of the six +men. The parlor was then empty, and thus it was that Adam Lambert +finally came home. +</p> +<p> +The others—Squire Boatfield and Mistress de Chavasse, Lady Sue and Sir +Marmaduke—had stood aside in the small fore-court, to enable the small +cortège to pass. Directly Richard Lambert and the old woman disappeared +within the gloom of the cottage interior, these four people—each +individually the prey of harrowing thoughts—once more turned their +steps towards the open road. +</p> +<p> +There was nothing more to be done here at this cottage, where the veil +of mystery which had fallen over the gruesome murder had been so +unexpectedly lifted by a septuagenarian's hand. +</p> + + + +<p> </p> +<p> </p> +<a name="CH40"><!-- CH40 --></a> +<h2> + CHAPTER XL +</h2> + +<h3> +EDITHA'S RETURN +</h3><p> </p> +<p> +Squire Boatfield was vastly perturbed. Never had his position as +magistrate seemed so onerous to him, nor his duties as major-general +quite so arduous. A vague and haunting fear had seized him, a fear +that—if he did do his duty, if he did continue his investigations of +the mysterious crime—he would learn something vastly horrible and +awesome, something he had best never know. +</p> +<p> +He tried to take indifferent leave of the ladies, yet he quite dreaded +to meet Lady Sue's eyes. If all the misery, the terror which she must +feel, were expressed in them, then indeed, would her young face be a +heart-breaking sight for any man to see. +</p> +<p> +He kissed the hand of Editha de Chavasse, and bowed in mute and +deferential sympathy to the young girl-wife, who of a truth had this day +quaffed at one draught the brimful cup of sorrow and of shame. +</p> +<p> +An inexplicable instinct restrained him from taking de Chavasse's hand; +he was quite glad indeed that the latter seemingly absorbed in thoughts +was not heeding his going. +</p> +<p> +The squire in his turn now passed out of the little gate. The evening +was drawing in over-rapidly now, and it would be a long and dismal ride +from here to Sarre. +</p> +<p> +Fortunately he had two serving-men with him, each with a lantern. They +were now standing beside their master's cob, some few yards down the +road, which from this point leads in a straight course down to Sarre. +</p> +<p> +Not far from the entrance to the forge, Boatfield saw petty-constable +Pyot in close converse with Master Hymn-of-Praise Busy, butler to Sir +Marmaduke. The man was talking with great volubility, and obvious +excitement, and Pyot was apparently torn between his scorn for the +narrator's garrulousness, and his fear of losing something of what the +talker had to say. +</p> +<p> +At sight of Boatfield, Pyot unceremoniously left Master Busy standing, +open-mouthed, in the very midst of a voluble sentence, and approached +the squire, doffing his cap respectfully as he did so. +</p> +<p> +"Will your Honor sign a warrant?" he asked. +</p> +<p> +"A warrant? What warrant?" queried the worthy squire, who of a truth, +was falling from puzzlement to such absolute bewilderment that he felt +literally as if his head would burst with the weight of so much mystery +and with the knowledge of such dire infamy. +</p> +<p> +"I think that the scoundrel is cleverer than we thought, your Honor," +continued the petty constable, "we must not allow him to escape." +</p> +<p> +"I am quite bewildered," murmured the squire. "What is the warrant for?" +</p> +<p> +"For the apprehension of the man whom the folk about here called the +Prince of Orléans. I can set the watches on the go this very night, nay! +they shall scour the countryside to some purpose—the murderer cannot be +very far, we know that he is dressed in the smith's clothes, we'll get +him soon enough, but he may have friends. . . ." +</p> +<p> +"Friends?" +</p> +<p> +"He may have been a real prince, your Honor," said Pyot with a laugh, +which contradicted his own suggestion. +</p> +<p> +"Aye! aye! . . . Mayhap!" +</p> +<p> +"He may have powerful friends . . . or such as would resist the watches +. . . resist us, mayhap . . . a warrant would be useful. . . ." +</p> +<p> +"Aye! aye! you are right, constable," said Boatfield, still a little +bewildered, "do you come along to Sarre with me, I'll give you a warrant +this very night. Have you a horse here?" +</p> +<p> +"Nay, your Honor," rejoined the man, "an it please you, my going to +Sarre would delay matters and the watches could not start their search +this night." +</p> +<p> +"Then what am I to do?" exclaimed the squire, somewhat impatient of the +whole thing now, longing to get away, and to forget, beside his own +comfortable fireside, all the harrowing excitement of this unforgettable +day. +</p> +<p> +"Young Lambert is a bookworm, your Honor," suggested Pyot, who was keen +on the business, seeing that his zeal, if accompanied by success, would +surely mean promotion; "there'll be ink and paper in the cottage. . . . An +your Honor would but write a few words and sign them, something I could +show to a commanding officer, if perchance I needed the help of +soldiery, or to the chief constable resident at Dover, for methinks some +of us must push on that way . . . your Honor must forgive . . . we should be +blamed—punished, mayhap—if we allowed such a scoundrel to remain +unhung. . . ." +</p> +<p> +"As you will, man, as you will," sighed the worthy squire impatiently, +"but wait!" he added, as Pyot, overjoyed, had already turned towards the +cottage, "wait until Sir Marmaduke de Chavasse and the ladies have +gone." +</p> +<p> +He called his serving-men to him and ordered them to start on their way +towards home, but to wait for him, with his cob, at the bend of the +road, just in the rear of the little church. +</p> +<p> +Some instinct, for which he could not rightly have accounted, roused in +him the desire to keep his return to the cottage a secret from Sir +Marmaduke. Attended by Pyot, he followed his men down the road, and the +angle of the cottage soon hid him from view. +</p> +<p> +De Chavasse in the meanwhile had ordered his own men to escort the +ladies home. Busy and Toogood lighted their lanterns, whilst Sue and +Editha, wrapping their cloaks and hoods closely round their heads and +shoulders, prepared to follow them. +</p> +<p> +Anon the little procession began slowly to wind its way back towards +Acol Court. +</p> +<p> +Sir Marmaduke lingered behind for a while, of set purpose: he had no +wish to walk beside either Editha or Lady Sue, so he took some time in +mounting his nag, which had been tethered in the rear of the forge. His +intention was to keep the men with the lanterns in sight, for—though +there were no dangerous footpads in Thanet—yet Sir Marmaduke's mood was +not one that courted isolation on a dark and lonely road. +</p> +<p> +Therefore, just before he saw the dim lights of the lanterns +disappearing down the road, which at this point makes a sharp dip before +rising abruptly once more on the outskirts of the wood, Sir Marmaduke +finally put his foot in the stirrup and started to follow. +</p> +<p> +The mare had scarce gone a few paces before he saw the figure of a woman +detaching itself from the little group on ahead, and then turning and +walking rapidly back towards the village. He could not immediately +distinguish which of the two ladies it was, for the figure was totally +hidden beneath the ample folds of cloak and hood, but soon as it +approached, he perceived that it was Editha. +</p> +<p> +He would have stopped her by barring the way, he even thought of +dismounting, thinking mayhap that she had left something behind at the +cottage, and cursing his men for allowing her to return alone, but quick +as a flash of lightning she ran past him, dragging her hood closer over +her face as she ran. +</p> +<p> +He hesitated for a few seconds, wondering what it all meant: he even +turned the mare's head round to see whither Editha was going. She had +already reached the railing and gate in front of the cottage; the next +moment she had lifted the latch, and Sir Marmaduke could see her blurred +outline, through the rising mist, walking quickly along the flagged +path, and then he heard her peremptory knock at the cottage door. +</p> +<p> +He waited a while, musing, checking the mare, who longed to be getting +home. He fully expected to see Editha return within the next minute or +so, for—vaguely through the fast-gathering gloom—he had perceived that +someone had opened the door from within, a thin ray of yellowish light +falling on Editha's cloaked figure. Then she disappeared into the +cottage. +</p> +<p> +On ahead the swaying lights of the lanterns were rapidly becoming more +and more indistinguishable in the distance. Apparently Editha's +departure from out the little group had not been noticed by the others. +The men were ahead, and Sue, mayhap, was too deeply absorbed in thought +to pay much heed as to what was going on round her. +</p> +<p> +Sir Marmaduke still hesitated. Editha was not returning, and the cottage +door was once more closed. Courtesy demanded that he should wait so as +to escort her home. +</p> +<p> +But the fact that she had gone back to the cottage, at risk of having to +walk back all alone and along a dark and dreary road, bore a weird +significance to this man's tortuous mind. Editha, troubled with a mass +of vague fears and horrible conjectures, had, mayhap, desired to have +them set at rest, or else to hear their final and terrible confirmation. +</p> +<p> +In either case Marmaduke de Chavasse had no wish now for a slow amble +homewards in company with the one being in the world who knew him for +what he was. +</p> +<p> +That thought and also the mad desire to get away at last, to cease with +this fateful procrastination and to fly from this country with the +golden booty, which he had gained at such awful risks, these caused him +finally to turn the mare's head towards home, leaving Editha to follow +as best she might, in the company of one of the serving-men whom he +would send back to meet her. +</p> +<p> +The mare was ready to go. He spurred her to a sharp trot. Then having +joined the little group on ahead, he sent Master Courage Toogood back +with his lantern, with orders to inquire at the cottage for Mistress de +Chavasse and there to await her pleasure. +</p> +<p> +He asked Lady Sue to mount behind him, but this she refused to do. So he +put his nag back to foot space, and thus the much-diminished little +party slowly walked back to Acol Court. +</p> + + + +<p> </p> +<p> </p> +<a name="CH41"><!-- CH41 --></a> +<h2> + CHAPTER XLI +</h2> + +<h3> +THEIR NAME +</h3><p> </p> +<p> +What had prompted Editha de Chavasse to return thus alone to the +Quakeress's cottage, she herself could not exactly have told. +</p> +<p> +It must have been a passionate and irresistible desire to heap certainty +upon a tangle of horrible surmises. +</p> +<p> +With Adam Lambert lying dead—obviously murdered—and in the clothes +affected by de Chavasse when masquerading as the French hero, there +could be only one conclusion. But this to Editha—who throughout had +given a helping hand in the management of the monstrous comedy—was so +awful a solution of the puzzle that she could not but recoil from it, +and strive to deny it while she had one sane thought left in her madly +whirling brain. +</p> +<p> +But though she fought against the conclusion with all her might, she did +not succeed in driving it from her thoughts: and through it all there +was a vein of uncertainty, that slender thread of hope that after all +she might be the prey of some awful delusion, which a word from someone +who really knew would anon easily dissipate. +</p> +<p> +Someone who really knew? Nay! that someone could only be Marmaduke, and +of him she dared not ask questions. +</p> +<p> +Mayhap that on the other hand the old woman and Richard Lambert knew +more than they had cared to say. Sue was indeed deeply absorbed in +thoughts, walking with head bent and eyes fixed on the ground like a +somnambulist. Editha, moved by unreasoning instinct, determined to see +the Quakeress again, also the man who now lay dead, hoping that from him +mayhap she might glean the real solution of that mystery which sooner or +later would undoubtedly drive her mad. +</p> +<p> +Running rapidly past horse and rider, for she would not speak to +Marmaduke, she reached the cottage soon enough. +</p> +<p> +In response to her knock, Master Lambert opened the door to her. +</p> +<p> +The dim light of a couple of tallow candles flickered weirdly in the +draught. Editha looked around her in amazement, astonished that—like +herself—Squire Boatfield had also evidently retraced his steps and was +sitting now in one of the high-backed chairs beside the hearth, whilst +the old Quakeress stood not far from him, her attitude indicative of +obstinacy, even of defiance, in the face of a duty with which apparently +the squire had been charging her. +</p> +<p> +At sight of Mistress de Chavasse, Boatfield rose. A look of annoyance +crossed his face, at thought that Editha's arrival had, mayhap, +endangered the success of his present purpose. Ink and paper were on the +table close to his elbow, and it was obvious that he had been +questioning the old woman very closely on a subject which she +apparently desired to keep secret from him. +</p> +<p> +Mistress Lambert's attitude had also changed at sight of Editha, who +stood for a moment undecided on the threshold ere she ventured within. +The look of obstinacy died out of the wrinkled face; the eyes took on a +strange expression of sullen wrath. +</p> +<p> +"Enter, my fine lady, I pray thee, enter," said the Quakeress; "art also +a party to these cross-questionings? . . . art anxious to probe the +secrets which the old woman hath kept hidden within the walls of this +cottage?" +</p> +<p> +She laughed, a low, chuckling laugh, mirthless and almost cruel, as she +surveyed Editha's cloaked figure and then the lady's scared and anxious +face. +</p> +<p> +"Nay, I crave your pardon, mistress," said Editha, feeling oddly timid +before the strange personality of the Quakeress. "I would of a truth +desire to ask your help in . . . in . . . I would not intrude . . . and I . . ." +</p> +<p> +"Nay! nay! prithee enter, fair mistress," rejoined Mistress Lambert +dryly. "Strange, that I should hear thy words so plainly. . . . Thy words +seem to find echo in my brain . . . raising memories which thou hast +buried long ago. . . . Enter, I prithee, and sit thee down," she added, +shuffling towards the chair; "shut the door, Dick lad . . . and ask this +fair mistress to sit. . . . The squire is asking many questions . . . mayhap +that I'll answer them, now that she is here. . . ." +</p> +<p> +In obedience to the quaint peremptoriness of her manner, Richard had +closed the outer door, and drawn the chair forward, asking Mistress de +Chavasse to sit. Squire Boatfield, who was visibly embarrassed, was +still standing and tried to murmur some excuse, being obviously anxious +to curtail this interview and to postpone his further questionings. +</p> +<p> +"I'll come some other time, mistress," he said with obvious nervousness. +"Mistress de Chavasse desires to speak with you, and I'll return later +on in the evening . . . when you are alone. . . ." +</p> +<p> +"Nay! nay, man! . . ." rejoined the Quakeress, "prithee, sit again . . . the +evening is young yet . . . and what I may tell thee now has something to +do with this fine lady here. Wilt question me again? I would mayhap +reply." +</p> +<p> +She stood close to the table, one wrinkled hand resting upon it; the +guttering candles cast strange, fantastic lights on her old face, +surmounted with the winged coif, and weird shadows down one side of her +face. Editha, awed and subdued, gazed on her with a kind of fear, even +of horror. +</p> +<p> +In a dark corner of the little room the straight outline of the long +deal box could only faintly be perceived in the gloom. Richard Lambert, +silent and oppressed, stood close beside it, his face in shadow, his +eyes fixed with a sense of inexplicable premonition on the face of +Editha de Chavasse. +</p> +<p> +"Now, wilt question me again, man?" asked the old Quakeress, turning to +the squire, "the Lord hath willed that my ears be clear to-day. Wilt +question me? . . . I'll hear thee . . . and I'll give answer to thy +questions. . . ." +</p> +<p> +"Nay, mistress," replied the squire, pointing to the ink and the paper +on the table, "methought you would wish to see the murderer of your . . . +your nephew . . . swing on the gallows for his crime. . . . I would sign this +paper here ordering the murderer of the smith of Acol to be apprehended +as soon as found . . . and to be brought forthwith before the magistrate +. . . there to give an account of his doings. . . . I asked you then to give +me the full Christian and surname of the man whom the neighborhood and I +myself thought was your nephew . . . and to my surprise, you seemed to +hesitate and . . ." +</p> +<p> +"And I'll hesitate no longer," she interposed firmly. "Let the lad there +ask me his dead brother's name and I'll tell him. . . . I'll tell him . . . +if he asks . . ." +</p> +<p> +"Justice must be done against Adam's murderer, dear mistress," said +Richard gently, for the old woman had paused and turned to him, +evidently waiting for him to speak. "My brother's real name, his +parentage, might explain the motive which led an evildoer to commit such +an appalling crime. Therefore, dear mistress, do I ask thee to tell us +my brother's name, and mine own." +</p> +<p> +"'Tis well done, lad . . . 'tis well done," she rejoined when Richard had +ceased speaking, and silence had fallen for awhile on that tiny cottage +parlor, "'tis well done," she reiterated. "The secret hath weighed +heavily upon my old shoulders these past few years, since thou and Adam +were no longer children. . . . But I swore to thy grandmother who died in +the Lord, that thou and Adam should never hear of thy mother's +wantonness and shame. . . . I swore it on her death-bed and I have kept my +oath . . . but I am old now. . . . After this trouble, mine hour will surely +come. . . . I am prepared but I will not take thy secret, lad, with me into +my grave." +</p> +<p> +She shuffled across to the old oak dresser which occupied one wall of +the little room. Two pairs of glowing eyes followed her every movement; +those of Richard Lambert, who seemed to see a vision of his destiny +faintly outlined—still blurred—but slowly unfolding itself in the +tangled web of fate; and then those of Editha, who even as the old woman +spoke had felt a tidal wave of long-forgotten memories sweeping right +over her senses. The look in the Quakeress's eyes, the words she +uttered—though still obscure and enigmatical—had already told her the +whole truth. As in a flash she saw before her, her youth and all its +follies, the gay life of thoughtlessness and pleasures, the cradles of +her children, the tiny boys who to the woman of fashion were but a +hindrance and a burden. +</p> +<p> +She saw her own mother, rigid and dour, the counterpart of this same old +Puritan who had not hesitated to part two children from their mother for +over a score of years, any more than she hesitated now to fling insult +upon insult on the wretched woman who had more than paid her debt to +her own careless frivolity of long ago. +</p> +<p> +"Thy brother's name was Henry Adam de Chavasse, and thine Michael +Richard de Chavasse, sons of Rowland de Chavasse, and of the wanton who +was his wife." +</p> +<p> +The old woman had taken a packet of papers, yellow with age and stained +with many tears, from out a secret drawer of the old oak dresser. +</p> +<p> +Her voice was no longer tremulous as it was wont to be, but firm and +dull, monotonous in tone like that of one who speaks whilst in a trance. +Squire Boatfield had uttered an exclamation of boundless astonishment. +Mechanically he took the packet of papers from the Quakeress's hand and +after an instant's hesitation, and in response to an appealing look from +Richard, he broke the string which held the documents together and +perused them one by one. +</p> +<p> +But Editha, even as the last of the old woman's words ceased to echo in +the narrow room, had risen to her feet. Her heavy cloak glided off her +shoulders down upon the ground; her eyes, preternaturally large, glowing +and full of awe, were now fixed upon the young man—her son. +</p> +<p> +"De Chavasse," she murmured, her brain whirling, her heart filled not +only with an awful terror, but also with a great and overwhelming joy. +"My sons . . . then I am . . ." +</p> +<p> +But with a peremptory gesture the Quakeress had stopped the word in her +mouth. +</p> +<p> +"Nay!" she said loudly, "do not pollute that sacred name by letting it +pass through thy lips. Women such as thou were not made for +motherhood. . . . Thy own mother knew that, when she took thy children from +thee and cursed thee on her death-bed for thy sins and for thy shame! +Thy sons were honest, God-fearing men, but 'tis no thanks to thee. Thou +alone hast heaped shame upon their dead father's name and hast contrived +to wreak ruin on the sons who knew thee not." +</p> +<p> +The Quakeress paused a moment, her pale opaque eyes lighted with an +inward glow of wrath and of satisfied vengeance. She and her dead friend +and all their co-religionists had hated the woman, who, in defiance of +her own Puritanic upbringing, had cast aside her friends and her home in +order to throw herself in that vortex of pleasure, which her mother +considered evil and infamous. +</p> +<p> +Together they had all rejoiced over this woman's subsequent humiliation, +her sorrow and longing for her children, the ceaseless search, the +ever-recurrent disappointments. Now the Quakeress's hour had come, hers +and that of the whole of the dour sect who had taken it upon itself to +punish and to avenge. +</p> +<p> +Editha, shamed and miserable, not even daring now to approach her own +son and to beg for affection with a look, stood quite rigid and pale, +allowing the torrent of the old woman's pent-up hatred to fall upon her +and to crush her with its rough cruelty. +</p> +<p> +Squire Boatfield would have interposed. He had glanced at the various +documents—the proofs of what the old woman had asserted—and was +satisfied that the horrible tale of what seemed to him unparalleled +cruelty was indeed true, and that the narrow bigotry of a community had +succeeded in performing that monstrous crime of parting this wretched +woman for twenty years from her sons. +</p> +<p> +Vaguely in his mind, the kindly squire hoped that he—as +magistrate—could fitly punish this crime of child-stealing, and the +expression with which he now regarded the old Quakeress was certainly +not one of good-will. +</p> +<p> +Mistress Lambert had, in the meanwhile, approached Editha. She now took +the younger woman's hand in hers and dragged her towards the coffin. +</p> +<p> +"There lies one of thy sons," she said with the same relentless energy, +"the eldest, who should have been thy pride, murdered in a dark spot by +some skulking criminal. . . . Curse thee! . . . curse thee, I say . . . as thy +mother cursed thee on her death-bed . . . curse thee now that retribution +has come at last!" +</p> +<p> +Her words died away, as some mournful echo against these whitewashed +walls. +</p> +<p> +For a moment she stood wrathful and defiant, upright and stern like a +justiciary between the dead son and the miserable woman, who of a truth +was suffering almost unendurable agony of mind and of heart. +</p> +<p> +Then in the midst of the awesome silence that followed on that loudly +spoken curse, there was the sound of a firm footstep on the rough deal +floor, and the next moment Michael Richard de Chavasse was kneeling +beside his mother, and covering her icy cold hand with kisses. +</p> +<p> +A heart-broken moan escaped her throat. She stooped and with trembling +lips gently touched the young head bent in simple love and uninquiring +reverence before her. +</p> +<p> +Then without a word, without a look cast either at her cruel enemy, or +at the silent spectator of this terrible drama, she turned and ran +rapidly out of the room, out into the dark and dismal night. +</p> +<p> +With a deep sigh of content, Mistress Lambert fell on her knees and +thence upon the floor. +</p> +<p> +The old heart which had contained so much love and so much hatred, such +stern self-sacrifice and such deadly revenge, had ceased to beat, now +the worker's work was done. +</p> + + + +<p> </p> +<p> </p> +<a name="CH42"><!-- CH42 --></a> +<h2> + CHAPTER XLII +</h2> + +<h3> +THE RETURN +</h3><p> </p> +<p> +Master Courage Toogood had long ago given up all thought of waiting for +the mistress. He had knocked repeatedly at the door of the cottage, from +behind the thick panels of which he had heard loud and—he +thought—angry voices, speaking words which he could not, however, quite +understand. +</p> +<p> +No answer had come to his knocking and tired with the excitement of the +day, fearful, too, at the thought of the lonely walk which now awaited +him, he chose to believe that mayhap he had either misunderstood his +master's orders, or that Sir Marmaduke himself had been mistaken when he +thought the mistress back at the cottage. +</p> +<p> +These surmises were vastly to Master Courage Toogood's liking, whose +name somewhat belied his timid personality. Swinging his lantern and +striving to keep up his spirits by the aid of a lusty song, he +resolutely turned his steps towards home. +</p> +<p> +The whole landscape seemed filled with eeriness: the events of the day +had left their impress on this dark November night, causing the sighs of +the gale to seem more spectral and weird than usual, and the dim outline +of the trees with their branches turned away from the coastline, to +seem like unhappy spirits with thin, gaunt arms stretched dejectedly out +toward the unresponsive distance. +</p> +<p> +Master Toogood tried not to think of ghosts, nor of the many stories of +pixies and goblins which are said to take a malicious pleasure in the +timorousness of mankind, but of a truth he nearly uttered a cry of +terror, and would have fallen on his knees in the mud, when a dark +object quite undistinguishable in the gloom suddenly loomed before him. +</p> +<p> +Yet this was only the portly figure of Master Pyot, the petty constable, +who seemed to be mounting guard just outside the cottage, and who was +vastly amused at Toogood's pusillanimity. He entered into converse with +the young man—no doubt he, too, had been feeling somewhat lonely in the +midst of this darkness, which was peopled with unseen shadows. Master +Courage was ready enough to talk. He had acquired some of Master Busy's +eloquence on the subject of secret investigations, and the mystery which +had gained an intensity this afternoon, through the revelations of the +old Quakeress, was an all-engrossing one to all. +</p> +<p> +The attention which Pyot vouchsafed to his narration greatly enhanced +Master Toogood's own delight therein, more especially as the petty +constable had, as if instinctively, measured his steps with those of the +younger man and was accompanying him on his way towards the Court. +</p> +<p> +Courage told his attentive listener all about Master Busy's surmises and +his determination to probe the secrets of the mysterious crime, +which—to be quite truthful—the worthy butler with the hard toes had +scented long ere it was committed, seeing that he used to spend long +hours in vast discomfort in the forked branches of the old elms which +surrounded the pavilion at the boundary of the park. +</p> +<p> +Toogood had no notion if Master Busy had ever discovered anything of +interest in the neighborhood of that pavilion, and he was quite, quite +sure that the saintly man had never dared to venture inside that archaic +building, which had the reputation of being haunted; still, he was +over-gratified to perceive that the petty constable was vastly +interested in his tale—in spite of these obvious defects in its +completeness—and that, moreover, Master Pyot showed no signs of turning +on his heel, but continued to trudge along the gloomy road in company +with Sir Marmaduke's youngest serving-man. +</p> +<p> +Thus Editha, when she ran out of Mistress Lambert's cottage, her ears +ringing with the fanatic's curses, her heart breaking with the joy of +that reverent filial kiss imprinted upon her hands, found the road and +the precincts of the cottage entirely deserted. +</p> +<p> +The night was pitch dark after the rain. Great heavy clouds still hung +above, and an icy blast caught her skirts as she lifted the latch of the +gate and turned into the open. +</p> +<p> +But she cared little about the inclemency of the weather. She knew her +way about well enough and her mind was too full of terrible thoughts of +what was real, to yield to the subtle and feeble fears engendered by +imaginings of the supernatural. +</p> +<p> +Nay! she would, mayhap, have welcomed the pixies and goblins who by +mischievous pranks had claimed her attention. They would, of a truth, +have diverted her mind from the contemplation of that awful and +monstrous deed accomplished by the man whom she would meet anon. +</p> +<p> +If he whom the villagers had called Adam Lambert was her son, Henry Adam +de Chavasse, then Sir Marmaduke was the murderer of her child. All the +curses which the old Quakeress had so vengefully poured upon her were as +nothing compared with that awful, that terrible fact. +</p> +<p> +Her son had been murdered . . . her eldest son whom she had never known, +and she—involuntarily mayhap, compulsorily certes—had in a measure +helped to bring about those events which had culminated in that +appalling crime. +</p> +<p> +She had known of Marmaduke's monstrous fraud on the confiding girl whom +he now so callously abandoned to her fate. She had known of it and +helped him towards its success by luring her other son Richard to that +vile gambling den where he had all but lost his honor, or else his +reason. +</p> +<p> +This knowledge and the help she had given was the real curse upon her +now: a curse far more horrible and deadly than that which had driven +Cain forth into the wilderness. This knowledge and the help she had +given had stained her hands with the blood of her own child. +</p> +<p> +No wonder that she sighed for ghouls and for shadowy monsters, +well-nigh longing for a sight of distorted faces, of ugly deformed +bodies, and loathsome shapes far less hideous than that specter of an +inhuman homicide which followed her along this dark road as she ran—ran +on—ran towards the home where dwelt the living monster of evil, the man +who had done the deed, which she had helped to accomplish. +</p> +<p> +Complete darkness reigned all around her, she could not see a yard of +the road in front of her, but she went on blindly, guided by instinct, +led by that unseen shadow which was driving her on. All round her the +gale was moaning in the creaking branches of the trees, branches which +were like arms stretched forth in appeal towards the unattainable. +</p> +<p> +Her progress was slow for she was walking in the very teeth of the +hurricane, and her shoes ever and anon remained glued to the slimy mud. +But the road was straight enough, she knew it well, and she felt neither +fatigue nor discomfort. +</p> +<p> +Of Sue she did not think. The wrongs done to the defenseless girl were +as nothing to her compared with the irreparable—the wrongs done to her +sons, the living and the dead: for the one the foul dagger of an inhuman +assassin, for the other shame and disgrace. +</p> +<p> +Sue was young. Sue would soon forget. The girl-wife would soon regain +her freedom. . . . But what of the mother who had on her soul the taint of +the murder of her child? +</p> +<p> +The gate leading to the Court from the road was wide open: it had been +left so for her, no doubt, when Sir Marmaduke returned. The house itself +was dark, no light save one pierced the interstices of the ill-fitting +shutters. Editha paused a moment at the gate, looking at the house—a +great black mass, blacker than the surrounding gloom. That had been her +home for many years now, ever since her youth and sprightliness had +vanished, and she had had nowhere to go for shelter. It had been her +home ever since Richard, her youngest boy, had entered it, too, as a +dependent. +</p> +<p> +Oh! what an immeasurable fool she had been, how she had been tricked and +fooled all these years by the man who two days ago had put a crown upon +his own infamy. He knew where the boys were, he helped to keep them away +from their mother, so as to filch from them their present, and above +all, future inheritance. How she loathed him now, and loathed herself +for having allowed him to drag her down. Aye! of a truth he had wronged +her worse even than he had wronged his brother's sons! +</p> +<p> +She fixed her eyes steadily on the one light which alone pierced the +inky blackness of the solid mass of the house. It came from the little +withdrawing-room, which was on the left of this entrance to the hall; +but the place itself—beyond just that one tiny light—appeared quite +silent and deserted. Even from the stableyard on her right and from the +serving-men's quarters not a sound came to mingle with the weird +whisperings of the wind. +</p> +<p> +Editha approached and stooping to the ground, she groped in the mud +until her hands encountered two or three pebbles. +</p> +<p> +She picked them up, then going close to the house, she threw these +pebbles one by one against the half-closed shutter of the +withdrawing-room. +</p> +<p> +The next moment, she heard the latch of the casement window being lifted +from within, and anon the rickety shutter flew back with a thin creaking +sound like that of an animal in pain. +</p> +<p> +The upper part of Sir Marmaduke's figure appeared in the window +embrasure, like a dark and massive silhouette against the yellowish +light from within. He stooped forward, seeming to peer into the +darkness. +</p> +<p> +"Is that you, Editha?" he queried presently. +</p> +<p> +"Yes," she replied. "Open!" +</p> +<p> +She then waited a moment or two, whilst he closed both the shutter and +the window, she standing the while on the stone step before the portico. +In the stillness she could hear him open the drawing-room door, then +cross the hall and finally unbolt the heavy outer door. +</p> +<p> +She pushed past him over the threshold and went into the gloomy hall, +pitch dark save for the flickering light of the candle which he held. +She waited until he had re-closed the door, then she stood quite still, +confronting him, allowing him to look into her face, to read the +expression of her eyes. +</p> +<p> +In order to do this he had raised the candle, his hand trembling +perceptibly, and the feeble light quivered in his grasp, illumining her +face at fitful intervals, creeping down her rigid shoulders and arms, as +far as her hands, which were tightly clenched. It danced upon his face +too, lighting it with weird gleams and fitful sparks, showing the wild +look in his eyes, the glitter almost of madness in the dilated pupils, +the dark iris sharply outlined against the glassy orbs. It licked the +trembling lips and distorted mouth, the drawn nostrils and dank hair, +almost alive with that nameless fear. +</p> +<p> +"You would denounce me?" he murmured, and the cry—choked and +toneless—could scarce rise from the dry parched throat. +</p> +<p> +"Yes!" she said. +</p> +<p> +He uttered a violent curse. +</p> +<p> +"You devil . . . you . . ." +</p> +<p> +"You have time to go," she said calmly, "'tis a long while 'twixt now +and dawn." +</p> +<p> +He understood. She only would denounce him if he stayed. She wished him +no evil, only desired him out of her sight. He tried to say something +flippant, something cruel and sneering, but she stopped him with a +peremptory gesture. +</p> +<p> +"Go!" she said, "or I might forget everything save that you killed my +son." +</p> +<p> +For a moment she thought that her life was in danger at his hands, so +awful in its baffled rage was the expression of his face when he +understood that indeed she knew everything. She even at that moment +longed that his cruel instincts should prompt him to kill her. He could +never succeed in hiding that crime and retributive justice would of a +surety overtake him then, without any help from her. +</p> +<p> +No doubt he, too, thought of this as the weird flicker of the +candle-light showed him her unflinching face, for the next moment, with +another muttered curse, and a careless shrug of the shoulders, he turned +on his heel, and slowly went upstairs, candle in hand. +</p> +<p> +Editha watched him until his massive figure was merged in the gloom of +the heavy oak stairway. Then she went into the withdrawing-room and +waited. +</p> + + + +<p> </p> +<p> </p> +<a name="CH43"><!-- CH43 --></a> +<h2> + CHAPTER XLIII +</h2> + +<h3> +THE SANDS OF EPPLE +</h3><p> </p> +<p> +Five minutes later Sir Marmaduke de Chavasse, clad in thick dark doublet +and breeches and wearing a heavy cloak, once more descended the stairs +of Acol Court. He saw the light in the withdrawing-room and knew that +Editha was there, mutely watching his departure. +</p> +<p> +But he did not care to speak to her again. His mind had been quickly +made up, nay! his actions in the immediate future should of a truth have +been accomplished two days ago, ere the meddlesomeness of women had +well-nigh jeopardized his own safety. +</p> +<p> +All that he meant to do now was to go quickly to the pavilion, find the +leather wallet then return to his own stableyard, saddle one of his nags +and start forthwith for Dover. Eighteen miles would soon be covered, and +though the night was dark, the road was straight and broad. De Chavasse +knew it well, and had little fear of losing his way. +</p> +<p> +With plenty of money in his purse, he would have no difficulty in +chartering a boat which, with a favorable tide on the morrow, should +soon take him over to France. +</p> +<p> +All that he ought to have done two days ago! Of a truth, he had been a +cowardly fool. +</p> +<p> +He did not cross the hall this time but went out through the +dining-room by the garden entrance. Not a glimmer of light came from +above, but as he descended the few stone steps he felt that a few soft +flakes of snow tossed by the hurricane were beginning to fall. Of course +he knew every inch of his own garden and park and had oft wandered about +on the further side of the ha-ha whilst indulging in lengthy +sweetly-spoken farewells with his love-sick Sue. +</p> +<p> +Absorbed in the thoughts of his immediate future plans, he nevertheless +walked along cautiously, for the paths had become slippery with the +snow, which froze quickly even as it fell. +</p> +<p> +He did not pause, however, for he wished to lose no time. If he was to +ride to Dover this night, he would have to go at foot-pace, for the road +would be like glass if this snow and ice continued. Moreover, he was +burning to feel that wallet once more between his fingers and to hear +the welcome sound of the crushing of crisp papers. +</p> +<p> +He had plunged resolutely into the thickness of the wood. Here he could +have gone blindfolded, so oft had he trodden this path which leads under +the overhanging elms straight to the pavilion, walking with Sue's little +hand held tightly clasped in his own. +</p> +<p> +The spiritual presence of the young girl seemed even now to pervade the +thicket, her sweet fragrance to fill the frost-laden air. +</p> +<p> +Bah! he was not the man to indulge in retrospective fancy. The girl was +naught to him, and there was no sense of remorse in his soul for the +terrible wrongs which he had inflicted on her. All that he thought of +now was the wallet which contained the fortune. That which would forever +compensate him for the agony, the madness of the past two days. +</p> +<p> +The bend behind that last group of elms should now reveal the outline of +the pavilion. Sir Marmaduke advanced more cautiously, for the trees here +were very close together. +</p> +<p> +The next moment he had paused, crouching suddenly like a carnivorous +beast, balked of its prey. There of a truth was the pavilion, but on the +steps three men were standing, talking volubly and in whispers. Two of +these men carried stable lanterns, and were obviously guiding their +companion up to the door of the pavilion. +</p> +<p> +The light of the lanterns illumined one face after another. De Chavasse +recognized his two serving-men, Busy and Toogood; the man who was with +them was petty-constable Pyot. Marmaduke with both hands clutching the +ivy which clung round the gnarled stem of an old elm, watched from out +the darkness what these three men were doing here, beside this pavilion, +which had always been so lonely and deserted. +</p> +<p> +He could not distinguish what they said for they spoke in whispers and +the creaking branches groaning beneath the wind drowned every sound +which came from the direction of the pavilion and the listener on the +watch, straining his every sense in order to hear, dared not creep any +closer lest he be perceived. +</p> +<p> +Anon, the three men examined the door of the pavilion, and shaking the +rusty bolts, found that they would not yield. But evidently they were of +set purpose, for the next moment all three put their shoulder to the +worm-eaten woodwork, and after the third vigorous effort the door +yielded to their assault. +</p> +<p> +Men and lanterns disappeared within the pavilion. Sir Marmaduke heard an +ejaculation of surprise, then one of profound satisfaction. +</p> +<p> +For the space of a few seconds he remained rooted to the spot. It almost +seemed to him as if with the knowledge that the wallet and the discarded +clothes of the smith had been found, with the certitude that this +discovery meant his own undoing probably, and in any case the final loss +of the fortune for which he had plotted and planned, lied and +masqueraded, killed a man and cheated a girl, that with the knowledge of +all this, death descended upon him: so cold did he feel, so unable was +he to make the slightest movement. +</p> +<p> +But this numbness only lasted a few seconds. Obviously the three men +would return in a minute or so; equally obviously his own presence +here—if discovered—would mean certain ruin to him. Even while he was +making the effort to collect his scattered senses and to move from this +fateful and dangerous spot, he saw the three men reappear in the +doorway of the pavilion. +</p> +<p> +The breeches and rough shirt of the smith hung over the arm of +Hymn-of-Praise Busy; the dark stain on the shirt was plainly visible by +the light of one of the lanterns. +</p> +<p> +Petty constable Pyot had the leather wallet in his hand, and was peeping +down with grave curiosity at the bundle of papers which it contained. +</p> +<p> +Then with infinite caution, Marmaduke de Chavasse worked his way between +the trees towards the old wall which encircled his park. The three men +obviously would be going back either to Acol Court, or mayhap, straight +to the village. +</p> +<p> +Sir Marmaduke knew of a gap in the wall which it was quite easy to +climb, even in the dark; a path through the thicket at that point led +straight out towards the coast. +</p> +<p> +He had struck that path from the road on the night when he met the smith +on the cliffs. +</p> +<p> +The snow only penetrated in sparse flakes to the thicket here. Although +the branches of the trees were dead, they interlaced so closely overhead +that they formed ample protection against the wet. +</p> +<p> +But the fury of the gale seemed terrific amongst these trees and the +groaning of the branches seemed like weird cries proceeding from hell. +</p> +<p> +Anon, the midnight walker reached the open. Here a carpet of coarse +grass peeping through the thin layer of snow gave insecure foothold. He +stumbled as he pursued his way. He was walking in the teeth of the +northwesterly blast now and he could scarcely breathe, for the great +gusts caught his throat, causing him to choke. +</p> +<p> +Still he walked resolutely on. Icy moisture clung to his hair, and to +his lips, and soon he could taste the brine in the air. The sound of the +breakers some ninety feet below mingled weirdly with the groans of the +wind. +</p> +<p> +He knew the path well. Had he not trodden it three nights ago, on his +way to meet the smith? Already in the gloom he could distinguish the +broken line of the cliffs sharply defined against the gray density of +the horizon. +</p> +<p> +As he drew nearer the roar of the breakers became almost deafening. A +heavy sea was rolling in on the breast of the tide. +</p> +<p> +Still he walked along, towards the brow of the cliffs. Soon he could +distinguish the irregular heap of chalk against which Adam had stood, +whilst he had held the lantern in one hand and gripped the knife in the +other. +</p> +<p> +The hurricane nearly swept him off his feet. He had much ado to steady +himself against that heap of chalk. The snow had covered his cloak and +his hat, and he liked to think that he, too, now—snow-covered—must +look like a monstrous chalk boulder, weird and motionless outlined +against the leaden grayness of the ocean beyond. +</p> +<p> +The smith was not by his side now. There was no lantern, no paper, no +double-edged dagger. Down nearly a hundred feet below the smith had lain +until the turn of the tide. The man's eyes, becoming accustomed to the +gloom, could distinguish the points of the great boulders springing +boldly from out the sand. The surf as it broke all round and over them +was tipped with a phosphorescent light. +</p> +<p> +The gale, in sheer wantonness, caught the midnight prowler's hat and +with a wild sound as of the detonation of a hundred guns, tossed it to +the waves below. The snow in a few moments had thrown a white pall over +the watcher's head. +</p> +<p> +He could see quite clearly the tall boulder untouched by the tide, on +which he had placed the black silk shade that night, also the +broad-brimmed hat, so that these things should be found high and dry and +be easily recognizable. +</p> +<p> +Some twenty feet further on was the smooth stretch of sand where had +lain the smith, after he had been dressed up in the fantastic clothes of +the mysterious French prince. +</p> +<p> +Marmaduke de Chavasse gazed upon that spot. The breakers licked it now +and again, leaving behind them as they retreated a track of slimy foam, +which showed white in this strange gray gloom, rendered alive and moving +by the falling snow. +</p> +<p> +The surf covered that stretch of sand more and more frequently now, and +retreated less and less far: the slimy foam floated now over an inky +pool; soon that too disappeared. The breakers sought other boulders +round which to play their titanic hide-and-seek. The tide had +completely hidden the place where Adam Lambert had lain. +</p> +<p> +Then the watcher walked on—one step and then another—and then the one +beyond the edge as he stepped down, down into the abyss ninety feet +below. +</p> + + + +<p> </p> +<p> </p> + +<a name="CH44"></a> +<h2> + THE EPILOGUE +</h2> + +<p> +The chronicles of the time tell us that the mysterious disappearance of +Sir Marmaduke de Chavasse was but a nine days' wonder in that great +world which lies beyond the boundaries of sea-girt Thanet. +</p> +<p> +What Thanet thought of it all, the little island kept secret, hiding its +surmises in the thicket of her own archaic forests. +</p> +<p> +Squire Boatfield did his best to wrap the disappearance of his whilom +friend in impenetrable veils of mystery. He was a humane and a kindly +man and feeling that the guilty had been amply punished, he set to work +to cheer and to rehabilitate the innocent. +</p> +<p> +All of us who have read the memoirs of Editha de Chavasse, written when +she was a woman of nearly sixty, remember that she, too, has drawn a +thick curtain over the latter days of her brother-in-law's life. It is +to her pen that we owe the record of what happened subsequently. +</p> +<p> +She tells us, for instance, how Master Skyffington, after sundry +interviews with my Lord Northallerton, had the honor of bringing to his +lordship's notice the young student—so long known as Richard +Lambert—who, of a truth, was sole heir to the earldom and to its +magnificent possessions and dependencies. +</p> +<p> +From the memoirs of Editha de Chavasse we also know that Lady Sue +Aldmarshe, girl-wife and widow, did, after a period of mourning, marry +Michael Richard de Chavasse, sole surviving nephew and heir presumptive +of his lordship the Earl of Northallerton. +</p> +<p> +But it is to the brush of Sir Peter Lely that we owe that exquisite +portrait of Sue, when she was Countess of Northallerton, the friend of +Queen Catherine, the acknowledged beauty at the Court of the +Restoration. +</p> +<p> +It is a sweet face, whereon the half-obliterated lines of sorrow vie +with that look of supreme happiness which first crept into her eyes when +she realized that the dear and constant friend who had loved her so +dearly, was as true to her in his joy as he had been in those dark days +when a terrible crisis had well-nigh wrecked her life. +</p> +<p> +Lord and Lady Northallerton did not often stay in London. The brilliance +of the Court had few attractions for them. Happiness came to them after +terrible sorrows. They liked to hide it and their great love in the calm +and mystery of forest-covered Thanet. +</p> +<p> </p> +<h4> +THE END +</h4> +<p> </p> + + + + + + + +<pre> + + + + + +End of Project Gutenberg's The Nest of the Sparrowhawk, by Baroness Orczy + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE NEST OF THE SPARROWHAWK *** + +***** This file should be named 12175-h.htm or 12175-h.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + https://www.gutenberg.org/1/2/1/7/12175/ + +Produced by Steven desJardins and Distributed Proofreaders + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. 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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: The Nest of the Sparrowhawk + +Author: Baroness Orczy + +Release Date: April 27, 2004 [EBook #12175] +[Date last updated: March 1, 2006] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ASCII + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE NEST OF THE SPARROWHAWK *** + + + + +Produced by Steven desJardins and Distributed Proofreaders + + + + +THE NEST OF THE SPARROWHAWK + +_A ROMANCE OF THE XVIIth CENTURY_ + +BY THE BARONESS ORCZY + +_November, 1909_ + + + + +CONTENTS + +PART I + +CHAPTER + I. THE HOUSE OF A KENTISH SQUIRE + II. ON A JULY AFTERNOON + III. THE EXILE + IV. GRINDING POVERTY + V. THE LEGAL ASPECT + VI. UNDER THE SHADOW OF THE ELMS + VII. THE STRANGER WITHIN THE GATES + VIII. PRINCE AMEDE D'ORLEANS + IX. SECRET SERVICE + X. AVOWED ENMITY + XI. SURRENDER + XII. A WOMAN'S HEART + XIII. AN IDEA + +PART II + XIV. THE HOUSE IN LONDON + XV. A GAME OF PRIMERO + XVI. A CONFLICT + XVII. RUS IN URBE + XVIII. THE TRAP + XIX. DISGRACE + XX. MY LORD PROTECTOR'S PATROL + +PART III + XXI. IN THE MEANWHILE + XXII. BREAKING THE NEWS + XXIII. THE ABSENT FRIEND + XXIV. NOVEMBER THE 2D + XXV. AN INTERLUDE + XXVI. THE OUTCAST + XXVII. LADY SUE'S FORTUNE + XXVIII. HUSBAND AND WIFE + XXIX. GOOD-BYE + XXX. ALL BECAUSE OF THE TINDER-BOX + XXXI. THE ASSIGNATION + XXXII. THE PATH NEAR THE CLIFFS + +PART IV + XXXIII. THE DAY AFTER + XXXIV. AFTERWARDS + XXXV. THE SMITH'S FORGE + XXXVI. THE GIRL-WIFE + XXXVII. THE OLD WOMAN +XXXVIII. THE VOICE OF THE DEAD + XXXIX. THE HOME-COMING OF ADAM LAMBERT + XL. EDITHA'S RETURN + XLI. THEIR NAME + XLII. THE RETURN + XLIII. THE SANDS OF EPPLE + XLIV. THE EPILOGUE + + + + +PART I + + + + +The Nest of the Sparrowhawk + +CHAPTER I + +THE HOUSE OF A KENTISH SQUIRE + + +Master Hymn-of-Praise Busy folded his hands before him ere he spoke: + +"Nay! but I tell thee, woman, that the Lord hath no love for such +frivolities! and alack! but 'tis a sign of the times that an English +Squire should favor such evil ways." + +"Evil ways? The Lord love you, Master Hymn-of-Praise, and pray do you +call half an hour at the skittle alley 'evil ways'?" + +"Aye, evil it is to indulge our sinful bodies in such recreation as doth +not tend to the glorification of the Lord and the sanctification of our +immortal souls." + +He who sermonized thus unctuously and with eyes fixed with stern +disapproval on the buxom wench before him, was a man who had passed the +meridian of life not altogether--it may be surmised--without having +indulged in some recreations which had not always the sanctification of +his own immortal soul for their primary object. The bulk of his figure +testified that he was not averse to good cheer, and there was a certain +hidden twinkle underlying the severe expression of his eyes as they +rested on the pretty face and round figure of Mistress Charity that did +not necessarily tend to the glorification of the Lord. + +Apparently, however, the admonitions of Master Hymn-of-Praise made but a +scanty impression on the young girl's mind, for she regarded him with a +mixture of amusement and contempt as she shrugged her plump shoulders +and said with sudden irrelevance: + +"Have you had your dinner yet, Master Busy?" + +"'Tis sinful to address a single Christian person as if he or she were +several," retorted the man sharply. "But I'll tell thee in confidence, +mistress, that I have not partaken of a single drop more comforting than +cold water the whole of to-day. Mistress de Chavasse mixed the +sack-posset with her own hands this morning, and locked it in the +cellar, of which she hath rigorously held the key. Ten minutes ago when +she placed the bowl on this table, she called my attention to the fact +that the delectable beverage came to within three inches of the brim. +Meseems I shall have to seek for a less suspicious, more +Christian-spirited household, whereon to bestow in the near future my +faithful services." + +Hardly had Master Hymn-of-Praise finished speaking when he turned very +sharply round and looked with renewed sternness--wholly untempered by a +twinkle this time--in the direction whence he thought a suppressed +giggle had just come to his ears. But what he saw must surely have +completely reassured him; there was no suggestion of unseemly ribaldry +about the young lad who had been busy laying out the table with spoons +and mugs, and was at this moment vigorously--somewhat ostentatiously, +perhaps--polishing a carved oak chair, bending to his task in a manner +which fully accounted for the high color in his cheeks. + +He had long, lanky hair of a pale straw-color, a thin face and high +cheek-bones, and was dressed--as was also Master Hymn-of-Praise Busy--in +a dark purple doublet and knee breeches, all looking very much the worse +for wear; the brown tags and buttons with which these garments had +originally been roughly adorned were conspicuous in a great many places +by their absence, whilst all those that remained were mere skeletons of +their former selves. + +The plain collars and cuffs which relieved the dull color of the men's +doublets were of singularly coarse linen not beyond reproach as to +cleanliness, and altogether innocent of starch; whilst the thick brown +worsted stockings displayed many a hole through which the flesh peeped, +and the shoes of roughly tanned leather were down at heel and worn +through at the toes. + +Undoubtedly even in these days of more than primitive simplicity and of +sober habiliments Master Hymn-of-Praise Busy, butler at Acol Court in +the county of Kent, and his henchman, Master Courage Toogood, would have +been conspicuous for the shabbiness and poverty of the livery which they +wore. + +The hour was three in the afternoon. Outside a glorious July sun spread +radiance and glow over an old-fashioned garden, over tall yew hedges, +and fantastic forms of green birds and heads of beasts carefully cut and +trimmed, over clumps of late roses and rough tangles of marguerites and +potentillas, of stiff zinnias and rich-hued snapdragons. + +Through the open window came the sound of wood knocking against wood, of +exclamations of annoyance or triumph as the game proceeded, and every +now and then a ripple of prolonged laughter, girlish, fresh, pure as the +fragrant air, clear as the last notes of the cuckoo before he speaks his +final farewell to summer. + +Every time that echo of youth and gayety penetrated into the +oak-raftered dining-room, Master Hymn-of-Praise Busy pursed his thick +lips in disapproval, whilst the younger man, had he dared, would no +doubt have gone to the window, and leaning out as far as safety would +permit, have tried to catch a glimpse of the skittle alley and of a +light-colored kirtle gleaming among the trees. But as it was he caught +the older man's stern eyes fixed reprovingly upon him, he desisted from +his work of dusting and polishing, and, looking up to the heavy oak-beam +above him, he said with becoming fervor: + +"Lord! how beautifully thou dost speak, Master Busy!" + +"Get on with thy work, Master Courage," retorted the other relentlessly, +"and mix not thine unruly talk with the wise sayings of thy betters." + +"My work is done, Master." + +"Go fetch the pasties then, the quality will be in directly," rejoined +the other peremptorily, throwing a scrutinizing look at the table, +whereon a somewhat meager collation of cherries, raspberries and +gooseberries and a more generous bowl of sack-posset had been arranged +by Mistress Charity and Master Courage under his own supervision. + +"Doubtless, doubtless," here interposed the young maid somewhat +hurriedly, desirous perhaps of distracting the grave butler's attention +from the mischievous oglings of the lad as he went out of the room, "as +you remark--hem--as thou remarkest, this place of service is none to the +liking of such as ... thee ..." + +She threw him a coy glance from beneath well-grown lashes, which caused +the saintly man to pass his tongue over his lips, an action which of a +surety had not the desire for spiritual glory for its mainspring. With +dainty hands Mistress Charity busied herself with the delicacies upon +the table. She adjusted a gooseberry which seemed inclined to tumble, +heaped up the currants into more graceful pyramids. Womanlike, whilst +her eyes apparently followed the motions of her hands they nevertheless +took stock of Master Hymn-of-Praise's attitude with regard to herself. + +She knew that in defiance of my Lord Protector and all his Puritans she +was looking her best this afternoon: though her kirtle was as threadbare +as Master Courage's breeches it was nevertheless just short enough to +display to great advantage her neatly turned ankle and well-arched foot +on which the thick stockings--well-darned--and shabby shoes sat not at +all amiss. + +Her kerchief was neatly folded, white and slightly starched, her cuffs +immaculately and primly turned back just above her round elbow and +shapely arm. + +On the whole Mistress Charity was pleased with her own appearance. Sir +Marmaduke de Chavasse and the mistress were seeing company this +afternoon, and the neighboring Kentish squires who had come to play +skittles and to drink sack-posset might easily find a less welcome sight +than that of the serving maid at Acol Court. + +"As for myself," now resumed Mistress Charity, after a slight pause, +during which she had felt Master Busy's admiring gaze fixed persistently +upon her, "as for myself, I'll seek service with a lady less like to +find such constant fault with a hard-working maid." + +Master Courage had just returned carrying a large dish heaped up with +delicious looking pasties fresh from the oven, brown and crisp with +butter, and ornamented with sprigs of burrage which made them appear +exceedingly tempting. + +Charity took the dish from the lad and heavy as it was, she carried it +to the table and placed it right in the very center of it. She +rearranged the sprigs of burrage, made a fresh disposition of the +baskets of fruit, whilst both the men watched her open-mouthed, agape at +so much loveliness and grace. + +"And," she added significantly, looking with ill-concealed covetousness +at the succulent pasties, "where there's at least one dog or cat about +the place." + +"I know not, mistress," said Hymn-of-Praise, "that thou wast over-fond +of domestic pets ... 'Tis sinful to ..." + +"La! Master Busy, you ... hem ... thou mistakest my meaning. I have no +love for such creatures--but without so much as a kitten about the +house, prithee how am I to account to my mistress for the pasties and +... and comfits ... not to speak of breakages." + +"There is always Master Courage," suggested Hymn-of-Praise, with a +movement of the left eyelid which in the case of any one less saintly +might have been described as a sly wink. + +"That there is not," interrupted the lad decisively; "my stomach rebels +against comfits, and sack-posset could never be laid to my door." + +"I give thee assurance, Master Busy," concluded the young girl, "that +the county of Kent no longer suits my constitution. 'Tis London for me, +and thither will I go next year." + +"'Tis a den of wickedness," commented Busy sententiously, "in spite of +my Lord Protector, who of a truth doth turn his back on the Saints and +hath even allowed the great George Fox and some of the Friends to +languish in prison, whilst profligacy holds undisputed sway. Master +Courage, meseems those mugs need washing a second time," he added, with +sudden irrelevance. "Take them to the kitchen, and do not let me set +eyes on thee until they shine like pieces of new silver." + +Master Courage would have either resisted the order altogether, or at +any rate argued the point of the cleanliness of the mugs, had he dared; +but the saintly man possessed on occasions a heavy hand, and he also +wore boots which had very hard toes, and the lad realized from the +peremptory look in the butler's eyes that this was an occasion when both +hand and boot would serve to emphasize Master Busy's orders with +unpleasant force if he himself were at all slow to obey. + +He tried to catch Charity's eye, but was made aware once more of the +eternal truth that women are perverse and fickle creatures, for she +would not look at him, and seemed absorbed in the rearrangement of her +kerchief. + +With a deep sigh which should have spoken volumes to her adamantine +heart, Courage gathered all the mugs together by their handles, and +reluctantly marched out of the room once more. + +Hymn-of-Praise Busy waited a moment or two until the clattering of the +pewter died away in the distance, then he edged a little closer to the +table whereat Mistress Charity seemed still very busy with the fruit, +and said haltingly: + +"Didst thou really wish to go, mistress ... to leave thy fond, adoring +Hymn-of-Praise ... to go, mistress? ... and to break my heart?" + +Charity's dainty head--with its tiny velvet cap edged with lawn which +hardly concealed sufficiently the wealth of her unruly brown hair--sank +meditatively upon her left shoulder. + +"Lord, Master Busy," she said demurely, "how was a poor maid to know +that you meant it earnestly?" + +"Meant it earnestly?" + +"Yes ... a new kirtle ... a gold ring ... flowers ... and sack-posset +and pasties to all the guests," she explained. "Is that what you mean +... hem ... what _thou_, meanest, Master Busy?" + +"Of a surety, mistress ... and if thou wouldst allow me to ... to ..." + +"To what, Master Busy?" + +"To salute thee," said the saintly man, with a becoming blush, "as the +Lord doth allow his creatures to salute one another ... with a chaste +kiss, mistress." + +Then as she seemed to demur, he added by way of persuasion: + +"I am not altogether a poor man, mistress; and there is that in my +coffer upstairs put by, as would please thee in the future." + +"Nay! I was not thinking of the money, Master Busy," said this daughter +of Eve, coyly, as she held a rosy cheek out in the direction of the +righteous man. + +'Tis the duty even of a veracious chronicler to draw a discreet veil +over certain scenes full of blissful moments for those whom he portrays. + +There are no data extant as to what occurred during the next few +seconds in the old oak-beamed dining-room of Acol Court in the Island of +Thanet. Certain it is that when next we get a peep at Master +Hymn-of-Praise Busy and Mistress Charity Haggett, they are standing side +by side, he looking somewhat shame-faced in the midst of his obvious +joy, and she supremely unconcerned, once more absorbed in the apparently +never-ending adornment of the refreshment table. + +"Thou'lt have no cause to regret this, mistress," said Busy +complacently, "we will be married this very autumn, and I have it in my +mind--an it please the Lord--to go up to London and take secret service +under my Lord Protector himself." + +"Secret service, Master Busy ... hem ... I mean Hymn-of-Praise, dear ... +secret service? ... What may that be?" + +"'Tis a noble business, Charity," he replied, "and one highly commended +by the Lord: the business of tracking the wicked to their lair, of +discovering evil where 'tis hidden in dark places, conspiracies against +my Lord Protector, adherence to the cause of the banished tyrants and +... and ... so forth." + +"Sounds like spying to me," she remarked curtly. + +"Spying? ... Spying, didst thou say?" he exclaimed indignantly. "Fie on +thee, Charity, for the thought! Secret service under my Lord Protector +'tis called, and a highly lucrative business too, and one for which I +have remarkable aptitude." + +"Indeed?" + +"Aye! See the manner in which I find things out, mistress. This house +now ... thou wouldst think 'tis but an ordinary house ... eh?" + +His manner changed; the saintliness vanished from his attitude; the +expression of his face became sly and knowing. He came nearer to +Charity, took hold of her wrist, whilst he raised one finger to his +lips. + +"Thou wouldst think 'tis an ordinary house ... wouldst thou not?" he +repeated, sinking his voice to a whisper, murmuring right into her ear +so that his breath blew her hair about, causing it to tickle her cheek. + +She shuddered with apprehension. His manner was so mysterious. + +"Yes ... yes ..." she murmured, terrified. + +"But I tell thee that there's something going on," he added +significantly. + +"La, Master Busy ... you ... you terrify me!" she said, on the verge of +tears. "What could there be going on?" + +Master Busy raised both his hands and with the right began counting off +the fingers of the left. + +"Firstly," he began solemnly, "there's an heiress! secondly our +master--poor as a church mouse--thirdly a young scholar--secretary, they +call him, though he writes no letters, and is all day absorbed in his +studies ... Well, mistress," he concluded, turning a triumphant gaze on +her, "tell me, prithee, what happens?" + +"What happens, Master Hymn-of-Praise? ... I do not understand. What +does happen?" + +"I'll tell thee," he replied sententiously, "when I have found out; but +mark my words, mistress, there's something going on in this house ... +Hush! not a word to that young jackanapes," he added as a distant +clatter of pewter mugs announced the approach of Master Courage. "Watch +with me, mistress, thou'lt perceive something. And when I have found +out, 'twill be the beginning of our fortunes." + +Once more he placed a warning finger on his lips; once more he gave +Mistress Charity a knowing wink, and her wrist an admonitory pressure, +then he resumed his staid and severe manner, his saintly mien and +somewhat nasal tones, as from the gay outside world beyond the +window-embrasure the sound of many voices, the ripple of young laughter, +the clink of heeled boots on the stone-flagged path, proclaimed the +arrival of the quality. + + + + +CHAPTER II + +ON A JULY AFTERNOON + + +In the meanwhile in a remote corner of the park the quality was +assembled round the skittle-alley. + +Imagine Sir Marmaduke de Chavasse standing there, as stiff a Roundhead +as ever upheld my Lord Protector and his Puritanic government in this +remote corner of the county of Kent: dour in manner, harsh-featured and +hollow-eyed, dressed in dark doublet and breeches wholly void of tags, +ribands or buttons. His closely shorn head is flat at the back, square +in front, his clean-shaven lips though somewhat thick are always held +tightly pressed together. Not far from him sits on a rough wooden seat, +Mistress Amelia Editha de Chavasse, widow of Sir Marmaduke's elder +brother, a good-looking woman still, save for the look of discontent, +almost of suppressed rebellion, apparent in the perpetual dark frown +between the straight brows, in the downward curve of the well-chiseled +mouth, and in the lowering look which seems to dwell for ever in the +handsome dark eyes. + +Dame Harrison, too, was there: the large and portly dowager, florid of +face, dictatorial in manner, dressed in the supremely unbecoming style +prevalent at the moment, when everything that was beautiful in art as +well as in nature was condemned as sinful and ungodly; she wore the dark +kirtle and plain, ungainly bodice with its hard white kerchief folded +over her ample bosom; her hair was parted down the middle and brushed +smoothly and flatly to her ears, where but a few curls were allowed to +escape with well-regulated primness from beneath the horn-comb, and the +whole appearance of her looked almost grotesque, surmounted as it was by +the modish high-peaked beaver hat, a marvel of hideousness and +discomfort, since the small brim afforded no protection against the sun, +and the tall crown was a ready prey to the buffetings of the wind. + +Mistress Fairsoul Pyncheon too, was there, the wife of the Squire of +Ashe; thin and small, a contrast to Dame Harrison in her mild and +somewhat fussy manner; her plain petticoat, too, was embellished with +paniers, and in spite of the heat of the day she wore a tippet edged +with fur: both of which frivolous adornments had obviously stirred up +the wrath of her more Puritanical neighbor. + +Then there were the men: busy at this moment with hurling wooden balls +along the alley, at the further end of which a hollow-eyed scraggy +youth, in shirt and rough linen trousers, was employed in propping up +again the fallen nine-pins. Squire John Boatfield had ridden over from +Eastry, Sir Timothy Harrison had come in his aunt's coach, and young +Squire Pyncheon with his doting mother. + +And in the midst of all these sober folk, of young men in severe +garments, of portly dames and frowning squires, a girlish figure, +young, alert, vigorous, wearing with the charm of her own youth and +freshness the unbecoming attire, which disfigured her elders yet seemed +to set off her own graceful form, her dainty bosom and pretty arms. Her +kirtle, too, was plain, and dull in color, of a soft dovelike gray, +without adornment of any kind, but round her shoulders her kerchief was +daintily turned, edged with delicate lace, and showing through its filmy +folds peeps of her own creamy skin. + +'Twas years later that Sir Peter Lely painted Lady Sue when she was a +great lady and the friend of the Queen: she was beautiful then, in the +full splendor of her maturer charms, but never so beautiful as she was +on that hot July afternoon in the year of our Lord 1657, when, heated +with the ardor of the game, pleased undoubtedly with the adulation which +surrounded her on every side, she laughed and chatted with the men, +teased the women, her cheeks aglow, her eyes bright, her brown +hair--persistently unruly--flying in thick curls over her neck and +shoulders. + +"A remarkable talent, good Sir Marmaduke," Dame Harrison was saying to +her host, as she cast a complacent eye on her nephew, who had just +succeeded in overthrowing three nine-pins at one stroke: "Sir Timothy +hath every aptitude for outdoor pursuits, and though my Lord Protector +deems all such recreations sinful, yet do I think they tend to the +development of muscular energy, which later on may be placed at the +service of the Commonwealth." + +Sir Timothy Harrison at this juncture had the misfortune of expending +his muscular energy in hitting Squire Boatfield violently on the shin +with an ill-aimed ball. + +"Damn!" ejaculated the latter, heedless of the strict fines imposed by +my Lord Protector on unseemly language. "I ... verily beg the ladies' +pardon ... but ... this young jackanapes nearly broke my shin-bone." + +There certainly had been an exclamation of horror on the part of the +ladies at Squire Boatfield's forcible expression of annoyance, Dame +Harrison taking no pains to conceal her disapproval. + +"Horrid, coarse creature, this neighbor of yours, good Sir Marmaduke," +she said with her usual air of decision. "Meseems he is not fit company +for your ward." + +"Dear Squire Boatfield," sighed Mistress Pyncheon, who was evidently +disposed to be more lenient, "how good-humoredly he bears it! Clumsy +people should not be trusted in a skittle alley," she added in a mild +way, which seemed to be peculiarly exasperating to Dame Harrison's +irascible temper. + +"I pray you, Sir Timothy," here interposed Lady Sue, trying to repress +the laughter which would rise to her lips, "forgive poor Squire John. +You scarce can expect him to moderate his language under such +provocation." + +"Oh! his insults leave me completely indifferent," said the young man +with easy unconcern, "his calling me a jackanapes doth not of necessity +make me one." + +"No!" retorted Squire Boatfield, who was still nursing his shin-bone, +"maybe not, Sir Timothy, but it shows how observant I am." + +"Oliver, pick up Lady Sue's handkerchief," came in mild accents from +Mistress Pyncheon. + +"Quite unnecessary, good mistress," rejoined Dame Harrison decisively, +"Sir Timothy has already seen it." + +And while the two young men made a quick and not altogether successful +dive for her ladyship's handkerchief, colliding vigorously with one +another in their endeavor to perform this act of gallantry +single-handed, Lady Sue gazed down on them, with good-humored contempt, +laughter and mischief dancing in her eyes. She knew that she was good to +look at, that she was rich, and that she had the pick of the county, +aye, of the South of England, did she desire to wed. Perhaps she thought +of this, even whilst she laughed at the antics of her bevy of courtiers, +all anxious to win her good graces. + +Yet even as she laughed, her face suddenly clouded over, a strange, +wistful look came into her eyes, and her laughter was lost in a quick, +short sigh. + +A young man had just crossed the tiny rustic bridge which spanned the +ha-ha dividing the flower-garden from the uncultivated park. He walked +rapidly through the trees, towards the skittle alley, and as he came +nearer, the merry lightheartedness seemed suddenly to vanish from Lady +Sue's manner: the ridiculousness of the two young men at her feet, +glaring furiously at one another whilst fighting for her handkerchief, +seemed now to irritate her; she snatched the bit of delicate linen from +their hands, and turned somewhat petulantly away. + +"Shall we continue the game?" she said curtly. + +The young man, all the while that he approached, had not taken his eyes +off Lady Sue. Twice he had stumbled against rough bits of root or branch +which he had not perceived in the grass through which he walked. He had +seen her laughing gaily, whilst Squire Boatfield used profane language, +and smile with contemptuous merriment at the two young men at her feet; +he had also seen the change in her manner, the sudden wistful look, the +quick sigh, the irritability and the petulance. + +But his own grave face expressed neither disapproval at the one mood nor +astonishment at the other. He walked somewhat like a somnambulist, with +eyes fixed--almost expressionless in the intensity of their gaze. + +He was very plainly, even poorly clad, and looked a dark figure even +amongst these soberly appareled gentry. The grass beneath his feet had +deadened the sound of his footsteps but Sir Marmaduke had apparently +perceived him, for he beckoned to him to approach. + +"What is it, Lambert?" he asked kindly. + +"Your letter to Master Skyffington, Sir Marmaduke," replied the young +man, "will you be pleased to sign it?" + +"Will it not keep?" said Sir Marmaduke. + +"Yes, an you wish it, Sir. I fear I have intruded. I did not know you +were busy." + +The young man had a harsh voice, and a strange brusqueness of manner +which somehow suggested rebellion against the existing conditions of +life. He no longer looked at Lady Sue now, but straight at Sir +Marmaduke, speaking the brief apology between his teeth, without opening +his mouth, as if the words hurt him when they passed his lips. + +"You had best speak to Master Skyffington himself about the business," +rejoined Sir Marmaduke, not heeding the mumbled apology, "he will be +here anon." + +He turned abruptly away, and the young man once more left to himself, +silently and mechanically moved again in the direction of the house. + +"You will join us in a bowl of sack-posset, Master Lambert," said +Mistress de Chavasse, striving to be amiable. + +"You are very kind," he said none too genially, "in about half-an-hour +if you will allow me. There is another letter yet to write." + +No one had taken much notice of him. Even in these days when kingship +and House of Lords were abolished, the sense of social inequality +remained keen. To this coterie of avowed Republicans, young Richard +Lambert--secretary or what-not to Sir Marmaduke, a paid dependent at any +rate--was not worth more than a curt nod of the head, a condescending +acknowledgment of his existence at best. + +But Lady Sue had not even bestowed the nod. She had not actually taken +notice of his presence when he came; the wistful look had vanished as +soon as the young man's harsh voice had broken on her ear: she did not +look on him now that he went. + +She was busy with her game. Nathless her guardian's secretary was of no +more importance in the rich heiress's sight than that mute row of +nine-pins at the end of the alley, nor was there, mayhap, in her mind +much social distinction between the hollow-eyed lad who set them up +stolidly from time to time, and the silent young student who wrote those +letters which Sir Marmaduke had not known how to spell. + + + + +CHAPTER III + +THE EXILE + + +But despite outward indifference, with the brief appearance of the +soberly-garbed young student upon the scene and his abrupt and silent +departure, all the zest seemed to have gone out of Lady Sue's mood. + +The ingenuous flatteries of her little court irritated her now: she no +longer felt either amused or pleased by the extravagant compliments +lavished upon her beauty and skill by portly Squire John, by Sir Timothy +Harrison or the more diffident young Squire Pyncheon. + +"Of a truth, I sometimes wish, Lady Sue, that I could find out if you +have any faults," remarked Squire Boatfield unctuously. + +"Nay, Squire," she retorted sharply, "pray try to praise me to my female +friends." + +In vain did Mistress Pyncheon admonish her son to be more bold in his +wooing. + +"You behave like a fool, Oliver," she said meekly. + +"But, Mother ..." + +"Go, make yourself pleasing to her ladyship." + +"But, Mother ..." + +"I pray you, my son," she retorted with unusual acerbity, "do you want a +million or do you not?" + +"But, Mother ..." + +"Then go at once and get it, ere that fool Sir Timothy or the odious +Boatfield capture it under your very nose." + +"But, Mother ..." + +"Go! say something smart to her at once ... talk about your gray mare +... she is over fond of horses ..." + +Then as the young Squire, awkward and clumsy in his manner, more +accustomed to the company of his own servants than to that of highborn +ladies, made sundry unfortunate attempts to enchain the attention of the +heiress, his worthy mother turned with meek benignity to Sir Marmaduke. + +"A veritable infatuation, good Sir Marmaduke," she said with a sigh, +"quite against my interests, you know. I had no thought to see the dear +lad married so soon, nor to give up my home at the Dene yet, in favor of +a new mistress. Not but that Oliver is not a good son to his +mother--such a good lad!--and such a good husband he would be to any +girl who ..." + +"A strange youth that secretary of yours, Sir Marmaduke," here +interposed Dame Harrison in her loud, dictatorial voice, breaking in on +Mistress Pyncheon's dithyrambs, "modest he appears to be, and silent +too: a paragon meseems!" + +She spoke with obvious sarcasm, casting covert glances at Lady Sue to +see if she heard. + +Sir Marmaduke shrugged his shoulders. + +"Lambert is very industrious," he said curtly. + +"I thought secretaries never did anything but suck the ends of their +pens," suggested Mistress Pyncheon mildly. + +"Sometimes they make love to their employer's daughter," retorted Dame +Harrison spitefully, for Lady Sue was undoubtedly lending an ear to the +conversation now that it had the young secretary for object. She was not +watching Squire Boatfield who was wielding the balls just then with +remarkable prowess, and at this last remark from the portly old dame, +she turned sharply round and said with a strange little air of +haughtiness which somehow became her very well: + +"But then you see, mistress, Master Lambert's employer doth not possess +a daughter of his own--only a ward ... mayhap that is the reason why his +secretary performs his duties so well in other ways." + +Her cheeks were glowing as she said this, and she looked quite defiant, +as if challenging these disagreeable mothers and aunts of +fortune-hunting youths to cast unpleasant aspersions on a friend whom +she had taken under her special protection. + +Sir Marmaduke looked at her keenly; a deep frown settled between his +eyes at sight of her enthusiasm. His face suddenly looked older, and +seemed more dour, more repellent than before. + +"Sue hath such a romantic temperament," he said dryly, speaking between +his teeth and as if with an effort. "Lambert's humble origin has fired +her imagination. He has no parents and his elder brother is the +blacksmith down at Acol; his aunt, who seems to have had charge of the +boys ever since they were children, is just a common old woman who lives +in the village--a strict adherent, so I am told, of this new sect, whom +Justice Bennet of Derby hath so justly nicknamed 'Quakers.' They talk +strangely, these people, and believe in a mighty queer fashion. I know +not if Lambert be of their creed, for he does not use the 'thee' and +'thou' when speaking as do all Quakers, so I am told; but his empty +pockets, a smattering of learning which he has picked up the Lord knows +where, and a plethora of unspoken grievances, have all proved a sure +passport to Lady Sue's sympathy." + +"Nay, but your village of Acol seems full of queer folk, good Sir +Marmaduke," said Mistress Pyncheon. "I have heard talk among my servants +of a mysterious prince hailed from France, who has lately made one of +your cottages his home." + +"Oh! ah! yes!" quoth Sir Marmaduke lightly, "the interesting exile from +the Court of King Louis. I did not know that his fame had reached you, +mistress." + +"A French prince?--in this village?" exclaimed Dame Harrison sharply, +"and pray, good Sir Marmaduke, where did you go a-fishing to get such a +bite?" + +"Nay!" replied Sir Marmaduke with a short laugh, "I had naught to do +with his coming; he wandered to Acol from Dover about six months ago it +seems, and found refuge in the Lamberts' cottage, where he has remained +ever since. A queer fellow I believe. I have only seen him once or +twice in my fields ... in the evening, usually ..." + +Perhaps there was just a curious note of irritability in Sir Marmaduke's +voice as he spoke of this mysterious inhabitant of the quiet village of +Acol; certain it is that the two matchmaking old dames seemed smitten at +one and the same time with a sense of grave danger to their schemes. + +An exile from France, a prince who hides his identity and his person in +a remote Kentish village, and a girl with a highly imaginative +temperament like Lady Sue! here was surely a more definite, a more +important rival to the pretensions of homely country youths like Sir +Timothy Harrison or Squire Pyncheon, than even the student of humble +origin whose brother was a blacksmith, whose aunt was a Quakeress, and +who wandered about the park of Acol with hollow eyes fixed longingly on +the much-courted heiress. + +Dame Harrison and Mistress Pyncheon both instinctively turned a +scrutinizing gaze on her ladyship. Neither of them was perhaps +ordinarily very observant, but self-interest had made them keen, and it +would have been impossible not to note the strange atmosphere which +seemed suddenly to pervade the entire personality of the young girl. + +There was nothing in her face now expressive of whole-hearted +partisanship for an absent friend, such as she had displayed when she +felt that young Lambert was being unjustly sneered at; rather was it a +kind of entranced and arrested thought, as if her mind, having come in +contact with one all-absorbing idea, had ceased to function in any other +direction save that one. + +Her cheeks no longer glowed, they seemed pale and transparent like those +of an ascetic; her lips were slightly parted, her eyes appeared +unconscious of everything round her, and gazing at something enchanting +beyond that bank of clouds which glimmered, snow-white, through the +trees. + +"But what in the name of common sense is a French prince doing in Acol +village?" ejaculated Dame Harrison in her most strident voice, which had +the effect of drawing every one's attention to herself and to Sir +Marmaduke, whom she was thus addressing. + +The men ceased playing and gathered nearer. The spell was broken. That +strange and mysterious look vanished from Lady Sue's face; she turned +away from the speakers and idly plucked a few bunches of acorn from an +overhanging oak. + +"Of a truth," replied Sir Marmaduke, whose eyes were still steadily +fixed on his ward, "I know as little about the fellow, ma'am, as you do +yourself. He was exiled from France by King Louis for political reasons, +so he explained to the old woman Lambert, with whom he is still lodging. +I understand that he hardly ever sleeps at the cottage, that his +appearances there are short and fitful and that his ways are passing +mysterious.... And that is all I know," he added in conclusion, with a +careless shrug of the shoulders. + +"Quite a romance!" remarked Mistress Pyncheon dryly. + +"You should speak to him, good Sir Marmaduke," said Dame Harrison +decisively, "you are a magistrate. 'Tis your duty to know more of this +fellow and his antecedents." + +"Scarcely that, ma'am," rejoined Sir Marmaduke, "you understand ... I +have a young ward living for the nonce in my house ... she is very rich, +and, I fear me, of a very romantic disposition ... I shall try to get +the man removed from hence, but until that is accomplished, I prefer to +know nothing about him ..." + +"How wise of you, good Sir Marmaduke!" quoth Mistress Pyncheon with a +sigh of content. + +A sentiment obviously echoed in the hearts of a good many people there +present. + +"One knows these foreign adventurers," concluded Sir Marmaduke with +pleasant irony, "with their princely crowns and forlorn causes ... half +a million of English money would no doubt regild the former and bolster +up the latter." + +He rose from his seat as he spoke, boldly encountering even as he did +so, a pair of wrathful and contemptuous girlish eyes fixed steadily upon +him. + +"Shall we go within?" he said, addressing his guests, and returning his +young ward's gaze haughtily, even commandingly; "a cup of sack-posset +will be welcome after the fatigue of the game. Will you honor my poor +house, mistress? and you, too, ma'am? Gentlemen, you must fight among +yourselves for the privilege of escorting Lady Sue to the house, and if +she prove somewhat disdainful this beautiful summer's afternoon, I pray +you remember that faint heart never won fair lady, and that the citadel +is not worth storming an it is not obdurate." + +The suggestion of sack-posset proved vastly to the liking of the merry +company. Mistress de Chavasse who had been singularly silent all the +afternoon, walked quickly in advance of her brother-in-law's guests, no +doubt in order to cast a scrutinizing eye over the arrangements of the +table, which she had entrusted to the servants. + +Sir Marmaduke followed at a short distance, escorting the older women, +making somewhat obvious efforts to control his own irritability, and to +impart some sort of geniality to the proceedings. + +Then in a noisy group in the rear came the three men still fighting for +the good graces of Lady Sue, whilst she, silent, absorbed, walked +leisurely along, paying no heed to the wrangling of her courtiers, her +fingers tearing up with nervous impatience the delicate cups of the +acorns, which she then threw from her with childish petulance. + +And her eyes still sought the distance beyond the boundaries of Sir +Marmaduke's private grounds, there where cornfields and sky and sea were +merged by the summer haze into a glowing line of emerald and purple and +gold. + + + + +CHAPTER IV + +GRINDING POVERTY + + +It was about an hour later. Sir Marmaduke's guests had departed, Dame +Harrison in her rickety coach, Mistress Pyncheon in her chaise, whilst +Squire Boatfield was riding his well-known ancient cob. + +Everyone had drunk sack-posset, had eaten turkey pasties, and enjoyed +the luscious fruit: the men had striven to be agreeable to the heiress, +the old ladies to be encouraging to their proteges. Sir Marmaduke had +tried to be equally amiable to all, whilst favoring none. He was an +unpopular man in East Kent and he knew it, doing nothing to +counterbalance the unpleasing impression caused invariably by his surly +manner, and his sarcastic, often violent, temper. + +Mistress Amelia Editha de Chavasse was now alone with her brother-in-law +in the great bare hall of the Court, Lady Sue having retired to her room +under pretext of the vapors, and young Lambert been finally dismissed +from work for the day. + +"You are passing kind to the youth, Marmaduke," said Mistress de +Chavasse meditatively when the young man's darkly-clad figure had +disappeared up the stairs. + +She was sitting in a high-backed chair, her head resting against the +carved woodwork. The folds of her simple gown hung primly round her +well-shaped figure. Undoubtedly she was still a very good-looking woman, +though past the hey-day of her youth and beauty. The half-light caused +by the depth of the window embrasure, and the smallness of the glass +panes through which the summer sun hardly succeeded in gaining +admittance, added a certain softness to her chiseled features, and to +the usually hard expression of her large dark eyes. + +She was gazing out of the tall window, wherein the several broken panes +were roughly patched with scraps of paper, out into the garden and the +distance beyond, where the sea could be always guessed at, even when not +seen. Sir Marmaduke had his back to the light: he was sitting astride a +low chair, his high-booted foot tapping the ground impatiently, his +fingers drumming a devil's tattoo against the back of the chair. + +"Lambert would starve if I did not provide for him," he said with a +sneer. "Adam, his brother, could do naught for him: he is poor as a +church-mouse, poorer even than I--but nathless," he added with a violent +oath, "it strikes everyone as madness that I should keep a secretary +when I scarce can pay the wages of a serving maid." + +"'Twere better you paid your servants' wages, Marmaduke," she retorted +harshly, "they were insolent to me just now. Why do you not pay the +girl's arrears to-day?" + +"Why do I not climb up to the moon, my dear Editha, and bring down a +few stars with me in my descent," he replied with a shrug of his broad +shoulders. "I have come to my last shilling." + +"The Earl of Northallerton cannot live for ever." + +"He hath vowed, I believe, that he would do it, if only to spite me. And +by the time that he come to die this accursed Commonwealth will have +abolished all titles and confiscated every estate." + +"Hush, Marmaduke," she said, casting a quick, furtive look all round +her, "there may be spies about." + +"Nay, I care not," he rejoined roughly, jumping to his feet and kicking +the chair aside so that it struck with a loud crash against the flagged +floor. "'Tis but little good a man gets for cleaving loyally to the +Commonwealth. The sequestrated estates of the Royalists would have been +distributed among the adherents of republicanism, and not held to +bolster up a military dictatorship. Bah!" he continued, allowing his +temper to overmaster him, speaking in harsh tones and with many a +violent oath, "it had been wiser to embrace the Royal cause. The Lord +Protector is sick, so 'tis said. His son Richard hath no backbone, and +the present tyranny is worse than the last. I cannot collect my rents; I +have been given neither reward nor compensation for the help I gave in +'46. So much for their boasted gratitude and their many promises! My +Lord Protector feasts the Dutch ambassadors with music and with wine, my +Lords Ireton and Fairfax and Hutchinson and the accursed lot of canting +Puritans flaunt it in silks and satins, whilst I go about in a ragged +doublet and with holes in my shoes." + +"There's Lady Sue," murmured Mistress de Chavasse soothingly. + +"Pshaw! the guardianship of a girl who comes of age in three months!" + +"You can get another by that time." + +"Not I. I am not a sycophant hanging round White Hall! 'Twas sheer good +luck and no merit of mine that got me the guardianship of Sue. Lord +Middlesborough, her kinsman, wanted it; the Courts would have given her +to him, but old Noll thought him too much of a 'gentleman,' whilst I--an +out-at-elbows country squire, was more to my Lord Protector's liking. +'Tis the only thing he ever did for me." + +There was intense bitterness and a harsh vein of sarcasm running through +Sir Marmaduke's talk. It was the speech of a disappointed man, who had +hoped, and striven, and fought once; had raised longing hands towards +brilliant things and sighed after glory, or riches, or fame, but whose +restless spirit had since been tamed, crushed under the heavy weight of +unsatisfied ambition. + +Poverty--grinding, unceasing, uninteresting poverty, had been Sir +Marmaduke's relentless tormentor ever since he had reached man's estate. +His father, Sir Jeremy de Chavasse, had been poor before him. The +younger son of that Earl of Northallerton who cut such a brilliant +figure at the Court of Queen Elizabeth, Jeremy had married Mistress +Spanton of Acol Court, who had brought him a few acres of land heavily +burdened with mortgage as her dowry. They were a simple-minded, +unostentatious couple who pinched and scraped and starved that their two +sons might keep up the appearances of gentlemen at the Court of King +Charles. + +But both the young men seemed to have inherited from their brilliant +grandfather luxurious tastes and a love of gambling and of show--but +neither his wealth nor yet his personal charm of manner. The eldest, +Rowland, however, soon disappeared from the arena of life. He married +when scarce twenty years of age a girl who had been a play-actress. This +marriage nearly broke his doting mother's heart, and his own, too, for +the matter of that, for the union was a most unhappy one. Rowland de +Chavasse died very soon after, unreconciled to his father and mother, +who refused to see him or his family, even on his deathbed. + +Jeremy de Chavasse's few hopes now centered on his younger son, +Marmaduke. In order to enable the young man to remain in London, to mix +freely and to hold his own in that set into which family traditions had +originally gained him admittance, the fond mother and indulgent father +denied themselves the very necessities of life. + +Marmaduke took everything that was given him, whilst chafing at the +paucity of his allowance. Determined to cut a figure at Court, he spent +two years and most of his mother's dowry in a vain attempt to capture +the heart of one or the other of the rich heiresses who graced the +entourage of Charles I. + +But Nature who had given Marmaduke boundless ambition, had failed to +bestow on him those attributes which would have helped him on towards +its satisfaction. He was neither sufficiently prepossessing to please an +heiress, nor sufficiently witty and brilliant to catch the royal eye or +the favor of his uncle, the present Earl of Northallerton. His efforts +in the direction of advantageous matrimony had earned for him at Court +the nickname of "The Sparrowhawk." But even these efforts had soon to be +relinquished for want of the wherewithal. + +The doting mother no longer could supply him with a sufficiency of money +to vie with the rich gallants at the Court, and the savings which Sir +Jeremy had been patiently accumulating with a view to freeing the Acol +estates from mortgage went instead to rescue young Marmaduke from a +debtor's prison. + +Poor Sir Jeremy did not long survive his disappointment. Marmaduke +returned to Acol Court only to find his mother a broken invalid, and his +father dead. + +Since then it had been a perpetual struggle against poverty and debt, a +bitter revolt against Fate, a burning desire to satisfy ambition which +had received so serious a check. + +When the great conflict broke out between King and Parliament, he threw +himself into it, without zest and without conviction, embracing the +cause of the malcontents with a total lack of enthusiasm, merely out of +disappointment--out of hatred for the brilliant Court and circle in +which he had once hoped to become a prominent figure. + +He fought under Ireton, was commended as a fairly good soldier, though +too rebellious to be very reliable, too self-willed to be wholly +trusted. + +Even in these days of brilliant reputations quickly made, he remained +obscure and practically unnoticed. Advancement never came his way and +whilst younger men succeeded in attracting the observant eye of old +Noll, he was superseded at every turn, passed over--anon forgotten. + +When my Lord Protector's entourage was formed, the Household organized, +no one thought of the Sparrowhawk for any post that would have satisfied +his desires. Once more he cursed his own poverty. Money--the want of +it--he felt was at the root of all his disappointments. A burning desire +to obtain it at any cost, even that of honor, filled his entire being, +his mind, his soul, his thoughts, every nerve in his body. Money, and +social prestige! To be somebody at Court or elsewhere, politically, +commercially,--he cared not. To handle money and to command attention! + +He became wary, less reckless, striving to obtain by diplomatic means +that which he had once hoped to snatch by sheer force of personality. +The Court of Chancery having instituted itself sole guardian and +administrator of the revenues and fortunes of minors whose fathers had +fought on the Royalist side, and were either dead or in exile, and +arrogating unto itself the power to place such minors under the +tutelage of persons whose loyalty to the Commonwealth was undoubted, Sir +Marmaduke bethought himself of applying for one of these official +guardianships which were known to be very lucrative and moreover, +practically sinecures. + +Fate for once favored him; a half-contemptuous desire to do something +for this out-at-elbows Kentish squire who had certainly been a loyal +adherent of the Commonwealth, caused my Lord Protector to favor his +application. The rich daughter of the Marquis of Dover was placed under +the guardianship of Sir Marmaduke de Chavasse with an allowance of +L4,000 a year for her maintenance, until she came of age. A handsome +fortune and stroke of good luck for a wise and prudent man:--a drop in +an ocean of debts, difficulties and expensive tastes, in the case of Sir +Marmaduke. + +A prolonged visit to London with a view either of gaining a foothold in +the new Court, or of drawing the attention of the malcontents, of Monk +and his party, or even of the Royalists, to himself, resulted in further +debts, in more mortgages, more bitter disappointments. + +The man himself did not please. His personality was unsympathetic; Lady +Sue's money which he now lavished right and left, bought neither +friendship nor confidence. He joined all the secret clubs which in +defiance of Cromwell's rigid laws against betting and gambling, were the +resort of all the smart gentlemen in the town. Ill-luck at hazard and +dice pursued him: he was a bad loser, quarrelsome and surly. His +ambition had not taught him the salutary lesson of how to make friends +in order to attain his desires. + +His second return to the ancestral home was scarcely less disastrous +than the first; a mortgage on his revenues as guardian of Lady Sue +Aldmarshe just saved him this time from the pursuit of his creditors, +and this mortgage he had only obtained through false statements as to +his ward's age. + +As he told his sister-in-law a moment ago, he was at his last gasp. He +had perhaps just begun to realize that he would never succeed through +the force of his own individuality. Therefore, money had become a still +more imperative necessity to him. He was past forty now. Disappointed +ambition and an ever rebellious spirit had left severe imprints on his +face: his figure was growing heavy, his prominent lips, unadorned by a +mustache, had an unpleasant downward droop, and lately he had even +noticed that the hair on the top of his head was not so thick as of +yore. + +The situation was indeed getting desperate, since Lady Sue would be of +age in three months, when all revenues for her maintenance would cease. + +"Methinks her million will go to one of those young jackanapes who hang +about her," sighed Mistress de Chavasse, with almost as much bitterness +as Sir Marmaduke had shown. + +Her fortunes were in a sense bound up with those of her brother-in-law. +He had been most unaccountably kind to her of late, a kindness which his +many detractors attributed either to an infatuation for his brother's +widow, or to a desire to further irritate his uncle the Earl of +Northallerton, who--a rigid Puritan himself--hated the play-actress and +her connection with his own family. + +"Can naught be done, Marmaduke?" she asked after a slight pause, during +which she had watched anxiously the restless figure of her +brother-in-law as he paced up and down the narrow hall. + +"Can you suggest anything, my dear Editha?" he retorted roughly. + +"Pshaw!" she ejaculated with some impatience, "you are not so old, but +you could have made yourself agreeable to the wench." + +"You think that she would have fallen in love with her middle-aged +guardian?" he exclaimed with a harsh, sarcastic laugh. "That girl? ... +with her head full of romantic nonsense ... and I ... in ragged doublet, +with a bald head, and an evil temper ... Bah!!! ... But," he added, with +an unpleasant sneer, "'tis unselfish and disinterested on your part, my +dear Editha, even to suggest it. Sue does not like you. Her being +mistress here would not be conducive to your comfort." + +"Nay! 'tis no use going on in this manner any longer, Marmaduke," she +said dejectedly. "Pleasant times will not come my way so long as you +have not a shilling to give me for a new gown, and cannot afford to keep +up my house in London." + +She fully expected another retort from him--brutal and unbridled as was +his wont when money affairs were being discussed. He was not accustomed +to curb his violence in her presence. She had been his helpmeet in many +unavowable extravagances, in the days when he was still striving after a +brilliant position in town. There had been certain rumors anent a +gambling den, whereat Mistress de Chavasse had been the presiding spirit +and which had come under the watchful eye of my Lord Protector's spies. + +Now she had perforce to share her brother-in-law's poverty. At any rate +he provided a roof over her head. On the advent of Lady Sue Aldmarshe +into his bachelor establishment he called on his sister-in-law for the +part of duenna. + +At one time the fair Editha had exercised her undoubted charms over +Marmaduke's violent nature, but latterly she had become a mere butt for +his outbursts of rage. But now to her astonishment, and in response to +her petulant reproach, his fury seemed to fall away from him. He threw +his head back and broke out into uncontrolled, half-sarcastic, almost +defiant laughter. + +"How blind you are, my dear Editha," he said with a shrug of his broad +shoulders. "Nay! an I mistake not, in that case there will be some +strange surprises for you within the next three months. I pray you try +and curb your impatience until then, and to bear with the insolence of a +serving wench, 'Twill serve you well, mine oath on that!" he added +significantly. + +Then without vouchsafing further explanations of his enigmatic +utterances, he turned on his heel--still laughing apparently at some +pleasing thought--and walked upstairs, leaving her to meditate. + + + + +CHAPTER V + +THE LEGAL ASPECT + + +Mistress de Chavasse sat musing, in that high-backed chair, for some +considerable time. Anon Sir Marmaduke once more traversed the hall, +taking no heed of her as he went out into the garden. She watched his +broad figure moving along the path and then crossing the rustic bridge +until it disappeared among the trees of the park. + +There was something about his attitude of awhile ago which puzzled her. +And with puzzlement came an inexplicable fear: she had known Marmaduke +in all his moods, but never in such an one as he had displayed before +her just now. There had been a note almost of triumph in the laughter +with which he had greeted her last reproach. The cry of the sparrowhawk +when it seizes its prey. + +Triumph in Sir Marmaduke filled her with dread. No one knew better than +she did the hopeless condition of his financial status. Debt--prison +perhaps--was waiting for him at every turn. Yet he seemed triumphant! +She knew him to have reached those confines of irritability and +rebellion against poverty which would cause him to shrink from nothing +for the sake of gaining money. Yet he seemed triumphant! + +Instinctively she shuddered as she thought of Sue. She had no cause to +like the girl, yet would she not wish to see her come to harm. + +She did not dare avow even to herself the conviction which she had, that +if Sir Marmaduke could gain anything by the young girl's death, he would +not hesitate to ... Nay! she would not even frame that thought. +Marmaduke had been kind to her; she could but hope that temptation such +as that, would never come his way. + +Hymn-of-Praise Busy broke in on her meditations. His nasal tones--which +had a singular knack of irritating her as a rule--struck quite +pleasingly on her ear, as a welcome interruption to the conflict of her +thoughts. + +"Master Skyffington, ma'am," he said in his usual drawly voice, "he is +on his way to Dover, and desired his respects, an you wish to see him." + +"Yes! yes! I'll see Master Skyffington," she said with alacrity, rising +from her chair, "go apprise Sir Marmaduke, and ask Master Skyffington to +come within." + +She was all agitation now, eager, excited, and herself went forward to +meet the quaint, little wizened figure which appeared in the doorway. + +Master Skyffington, attorney-at-law, was small and thin--looked doubly +so, in fact, in the black clothes which he wore. His eyes were blue and +watery, his manner peculiarly diffident. He seemed to present a +perpetual apology to the world for his own existence therein. + +Even now as Mistress de Chavasse seemed really overjoyed to see him, he +backed his meager person out of the doorway as she approached, whereupon +she--impatiently--clutched his arm and dragged him forward into the +hall. + +"Sit down there, master," she said, speaking with obvious agitation, and +almost pushing the poor little man off his feet whilst dragging him to a +chair. "Sir Marmaduke will see you anon, but 'twas a kind thought to +come and bring me news." + +"Hem! ... hem! ..." stammered Master Skyffington, "I ... that is ... hem +... I left Canterbury this morning and was on my way to Dover ... hem +... this lies on my way, ma'am ... and ..." + +"Yes! yes!" she said impatiently, "but you have some news, of course?" + +"News! ... news!" he muttered apologetically, and clutching at his +collar, which seemed to be choking him, "what news--er--I pray you, +ma'am?" + +"That clew?" she insisted. + +"It was very slight," he stammered. + +"And it led to naught?" + +"Alas!" + +Her eagerness vanished. She sank back into her chair and moaned. + +"My last hope!" she said dully. + +"Nay! nay!" rejoined Master Skyffington quite cheerfully, his courage +seemingly having risen with her despair. "We must not be despondent. The +noble Earl of Northallerton hath interested himself of late in the +search and ..." + +But she shrugged her shoulders, whilst a short, bitter laugh escaped her +lips: + +"At last?" she said with biting sarcasm. "After twelve years!" + +"Nay! but remember, ma'am, that his lordship now is very ill ... and +nigh on seventy years old.... Failing your late husband, Master +Rowland--whom the Lord hath in His keeping--your eldest son is ... hem +... that is ... by law, ma'am, ... and with all respect due to Sir +Marmaduke ... your eldest son is heir to the Earldom." + +"And though his lordship hates me, he still prefers that my son should +succeed to his title, rather than Sir Marmaduke whom he abhors." + +But that suggestion was altogether too much for poor Master +Skyffington's sense of what was due to so noble a family, and to its +exalted head. + +"That is ... er ..." he muttered in supreme discomfort, swallowing great +gulps which rose to his throat at this rash and disrespectful speech +from the ex-actress. "Family feuds ... hem ... er ... very distressing +of a truth ... and ... that is ..." + +"I fear me his lordship will be disappointed," she rejoined, quite +heedless of the little attorney's perturbation, "and that under these +circumstances Sir Marmaduke will surely succeed." + +"I was about to remark," he rejoined, "that now, with my lord's +help--his wealth and influence ... now, that is, ... that he has +interested himself in the matter ... hem ... we might make fresh +inquiries ... that is ... er ..." + +"It will be useless, master. I have done all that is humanly possible. I +loved my boys dearly--and it was because of my love for them that I +placed them under my mother's care.... I loved them, you understand, but +I was living in a gay world in London ... my husband was dead ... I +could do naught for their comfort.... I thought it would be best for +them ..." + +It was her turn now to speak humbly, almost apologetically, whilst her +eyes sought those of the simple little attorney, trying to read approval +in his glance, or at any rate an absence of reproof. He was shaking his +head, sighing with visible embarrassment the while. In his innermost +soul, he could find no excuse for the frivolous mother, anxious to avoid +the responsibilities which the Lord Himself had put upon her: anxious to +be rid of her children in order that she might pursue with greater +freedom and ease that life of enjoyment and thoughtlessness which she +craved. + +"My mother was a strange woman," continued Mistress de Chavasse +earnestly and placing her small white hand on the black sleeve of the +attorney, "she cared little enough for me, and not at all for London +and for society. She did not understand the many duties that devolve on +a woman of fashion.... And I was that in those days! ... twenty years +ago!" + +"Ah! Truly! truly!" sighed Master Skyffington. + +"Mayhap she acted according to her own lights.... After some years she +became a convert to that strange new faith ... of the people who call +themselves 'Friends' ... who salute no one with the hat, and who talk so +strangely, saying: 'thee' and 'thou' even when addressing their betters. +One George Fox had a great hold on her. He was quite a youth then, but +she thought him a saint. 'Tis he, methinks, poisoned her mind against +me, and caused her to curse me on her deathbed." + +She gave a little shudder--of superstition, perhaps. The maternal +curse--she felt--was mayhap bearing fruit after all. Master +Skyffington's watery eyes expressed gentle sympathy. His calling had +taught him many of the hidden secrets of human nature and of Life: he +guessed that the time--if not already here--was nigh at hand, when this +unfortunate woman would realize the emptiness of her life, and would +begin to reap the bitter harvest of the barren seeds which she had sown. + +"Aye! I lay it all at the door of these 'Friends' who turned a mother's +heart against her own daughter," continued Mistress de Chavasse +vehemently. "She never told me that she was sick, sent me neither letter +nor message; only after her death a curt note came to me, writ in her +hand, entrusted to one of her own co-worshipers, a canting, mouthing +creature, who grinned whilst I read the heartless message. My mother had +sent her grandchildren away, so she told me in the letter, when she felt +that the Lord was calling her to Him. She had placed my boys--my boys, +master!--in the care of a trusted 'friend' who would bring them up in +the fear of God, away from the influence of their mother. My boys, +master, remember! ... they were to be brought up in ignorance of their +name--of the very existence of their mother. The 'friend,' doubtless a +fellow Quaker--had agreed to this on my mother's deathbed." + +"Hm! 'tis passing strange, and passing sad," said the attorney, with +real sympathy now, for there was a pathetic note of acute sorrow in +Mistress de Chavasse's voice, "but at the time ... hem ... and with +money and influence ... hem ... much might have been done." + +"Ah! believe me, master, I did what I could. I was in London then.... I +flew to Canterbury where my mother lived.... I found her dead ... and +the boys gone ... none of the neighbors could tell me whither.... All +they knew was that a woman had been living with my mother of late and +had gone away, taking the boys with her.... My boys, master, and no one +could tell me whither they had gone! I spent what money I had, and Sir +Marmaduke nobly bore his share in the cost of a ceaseless search, as the +Earl of Northallerton would do nothing then to help me." + +"Passing strange ... passing sad," murmured Master Skyffington, shaking +his head, "but methinks I recollect ... hem ... some six years ago ... a +quest which led to a clew ... er ... that is ... two young gentlemen +..." + +"Impostors, master," she rejoined, "aye! I have heard of many such since +then. At first I used to believe their stories ..." + +"At first?" he ejaculated in amazement, "but surely ... hem ... the +faces ... your own sons, ma'am ..." + +"Ah! the faces!" she said, whilst a blush of embarrassment, even of +shame, now suffused her pale cheeks. "I mean ... you understand ... I +... I had not seen my boys since they were babes in arms ... they were +ten years old when they were taken away ... but ... but it is nigh on +twenty-two years since I have set eyes on their faces. I would not know +them, if they passed me by." + +Tears choked her voice. Shame had added its bitter sting to the agony of +her sorrow. Of a truth it was a terrible epilogue of misery, following +on a life-story of frivolity and of heartlessness which Mistress de +Chavasse had almost unconsciously related to the poor ignorant country +attorney. Desirous at all costs of retaining her freedom, she had parted +from her children with a light heart, glad enough that their +grandmother was willing to relieve her of all responsibility. Time +slipped by whilst she enjoyed herself, danced and flirted, gambled and +played her part in that world of sport and Fashion wherein a mother's +heart was an unnecessary commodity. Ten years are a long while in the +life of an old woman who lives in a remote country town, and sees Death +approaching with slow yet certain stride; but that same decade is but as +a fleeting hour to the woman who is young and who lives for the moment. + +The boys had been forgotten long ere they disappeared! Forgotten? +perhaps not!--but their memory put away in a hidden cell of the mind +where other inconvenient thoughts were stored: only to be released and +gazed upon when other more agreeable ones had ceased to fill the brain. + +She felt humbled before this simple-minded man, whom she knew she had +shocked by the recital of her callousness. With innate gentleness of +disposition he tried to hide his feelings and to set aside the subject +for the moment. + +"Sir Marmaduke was very disinterested, when he aided you in the quest," +he said meekly, glad to be able to praise one whom he felt it his duty +to respect, "for under present circumstances ... hem! ..." + +"I will raise no difficulties in Sir Marmaduke's way," she rejoined, +"there is no doubt in my mind that my boys are dead, else I had had news +of them ere this." + +He looked at her keenly--as keenly as he dared with his mild, blue +eyes. It was hard to keep in sympathy with her. Her moods seemed to +change as she spoke of her boys and then of Sir Marmaduke. Her last +remark seemed to argue that her callousness with regard to her sons had +not entirely yielded to softer emotions yet. + +"In case of my Lord Northallerton's death," she continued lightly, "I +shall not put in a claim on behalf of any son of mine." + +"Whereupon--hem Sir Marmaduke as next-of-kin, would have the enjoyment +of the revenues--and mayhap would have influence enough then to make +good his claim to the title before the House of Lords ..." + +He checked himself: looked furtively round and added: + +"Provided it please God and my Lord Protector that the House of Lords +come back to Westminster by that time." + +"I thank you, master," said Mistress de Chavasse, rising from her chair, +intimating that this interview was now over, "you have told me all that +I wish to know. Let me assure you, that I will not prove ungrateful. +Your services will be amply repaid by whomever succeeds to the title and +revenues of Northallerton. Did you wish to see Sir Marmaduke?" + +"I thank you, mistress, not to-day," replied Master Skyffington somewhat +dryly. The lady's promises had not roused his enthusiasm. He would have +preferred to see more definite reward for his labors, for he had worked +faithfully and was substantially out of pocket in this quest after the +two missing young men. + +But he was imbued with that deep respect for the family he had served +all his life, which no conflict between privilege and people would ever +eradicate, and though Mistress de Chavasse's origin was of the humblest, +she was nevertheless herself now within the magic circle into which +Master Skyffington never gazed save with the deepest reverence. + +He thought it quite natural that she should dismiss him with a curt and +condescending nod, and when she had swept majestically out of the room, +he made his way humbly across the hall, then by the garden door out +towards the tumble-down barn where he had tethered his old mare. + +Master Courage helped him to mount, and he rode away in the direction of +the Dover Road, his head bent, his thoughts dwelling in puzzlement and +wonder on the strange doings of those whom he still reverently called +his betters. + + + + +CHAPTER VI + +UNDER THE SHADOW OF THE ELMS + + +Her head full of romantic nonsense! Well! perhaps that was the true +keynote of Sue's character; perhaps, too, it was that same romantic +temperament which gave such peculiar charm to her personality. It was +not mere beauty--of which she had a plentiful share--nor yet altogether +her wealth which attracted so many courtiers to her feet. Men who knew +her in those days at Acol and subsequently at Court said that Lady Sue +was magnetic. + +She compelled attention, she commanded admiration, through that very +romanticism of hers which caused her eyes to glow at the recital of +valor, or sorrow, or talent, which caused her to see beauty of thought +and mind and character there where it lay most deeply hidden, +there--sometimes--where it scarce existed. + +The dark figure of her guardian's secretary had attracted her attention +from the moment when she first saw him moving silently about the house +and park: the first words she spoke to him were words of sympathy. His +life-story--brief and simple as it had been--had interested her. He +seemed so different from these young and old country squires who +frequented Acol Court. He neither wooed nor flattered her, yet seemed +to find great joy in her company. His voice at times was harsh, his +manner abrupt and even rebellious, but at others it fell to infinite +gentleness when he talked to her of Nature and the stars, both of which +he had studied deeply. + +He never spoke of religion. That subject which was on everybody's +tongue, together with the free use of the most sacred names, he +rigorously avoided, also politics, and my Lord Protector's government, +his dictatorship and ever-growing tyranny: but he knew the name of every +flower that grew in meadow or woodland, the note of every bird as it +trilled its song. + +There is no doubt that but for the advent of that mysterious personality +into Acol village, the deep friendship which had grown in Sue's heart +for Richard Lambert would have warmed into a more passionate attachment. + +But she was too young to reflect, too impulsive to analyze her feelings. +The mystery which surrounded the foreigner who lodged at the Quakeress's +cottage had made strong appeal to her idealism. + +His first introduction to her notice, in the woods beyond the park gate +on that cold January evening, with the moon gleaming weirdly through the +branches of the elms, his solitary figure leaning against a tree, had +fired her imagination and set it wildly galloping after mad fantasies. + +He had scarcely spoken on that first occasion, but his silence was +strangely impressive. She made up her mind that he was singularly +handsome, although she could not judge of that very clearly for he wore +a heavy mustache, and a shade over one eye; but he was tall, above the +average, and carried the elaborate habiliments which the Cavaliers still +affected, with consummate grace and ease. She thought, too, that the +thick perruque became him very well, and his muffled voice, when he +spoke, sounded singularly sweet. + +Since then she had seen him constantly. At rare intervals at first, for +maidenly dignity forbade that she should seem eager to meet him. He was +ignorant of whom she was--oh! of that she felt quite quite sure: she +always wore a dark tippet round her shoulders, and a hood to cover her +head. He seemed pleased to see her, just to hear her voice. Obviously he +was lonely and in deep trouble. + +Then one night--it was the first balmy evening after the winter +frosts--the moon was singularly bright, and the hood had fallen back +from her head, just as her face was tilted upwards and her eyes glowing +with enthusiasm. Then she knew that he had learnt to love her, not +through any words which he spoke, for he was silent; his face was in +shadow, and he did not even touch her; therefore it was not through any +of her natural senses that she guessed his love. Yet she knew it, and +her young heart was overfilled with happiness. + +That evening when they parted he knelt at her feet and kissed the hem of +her kirtle. After which, when she was back again in her own little room +at Acol Court, she cried for very joy. + +They did not meet very often. Once a week at most. He had vaguely +promised to tell her, some day, of his great work for the regeneration +of France, which he was carrying out in loneliness and exile here in +England, a work far greater and more comprehensive than that which had +secured for England religious and political liberty; this work it was +which made him a wanderer on the face of the earth and caused his +frequent and lengthy absences from the cottage in which he lodged. + +She was quite content for the moment with these vague promises: in her +heart she was evolving enchanting plans for the future, when she would +be his helpmate in this great and mysterious work. + +In the meanwhile she was satisfied to live in the present, to console +and comfort the noble exile, to lavish on him the treasures of her young +and innocent love, to endow him in her imagination with all those mental +and physical attributes which her romantic nature admired most. + +The spring had come, clothing the weird branches of the elms with a +tender garb of green, the anemones in the woods yielded to the bluebells +and these to carpets of primroses and violets. The forests of Thanet +echoed with songs of linnets and white-throats. She was happy and she +was in love. + +With the lengthened days came some petty sorrows. He was obviously +worried, sometimes even impatient. Their meetings became fewer and +shorter, for the evening hours were brief. She found it difficult to +wander out so late across the park, unperceived, and he would never +meet her by day-light. + +This no doubt had caused him to fret. He loved her and desired her all +his own. Yet 'twere useless of a surety to ask Sir Marmaduke's consent +to her marriage with her French prince. He would never give it, and +until she came of age he had absolute power over her choice of a +husband. + +She had explained this to him and he had sighed and murmured angry +words, then pressed her with increased passion to his heart. + +To-night as she walked through the park, she was conscious--for the +first time perhaps--of a certain alloy mixed with her gladness. Yet she +loved him--oh, yes! just, just as much as ever. The halo of romance with +which she had framed in his mystic personality was in no way dimmed, but +in a sense she almost feared him, for at times his muffled voice sounded +singularly vehement, and his words betrayed the uncontrolled violence of +his nature. + +She had hoped to bring him some reassuring news anent Sir Marmaduke de +Chavasse's intentions with regard to herself, but the conversation round +the skittle-alley, her guardian's cruel allusions to "the foreign +adventurer," had shown her how futile were such hopes. + +Yet, there were only three months longer of this weary waiting. Surely +he could curb his impatience until she was of age and mistress of her +own hand! Surely he trusted her! + +She sighed as this thought crossed her mind, and nearly fell up against +a dark figure which detached itself from among the trees. + +"Master Lambert!" she said, uttering a little cry of surprise, pressing +her hand against her heart which was palpitating with emotion. "I had no +thought of meeting you here." + +"And I still less of seeing your ladyship," he rejoined coldly. + +"How cross you are," she retorted with childish petulance, "what have I +done that you should be so unkind?" + +"Unkind?" + +"Aye! I had meant to speak to you of this ere now--but you always avoid +me ... you scarce will look at me ... and ... and I wished to ask you if +I had offended you?" + +They were standing on a soft carpet of moss, overhead the gentle summer +breeze stirred the great branches of the elms, causing the crisp leaves +to mutter a long-drawn hush-sh-sh in the stillness of the night. From +far away came the appealing call of a blackbird chased by some marauding +owl, while on the ground close by, the creaking of tiny branches +betrayed the quick scurrying of a squirrel. From the remote and infinite +distance came the subdued roar of the sea. + +The peace of the woodland, the sighing of the trees, the dark evening +sky above, filled his heart with an aching longing for her. + +"Offended me?" he murmured, passing his hand across his forehead, for +his temples throbbed and his eyes were burning. "Nay! why should you +think so?" + +"You are so cold, so distant now," she said gently. "We were such good +friends when first I came here. Thanet is a strange country to me. It +seems weird and unkind--the woods are dark and lonely, that persistent +sound of the sea fills me with a strange kind of dread.... My home was +among the Surrey hills you know.... It is far from here.... I cannot +afford to lose a friend...." + +She sighed, a quaint, wistful little sigh, curiously out of place, he +thought, in this exquisite mouth framed only for smiles. + +"I have so few real friends," she added in a whisper, so low that he +thought she had not spoken, and that the elms had sighed that pathetic +phrase into his ear. + +"Believe me, Lady Sue, I am neither cold nor distant," he said, almost +smiling now, for the situation appeared strange indeed, that this +beautiful young girl, rich, courted, surrounded by an army of +sycophants, should be appealing to a poor dependent for friendship. "I +am only a little dazed ... as any man would be who had been dreaming ... +and saw that dream vanish away...." + +"Dreaming?" + +"Yes!--we all dream sometimes you know ... and a penniless man like +myself, without prospects or friends is, methinks, more prone to it than +most." + +"We all have dreams sometimes," she said, speaking very low, whilst her +eyes sought to pierce the darkness beyond the trees. "I too ..." + +She paused abruptly, and was quite still for a moment, almost holding +her breath, he thought, as if she were listening. But not a sound came +to disturb the silence of the woods. Blackbird and owl had ceased their +fight for life, the squirrel had gone to rest: the evening air was +filled only by the great murmur of the distant sea. + +"Tell me your dream," she said abruptly. + +"Alas! it is too foolish! ... too mad! ... too impossible...." + +"But you said once that you would be my friend and would try to cheer my +loneliness." + +"So I will, with all my heart, an you will permit." + +"Yet is there no friendship without confidence," she retorted. "Tell me +your dream." + +"What were the use? You would only laugh ... and justly too." + +"I should never laugh at that which made you sad," she said gently. + +"Sad?" he rejoined with a short laugh, which had something of his usual +bitterness in it. "Sad? Mayhap! Yet I hardly know. Think you that the +poor peasant lad would be sad because he had dreamed that the fairy +princess whom he had seen from afar in her radiance, was sweet and +gracious to him one midsummer's day? It was only a dream, remember: when +he woke she had vanished ... gone out of his sight ... hidden from him +by a barrier of gold.... In front of this barrier stood his pride ... +which perforce would have to be trampled down and crushed ere he could +reach the princess." + +She did not reply, only bent her sweet head, lest he should perceive the +tears which had gathered in her eyes. All round them the wood seemed to +have grown darker and more dense, whilst from afar the weird voice of +that distant sea murmured of infinity and of the relentlessness of Fate. + +They could not see one another very clearly, yet she knew that he was +gazing at her with an intensity of love and longing in his heart which +caused her own to ache with sympathy; and he knew that she was crying, +that there was something in that seemingly brilliant and happy young +life, which caused the exquisite head to droop as if under a load of +sorrow. + +A broken sigh escaped her lips, or was it the sighing of the wind in the +elms? + +He was smitten with remorse to think that he should have helped to make +her cry. + +"Sue--my little, beautiful Sue," he murmured, himself astonished at his +own temerity in thus daring to address her. It was her grief which had +brought her down to his level: the instinct of chivalry, of protection, +of friendship which had raised him up to hers. + +"Will you ever forgive me?" he said, "I had no right to speak to you as +I have done.... And yet ..." + +He paused and she repeated his last two words--gently, encouragingly. + +"And yet ... good master?" + +"Yet at times, when I see the crowd of young, empty-headed +fortune-seeking jackanapes, who dare to aspire to your ladyship's hand +... I have asked myself whether perchance I had the right to remain +silent, whilst they poured their farrago of nonsense into your ear. I +love you, Sue!" + +"No! no! good master!" she ejaculated hurriedly, while a nameless, +inexplicable fear seemed suddenly to be holding her in its grip, as he +uttered those few very simple words which told the old, old tale. + +But those words once uttered, Richard felt that he could not now draw +back. The jealously-guarded secret had escaped his lips, passion refused +to be held longer in check. A torrent of emotion overmastered him. He +forgot where he was, the darkness of the night, the lateness of the +hour, the melancholy murmur of the wind in the trees, he forgot that she +was rich and he a poor dependent, he only remembered that she was +exquisitely fair and that he--poor fool!--was mad enough to worship her. + +It was very dark now, for a bank of clouds hid the glory of the evening +sky, and he could see only the mere outline of the woman whom he so +passionately loved, the small head with the fluttering curls fanned by +the wind, the graceful shoulders and arms folded primly across her +bosom. + +He put out his hand and found hers. Oh! the delight of raising it to his +lips. + +"By the heaven above us, Sue, by all my hopes of salvation I swear to +you that my love is pure and selfless," he murmured tenderly, all the +while that her fragrant little hand was pressed against his lips. "But +for your fortune, I had come to you long ago and said to you 'Let me +work for you!--My love will help me to carve a fortune for you, which it +shall be my pride to place at your feet.'--Every nameless child, so 'tis +said, may be a king's son ... and I, who have no name that I can of +verity call mine own--no father--no kith or kindred--I would conquer a +kingdom, Sue, if you but loved me too." + +His voice broke in a sob. Ashamed of his outburst he tried to hide his +confusion from her, by sinking on one knee on that soft carpet of moss. +From the little village of Acol beyond the wood, came the sound of the +church bell striking the hour of nine. Sue was silent and absorbed, +intensely sorrowful to see the grief of her friend. He was quite lost in +the shadows at her feet now, but she could hear the stern efforts which +he made to resume control over himself and his voice. + +"Richard ... good Richard," she said soothingly, "believe me, I am very, +very sorry for this.... I ... I vow I did not know.... I had no +thought--how could I have? that you cared for me like ... like this.... +You believe me, good master, do you not?" she entreated. "Say that you +believe me, when I say that I would not willingly have caused you such +grief." + +"I believe that you are the most sweet and pure woman in all the +world," he murmured fervently, "and that you are as far beyond my reach +as are the stars." + +"Nay, nay, good master, you must not talk like that.... Truly, truly I +am only a weak and foolish girl, and quite unworthy of your deep +devotion ... and you must try ... indeed, indeed you must ... to forget +what happened under these trees to-night." + +"Of that I pray you have no fear," he replied more calmly, as he rose +and once more stood before her--a dark figure in the midst of the dark +wood--immovable, almost impassive, with head bent and arms folded across +his chest. "Nathless 'tis foolish for a nameless peasant even to talk of +his honor, yet 'tis mine honor, Lady Sue, which will ever help me to +remember that a mountain of gold and vast estates stand between me and +the realization of my dream." + +"No, no," she rejoined earnestly, "it is not that only. You are my +friend, good Richard, and I do not wish to see you eating out your heart +in vain and foolish regrets. What you ... what you wish could +never--never be. Good master, if you were rich to-morrow and I +penniless, I could never be your wife." + +"You mean that you could never love me?" he asked. + +She was silent. A fierce wave of jealousy--mad, insane, elemental +jealousy seemed suddenly to sweep over him. + +"You love someone else?" he demanded brusquely. + +"What right have you to ask?" + +"The right of a man who would gladly die to see you happy." + +He spoke harshly, almost brutally. Jealousy had killed all humility in +him. Love--proud, passionate and defiant--stood up for its just claims, +for its existence, its right to dominate, its desire to conquer. + +But even as he thus stood before her, almost frightening her now by the +violence of his speech, by the latent passion in him, which no longer +would bear to be held in check, the bank of clouds which up to now had +obscured the brilliance of the summer sky, finally swept away eastwards, +revealing the luminous firmament and the pale crescent moon which now +glimmered coldly through the branches of the trees. + +A muffled sound as of someone treading cautiously the thick bed of moss, +and the creaking of tiny twigs caused Richard Lambert to look up +momentarily from the form of the girl whom he so dearly loved, and to +peer beyond her into the weirdly illumined density of the wood. + +Not twenty yards from where they were, a low wall divided the park +itself from the wood beyond, which extended down to Acol village. At an +angle of the wall there was an iron gate, also the tumble-down pavilion, +ivy-grown and desolate, with stone steps leading up to it, through the +cracks of which weeds and moss sprouted up apace. + +A man had just emerged from out the thicket and was standing now to the +farther side of the gate looking straight at Lambert and at Sue, who +stood in the full light of the moon. A broad-brimmed hat, such as +cavaliers affected, cast a dark shadow over his face. + +It was a mere outline only vaguely defined against the background of +trees, but in that outline Lambert had already recognized the mysterious +stranger who lodged in his brother's cottage down in Acol. + +The fixed intensity of the young man's gaze caused Sue to turn and to +look in the same direction. She saw the stranger, who encountering two +pairs of eyes fixed on him, raised his hat with a graceful flourish of +the arm: then, with a short ironical laugh, went his way, and was once +more lost in the gloom. + +The girl instinctively made a movement as if to follow him, whilst a +quickly smothered cry--half of joy and half of fear--escaped her lips. +She checked the movement as well as the cry, but not before Richard +Lambert had perceived both. + +With the perception came the awful, overwhelming certitude. + +"That adventurer!" he exclaimed involuntarily. "Oh my God!" + +But she looked him full in the face, and threw back her head with a +gesture of pride and of wrath. + +"Master Lambert," she said haughtily, "methinks 'twere needless to +remind you that--since I inadvertently revealed my most cherished secret +to you--it were unworthy a man of honor to betray it to any one." + +"My lady ... Sue," he said, feeling half-dazed, bruised and crushed by +the terrible moral blow, which he had just received, "I ... I do not +quite understand. Will you deign to explain?" + +"There is naught to explain," she retorted coldly. "Prince Amede +d'Orleans loves me and I have plighted my troth to him." + +"Nay! I entreat your ladyship," he said, feeling--knowing the while, how +useless it was to make an appeal against the infatuation of a hot-headed +and impulsive girl, yet speaking with the courage which ofttimes is born +of despair, "I beg of you, on my knees to listen. This foreign +adventurer ..." + +"Silence!" she retorted proudly, and drawing back from him, for of a +truth he had sunk on his knees before her, "an you desire to be my +friend, you must not breathe one word of slander against the man I love. +..." + +Then, as he said nothing, realizing, indeed, how futile would be any +effort or word from him, she said, with growing enthusiasm, whilst her +glowing eyes fixed themselves upon the gloom which had enveloped the +mysterious apparition of her lover: + +"Prince Amede d'Orleans is the grandest, most selfless patriot this +world hath ever known. For the sake of France, of tyrannized, oppressed +France, which he adores, he has sacrificed everything! his position, his +home, his wealth and vast estates: he is own kinsman to King Louis, yet +he is exiled from his country whilst a price is set upon his head, +because he cannot be mute whilst he sees tyranny and oppression grind +down the people of France. He could return to Paris to-day a rich and +free man, a prince among his kindred,--if he would but sacrifice that +for which he fights so bravely: the liberty of France!" + +"Sue! my adored lady," he entreated, "in the name of Heaven listen to +me.... You do believe, do you not, that I am your friend? ... I would +give my life for you.... I swear to you that you have been deceived and +tricked by this adventurer, who, preying upon your romantic imagination +..." + +"Silence, master, an you value my friendship!" she commanded. "I will +not listen to another word. Nay! you should be thankful that I deal not +more harshly with you--that I make allowances for your miserable +jealousy.... Oh! why did you make me say that," she added with one of +those swift changes of mood, which were so characteristic of her, and +with sudden contrition, for an involuntary moan had escaped his lips. +"In the name of Heaven, go--go now I entreat ... leave me to myself ... +lest anger betray me into saying cruel things ... I am safe--quite safe +... I entreat you to let me return to the house alone." + +Her voice sounded more and more broken as she spoke: sobs were evidently +rising in her throat. He pulled himself together, feeling that it were +unmanly to worry her now, when emotion was so obviously overmastering +her. + +"Forgive me, sweet lady," he said quite gently, as he rose from his +knees. "I said more than I had any right to say. I entreat you to +forgive the poor, presuming peasant who hath dared to raise his eyes to +the fairy princess of his dreams. I pray you to try and forget all that +hath happened to-night beneath the shadows of these elms--and only to +remember one thing: that my life--my lonely, humble, unimportant +life--is yours ... to serve or help you, to worship or comfort you if +need be ... and that there could be no greater happiness for me than to +give it for your sweet sake." + +He bowed very low, until his hand could reach the hem of her kirtle, +which he then raised to his lips. She was infinitely sorry for him; all +her anger against him had vanished. + +He was very reluctant to go, for this portion of the park was some +distance from the house. But she had commanded and he quite understood +that she wished to be alone: love such as that which he felt for his +sweet lady is ever watchful, yet ever discreet. Was it not natural that +she did not care to look on him after he had angered her so? + +She seemed impatient too, and although her feelings towards him had +softened, she repeated somewhat nervously: "I pray you go! Good master, +I would be alone." + +Lambert hesitated a while longer, he looked all round him as if +suspicious of any marauders that might be lurking about. The hour was +not very late, and had she not commanded him to go? + +Nor would he seem to pry on her movements. Having once made up his mind +to obey, he did so without reserve. Having kissed the hem of her kirtle +he turned towards the house. + +He meant to keep on the tiny footpath, which she would be bound to +traverse after him, when she returned. He felt sure that something would +warn him if she really needed his help. + +The park and woodland were still: only the mournful hooting of an owl, +the sad sighing of the wind in the old elms broke the peaceful silence +of this summer's night. + + + + +CHAPTER VII + +THE STRANGER WITHIN THE GATES + + +Sue waited--expectant and still--until the last sound of the young man's +footsteps had died away in the direction of the house. + +Then with quick impulsive movements she ran to the gate; her hands +sought impatiently in the dark for the primitive catch which held it to. +A large and rusty bolt! she pulled at it--clumsily, for her hands were +trembling. At last the gate flew open; she was out in the woods, peering +into the moonlit thicket, listening for that most welcome sound, the +footsteps of the man she loved. + +"My prince!" she exclaimed, for already he was beside her--apparently he +had lain in wait for her, and now held her in his arms. + +"My beautiful and gracious lady," he murmured in that curiously muffled +voice of his, which seemed to endow his strange personality with +additional mystery. + +"You heard? ... you saw just now? ..." she asked timidly, fearful of +encountering his jealous wrath, that vehement temper of his which she +had learned to dread. + +Strangely enough he replied quite gently: "Yes ... I saw ... the young +man loves you, my beautiful Suzanne! ... and he will hate me now ..." + +He had always called her Suzanne--and her name thus spoken by him, and +with that quaint foreign intonation of his had always sounded infinitely +sweet. + +"But I love you with all my heart," she said earnestly, tenderly, her +whole soul--young, ardent, full of romance, going out to him with all +the strength of its purity and passion. "What matter if all the world +were against you?" + +As a rule when they met thus on the confines of the wood, they would +stand together by the gate, forming plans, talking of the future and of +their love. Then after a while they would stroll into the park, he +escorting her, as far as he might approach the house without being seen. + +She had no thought that Richard Lambert would be on the watch. Nay! so +wholly absorbed was she in her love for this man, once she was in his +presence, that already--womanlike--she had forgotten the young student's +impassioned avowal, his jealousy, his very existence. + +And she loved these evening strolls in the great, peaceful park, at +evening, when the birds were silent in their nests, and the great +shadows of ivy-covered elms enveloped her and her romance. From afar a +tiny light gleamed here and there in some of the windows of Acol Court. + +She had hated the grim, bare house at first, so isolated in the midst of +the forests of Thanet, so like the eyrie of a bird of prey. + +But now she loved the whole place; the bit of ill-kept tangled garden, +with its untidy lawn and weed-covered beds, in which a few standard +rose-trees strove to find a permanent home; she loved the dark and +mysterious park, the rusty gate, that wood with its rich carpet which +varied as each season came around. + +To-night her lover was more gentle than had been his wont of late. They +walked cautiously through the park, for the moon was brilliant and +outlined every object with startling vividness. The trees here were +sparser. Close by was the sunk fence and the tiny rustic bridge--only a +plank or two--which spanned it. + +Some thirty yards ahead of them they could see the dark figure of +Richard Lambert walking towards the house. + +"One more stroll beneath the trees, _ma mie_," he said lightly, "you'll +not wish to encounter your ardent suitor again." + +She loved him in this brighter mood, when he had thrown from him that +mantle of jealousy and mistrust which of late had sat on him so ill. + +He seemed to have set himself the task of pleasing her to-night--of +making her forget, mayhap, the wooing of the several suitors who had +hung round her to-day. He talked to her--always in that mysterious, +muffled voice, with the quaint rolling of the r's and the foreign +intonation of the vowels--he talked to her of King Louis and his tyranny +over the people of France: of his own political aims to which he had +already sacrificed fortune, position, home. Of his own brilliant past at +the most luxurious court the world had ever known. He fired her +enthusiasm, delighted her imagination, enchained her soul to his: she +was literally swept off the prosy face of this earth and whirled into a +realm of romance, enchanting, intoxicating, mystic--almost divine. + +She forgot fleeting time, and did not even hear the church bell over at +Acol village striking the hour of ten. + +He had to bring her back to earth, and to guide her reluctant footsteps +again towards the house. But she was too happy to part from him so +easily. She forced him to escort her over the little bridge, under the +pretense of terror at the lateness of the hour. She vowed that he could +not be perceived from the house, since all the lights were out, and +everyone indeed must be abed. Her guardian's windows, moreover, gave on +the other side of the house; and he of a surety would not be moon or +star gazing at this hour of the night. + +Her mood was somewhat reckless. The talk with which he had filled her +ears had gone to her brain like wine. She felt intoxicated with the +atmosphere of mystery, of selfless patriotism, of great and fallen +fortunes, with which he knew so well how to surround himself. Mayhap, +that in her innermost heart now there was a scarce conscious desire to +precipitate a crisis, to challenge discovery, to step boldly before her +guardian, avowing her love, demanding the right to satisfy it. + +She refused to bid him adieu save at the garden door. Three steps led +up straight into the dining-room from the flagged pathway which skirted +the house. She ran up these steps, silently and swiftly as a little +mouse, and then turned her proud and happy face to him. + +"Good-night, sweet prince," she whispered, extending her delicate hand +to him. + +She stood in the full light of the moon dominating him from the top of +the steps, an exquisite vision of youth and beauty and romance. + +He took off his broad-brimmed hat, but his face was still in shadow, for +the heavy perruque fell in thick dark curls covering both his cheeks. He +bent very low and kissed the tips of her fingers. + +"When shall we meet again, my prince?" she asked. + +"This day week, an it please you, my queen," he murmured. + +And then he turned to go. She meant to stand there and watch him cross +the tangled lawn, and the little bridge, and to see him lose himself +amidst the great shadows of the park. + +But he had scarce gone a couple of steps when a voice, issuing from the +doorway close behind her, caused her to turn in quick alarm. + +"Sue! in the name of Heaven! what doth your ladyship here and at this +hour?" + +The crisis which the young girl had almost challenged, had indeed +arrived. Mistress de Chavasse--carrying a lighted and guttering candle, +was standing close behind her. At the sound of her voice and Sue's +little cry of astonishment rather than fear, Prince Amede d'Orleans too, +had paused, with a muttered curse on his lips, his foot angrily tapping +the flagstones. + +But it were unworthy a gallant gentleman of the most chivalrous Court in +the world to beat a retreat when his mistress was in danger of an +unpleasant quarter of an hour. + +Sue was more than a little inclined to be defiant. + +"Mistress de Chavasse," she said quietly, "will you be good enough to +explain by what right you have spied on me to-night? Hath my guardian +perchance set you to dog my footsteps?" + +"There was no thought in my mind of spying on your ladyship," rejoined +Mistress de Chavasse coldly. "I was troubled in my sleep and came +downstairs because I heard a noise, and feared those midnight marauders +of which we have heard so much of late. I myself had locked this door, +and was surprised to find it unlatched. I opened it and saw you standing +there." + +"Then we'll all to bed, fair mistress," rejoined Sue gayly. She was too +happy, too sure of herself and of her lover to view this sudden +discovery of her secret with either annoyance or alarm. She would be +free in three months, and he would be faithful to her. Love proverbially +laughs at bars and bolts, and even if her stern guardian, apprised of +her evening wanderings, prevented her from seeing her prince for the +next three months, pshaw! a hundred days at most, and nothing could keep +her from his side. + +"Good-night, fair prince," she repeated tenderly, extending her hand +towards her lover once more, while throwing a look of proud defiance to +Mistress de Chavasse. He could not help but return to the foot of the +steps; any pusillanimity on his part at this juncture, any reluctance to +meet Editha face to face or to bear the brunt of her reproaches and of +her sneers, might jeopardize the romance of his personality in the eyes +of Sue. Therefore he boldly took her hand and kissed it with mute +fervor. + +She gave a happy little laugh and added pertly: + +"Good-night, mistress ... I'll leave you to make your own adieux to +Monseigneur le Prince d'Orleans. I'll warrant that you and he--despite +the lateness of the hour--will have much to say to one another." + +And without waiting to watch the issue of her suggestion, her eyes +dancing with mischief, she turned and ran singing and laughing into the +house. + + + + +CHAPTER VIII + +PRINCE AMEDE D'ORLEANS + + +At first it seemed as if the stranger meant to beat a precipitate and +none too dignified retreat now that the adoring eyes of Lady Sue were no +longer upon him. But Mistress de Chavasse had no intention of allowing +him to extricate himself quite so easily from an unpleasant position. + +"One moment, master," she said loudly and peremptorily. "Prince or +whatever you may wish to call yourself ... ere you show me a clean pair +of heels, I pray you to explain your presence here on Sir Marmaduke's +doorstep at ten o'clock at night, and in company with his ward." + +For a moment--a second or two only--the stranger appeared to hesitate. +He paused with one foot still on the lowest of the stone steps, the +other on the flagged path, his head bent, his hand upraised in the act +of re-adjusting his broad-brimmed hat. + +Then a sudden thought seemed to strike him, he threw back his head, gave +a short laugh as if he were pleased with this new thought, then turned, +meeting Mistress de Chavasse's stern gaze squarely and fully. He threw +his hat down upon the steps and crossed his arms over his chest. + +"One moment, mistress?" he said with an ironical bow. "I do not need +one moment. I have already explained." + +"Explained? how?" she retorted, "nay! I'll not be trifled with, master, +and methinks you will find that Sir Marmaduke de Chavasse will expect +some explanation--which will prove unpleasant to yourself--for your +unwarrantable impudence in daring to approach his ward." + +He put up his hand in gentle deprecation. + +"Impudence? Oh, mistress?" he said reproachfully. + +"Let me assure you, master," she continued with relentless severity, +"that you were wise an you returned straightway to your lodgings now ... +packed your worldly goods and betook yourself and them to anywhere you +please." + +"Ah!" he sighed gently, "that is impossible." + +"You would dare? ..." she retorted. + +"I would dare remain there, where my humble presence is most +desired--beside the gracious lady who honors me with her love." + +"You are insolent, master ... and Sir Marmaduke ..." + +"Oh!" he rejoined lightly, "Sir Marmaduke doth not object." + +"There, I fear me, you are in error, master! and in his name I now +forbid you ever to attempt to speak to Lady Susannah Aldmarshe again." + +This command, accompanied by a look of withering scorn, seemed to afford +the stranger vast entertainment. He made the wrathful lady a low, +ironical bow, and clapped his hands together laughing and exclaiming: + +"Brava! brava! of a truth but this is excellent! Pray, mistress, will +you deign to tell me if in this your bidding you have asked Sir +Marmaduke for his opinion?" + +"I need not to ask him. I ask you to go." + +"Go? Whither?" he asked blandly. + +"Out of my sight and off these grounds at once, ere I rouse the servants +and have you whipped off like a dog!" she said, angered beyond measure +at his audacity, his irony, his manner, suggestive of insolent triumph. +His muffled voice with its curious foreign accent irritated her, as did +the shadow of his perruque over his brow, and the black silk shade which +he wore over one eye. + +Even now in response to her violent outburst he broke into renewed +laughter. + +"Better and better! Ah, mistress," he said with a shake of the head, "of +a truth you are more blind than I thought." + +"You are more insolent, master, than I had thought possible." + +"Yet meseems, fair lady, that in the lonely and mysterious stranger you +might have remembered your humble and devoted servant," he said, drawing +his figure up towards her. + +"You! an old friend!" she said contemptuously. "I have ne'er set eyes on +you in my life before." + +"To think that the moon should be so treacherous," he rejoined +imperturbably. "Will you not look a little closer, fair mistress, the +shadows are somewhat dark, mayhap." + +She felt his one eye fixed upon her with cold intentness, a strange +feeling of superstitious dread suddenly crept over her from head to +foot. Like a bird fascinated by a snake she came a little nearer, down +the steps, towards him, her eyes, too, riveted on his face, that curious +face of his, surrounded by the heavy perruque hiding ears and cheeks, +the mouth overshadowed by the dark mustache, one eye concealed beneath +the black silk shade. + +He seemed amused at her terror and as she came nearer to him, he too, +advanced a little until their eyes met--his, mocking, amused, restless; +hers, intent and searching. + +Thus they gazed at one another for a few seconds, whilst silence reigned +around and the moon peered down cold and chaste from above, illumining +the old house, the neglected garden, the vast park with its innumerable +dark secrets and the mysteries which it hid. + +She was the first to step back, to recoil before the ironical intensity +of that fixed gaze. She felt as if she were in a dream, as if a +nightmare assailed her, which in her wakeful hours would be dissipated +by reason, by common sense, by sound and sober fact. + +She even passed her hand across her eyes as if to sweep away from before +her vision, a certain image which fancy had conjured up. + +His laugh--strident and mocking--roused her from this dreamlike state. + +"I ... I ... do not understand," she murmured. + +"Yet it is so simple," he replied, "did you not ask me awhile ago if +nothing could be done?" + +"Who ... who are you?" she whispered, and then repeated once again: "Who +are you?" + +"I am His Royal Highness, Prince Amede d'Orleans," said Sir Marmaduke de +Chavasse lightly, "the kinsman of His Majesty, King Louis of France, the +mysterious foreigner who works for the religious and political freedom +of his country, and on whose head _le roi soleil_ hath set a price ... +and who, moreover, hath enflamed the romantic imagination of a beautiful +young girl, thus winning her ardent love in the present and in the near +future together with her vast fortune and estates." + +He made a movement as if to remove his perruque but she stopped him with +a gesture. She had understood. And in the brilliant moonlight a complete +revelation of his personality might prove dangerous. Lady Sue herself +might still--for aught they knew--be standing in the dark room +behind--unseen yet on the watch. + +He seemed vastly amused at her terror, and boldly took the hand with +which she had arrested his act of total revelation. + +"Nay! do you recognize your humble servant at last, fair Editha?" he +queried. "On my honor, madam, Lady Sue is deeply enamored of me. What +think you of my chances now?" + +"You? You?" she repeated at intervals, mechanically, dazed still, lost +in a whirl of conflicting emotions wherein fear, amazement, and a +certain vein of superstitious horror fought a hard battle in her dizzy +brain. + +"The risks," she murmured more coherently. + +"Bah!" + +"If she discover you, before ... before ..." + +"Before she is legally my wife? Pshaw! ... Then of a truth my scheme +will come to naught ... But will you not own, Editha, that 'tis worth +the risk?" + +"Afterwards?" she asked, "afterwards?" + +"Afterwards, mistress," he rejoined enigmatically, "afterwards sits on +the knees of the gods." + +And with a flourish of his broad-brimmed hat he turned on his heel and +anon was lost in the shadows of the tall yew hedge. + +How long she stood there watching that spot whereon he had been +standing, she could not say. Presently she shivered; the night had +turned cold. She heard the cry of some small bird attacked by a midnight +prowler; was it the sparrow-hawk after its prey? + +From the other side of the house came the sound of slow and firm +footsteps, then the opening and shutting of a door. + +Sir Marmaduke de Chavasse had played his part for to-night: silently as +he had gone, so he returned to his room, whilst in another corner of the +sparrow-hawk's nest a young girl slept, dreaming dreams of patriots and +heroes, of causes nobly won, of poverty and obscurity gloriously +endured. + +Mistress de Chavasse with a sigh half of regret, half of indifference, +finally turned her back on the moonlit garden and went within. + + + + +CHAPTER IX + +SECRET SERVICE + + +Master Hymn-of-Praise Busy was excessively perturbed. Matters at the +Court were taking a curious turn. That something of unusual moment had +happened within the last few days he was thoroughly convinced, and still +having it in his mind that he was especially qualified for the lucrative +appointments in my Lord Protector's secret service--he thought this an +excellent opportunity for perfecting himself in the art of +investigation, shrewdly conducted, which he understood to be most +essential for the due fulfillment of such appointments. + +Thus we see him some few days later on a late afternoon, with back bent +nearly double, eyes fixed steadily on the ground and his face a perfect +mirror of thoughtful concentration within, slowly walking along the tiny +footpath which wound in and out the groups of majestic elms in the park. + +Musing and meditating, at times uttering strange and enigmatical +exclamations, he reached the confines of the private grounds, the spot +where the surrounding wall gave place to a low iron gate, where the +disused pavilion stood out gray and forlorn-looking in the midst of the +soft green of the trees, and where through the woods beyond the gate, +could just be perceived the tiny light which issued from the +blacksmith's cottage, the most outlying one in the village of Acol. + +Master Hymn-of-Praise leaned thoughtfully against the ivy-covered wall. +His eyes, roaming, searching, restless, pried all around him. + +"Footprints!" he mused, "footprints which of a surety must mean that +human foot hath lately trod this moss. Footprints moreover, which lead +up the steps to the door of that pavilion, wherein to my certain +knowledge, no one hath had access of late." + +Something, of course, was going on at Acol Court, that strange and +inexplicable something which he had tried to convey by covert suggestion +to Mistress Charity's female--therefore inferior--brain. + +Sir Marmaduke's temper was more sour and ill even than of yore, and +there was still an unpleasant sensation in the lumbar regions of Master +Busy's spine, whenever he sat down, which recalled a somewhat vigorous +outburst of his master's ill-humor. + +Mistress de Chavasse went about the house like a country wench +frightened by a ghost, and Mistress Charity averred that she seldom went +to bed now before midnight. Certain it is that Master Busy himself had +met the lady wandering about the house candle in hand at an hour when +all respectable folk should be abed, and when she almost fell up against +Hymn-of-Praise in the dark she gave a frightened scream as if she had +suddenly come face to face with the devil. + +Then there was her young ladyship. + +She was neither ill-tempered nor yet under the ban of fear, but Master +Busy vowed unto himself that she was suffering from ill-concealed +melancholy, from some hidden secret or wild romance. She seldom laughed, +she had spoken with discourtesy and impatience to Squire Pyncheon, who +rode over the other day on purpose to bring her a bunch of sweet +marjoram which grew in great profusion in his mother's garden: she +markedly avoided the company of her guardian, and wandered about the +park alone, at all hours of the day--a proceeding which in a young lady +of her rank was quite unseemly. + +All these facts neatly docketed in Master Busy's orderly brain, +disturbed him not a little. He had not yet made up his mind as to the +nature of the mystery which was surrounding the Court and its inmates, +but vaguely he thought of abductions and elopements, which the presence +of the richest heiress in the South of England in the house of the +poorest squire in the whole country, more than foreshadowed. + +This lonely, somewhat eerie corner of the park appeared to be the center +around which all the mysterious happenings revolved, and Master +Hymn-of-Praise had found his way hither on this fine July afternoon, +because he had distinct hopes of finding out something definite, certain +facts which he then could place before Squire Boatfield who was +major-general of the district, and who would then, doubtless, commend +him for his ability and shrewdness in forestalling what might prove to +be a terrible crime. + +The days were getting shorter now; it was little more than eight +o'clock and already the shades of evening were drawing closely in: the +last rays of the setting sun had long disappeared in a glowing haze of +gold, and the fantastic branches of the old elms, intertwined with the +parasitic ivy looked grim and threatening, silhouetted against the lurid +after glow. Master Busy liked neither the solitude, nor yet the silence +of the woods; he had just caught sight of a bat circling over the +dilapidated roof of the pavilion, and he hated bats. Though he belonged +to a community which denied the angels and ignored the saints, he had a +firm belief in the existence of a tangible devil, and somehow he could +not dissociate his ideas of hell and of evil spirits from those which +related to the mysterious flutterings of bats. + +Moreover he thought that his duties in connection with the science of +secret investigation, had been sufficiently fulfilled for the day, and +he prepared to wend his way back to the house, when the sound of voices, +once more aroused his somnolent attention. + +"Someone," he murmured within himself, "the heiress and the abductor +mayhap." + +This might prove the opportunity of his life, the chance which would +place him within the immediate notice of the major-general, perhaps of +His Highness the Protector himself. He felt that to vacate his post of +observation at this moment would be unworthy the moral discipline which +an incipient servant of the Commonwealth should impose upon himself. + +Striving to smother a sense of terror, or to disguise it even to +himself under the mask of officiousness, he looked about for a +hiding-place--a post of observation as he called it. + +A tree with invitingly forked branches seemed to be peculiarly adapted +to his needs. Hymn-of-Praise was neither very young nor very agile, but +dreams of coming notoriety lent nimbleness to his limbs. + +By the time that the voices drew nearer, the sober butler of Acol Court +was installed astride an elm bough, hidden by the dense foliage and by +the leaf-laden strands of ivy, enfolded by the fast gathering shadows of +evening, supremely uncomfortable physically, none too secure on his +perch, yet proud and satisfied in the consciousness of fulfilled duty. + +The next moment he caught sight of Mistress Charity--Mistress Charity so +please you, who had plighted her troth to him, walking arm in arm with +Master Courage Toogood, as impudent, insolent and debauched a young +jackanapes as ever defaced the forests of Thanet. + +"Mistress, fair mistress," he was sighing, and murmuring in her ear, +"the most beautiful and gracious thing on God's earth, when I hold you +pressed thus against my beating heart ..." + +Apparently his feelings were too deep to be expressed in the words of +his own vocabulary, for he paused a while, sighed audibly, and then +asked anxiously: + +"You do hear my heart beating, mistress, do you not?" + +She blushed, for she was naught but a female baggage, and though Master +Busy's impassioned protestations of less than half an hour ago, must be +still ringing in her ears, she declared emphatically that she could hear +the throbbing of that young vermin's heart. + +Master Busy up aloft was quite sure that what she heard was a few sheep +and cattle of Sir Marmaduke's who were out to grass in a field close by, +and had been scared into a canter. + +What went on for the next moment or two the saintly man on the elm tree +branch could not rightly perceive, but the next words from Mistress +Charity's lips sent a thrill of indignation through his heart. + +"Oh! Master Courage," she said with a little cry, "you must not squeeze +me so! I vow you have taken the breath out of my body! The Lord love +you, child! think you I can stay here all this while and listen to your +nonsense?" + +"Just one minute longer, fair mistress," entreated the young reprobate, +"the moon is not yet up, the birds have gone to their nests for sleep, +will ye not tarry a while here with me? That old fool Busy will never +know!" + +It is a fact that at this juncture the saintly man well-nigh fell off +his perch, and when Master Courage, amidst many coy shrieks from the +fickle female, managed to drag her down beside him, upon the carpet of +moss immediately beneath the very tree whereon Hymn-of-Praise was +holding watch, the unfortunate man had need of all his strength of mind +and of purpose not to jump down with both feet upon the lying face of +that young limb of Satan. + +But he felt that the discovery of his somewhat undignified position by +these two evil-doers would not at this moment be quite opportune, so he +endeavored to maintain his equilibrium at the cost of supreme +discomfort, and the loud cracking of the branch on which he was perched. + +Mistress Charity gave a cry of terror. + +"What was that?" + +"Nothing, nothing, mistress, I swear," rejoined Courage reassuringly, +"there are always noises in old elm trees, the ivy hangs heavy and ..." + +"I have heard it said of late that the pavilion is haunted," she +murmured under her breath. + +"No! not haunted, mistress! I vow 'tis but the crackling of loose +branches, and there is that which I would whisper in your ear ..." + +But before Master Courage had the time to indulge in this, the desire of +his heart, something fell upon the top of his lean head which certainly +never grew on the elm tree overhead. Having struck his lanky hair the +object fell straight into his lap. + +It was a button. An ordinary, brown, innocent enough looking button. But +still a button. Master Courage took it in his hand and examined it +carefully, turning it over once or twice. The little thing certainly +wore a familiar air. Master Courage of a truth had seen such an one +before. + +"That thing never grew up there, master," said Mistress Charity in an +agitated whisper. + +"No!" he rejoined emphatically, "nor yet doth a button form part of the +habiliments of a ghost." + +But not a sound came from above: and though Courage and Charity peered +upwards with ever-increasing anxiety, the fast gathering darkness +effectually hid the mystery which lurked within that elm. + +"I vow that there's something up there, mistress," said the youth with +sudden determination. + +"Could it be bats, master?" she queried with a shudder. + +"Nay! but bats do not wear buttons," he replied sententiously. "Yet of a +surety, I mean to make an investigation of the affair as that old fool +Hymn-of-Praise would say." + +Whereupon, heedless of Mistress Charity's ever-growing agitation, he ran +towards the boundary wall of the park, and vaulted the low gate with an +agile jump even as she uttered a pathetic appeal to him not to leave her +alone in the dark. + +Fear had rooted the girl to the spot. She dared not move away, fearful +lest her running might entice that mysterious owner of the brown button +to hurry in her track. Yet she would have loved to follow Master +Courage, and to put at least a gate and wall between herself and those +terrible elms. + +She was just contemplating a comprehensive and vigorous attack of +hysterics when she heard Master Courage's voice from the other side of +the gate. + +"Hist! Hist, mistress! Quick!" + +She gathered up what shreds of valor she possessed and ran blindly in +the direction whence came the welcome voice. + +"I pray you take this," said the youth, who was holding a wooden bucket +out over the gate, "whilst I climb back to you." + +"But what is it, master?" she asked, as--obeying him mechanically--she +took the bucket from him. It was heavy, for it was filled almost to the +brim with a liquid which seemed very evil-smelling. + +The next moment Master Courage was standing beside her. He took the +bucket from her and then walked as rapidly as he could with it back +towards the elm tree. + +"It will help me to dislodge the bats, mistress," he said enigmatically, +speaking over his shoulder as he walked. + +She followed him--excited but timorous--until together they once more +reached the spot, where Master Courage's amorous declarations had been +so rudely interrupted. He put the bucket down beside him, and rubbed his +hands together whilst uttering certain sounds which betrayed his glee. + +Then only did she notice that he was carrying under one arm a long +curious-looking instrument--round and made of tin, with a handle at one +end. + +She looked curiously into the bucket and at the instrument. + +"'Tis the tar-water used for syringing the cattle," she whispered, "ye +must not touch it, master. Where did you find it?" + +"Just by the wall," he rejoined. "I knew it was kept there. They wash +the sheep with it to destroy the vermin in them. This is the squirt for +it," he added calmly, placing the end of the instrument in the liquid, +"and I will mayhap destroy the vermin which is lodged in that elm tree." + +A cry of terror issuing from above froze the very blood in Mistress +Charity's veins. + +"Stop! stop! you young limb of Satan!" came from Master Busy's nearly +choking throat. + +"It's evildoers or evil spirits, master," cried Mistress Charity in an +agony of fear. + +"Whatever it be, mistress, this should destroy it!" said Master Courage +philosophically, as turning the syringe upwards he squirted the whole of +its contents straight into the fork of the ivy-covered branches. + +There was a cry of rage, followed by a cry of terror, then Master +Hymn-of-Praise Busy with a terrific clatter of breaking boughs, fell in +a heap upon the soft carpet of moss. + +Master Courage be it said to the eternal shame of venturesome youth, +took incontinently to his heels, leaving Mistress Charity to bear the +brunt of the irate saintly man's wrath. + +Master Busy, we must admit had but little saintliness left in him now. +Let us assume that--as he explained afterwards--he was not immediately +aware of Mistress Charity's presence, and that his own sense of +propriety and of decorum had been drowned in a cataract of tar water. +Certain it is that a volley of oaths, which would have surprised Sir +Marmaduke himself, escaped his lips. + +Had he not every excuse? He was dripping from head to foot, spluttering, +blinded, choked and bruised. + +He shook himself like a wet spaniel. Then hearing the sound of a +smothered exclamation which did not seem altogether unlike a giggle, he +turned round savagely and perceived the dim outline of Mistress +Charity's dainty figure. + +"The Lord love thee, Master Hymn-of-Praise," she began, somewhat +nervously, "but you have made yourself look a sight." + +"And by G--d I'll make that young jackanapes look a sight ere I take my +hand off him," he retorted savagely. + +"But what were you ... hem! what wert thou doing up in the elm tree, +friend Hymn-of-Praise?" she asked demurely. + +"Thee me no thou!" he said with enigmatic pompousness, followed by a +distinctly vicious snarl, "Master Busy will be my name in future for a +saucy wench like thee." + +He turned towards the house. Mistress Charity following meekly--somewhat +subdued, for Master Busy was her affianced husband, and she had no mind +to mar her future, through any of young Courage's dare-devil escapades. + +"Thou wouldst wish to know what I was doing up in that forked tree?" he +asked her with calm dignity after a while, when the hedges of the flower +garden came in sight. "I was making a home for thee, according to the +commands of the Lord." + +"Not in the elm trees of a surety, Master Busy?" + +"I was making a home for thee," he repeated without heeding her flippant +observation, "by rendering myself illustrious. I told thee, wench, did I +not? that something was happening within the precincts of Acol Court, +and that it is my duty to lie in wait and to watch. The heiress is about +to be abducted, and it is my task to frustrate the evil designs of the +mysterious criminal." + +She looked at him in speechless amazement. He certainly looked strangely +weird in the semi-darkness with his lanky hair plastered against his +cheeks, his collar half torn from round his neck, the dripping, oily +substance flowing in rivulets from his garments down upon the ground. + +The girl had no longer any desire to laugh, and when Master Busy strode +majestically across the rustic bridge, then over the garden paths to the +kitchen quarter of the house, she followed him without a word, awed by +his extraordinary utterances, vaguely feeling that in his dripping +garments he somehow reminded her of Jonah and the whale. + + + + +CHAPTER X + +AVOWED ENMITY + + +The pavilion had been built some fifty years ago, by one of the Spantons +of Acol who had a taste for fanciful architecture. + +It had been proudly held by several deceased representatives of the +family to be the reproduction of a Greek temple. It certainly had +columns supporting the portico, and steps leading thence to the ground. +It was also circular in shape and was innocent of windows, deriving its +sole light from the door, when it was open. + +The late Sir Jeremy, I believe, had been very fond of the place. Being +of a somewhat morose and taciturn disposition, he liked the seclusion of +this lonely corner of the park. He had a chair or two put into the +pavilion and 'twas said that he indulged there in the smoking of that +fragrant weed which of late had been more generously imported into this +country. + +After Sir Jeremy's death, the pavilion fell into disuse. Sir Marmaduke +openly expressed his dislike of the forlorn hole, as he was wont to call +it. He caused the door to be locked, and since then no one had entered +the little building. The key, it was presumed, had been lost; the lock +certainly looked rusty. The roof, too, soon fell into disrepair, and no +doubt within, the place soon became the prey of damp and mildew, the +nest of homing birds, or the lair of timid beasts. Very soon the proud +copy of an archaic temple took on that miserable and forlorn look +peculiar to uninhabited spots. + +From an air of abandonment to that of eeriness was but a step, and now +the building towered in splendid isolation, in this remote corner of the +park, at the confines of the wood, with a reputation for being the abode +of ghosts, of bats and witches, and other evil things. + +When Master Busy sought for tracks of imaginary criminals bent on +abducting the heiress he naturally drifted to this lonely spot; when +Master Courage was bent on whispering sweet nothings into the ear of the +other man's betrothed, he enticed her to that corner of the park where +he was least like to meet the heavy-booted saint. + +Thus it was that these three met on the one spot where as a rule at a +late hour of the evening Prince Amede d'Orleans was wont to commence his +wanderings, sure of being undisturbed, and with the final disappearance +of Master Busy and Mistress Charity the place was once more deserted. + +The bats once more found delight in this loneliness and from all around +came that subdued murmur, that creaking of twigs, that silence so full +of subtle sounds, which betrays the presence of animal life on the +prowl. + +Anon there came the harsh noise of a key grating in a rusty lock. The +door of the pavilion was cautiously opened from within and the +mysterious French prince, bewigged, booted and hatted, emerged into the +open. The night had drawn a singularly dark mantle over the woods. Banks +of cloud obscured the sky; the tall elm trees with their ivy-covered +branches, and their impenetrable shadows beneath, formed a dense wall +which the sight of human creatures was not keen enough to pierce. Sir +Marmaduke de Chavasse, in spite of this darkness, which he hailed +gleefully, peered cautiously and intently round as he descended the +steps. + +He had not met Lady Sue in the capacity of her romantic lover since that +evening a week ago, when his secret had been discovered by Mistress de +Chavasse. The last vision he had had of the young girl was one redolent +of joy and love and trust, sufficient to reassure him that all was well +with her, in regard to his schemes; but on that same evening a week ago +he had gazed upon another little scene, which had not filled him with +either joy or security. + +He had seen Lady Sue standing beside a young man whose personality--to +say the least--was well-nigh as romantic as that of the exiled scion of +the house of Orleans. He had seen rather than heard a young and +passionate nature pouring into girlish ears the avowal of an unselfish +and ardent love which had the infinite merit of being real and true. + +However well he himself might play his part of selfless hero and of +vehement lover, there always lurked the danger that the falseness of his +protestations would suddenly ring a warning note to the subtle sense of +the confiding girl. Were it not for the intense romanticism of her +disposition, which beautified and exalted everything with which it came +in contact, she would of a surety have detected the lie ere this. He had +acted his dual role with consummate skill, the contrast between the +surly Puritanical guardian, with his round cropped head and shaven face, +and the elegantly dressed cavalier, with a heavy mustache, an enormous +perruque and a shade over one eye, was so complete that even Mistress de +Chavasse--alert, suspicious, wholly unromantic, had been momentarily +deceived, and would have remained so but for his voluntary revelation of +himself. + +But the watchful and disappointed young lover was the real danger: a +danger complicated by the fact that the Prince Amede d'Orleans actually +dwelt in the cottage owned by Lambert's brother, the blacksmith. The +mysterious prince had perforce to dwell somewhere; else, whenever spied +by a laborer or wench from the village, he would have excited still +further comment, and his movements mayhap would have been more +persistently dogged. + +For this reason Sir Marmaduke had originally chosen Adam Lambert's +cottage to be his headquarters; it stood on the very outskirts of the +village and as he had only the wood to traverse between it and the +pavilion where he effected his change of personality, he ran thus but +few risks of meeting prying eyes. Moreover, Adam Lambert, the +blacksmith, and the old woman who kept house for him, both belonged to +the new religious sect which Judge Bennett had so pertinently dubbed the +Quakers, and they kept themselves very much aloof from gossip and the +rest of the village. + +True, Richard Lambert oft visited his brother and the old woman, but did +so always in the daytime when Prince Amede d'Orleans carefully kept out +of the way. Sir Marmaduke de Chavasse had all the true instincts of the +beast or bird of prey. He prowled about in the dark, and laid his snares +for the seizure of his victim under cover of the night. + +This evening certain new schemes had found birth in his active mind; he +was impatient that the victim tarried, when his brain was alive with +thoughts of how to effect a more speedy capture. He leaned against the +wall, close by the gate as was his wont when awaiting Sue, smiling +grimly to himself at thought of the many little subterfuges she would +employ to steal out of the house, without encountering--as she +thought--her watchful guardian. + +A voice close behind him--speaking none too kindly--broke in on his +meditations, causing him to start--almost to crouch like a frightened +cat. + +The next moment he had recognized the gruff and nasal tones of Adam +Lambert. Apparently the blacksmith had just come from the wood through +the gate, and had almost stumbled in the dark against the rigid figure +of his mysterious lodger. + +"Friend, what dost thou here?" he asked peremptorily. But already Sir +Marmaduke had recovered from that sudden sense of fear which had caused +him to start in alarm. + +"I would ask the same question of you, my friend," he retorted airily, +speaking in the muffled voice and with the markedly foreign accent which +he had assumed for the role of the Prince, "might I inquire what you are +doing here?" + +"I have to see a sick mare down Minster way," replied Lambert curtly, +"this is a short cut thither, and Sir Marmaduke hath granted me leave. +But he liketh not strangers loitering in his park." + +"Then, friend," rejoined the other lightly, "when Sir Marmaduke doth +object to my strolling in his garden, he will doubtless apprise me of +the fact, without interference from you." + +Adam Lambert, after his uncivil greeting of his lodger, had already +turned his back on him, loath to have further speech with a man whom he +hated and despised. + +Like the majority of country folk these days, the blacksmith had a +wholesale contempt for every foreigner, and more particularly for those +who hailed from France: that country--in the estimation of all Puritans, +Dissenters and Republicans--being the happy abode of every kind of +immorality and debauchery. + +Prince Amede d'Orleans--as he styled himself--with his fantastic +clothes, his airs and graces and long, curly hair was an object of +special aversion to the Quaker, even though the money which the +despised foreigner paid for his lodgings was passing welcome these hard +times. + +Adam resolutely avoided speech with the Prince, whenever possible, but +the latter's provocative and sarcastic speech roused his dormant hatred; +like a dog who has been worried, he now turned abruptly round and faced +Sir Marmaduke, stepping close up to him, his eyes glaring with +vindictive rage, a savage snarl rising in his throat. + +"Take notice, friend," he said hoarsely, "that I'll not bear thine +impudence. Thou mayest go and bully the old woman at the cottage when I +am absent--Oh! I've heard thee!" he added with unbridled savagery, +"ordering her about as if she were thy serving wench ... but let me tell +thee that she is no servant of thine, nor I ... so have done, my fine +prince ... dost understand?" + +"Prithee, friend, do not excite yourself," said Sir Marmaduke blandly, +drawing back against the wall as far as he could to avoid close +proximity with his antagonist. "I have never wished to imply that +Mistress Lambert was aught but my most obliging, most amiable +landlady--nor have I, to my certain knowledge, overstepped the +privileges of a lodger. I trust that your worthy aunt hath no cause for +complaint. Mistress Lambert is your aunt?" he added superciliously, "is +she not?" + +"That is nothing to thee," muttered the other, "if she be my aunt or no, +as far as I can see." + +"Surely not. I asked in a spirit of polite inquiry." + +But apparently this subject was one which had more than any other the +power to rouse the blacksmith's savage temper. He fought with it for a +moment or two, for anger is the Lord's, and strict Quaker discipline +forbade such unseemly wrangling. But Adam was a man of violent +temperament which his strict religious training had not altogether +succeeded in holding in check: the sneers of the foreign prince, his +calm, supercilious attitude, broke the curb which religion had set upon +his passion. + +"Aye! thou art mighty polite to me, my fine gentleman," he said +vehemently. "Thou knowest what I think of thy lazy foreign ways ... why +dost thou not do a bit of honest work, instead of hanging round her +ladyship's skirts? ... If I were to say a word to Sir Marmaduke, 'twould +be mightily unpleasant for thee, an I mistake not. Oh! I know what +thou'rt after, with thy fine ways, and thy romantic, lying talk of +liberty and patriotism! ... the heiress, eh, friend? That is thy +design.... I am not blind, I tell thee.... I have seen thee and her ..." + +Sir Marmaduke laughed lightly, shrugging his shoulders in token of +indifference. + +"Quite so, quite so, good master," he said suavely, "do ye not waste +your breath in speaking thus loudly. I understand that your sentiments +towards me do not partake of that Christian charity of which ye and +yours do prate at times so loudly. But I'll not detain you. Doubtless +worthy Mistress Lambert will be awaiting you, or is it the sick mare +down Minster way that hath first claim on your amiability? I'll not +detain you." + +He turned as if to go, but Adam's hard grip was on his shoulder in an +instant. + +"Nay! thou'lt not detain me--'tis I am detaining thee!" said the +blacksmith hoarsely, "for I desired to tell thee that thy ugly French +face is abhorrent to me ... I do not hold with princes.... For a prince +is none better than another man nay, he is worse an he loafs and steals +after heiresses and their gold ... and will not do a bit of honest +work.... Work makes the man.... Work and prayer ... not your titles and +fine estates. This is a republic now ... understand? ... no king, no +House of Lords--please the Lord neither clergymen nor noblemen soon.... +I work with my hands ... and am not ashamed. The Lord Saviour was a +carpenter and not a prince.... My brother is a student and a +gentleman--as good as any prince--understand? Ten thousand times as good +as thee." + +He relaxed his grip which had been hard as steel on Sir Marmaduke's +shoulder. It was evident that he had been nursing hatred and loathing +against his lodger for some time, and that to-night the floodgates of +his pent-up wrath had been burst asunder through the mysterious prince's +taunts, and insinuations anent the cloud and secrecy which hung round +the Lamberts' parentage. + +Though his shoulder was painful and bruised under the pressure of the +blacksmith's rough fingers, Sir Marmaduke did not wince. He looked his +avowed enemy boldly in the face, with no small measure of contempt for +the violence displayed. + +His own enmity towards those who thwarted him was much more subtle, +silent and cautious. He would never storm and rage, show his enmity +openly and caution his antagonist through an outburst of rage. Adam +Lambert still glaring into his lodger's eye, encountered nothing therein +but irony and indulgent contempt. + +Religion forbade him to swear. Yet was he sorely tempted, and we may +presume that he cursed inwardly, for his enemy refused to be drawn into +wordy warfare, and he himself had exhausted his vocabulary of sneering +abuse, even as he had exhausted his breath. + +Perhaps in his innermost heart he was ashamed of his outburst. After +all, he had taken this man's money, and had broken bread with him. His +hand dropped to his side, and his head fell forward on his breast even +as with a pleasant laugh the prince carelessly turned away, and with an +affected gesture brushed his silken doublet, there where the +blacksmith's hard grip had marred the smoothness of the delicate fabric. + +Had Adam Lambert possessed that subtle sixth sense, which hears and sees +that which goes on in the mind of others, he had perceived a thought in +his lodger's brain cells which might have caused him to still further +regret his avowal of open enmity. + +For as the blacksmith finally turned away and walked off through the +park, skirting the boundary wall, Sir Marmaduke looked over his shoulder +at the ungainly figure which was soon lost in the gloom, and muttered a +round oath between his teeth. + +"An exceedingly unpleasant person," he vowed within himself, "you will +have to be removed, good master, an you get too troublesome." + + + + +CHAPTER XI + +SURRENDER + + +But this interview with the inimical Quaker had more than strengthened +Sir Marmaduke's design to carry his bold scheme more rapidly to its +successful issue. + +The game which he had played with grave risks for over three months now +had begun to be dangerous. The mysterious patriot from France could not +afford to see prying enemies at his heels. + +Anon when the graceful outline of Lady Sue's figure emerged from out the +surrounding gloom, Sir Marmaduke went forward to meet her, and clasped +her to him in a passionate embrace. + +"My gracious lady ... my beautiful Sue ..." he murmured whilst he +covered her hands, her brow, her hair with ardent kisses, "you have come +so late--and I have been so weary of waiting ... waiting for you." + +He led her through the gardens to where one gigantic elm, grander than +its fellows, had thrown out huge gnarled roots which protruded from out +the ground. One of these, moss-covered, green and soft, formed a perfect +resting place. He drew her down, begging her to sit. She obeyed, scared +somewhat as was her wont when she found him so unfettered and violent. + +He stretched himself at full length at her feet, extravagant now in his +acts and gestures like a man who no longer can hold turbulent passion in +check. He kissed the edge of her kirtle, then her cloak and the tips of +her little shoes: + +"It was cruel to keep me waiting ... gracious lady--it was cruel," he +murmured in the intervals between these ardent caresses. + +"I am so sorry, Amede," she repeated, grieving to see him so sorrowful, +not a little frightened at his vehemence,--trying to withdraw her hands +from his grasp. "I was detained ..." + +"Detained," he rejoined harshly, "detained by someone else ... someone +who had a greater claim on your time than the poor exile ..." + +"Nay! 'tis unkind thus to grieve me," she said with tender reproach as +she felt the hot tears gather in her eyes. "You know--as I do--that I am +not my own mistress yet." + +"Yes! yes! forgive me--my gracious, sweet, sweet lady.... I am mad when +you are not nigh me.... You do not know--how could you? ... what +torments I endure, when I think of you so beautiful, so exquisite, so +adorable, surrounded by other men who admire you ... desire you, +mayhap.... Oh! my God! ..." + +"But you need have no fear," she protested gently, "you know that I gave +my whole heart willingly to you ... my prince ..." + +"Nay, but you cannot know," he persisted violently, "sweet, gentle +creature that you are, you cannot guess the agonies which a strong man +endures when he is gnawed by ruthless insane jealousy ..." + +She gave a cry of pain. + +"Amede!" for she felt hurt, deeply wounded by his mistrust of her, when +she had so wholly, so fully trusted him. + +"I know ... I know," he said with quick transition of tone, fearful that +he had offended her, striving to master his impatience, to find words +which best pleased her young, romantic temperament, "Nay! but you must +think me mad.... Mayhap you despise me," he added with a gentle note of +sadness. "Oh, God! ... mayhap you will turn from me now...." + +"No! no!" + +"Yet do I worship you ... my saint ... my divinity ... my Suzanne.... +You are more beautiful, more adorable than any woman in the world ... +and I am so unworthy." + +"You unworthy!" she retorted, laughing gayly through her tears. "You, my +prince, my king! ..." + +"Say that once more, my Suzanne," he murmured with infinite gentleness, +"oh! the exquisite sweetness of your voice, which is like dream-music in +mine ears.... Oh! to hold you in my arms thus, for ever ... until death, +sweeter than life ... came to me in one long passionate kiss." + +She allowed him to put his arms round her now, glad that the darkness +hid the blush on her cheeks; thus she loved him, thus she had first +learned to love him, ardent, oh, yes! but so gentle, so meek, yet so +great and exalted in his selfless patriotism. + +"'Tis not of death you should speak, sweet prince," she said, ineffably +happy now that she felt him more subdued, more trusting and fond, +"rather should you speak of life ... with me, your own Suzanne ... of +happiness in the future, when you and I, hand in hand, will work +together for that great cause you hold so dear ... the freedom and +liberties of France." + +"Ah, yes!" he sighed in utter dejection, "when that happy time comes ... +but ..." + +"You do not trust me?" she asked reproachfully. + +"With all my heart, my Suzanne," he replied, "but you are so beautiful, +so rich ... and other men ..." + +"There are no other men for me," she retorted simply. "I love you." + +"Will you prove it to me?" + +"How can I?" + +"Be mine ... mine absolutely," he urged eagerly with passion just +sufficiently subdued to make her pulses throb. "Be my wife ... my +princess ... let me feel that no one could come between us...." + +"But my guardian would never consent," she protested. + +"Surely your love for me can dispense with Sir Marmaduke's consent...." + +"A secret marriage?" she asked, terrified at this strange vista which +his fiery imagination was conjuring up before her. + +"You refuse? ..." he asked hoarsely. + +"No! no! ... but ..." + +"Then you do not love me, Suzanne." + +The coolness in his tone struck a sudden chill to her heart. She felt +the clasp of his arms round her relax, she felt rather than saw that he +withdrew markedly from her. + +"Ah! forgive me! forgive me!" she murmured, stretching her little hands +out to him in a pathetic and childlike appeal. "I have never deceived +anyone in my life before.... How could I live a lie? ... married to you, +yet seemingly a girl.... Whilst in three months...." + +She paused in her eagerness, for he had jumped to his feet and was now +standing before her, a rigid, statuesque figure, with head bent and arms +hanging inert by his side. + +"You do not love me, Suzanne," he said with an infinity of sadness, +which went straight to her own loving heart, "else you would not dream +of thus condemning me to three months of exquisite torture.... I have +had my answer.... Farewell, my gracious lady ... not mine, alas! but +another man's ... and may Heaven grant that he love you well ... not as +I do, for that were impossible...." + +His voice had died away in a whisper, which obviously was half-choked +with tears. She, too, had risen while he spoke, all her hesitation +gone, her heart full of reproaches against herself, and of love for him. + +"What do you mean?" she asked trembling. + +"That I must go," he replied simply, "since you do not love me...." + +Oh! how thankful she was that this merciful darkness enwrapped her so +tenderly. She was so young, so innocent and pure, that she felt half +ashamed of the expression of her own great love which went out to him in +a veritable wave of passion, when she began to fear that she was about +to lose him. + +"No, no," she cried vehemently, "you shall not go ... you shall not." + +Her hands sought his in the gloom, and found them, clung to them with +ever-growing ardor; she came quite close to him trying to peer into his +face and to let him read in hers all the pathetic story of her own deep +love for him. + +"I love you," she murmured through her tears. And again she repeated: "I +love you. See," she added with sudden determination, "I will do e'en as +you wish.... I will follow you to the uttermost ends of the earth.... I +... I will marry you ... secretly ... an you wish." + +Welcome darkness that hid her blushes! ... she was so young--so ignorant +of life and of the world--yet she felt that by her words, her promise, +her renunciation of her will, she was surrendering something to this +man, which she could never, never regain. + +Did the first thought of fear, or misgiving cross her mind at this +moment? It were impossible to say. The darkness which to her was so +welcome was--had she but guessed it--infinitely cruel too, for it hid +the look of triumph, of rapacity, of satisfied ambition which at her +selfless surrender had involuntarily crept into Marmaduke's eyes. + + + + +CHAPTER XII + +A WOMAN'S HEART + + +It is difficult, perhaps, to analyze rightly the feelings and sensations +of a young girl, when she is literally being swept off her feet in a +whirlpool of passion and romance. + +Some few years later when Lady Sue wrote those charming memoirs which +are such an interesting record of her early life, she tried to note with +faithful accuracy what was the exact state of her mind when three months +after her first meeting with Prince Amede d'Orleans, she plighted her +troth to him and promised to marry him in secret and in defiance of her +guardian's more than probable opposition. + +Her sentiments with regard to her mysterious lover were somewhat +complex, and undoubtedly she was too young, too inexperienced then to +differentiate between enthusiastic interest in a romantic personality, +and real, lasting, passionate love for a man, as apart from any halo of +romance which might be attached to him. + +When she was a few years older she averred that she could never have +really loved her prince, because she always feared him. Hers, therefore, +was not the perfect love that casteth out fear. She was afraid of him in +his ardent moods, almost as much as when he allowed his unbridled temper +free rein. Whenever she walked through the dark bosquets of the park, +on her way to a meeting with her lover, she was invariably conscious of +a certain trepidation of all her nerves, a wonderment as to what he +would say when she saw him, how he would act; whether chide, or rave, or +merely reproach. + +It was the gentle and pathetic terror of a child before a stern yet +much-loved parent. Yet she never mistrusted him ... perhaps because she +had never really seen him--only in outline, half wrapped in shadows, or +merely silhouetted against a weirdly lighted background. His appearance +had no tangible reality for her. She was in love with an ideal, not with +a man ... he was merely the mouthpiece of an individuality which was of +her own creation. + +Added to all this there was the sense of isolation. She had lost her +mother when she was a baby; her father fell at Naseby. She herself had +been an only child, left helplessly stranded when the civil war +dispersed her relations and friends, some into exile, others in splendid +revolt within the fastnesses of their own homes, impoverished by pillage +and sequestration, rebellious, surrounded by spies, watching that +opportunity for retaliation which was so slow in coming. + +Tossed hither and thither by Fate in spite of--or perhaps because +of--her great wealth, she had found a refuge, though not a home, at Acol +Court; she had been of course too young at the time to understand +rightly the great conflict between the King's party and the Puritans, +but had naturally embraced the cause--for which her father's life had +been sacrificed--blindly, like a child of instinct, not like a woman of +thought. + +Her guardian and Mistress de Chavasse stood for that faction of +Roundheads at which her father and all her relatives had sneered even +while they were being conquered and oppressed by them. She disliked them +both from the first; and chafed at the parsimonious habits of the house, +which stood in such glaring contrast to the easy lavishness of her own +luxurious home. + +Fortunately for her, her guardian avoided rather than sought her +company. She met him at meals and scarcely more often than that, and +though she often heard his voice about the house, usually raised in +anger or impatience, he was invariably silent and taciturn when she was +present. + +The presence of Richard Lambert, his humble devotion, his whole-hearted +sympathy and the occasional moments of conversation which she had with +him were the only bright moments in her dull life at the Court: and +there is small doubt but that the friendship and trust which +characterized her feelings towards him would soon have ripened into more +passionate love, but for the advent into her life of the mysterious +hero, who by his personality, his strange, secretive ways, his talk of +patriotism and liberty, at once took complete possession of her girlish +imagination. + +She was perhaps just too young when she met Lambert; she had not yet +reached that dangerous threshold when girlhood looks from out obscure +ignorance into the glaring knowledge of womanhood. She was a child when +Lambert showed his love for her by a thousand little simple acts of +devotion and by the mute adoration expressed in his eyes. Lambert drew +her towards the threshold by his passionate love, and held her back +within the refuge of innocent girlhood by the sincerity and exaltation +of his worship. + +With the first word of vehement, unreasoning passion, the mysterious +prince dragged the girl over that threshold into womanhood. He gave her +no time to think, no time to analyze her feelings; he rushed her into a +torrent of ardor and of excitement in which she never could pause in +order to draw breath. + +To-night she had promised to marry him secretly--to surrender herself +body and soul to this man whom she hardly knew, whom she had never +really seen; she felt neither joy nor remorse, only a strange sense of +agitation, an unnatural and morbid impatience to see the end of the next +few days of suspense. + +For the first time since she had come to Acol, and encountered the +kindly sympathy of Richard Lambert, she felt bitterly angered against +him when, having parted from the prince at the door of the pavilion, she +turned, to walk back towards the house and came face to face with the +young man. + +A narrow path led through the trees, from the ha-ha to the gate, and +Richard Lambert was apparently walking along aimlessly, in the direction +of the pavilion. + +"I came hoping to meet your ladyship and to escort you home. The night +seems very dark," he explained simply in answer to a sudden, haughty +stiffening of her young figure, which he could not help but notice. + +"I was taking a stroll in the park," she rejoined coldly, "the evening +is sweet and balmy but ... I have no need of escort, Master Lambert ... +I thank you.... It is late and I would wish to go indoors alone." + +"It is indeed late, gracious lady," he said gently, "and the park is +lonely at night ... will you not allow me to walk beside you as far as +the house?" + +But somehow his insistence, his very gentleness struck a jarring note, +for which she herself could not have accounted. Was it the contrast +between two men, which unaccountably sent a thrill of disappointment, +almost of apprehension, through her heart? + +She was angry with Lambert, bitterly angry because he was kind and +gentle and long-suffering, whilst the other was violent, even brutal at +times. + +"I must repeat, master, that I have no need of your escort," she said +haughtily, "I have no fear of marauders, nor yet of prowling beasts. And +for the future I should be grateful to you," she added, conscious of her +own cruelty, determined nevertheless to be remorselessly cruel, "if you +were to cease that system which you have adopted of late--that of +spying on my movements." + +"Spying?" + +The word had struck him in the face like a blow. And she, womanlike, +with that strange, impulsive temperament of hers, was not at all sorry +that she had hurt him. Yet surely he had done her no wrong, save by +being so different from the other man, and by seeming to belittle that +other in her sight, against her will and his own. + +"I am grieved, believe me," she said coldly, "if I seem unkind ... but +you must see for yourself, good master, that we cannot go on as we are +doing now.... Whenever I go out, you follow me ... when I return I find +you waiting for me.... I have endeavored to think kindly of your +actions, but if you value my friendship, as you say you do, you will let +me go my way in peace." + +"Nay! I humbly beg your ladyship's gracious forgiveness," he said; "if I +have transgressed, it is because I am blind to all save your ladyship's +future happiness, and at times the thought of that adventurer is more +than I can bear." + +"You do yourself no good, Master Lambert, by talking thus to me of the +man I love and honor beyond all things in this world. You are blind and +see not things as they are: blind to the merits of one who is as +infinitely above you as the stars. But nathless I waste my breath +again.... I have no power to convince you of the grievous error which +you commit. But if you cared for me, as you say you do ..." + +"If I cared!" he murmured, with a pathetic emphasis on that little word +"if." + +"As a friend I mean," she rejoined still cold, still cruel, still +womanlike in that strange, inexplicable desire to wound the man who +loved her. "If you care for me as a friend, you will not throw yourself +any more in the way of my happiness. Now you may escort me home, an you +wish. This is the last time that I shall speak to you as a friend, in +response to your petty attacks on the man whom I love. Henceforth you +must chose 'twixt his friendship and my enmity!" + +And without vouchsafing him another word or look, she gathered her cloak +more closely about her, and walked rapidly away along the narrow path. + +He followed with head bent, meditating, wondering! Wondering! + + + + +CHAPTER XIII + +AN IDEA + + +The triumph was complete. But of a truth the game was waxing dangerous. + +Lady Sue Aldmarshe had promised to marry her prince. She would keep her +word, of that Sir Marmaduke was firmly convinced. But there would of +necessity be two or three days delay and every hour added to the +terrors, the certainty of discovery. + +There was a watch-dog at Sue's heels, stern, alert, unyielding. Richard +Lambert was probing the secret of the mysterious prince, with the +unerring eye of the disappointed lover. + +The meeting to-night had been terribly dangerous. Sir Marmaduke knew +that Lambert was lurking somewhere in the park. + +At present even the remotest inkling of the truth must still be far from +the young man's mind. The whole scheme was so strange, so daring, so +foreign to the simple ideas of the Quaker-bred lad, that its very +boldness had defied suspicion. But the slightest mischance now, a +meeting at the door of the pavilion, an altercation--face to face, eye +to eye--and Richard Lambert would be on the alert. His hatred would not +be so blind, nor yet so clumsy, as that of his brother, the blacksmith. +There is no spy so keen in all the world as a jealous lover. + +This had been the prince's first meeting with Sue, since that memorable +day when the secret of their clandestine love became known to Lambert. +Sir Marmaduke knew well that it had been fraught with danger; that every +future meeting would wax more and more perilous still, and that the +secret marriage itself, however carefully and secretively planned, would +hardly escape the prying eyes of the young man. + +The unmasking of Prince Amede d'Orleans before Sue had become legally +his wife was a possibility which Sir Marmaduke dared not even think of, +lest the very thought should drive him mad. Once she was his wife! ... +well, let her look to herself.... The marriage tie would be a binding +one, he would see to that, and her fortune should be his, even though he +had won her by a lie. + +He had staked his very existence on the success of his scheme. Lady +Sue's fortune was the one aim of his life, for it he had worked and +striven, and lied: he would not even contemplate a future without it, +now that his plans had brought him so near the goal. + +He had one faithful ally, though not a powerful one, in Editha, who, +lured by some vague promises of his, desperate too, as regarded her own +future, had chosen to throw in her lot whole-heartedly with his. + +He was closeted with her on the following day, in the tiny +withdrawing-room which leads out of the hall at Acol Court. When he had +stolen into the house in the small hours of the morning he had seen +Richard Lambert leaning out of one of the windows which gave upon the +park. + +It seemed as if the young man must have seen him when he skirted the +house, for though there was no moonlight, the summer's night was +singularly clear. That Lambert had been on the watch--spying, as Sir +Marmaduke said with a bitter oath of rage--was beyond a doubt. + +Editha too was uneasy; she thought that Lambert had purposely avoided +her the whole morning. + +"I lingered in the garden for as long as I could," she said to her +brother-in-law, watching with keen anxiety his restless movements to and +fro in the narrow room, "I thought Lambert would keep within doors if he +saw me about. He did not actually see you, Marmaduke, did he?" she +queried with ever-growing disquietude. + +"No. Not face to face," he replied curtly. "I contrived to avoid him in +the park, and kept well within the shadows, when I saw him spying +through the window. + +"Curse him!" he added with savage fury, "curse him, for a meddlesome, +spying cur!" + +"The whole thing is becoming vastly dangerous," she sighed. + +"Yet it must last for another few weeks at least...." + +"I know ... and Lambert is a desperate enemy: he dogs Sue's footsteps, +he will come upon you one day when you are alone, or with her ... he +will provoke a quarrel...." + +"I know--I know ..." he retorted impatiently, "'tis no use +recapitulating the many evil contingencies that might occur.... I know +that Lambert is dangerous ... damn him! ... Would to God I could be rid +of him ... somehow." + +"You can dismiss him," she suggested, "pay him his wages and send him +about his business." + +"What were the use? He would remain in the village--in his brother's +cottage mayhap ... with more time on his hands for his spying work.... +He would dog the wench's steps more jealously than eve.... No! no!" he +added, whilst he cast a quick, furtive look at her--a look which somehow +caused her to shiver with apprehension more deadly than heretofore. + +"That's not what I want," he said significantly. + +"What's to be done?" she murmured, "what's to be done?" + +"I must think," he rejoined harshly. "But we must get that love-sick +youth out of the way ... him and his airs of Providence in disguise.... +Something must be done to part him from the wench effectually and +completely ... something that would force him to quit this neighborhood +... forever, if possible." + +She did not reply immediately, but fixed her large, dark eyes upon him, +silently for a while, then she murmured: + +"If I only knew!" + +"Knew what?" + +"If I could trust you, Marmaduke!" + +He laughed, a harsh, cruel laugh which grated upon her ear. + +"We know too much of one another, my dear Editha, not to trust each +other." + +"My whole future depends on you. I am penniless. If you marry Sue...." + +"I can provide for you," he interrupted roughly. "What can I do now? My +penury is worse than yours. So, my dear, if you have a plan to propound +for the furtherance of my schemes, I pray you do not let your fear of +the future prevent you from lending me a helping hand." + +"A thought crossed my mind," she said eagerly, "the thought of something +which would effectually force Richard Lambert to quit this neighborhood +for ever." + +"What were that?" + +"Disgrace." + +"Disgrace?" he exclaimed. "Aye! you are right. Something mean ... paltry +... despicable ... something that would make her gracious ladyship turn +away from him in disgust ... and would force him to go away from here +... for ever." + +He looked at her closely, scrutinizing her face, trying to read her +thoughts. + +"A thought crossed your mind," he demanded peremptorily. "What is it?" + +"The house in London," she murmured. + +"You are not afraid?" + +"Oh!" she said with a careless shrug of the shoulders. + +"The Protector's spies are keen," he urged, eager to test her courage, +her desire to help him. + +"They'll scarce remember me after two years." + +"Hm! Their memory is keen ... and the new laws doubly severe." + +"We'll be cautious." + +"How can you let your usual clients know? They are dispersed." + +"Oh, no! My Lord Walterton is as keen as ever and Sir James Overbury +would brave the devil for a night at hazard. A message to them and we'll +have a crowd every night." + +"'Tis well thought on, Editha," he said approvingly. "But we must not +delay. Will you go to London to-morrow?" + +"An you approve." + +"Aye! you can take the Dover coach and be in town by nightfall. Then +write your letters to my Lord Walterton and Sir James Overbury. Get a +serving wench from Alverstone's in the Strand, and ask the gentlemen to +bring their own men, for the sake of greater safety. They'll not +refuse." + +"Refuse?" she said with a light laugh, "oh, no!" + +"To-day being Tuesday, you should have your first evening entertainment +on Friday. Everything could be ready by then." + +"Oh, yes!" + +"Very well then, on Friday, I, too, will arrive in London, my dear +Editha, escorted by my secretary, Master Richard Lambert, and together +we will call and pay our respects at your charming house in Bath +Street." + +"I will do my share. You must do yours, Marmaduke. Endicott will help +you: he is keen and clever. And if Lambert but takes a card in his hand +..." + +"Nay! he will take the cards, mine oath on that! Do you but arrange it +all with Endicott." + +"And, Marmaduke, I entreat you," she urged now with sudden earnestness, +"I entreat you to beware of my Lord Protector's spies. Think of the +consequences for me!" + +"Aye!" he said roughly, laughing that wicked, cruel laugh of his, which +damped her eagerness, and struck chill terror into her heart, "aye! the +whipping-post for you, fair Editha, for keeping a gaming-house. What? Of +a truth I need not urge you to be cautious." + +Probably at this moment she would have given worlds--had she possessed +them--if she could but have dissociated herself from her +brother-in-law's future altogether. Though she was an empty-headed, +brainless kind of woman, she was not by nature a wicked one. Necessity +had driven her into linking her fortunes with those of Sir Marmaduke. +And he had been kind to her, when she was in deep distress: but for him +she would probably have starved, for her beauty had gone and her career +as an actress had been, for some inexplicable reason, quite suddenly cut +short, whilst a police raid on the gaming-house over which she presided +had very nearly landed her in a convict's cell. + +She had escaped severe punishment then, chiefly because Cromwell's laws +against gambling were not so rigorous at the time as they had since +become, also because she was able to plead ignorance of them, and +because of the status of first offense. + +Therefore she knew quite well what she risked through the scheme which +she had so boldly propounded to Sir Marmaduke. Dire disgrace and infamy, +if my Lord Protector's spies once more came upon the gamesters in her +house--unawares. + +Utter social ruin and worse! Yet she risked it all, in order to help +him. She did not love him, nor had she any hopes that he would of his +own free will do more than give her a bare pittance for her needs once +he had secured Lady Sue's fortune; but she was shrewd enough to reckon +that the more completely she was mixed up in his nefarious projects, the +more absolutely forced would he be to accede to her demands later on. +The word blackmail had not been invented in those days, but the deed +itself existed and what Editha had in her mind when she risked ostracism +for Sir Marmaduke's sake was something very akin to it. + +But he, in the meanwhile, had thrown off his dejection. He was full of +eagerness, of anticipated triumph now. + +The rough idea which was to help him in his schemes had originated in +Editha's brain, but already he had elaborated it; had seen in the plan a +means not only of attaining his own ends with regard to Sue, but also +of wreaking a pleasing vengeance on the man who was trying to frustrate +him. + +"I pray you, be of good cheer, fair Editha," he said quite gaily. "Your +plan is good and sound, and meseems as if the wench's fortune were +already within my grasp." + +"Within our grasp, you mean, Marmaduke," she said significantly. + +"Our grasp of course, gracious lady," he said with a marked sneer, which +she affected to ignore. "What is mine is yours. Am I not tied to the +strings of your kirtle by lasting bonds of infinite gratitude?" + +"I will start to-morrow then. By chaise to Dover and thence by coach," +she said coldly, taking no heed of his irony. "'Twere best you did not +assume your romantic role again until after your own voyage to London. +You can give me some money I presume. I can do nothing with an empty +purse." + +"You shall have the whole contents of mine, gracious Editha," he said +blandly, "some ten pounds in all, until the happy day when I can place +half a million at your feet." + + + + +PART II + + + + +CHAPTER XIV + +THE HOUSE IN LONDON + + +It stood about midway down an unusually narrow by-street off the Strand. + +A tumble-down archway, leaning to one side like a lame hen, gave access +to a dark passage, dank with moisture, whereon the door of the house +gave some eighteen feet up on the left. + +The unpaved street, undrained and unutterably filthy, was ankle-deep in +mud, even at the close of this hot August day. Down one side a long +blank wall, stone-built and green with mildew, presented an unbroken +frontage: on the other the row of houses with doors perpetually barred, +and windows whereon dust and grit had formed effectual curtains against +prying eyes, added to the sense of loneliness, of insecurity, of unknown +dangers lurking behind that crippled archway, or beneath the shadows of +the projecting eaves, whence the perpetual drip-drip of soot water came +as a note of melancholy desolation. + +From all the houses the plaster was peeling off in many places, a prey +to the inclemencies of London winters; all presented gray facades, with +an air of eeriness about their few windows, flush with the outside +wall--at one time painted white, no doubt, but now of uniform dinginess +with the rest of the plaster work. + +There was a grim hint about the whole street of secret meetings, and of +unavowable deeds done under cover of isolation and of darkness, whilst +the great crooked mouth of the archway disclosing the blackness and +gloom of the passage beyond, suggested the lair of human wild beasts who +only went about in the night. + +As a rule but few passers-by availed themselves of this short and narrow +cut down to the river-side. Nathless, the unarmed citizen was scared by +these dank and dreary shadows, whilst the city watchman, mindful of his +own safety, was wont to pass the mean street by. + +Only my Lord Protector's new police-patrol fresh to its onerous task, +solemnly marched down it once in twenty-four hours, keeping shoulder to +shoulder, looking neither to right nor left, thankful when either issue +was once more within sight. + +But in this same evening in August, 1657, it seemed as if quite a number +of people had business in Bath Street off the Strand. At any rate this +was specially noticeable after St. Mary's had struck the hour of nine, +when several cloaked and hooded figures slipped, one after another, some +singly, others in groups of two or three, into the shadow of the narrow +lane. + +They all walked in silence, and did not greet one another as they +passed; some cast from time to time furtive looks behind them; but +every one of these evening prowlers seemed to have the same objective, +for as soon as they reached the crippled archway, they disappeared +within the gloom of its yawning mouth. + +Anon when the police-patrol had gone by and was lost in the gloom there +where Bath Street debouches on the river bank, two of these heavily +cloaked figures walked rapidly down from the Strand, and like the others +slipped quickly under the archway, and made straight for the narrow door +on the left of the passage. + +This door was provided with a heavy bronze knocker, but strangely enough +the newcomers did not avail themselves of its use, but rapped on the +wooden panels with their knuckles, giving three successive raps at +regular intervals. + +They were admitted almost immediately, the door seemingly opening of +itself, and they quickly stepped across the threshold. + +Within the house was just as dark and gloomy as it was without, and as +the two visitors entered, a voice came from out the shadows, and said, +in a curious monotone and with strange irrelevance: + +"The hour is late!" + +"And 'twill be later still," replied one of the newcomers. + +"Yet the cuckoo hath not called," retorted the voice. + +"Nor is the ferret on the prowl," was the enigmatic reply. Whereupon +the voice speaking in more natural tones added sententiously: + +"Two flights of steps, and 'ware the seventeenth step on the first +flight. Door on the left, two raps, then three." + +"Thank you, friend," rejoined one of the newcomers, "'tis pleasant to +feel that so faithful a watch guards the entrance of this palace of +pleasure." + +Thereupon the two visitors, who of a truth must have been guided either +by instinct or by intimate knowledge of the place, for not a gleam of +light illumined the entrance hall, groped their way to a flight of stone +stairs which led in a steep curve to the upper floors of the house. + +A rickety banister which gave ominously under the slightest pressure +helped to guide the visitors in this utter darkness: but obviously the +warning uttered by that mysterious challenging voice below was not +superfluous, for having carefully counted sixteen steps in an upward +direction, the newcomers came to a halt, and feeling their way forward +now with uttermost caution, their feet met a yawning hole, which had +soon caused a serious accident to a stranger who had ventured thus far +in ignorance of pitfalls. + +A grim laugh, echoed by a lighter one, showed that the visitors had +encountered only what they had expected, and after this brief episode +they continued their journey upwards with a firmer sense of security; a +smoky oil lamp on the first floor landing guided their footsteps by +casting a flickering light on the narrow stairway, whereon slime and +filth crept unchecked through the broken crevices between the stones. + +But now as they advanced, the silence seemed more broken: a distinct hum +as of many voices was soon perceptible, and anon a shrill laugh, +followed by another more deep in tone, and echoed by others which +presently died away in the distance. + +By the time the two men had reached the second floor landing these many +noises had become more accentuated, also more distinct; still muffled +and subdued as if proceeding from behind heavy doors, but nevertheless +obvious as the voices of men and women in lively converse. + +The newcomers gave the distinctive raps prescribed by their first +mentor, on the thick panels of a solid oak door on their left. + +The next moment the door itself was thrown open from within; a flood of +light burst forth upon the gloomy landing from the room beyond, the +babel of many voices became loud and clear, and as the two men stood for +a moment beneath the lintel a veritable chorus of many exclamations +greeted them from every side. + +"Walterton! begad!" + +"And Overbury, too!" + +"How late ye come!" + +"We thought ye'd fallen a victim to Noll's myrmidons!" + +It was of a truth a gay and merry company that stood, and moved, +chatted and laughed, within the narrow confines of that small +second-floor room in the gloomy house in Bath Street. + +The walls themselves were dingy and bare, washed down with some grayish +color, which had long since been defaced by the grime and dust of +London. Thick curtains of a nondescript hue fell in straight folds +before each window, and facing these there was another door--double +paneled--which apparently led to an inner room. + +But the place itself was brilliantly illuminated with many wax candles +set in chandeliers. These stood on the several small tables which were +dotted about the room. + +These tables--covered with green baize, and a number of chairs of +various shapes and doubtful solidity were the only furniture of the +room, but in an arched recess in the wall a plaster figure holding a +cornucopia, from whence fell in thick profusion the plaster presentments +of the fruits of this earth, stood on an elevated pedestal, which had +been draped with crimson velvet. + +The goddess of Fortune, with a broken nose and a paucity of fingers, +dominated the brilliant assembly, from the height of her crimson throne. +Her head had been crowned with a tall peaked modish beaver hat, from +which a purple feather rakishly swept over the goddess's left ear. An +ardent devotee had deposited a copper coin in her extended, thumbless +hand, whilst another had fixed a row of candle stumps at her feet. + +There was nothing visible in this brilliantly lighted room of the sober +modes to which the eye of late had become so accustomed. Silken doublets +of bright and even garish colors stood out in bold contrast against the +gray monotone of the walls and hangings. Fantastic buttons, tags and +laces, gorgeously embroidered cuffs and collars edged with priceless +Mechlin or d'Alencon, bunches of ribands at knee and wrists, full +periwigs and over-wide boot-hose tops were everywhere to be seen, whilst +the clink of swords against the wooden boards and frequent volleys of +loudly spoken French oaths, testified to the absence of those Puritanic +fashions and customs which had become the general rule even in London. + +Some of the company sat in groups round the green-topped tables whereon +cards or dice and heaps of gold and smaller coins lay in profusion. +Others stood about watching the games or chatting to one another. Mostly +men they were, some old, some young--but there were women too, women in +showy kirtles, with bare shoulders showing well above the colverteen +kerchief and faces wherein every line had been obliterated by plentiful +daubs of cosmetics. They moved about the room from table to table, +laughing, talking, making comments on the games as these proceeded. + +The men apparently were all intent--either as actual participants or +merely as spectators--upon a form of amusement which His Highness the +Lord Protector had condemned as wanton and contrary to law. + +The newcomers soon divested themselves of their immense dark cloaks, +and they, too, appeared in showy apparel of silk and satin, with tiny +bows of ribands at the ends of the long curls which fell both sides of +their faces, and with enormous frills of lace inside the turned-over +tops of their boots. + +Lord Walterton quite straddled in his gait, so wide were his boot tops, +and there was an extraordinary maze of tags and ribands round the edge +of Sir James Overbury's breeches. + +"Make your game, gentlemen, make your game," said the latter as he +advanced further into the room. And his tired, sleepy eyes brightened at +sight of the several tables covered with cards and dice, the guttering +candles, the mountains of gold and small coin scattered on the green +baize tops. + +"Par Dieu! but 'tis a sight worth seeing after the ugly sour faces one +meets in town these days!" he added, gleefully rubbing his beringed +hands one against the other. + +"But where is our gracious hostess?" added Lord Walterton, a +melancholy-looking young man with pale-colored eyes and lashes, and a +narrow chest. + +"You are thrice welcome, my lord!" said Editha de Chavasse, whose +elegant figure now detached itself from amongst her guests. + +She looked very handsome in her silken kirtle of a brilliant greenish +hue, lace primer, and high-heeled shoes--relics of her theatrical days; +her head was adorned with the bunches of false curls which the modish +hairdressers were trying to introduce. The plentiful use of cosmetics +had obliterated the ravages of time and imparted a youthful appearance +to her face, whilst excitement not unmixed with apprehension lent a +bright glitter to her dark eyes. + +Lord Walterton and Sir James Overbury lightly touched with their lips +the hand which she extended to them. Their bow, too, was slight, though +they tossed their curls as they bent their heads in the most approved +French fashion. But there was a distinct note of insolence, not +altogether unmixed with irony, in the freedom with which they had +greeted her. + +"I met de Chavasse in town to-day," said Lord Walterton, over his +shoulder before he mixed with the crowd. + +"Yes! he will be here to-night," she rejoined. Sir James Overbury also +made a casual remark, but it was evident that the intention and purpose +of these gay gentlemen was not the courteous entertainment of their +hostess. Like so many men of all times and all nations in this world, +they were ready enough to enjoy what she provided for them--the illicit +pastime which they could not get elsewhere--but they despised her for +giving it them, and cared naught for the heavy risks she ran in keeping +up this house for their pleasure. + + + + +CHAPTER XV + +A GAME OF PRIMERO + + +At a table in the immediate center of the room a rotund gentleman in +doublet and breeches of cinnamon brown taffeta and voluminous lace cuffs +at the wrists was presiding over a game of Spanish primero. + +A simple game enough, not difficult of comprehension, yet vastly +exciting, if one may form a judgment of its qualities through watching +the faces of the players. + +The rotund gentleman dealt a card face downwards to each of his +opponents, who then looked at their cards and staked on them, by pushing +little piles of gold or silver forward. + +Then the dealer turned up his own card, and gave the amount of the +respective stakes to those players whose cards were of higher value than +his own, whilst sweeping all other moneys to swell his own pile. + +A simple means, forsooth, of getting rid of any superfluity of cash. + +"Art winning, Endicott?" queried Lord Walterton as, he stood over the +other man, looking down on the game. + +Endicott shrugged his fat shoulders, and gave an enigmatic chuckle. + +"I pay King and Ace only," he called out imperturbably, as he turned up +a Queen. + +Most of the stakes came to swell his own pile, but he passed a handful +of gold to a hollow-eyed youth who sat immediately opposite to him, and +who clutched at the money with an eager, trembling grasp. + +"You have all the luck to-night, Segrave," he said with an oily smile +directed at the winner. + +"Make your game, gentlemen," he added almost directly, as he once more +began to deal. + +"I pay knave upwards!" he declared, turning up the ten of clubs. + +"Mine is the ten of hearts," quoth one of the players. + +"Ties pay the bank," quoth Endicott imperturbably. + +"Mine is a queen," said Segrave in a hollow tone of voice. + +Endicott with a comprehensive oath threw the entire pack of cards into a +distant corner of the room. + +"A fresh pack, mistress!" he shouted peremptorily. + +Then as an overdressed, florid woman, with high bullhead fringe and +old-fashioned Spanish farthingale, quickly obeyed his behests, he said +with a coarse laugh: + +"Fresh cards may break Master Segrave's luck and improve yours, Sir +Michael." + +"Before this round begins," said Sir James Overbury who was standing +close behind Lord Walterton, also watching the game, "I will bet you, +Walterton, that Segrave wins again." + +"Done with you," replied the other, "and I'll back mine own opinion by +taking a hand." + +The florid woman brought him a chair, and he sat down at the table, as +Endicott once more began to deal. + +"Five pounds that Segrave wins," said Overbury. + +"A queen," said Endicott, turning up his card. "I pay king and ace +only." + +Everyone had to pay the bank, for all turned up low cards; Segrave alone +had not yet turned up his. + +"Well! what is your card, Master Segrave?" queried Lord Walterton +lightly. + +"An ace!" said Segrave simply, displaying the ace of hearts. + +"No good betting against the luck," said young Walterton lightly, as he +handed five sovereigns over to his friend, "moreover it spoils my +system." + +"Ye play primero on a system!" quoth Sir Michael Isherwood in deep +amazement. + +"Yes!" replied the young man. "I have played on it for years ... and it +is infallible, 'pon my honor." + +In the meanwhile the doors leading to the second room had been thrown +open; serving men and women advanced carrying trays on which were +displayed glasses and bottles filled with Rhenish wine and Spanish +canary and muscadel, also buttered ale and mead and hypocras for the +ladies. + +Editha did not occupy herself with serving but the florid woman was +most attentive to the guests. She darted in and out between the tables, +managing her unwieldy farthingale with amazing skill. She poured out the +wines, and offered tarts and dishes of anchovies and of cheese, also +strange steaming beverages lately imported into England called coffee +and chocolate. + +The women liked the latter, and supped it out of mugs, with many little +cries of astonishment and appreciation of its sugariness. + +The men drank heavily, chiefly of the heady Spanish wines; they ate the +anchovies and cheese with their fingers, and continually called for more +refreshments. + +Play was of necessity interrupted. Groups of people eating and drinking +congregated round the tables. The men mostly discussed various phases of +the game; there was so little else for idlers to talk about these days. +No comedies or other diversions, neither cock-fighting nor bear-baiting, +and abuse of my Lord Protector and his rigorous disciplinarian laws had +already become stale. + +The women talked dress and coiffure, the new puffs, the fanciful +pinners. + +But at the center table Segrave still sat, refusing all refreshment, +waiting with obvious impatience for the ending of this unwelcome +interval. When first he found himself isolated in the crowd, he had +counted over with febrile eagerness the money which lay in a substantial +heap before him. + +"Saved!" he muttered between his teeth, speaking to himself like one +who is dreaming, "saved! Thank God! ... Two hundred and fifty pounds ... +only another fifty and I'll never touch these cursed cards again ... +only another fifty...." + +He buried his face in his hands; the moisture stood out in heavy drops +on his forehead. He looked all round him with ever-growing impatience. + +"My God! why don't they come back! ... Another fifty pounds ... and I +can put the money back ... before it has been missed.... Oh! why don't +they come back!" + +Quite a tragedy expressed in those few muttered words, in the trembling +hands, the damp forehead. Money taken from an unsuspecting parent, +guardian or master, which? What matter? A tragedy of ordinary occurrence +even in those days when social inequalities were being abolished by act +of Parliament. + +In the meanwhile Lord Walterton, halting of speech, insecure of +foothold, after his third bumper of heady sack, was explaining to Sir +Michael Isherwood the mysteries of his system for playing the noble game +of primero. + +"It is sure to break the bank in time," he said confidently, "I am for +going to Paris where play runs high, and need not be carried on in this +hole and corner fashion to suit cursed Puritanical ideas." + +"Tell me your secret, Walterton," urged worthy Sir Michael, whose broad +Shropshire acres were heavily mortgaged, after the rapine and pillage +of civil war. + +"Well! I can but tell you part, my friend," rejoined the other, "yet +'tis passing simple. You begin with one golden guinea ... and lose it +... then you put up two and lose again...." + +"Passing simple," assented Sir Michael ironically. + +"But after that you put up four guineas." + +"And lose it." + +"Yea! yea! mayhap you lose it ... but then you put up eight guineas ... +and win. Whereupon you are just as you were before." + +And with a somewhat unsteady hand the young man raised a bumper to his +lips, whilst eying Sir Michael with the shifty and inquiring eye +peculiar to the intoxicated. + +"Meseems that if you but abstain from playing altogether," quoth Sir +Michael impatiently, "the result would still be the same.... And suppose +you lose the eight guineas, what then?" + +"Oh! 'tis vastly simple--you put up sixteen." + +"But if you lose that?" + +"Put up thirty-two...." + +"But if you have not thirty-two guineas to put up?" urged Sir Michael, +who was obstinate. + +"Nay! then, my friend," said Lord Walterton with a laugh which soon +broke into an ominous hiccough, "ye must not in that case play upon my +system." + +"Well said, my lord," here interposed Endicott, who had most moderately +partaken of a cup of hypocras, and whose eye and hand were as steady as +heretofore. "Well said, pardi! ... My old friend the Marquis of +Swarthmore used oft to say in the good old days of Goring's Club, that +'twas better to lose on a system, than to play on no system at all." + +"A smart cavalier, old Swarthmore," assented Sir Michael gruffly, "and +nathless, a true friend to you, Endicott," he added significantly. + +"Another deal, Master Endicott," said Segrave, who for the last quarter +of an hour had vainly tried to engage the bank-holder's attention. + +Nor was Lord Walterton averse to this. The more the wine got into his +head, the more unsteady his hand became, the more strong was his desire +to woo the goddess whose broken-nosed image seemed to be luring him to +fortune. + +"You are right, Master Segrave," he said thickly, "we are wasting +valuable time. Who knows but what old Noll's police-patrol is lurking in +this cutthroat alley? ... Endicott, take the bank again.... I'll swear +I'll ruin ye ere the moon--which I do not see--disappears down the +horizon. Sir Michael, try my system.... Overbury, art a laggard? ... Let +us laugh and be merry--to-morrow is the Jewish Sabbath--and after that +Puritanic Sunday ... after which mayhap, we'll all go to hell, driven +thither by my Lord Protector. Wench, another bumper ... canary, sack or +muscadel ... no thin Rhenish wine shall e'er defile this throat! +Gentlemen, take your places.... Mistress Endicott, can none of these +wenches discourse sweet music whilst we do homage to the goddess of +Fortune? ... To the tables ... to the tables, gentlemen ... here's to +King Charles, whom may God protect ... and all in defiance of my Lord +Protector!" + + + + +CHAPTER XVI + +A CONFLICT + + +In the hubbub which immediately followed Lord Walterton's tirade, Editha +de Chavasse beckoned to the florid woman--who seemed to be her +henchwoman--and drew her aside to a distant corner of the room, where +there were no tables nigh and where the now subdued hum of the voices, +mingling with the sound of music on virginal and stringed instruments, +made a murmuring noise which effectually drowned the talk between the +two women. + +"Have you arranged everything, Mistress Endicott?" asked Editha, +speaking in a whisper. + +"Everything, mistress," replied the other. + +"Endicott understands?" + +"Perfectly," said the woman, with perceptible hesitation, "but ..." + +"What ails you, mistress?" asked Editha haughtily, noting the +hesitation, and frowning with impatience thereat. + +"My husband thinks the game too dangerous." + +"I was not aware," retorted Mistress de Chavasse dryly, "that I had +desired Master Endicott's opinion on the subject." + +"Mayhap not," rejoined the other, equally dryly, "but you did desire his +help in the matter ... and he seems unmindful to give it." + +"Why?" + +"I have explained ... the game is too dangerous." + +"Or the payment insufficient?" sneered Editha. "Which is it?" + +"Both, mayhap," assented Mistress Endicott with a careless shrug of her +fat shoulders, "the risks are very great. To-night especially...." + +"Why especially to-night?" + +"Because ever since you have been away from it, this house--though we +did our best to make it seem deserted--hath been watched--of that I feel +very sure.... My Lord Protector's watchmen have a suspicion of our ... +our evening entertainments ... and I doubt not but that they desire to +see for themselves how our guests enjoy themselves these nights." + +"Well?" rejoined Editha lightly. "What of that?" + +"As you know, we did not play for nigh on twelve months now.... Endicott +thought it too dangerous ... and to-night ..." + +She checked herself abruptly, for Editha had turned an angry face and +flashing eyes upon her. + +"To-night?" said Mistress de Chavasse curtly, but peremptorily, "what of +to-night? ... I sent you orders from Thanet that I wished the house +opened to-night ... Lord Walterton, Sir James Overbury and as many of +our usual friends as were in the town, apprised that play would be in +full progress.... Meseems," she added, casting a searching look all +round the room, "that we have singularly few players." + +"It was difficult," retorted the other with somewhat more diffidence in +her tone than had characterized her speech before now. "Young Squire +Delamere committed suicide ... you remember him? ... and Lord Cooke +killed Sir Humphrey Clinton in a duel after that fracas we had here, +when the police-patrol well-nigh seized upon your person.... Squire +Delamere's suicide and Sir Humphrey's death caused much unpleasant talk. +And old Mistress Delamere, the mother, hath I fear me, still a watchful +eye on us. She means to do us lasting mischief.... It had been wiser to +tarry yet awhile.... Twelve months is not sufficient for throwing the +dust of ages over us and our doings.... That is my husband's opinion and +also mine.... A scandal such as you propose to have to-night, will bring +the Protector's spies about our ears ... his police too, mayhap ... and +then Heaven help us all, mistress ... for you, in the country, cannot +conceive how rigorously are the laws enforced now against gambling, +betting, swearing or any other form of innocent amusement.... Why! two +wenches were whipped at the post by the public hangman only last week, +because forsooth they were betting on the winner amongst themselves, +whilst watching a bout of pell-mell.... And you know that John Howthill +stood in the pillory for two hours and had both his hands bored through +with a hot iron for allowing gambling inside his coffeehouse. ... And +so, mistress, you will perceive that I am speaking but in your own +interests...." + +Editha, who had listened to the long tirade with marked impatience, here +interrupted the voluble lady, with harsh command. + +"I crave your pardon, mistress," she said peremptorily. "My interests +pre-eminently consist in being obeyed by those whom I pay for doing my +behests. Now you and your worthy husband live here rent free and derive +a benefit of ten pounds every time our guests assemble.... Well! in +return for that, I make use of you and your names, in case of any +unpleasantness with the vigilance patrol ... or in case of a scandal +which might reach my Lord Protector's ears.... Up to this time your +positions here have been a sinecure.... I even bore the brunt of the +last fracas whilst you remained practically scathless.... But to-night, +I own it, there may be some risks ... but of a truth you have been well +paid to take them." + +"But if we refuse to take the risks," retorted the other. + +"If you refuse, mistress," said Editha with a careless shrug of the +shoulders, "you and your worthy lord go back to the gutter where I +picked you up ... and within three months of that time, I should +doubtless have the satisfaction of seeing you both at the whipping-post, +for of a truth you would be driven to stealing or some other equally +unavowable means of livelihood." + +"We could send _you_ there," said Mistress Endicott, striving to +suppress her own rising fury, "if we but said the word." + +"Nay! you would not be believed, mistress ... but even so, I do not +perceive how my social ruin would benefit you." + +"Since we are doomed anyhow ... after this night's work," said the woman +sullenly. + +"Nay! but why should you take so gloomy a view of the situation? ... My +Lord Protector hath forgot our existence by now, believe me ... and of a +surety his patrol hath not yet knocked at our door.... And methinks, +mistress," added Editha significantly, "'tis not in _your_ interest to +quarrel with me." + +"I have no wish to quarrel with you," quoth Mistress Endicott, who +apparently had come to the end of her resistance, and no doubt had known +all along that her fortunes were too much bound up with those of +Mistress de Chavasse to allow of a rupture between them. + +"Then everything is vastly satisfactory," said Editha with forced +gayety. "I rely on you, mistress, and on Endicott's undoubted talents to +bring this last matter to a successful issue to-night. ... Remember, +mistress ... I rely on you." + +Perhaps Mistress Endicott would have liked to prolong the argument. As a +matter of fact, neither she nor her husband counted the risks of a +midnight fracas of great moment to themselves: they had so very little +to lose. A precarious existence based on illicit deeds of all sorts had +rendered them hard and reckless. + +All they wished was to be well paid for the risks they ran; neither of +them was wholly unacquainted with the pillory, and it held no great +terrors for them. There were so many unavowable pleasures these days, +which required a human cloak to cover the identity of the real +transgressor, that people like Master and Mistress Endicott prospered +vastly. + +The case of Mistress de Chavasse's London house wherein the ex-actress +had some few years ago established a gaming club, together with its +various emoluments attached thereunto, suited the Endicotts' +requirements to perfection: but the woman desired an increase of payment +for the special risk she would run to-night, and was sorely vexed that +she could not succeed in intimidating Editha with threats of +vigilance-patrol and whipping-posts. + +Mistress de Chavasse knew full well that the Endicotts did not intend to +quarrel with her, and having threatened rupture unless her commands were +obeyed, she had no wish to argue the matter further with her henchwoman. + +At that moment, too, there came the sound of significant and methodical +rappings at the door. Editha, who had persistently throughout her +discussion with Mistress Endicott, kept one ear open for that sound, +heard it even through the buzz of talk. She made a scarcely visible +gesture of the hand, bidding the other woman to follow her: that gesture +was quickly followed by a look of command. + +Mistress Endicott presumably had finally made up her mind to obey. She +shrugged her fat shoulders and followed Mistress de Chavasse as far as +the center of the room. + +"Remember that you are the hostess now," murmured Editha to her, as she +herself went to the door and opened it. + +With an affected cry of surprise and pleasure she welcomed Sir Marmaduke +de Chavasse, who was standing on the threshold, prepared to enter and +escorted by his young secretary, Master Richard Lambert. + + + + +CHAPTER XVII + +RUS IN URBE + + +One or two of the men looked up as de Chavasse entered, but no one took +much notice of him. + +Most of those present remembered him from the past few years when still +with pockets well filled through having forestalled Lady Sue's +maintenance money, he was an habitual frequenter of some of the smart +secret clubs in town; but here, just the same as elsewhere, Sir +Marmaduke was not a popular man, and many there were who had unpleasant +recollections of his surly temper and uncouth ways, whenever fickle +Fortune happened not to favor him. + +Even now, he looked sullen and disagreeable as, having exchanged a +significant glance with his sister-in-law, he gave a comprehensive nod +to the assembled guests, which had nothing in it either of cordiality or +of good-will. He touched Editha's finger tips with his lips, and then +advanced into the room. + +Here he was met by Mistress Endicott, who had effectually thrown off the +last vestige of annoyance and of rebellion, for she greeted the newcomer +with marked good-humor and an encouraging smile. + +"It is indeed a pleasure to see that Sir Marmaduke de Chavasse hath not +forgot old friends," she said pleasantly. + +"It was passing kind, gracious mistress," he responded, forcing himself +to speak naturally and in agreeable tones, "to remember an insignificant +country bumpkin like myself ... and you see I have presumed on your +lavish hospitality and brought my young friend, Master Richard Lambert, +to whom you extended so gracious an invitation." + +He turned to Lambert, who a little dazed to find himself in such +brilliant company, had somewhat timidly kept close to the heels of his +employer. He thought Mistress Endicott vulgar and overdressed the moment +he felt bold enough to raise his eyes to hers. But he chided himself +immediately for thus daring to criticize his betters. + +His horizon so far had been very limited; only quite vaguely had he +heard of town and Court life. The little cottage where dwelt the old +Quakeress who had brought him and his brother up, and the tumble-down, +dilapidated house of Sir Marmaduke de Chavasse were the only habitations +in which he was intimate. The neighboring Kentish Squires, Sir Timothy +Harrison, Squire Pyncheon and Sir John Boatfield, were the only +presentations of "gentlemen" he had ever seen. + +Sir Marmaduke de Chavasse had somewhat curtly given him orders the day +before, that he was to accompany him to London, whither he himself had +to go to consult his lawyer. Lambert had naturally obeyed, without +murmur, but with vague trepidations at thought of this, his first +journey into the great town. + +Sir Marmaduke had been very kind, had given him a new suit of grogram, +lined with flowered silk, which Lambert thought the richest garment he +had ever seen. He was very loyal in his thoughts to his employer, +bearing with the latter's violence and pandering to his fits of +ill-humor for the sake of the home which Sir Marmaduke had provided for +him. + +To Lambert's mind, Sir Marmaduke's kindness to him was wholly +gratuitous. His own position as secretary being but a sinecure, the +young man readily attributed de Chavasse's interest in himself to innate +goodness of heart, and desire to help the poor orphan lad. + +This estimate of his employer's character Richard Lambert had not felt +any cause to modify. He continued to serve him faithfully, to look after +his interests in and around Acol Court to the best of his ability; above +all he continued to be whole-heartedly grateful. He was so absolutely +conscious of the impassable social barrier which existed between himself +and the rich daughter of the great Earl of Dover, that he never for a +moment resented Sir Marmaduke's sneers when they were directed against +his obvious, growing love for Sue. + +Remember that he had no cause to suspect Sir Marmaduke de Chavasse of +any nefarious projects or of any evil intentions with regard to himself, +when he told him that together they would go this night to the house of +an old friend, Mrs. Endicott, where they would derive much pleasure and +entertainment. + +They had spent the previous night at the Swan Inn in Fleet Street and +the day in visiting the beautiful sights of London, which caused the +young lad from the country to open wide eyes in astonishment and +pleasure. + +Sir Marmaduke had been peculiarly gracious, even taking Richard with him +to the Frenchman's house in Queen's Head Alley, where that curious +beverage called coffee was dispensed and where several clever people met +and discussed politics in a manner which was vastly interesting to the +young man. + +Then when the evening began to draw in, and Lambert thought it high time +to go to bed, for 'twas a pity to burn expensive candles longer than was +necessary, Sir Marmaduke had astonished his secretary by telling him +that he must now clean and tidy himself for they would proceed to the +house of a great lady named Mistress Endicott--a friend of the ex-Queen +Henrietta Maria and a lady of peculiar virtues and saintliness, who +would give them vast and pleasing entertainment. + +Lambert was only too ready to obey. Enjoyment came naturally to him +beneath his Quaker bringing-up: his youth, good-health and pure, +naturally noble intellect, all craved companionship, with its attendant +pleasures and joys. He himself could not afterwards have said exactly +how he had pictured in his mind the saintly lady--friend of the unhappy +Queen--whom he was to meet this night. + +Certainly Mistress Endicott, with her red face surmounted by masses of +curls that were obviously false, since they did not match the rest of +her hair, was not the ideal paragon of all the virtues, and when he was +first made to greet her, a strange, unreasoning instinct seemed to draw +him away from her, to warn him to fly from this noisy company, from the +sight of those many faces, all unnaturally flushed, and from the sounds +of those strange oaths which greeted his ears from every side. + +A great wave of thankfulness came over him that, his gracious +lady--innocent, tender, beautiful Lady Sue, had not come to London with +her guardian. Whilst he gazed on the marvels of Westminster Hall and of +old Saint Paul's he had longed that she should be near him, so that he +might watch the brilliance of her eyes, and the glow of pleasure which, +of a surety would have mantled in her cheeks when she was shown the +beauties of the great city. + +But now he was glad--very glad, that Sir Marmaduke had so sternly +ordained that she should remain these few days alone at Acol in charge +of Mistress Charity and of Master Busy. At the time he had chafed +bitterly at his own enforced silence: he would have given all he +possessed in the world for the right to warn Sir Marmaduke de Chavasse +that a wolf was prowling in the fold under cover of the night. He had +seen Lady Sue's eyes brighten at the dictum that she was to remain +behind--they told him in eloquent language the joy she felt to be free +for two days that she might meet her prince undisturbed. + +But all these thoughts and fears had fled the moment Lambert found +himself in the midst of these people, whom he innocently believed to be +great ladies and noble gentlemen, friends of his employer Sir Marmaduke +de Chavasse. It seemed to him at once as if there was something here--in +this room--which he would not wish Lady Sue to see. + +He was clumsy and _gauche_ in his movements as he took the hand which +Mistress Endicott extended to him, but he tried to imitate the salute +which he had seen his employer give on the flat--not very +clean--finger-tips of the lady. + +She was exceedingly gracious to him, saying with great kindliness and a +melancholy sigh: + +"Ah! you come from the country, master? ... So delightful, of a +truth.... Milk for breakfast, eh? ... You get up at dawn and go to bed +at sunset? ... I know country life well--though alas! duty now keeps me +in town.... But 'tis small wonder that you look so young!" + +He tried to talk to her of the country, for here she had touched on a +topic which was dear to him. He knew all about the birds and beasts, the +forests and the meadows, and being unused to the art of hypocritical +interest, he took for real sympathy the lady's vapid exclamations of +enthusiasm, with which she broke in now and again upon his flow of +eloquence. + +Sir Marmaduke de Chavasse, who was watching the young man with febrile +keenness, had the satisfaction to note that very soon Richard began to +throw off his bucolic timidity, his latent yet distinctly perceptible +disapproval of the company into which he had been brought. He sought out +his sister-in-law and drew her attention to Lambert in close +conversation with Mrs. Endicott. + +"Is everything arranged?" he asked under his breath. + +"Everything," she replied. + +"No trouble with our henchmen?" + +"A little ... but they are submissive now." + +"What is the arrangement?" + +"Persuade young Lambert to take a hand at primero ... Endicott will do +the rest." + +"Who is in the know?" he queried, after a slight pause, during which he +watched his unsuspecting victim with a deep frown of impatience and of +hate. + +"Only the Endicotts," she explained. "But do you think that he will +play?" she added, casting an anxious look on her brother-in-law's face. + +He nodded affirmatively. + +"Yes!" he said curtly. "I can arrange that, as soon as you are ready." + +She turned from him and walked to the center table. She watched the game +for a while, noting that young Segrave was still the winner, and that +Lord Walterton was very flushed and excited. + +Then she caught Endicott's eye, and immediately lowered her lashes +twice in succession. + +"Ventre-saint-gris!" swore Endicott with an unmistakable British accent +in the French expletive, "but I'll play no more.... The bank is broken +... and I have lost too much money. Mr. Segrave there has nearly cleaned +me out and still I cannot break his luck." + +He rose abruptly from his chair, even as Mistress de Chavasse quietly +walked away from the table. + +But Lord Walterton placed a detaining, though very trembling hand, on +the cinnamon-colored sleeve. + +"Nay! parbleu! ye cannot go like this ... good Master Endicott ..." he +said, speaking very thickly, "I want another round or two ... 'pon my +honor I do ... I haven't lost nearly all I meant to lose." + +"Ye cannot stop play so abruptly, master," said Segrave, whose eyes +shone with an unnatural glitter, and whose cheeks were covered with a +hectic flush, "ye cannot leave us all in the lurch." + +"Nay, I doubt not, my young friend," quoth Endicott gruffly, "that you +would wish to play all night.... You have won all my money and Lord +Walterton's, too." + +"And most of mine," added Sir Michael Isherwood ruefully. + +"Why should not Master Segrave take the bank," here came in shrill +accents from Mistress Endicott, who throughout her conversation with +Lambert had kept a constant eye on what went on around her husband's +table. "He seems the only moneyed man amongst you all," she added with a +laugh, which grated most unpleasantly on Richard's ear. + +"I will gladly take the bank," said Segrave eagerly. + +"Pardi! I care not who hath the bank," quoth Lord Walterton, with the +slow emphasis of the inebriated. "My system takes time to work.... And I +stand to lose a good deal unless ... hic ... unless I win!" + +"You are not where you were, when you began," commented Sir Michael +grimly. + +"By Gad, no! ... hic ... but 'tis no matter.... Give me time!" + +"Methought I saw Sir Marmaduke de Chavasse just now," said Endicott, +looking about him. "Ah! and here comes our worthy baronet," he added +cheerily as Sir Marmaduke's closely cropped head--very noticeable in the +crowd of periwigs--emerged from amidst the group that clustered round +Mistress Endicott. "A hand at primero, sir?" + +"I thank you, no!" replied Sir Marmaduke, striving to master his +habitual ill-humor and to speak pleasantly. "My luck hath long since +deserted me, if it e'er visited me at all. A fact of which I grow daily +more doubtful." + +"But ventre-saint-gris!" ejaculated Lord Walterton, who showed an +inclination to become quarrelsome in his cups, "we must have someone to +take Endicott's place, I cannot work my system hic ... if so few +play...." + +"Perhaps your young friend, Sir Marmaduke ..." suggested Mistress +Endicott, waving an embroidered handkerchief in the direction of Richard +Lambert. + +"No doubt! no doubt!" rejoined Sir Marmaduke, turning with kindly +graciousness to his secretary. "Master Lambert, these gentlemen are +requiring another hand for their game ... I pray you join in with +them...." + +"I would do so with pleasure, sir," replied Lambert, still unsuspecting, +"but I fear me I am a complete novice at cards.... What is the game?" + +He was vaguely distrustful of cards, for he had oft heard this pastime +condemned as ungodly by those with whom he had held converse in his +early youth, nevertheless it did not occur to him that there might be +anything wrong in a game which was countenanced by Sir Marmaduke de +Chavasse, whom he knew to be an avowed Puritan, and by the saintly lady +who had been the friend of ex-Queen Henrietta Maria. + +"'Tis a simple round game," said Sir Marmaduke lightly, "you would soon +learn." + +"And ..." said Lambert diffidently questioning, and eying the gold and +silver which lay in profusion on the table, "there is no money at stake +... of course? ..." + +"Oh! only a little," rejoined Mistress Endicott, "a paltry trifle ... +to add zest to the enjoyment of the game." + +"However little it may be, Sir Marmaduke," said Lambert firmly, speaking +directly to his employer, "I humbly pray you to excuse me before these +gentlemen ..." + +The three players at the table, as well as the two Endicotts, had +listened to this colloquy with varying feelings. Segrave was burning +with impatience, Lord Walterton was getting more and more fractious, +whilst Sir Michael Isherwood viewed the young secretary with marked +hauteur. At the last words spoken by Lambert there came from all these +gentlemen sundry ejaculations, expressive of contempt or annoyance, +which caused an ugly frown to appear between de Chavasse's eyes, and a +deep blush to rise in the young man's pale cheek. + +"What do you mean?" queried Sir Marmaduke harshly. + +"There are other gentlemen here," said Lambert, speaking with more +firmness and decision now that he encountered inimical glances and felt +as if somehow he was on his trial before all these people, "and I am not +rich enough to afford the luxury of gambling." + +"Nay! if that is your difficulty," rejoined Sir Marmaduke, "I pray you, +good master, to command my purse ... you are under my wing to-night ... +and I will gladly bear the burden of your losses." + +"I thank you, Sir Marmaduke," said the young man, with quiet dignity," +and I entreat you once again to excuse me.... I have never staked at +cards, either mine own money or that of others. I would prefer not to +begin." + +"Meseems ... hic ... de Chavasse, that this ... this young friend of +yours is a hic ... damned Puritan ..." came in ever thickening accents +from Lord Walterton. + +"I hope, Sir Marmaduke de Chavasse," here interposed Endicott with much +pompous dignity, "that your ... hem ... your young friend doth not +desire to bring insinuations doubts, mayhap, against the honor of my +house ... or of my friends!" + +"Nay! nay! good Endicott," said Sir Marmaduke, speaking in tones that +were so conciliatory, so unlike his own quarrelsome temper, quick at +taking offense, that Richard Lambert could not help wondering what was +causing this change, "Master Lambert hath no such intention--'pon my +honor ... He is young ... and ... and he misunderstands.... You see, my +good Lambert," he added, once more turning to the young man, and still +speaking with unwonted kindness and patience, "you are covering yourself +with ridicule and placing me--who am your protector to-night--in a very +awkward position. Had I known you were such a gaby I should have left +you to go to bed alone." + +"Nay! Sir Marmaduke," here came in decisive accents from portly +Mistress Endicott, "methinks 'tis you who misunderstand Master Lambert. +He is of a surety an honorable gentleman, and hath no desire to insult +me, who have ne'er done him wrong, nor yet my friends by refusing a +friendly game of cards in my house!" + +She spoke very pointedly, causing her speech to seem like a menace, even +though the words betokened gentleness and friendship. + +Lambert's scruples and his desire to please struggled hopelessly in his +mind. Mistress Endicott's eye held him silent even while it urged him to +speak. What could he say? Sir Marmaduke, toward whom he felt gratitude +and respect, surely would not urge what he thought would be wrong for +Lambert. + +And if a chaste and pure woman did not disapprove of a game of primero +among friends, what right had he to set up his own standard of right or +wrong against hers? What right had he to condemn what she approved? To +offend his generous employer, and to bring opprobrium and ridicule on +himself which would of necessity redound against Sir Marmaduke also? + +Vague instinct still entered a feeble protest, but reason and common +sense and a certain undetermined feeling of what was due to himself +socially--poor country bumpkin!--fought a hard battle too. + +"I am right, am I not, good Master Lambert?" came in dulcet tones from +the virtuous hostess, "that you would not really refuse a quiet game of +cards with my friends, at my entreaty ... in my house?" + +And Lambert, with a self-deprecatory sigh, and a shrug of the shoulders, +said quietly: + +"I have no option, gracious mistress!" + + + + +CHAPTER XVIII + +THE TRAP + + +Richard Lambert fortunately for his own peace of mind and the retention +of his dignity, was able to wave aside the hand full of gold and silver +coins which Sir Marmaduke extended towards him. + +"I thank you, sir," he said calmly; "I am able to bear the cost of mine +own unavoidable weakness. I have money of mine own." + +From out his doublet he took a tiny leather wallet containing a few gold +coins, his worldly all bequeathed to him the same as to his brother--so +the old friend who had brought the lads up had oft explained--by his +grandmother. The little satchel never left his person from the moment +that the old Quakeress had placed it in his hands. There were but five +guineas in all, to which he had added from time to time the few +shillings which Sir Marmaduke paid him as salary. + +He chided his own weakness inwardly, when he felt the hot tears surging +to his eyes at thought of the unworthy use to which his little hoard was +about to be put. + +But he walked to the table with a bold step; there was nothing now of +the country lout about him; on the contrary, he moved with remarkable +dignity, and bore himself so well that many a pair of feminine eyes +watched him kindly, as he took his seat at the baize-covered table. + +"Will one of you gentlemen teach me the game?" he asked simply. + +It was remarkable that no one sneered at him again, and in these days of +arrogance peculiar to the upper classes this was all the more +noticeable, as these secret clubs were thought to be very exclusive, the +resort pre-eminently of gentlemen and noblemen who were anti-Puritan, +anti-Republican, and very jealous of their ranks and privileges. + +Yet when after those few unpleasant moments of hesitation Lambert boldly +accepted the situation and with much simple dignity took his seat at the +table, everyone immediately accepted him as an equal, nor did anyone +question his right to sit there on terms of equality with Lord Walterton +or Sir Michael Isherwood. + +His own state of mind was very remarkable at the moment. + +Of course he disapproved of what he did: he would not have been the +Puritanically trained, country-bred lad that he was, if he had accepted +with an easy conscience the idea of tossing about money from hand to +hand, money that he could in no sense afford to lose, or money that no +one was making any honest effort to win. + +He knew--somewhat vaguely perhaps, yet with some degree of +certainty--that gambling was an illicit pastime, and that therefore +he--by sitting at this table with these gentlemen, was deliberately +contravening the laws of his country. + +Against all that, it is necessary to note that Richard Lambert took two +matters very much in earnest: first, his position as a paid dependent; +second, his gratitude to Sir Marmaduke de Chavasse. + +And both these all-pervading facts combined to force him against his +will into this anomalous position of gentlemanly gambler, which suited +neither his temperament nor his principles. + +With it all Lambert's was one of those dispositions, often peculiar to +those who have led an isolated and introspective life, which never do +anything half-heartedly; and just as he took his somewhat empty +secretarial duties seriously, so did he look on this self-imposed task, +against which his better judgment rebelled, with earnestness and +determination. + +He listened attentively to the preliminary explanations given him sotto +voce by Endicott. Segrave in the meanwhile had taken the latter's place +at the head of the table. He had put all his money in front of him, some +two hundred and sixty pounds all told, for his winnings during the last +half hour had not been as steady as heretofore, and he had not yet +succeeded altogether in making up that sum of money for which he yearned +with all the intensity of a disturbed conscience, eager to redeem one +miserable fault by another hardly more avowable. + +He shuffled the cards and dealt just as Endicott had done. + +"Now will you look at your card, young sir," said Endicott, who stood +behind Lambert's chair, whispering directions in his ear. "A splendid +card, begad! and one on which you must stake freely.... Nay! nay! that +is not enough," he added, hurriedly restraining the young man's hand, +who had timidly pushed a few silver coins forward. "'Tis thus you must +do!" + +And before Lambert had time to protest the rotund man in the cinnamon +doublet and the wide lace cuffs, had emptied the contents of the little +leather wallet upon the table. + +Five golden guineas rested on Lambert's card. Segrave turned up his own +and declared: + +"I pay queen and upwards!" + +"A two, by gad!" said Lord Walterton, too confused in his feeble head +now to display any real fury. "Did anyone ever see such accursed luck?" + +"And look at this nine," quoth Sir Michael, who had become very sullen; +"not a card to-night!" + +"I have a king," said Lambert quietly. + +"And as I had the pleasure to remark before, my dear young friend," said +Endicott blandly, "'tis a mighty good card to hold.... And see," he +continued, as Segrave without comment added five more golden guineas to +Lambert's little hoard, "see how wise it was to stake a goodly sum ... +That is the whole art of the game of primero ... to know just what to +stake on each card in accordance with its value and the law of +averages.... But you will learn in time, young man you will learn...." + +"The game doth not appear to be vastly complicated," assented Lambert +lightly. + +"I have played primero on a system for years ..." quoth Lord Walterton +sententiously, "but to-night ... hic ... by Gad! ... I cannot make the +system work right ... hic!" + +But already Segrave was dealing again. Lambert staked more coolly now. +In his mind he had already set aside the original five guineas which +came from his grandmother. With strange ease and through no merit of his +own, yet perfectly straightforwardly and honestly, he had become the +owner of another five; these he felt more justified in risking on the +hazard of the game. + +But the goddess of Fortune smiling benignly on this country-bred lad, +had in a wayward mood apparently taken him under her special protection. +He staked and won again, and then again pleased at his success ... in +spite of himself feeling the subtle poison of excitement creeping into +his veins ... yet remaining perfectly calm outwardly the while. + +Segrave, on the other hand, was losing in exact proportion to the +newcomer's winnings: already his pile of gold had perceptibly +diminished, whilst the hectic flush on his cheeks became more and more +accentuated, the glitter in his eyes more unnatural and feverish, his +hands as they shuffled and dealt the cards more trembling and febrile. + +"'Pon my honor," quoth Sir Marmaduke, throwing a careless glance at the +table, "meseems you are in luck, my good Lambert. Doubtless, you are not +sorry now that you allowed yourself to be persuaded." + +"'Tis not unpleasant to win," rejoined Lambert lightly, "but believe me, +sir, the game itself gives me no pleasure." + +"I pay knave and upwards," declared Segrave in a dry and hollow voice, +and with burning eyes fixed upon his new and formidable opponent. + +"My last sovereign, par Dieu!" swore Lord Walterton, throwing the money +across to Segrave with an unsteady hand. + +"And one of my last," said Sir Michael, as he followed suit. + +"And what is your stake, Master Lambert?" queried Segrave. + +"Twenty pounds I see," replied the young man, as with a careless hand he +counted over the gold which lay pell-mell on his card; "I staked on the +king without counting." + +Segrave in his turn pushed some gold towards him. The pile in front of +him was not half the size it had been before this stranger from the +country had sat down to play. He tried to remain master of himself, not +to show before these egotistical, careless cavaliers all the agony of +mind which he now endured and which had turned to positive physical +torture. + +The ghost of stolen money, of exposure, of pillory and punishment which +had so perceptibly paled as he saw the chance of replacing by his +unexpected winnings that which he had purloined, once more rose to +confront him. Again he saw before him the irascible employer, pointing +with relentless finger at the deficiency in the accounts, again he saw +his weeping mother, his stern father,--the disgrace, the irretrievable +past. + +"You are not leaving off playing, Sir Michael?" he asked anxiously, as +the latter having handed him over a golden guinea, rose from the table +and without glancing at his late partners in the game, turned his back +on them all. + +"Par Dieu!" he retorted, speaking roughly, and none too civilly over his +shoulder, "my pockets are empty.... Like Master Lambert here," he added +with an unmistakable sneer, "I find no pleasure in _this_ sort of game!" + +"What do you mean?" queried Segrave hotly. + +"Oh, nothing," rejoined the other dryly, "you need not heed my remark. +Are you not losing, too?" + +"What does he mean?" said Lambert with a puzzled frown, instinctively +turning to his employer. + +"Naught! naught! my good Lambert," replied Sir Marmaduke, dropping his +voice to a whisper. "Sir Michael Isherwood hath lost more than he can +afford and is somewhat choleric of temper, that is all." + +"And in a little quiet game, my good young friend," added Endicott, +also in a whisper, "'tis wisest to take no heed of a loser's vapors." + +"I pay ace only!" quoth Segrave triumphantly, who in the meanwhile had +continued the game. + +Lord Walterton swore a loud and prolonged oath. He had staked five +guineas on a king and had lost. + +"Ventre-saint-gris, and likewise par le sang-bleu!" he said, "the first +time I have had a king! Segrave, ye must leave me these few little +yellow toys, else I cannot pay for my lodgings to-night.... I'll give +you a bill ... but I've had enough of this, by Gad!" + +And somewhat sobered, though still unsteady, he rose from the table. + +"Surely, my lord, you are not leaving off, too?" asked Segrave. + +"Nay! ... how can I continue?" He turned his breeches pockets +ostentatiously inside out. "Behold, friend, these two beautiful and +innocent little dears!" + +"You can give me more bills ..." urged Segrave, "and you lose ... you +may not lose after this ... 'tis lucky to play on credit ... and ... and +your bills are always met, my lord ..." + +He spoke with feverish volubility, though his throat was parched and +every word he uttered caused him pain. But he was determined that the +game should proceed. + +He had won a little of his own back again the last few rounds. +Certainly his luck would turn once more. His luck _must_ turn once more, +or else ... + +"Nay! nay! I've had enough," said Lord Walterton, nodding a heavy head +up and down, "there are too many of my bills about as it is.... I've had +enough." + +"Methinks, of a truth," said Lambert decisively, "that the game has +indeed lasted long enough.... And if some other gentleman would but take +my place ..." + +He made a movement as if to rise from the table, but was checked by a +harsh laugh and a peremptory word from Segrave. + +"Impossible," said the latter, "you, Master Lambert, cannot leave off in +any case.... My lord ... another hand ..." he urged again. + +"Nay! nay! my dear Segrave," replied Lord Walterton, shaking himself +like a sleepy dog, "the game hath ceased to have any pleasure for me, as +our young friend here hath remarked.... I wish you good luck ... and +good-night." + +Whereupon he turned on his heel and straddled away to another corner of +the room, away from the temptation of that green-covered table. + +"We two then, Master Lambert," said Segrave with ever-growing +excitement, "what say you? Double or quits?" + +And he pointed, with that same febrile movement of his, to the heap of +gold standing on the table beside Lambert. + +"As you please," replied the latter quietly, as he pushed the entire +pile forward. + +Segrave dealt, then turned up his card. + +"Ten!" he said curtly. + +"Mine is a knave," rejoined Lambert. + +"How do we stand?" queried the other, as with a rapid gesture he passed +a trembling hand over his burning forehead. + +"Methinks you owe me a hundred pounds," replied Richard, who seemed +strangely calm in the very midst of this inexplicable and volcanic +turmoil which he felt was seething all round him. He had won a hundred +pounds--a fortune in those days for a country lad like himself; but for +the moment the thought of what that hundred pounds would mean to him and +to his brother Adam, was lost in the whirl of excitement which had risen +to his head like wine. + +He had steadily refused the glasses of muscadel or sack which Mistress +Endicott had insinuatingly and persistently been offering him, ever +since he began to play; yet he felt intoxicated, with strange currents +of fire which seemed to run through his veins. + +The subtle poison had done its work. Any remorse which he may have felt +at first, for thus acting against his own will and better judgment, and +for yielding like a weakling to persuasion, which had no moral rectitude +for basis, was momentarily smothered by the almost childish delight of +winning, of seeing the pile of gold growing in front of him. He had +never handled money before; it was like a fascinating yet insidious toy +which he could not help but finger. + +"Are you not playing rather high, gentlemen?" came in dulcet tones from +Mistress Endicott; "I do not allow high play in my house. Master +Lambert, I would fain ask you to cease." + +"I am more than ready, madam," said Richard with alacrity. + +"Nay! but I am not ready," interposed Segrave vehemently. "Nay! nay!" he +repeated with feverish insistence, "Master Lambert cannot cease playing +now. He is bound in honor to give me a chance for revenge.... Double or +quits, Master Lambert! ... Double or quits?" + +"As you please," quoth Lambert imperturbably. + +"Ye cannot cut to each other," here interposed Endicott didactically. +"The rules of primero moreover demand that if there are but two players, +a third and disinterested party shall deal the cards." + +"Then will you cut and deal, Master Endicott," said Segrave impatiently; +"I care not so long as I can break Master Lambert's luck and redeem mine +own.... Double or quits, Master Lambert.... Double or quits.... I shall +either owe you two hundred pounds or not one penny.... In which case we +can make a fresh start...." + +Lambert eyed him with curiosity, sympathetically too, for the young man +was in a state of terrible mental agitation, whilst he himself felt +cooler than before. + +Endicott dealt each of the two opponents a card face downwards, but even +as he did so, the one which he had dealt to Lambert fluttered to the +ground. + +He stooped and picked it up. + +Segrave's eyes at the moment were fixed on his own card, Lambert's on +the face of his opponent. No one else in the room was paying any +attention to the play of the two young men, for everyone was busy with +his own affairs. Play was general, the hour late. The wines had been +heady, and all tempers were at fever pitch. + +No one, therefore, was watching Endicott's movements at the moment when +he ostensibly stooped to pick up the fallen card. + +"It is not faced," he said, "what shall we do?" + +"Give it to Master Lambert forsooth," quoth Mistress Endicott, "'tis +unlucky to re-deal ... providing," she added artfully, "that Master +Segrave hath no objection." + +"Nay! nay!" said the latter. "Begad! why should we stop the game for a +trifle?" + +Then as Lambert took the card from Endicott and casually glanced at it, +Segrave declared: + +"Queen!" + +"King!" retorted Lambert, with the same perfect calm. "King of diamonds +... that card has been persistently faithful to me to-night." + +"The devil himself hath been faithful to you, Master Lambert ..." said +Segrave tonelessly, "you have the hell's own luck.... What do I pay you +now?" + +"It was double or quits, Master Segrave," rejoined Lambert, "which +brings it up to two hundred pounds.... You will do me the justice to own +that I did not seek this game." + +In his heart he had already resolved not to make use of his own +winnings. Somehow as in a flash of intuition he perceived the whole +tragedy of dishonor and of ruin which seemed to be writ on his +opponent's face. He understood that what he had regarded as a +toy--welcome no doubt, but treacherous for all that--was a matter of +life or death--nay! more mayhap to that pallid youth, with the hectic +flush, the unnaturally bright eyes and trembling hands. + +There was silence for a while round the green-topped table, whilst +thoughts, feelings, presentiments of very varied kinds congregated +there. With Endicott and his wife, and also with Sir Marmaduke, it was +acute tension, the awful nerve strain of anticipation. The seconds for +them seemed an eternity, the obsession of waiting was like lead on their +brains. + +During that moment of acute suspense Richard Lambert was quietly +co-ordinating his thoughts. + +With that one mental flash-light which had shown up to him the hitherto +unsuspected tragedy, the latent excitement in him had vanished. He saw +his own weakness in its true light, despised himself for having yielded, +and looked upon the heap of gold before him as so much ill-gotten +wealth, which it would be a delight to restore to the hand from whence +it came. + +He heartily pitied the young man before him, and was forming vague +projects of how best to make him understand in private and without +humiliation that the money which he had lost would be returned to him in +full. Strangely enough he was still holding in his hand that king of +diamonds which Endicott had dealt to him. + + + + +CHAPTER XIX + +DISGRACE + + +Segrave, too, had been silent, of course. In his mind there was neither +suspense nor calm. It was utter, dull and blank despair which assailed +him, the ruin of his fondest hopes, an awful abyss of disgrace, of +punishment, of death at best, which seemed to yawn before him from the +other side of the baize-covered table. + +Instinct--that ever-present instinct of self-control peculiar to the +gently-bred race of mankind--caused him to make frantic efforts to keep +himself and his nerves in check. He would--even at this moment of +complete ruin--have given the last shreds of his worldly possessions to +be able to steady the febrile movements of his hand. + +The pack of cards was on the table, just as Endicott had put it down, +after dealing, with the exception of the queen of hearts in front of +Segrave and the lucky king of diamonds on which Lambert was still +mechanically gazing. + +He was undoubtedly moved by the desire to hide the trembling of his +hands and the gathering tears in his eyes when he began idly to scatter +the pack upon the table, spreading out the cards, fingering them one by +one, setting his teeth the while lest that latent cry of misery should +force its way across his lips. + +Suddenly he paused in this idle fingering of the cards. His eyes which +already were burning with hot tears, seemed to take on an almost savage +glitter. A hoarse cry escaped his parched lips. + +"In the name of Heaven, Master Segrave, what ails you?" cried Endicott +with well-feigned concern. + +Segrave's hand wandered mechanically to his own neck; he tugged at the +fastening of his lace collar, as if, in truth, he were choking. + +"The king.... The king of diamonds," he murmured in a hollow voice. "Two +... two kings of diamonds...." + +He laughed, a long, harsh laugh, the laugh of a maniac, or of a man +possessed, whilst one long thin finger pointed tremblingly to the card +still held by Richard Lambert, and then to its counterpart in the midst +of the scattered pack. + +That laugh seemed to echo all round the room. Dames and cavaliers, +players and idlers, looked up to see whence that weird sound had come. +Instinctively the crowd drew nigh, dice and cards were pushed aside. +Some strange drama was being enacted between two young men, more +interesting even than the caprices of Fortune. + +But already Endicott and also Sir Marmaduke de Chavasse had followed the +beckonings of Segrave's feverish hand. + +There could be no mistake in what they saw nor yet in the ominous +consequences which it foretold. There was a king of diamonds in the +scattered pack of cards upon the table, and yet the card which Lambert +held, in consequence of which he had just won two hundred pounds, was +also the king of diamonds. + +"Two kings of diamonds ... by all that's damnable!" quoth Lord +Walterton, who had been the first to draw nigh. + +"But in Heaven's name, what does it all mean?" exclaimed Lambert, gazing +at the two cards, hearing the comments round him, yet utterly unable to +understand. + +Segrave jumped to his feet. + +"It means, young man," he ejaculated in a wild state of frenzy, maddened +by his losses, his former crime, his present ruin, "it means that you +are a damned thief." + +And with frantic, excited gesture he gathered up the cards and threw +them violently into Richard Lambert's face. + +A curious sound went round the room--a gasp, hardly a cry--and all those +present held their breath, silent, appalled at the terrible tragedy +expressed by these two young men standing face to face on the brink of a +deathly and almost blasphemous conflict. + +Mistress Endicott was the first to utter a cry. + +"Silence! silence!" she shouted shrilly. "Master Segrave, I adjure you +to be silent.... I'll not permit you to insult my guest." + +Already Lambert had made a quick movement to throw himself on Segrave. +The elemental instinct of self-defense, of avenging a terrible insult by +physical violence, rose within him, whispering of strength and power, of +the freedom, muscle-giving life of the country as against the +enervating, weakening influence of the town. + +He knew that in a hand-to-hand struggle with the feverish, emaciated +townsman, he, the country-bred lad, the haunter of woods and cliffs, the +dweller of the Thanet smithy, would be more than a match for his +opponent. But even as his whole body stiffened for a spring, his muscles +tightened and his fists clenched, a dozen restraining hands held him +back from his purpose, whilst Mistress Endicott's shrill tones seemed to +bring him back to the realities of his own peril. + +"Mistress Endicott," he said, turning a proud, yet imploring look to the +lady whose virtues had been so loudly proclaimed in his ears, "Madam, I +appeal to you ... I implore you to listen ... a frightful insult which +you have witnessed ... an awful accusation on which I scarce can trust +myself to dwell has been hurled at me.... I entreat you to allow me to +challenge these two gentlemen to explain." + +And he pointed both to Segrave and to Endicott, The former, after his +mad outburst of ungovernable rage, had regained a certain measure of +calm. He stood, facing Lambert, with arms folded across his chest, +whilst a smile of insulting irony curled his thin lips. + +Endicott's eyes seemed to be riveted on Lambert's breast. + +At mention of his own name, he suddenly darted forward, and seemed to be +plunging his hand--the hand which almost disappeared within the ample +folds of the voluminous lace cuff--into the breast pocket of the young +man's doublet. + +His movements were so quick, so sure and so unexpected that no +one--least of all Lambert--could possibly guess what was his purpose. + +The next moment--less than a second later--he had again withdrawn his +hand, but now everyone could see that he held a few cards in it. These +he dropped with an exclamation of loathing and contempt upon the table, +whilst those around, instinctively drew back a step or two as if fearful +of coming in contact with something impure and terrible. + +Endicott's movements, his quick gestures, well aided by the wide lace +cuffs which fell over his hand, his exclamation of contempt, had all +contributed to make it seem before the spectators as if he had found a +few winning cards secreted inside the lining of Richard Lambert's +doublet. + +"Nay! young sir," he said with an evil sneer, "meseems that explanations +had best come from you. Here," he added, pointing significantly at the +cards which he had just dropped out of his own hand, "here is a vastly +pleasing collection ... aces and kings ... passing serviceable in a +quiet game of primero among friends." + +Lambert had been momentarily dumfounded, for undoubtedly he had not +perceived Endicott's treacherous movements, and had absolutely no idea +whence had come those awful cards which somehow or other seemed to be +convicting him of lying and cheating: so conscious was he of his own +innocence, that never for a moment did the slightest fear cross his mind +that he could not immediately make clear his own position, and proclaim +his own integrity. + +"This is an infamous plot," he said calmly, but very firmly. "Sir +Marmaduke de Chavasse," he added, turning to face his employer, who +still stood motionless and silent in the background, "in the name of +Heaven I beg of you to explain to these gentlemen that you have known me +from boyhood. Will you speak?" he added insistently, conscious of a +strange tightening of his heartstrings as the man on whom he relied, +remained impassive and made no movement to come to his help. "Will you +tell them, I pray you, sir, that you know me to be a man of honor, +incapable of such villainy as they suggest? ... You know that I did not +even wish to play ..." + +"That reluctance of yours, my good Lambert, seems to have been a pretty +comedy forsooth," replied Sir Marmaduke lightly, "and you played to some +purpose, meseems, when you once began.... Nay! I pray you," he added +with unmitigated harshness, "do not drag me into your quarrels.... I +cannot of a truth champion your virtue." + +Lambert's cheeks became deathly pale. The first inkling of the deadly +peril of his own situation had suddenly come to him with Sir Marmaduke's +callous words. It seemed to him as if the very universe must stand still +in the face of such treachery. The man whom he loved with all the fervor +of a grateful nature, the man who knew him and whom he had wholly +trusted, was proving his most bitter, most damning enemy. + +After Sir Marmaduke's speech, his own employer's repudiation, he felt +that all his chances of clearing his character before these sneering +gentlemen had suddenly vanished. + +"This is cruel, and infamous," he protested, conscious innocence within +him still striving to fight a hard battle against overwhelming odds. +"Gentlemen! ... as I am a man of honor, I swear that I do not know what +all this means!" + +"It means, young man, that you are an accursed cheat ... a thief ... a +liar!" shouted Segrave, whose last vestige of self-control suddenly +vanished, whilst mad frenzy once more held him in its grip. "I swear by +God that you shall pay me for this!" + +He threw himself with all the strength of a raving maniac upon Lambert, +who for the moment was taken unawares, and yielded to the suddenness of +the onslaught. But it was indeed a conflict 'twixt town and country, +the simple life against nightly dissipations, the forests and cliffs of +Thanet against the enervating atmosphere of the city. + +After that first onrush, Lambert, with marvelous agility and quick +knowledge of a hand-to-hand fight, had shaken himself free of his +opponent's trembling grasp. It was his turn now to have the upper hand, +and in a trice he had, with a vigorous clutch, gripped his opponent by +the throat. + +In a sense, his calmness had not forsaken him, his mind was as quiet, as +clear as heretofore; it was only his muscle--his bodily energy in the +face of a violent and undeserved attack--which had ceased to be under +his control. + +"Man! man!" he murmured, gazing steadily into the eyes of his +antagonist, "ye shall swallow those words--or by Heaven I will kill +you!" + +The tumult which ensued drowned everything save itself ... everything, +even the sound of that slow and measured tramp, tramp, tramp, which was +wafted up from the street. + +The women shouted, the men swore. Some ran like frightened sheep to the +distant corners of the room, fearful lest they be embroiled in this +unpleasant fracas ... others crowded round Segrave and Lambert, trying +to pacify them, to drag the strong youth away from his weaker +opponent--almost his victim now. + +Some were for forcibly separating them, others for allowing them to +fight their own battles and loud-voiced arguments, subsidiary quarrels, +mingled with the shrill cries of terror and caused a din which grew in +deafening intensity, degenerating into a wild orgy as glasses were +knocked off the tables, cards strewn about, candles sent flying and +spluttering upon the ground. + +And still that measured tramp down the street, growing louder, more +distinct, a muffled "Halt!" the sound of arms, of men moving about +beneath that yawning archway and along the dark and dismal passage with +its hermetically closed front door. + + + + +CHAPTER XX + +MY LORD PROTECTOR'S PATROL + + +Alone, Sir Marmaduke de Chavasse had taken no part in the confused +turmoil which raged around the personalities of Segrave and Richard +Lambert. From the moment that he had--with studied callousness--turned +his back on his erstwhile protege he had held aloof from the crowd which +had congregated around the two young men. + +He saw before him the complete success of his nefarious plan, which had +originated in the active brain of Editha, but had been perfected in his +own--of heaping dire and lasting disgrace on the man who had become +troublesome and interfering of late, who was a serious danger to his +more important schemes. + +After the fracas of this night Richard Lambert forsooth could never show +his face within two hundred miles of London, the ugly story of his +having cheated at cards and been publicly branded as a liar and a thief +by a party of gentlemen would of a surety penetrate even within the +fastnesses of Thanet. + +So far everything was for the best, nay, it might be better still, for +Segrave enraged and maddened at his losses, might succeed in getting +Lambert imprisoned for stealing, and cheating, even at the cost of his +own condemnation to a fine for gambling. + +The Endicotts had done their part well. The man especially, with his +wide cuffs and his quick movements. No one there present could have the +slightest doubt but that Lambert was guilty. Satisfied, therefore, that +all had gone according to his own wishes, Sir Marmaduke withdrew from +further conflict or argument with the unfortunate young man, whom he had +so deliberately and so hopelessly ruined. + +And because he thus kept aloof, his ears were not so completely filled +with the din, nor his mind so wholly engrossed by the hand-to-hand +struggle between the two young men, that he did not perceive that other +sound, which, in spite of barred windows and drawn curtains, came up +from the street below. + +At first he had only listened carelessly to the measured tramp. But the +cry of "Halt!" issuing from immediately beneath the windows caused his +cheeks to blanch and his muscles to stiffen with a sudden sense of fear. + +He cast a rapid glance all around. Segrave and Lambert--both flushed and +panting--were forcibly held apart. Sir Marmaduke noted with a grim smile +that the latter was obviously the center of a hostile group, whilst +Segrave was surrounded by a knot of sympathizers who were striving +outwardly to pacify him, whilst in reality urging him on through their +unbridled vituperations directed against the other man. + +The noise of arguments, of shrill voices, of admonitions and violent +abuse had in no sense abated. + +Over the sea of excited faces Sir Marmaduke caught the wide-open, +terrified eyes of Editha de Chavasse. + +She too, had heard. + +He beckoned to her across the room with a slight gesture of the hand, +and she obeyed the silent call as quickly as she dared, working her way +round to him, without arousing the attention of the crowd. + +"Do not lose your head," he whispered as soon as she was near him and +seeing the wild terror expressed in every line of her face. "Slip into +the next room ... and leave the door ajar.... Do this as quietly as may +be ... now ... at once ... then wait there until I come." + +Again she obeyed him silently and swiftly, for she knew what that cry of +"Halt!" meant, uttered at the door of her house. She had heard it, even +as Sir Marmaduke had done, and after it the peremptory knocks, the loud +call, the word of command, followed by the sound of an awed and +supplicating voice, entering a feeble protest. + +She knew what all that meant, and she was afraid. + +As soon as Sir Marmaduke saw that she had done just as he had ordered, +he deliberately joined the noisy groups which were congregated around +Segrave and Lambert. + +He pushed his way forward and anon stood face to face with the young man +on whom he had just wreaked such an irreparable wrong. Not a thought of +compunction or remorse rose in his mind as he looked down at the +handsome flushed face--quite calm and set outwardly in spite of the +terrible agony raging within heart and mind. + +"Lambert!" he said gruffly, "listen to me.... Your conduct hath been +most unseemly.... Mistress Endicott has for my sake, already shown you +much kindness and forbearance ... Had she acted as she had the right to +do, she would have had you kicked out of the house by her servants.... +In your own interests now I should advise you to follow me quietly out +of the house...." + +But this suggestion raised a hot protest on the part of all the +spectators. + +"He shall not go!" declared Segrave violently. + +"Not without leaving behind him what he has deliberately stolen," +commented Endicott, raising his oily voice above the din. + +Lambert had waited patiently, whilst his employer spoke. The last +remnant of that original sense of deference and of gratitude caused him +to hold himself in check lest he should strike that treacherous coward +in the face. Sir Marmaduke's callousness in the face of his peril and +unmerited disgrace, had struck Lambert with an overwhelming feeling of +disappointment and loneliness. But his cruel insults now quashed despair +and roused dormant indignation to fever pitch. One look at Sir +Marmaduke's sneering face had told him not only that he could expect no +help from the man who--by all the laws of honor--should have stood by +him in his helplessness, but that he was the fount and source, the +instigator of the terrible wrong and injustice which was about to land +an innocent man in the veriest abyss of humiliation and irretrievable +disgrace. + +"And so this was your doing, Sir Marmaduke de Chavasse," he said, +looking his triumphant enemy boldly in the face, even whilst compelling +silent attention from those who were heaping opprobrious epithets upon +him. "You enticed me here.... You persuaded me to play, ... Then you +tried to rob me of mine honor, of my good name, the only valuable assets +which I possess.... Hell and all its devils alone know why you did this +thing, but I swear before God that your hideous crime shall not remain +unpunished...." + +"Silence!" commanded Sir Marmaduke, who was the first to perceive the +strange, almost supernatural, effect produced on all those present, by +the young man's earnestness, his impressive calm. Segrave himself stood +silent and abashed, whilst everyone listened, unconsciously awed by that +unmistakable note of righteousness which somehow rang through Lambert's +voice. + +"Nay! but I'll not be silent," quoth Richard unperturbed. "I have been +condemned ... and I have the right to speak.... You have disgraced me +... and I have the right to defend mine honor ... by protesting mine +innocence.... And now I will leave this house," he added loudly and +firmly, "for it is accursed and infamous ... but God is my witness that +I leave it without a stain upon my soul...." + +He pointed to the fateful table whereon a pile of gold lay scattered in +an untidy heap, with the tiny leather wallet containing his five guineas +conspicuously in its midst. + +"There lies the money," he said, speaking directly to Segrave, "take it, +sir, for I had never the intention to touch a penny of it.... This I +swear by all that I hold most sacred.... Take it without fear or +remorse--even though you thought such evil things of me ... and let him +who still thinks me a thief, repeat it now to my face--an he dare!" + +Even as the last of his loudly uttered words resounded through the room, +there was a loud knock at the door, and a peremptory voice commanded: + +"Open! in the name of His Highness, the Lord Protector of England!" + +In the dead silence that followed, the buzz of a fly, the spluttering of +wax candles, could be distinctly heard. + +In a moment with the sound of that peremptory call outside, tumultuous +passions seemed to sink to rest, every cheek paled, and masculine hands +instinctively sought the handles of swords whilst lace handkerchiefs +were hastily pressed to trembling lips, in order to smother the cry of +terror which had risen to feminine throats. + +"Open! in the name of His Highness, the Lord Protector of England." + +Mistress Endicott was the color of wax, her husband was gripping her +wrist with a clutch of steel, trying, through the administration of +physical pain, to keep alive her presence of mind. + +And for the third time came the loud summons: + +"Open! in the name of His Highness the Lord, Protector of England!" + +Still that deathly silence in the room, broken only now by the firm step +of Endicott, who went to open the door. + +Resistance had been worse than useless. The door would have yielded at +the first blow. There was a wailing, smothered cry from a dozen +terrified throats, and a general rush for the inner room. But this door +now was bolted and barred, Sir Marmaduke--unperceived--had slipped +quickly within, even whilst everyone held his breath in the first moment +of paralyzed terror. + +Had there been time, there would doubtless have ensued a violent attack +against that locked door, but already a man in leather doublet and +wearing a steel cap and collar had peremptorily pushed Endicott aside, +who was making a futile effort to bar the way, after he had opened the +door. + +This man now advanced into the center of the room, whilst a couple of +soldierly-looking, stalwart fellows remained at attention on the +threshold. + +"Let no one attempt to leave this room," he commanded. "Here, Bradden," +he added, turning back to his men, "take Pyott with you and search that +second room there ... then seize all those cards and dice and also that +money." + +It was not likely that these hot-headed cavaliers would submit thus +quietly to an arbitrary act of confiscation and of arrest. Hardly were +the last words out of the man's mouth than a dozen blades flashed out of +their scabbards. + +The women screamed, and like so many frightened hens, ran into the +corner of the room furthest out of reach of my Lord Protector's +police-patrol, the men immediately forming a bulwark in front of them. + +The whole thing was not very heroic perhaps. A few idlers caught in an +illicit act and under threat of arrest. The consequences--of a +truth--would not be vastly severe for the frequenters of this secret +club; fines mayhap, which most of those present could ill afford to pay, +and at worst a night's detention in one of those horrible wooden +constructions which had lately been erected on the river bank for the +express purpose of causing sundry lordly offenders to pass an +uncomfortable night. + +These were days of forcible levelings: and my lord who had contravened +old Noll's laws against swearing and gambling, fared not one whit better +than the tramp who had purloined a leg of mutton from an eating-house. + +Nay! in a measure my lord fared a good deal worse, for he looked upon +his own detention through the regicide usurper's orders, as an indignity +to himself; hence the reason why in this same house wherein a few idle +scions of noble houses indulged in their favorite pastime, when orders +rang out in the name of His Highness, swords jumped out of their +sheaths, and resistance was offered out of all proportion to the threat. + +The man who seemed to be the captain of the patrol smiled somewhat +grimly when he saw himself confronted by this phalanx of gentlemanly +weapons. He was a tall, burly fellow, broad of shoulder and well-looking +in his uniform of red with yellow facings; his round bullet-shaped head, +covered by the round steel cap, was suggestive of obstinacy, even of +determination. + +He eyed the flushed and excited throng with some amusement not wholly +unmixed with contempt. Oh! he knew some of the faces well enough by +sight--for he had originally served in the train-bands of London, and +had oft seen my Lord Walterton, for instance, conspicuous at every +entertainment--now pronounced illicit by His Highness, and Sir Anthony +Bridport, a constant frequenter at Exeter House, and young Lord +Naythmire the son of the Judge. He also had certainly seen young Segrave +before this, whose father had been a member of the Long Parliament; the +only face that was totally strange to him was that of the youngster in +the dark suit of grogram, who stood somewhat aloof from the irate crowd, +and seemed to be viewing the scene with astonishment rather than with +alarm. + +Lord Walterton, flushed with wine, more than with anger, constituted +himself the spokesman of the party: + +"Who are you?" he asked somewhat unsteadily, "and what do you want?" + +"My name is Gunning," replied the man curtly, "captain commanding His +Highness' police. What I want is that you gentlemen offer no resistance, +but come with me quietly to answer on the morrow before Judge Parry, a +charge of contravening the laws against betting and gambling." + +A ribald and prolonged laugh greeted this brief announcement, and some +twenty pairs of gentlemanly shoulders were shrugged in token of +derision. + +"Hark at the man!" quoth Sir James Overbury lightly, "methinks, +gentlemen, that our wisest course would be to put up our swords and to +throw the fellows downstairs, what say you?" + +"Aye! aye!" came in cheerful accents from the defiant little group. + +"Out with you fellow, we've no time to waste in bandying words with ye +..." said Walterton, with the tone of one accustomed to see the churl +ever cringe before the lord, "and let one of thy myrmidons touch a thing +in this room if he dare!" + +The young cavalier was standing somewhat in advance of his friends, +having stepped forward in order to emphasize the peremptoriness of his +words. The women were still in the background well protected by a +phalanx of resolute defenders who, encouraged by the captain's silence +and Walterton's haughty attitude, were prepared to force the patrol of +police to beat a hasty retreat. + +Endicott and his wife had seemed to think it prudent to keep well out of +sight: the former having yielded to Gunning's advance had discreetly +retired amongst the petticoats. + +No one, least of all Walterton, who remained the acknowledged leader of +the little party of gamesters, had any idea of the numerical strength of +the patrol whose interference with gentlemanly pastimes was +unwarrantable and passing insolent. In the gloom on the landing beyond, +a knot of men could only be vaguely discerned. Captain Gunning and his +lieutenant, Bradden, had alone advanced into the room. + +But now apparently Gunning gave some sign, which Bradden then +interpreted to the men outside. The sign itself must have been very +slight for none of the cavaliers perceived it--certainly no actual word +of command had been spoken, but the next moment--within thirty seconds +of Walterton's defiant speech, the room itself, the doorway and +apparently the landing and staircase too, were filled with men, each one +attired in scarlet and yellow, all wearing leather doublets and steel +caps, and all armed with musketoons which they were even now pointing +straight at the serried ranks of the surprised and wholly unprepared +gamesters. + +"I would fain not give an order to fire," said Captain Gunning curtly, +"and if you, gentlemen, will follow me quietly, there need be no +bloodshed." + +It may be somewhat unromantic but it is certainly prudent, to listen at +times to the dictates of common sense, and one of wisdom's most cogent +axioms is undoubtedly that it is useless to stand up before a volley of +musketry at a range of less than twelve feet, unless a heroic death is +in contemplation. + +It was certainly very humiliating to be ordered about by a close-cropped +Puritan, who spoke in nasal tones, and whose father probably had mended +boots or killed pigs in his day, but the persuasion of twenty-four +musketoons, whose muzzles pointed collectively in one direction, was +bound--in the name of common sense--to prevail ultimately. + +Of a truth, none of these gentlemen--who were now content to oppose a +comprehensive vocabulary of English and French oaths to the brand-new +weapons of my Lord Protector's police--were cowards in any sense of the +word. Less than a decade ago they had proved their mettle not only sword +in hand, but in the face of the many privations, sorrows and +humiliations consequent on the failure of their cause and the defeat, +and martyrdom of their king. There was, therefore, nothing mean or +pusillanimous in their attitude when having exhausted their vocabulary +of oaths and still seeing before them the muzzles of four-and-twenty +musketoons pointed straight at them, they one after another dropped +their sword points and turned to read in each other's faces uniform +desire to surrender to _force majeure_. + +The Captain watched them--impassive and silent--until the moment when he +too, could discern in the sullen looks cast at him by some twenty pairs +of eyes, that these elegant gentlemen had conquered their impulse to +hot-headed resistance. + +But the four-and-twenty musketoons were still leveled, nor did the +round-headed Captain give the order to lower the firearms. + +"I can release most of you, gentlemen, on parole," he said, "an you'll +surrender your swords to me, you may go home this night, under promise +to attend the Court to-morrow morning." + +Bradden in the meanwhile had gone to the inner door and finding it +locked had ordered his companion to break it open. It yielded to the +first blow dealt with a vigorous shoulder. The lieutenant went into the +room, but finding it empty, he returned and soon was busy in collecting +the various "_pieces de convictions_," which would go to substantiate +the charges of gambling and betting against these noble gentlemen. No +resistance now was offered, and after a slight moment of hesitation and +a brief consultation 'twixt the more prominent cavaliers there present, +Lord Walterton stepped forward and having unbuckled his sword, threw it +with no small measure of arrogance and disdain at the feet of Captain +Gunning. + +His example was followed by all his friends, Gunning with arms folded +across his chest, watching the proceeding in silence. When Endicott +stood before him, however, he said curtly: + +"Not you, I think. Meseems I know you too well, fine sir, to release you +on parole. Bradden," he added, turning to his lieutenant, "have this +man duly guarded and conveyed to Queen's Head Alley to-night." + +Then as Endicott tried to protest, and Gunning gave a sharp order for +his immediate removal, Segrave pushed his way forward; he wore no sword, +and like Lambert, had stood aloof throughout this brief scene of +turbulent yet futile resistance, sullen, silent, and burning with a +desire for revenge against the man who had turned the current of his +luck, and brought him back to that abyss of despair, whence he now knew +there could be no release. + +"Captain," he said firmly, "though I wear no sword I am at one with all +these gentlemen, and I accept my release on parole. To-morrow I will +answer for my offense of playing cards, which apparently, is an illicit +pastime. I am one of the pigeons who have been plucked in this house." + +"By that gentleman?" queried Gunning with a grim smile and nodding over +his shoulder in the direction where Endicott was being led away by a +couple of armed men. + +"No! not by him!" replied Segrave boldly. + +With a somewhat theatrical gesture he pointed to Lambert, who, more of a +spectator than a participant in the scene, had been standing mutely by +outside the defiant group, absorbed in his own misery, wondering what +effect the present unforeseen juncture would have on his future chances +of rehabilitating himself. + +He was also vaguely wondering what had become of Sir Marmaduke and +Mistress de Chavasse. + +But now Segrave's voice was raised, and once more Lambert found himself +the cynosure of a number of hostile glances. + +"There stands the man who has robbed us all," said Segrave wildly, "and +now he has heaped disgrace upon us, upon me and mine.... Curse him! ... +curse him, I say!" he continued, whilst all the pent-up fury, forcibly +kept in check all this while by the advent of the police, now once more +found vent in loud vituperation and almost maniacal expressions of rage. +"Liar ... cheat! ... Look at him, Captain! there stands the man who must +bear the full brunt of the punishment, for he is the decoy, he is the +thief! ... The pillory for him ... the pillory ... the lash ... the +brand! ... Curse him! ... Curse him! ... the thief! ..." + +He was surrounded and forcibly silenced. The foam had risen to his lips, +impotent fury and agonized despair had momentarily clouded his brain. +Lambert tried to speak, but the Captain, unwilling to prolong a conflict +over which he was powerless to arbitrate, gave a sign to Bradden and +anon the two young men were led away in the wake of Endicott. + +The others on giving their word that they would appear before the Court +on the morrow, and answer to the charge preferred against them, were +presently allowed to walk out of the room in single file between a +double row of soldiers whose musketoons were still unpleasantly +conspicuous. + +Thus they passed out one by one, across the passage and down the dark +staircase. The door below they found was also guarded; as well as the +passage and the archway giving on the street. + +Here they were permitted to collect or disperse at will. The ladies, +however, had not been allowed to participate in the order for release. +Gunning knew most of them by sight,--they were worthy neither of +consideration nor respect,--paid satellites of Mistress Endicott's, +employed to keep up the good spirits of that lady's clientele. + +The soldiers drove them all together before them, in a compact, +shrinking and screaming group. Then the word of command was given. The +soldiers stood at attention, turned and finally marched out of the room +with their prisoners, Gunning being the last to leave. + +He locked the door behind him and in the wake of his men presently +wended his way down the tortuous staircase. + +Once more the measured tramp was heard reverberating through the house, +the cry of "Attention!" of "Quick march!" echoed beneath the passage +and the tumble-down archway, and anon the last of these ominous sounds +died away down the dismal street in the direction of the river. + +And in one of the attics at the top of the now silent and lonely house +in Bath Street--lately the scene of so much gayety and joy, of such +turmoil of passions and intensity of despair--two figures, a man and a +woman, crouched together in a dark corner, listening for the last dying +echo of that measured tramp. + + + + +PART III + + + + +CHAPTER XXI + +IN THE MEANWHILE + + +The news of the police raid on a secret gambling club in London, +together with the fracas which it entailed, had of necessity reached +even as far as sea-girt Thanet. Squire Boatfield had been the first to +hear of it; he spread the news as fast as he could, for he was overfond +of gossip, and Dame Harrison over at St. Lawrence had lent him able +assistance. + +Sir Marmaduke had, of course, the fullest details concerning the affair, +for he himself owned to having been present in the very house where the +disturbance had occurred. He was not averse to his neighbors knowing +that he was a frequenter of those exclusive and smart gambling clubs, +which were avowedly the resort of the most elegant cavaliers of the day, +and his account of some of the events of that memorable night had been +as entertaining as it was highly-colored. + +He avowed, however, that, disgusted at Richard Lambert's shameful +conduct, he had quitted the place early, some little while before my +Lord Protector's police had made a descent upon the gamblers. As for +Mistress de Chavasse, her name was never mentioned in connection with +the affair. She had been in London at the time certainly, staying with +a friend, who was helping her in the choice of a new gown for the coming +autumn. + +She returned to Acol Court with her brother-in-law, apparently as +horrified as he was at the disgrace which she vowed Richard Lambert had +heaped upon them all. + +The story of the young man being caught in the very act of cheating at +cards lost nothing in the telling. He had been convicted before Judge +Parry of obtaining money by lying and other illicit means, had been +condemned to fine and imprisonment and as he refused to pay the +former--most obstinately declaring that he was penniless--he was made to +stand for two hours in the pillory, and was finally dragged through the +streets in a rickety cart in full sight of a jeering crowd, sitting with +his back to the nag in company of the public hangman, and attired in +shameful and humiliating clothes. + +What happened to him after undergoing this wonderfully lenient +sentence--for many there were who thought he should have been publicly +whipped and branded as a cheat--nobody knew or cared. + +They kept him in prison for over ten weeks, it seems, but Sir Marmaduke +did not know what had become of him since then. + +The other gentlemen got off fairly lightly with fines and brief periods +of imprisonment. Young Segrave, so 'twas said, had been shipped to New +England by his father, but Master and Mistress Endicott had gone beyond +the seas at the expense of the State, and not for their own pleasure or +advancement. It appears that my Lord Protector's vigilance patrol had +kept a very sharp eye on these two people, who had more than once had to +answer for illicit acts before the Courts. They tried in a most shameful +manner it appears, to implicate Sir Marmaduke and Mistress de Chavasse +in their disgrace, but as the former very pertinently remarked, "How +could he, a simple Kentish squire have aught to do with a smart London +club? and people of such evil repute as the Endicotts could of a truth +never be believed." + +All these rumors and accounts had, of course, also reached Sue's ears. +At first she took up an attitude of aggressive incredulity when her +former friend was accused: nothing but the plain facts as set forth in +the _Public Advertiser_ of August the 5th would convince her that +Richard Lambert could be so base and mean as Sir Marmaduke had averred. + +Even then, in her innermost heart, a vague and indefinable instinct +called out to her in Lambert's name, not to believe all that was said of +him. She could not think of him as lying, and cheating at a game of +cards, when common sense itself told her that he was not sufficiently +conversant with its rules to turn them to his own advantage. Her +hot-headed partisanship of him gave way of necessity as the weeks sped +by, to a more passive disapproval of his condemnation, and this in its +turn to a kindly charity for what she thought must have been his +ignorance rather than his sin. + +What worried her most was that he was not nigh her, now that her +sentimental romance was reaching its super-acute crisis. During her +guardian's temporary absence from Acol she had made earnest and resolute +efforts to see her mysterious lover. She thought that he must know that +Sir Marmaduke and Mistress de Chavasse were away and that she herself +was free momentarily from watchful eyes. + +Yet though with pathetic persistence she haunted the park and the +woodlands around the Court, she never even once caught sight of the +broad-brimmed hat and drooping plume of her romantic prince. It seemed +as if the earth had swallowed him up. + +Upset and vaguely terrified, she had on one occasion thrown prudence to +the winds and sought out the old Quakeress and Adam Lambert with whom he +lodged. But the old Quakeress was very deaf, and explanations with her +were laborious and unsatisfactory, whilst Adam seemed to entertain a +sullen and irresponsible dislike for the foreigner. + +All she gathered from these two was that there was nothing unusual in +this sudden disappearance of their lodger. He came and went most +erratically, went no one knew whither, returned at most unexpected +moments, never slept more than an hour or two in his bed which he +quitted at amazingly early hours, strolling out of the cottage when all +decent folk were just beginning their night's rest, and wandering off +unseen, unheard, only to return as he had gone. + +He paid his money for his room regularly, however, and this was vastly +acceptable these hard times. + +But to Sue it was passing strange that her prince should be out of her +reach, just when Sir Marmaduke's and Mistress de Chavasse's absence had +made their meetings more easy and pleasant. + +Yet with it all, she was equally conscious of an unaccountable feeling +of relief, and every evening, when at about eight o'clock she returned +homewards after having vainly awaited the prince, there was nothing of +the sadness and disappointment in her heart which a maiden should feel +when she has failed to see her lover. + +She was just as much in love with him as ever!--oh! of that she felt +quite sure! she still thrilled at thought of his heroic martyrdom for +the cause which he had at heart, she still was conscious of a wonderful +feeling of elation when she was with him, and of pride when she saw this +remarkable hero, this selfless patriot at her feet, and heard his +impassioned declarations of love, even when these were alloyed with +frantic outbursts of jealousy. She still yearned for him when she did +not see him, even though she dreaded his ill-humor when he was nigh. + +She had promised to be his wife, soon and in secret, for he had vowed +that she did not love him if she condemned him to three long months of +infinite torture from jealousy and suspense. + +This promise she had given him freely and whole-heartedly more than a +fortnight ago. Since that memorable evening when she had thus plighted +her troth to him, when she had without a shadow of fear or a tremor of +compunction entrusted her entire future, her heart and soul to his +keeping, since then she had not seen him. + +Sir Marmaduke had gone to London, also Mistress de Chavasse, and she had +not even caught sight of the weird silhouette of her French prince. +Lambert, too, had gone, put out of her way temporarily--or mayhap, +forever--through the irresistible force of a terrible disgrace. There +was no one to spy on her movements, no one to dog her footsteps, yet she +had not seen him. + +When her guardian returned, he seemed so engrossed with Lambert's +misdeeds that he gave little thought to his ward. He and Mistress de +Chavasse were closeted together for hours in the small withdrawing-room, +whilst she was left to roam about the house and grounds unchallenged. + +Then at last one evening--it was late August then--when despair had +begun to grip her heart, and she herself had become the prey of vague +fears, of terrors for his welfare, his life mayhap, on which he had oft +told her that the vengeful King of France had set a price--one evening +he came to greet her walking through the woods, treading the soft carpet +of moss with a light elastic step. + +Oh! that had been a rapturous evening! one which she oft strove to +recall, now that sadness had once more overwhelmed her. He had been all +tenderness, all love, all passion! He vowed that he adored her as an +idolater would worship his divinity. Jealous? oh, yes! madly, insanely +jealous! for she was fair above all women and sweet and pure and +tempting to all men like some ripe and juicy fruit ready to fall into a +yearning hand. + +But his jealousy took on a note of melancholy and of humility. He +worshiped her so and wished to feel her all his own. She listened +entranced, forgetting her terrors, her disappointments, the vague ennui +which had assailed her of late. She yielded herself to the delights of +his caresses, to the joy of this hour of solitude and rapture. The night +was close and stormy; from afar, muffled peals of thunder echoed through +the gigantic elms, whilst vivid flashes of lightning weirdly lit up at +times the mysterious figure of this romantic lover, with his face +forever in shadow, one eye forever hidden behind a black band, his voice +forever muffled. + +But it was a tempestuous wooing, a renewal of that happy evening in the +spring--oh! so long ago it seemed now!--when first he had poured in her +ear the wild torrents of his love. The girl--so young, so inexperienced, +so romantic--was literally swept off her feet; she listened to his wild +words, yielded her lips to his kiss, and whilst she half feared the +impetuosity of his mood, she delighted in the very terrors it evoked. + +A secret marriage? Why, of course! since he suffered so terribly through +not feeling her all his own. Soon!--at once!--at Dover before the +clergyman at All Souls, with whom he--her prince--had already spoken. + +Yes! it would have to be at Dover, for the neighboring villages might +prove too dangerous. Sir Marmaduke might hear of it, mayhap. It would +rest with her to free herself for one day. + +Then came that delicious period of scheming, of stage-managing +everything for the all-important day. He would arrange about a chaise, +and she should walk up to the Canterbury Road to meet it. He would await +her in the church at Dover, for 'twas best that they should not be seen +together until after the happy knot was tied, when he declared that he +would be ready to defy the universe. + +It had been a long interview, despite the tempest that raged above and +around them. The great branches of the elms groaned and cracked under +fury of the wind, the thunder pealed overhead and then died away with +slow majesty out towards the sea. From afar could be heard the angry +billows dashing themselves against the cliffs. + +They had to seek shelter under the colonnaded porch of the summerhouse, +and Sue had much ado to keep the heavy drops of rain from reaching her +shoes and the bottom of her kirtle. + +But she was attune with the storm, she loved to hear the weird sh-sh-sh +of the leaves, the monotonous drip of the rain on the roof of the summer +house, and in the intervals of intense blackness to catch sight of her +lover's face, pale of hue, with one large eye glancing cyclops-like into +hers, as a vivid flash of lightning momentarily tore the darkness +asunder and revealed him still crouching at her feet. + +Intense lassitude followed the wild mental turmoil of that night. She +had arranged to meet him again two days hence in order to repeat to him +what she had heard the while of Sir Marmaduke's movements, and when she +was like to be free to go to Dover. During those intervening two days +she tried hard to probe her own thoughts; her mind, her feelings: but +what she found buried in the innermost recesses of her heart frightened +her so, that she gave up thinking. + +She lay awake most of the night, telling herself how much she loved her +prince; she spent half a day in the perusal of a strange book called +_The Tragedie of Romeo and Juliet_ by one William Shakespeare who had +lived not so long ago: and found herself pondering as to whether her own +sentiments with regard to her prince were akin to those so exquisitely +expressed by those two young people who had died because they loved one +another so dearly. + +Then she heard that towards the end of the week Sir Marmaduke and +Mistress de Chavasse would be journeying together to Canterbury in order +to confer with Master Skyffington the lawyer, anent her own fortune, +which was to be handed to her in its entirety in less than three months, +when she would be of age. + + + + +CHAPTER XXII + +BREAKING THE NEWS + + +Sir Marmaduke talked openly of this plan of going to Canterbury with +Editha de Chavasse, mentioning the following Friday as the most likely +date for his voyage. + +Full of joy she brought the welcome news to her lover that same evening; +nor had she cause to regret then her ready acquiescence to his wishes. +He was full of tenderness then, of gentle discretion in his caresses, +showing the utmost respect to his future princess. He talked less of his +passion and more of his plans, in which now she would have her full +share. He confided some of his schemes to her: they were somewhat vague +and not easy to understand, but the manner in which he put them before +her, made them seem wonderfully noble and selfless. + +In a measure this evening--so calm and peaceful in contrast to the +turbulence of the other night--marked one of the great crises in the +history of her love. Even when she heard that Fate itself was conspiring +to help on the clandestine marriage by causing Sir Marmaduke and +Mistress de Chavasse to absent themselves at a most opportune moment, +she had resolved to break the news to her lover of her own immense +wealth. + +Of this he was still in total ignorance. One or two innocent remarks +which he had let fall at different times convinced her of that. Nor was +this ignorance of his to be wondered at: he saw no one in or about the +village except the old Quakeress and Adam Lambert with whom he lodged. +The woman was deaf and uncommunicative, whilst there seemed to be some +sort of tacit enmity against the foreigner, latent in the mind of the +blacksmith. It was, therefore, quite natural that he should suppose her +no whit less poor than Sir Marmaduke de Chavasse or the other +neighboring Kentish squires whose impecuniousness was too blatant a fact +to be unknown even to a stranger in the land. + +Sue, therefore, was eagerly looking forward to the happy moment when she +would explain to her prince that her share in the wonderful enterprise +which he always vaguely spoke of as his "great work" would not merely be +one of impassiveness. Where he could give the benefit of his +personality, his eloquence, his knowledge of men and things, she could +add the weight of her wealth. + +Of course she was very, very young, but already from him she had +realized that it is impossible even to regenerate mankind and give it +political and religious freedom without the help of money. + +Prince Amede d'Orleans himself was passing rich: the fact that he chose +to hide in a lonely English village and to live as a poor man would +live, was only a part of his schemes. For the moment, too, owing to that +ever-present vengefulness of the King of France, his estates and +revenues were under sequestration. All this Sue understood full well, +and it added quite considerably to her joy to think that soon she could +relieve the patriot and hero from penury, and that the news that she +could do so would be a glad surprise for him. + +Nor must Lady Sue Aldmarshe on this account be condemned for an ignorant +or a vain fool. Though she was close on twenty-one years of age, she had +had absolutely no experience of the world or of mankind: all she knew of +either had been conceived in the imaginings of her own romantic brain. + +Her entire childhood, her youth and maidenhood had gone by in silent and +fanciful dreamings, whilst one of the greatest conflicts the world had +ever known was raging between men of the same kith and the same blood. +The education of women--even of those of rank and wealth--was avowedly +upon a very simple plan. Most of the noble ladies of that time knew not +how to spell--most of them were content to let the world go by them, +without giving it thought or care, others had accomplished prodigies of +valor, of heroism, aye! and of determination to help their brothers, +husbands, fathers during the worst periods of the civil war. + +But Sue had been too young when these same prodigies were being +accomplished, and her father died before she had reached the age when +she could take an active part in the great questions of the day. A +mother she had never known, she had no brothers and sisters. A brief +time under the care of an old aunt and a duenna in a remote Surrey +village, and her stay at Pegwell Court under Sir Marmaduke's +guardianship, was all that she had ever seen of life. + +Prince Amede d'Orleans was the embodiment of all her dreams--or nearly +so! The real hero of her dreams had been handsomer, and also more gentle +and more trusting, but on the whole, he had not been one whit more +romantic in his personality and his doings. + +The manner in which he received the news that unbeknown to him, he had +been wooing one of the richest brides in the land, was characteristic of +him. He seemed boundlessly disappointed. + +It was a beautiful clear night and she could see his face quite +distinctly, and could note how its former happy expression was marred +suddenly by a look of sorrow. He owned to being disappointed. He had +loved the idea, so he explained, of taking her to him, just as she was, +beautiful beyond compare, but penniless--having only her exquisite self +to give. + +Oh! the joy after that of coaxing him back to smiles! the pride of +proving herself his Egeria for the nonce, teaching him how to look upon +wealth merely as a means for attaining his great ends, for continuing +his great work. + +It had been perhaps the happiest evening in her short life of love. + +For that day at Dover now only seemed a dream. The hurried tramp to the +main road in a torrent of pouring rain: the long drive in the stuffy +chaise, the arrival just in time for the brief--very brief--ceremony in +the dark church, with the clergyman in a plain black gown muttering +unintelligible words, and the local verger and the church cleaner acting +as the witnesses to her marriage. + +Her marriage! + +How differently had she conceived that great, that wonderful day, the +turning point of a maiden's life. Music, flowers, beautiful gowns and +sweet scents filling the air! the sunlight peeping gold, red, purple or +blue through the glass windows of some exquisite cathedral! The +bridegroom arrayed in white, full of joy and pride, she the bride with a +veil of filmy lace falling over her face to hide the happy blushes! + +It was a beautiful dream, and the reality was so very, very different. + +A dark little country church, with the plaster peeling off the walls! +the drone of a bewhiskered, bald-headed parson being the sole music +which greeted her ears. The rain beating against the broken +window-panes, through which icy cold draughts of damp air reached her +shoulders and caused her to shiver beneath her kerchief. She wore her +pretty dove-colored gown, but it was not new nor had she a veil over her +face, only a straw hat such as countrywomen wore, for though she was an +heiress and passing rich, her guardian did but ill provide her with +smart clothing. + +And the bridegroom? + +He had been waiting for her inside the church, and seemed impatient +when she arrived. No one had helped her to alight from the rickety +chaise, and she had to run in the pouring rain, through the miserable +and deserted churchyard. + +His face seemed to scowl as she finally stood up beside him, in front of +that black-gowned man, who was to tie between them the sacred and +irrevocable knot of matrimony. His hand had perceptibly trembled when he +slipped the ring on her finger, whilst she felt that her own was +irresponsive and icy cold. + +She tried to speak the fateful "I will!" buoyantly and firmly, but +somehow--owing to the cold, mayhap--the two little words almost died +down in her throat. + +Aye! it had all been very gloomy, and inexpressibly sad. The +ceremony--the dear, sweet, sacred ceremony which was to give her wholly +to him, him unreservedly to her--was mumbled and hurried through in less +than ten minutes. + +Her bridegroom said not a word. Together they went into the tiny vestry +and she was told to sign her name in a big book, which the bald-headed +parson held open before her. + +The prince also signed his name, and then kissed her on the forehead. + +The clergyman also shook hands and it was all over. + +She understood that she had been married by a special license, and that +she was now legally and irretrievably the wife of Amede Henri, Prince +d'Orleans, de Bourgogne and several other places and dependencies +abroad. + +She also understood from what the bald-headed clergyman had spoken when +he stood before them in the church and read the marriage service that +she as the wife owed obedience to her husband in all things, for she had +solemnly sworn so to do. She herself, body and soul and mind, her goods +and chattels, her wealth and all belongings were from henceforth the +property of her husband. + +Yes, she had sworn to all that, willingly, and there was no going back +on that, now or ever! + +But, oh! how she wished it had been different! + +Afterwards, when in the privacy of her own little room at Acol Court, +she thought over the whole of that long and dismal day, she oft found +herself wondering what it was through it all that had seemed so +terrifying to her, so strange, so unreal. + +Something had struck her as weird: something which she could not then +define; but she was quite sure that it was not merely the unusual +chilliness of that rainy summer's day, which had caused her to tremble +so, when--in the vestry--her husband had taken her hand and kissed her. + +She had then looked into his face, which--though the vestry was but ill +lighted by a tiny very dusty window--she had never seen quite so clearly +before, and then it was that that amazing sense of something awful and +unreal had descended upon her like a clammy shroud. + +He had very swiftly averted his own gaze from her, but she had seen +something in his face which she did not understand, over which she had +pondered ever since without coming to any solution of this terrible +riddle. + +She had pondered over it during that interminable journey back from +Dover to Acol. Her husband had not even suggested accompanying her on +her homeward way, nor did she ask him to do so. She did not even think +it strange that he gave her no explanation of the reason why he should +not return to his lodgings at Acol. She felt like a somnambulist, and +wondered how soon she would wake and find herself in her small and +uncomfortable bed at the Court. + +The next day that feeling of unreality was still there; that sensation +of mystery, of something supernatural which persistently haunted her. + +One thing was quite sure; that all joy had gone out of her life. It was +possible that love was still there--she did not know--she was too young +to understand the complex sensations which suddenly had made a woman of +her ... but it was a joyless love now: and all that she knew of a +certainty about her own feelings at the present was that she hoped she +would never have to gaze into her lover's face again ... and ... Heaven +help her! ... that he might never touch her again with his lips. + +Obedient to his behests--hurriedly spoken as she stepped into the chaise +at Dover after the marriage ceremony--she had wandered out every +evening beyond the ha-ha into the park, on the chance of meeting him. + +The evenings now were soft and balmy after the rain: the air carried a +pungent smell of dahlias and of oak-leaved geraniums to her nostrils, +which helped her to throw off that miserable feeling of mental lassitude +which had weighed her down ever since that fateful day at Dover. She +walked slowly along, treading the young tendrils of the moss, watching +with wistful eyes the fleecy clouds, as they appeared through the +branches of the elms, scurrying swiftly out towards the sea ... out +towards freedom. + +But evening after evening passed away, and she saw no sign of him. She +felt the futility, the humiliating uselessness of these nightly +peregrinations in search of a man who seemed to have a hundred more +desirable occupations than that of meeting his wife. But she had not the +power to drift out towards freedom now. She obeyed mechanically because +she must. She had sworn to obey and he had bidden her come and wait for +him. + +August yielded to September, the oak-leaved geraniums withered whilst +from tangled bosquets the melancholy eyes of the Michaelmas daisies +peeped out questioningly upon the coming autumn. + +Then one evening his voice suddenly sounded close to her ear, causing +her to utter a quickly-smothered cry. It had been the one dull day +throughout this past glorious month, the night was dark and a warm +drizzle had soaked through to her shoulders and wetted the bottom of her +kirtle so that it hung heavy and dank round her ankles. He had come to +her as usual from out the gloom, just as she was about to cross the +little bridge which spanned the sunk fence. + +She realized then, with one of those sudden quivers of her +sensibilities, to which, alas! she had become so accustomed of late, +that he had always met her thus in the gloom--always chosen nights when +she could scarce see him distinctly, and this recollection still further +enhanced that eerie feeling of terror which had assailed her since that +fateful moment in the vestry. + +But she tried to be natural and even gay with him, though at the first +words of tender reproach with which she gently chided him for his +prolonged absence, he broke into one of those passionate accesses of +fury which had always frightened her, but now left her strangely cold +and unresponsive. + +Was the subtle change in him as well as in her? She could not say. +Certain it is that, though his hands had sought hers in the darkness, +and pressed them vehemently, when first they met he had not attempted to +kiss her. + +For this she was immeasurably grateful. + +He was obviously constrained, and so was she, and when she opposed a +cold silence to his outburst of passion, he immediately, and seemingly +without any effort, changed his tone and talked more reasonably, even +glibly of his work, which he said was awaiting him now in France. + +Everything was ready there, he explained, for the great political +propaganda which he had planned and which could be commenced +immediately. + +All that was needed now was the money. In what manner it would be needed +and for what definite purpose he did not condescend to explain, nor did +she care to ask. But she told him that she would be sole mistress of her +fortune on the 2d of November, the date of her twenty-first birthday. + +After that he spoke no more of money, but promised to meet her at +regular intervals during the six weeks which would intervene until the +great day when she would be free to proclaim her marriage and place +herself unreservedly in the hands of her husband. + + + + +CHAPTER XXIII + +THE ABSENT FRIEND + + +The prince kept his word, and she was fairly free to see him at least +once a week, somewhere within the leafy thicknesses of the park or in +the woods, usually at the hour when dusk finally yields to the +overwhelming embrace of night. + +Sir Marmaduke was away. In London or Canterbury, she could not say, but +she had scarcely seen him since that terrible time, when he came back +from town having left Richard Lambert languishing in disgrace and in +prison. + +Oh! how she missed the silent and thoughtful friend who in those days of +pride and of joy had angered her so, because he seemed to stand for +conscience and for prudence, when she only thought of happiness and of +love. + +There was an almost humiliating isolation about her now. Nobody seemed +to care whither she went, nor when she came home. Mistress de Chavasse +talked from time to time about Sue's infatuation for the mysterious +foreign adventurer, but always as if this were a thing of the past, and +from which Sue herself had long since recovered. + +Thus there was no one to say her nay, when she went out into the garden +after evening repast, and stayed there until the shades of night had +long since wrapped the old trees in gloom. + +And strangely enough this sense of freedom struck her with a chill sense +of loneliness. She would have loved to suddenly catch sight of Lambert's +watchful figure, and to hear his somewhat harsh voice, warning her +against the foreigner. + +This had been wont to irritate her twelve weeks ago. How mysteriously +everything had altered round her! + +And yearning for her friend, she wondered what had become of him. The +last she had heard was toward the middle of October when Sir Marmaduke, +home from one of his frequent journeyings, one day said that Lambert had +been released after ten weeks spent in prison, but that he could not say +whither he had gone since then. + +All Sue's questionings anent the young man only brought forth violent +vituperations from Sir Marmaduke, and cold words of condemnation from +Mistress de Chavasse; therefore, she soon desisted, storing up in her +heart pathetic memories of the one true friend she had in the world. + +She saw without much excitement, and certainly without tremor, the rapid +advance of that date early in November when she would perforce have to +leave Acol Court in order to follow her husband whithersoever he chose +to command her. + +The last time that they had met there had been a good deal of talk +between them, about her fortune and its future disposal. He declared +himself ready to administer it all himself, as he professed a distrust +of those who had watched over it so far--Master Skyffington, the lawyer, +and Sir Marmaduke de Chavasse, both under the control of the Court of +Chancery. + +She explained to him that the bulk of her wealth consisted of +obligations and shares in the Levant and Russian Companies, her mother +having been the only daughter and heiress of Peter Ford the great +Levantine and Oriental merchant; her marriage with the proud Earl of +Dover having caused no small measure of comment in Court circles in +those days. + +There were also deeds of property owned in Holland, grants of monopolies +for trading given by Ivan the Terrible to her grandfather, and receipts +for moneys deposited in the great banks of Amsterdam and Vienna. Master +Skyffington had charge of all those papers now: they represented nearly +five hundred thousand pounds of money and she told her husband that they +would all be placed in her own keeping, the day she was of age. + +He appeared to lend an inattentive ear to all these explanations, which +she gave in those timid tones, which had lately become habitual to her, +but once--when she made a slip, and talked about a share which she +possessed in the Russian Company being worth L50,000, he corrected her +and said it was a good deal more, and gave her some explanations as to +the real distribution of her capital, which astonished her by their +lucidity and left her vaguely wondering how it happened that he knew. +She had finally to promise to come to him at the cottage in Acol on the +2d of November--her twenty-first birthday--directly after her interview +with the lawyer and with her guardian, and having obtained possession of +all the share papers, the obligations, the grants of monopolies and the +receipts from the Amsterdam and Vienna banks, to forthwith bring them +over to the cottage and place them unreservedly in her husband's hands. + +And she would in her simplicity and ignorance gladly have given every +scrap of paper--now in Master Skyffington's charge--in exchange for a +return of those happy illusions which had surrounded the early history +of her love with a halo of romance. She would have given this mysterious +prince, now her husband, all the money that he wanted for this wonderful +"great work" of his, if he would but give her back some of that +enthusiastic belief in him which had so mysteriously been killed within +her, that fateful moment in the vestry at Dover. + + + + +CHAPTER XXIV + +NOVEMBER THE 2D + + +A dreary day, with a leaden sky overhead and the monotonous patter of +incessant rain against the window panes. + +Sir Marmaduke de Chavasse had just come downstairs, and opening the door +which lead from the hall to the small withdrawing-room on the right, he +saw Mistress de Chavasse, half-sitting, half-crouching in one of the +stiff-backed chairs, which she had drawn close to the fire. + +There was a cheerful blaze on the hearth, and the room itself--being +small--always looked cozier than any other at Acol Court. + +Nevertheless, Editha's face was pallid and drawn, and she stared into +the fire with eyes which seemed aglow with anxiety and even with fear. +Her cloak was tied loosely about her shoulders, and at sight of Sir +Marmaduke she started, then rising hurriedly, she put her hood over her +head, and went towards the door. + +"Ah! my dear Editha!" quoth her brother-in-law, lightly greeting her, +"up betimes like the lark I see.... Are you going without?" he added as +she made a rapid movement to brush past him and once more made for the +door. + +"Yes!" she replied dully, "I must fain move about ... tire myself out +if I can ... I am consumed with anxiety." + +"Indeed?" he retorted blandly, "why should you be anxious? Everything is +going splendidly ... and to-night at the latest a fortune of nigh on +L500,000 will be placed in my hands by a fond and adoring woman." + +He caught the glitter in her eyes, that suggestion of power and of +unspoken threats which she had adopted since the episode in the Bath +Street house. For an instant an ugly frown further disfigured his sour +face: but this frown was only momentary, it soon gave way to a suave +smile. He took her hand and lightly touched it with his lips. + +"After which, my dear Editha," he said, "I shall be able to fulfill +those obligations, which my heart originally dictated." + +She seemed satisfied at this assurance, for she now spoke in less +aggressive tones: + +"Are you so sure of the girl, Marmaduke?" she asked. + +"Absolutely," he replied, his thoughts reverting to a day spent at Dover +nearly three months ago, when a knot was tied of which fair Editha was +not aware, but which rendered Sir Marmaduke de Chavasse very sure of a +fortune. + +"Yet you have oft told me that Sue's love for her mysterious prince had +vastly cooled of late!" urged Editha still anxiously. + +"Why yes! forsooth!" he retorted grimly, "Sue's sentimental fancy for +the romantic exile hath gone the way of all such unreasoning +attachments; but she has ventured too far to draw back.... And she will +not draw back," he concluded significantly. + +"Have a care, Marmaduke! ... the girl is more willful than ye wot of.... +You may strain at a cord until it snap." + +"Pshaw!" he said, with a shrug of his wide shoulders, "you are suffering +from vapors, my dear Editha ... or you would grant me more knowledge of +how to conduct mine own affairs.... Do you remember, perchance, that the +bulk of Sue's fortune will be handed over to her this day?" + +"Aye! I remember!" + +"Begad, then to-night I'll have that bulk out of her hands. You may take +an oath on that!" he declared savagely. + +"And afterwards?" she asked simply. + +"Afterwards?" + +"Yes ... afterwards? ... when Sue has discovered how she has been +tricked? ... Are you not afraid of what she might do? ... Even though +her money may pass into your hands ... even though you may inveigle her +into a clandestine marriage ... she is still the daughter of the late +Earl of Dover ... she has landed estates, wealth, rich and powerful +relations.... There must be an 'afterwards,' remember! ..." + +His ironical laugh grated on her nerves, as he replied lightly: + +"Pshaw! my dear Editha! of a truth you are not your own calm self +to-day, else you had understood that forsooth! in the love affairs of +Prince Amede d'Orleans and Lady Susannah Aldmarshe there must and can be +no 'afterwards.'" + +"I don't understand you." + +"Yet, 'tis simple enough. Sue is my wife." + +"Your wife! ..." she exclaimed. + +"Hush! An you want to scream, I pray you question me not, for what I say +is bound to startle you. Sue is my wife. I married her, having obtained +a special license to do so in the name of Prince Amede Henri d'Orleans, +and all the rest of the romantic paraphernalia. She is my wife, and +therefore, her money and fortune are mine, every penny of it, without +question or demur." + +"She will appeal to the Court to have the marriage annulled ... she'll +rouse public indignation against you to such a pitch that you'll not be +able to look one of your kith and kin in the face.... The whole shameful +story of the mysterious French prince ... your tricks to win the hand of +your ward by lying, cheating and willful deceit will resound from one +end of the country to the other.... What is the use of a mint of money +if you have to herd with outcasts, and not an honest man will shake you +by the hand?" + +"None, my dear Editha, none," he replied quietly, "and 'tis of still +less use for you to rack your nerves in order to place before me a +gruesome picture of the miserable social pariah which I should become, +if the story of my impersonation of a romantic exile for the purpose of +capturing the hand of my ward came to the ears of those in authority." + +"Whither it doubtless would come!" she affirmed hotly. + +"Whither it doubtless would come," he assented, "and therefore, my dear +Editha, once the money is safely in my hands I will leave her Royal +Highness the Princesse d'Orleans in full possession, not only of her +landed estates but of the freedom conferred on her by widowhood, for +Prince Amede, her husband, will vanish like the beautiful dream which he +always was." + +"But how? ... how?" she reiterated, puzzled, anxious, scenting some +nefarious scheme more unavowable even than the last. + +"Ah! time will show! ... But he will vanish, my dear Editha, take my +word on it. Shall we say that he will fly up into the clouds and her +Highness the Princess will know him no more?" + +"Then why have married her?" she exclaimed: some womanly instinct within +her crying out against this outrage. "'Twas cruel and unnecessary." + +He shrugged his shoulders. + +"Cruel perhaps! ... But surely no more than necessary. I doubt if she +would have entrusted her fortune to anyone but her husband." + +"Had she ceased to trust her romantic prince then?" + +"Perhaps. At any rate, I chose to make sure of the prize.... I have +worked hard to get it and would not fail for lack of a simple ceremony +... moreover ..." + +"Moreover?" + +"Moreover, my dear Editha, there is always the possibility ... remote, +no doubt ... but nevertheless tangible ... that at some time or other +... soon or late--who knows?--the little deception practiced on Lady Sue +may come to the light of day.... In that case, even if the marriage be +annulled on the ground of fraud ... which methinks is more than doubtful +... no one could deny my right as the heiress's ... hem ... shall we +say?--temporary husband--to dispose of her wealth as I thought fit. If I +am to become a pariah and an outcast, as you so eloquently suggested +just now ... I much prefer being a rich one.... With half a million in +the pocket of my doublet the whole world is open to me." + +There was so much cool calculation, such callous contempt for the +feelings and thoughts of the unfortunate girl whom he had so terribly +wronged, in this expose of the situation, that Mistress de Chavasse +herself was conscious of a sense of repulsion from the man whom she had +aided hitherto. + +She believed that she held him sufficiently in her power, through her +knowledge of his schemes and through the help which she was rendering +him, to extract a promise from him that he would share his ill-gotten +spoils in equal portions with her. At one time after the fracas in Bath +Street, he had even given her a vague promise of marriage; therefore, he +had kept secret from her the relation of that day spent at Dover. Now +she felt that even if he were free, she would never consent to link her +future irretrievably with his. + +But her share of the money she meant to have. She was tired of poverty, +tired of planning and scheming, of debt and humiliation. She was tired +of her life of dependence at Acol Court, and felt a sufficiency of youth +and buoyancy in herself yet, to enjoy a final decade of luxury and +amusement in London. + +Therefore, she closed her ears to every call of conscience, she shut her +heart against the lonely young girl who so sadly needed the counsels and +protection of a good woman, and she was quite ready to lend a helping +hand to Sir Marmaduke, at least until a goodly share of Lady Sue's +fortune was safely within her grasp. + +One point occurred to her now, which caused her to ask anxiously: + +"Have you not made your reckonings without Richard Lambert, Marmaduke? +He is back in these parts, you know?" + +"Ah!" he ejaculated, with a quick scowl of impatience. "He has +returned?" + +"Yes! Charity was my informant. He looks very ill, so the wench says: he +has been down with fever, it appears, all the while that he was in +prison, and was only discharged because they feared that he would die. +He contrived to work or beg his way back here, and now he is staying in +the village.... I thought you would have heard." + +"No! I never speak to the old woman ... and Adam Lambert avoids me as he +would the plague.... I see as little of them as I can.... I had to be +prudent these last, final days." + +"Heaven grant he may do nothing fatal to-day!" she murmured. + +"Nay! my dear Editha," he retorted with a harsh laugh, "'tis scarcely +Heaven's business to look after our schemes. But Lambert can do us very +little harm now! For his own sake, he will keep out of Sue's way." + +"At what hour does Master Skyffington arrive?" + +"In half an hour." + +Then as he saw that she was putting into effect her former resolve of +going out, despite the rain, and was once more readjusting her hood for +that purpose, he opened the door for her, and whispered as he followed +her out: + +"An you will allow me, my dear Editha, I'll accompany you on your walk +... we might push on down the Canterbury Road, and perchance meet Master +Skyffington.... I understand that Sue has been asking for me, and I +would prefer to meet her as seldom as possible just now.... This is my +last day," he concluded with a laugh, "and I must be doubly careful." + + + + +CHAPTER XXV + +AN INTERLUDE + + +Master Hymn-of-Praise Busy was vastly perturbed. Try how he might, he +had been unable to make any discovery with regard to the mysterious +events, which he felt sure were occurring all round him, a discovery +which--had he but made it--would have enabled him to apply with more +chance of success, for one of the posts in my Lord Protector's secret +service, and moreover, would have covered his name with glory. + +This last contingency was always uppermost in his mind. Not from any +feeling of personal pride, for of a truth vanity is a mortal sin, but +because Mistress Charity had of late cast uncommonly kind eyes on that +cringing worm, Master Courage Toogood, and the latter, emboldened by the +minx's favors, had been more than usually insolent to his betters. + +To have the right to administer serious physical punishment to the +youth, and moral reproof to the wench, was part of Master Busy's +comprehensive scheme for his own advancement and the confusion of all +the miscreants who dwelt in Acol Court. For this he had glued both eye +and ear to draughty keyholes, had lain for hours under cover of prickly +thistles in the sunk fence which surrounded the flower garden. For this +he now emerged, on that morning of November 2, accompanied by a terrific +clatter and a volley of soot from out the depth of the monumental +chimney in the hall of Acol Court. + +As soon as he had recovered sufficient breath, and shaken off some of +the soot from his hair and face, he looked solemnly about him, and was +confronted by two pairs of eyes round with astonishment and two mouths +agape with surprise and with fear. + +Mistress Charity and Master Courage Toogood--interrupted in the midst of +their animated conversation--were now speechless with terror, at sight +of this black apparition, which, literally, had descended on them from +the skies. + +"Lud love ye, Master Busy!" ejaculated Mistress Charity, who was the +first to recognize in the sooty wraith the manly form of her betrothed, +"where have ye come from, pray?" + +"Have you been scouring the chimney, good master?" queried Master +Courage, with some diffidence, for the saintly man looked somewhat out +of humor. + +"No!" replied Hymn-of-Praise solemnly, "I have not. But I tell ye both +that my hour hath come. I knew that something was happening in this +house, and I climbed up that chimney in order to find out what it was." + +Pardonable curiosity caused Mistress Charity to venture a little nearer +to the soot-covered figure of her adorer. + +"And did you hear anything, Master Busy?" she asked eagerly. "I did see +Sir Marmaduke and the mistress in close conversation here this +morning." + +"So they thought," said Master Hymn-of-Praise with weird significance. + +"Well? ... And what happened, good master?" + +"Thou beest in too mighty an hurry, mistress," he retorted with quiet +dignity. "I am under no obligation to report matters to thee." + +"Oh! but Master Busy," she rejoined coyly, "methought I was to be your +... hem ... thy partner in life ... and so ..." + +"My partner? My partner, didst thou say, sweet Charity? ... Nay, then, +an thou'lt permit me to salute thee with a kiss, I'll tell thee all I +know." + +And in asking for that chaste salute we may assume that Master +Hymn-of-Praise was actuated with at least an equal desire to please +Mistress Charity, to gratify his own wishes, and to effectually annoy +Master Courage. + +But Mistress Charity was actuated by curiosity alone, and without +thought of her betrothed's grimy appearance, she presented her cheek to +him for the kiss. + +The result caused Master Courage an uncontrollable fit of hilarity. + +"Oh, mistress," he said, pointing to the black imprint left on her face +by her lover's kiss, "you should gaze into a mirror now." + +But already Mistress Charity had guessed what had occurred, her good +humor vanished, and she began scouring her cheek with her pinner. + +"I'll never forgive you, master," she said crossly. "You had no right to +... hem ... with your face in that condition.... And you have not yet +told us what happened." + +"What happened?" + +"Aye! you promised to tell me if I allowed you to kiss me. 'Tis +done...." + +"I well nigh broke my back," said Master Busy sententiously. "I hurt my +knee ... that is what happened.... I am well-nigh choked with soot.... +Ugh! ... that is what happened." + +"Lud love you, Master Busy," she retorted with a saucy toss of her head, +"I trust your life's partner will not need to hide herself in chimneys." + +"Listen, wench, and I'll tell thee. No kind of servant of my Lord +Protector's should ever be called upon to hide in chimneys. They are not +comfortable and they are not clean." + +"Bless the man!" she cried angrily, "are you ever going to tell us what +did happen whilst you were there?" + +"I was about to come to that point," he said imperturbably, "hadst thou +not interrupted me. What with holding on so as not to fall, and the soot +falling in my ears...." + +"Aye! aye! ..." + +"I heard nothing," he concluded solemnly. "Master Courage," he added +with becoming severity, seeing that the youth was on the verge of +making a ribald remark, which of necessity had to be checked betimes, +"come into my room with me and help me to clean the traces of my +difficult task from off my person. Come!" + +And with ominous significance, he approached the young scoffer, his hand +on an exact level with the latter's ear, his right foot raised to +indicate a possible means of enforcing obedience to his commands. + +On the whole, Master Courage thought it wise to repress both his +hilarity and his pertinent remarks, and to follow the pompous, if +begrimed, butler to the latter's room upstairs. + + + + +CHAPTER XXVI + +THE OUTCAST + + +It took Mistress Charity some little time to recover her breath. + +She had thrown herself into a chair, with her pinner over her face, in +an uncontrollable fit of laughter. + +When this outburst of hilarity had subsided, she sat up, and looked +round her with eyes still streaming with merry tears. + +But the laughter suddenly died on her lips and the merriment out of her +eyes. A dull, tired voice had just said feebly: + +"Is Sir Marmaduke de Chavasse within?" + +Charity jumped up from the chair and stared stupidly at the speaker. + +"The Lord love you, Master Richard Lambert," she murmured. "I thought +you were your ghost!" + +"Forgive me, mistress, if I have frightened you," he said. "It is mine +own self, I give you assurance of that, and I, fain would have speech +with Sir Marmaduke." + +Mistress Charity was visibly embarrassed. She began mechanically to rub +the black stain on her cheek. + +"Sir Marmaduke is without just at present, Master Lambert," she +stammered shyly, "... and ..." + +"Yes? ... and? ..." he asked, "what is it, wench? ... speak out? ..." + +"Sir Marmaduke gave orders, Master Lambert," she began with obvious +reluctance, "that ..." + +She paused, and he concluded the sentence for her: + +"That I was not to be allowed inside his house.... Was that it?" + +"Alas! yes, good master." + +"Never mind, girl," he rejoined as he deliberately crossed the hall and +sat down in the chair which she had just vacated. "You have done your +duty: but you could not help admitting me, could you? since I walked in +of mine own accord ... and now that I am here I will remain until I have +seen Sir Marmaduke...." + +"Well! of a truth, good master," she said with a smile, for 'twas but +natural that her feminine sympathies should be on the side of a young +and good-looking man, somewhat in her own sphere of life, as against the +ill-humored, parsimonious master whom she served, "an you sit there so +determinedly, I cannot prevent you, can I? ..." + +Then as she perceived the look of misery on the young man's face, his +pale cheeks, his otherwise vigorous frame obviously attenuated by fear, +the motherly instinct present in every good woman's heart caused her to +go up to him and to address him timidly, offering such humble solace as +her simple heart could dictate: + +"Lud preserve you, good master, I pray you do not take on so.... You +know Master Courage and I, now, never believed all those stories about +ye. Of a truth Master Busy, he had his own views, but then ... you see, +good master, he and I do not always agree, even though I own that he is +vastly clever with his discoveries and his clews; but Master Courage now +... Master Courage is a wonderful lad ... and he thinks that you are a +persecuted hero! ... and I am bound to say that I, too, hold that +view...." + +"Thank you! ... thank you, kind mistress," said Lambert, smiling despite +his dejection, at the girl's impulsive efforts at consolation. + +His head had sunk down on his breast, and he sat there in the +high-backed chair, one hand resting on each leather-covered arm, his +pale face showing almost ghostlike against the dark background, and with +the faint November light illumining the dark-circled eyes, the bloodless +lips, and deeply frowning brow. + +Mistress Charity gazed down on him with mute and kindly compassion. + +Then suddenly a slight rustling noise as of a kirtle sweeping the +polished oak of the stairs caused the girl to look up, then to pause a +brief while, as if what she had now seen had brought forth a new train +of thought; finally, she tiptoed silently out through the door of the +dining-hall. + +"Charity! Mistress Charity, I want you! ..." called Lady Sue from +above. + +We must presume, however, that the wench had closed the heavy door +behind her, for certainly she did not come in answer to the call. On the +other hand, Richard Lambert had heard it; he sprang to his feet and saw +Sue descending the stairs. + +She saw him, too, and it seemed as if at sight of him she had turned and +meant to fly. But a word from him detained her. + +"Sue!" + +Only once had he thus called her by her name before, that long ago night +in the woods, but now the cry came from out his heart, brought forth by +his misery and his sorrow, his sense of terrible injustice and of an +irretrievable wrong. + +It never occurred to her to resent the familiarity. At sound of her name +thus spoken by him she had looked down from the stairs and seen his +pallid face turned up to her in such heartrending appeal for sympathy, +that all her womanly instincts of tenderness and pity were aroused, all +her old feeling of trustful friendship for him. + +She, too, felt much of that loneliness which his yearning eyes expressed +so pathetically; she, too, was conscious of grave injustice and of an +irretrievable wrong, and her heart went out to him immediately in +kindness and in love. + +"Don't go, for pity's sake," he added entreatingly, for he thought that +she meant to turn away from him; "surely you will not begrudge me a few +words of kindness. I have gone through a great deal since I saw +you...." + +She descended a few steps, her delicate hand still resting on the +banisters, her silken kirtle making a soft swishing noise against the +polished oak of the stairs. It was a solace to him, even to watch her +now. The sight of his adored mistress was balm to his aching eyes. Yet +he was quick to note--with that sharp intuition peculiar to Love--that +her dear face had lost much of its brightness, of its youth, of its joy +of living. She was as exquisite to look on as ever, but she seemed +older, more gentle, and, alas! a trifle sad. + +"I heard you had been ill," she said softly, "I was very sorry, believe +me, but ... Oh! do you not think," she added with sudden inexplicable +pathos, whilst she felt hot tears rising to her eyes and causing her +voice to quiver, "do you not think that an interview between us now can +only be painful to us both?" + +He mistook the intention of her words, as was only natural, and whilst +she mistrusted her own feelings for him, fearing to betray that yearning +for his friendship and his consolation, which had so suddenly +overwhelmed her at sight of him, he thought that she feared the +interview because of her condemnation of him. + +"Then you believed me guilty?" he said sadly. "They told you this +hideous tale of me, and you believed them, without giving the absent +one, who alas! could not speak in his own defense, the benefit of the +doubt." + +For one of those subtle reasons of which women alone possess the secret, +and which will forever remain inexplicable to the more logical sex, she +steeled her heart against him, even when her entire sensibilities went +out to him in passionate sympathy. + +"I could not help but believe, good master," she said a little coldly. +"Sir Marmaduke de Chavasse, who, with all his faults of temper, is a man +of honor, confirmed that horrible story which appeared in the newspaper +and of which everyone in Thanet hath been talking these weeks past." + +"And am _I_ not a man of honor?" he retorted hotly. "Because I am poor +and must work in order to live, am _I_ to be condemned unheard? Is a +whole life's record of self-education and honest labor to be thus +obliterated by the word of my most bitter enemy?" + +"Your bitter enemy? ..." she asked. "Sir Marmaduke? ..." + +"Aye! Sir Marmaduke de Chavasse. It seems passing strange, does it not?" +he rejoined bitterly. "Yet somehow in my heart, I feel that Sir +Marmaduke hates me, with a violent and passionate hatred. Nay! I know +it, though I can explain neither its cause nor its ultimate aim...." + +He drew nearer to the stairs whereon she still stood, her graceful +figure slightly leaning towards him; he now stood close to her, his head +just below the level of her own; his hand had he dared to raise it, +could have rested on hers. + +"Sue! my beautiful and worshiped lady," he cried impassionedly, "I +entreat you to look into my eyes! ... Can you see in them the reflex of +those shameful deeds which have been imputed to me? Do I look like a +liar and a cheat? In the name of pity and of justice, for the sweet sake +of our first days of friendship, I beg of you not to condemn me +unheard." + +He lowered his head, and rested his aching brow against her cool, white +hand. She did not withdraw it, for a great joy had suddenly filled her +heart, mingling with its sadness, a sense of security and of bitter, yet +real, happiness pervaded her whole being: a happiness which she could +not--wished not--to explain, but which prompted her to stoop yet further +towards him, and to touch his hair with her lips. + +Hot tears which he tried vainly to repress fell upon her fingers. He had +felt the kiss descending on him almost like a benediction. The exquisite +fragrance of her person filled his soul with a great delight which was +almost pain. Never had he loved her so ardently, so passionately, as at +this moment, when he felt that she too loved him, and yet was lost to +him irrevocably. + +"Nay! but I will hear you, good master," she murmured with infinite +gentleness, "for the sake of that friendship, and because now that I +have seen you again I no longer believe any evil of you." + +"God bless my dear lady," he replied fervently. "Heaven is my witness +that I am innocent of those abominable crimes imputed to me. Sir +Marmaduke took me to that house of evil, and a cruel plot was there +concocted to make me appear before all men as a liar and a cheat, and to +disgrace me before the world and before you. That the object of this +plot was to part me from you," added Richard Lambert more calmly and +firmly, "I am absolutely confident; what its deeper motive was I dare +not even think. It was known that I ... loved you, Sue ... that I would +give my life to save you from trouble ... I was your slave, your +watch-dog.... I was forcibly removed, torn from you, my name disgraced, +my health broken down.... But my life was not for them ... it belongs to +my lady alone.... Heaven would not allow it to be sacrificed to their +villainous schemes. I fought against sickness and death with all the +energy of despair.... It was a hand-to-hand fight, for discouragement, +and anon despair, ranged themselves among my foes.... And now I have +come back," he said with proud energy, "broken mayhap, yet still +standing ... a snapped oak yet full of vigor, yet ... I have come back, +and with God's help will be even with them yet." + +He had straightened his young figure, and his strong, somewhat harsh +voice echoed through the oak-paneled hall. He cared not if all the world +heard him, if his enemies lurked about striving to spy upon him. His +profession of love and of service to his lady was the sole remaining +pride of his life, and now that he knew that she believed and trusted +him, he longed for every man to hear what he had to say. + +"Nay! what you say, kind Richard, fills me with dread," said Sue after a +little pause. "I am glad ... glad that you have come back.... For some +weeks, nay, months past, I have had the presentiment of some coming +evil.... I have ... I have felt lonely and...." + +"Not unhappy?" he asked with his usual earnestness. "I would not have my +lady unhappy for all the treasures of this world." + +"No!" she replied meditatively, striving to be conscious of her own +feelings, "I do not think that I am unhappy ... only anxious ... and ... +a little lonely: that is all.... Sir Marmaduke is oft away: when he is +at home, I scarce ever see him, and he but rarely speaks to me ... and +methinks there is but scant sympathy 'twixt Mistress de Chavasse and me, +though she is kind at times in her way." + +Then she turned her eyes, bright with unshed tears, down again to him. + +"But all seems right again!" she said with a sweet, sad smile, "now that +you have come back, my dear ... dear friend!" + +"God bless you for these words!" + +"I grieved terribly when I heard ... about you ... at first ..." she +said almost gaily now, "yet somehow I could not believe it all ... and +now...." + +"Yes? ... and now?" he asked. + +"Now I believe in you," she replied simply. "I believe that you care for +me, and that you are my friend." + +"Your friend, indeed, for I would give my life for you." + +Once more he stooped, but now he kissed her hand. He was her friend, and +had the right to do this. He had gradually mastered his emotion, his +sense of wrong, and with that exquisite selflessness which real love +alone can kindle in a human heart, he had succeeded in putting aside all +thought of his own great misery, his helplessness and the hopelessness +of his position, and remembered only that she looked fragile, a little +older, sadder, and had need of his help. + +"And now, sweet lady," he said, forcing himself to speak calmly of that +which always set his heart and senses into a turmoil of passionate +jealousy, "will you tell me something about him." + +"Him?" + +"The prince...." he suggested. + +But she shook her head resolutely. + +"No, kind Richard," she said gently, "I will not speak to you of the +prince. I know that you do not think well of him.... I wish to look upon +you as my friend, and I could not do that if you spoke ill of him, +because ..." + +She paused, for what she now had to tell him was very hard to say, and +she knew what a terrible blow she would be dealing to his heart, from +the wild beating of her own. + +"Yes?" he asked. "Because? ..." + +"Because he is my husband," she whispered. + +Her head fell forward on her breast. She would not trust herself to look +at him now, for she knew that the sight of his grief was more than she +could bear. She was conscious that at her words he had drawn his hand +away from hers, but he spoke no word, nor did the faintest exclamation +escape his lips. + +Thus they remained for a few moments longer side by side: she slightly +above him, with head bent, with hot tears falling slowly from her +downcast eyes, her heart well-nigh breaking with the consciousness of +the irreparable; he somewhat below, silent too, and rigid, all passion, +all emotion, love even, numbed momentarily by the violence, the +suddenness of this terrible blow. + +Then without a word, without a sigh or look, he turned, and she heard +his footsteps echoing across the hall, then dying away on the threshold +of the door beyond. Anon the door itself closed to with a dull bang +which seemed to find an echo in her heart like the tolling of a passing +bell. + +Then only did she raise her head, and look about her. The hall was +deserted and seemed infinitely lonely, silent, and grim. The young +girl-wife, who had just found a friend only to lose him again, called +out in mute appeal to this old house, the oak-covered walls, the very +stones themselves, for sympathy. + +She was so infinitely, so immeasurably lonely, with that awful, +irretrievable day at Dover behind her, with all its dreariness, its +silent solemnity, its weird finish in the vestry, the ring upon her +finger, her troth plighted to a man whom she feared and no longer loved. + +Oh! the pity of it all! the broken young life! the vanished dreams! + +Sue bent her head down upon her hands, her lips touched her own fingers +there where her friend's had rested in gratitude and love, and she +cried, cried like a broken-hearted woman, cried for her lost illusions, +and the end of her brief romance! + + + + +CHAPTER XXVII + +LADY SUE'S FORTUNE + + +Less than an hour later four people were assembled in the small +withdrawing-room of Acol Court. + +Master Skyffington sat behind a central table, a little pompous of +manner, clad in sober black with well-starched linen cuffs and collar, +his scanty hair closely cropped, his thin hands fingering with assurance +and perfect calm the various documents laid out before him. Near him Sir +Marmaduke de Chavasse, sitting with his back to the dim November light, +which vainly strove to penetrate the tiny glass panes of the casement +windows. + +In a more remote corner of the room sat Editha de Chavasse, vainly +trying to conceal the agitation which her trembling hands, her quivering +face and restless eyes persistently betrayed. And beside the central +table, near Master Skyffington and facing Sir Marmaduke, was Lady +Susannah Aldmarshe, only daughter and heiress of the late Earl of Dover, +this day aged twenty-one years, and about to receive from the hands of +her legal guardians the vast fortune which her father had bequeathed to +her, and which was to become absolutely hers this day to dispose of as +she list. + +"And now, my dear child," said Master Skyffington with due solemnity, +when he had disposed a number of documents and papers in methodical +order upon the table, "let me briefly explain to you the object ... hem +... of this momentous meeting here to-day." + +"I am all attention, master," said Sue vaguely, and her eyes wide-open, +obviously absent, she gazed fixedly on the silhouette of Sir Marmaduke, +grimly outlined against the grayish window-panes. + +"I must tell you, my dear child," resumed Master Skyffington after a +slight pause, during which he had studied with vague puzzledom the +inscrutable face of the young girl, "I must tell you that your late +father, the noble Earl of Dover, had married the heiress of Peter Ford, +the wealthiest merchant this country hath ever known. She was your own +lamented mother, and the whole of her fortune, passing through her +husband's hands, hath now devolved upon you. My much-esteemed patron--I +may venture to say friend--Sir Marmaduke de Chavasse, having been +appointed your legal guardian by the Court of Chancery, and I myself +being thereupon named the repository of your securities, these have been +administered by me up to now.... You are listening to me, are you not, +my dear young lady?" + +The question was indeed necessary, for even to Master Skyffington's +unobservant mind it was apparent that Sue's eyes had a look of aloofness +in them, of detachment from her surroundings, which was altogether +inexplicable to the worthy attorney's practical sense of the due fitness +of things. + +At his query she made a sudden effort to bring her thoughts back from +the past to the present, to drag her heart and her aching brain away +from that half-hour spent in the hall, from that conversation with her +friend, from the recollection of that terribly cruel blow which she had +been forced to deal to the man who loved her best in all the world. + +"Yes, yes, kind master," she said, "I am listening." + +And she fixed her eyes resolutely on the attorney's solemn face, forcing +her mind to grasp what he was about to say. + +"By the terms of your noble father's will," continued Master +Skyffington, as soon as he had satisfied himself that he at last held +the heiress's attention, "the securities, receipts and all other moneys +are to be given over absolutely and unconditionally into your own hands +on your twenty-first birthday." + +"Which is to-day," said Sue simply. + +"Which is to-day," assented the lawyer. "The securities, receipts and +other bonds, grants of monopolies and so forth lie before you on this +table.... They represent in value over half a million of English +money.... A very large sum indeed for so young a girl to have full +control of.... Nevertheless, it is yours absolutely and unconditionally, +according to the wishes of your late noble father ... and Sir Marmaduke +de Chavasse, your late guardian, and I myself, have met you here this +day for the express purpose of handing these securities, grants and +receipts over to you, and to obtain in exchange your own properly +attested signature in full discharge of any further obligation on our +part." + +Master Skyffington was earnestly gazing into the young girl's face, +whilst he thus literally dangled before her the golden treasures of +wealth, which were about to become absolutely her own. He thought, not +unnaturally, that a girl of her tender years, brought up in the +loneliness and seclusion of a not too luxurious home, would feel in a +measure dazzled and certainly overjoyed at the brilliant prospect which +such independent and enormous wealth opened out before her. + +But the amiable attorney was vastly disappointed to see neither +pleasure, nor even interest, expressed in Lady Sue's face, which on this +joyous and momentous occasion looked unnaturally calm and pallid. Even +now when he paused expectant and eager, waiting for some comment or +exclamation of approval or joy from her, she was silent for a while, and +then said in a stolidly inquiring tone: + +"Then after to-day ... I shall have full control of my money?" + +"Absolute control, my dear young lady," he rejoined, feeling strangely +perturbed at this absence of emotion. + +"And no one ... after to-day ... will have the right to inquire as to +the use I make of these securities, grants or whatever you, Master +Skyffington, have called them?" she continued with the same placidity. + +"No one, of a surety, my dear Sue," here interposed Sir Marmaduke, +speaking in his usual harsh and dictatorial way, "but this is a strange +and somewhat peremptory question for a young maid to put at this +juncture. Master Skyffington and I myself had hoped that you would +listen to counsels of prudence, and would allow him, who hath already +administered your fortune in a vastly able manner, to continue so to do, +for a while at any rate." + +"That question we can discuss later on, Sir Marmaduke," said Sue now, +with sudden hauteur. "Shall we proceed with our business, master?" she +added, turning deliberately to the lawyer, ignoring with calm disdain +the very presence of her late guardian. + +The studied contempt of his ward's manner, however, seemed not to +disturb the serenity of Sir Marmaduke to any appreciable extent. Casting +a quick, inquisitorial glance at Sue, he shrugged his shoulders in token +of indifference and said no more. + +"Certainly, certainly," responded Master Skyffington, somewhat +embarrassed, "my dear young lady ... hem ... as ... er ... as you wish +... but ..." + +Then he turned deliberately to Sir Marmaduke, once more bringing him +into the proceedings, and tacitly condemning her ladyship's +extraordinary attitude towards his distinguished patron. + +"Having now explained to Lady Sue Aldmarshe the terms of her noble +father's will," he said, "methinks that she is ready to receive the +moneys from our hands, good Sir Marmaduke, and thereupon to give us the +proper receipt prescribed by law, for the same ..." + +He checked himself for a moment, and then made a respectful, if pointed, +suggestion: + +"Mistress de Chavasse?" he said inquiringly. + +"Mistress de Chavasse is a member of the family," replied Sir Marmaduke, +"the business can be transacted in her presence." + +"Nothing therefore remains to be said, my dear young lady," rejoined +Master Skyffington, once more speaking directly to Sue and placing his +lean hands with fingers outstretched, over the bundles of papers lying +before him. "Here are your securities, your grants, moneys and receipts, +worth L500,000 of the present currency of this realm.... These I, in +mine own name and that of my honored friend and patron, Sir Marmaduke de +Chavasse, do hereby hand over to you. You will, I pray, verify and sign +the receipt in proper and due form." + +He began sorting and overlooking the papers, muttering half audibly the +while, as he transferred each bundle from his own side of the table to +that beside which Lady Sue was sitting: + +"The deeds of property in Holland ... hem.... Receipt of moneys +deposited at the bank of Amsterdam.... The same from the Bank of +Vienna.... Grant of monopoly for the hemp trade in Russia.... hem ..." + +Thus he mumbled for some time, as these papers, representing a fortune, +passed out of his keeping into those of a young maid but recently out of +her teens. Sue watched him silently and placidly, just as she had done +throughout this momentous interview, which was, of a truth, the starting +point of her independent life. + +Her face expressed neither joy nor excitement of any kind. She knew that +all the wealth which now lay before her, would only pass briefly through +her hands. She knew that the prince--her husband--was waiting for it +even now. Doubtless, he was counting the hours when his young wife's +vast fortune would come to him as the realization of all his dreams. + +In spite of her present disbelief in his love, in spite of the bitter +knowledge that her own had waned, Sue had no misgivings as yet as to the +honor, the truth, the loyalty of the man whose name she now bore. Her +illusions were gone, her romance had become dull reality, but to one +thought she clung with all the tenacity of despair, and that was to the +illusion that Prince Amede d'Orleans was the selfless patriot, the +regenerator of downtrodden France, which he represented himself to be. + +Because of that belief she welcomed the wealth, which she would this day +be able to place in his hands. Her own girlish dreams had vanished, but +her temperament was far too romantic and too poetic not to recreate +illusions, even when the old ones had been so ruthlessly shattered. + +But this recreation would occur anon--not just now, not at the very +moment when her heart ached with an intolerable pain at thought of the +sorrow which she had caused to her one friend. Presently, no doubt, when +she met her husband, when his usual grandiloquent phrases had once more +succeeded in arousing her enthusiasm for the cause which he pleaded, she +would once more feel serene and happy at thought of the help which she, +with her great wealth, would be giving him; for the nonce the whole +transaction grated on her sense of romance; money passing from hand to +hand, a man waiting somewhere in the dark to receive wealth from a +woman's hand. + +Master Skyffington desired her to look over the papers, ere she signed +the formal receipt for them, but she waved them gently aside: + +"Quite unnecessary, kind master," she said decisively, "since I receive +them at your hands." + +She bent over the document which the lawyer now placed before her, and +took the pen from him. + +"Where shall I sign?" she asked. + +Sir Marmaduke and Editha de Chavasse watched her keenly, as with a bold +stroke of the pen she wrote her name across the receipt. + +"Now the papers, please, master," said Lady Sue peremptorily. + +But the prudent lawyer had still a word of protest to enter here. + +"My dear young lady," he said tentatively, awed in spite of himself by +the self-possessed behavior of a maid whom up to now he had regarded as +a mere child, "let me, as a man of vast experience in such matters, +repeat to you the well-meant advice which Sir Marmaduke ..." + +But she checked him decisively, though kindly. + +"You said, Master Skyffington, did you not," she said, "that after +to-day no one had the slightest control over my actions or over my +fortune?" + +"That is so, certainly," he rejoined, "but ..." + +"Well, then, kind master, I pray you," she said authoritatively, "to +hand me over all those securities, grants and moneys, for which I have +just signed a receipt." + +There was naught to do for a punctilious lawyer, as was Master +Skyffington, but to obey forthwith. This he did, without another word, +collecting the various bundles of paper and placing them one by one in +the brown leather wallet which he had brought for the purpose. Sue +watched him quietly, and when the last of the important documents had +been deposited in the wallet, she held out her hand for it. + +With a grave bow, and an unconsciously pompous gesture, Master +Skyffington, attorney-at-law, handed over that wallet which now +contained a fortune to Lady Susannah Aldmarshe. + +She took it, and graciously bowed her head to him in acknowledgment. +Then, after a slight, distinctly haughty nod to Sir Marmaduke and to +Editha, she turned and walked silently out of the room. + + + + +CHAPTER XXVIII + +HUSBAND AND WIFE + + +Mistress Martha Lambert was a dignified old woman, on whose wrinkled +face stern virtues, sedulously practiced, had left their lasting +imprint. Among these virtues which she had thus somewhat ruthlessly +exercised throughout her long life, cleanliness and orderliness stood +out pre-eminently. They undoubtedly had brought some of the deepest +furrows round her eyes and mouth, as indeed they had done round those of +Adam Lambert, who having lived with her all his life, had had to suffer +from her passion of scrubbing and tidying more than anyone else. + +But her cottage was resplendent: her chief virtues being apparent in +every nook and corner of the orderly little rooms which formed her home +and that of the two lads whom a dying friend had entrusted to her care. + +The parlor below, with its highly polished bits of furniture, its +spotless wooden floor and whitewashed walls, was a miracle of +cleanliness. The table in the center was laid with a snowy white cloth, +on it the pewter candlesticks shone like antique silver. Two +straight-backed mahogany chairs were drawn cozily near to the hearth, +wherein burned a bright fire made up of ash logs. There was a quaint +circular mirror in a gilt frame over the hearth, a relic of former, +somewhat more prosperous times. + +In one of the chairs lolled the mysterious lodger, whom a strange Fate +in a perverse mood seemed to have wafted to this isolated little cottage +on the outskirts of the loneliest village in Thanet. + +Prince Amede d'Orleans was puffing at that strange weed which of late +had taken such marked hold of most men, tending to idleness in them, for +it caused them to sit staring at the smoke which they drew from pipes +made of clay; surely the Lord had never intended such strange doings, +and Mistress Martha would willingly have protested against the +unpleasant odor thus created by her lodger when he was puffing away, +only that she stood somewhat in awe of his ill-humor and of his violent +language, especially when Adam himself was from home. + +On these occasions--such, for instance, as the present one--she had, +perforce, to be content with additional efforts at cleanliness, and, as +she was convinced that so much smoke must be conducive to soot and dirt, +she plied her dusting-cloth with redoubled vigor and energy. Whilst the +prince lolled and pulled at his clay pipe, she busied herself all round +the tiny room, polishing the backs of the old elm chairs, and the brass +handles of the chest of drawers. + +"How much longer are you going to fuss about, my good woman?" quoth +Prince Amede d'Orleans impatiently after a while. "This shuffling round +me irritates my nerves." + +Mistress Martha, however, suffered from deafness. She could see from the +quick, angry turn of the head that her lodger was addressing her, but +did not catch his words. She drew a little nearer, bending her ear to +him. + +"Eh? ... what?" she queried in that high-pitched voice peculiar to the +deaf. "I am somewhat hard of hearing just now. I did not hear thee." + +But he pushed her roughly aside with a jerk of his elbow. + +"Go away!" he said impatiently. "Do not worry me!" + +"Ah! the little pigs?" she rejoined blithely. "I thank thee ... they be +doing nicely, thank the Lord ... six of them and ... eh? what? ... I'm a +bit hard of hearing these times." + +He had some difficulty in keeping up even a semblance of calm. The +placidity of the old Quakeress irritated him beyond endurance. He +dreaded the return of Adam Lambert from his work, and worse still, he +feared the arrival of Richard. Fortunately he had gathered from Martha +that the young man had come home early in the day in a state of high +nervous tension, bordering on acute fever. He had neither eaten nor +drunk, but after tidying his clothes and reassuring her as to his future +movements, he had sallied out into the woods and had not returned since +then. + +Sir Marmaduke had quickly arrived at the conclusion that Richard Lambert +had seen and spoken to Lady Sue and had learned from her that she was +now irrevocably married to him, whom she always called her prince. +Doubtless, the young man was frenzied with grief, and in his weak state +of health after the terrible happenings of the past few weeks, would +mayhap, either go raving mad, or end his miserable existence over the +cliffs. Either eventuality would suit Sir Marmaduke admirably, and he +sighed with satisfaction at the thought that the knot between the +heiress and himself was indeed tied sufficiently firm now to ensure her +obedience to his will. + +There was to be one more scene in the brief and cruel drama which he had +devised for the hoodwinking and final spoliation of a young and +inexperienced girl. She had earlier in the day been placed in possession +of all the negotiable part of her fortune. This, though by no means +representing the whole of her wealth, which also lay in landed estates, +was nevertheless of such magnitude that the thought of its possession +caused every fiber in Sir Marmaduke's body to thrill with the delight of +expectancy. + +One more brief scene in the drama: the handing over of that vast +fortune, by the young girl-wife--blindly and obediently--to the man whom +she believed to be her husband. Once that scene enacted, the curtain +would fall on the love episode 'twixt a romantic and ignorant maid and +the most daring scoundrel that had ever committed crime to obtain a +fortune. + +In anticipation of that last and magnificent _denouement_, Sir Marmaduke +had once more donned the disguise of the exiled Orleans prince: the +elaborate clothes, the thick perruque, the black silk shade over the +left eye, which gave him such a sinister expression. + +Now he was literally devoured with the burning desire to see Sue +arriving with that wallet in her hand, which contained securities and +grants to the value of L500,000. A brief interlude with her, a few words +of perfunctory affection, a few assurances of good faith, and he--as her +princely husband--would vanish from her ken forever. + +He meant to go abroad immediately--this very night, if possible. +Prudence and caution could easily be thrown to the winds, once the +negotiable securities were actually in his hands. What he could convert +into money, he would do immediately, going to Amsterdam first, to +withdraw the sum standing at the bank there on deposit, and for which +anon, he would possess the receipt; after that the sale of the grant of +monopolies should be easy of accomplishment. Sir Marmaduke had boundless +faith in his own ability to carry through his own business. He might +stand to lose some of the money perhaps; prudence and caution might +necessitate the relinquishing of certain advantages, but even then he +would be rich and passing rich, and he knew that he ran but little risk +of detection. The girl was young, inexperienced and singularly +friendless: Sir Marmaduke felt convinced that none of the foreign +transactions could ever be directly traced to himself. + +He would be prudent and Europe was wide, and he meant to leave English +grants and securities severely alone. + +He had mused and pondered on his plans all day. The evening found him +half-exhausted with nerve-strain, febrile and almost sick with the agony +of waiting. + +He had calculated that Sue would be free towards seven o'clock, as he +had given Editha strict injunctions to keep discreetly out of the way, +whilst at a previous meeting in the park, it had been arranged that the +young girl should come to the cottage with the money, on the evening of +her twenty-first birthday and there hand her fortune over to her +rightful lord. + +Now Sir Marmaduke cursed himself and his folly for having made this +arrangement. He had not known--when he made it--that Richard would be +back at Acol then. Adam the smith, never came home before eight o'clock +and the old Quakeress herself would not have been much in the way. + +Even now she had shuffled back into her kitchen, leaving her ill-humored +lodger to puff away at the malodorous weed as he chose. But Richard +might return at any moment, and then ... + +Sir Marmaduke had never thought of that possible contingency. If +Richard Lambert came face to face with him, he would of a surety pierce +the disguise of the prince, and recognize the man who had so deeply +wronged poor, unsuspecting Lady Sue. If only a kindly Fate had kept the +young man away another twenty-four hours! or better still, if it led the +despairing lover's footsteps to the extremest edge of the cliffs! + +Sir Marmaduke now paced the narrow room up and down in an agony of +impatience. Nine o'clock had struck long ago, but Sue had not yet come. +The wildest imaginings run riot in the schemer's brain: every hour, nay! +every minute spent within was fraught with danger. He sought his +broad-brimmed hat, determined now to meet Sue in the park, to sally +forth at risk of missing her, at risk of her arriving here at the +cottage when he was absent, and of her meeting Richard Lambert perhaps, +before the irrevocable deed of gift had been accomplished. + +But the suspense was intolerable. + +With a violent oath Sir Marmaduke pressed the hat over his head, and +strode to the door. + +His hand was on the latch, when he heard a faint sound from without: a +girl's footsteps, timorous yet swift, along the narrow flagged path +which led down the tiny garden gate. + +The next moment he had thrown open the door and Sue stood before him. + +Anyone but a bold and unscrupulous schemer would have been struck by the +pathos of the solitary figure which now appeared in the tiny doorway. +The penetrating November drizzle had soaked through the dark cloak and +hood which now hung heavy and dank round the young girl's shoulders. +Framed by the hood, her face appeared preternaturally pale, her lips +were quivering and her eyes, large and dilated, had almost a hunted look +in them. + +Oh! the pity and sadness of it all! For in her small and trembling hands +she was clutching with pathetic tenacity a small, brown wallet which +contained a fortune worthy of a princess. + +She looked eagerly into her husband's face, dreading the scowl, the +outburst of anger or jealousy mayhap with which of late, alas! he had so +oft greeted her arrival. But as was his wont, he stood with his back to +the lighted room, and she could not read the expression of that one +cyclops-like eye, which to-night appeared more sinister than ever +beneath the thick perruque and broad-brimmed hat. + +"I am sorry to be so late," she said timidly, "the evening repast at the +Court was interminable and Mistress de Chavasse full of gossip." + +"Yes, yes, I know," he replied, "am I not used to seeing that your +social duties oft make you forget your husband?" + +"You are unjust, Amede," she rejoined. + +She entered the little parlor and stood beside the table, making no +movement to divest herself of her dripping cloak, or to sit down, nor +indeed did her husband show the slightest inclination to ask her to do +either. He had closed the door behind her, and followed her to the +center of the room. Was it by accident or design that as he reached the +table he threw his broad-brimmed hat, down with such an unnecessary +flourish of the arm that he knocked over one of the heavy pewter +candlesticks, so that it rolled down upon the floor, causing the tallow +candle to sputter and die out with a weird and hissing sound? + +Only one dim yellow light now illumined the room, it shone full into the +pallid face of the young wife standing some three paces from the table, +whilst Prince Amede d'Orleans' face between her and the light, was once +more in deep shadow. + +"You are unjust," she repeated firmly. "Have I not run the gravest +possible risks for your sake, and those without murmur or complaint, for +the past six months? Did I not compromise my reputation for you by +meeting you alone ... of nights? ..." + +"I was laboring under the idea, my wench, that you were doing all that +because you cared for me," he retorted with almost brutal curtness, "and +because you had the desire to become the Princess d'Orleans; that desire +is now gratified and ..." + +He had not really meant to be unkind. There was of a truth no object to +be gained by being brutal to her now. But that wallet, which she held so +tightly clutched, acted as an irritant to his nerves. Never of very +equable temperament and holding all women in lofty scorn, he chafed +against all parleyings with his wife, now that the goal of his ambition +was so close at hand. + +She winced at the insult, and the tears which she fain would have hidden +from him, rose involuntarily to her eyes. + +"Ah!" she sighed, "if you only knew how little I care for that title of +princess! ... Did you perchance think that I cared? ... Nay! how gladly +would I give up all thought of ever bearing that proud appellation, in +exchange for a few more happy illusions such as I possessed three months +ago." + +"Illusions are all very well for a school-girl, my dear Suzanne," he +remarked with a cool shrug of his massive shoulders. "Reality should be +more attractive to you now...." + +He looked her up and down, realizing perhaps for the first time that she +was exquisitely beautiful; beautiful always, but more so now in the +pathos of her helplessness. Somewhat perfunctorily, because in his +ignorance of women he thought that it would please her, and also because +vaguely something human and elemental had suddenly roused his pulses, he +relinquished his nonchalant attitude, and came a step nearer to her. + +"You are very beautiful, my Suzanne," he said half-ironically, and with +marked emphasis on the possessive. + +Again he drew nearer, not choosing to note the instinctive stiffening of +her figure, the shrinking look in her eyes. He caught her arm and drew +her to him, laughing a low mocking laugh as he did so, for she had +turned her face away from him. + +"Come," he said lightly, "will you not kiss me, my beautiful Suzanne? +... my wife, my princess." + +She was silent, impassive, indifferent so he thought, although the arm +which he held trembled within his grip. + +He stretched out his other hand, and taking her chin between his +fingers, he forcibly turned her face towards him. Something in her face, +in her attitude, now roused a certain rough passion in him. Mayhap the +weary wailing during the day, the agonizing impatience, or the golden +argosy so near to port, had strung up his nerves to fever pitch. + +Irritation against her impassiveness, in such glaring contrast to her +glowing ardor of but a few weeks ago, mingled with that essentially male +desire to subdue and to conquer that which is inclined to resist, sent +the blood coursing wildly through his veins. + +"Ah!" he said with a sigh half of desire, half of satisfaction, as he +looked into her upturned face, "the chaste blush of the bride is vastly +becoming to you, my Suzanne! ... it acts as fuel to the flames of my +love ... since I can well remember the passionate kisses you gave me so +willingly awhile ago." + +The thought of that happy past, gave her sudden strength. Catching him +unawares she wrenched herself free from his hold. + +"This is a mockery, prince," she said with vehemence, and meeting his +half-mocking glance with one of scorn. "Do you think that I have been +blind these last few weeks? ... Your love for me hath changed, if indeed +it ever existed, whilst I ..." + +"Whilst you, my beautiful Suzanne," he rejoined lightly, "are mine ... +irrevocably, irretrievably mine ... mine because I love you, and because +you are my wife ... and owe me that obedience which you vowed to Heaven +that you would give me.... That is so, is it not?" + +There was a moment's silence in the tiny cottage parlor now, whilst +he--gauging the full value of his words, knowing by instinct that he had +struck the right cord in that vibrating girlish heart, watched the +subtle change in her face from defiance and wrath to submission and +appeal. + +"Yes, Amede," she murmured after a while, "I owe you obedience, honor +and love, and you need not fear that I will fail in either. But you," +she added with pathetic anxiety, "you do care for me still? do you not?" + +"Of course I care for you," he remarked, "I worship you.... There! ... +will that satisfy you? ... And now?" he added peremptorily, "have you +brought the money?" + +The short interlude of passion was over. His eye had accidentally rested +for one second on the leather wallet, which she still held tightly +clutched, and all thoughts of her beauty, of his power or his desires, +had flown out to the winds. + +"Yes," she replied meekly, "it is all here, in the wallet." + +She laid it down upon the table, feeling neither anxiety nor remorse. He +was her husband and had a right to her fortune, as he had to her person +and to her thoughts and heart an he wished. Nor did she care about the +money, as to the value of which she was, of course, ignorant. + +Her wealth, up to now, had only had a meaning for her, as part of some +noble scheme for the regeneration of mankind. Now she hoped vaguely, as +she put that wallet down on the table, then pushed it towards her +husband, that she was purchasing her freedom with her wealth. + +Certainly she realized that his thoughts had very quickly been diverted +from her beauty to the contents of the wallet. The mocking laugh died +down on his lips, giving place to a sigh of deep satisfaction. + +"You were very prudent, my dear Suzanne, to place this portion of your +wealth in my charge," he said as he slipped the bulky papers into the +lining of his doublet. "Of course it is all yours, and I--your +husband--am but the repository and guardian of your fortune. And now +methinks 'twere prudent for you to return to the Court. Sir Marmaduke de +Chavasse will be missing you...." + +It did not seem to strike her as strange that he should dismiss her thus +abruptly, and make no attempt to explain what his future plans might +be, nor indeed what his intentions were with regard to herself. + +The intensity of her disappointment, the utter loneliness and +helplessness of her position had caused a veritable numbing of her +faculties and of her spirit and for the moment she was perhaps primarily +conscious of a sense of relief at her dismissal. + +Like her wedding in the dismal little church, this day of her birthday, +of her independence, of her handing over her fortune to her husband for +the glorious purposes of his selfless schemes had been so very, very +different to what she had pictured to herself in her girlish and +romantic dreams. + +The sordidness of it all had ruthlessly struck her; for the first time +in her intercourse with this man, she doubted the genuineness of his +motives. With the passing of her fortune from her hands to his, the last +vestige of belief in him died down with appalling suddenness. + +It could not have been because of the expression in his eyes, as he +fingered the wallet, for this she could not see, since his face was +still in shadow. It must have been just instinct--that, and the mockery +of his attempt to make love to her. Had he ever loved her, he could not +have mocked ... not now, that she was helpless and entirely at his +mercy. + +Love once felt, is sacred to him who feels: mockery even of the ashes of +love is an impossible desecration, one beyond the power of any man. +Then, if he had never loved her, why had he pretended? Why have deceived +her with a semblance of passion? + +And the icy whisper of reason blew into her mental ear, the ugly word: +"Money." + +He opened the door for her, and without another word, she passed out +into the dark night. Only when she reached the tiny gate at the end of +the flagged path, did she realize that he was walking with her. + +"I can find my way alone through the woods," she said coldly. "I came +alone." + +"It was earlier then," he rejoined blandly, "and I prefer to see you +safely as far as the park." + +And they walked on side by side in silence. Overhead the melancholy drip +of moisture falling from leaf to leaf, and from leaf to the ground, was +the only sound that accompanied their footsteps. Sue shivered beneath +her damp cloak; but she walked as far away from him as the width of the +woodland path allowed. He seemed absorbed in his own thoughts and not to +notice how she shrank from the slightest contact with him. + +At the park gate he paused, having opened it for her to pass through. + +"I must bid you good-night here, Suzanne," he said lightly, "there may +be footpads about and I must place your securities away under lock and +key. I may be absent a few days for that purpose.... London, you know," +he added vaguely. + +Then as she made no comment: + +"I will arrange for our next meeting," he said, "anon, there will be no +necessity to keep our marriage a secret, but until I give you permission +to speak of it, 'twere better that you remained silent on that score." + +She contrived to murmur: + +"As you will." + +And presently, as he made no movement towards her, she said: + +"Good-night!" + +This time he had not even desired to kiss her. + +The next moment she had disappeared in the gloom. She fled as fast as +she dared in the inky blackness of this November night. She could have +run for miles, or for hours, away! away from all this sordidness, this +avarice, this deceit and cruelty! Away! away from him!! + +How glad she was that darkness enveloped her, for now she felt horribly +ashamed. Instinct, too, is cruel at times! Instinct had been silent so +long during the most critical juncture of her own folly. Now it spoke +loudly, warningly; now that it was too late. + +Ashamed of her own stupidity and blindness! her vanity mayhap had alone +led her to believe the passionate protestations of a liar. + +A liar! a mean, cowardly schemer, but her husband for all that! She owed +him love, honor and obedience; if he commanded, she must obey; if he +called she must fain go to him. + +Oh! please God! that she had succeeded in purchasing her freedom from +him by placing L500,000 in his hands. + +Shame! shame that this should be! that she should have mistaken vile +schemes for love, that a liar's kisses should have polluted her soul! +that she should be the wife, the bondswoman of a cheat! + + + + +CHAPTER XXIX + +GOOD-BYE + + +"Sue!" + +The cry rang out in the night close to her, and arrested her fleeing +footsteps. She was close to the ha-ha, having run on blindly, madly, +guided by that unaccountable instinct which makes for the shelter of +home. + +In a moment she had recognized the voice. In a moment she was beside her +friend. Her passionate mood passed away, leaving her calm and almost at +peace. Shame still caused her cheeks to burn, but the night was dark and +doubtless he would not see. + +But she could feel that he was near her, therefore, there was no fear in +her. What had guided her footsteps hither she did not know. Of course he +had guessed that she had been to meet her husband. + +There were no exclamations or protestations between them. She merely +said quite simply: + +"I am glad that you came to say 'good-bye!'" + +The park was open here. The nearest trees were some fifty paces away, +and in the ghostly darkness they could just perceive one another's +silhouettes. The mist enveloped them as with a shroud, the damp cold air +caused them to shiver as under the embrace of death. + +"It is good-bye," he rejoined calmly. + +"Mayhap that I shall go abroad soon," she said. + +"With that man?" + +The cry broke out from the bitterness of his heart, but a cold little +hand was placed restrainingly on his. + +"When I go ... if I go," she murmured, "I shall do so with my +husband.... You see, my friend, do you not, that there is naught else to +say but 'good-bye'?" + +"And you will be happy, Sue?" he asked. + +"I hope so!" she sighed wistfully. + +"You will always remember, will you not, my dear lady, that wherever you +may be, there is always someone in remote Thanet, who is ready at any +time to give his life for you?" + +"Yes! I will remember," she said simply. + +"And you must promise me," he insisted, "promise me now, Sue, that if +... which Heaven forbid ... you are in any trouble or sorrow, and I can +do aught for you, that you will let me know and send for me ... and I +will come." + +"Yes, Richard, I promise.... Good-bye." + +And she was gone. The mist, the gloom hid her completely from view. He +waited by the little bridge, for the night was still and he would have +heard if she called. + +He heard her light footsteps on the gravel, then on the flagged walk. +Anon came the sound of the opening and shutting of a door. After that, +silence: the silence of a winter's night, when not a breath of wind +stirs the dead branches of the trees, when woodland and field and park +are wrapped in the shroud of the mist. + +Richard Lambert turned back towards the village. + +Sue--married to another man--had passed out of his life forever. + + + + +CHAPTER XXX + +ALL BECAUSE OF THE TINDER-BOX + + +How oft it is in life that Fate, leading a traveler in easy gradients +upwards along a road of triumph, suddenly assumes a madcap mood and with +wanton hand throws a tiny obstacle in his way; an obstacle at times +infinitesimal, scarce visible on that way towards success, yet powerful +enough to trip the unwary traveler and bring him down to earth with +sudden and woeful vigor. + +With Sir Marmaduke so far everything had prospered according to his +wish. He had inveigled the heiress into a marriage which bound her to +his will, yet left him personally free; she had placed her fortune +unreservedly and unconditionally in his hands, and had, so far as he +knew, not even suspected the treachery practiced upon her by her +guardian. + +Not a soul had pierced his disguise, and the identity of Prince Amede +d'Orleans was unknown even to his girl-wife. + +With the disappearance of that mysterious personage, Sir Marmaduke +having realized Lady Sue's fortune, could resume life as an independent +gentleman, with this difference, that henceforth he would be passing +rich, able to gratify his ambition, to cut a figure in the world as he +chose. + +Fortune which had been his idol all his life, now was indeed his slave. +He had it, he possessed it. It lay snug and safe in a leather wallet +inside the lining of his doublet. + +Sue had gone out of his sight, desirous apparently of turning her back +on him forever. He was free and rich. The game had been risky, daring +beyond belief, yet he had won in the end. He could afford to laugh now +at all the dangers, the subterfuges, the machinations which had all gone +to the making of that tragic comedy in which he had been the principal +actor. + +The last scene in the drama had been successfully enacted. The curtain +had been finally lowered; and Sir Marmaduke swore that there should be +no epilogue to the play. + +Then it was that Fate--so well-named the wanton jade--shook herself from +out the torpor in which she had wandered for so long beside this Kentish +squire. A spirit of mischief seized upon her and whispered that she had +held this man quite long enough by the hand and that it would be far +more amusing now to see him measure his length on the ground. + +And all that Fate did, in order to satisfy this spirit of mischief, was +to cause Sir Marmaduke to forget his tinder-box in the front parlor of +Mistress Martha Lambert's cottage. + +A tinder-box is a small matter! an object of infinitesimal importance +when the broad light of day illumines the interior of houses or the +bosquets of a park, but it becomes an object of paramount importance, +when the night is pitch dark, and when it is necessary to effect an +exchange of clothing within the four walls of a pavilion. + +Sir Marmaduke had walked to the park gates with his wife, not so much +because he was anxious for her safety, but chiefly because he meant to +retire within the pavilion, there to cast aside forever the costume and +appurtenances of Prince Amede d'Orleans and to reassume the +sable-colored doublet and breeches of the Roundhead squire, which +proceeding he had for the past six months invariably accomplished in the +lonely little building on the outskirts of his own park. + +As soon, therefore, as he realized that Sue had gone, he turned his +steps towards the pavilion. The night seemed additionally dark here +under the elms, and Sir Marmaduke searched in his pocket for his +tinder-box. + +It was not there. He had left it at the cottage, and quickly recollected +seeing it lying on the table at the very moment that Sue pushed the +leather wallet towards him. + +He had mounted the few stone steps which led up to the building, but +even whilst he groped for the latch with an impatient hand, he realized +how impossible it would be for him anon, to change his clothes, in the +dark; not only to undress and dress again, but to collect the belongings +of the Prince d'Orleans subsequently, for the purpose of destroying them +at an early opportunity. + +Groping about in inky blackness might mean the forgetting of some +article of apparel, which, if found later on, might lead to suspicion or +even detection of the fraud. Sir Marmaduke dared not risk it. + +Light he needed, and light he ought to have. The tinder-box had become +of paramount importance, and it was sheer wantonness on the part of Fate +that she should have allowed that little article to rest forgotten on +the table in Mistress Lambert's cottage. + +Sir Marmaduke remained pondering--in the darkness and the mist--for a +while. His own doublet and breeches, shoes and stockings were in the +pavilion: would he ever be able to get at them without a light? No, +certainly not! nor could he venture to go home to the Court in his +present disguise, and leave his usual clothes in this remote building. + +Prying, suspicious eyes--such as those of Master Hymn-of-Praise Busy, +for instance, might prove exceedingly uncomfortable and even dangerous. + +On the other hand, would it not be ten thousand times more dangerous to +go back to the cottage now and risk meeting Richard Lambert face to +face? + +And it was Richard whom Sir Marmaduke feared. + +He had, therefore, almost decided to try his luck at dressing in the +dark, and was once more fumbling with the latch of the pavilion door, +when through the absolute silence of the air, there came to his ear +through the mist the sound of a young voice calling the name of "Sue!" + +The voice was that of Richard Lambert. + +The coast would be clear then. Richard had met Sue in the park: no +doubt he would hold her a few moments in conversation. The schemer cared +not what the two young people would or would not say to one another; all +that interested him now was the fact that Richard was not at the +cottage, and that, therefore, it would be safe to run back and fetch the +tinder-box. + +All this was a part of Fate's mischievous prank. Sir Marmaduke was not +afraid of meeting the old Quakeress, nor yet the surly smith; Richard +being out of the way, he had no misgivings in his mind when he retraced +his steps towards the cottage. + +It was close on eight o'clock then, in fact the tiny bell in Acol church +struck the hour even as Sir Marmaduke lifted the latch of the little +garden gate. + +The old woman was in the parlor, busy as usual with her dusting-cloth. +Without heeding her, Sir Marmaduke strode up to the table and pushing +the crockery, which now littered it, aside, he searched for his +tinder-box. + +It was not there. With an impatient oath, he turned to Mistress Martha, +and roughly demanded if she had seen it. + +"Eh? ... What?" she queried, shuffling a little nearer to him, "I am +somewhat hard of hearing ... as thou knowest...." + +"Have you seen my tinder-box?" he repeated with ever-growing irritation. + +"Ah, yea, the fog!" she said blandly, "'tis damp too, of a truth, and +..." + +"Hold your confounded tongue!" he shouted wrathfully, "and try and hear +me. My tinder-box...." + +"Thy what? I am a bit ..." + +"Curse you for an old fool," swore Sir Marmaduke, who by now was in a +towering passion. + +With a violent gesture he pushed the old woman aside and turning on her +in an uncontrolled access of fury, with both arms upraised, he shouted: + +"If you don't hear me now, I'll break every bone in your ugly body.... +Where is my ..." + +It had all happened in a very few seconds: his entrance, his search for +the missing box, the growing irritation in him which had caused him to +lose control of his temper. And now, even before the threatening words +were well out of his mouth, he suddenly felt a vigorous onslaught from +the rear, and his own throat clutched by strong and sinewy fingers. + +"And I'll break every bone in thy accursed body!" shouted a hoarse voice +close to his ear, "if thou darest so much as lay a finger on the old +woman." + +The struggle was violent and brief. Sir Marmaduke already felt himself +overmastered. Adam Lambert had taken him unawares. He was rough and very +powerful. Sir Marmaduke was no weakling, yet encumbered by his fantastic +clothes he was no match for the smith. Adam turned him about in his +nervy hands like a puppet. + +Now he was in front and above him, glaring down at the man he hated with +eyes which would have searched the very depths of his enemy's soul. + +"Thou damned foreigner!" he growled between clenched teeth, "thou +vermin! ... Thou toad! Thou ... on thy knees! ... on thy knees, I say +... beg her pardon for thy foul language ... now at once ... dost hear? +... ere I squeeze the breath out of thee...." + +Sir Marmaduke felt his knees giving way under him, the smith's grasp on +his throat had in no way relaxed. Mistress Martha vainly tried to +interpose. She was all for peace, and knew that the Lord liked not a +fiery temper. But the look in Adam's face frightened her, and she had +always been in terror of the foreigner. Without thought, and imagining +that 'twas her presence which irritated the lodger, she beat a hasty +retreat to her room upstairs, even as Adam Lambert finally succeeded in +forcing Sir Marmaduke down on his knees, not ceasing to repeat the +while: + +"Her pardon ... beg her pardon, my fine prince ... lick the dust in an +English cottage, thou foreign devil ... or, by God, I will kill thee! +..." + +"Let me go!" gasped Sir Marmaduke, whom the icy fear of imminent +discovery gripped more effectually even than did the village +blacksmith's muscular fingers, "let me go ... damn you!" + +"Not before I have made thee lick the dust," said Adam grimly, bringing +one huge palm down on the elaborate perruque, and forcing Sir +Marmaduke's head down, down towards the ground, "lick it ... lick it +... Prince of Orleans...." + +He burst out laughing in the midst of his fury, at sight of this +disdainful gentleman, with the proud title, about to come in violent +contact with a cottage floor. But Sir Marmaduke struggled violently +still. He had been wiser no doubt, to take the humiliation quietly, to +lick the dust and to pacify the smith: but what man is there who would +submit to brute force without using his own to protect himself? + +Then Fate at last worked her wanton will. + +In the struggle the fantastic perruque and heavy mustache of Prince +Amede d'Orleans remained in the smith's hand whilst it was the round +head and clean-shaven face of Sir Marmaduke de Chavasse which came in +contact with the floor. + +In an instant, stricken at first dumb with surprise and horror, but +quickly recovering the power of speech, Adam Lambert murmured: + +"You? ... You? ... Sir Marmaduke de Chavasse! ... Oh! my God! ..." + +His grip on his enemy had, of course, relaxed. Sir Marmaduke was able to +struggle to his feet. Fate had dealt him a blow as unexpected as it was +violent. But he had not been the daring schemer that he was, if +throughout the past six months, the possibility of such a moment as this +had not lurked at the back of his mind. + +The blow, therefore, did not find him quite unprepared. It had been +stunning but not absolutely crushing. Even whilst Adam Lambert was +staring with almost senseless amazement alternately at him and at the +bundle of false hair which he was still clutching, Sir Marmaduke had +struggled to his feet. + + + + +CHAPTER XXXI + +THE ASSIGNATION + + +He had recovered his outward composure at any rate, and the next moment +was busy re-adjusting his doublet and bands before the mirror over the +hearth. + +"Yes! my violent friend!" he said coolly, speaking over his shoulder, +"of a truth it is mine own self! Your landlord you see, to whom that +worthy woman upstairs owes this nice cottage which she has had rent free +for over ten years ... not the foreign vermin, you see," he added with a +pleasant laugh, "which maketh your actions of just now, somewhat +unpleasant to explain. Is that not so?" + +"Nay! but by the Lord!" quoth Adam Lambert, still somewhat dazed, +vaguely frightened himself now at the magnitude, the importance of what +he had done, "meseems that 'tis thine actions, friend, which will be +unpleasant to explain. Thou didst not put on these play-actor's robes +for a good purpose, I'll warrant! ... I cannot guess what is thy game, +but methinks her young ladyship would wish to know something of its +rules ... or mayhap, my brother Richard who is no friend of thine, +forsooth." + +Gradually his voice had become steadier, his manner more assured. A +glimmer of light on the Squire's strange doings had begun to penetrate +his simple, dull brain. Vaguely he guessed the purport of the disguise +and of the lies, and the mention of Lady Sue's name was not an arrow +shot thoughtlessly into the air. At the same time he had not perceived +the slightest quiver of fear or even of anxiety on Sir Marmaduke's face. + +The latter had in the meanwhile put his crumpled toilet in order and now +turned with an urbane smile to his glowering antagonist. + +"I will not deny, kind master," he said pleasantly, "that you might +cause me a vast amount of unpleasantness just now ... although of a +truth, I do not perceive that you would benefit yourself overmuch +thereby. On the contrary, you would vastly lose. Your worthy aunt, +Mistress Lambert, would lose a pleasant home, and you would never know +what you and your brother Richard have vainly striven to find out these +past ten years." + +"What may that be, pray?" queried the smith sullenly. + +"Who you both are," rejoined Sir Marmaduke blandly, as he calmly sat +down in one of the stiff-backed elm chairs beside the hearth, "and why +worthy Mistress Lambert never speaks to you of your parentage." + +"Who we both are?" retorted Lambert with obvious bitterness, "two poor +castaways, who, but for the old woman would have been left to starve, +and who have tried, therefore, to be a bit grateful to her, and to earn +an honest livelihood. That is what we are, Sir Marmaduke de Chavasse; +and now prithee tell me, who the devil art thou?" + +"You are overfond of swearing, worthy master," quoth Sir Marmaduke +lightly, "'tis sinful so I'm told, for one of your creed. But that is no +matter to me. You are, believe me, somewhat more interesting than you +imagine. Though I doubt if to a Quaker, being heir to title and vast +estates hath more than a fleeting interest." + +But the smith had shrugged his broad shoulders and uttered an +exclamation of contempt. + +"Title and vast estates?" he said with an ironical laugh. "Nay! Sir +Marmaduke de Chavasse, the bait is passing clumsy. An you wish me to +hold my tongue about you and your affairs, you'll have to be vastly +sharper than that." + +"You mistake me, friend smith, I am not endeavoring to purchase your +silence. I hold certain information relating to your parentage. This I +would be willing to impart to a friend, yet loath to do so to an enemy. +A man doth not like to see his enemy in possession of fifteen thousand +pounds a year. Does he?" + +And Sir Marmaduke appeared absorbed in the contemplation of his left +shoe, whilst Adam Lambert repeated stupidly and vaguely: + +"Fifteen thousand pounds a year? I?" + +"Even you, my friend." + +This was said so simply, and with such conviction-carrying +certainty--that in spite of himself Lambert's sulkiness vanished. He +drew nearer to Sir Marmaduke, looked down on him silently for a second +or two, then muttered through his teeth: + +"You have the proofs?" + +"They will be at your service, my choleric friend," replied the other +suavely, "in exchange for your silence." + +Adam Lambert drew a chair close to his whilom enemy, sat down opposite +to him, with elbows resting on his knee, his clenched fists supporting +his chin, and his eyes--anxious, eager, glowing, fixed resolutely on de +Chavasse. + +"I'll hold my tongue, never fear," he said curtly. "Show me the proofs." + +Sir Marmaduke gave a pleasant little laugh. + +"Not so fast, my friend," he said, "I do not carry such important papers +about in my breeches' pocket." + +And he rose from his chair, picked up the perruque and false mustache +which the other man had dropped upon the floor, and adjusting these on +his head and face he once more presented the appearance of the exiled +Orleans prince. + +"But thou'lt show them to me to-night," insisted the smith roughly. + +"How can I, mine impatient friend?" quoth de Chavasse lightly, "the hour +is late already." + +"Nay! what matter the lateness of the hour? I am oft abroad at night, +early and late, and thou, methinks, hast oft had the midnight hour for +company. When and where wilt meet me?" added Lambert peremptorily, "I +must see those proofs to-night, before many hours are over, lest the +blood in my veins burn my body to ashes with impatience. When wilt meet +me? Eleven? ... Midnight? ... or the small hours of the morn?" + +He spoke quickly, jerking out his words through closed teeth, his eyes +burning with inward fever, his fists closing and unclosing with rapid +febrile movements of the fingers. + +The pent-up disappointment and rebellion of a whole lifetime against +Fate, was expressed in the man's attitude, the agonizing eagerness which +indeed seemed to be consuming him. + +De Chavasse, on the other hand, had become singularly calm. The black +shade as usual hid one of his eyes, masking and distorting the +expression of his face; the false mustache, too, concealed the movements +of his lips, and the more his opponent's eyes tried to search the +schemer's face, the more inscrutable and bland did the latter become. + +"Nay, my friend," he said at last, "I do not know that the thought of a +midnight excursion with you appeals to my sense of personal security. I +..." + +But with a violent oath, Adam had jumped to his feet, and kicked the +chair away from under him so that it fell backwards with a loud clatter. + +"Thou'lt meet me to-night," he said loudly and threateningly now, +"thou'lt meet me on the path near the cliffs of Epple Bay half an hour +before midnight, and if thou hast lied to me, I'll throw thee over and +Thanet then will be rid of thee ... but if thou dost not come, I'll to +my brother Richard even before the church clock of Acol hath sounded the +hour of midnight." + +De Chavasse watched him silently for the space of three seconds, +realizing, of course, that he was completely in that man's power, and +also that the smith meant every word that he said. The discovery of the +monstrous fraud by Richard Lambert within the next few hours was a +contingency which he could not even contemplate without shuddering. He +certainly would much prefer to give up to this uncouth laborer the +proofs of his parentage which eventually might mean an earldom and a +fortune to a village blacksmith. + +Sir Marmaduke had reflected on all this, of course, before broaching the +subject to Adam Lambert at all. Now he was prepared to go through with +the scheme to the end if need be. His uncle, the Earl of Northallerton, +might live another twenty years, whilst he himself--if pursued for +fraud, might have to spend those years in jail. + +On the whole it was simpler to purchase the smith's silence ... this way +or another. Sir Marmaduke's reflections at this moment would have +delighted those evil spirits who are supposed to revel in the misdoings +of mankind. + +The thought of the lonely path near the cliffs of Epple Bay tickled his +fancy in a manner for which perhaps at this moment he himself could not +have accounted. He certainly did not fear Adam Lambert and now said +decisively: + +"Very well, my friend, an you wish it, I'll come." + +"Half an hour before midnight," insisted Lambert, "on the cliffs at +Epple Bay." + +"Half an hour before midnight: on the cliffs of Epple Bay," assented the +other. + +He picked up his hat. + +"Where art going?" queried the smith suspiciously. + +"To change my clothing," replied Sir Marmaduke, who was fingering that +fateful tinder-box which alone had brought about the present crisis, +"and to fetch those proofs which you are so anxious to see." + +"Thou'lt not fail me?" + +"Surely not," quoth de Chavasse, as he finally went out of the room. + + + + +CHAPTER XXXII + +THE PATH NEAR THE CLIFFS + + +The mist had not lifted. Over the sea it hung heavy and dank like a huge +sheet of gray thrown over things secret and unavowable. It was thickest +down in the bay lurking in the crevices of the chalk, in the great +caverns and mighty architecture carved by the patient toil of the +billows in the solid mass of the cliffs. + +Up above it was slightly less dense: allowing distinct peeps of the +rough carpet of coarse grass, of the downtrodden path winding towards +Acol, of the edge of the cliff, abrupt, precipitous, with a drop of some +ninety feet into that gray pall of mist to the sands below. + +And higher up still, above the mist itself, a deep blue sky dotted with +stars, and a full moon, pale and circled with luminous vapors. A gentle +breeze had risen about half an hour ago and was blowing the mist hither +and thither, striving to disperse it, but not yet succeeding in +mastering it, for it only shifted restlessly to and fro, like the giant +garments of titanic ghosts, revealing now a distant peep of sea, anon +the interior of a colonnaded cavern, abode of mysterious ghouls, or +again a nest of gulls in a deep crevice of the chalk: revealing and +hiding again:--a shroud dragged listlessly over monstrous dead things. + +Sir Marmaduke de Chavasse had some difficulty in keeping to the footpath +which leads from the woods of Acol straight toward the cliffs. Unlike +Adam Lambert, his eyes were unaccustomed to pierce the moist pall which +hid the distance from his view. + +Strangely enough he had not cast aside the fantastic accouterments of +the French prince, and though these must have been as singularly +uncomfortable, as they were inappropriate, for a midnight walk, +nevertheless, he still wore the heavy perruque, the dark mustache, +broad-brimmed hat, and black shade which were so characteristic of the +mysterious personage. + +He had heard the church clock at Acol village strike half an hour after +eleven and knew that the smith would already be waiting for him. + +The acrid smell of seaweed struck forcibly now upon his nostrils. The +grass beneath his feet had become more sparse and more coarse. The +moisture which clung to his face had a taste of salt in it. Obviously he +was quite close to the edge of the cliffs. + +The next moment and without any warning a black outline appeared in the +moon-illumined density. It was Adam Lambert pacing up and down with the +impatience of an imprisoned beast of prey. + +A second or two later the febrile hand of the smith had gripped Sir +Marmaduke's shoulder. + +"You have brought those proofs?" he queried hoarsely. + +His face was wet with the mist, and he had apparently oft wiped it with +his hand or sleeve, for great streaks of dirt marked his cheeks and +forehead, giving him a curious satanic expression, whilst his short lank +hair obviously roughed up by impatient fingers, bristled above his +square-built head like the coat of a shaggy dog. + +In absolute contrast to him, Sir Marmaduke looked wonderfully calm and +tidy. In answer to the other man's eager look of inquiry, he made +pretense of fumbling in his pockets, as he said quietly: + +"Yes! all of them!" + +As if idly musing, he continued to walk along the path, whilst the smith +first stooped to pick up a small lantern which he had obviously brought +with him in order to examine the papers by its light, and then strode in +the wake of Sir Marmaduke. + +The breeze was getting a bother hold on the mist, and was tossing it +about from sea to cliff and upwards with more persistence and more +vigor. + +The pale, cold moon glistened visibly on the moist atmosphere, and far +below and far beyond weird streaks of shimmering silver edged the +surface of the sea. The breeze itself had scarcely stirred the water; +or,--the soft sound of tiny billows lapping the outstanding boulders was +wafted upwards as the tide drew in. + +The two men had reached the edge of the cliff. With a slight laugh, +indicative of nervousness, Sir Marmaduke had quickly stepped back a +pace or two. + +"I have brought the proofs," he said, as if wishing to conciliate a +dangerous enemy, "we need not stand so near the edge, need we?" + +But Adam Lambert shrugged his shoulders in token of contempt at the +other's cowardice. + +"I'll not harm thee," he said, "an thou hast not lied to me...." + +He deposited his lantern by the side of a heap of white chalk, which +had, no doubt, been collected at some time or other by idle or childish +hands, and stood close to the edge of the cliff. Sir Marmaduke now took +his stand beside it, one foot placed higher than the other. Close to him +Adam in a frenzy of restlessness had thrown himself down on the heap; +below them a drop of ninety feet to the seaweed covered beach. + +"Let me see the papers," quoth Adam impatiently. + +"Gently, gently, kind sir," said de Chavasse lightly. "Did you think +that you could dictate your own terms quite so easily?" + +"What dost thou mean?" queried the other. + +"I mean that I am about to place in your hands the proof that you are +heir to a title and fifteen thousand pounds a year, but at the same time +I wish to assure myself that you will be pleasant over certain matters +which concern me." + +"Have I not said that I would hold my tongue." + +"Of a truth you did say so my friend, and therefore, I am convinced +that you will not refuse to give me a written promise to that effect." + +"I cannot write," said Adam moodily. + +"Oh! just your signature!" said de Chavasse pleasantly. "You can write +your name?" + +"Not well." + +"The initials A. and L. They would satisfy me," + +"Why dost thou want written promises," objected the smith, looking up +with sullen wrath at Sir Marmaduke. "Is not the word of an honest man +sufficient for thee?" + +"Quite sufficient," rejoined de Chavasse blandly, "those initials are a +mere matter of form. You cannot object if your intentions are honest." + +"I do not object. Hast brought ink or paper?" + +"Yes, and the form to which you only need to affix your initials." + +Sir Marmaduke now drew a packet of papers from the inner lining of his +doublet. + +"These are the proofs of your parentage," he said lightly. + +Then he took out another single sheet of paper from his pocket, unfolded +it and handed it to Lambert. "Can you read it?" he asked. + +He stooped and picked up the lantern, whilst handing the paper to Adam. +The smith took the document from him, and Sir Marmaduke held the lantern +so that he might read. + +Adam Lambert was no scholar. The reading of printed matter was oft a +difficulty to him, written characters were a vast deal more trouble, +but suspicion lurked in the smith's mind, and though his very sinews +ached with the desire to handle the proofs, he would not put his +initials to any writing which he did not fully comprehend. + +It was all done in a moment. Adam was absorbed in deciphering the +contents of the paper. De Chavasse held the lantern up with one hand, +but at such an angle that Lambert was obliged to step back in order to +get its full light. + +Then with the other hand, the right, Sir Marmaduke drew a double-edged +Italian knife from his girdle, and with a rapid and vigorous gesture, +drove it straight between the smith's shoulder blades. + +Adam uttered a groan: + +"My God ... I am ..." + +Then he staggered and fell. + +Fell backwards down the edge of the cliff into the mist-enveloped abyss +below. + +Sir Marmaduke had fallen on one knee and his trembling fingers clutched +at the thick short grass, sharp as the blade of a knife, to stop himself +from swooning--from falling backwards in the wake of Adam the smith. + +A gust of wind wafted the mist upwards, covering him with its humid +embrace. But he remained quite still, crouching on his stomach now, his +hands clutching the grass for support, whilst great drops of +perspiration mingled with the moisture of the mist on his face. + +Anon he raised his head a little and turned to look at the edge of the +cliff. On hands and knees, like a gigantic reptile, he crawled, then lay +flat on the ground, on the extreme edge, his eyes peering down into +those depths wherein floating vapors lolled and stirred, with subtle +movements like spirits in unrest. + +As far as the murderer's eye could reach and could penetrate the density +of the fog, white crag succeeded white crag, with innumerable +projections which should have helped to toss a falling and inert mass as +easily as if it had been an air bubble. + +Sir Marmaduke tried to penetrate the secrets which the gray and shifting +veil still hid from his view. Beside him lay the Italian knife, its +steely surface shimmering in the vaporous light, there where a dull and +ruddy stain had not dimmed its brilliant polish. The murderer gazed at +his tool and shuddered feebly. But he picked up the knife and +mechanically wiped it in the grass, before he restored it to his belt. + +Then he gazed downwards again, straining his eyes to pierce the mist, +his ears to hear a sound. + +But nothing came upwards from that mighty abyss save the now more +distinct lapping of the billows round the boulders, for the tide was +rapidly setting in. + +Down the white sides of the cliff the projections seemed ready to afford +a foothold bearing somewhat toward the right, the descent was not so +abrupt as it was immediately in front. The chalk of a truth looked slimy +and green, and might cause the unwary to trip, but there was that to +see down below and that to do, which would make any danger of a fall +well worth the risking. + +Sir Marmaduke de Chavasse slowly rose to his feet. His knees were still +shaking under him, and there was a nervous tremor in his jaw and in his +wrists which he tried vainly to conquer. + +Nevertheless he managed to readjust his clothes, his perruque, his +broad-brimmed hat. The papers he slipped back into his pocket together +with the black silk shade and false mustache, then, with the lantern in +his left hand he took the first steps towards the perilous descent. + +There was something down below that he must see, something that he +wished to do. + +He walked sidewise at times, bent nearly double, looking like some +gigantic and unwieldy crab, as the feeble rays of the mist-hidden moon +caught his rounded back in its cloth doublet of a dull reddish hue. At +other times he was forced to sit, and to work his way downwards with his +hands and heels, tearing his clothes, bruising his elbows and his +shoulders against the projections of the titanic masonry. Lumps of chalk +detached themselves from beneath and around him and slipped down the +precipitous sides in advance of him, with a dull reverberating sound +which seemed to rouse the echoes of this silent night. + +The descent seemed interminable. His flesh ached, his sinews creaked, +his senses reeled with the pain, the mind-agony, the horror of it all. + +At last he caught a glimmer of the wet sand, less than ten feet below. +He had just landed on a bit of white tableland wantonly carved in the +naked cliff. The rough gradients which up to now had guided him in his +descent ceased abruptly. Behind him the cliff rose upwards, in front +and, to his right, and left a concave wall, straight down to the beach. + +Exhausted and half-paralyzed, de Chavasse perforce had to throw himself +down these last ten feet, hardly pausing to think whether his head would +or would not come in violent contact with one of the chalk boulders +which stand out here and there in the flat sandy beach. + +He threw down the lantern first, which was extinguished as it fell. Then +he took the final jump, and soon lay half-unconscious, numbed and aching +in every limb in the wet sand. + +Anon he tried to move. His limbs were painful, his shoulders ached, and +he had some difficulty in struggling to his feet. An unusually large +boulder close by afforded a resting place. He reached it and sat down. +His head was still swimming but his limbs were apparently sound. He sat +quietly for a while, recouping his strength, gathering his wandering +senses. The lantern lay close to his feet, extinguished but not broken. + +He groped for his tinder-box, and having found it, proceeded to relight +the tiny tallow dip. It was a difficult proceeding for the tinder was +damp, and the breeze, though very slight in this hollow portion of the +cliffs, nevertheless was an enemy to a trembling little flame. + +But Sir Marmaduke noted with satisfaction that his nerves were already +under his control. He succeeded in relighting the lantern, which he +could not have done if his hands had been as unsteady as they were +awhile ago. + +He rose once more to his feet, stamped them against the boulders, +stretched out his arms, giving his elbows and shoulders full play. +Mayhap he had spent a quarter of an hour thus resting since that final +jump, mayhap it had been an hour or two; he could not say for time had +ceased to be. + +But the mist had penetrated to his very bones and he did not remember +ever having felt quite so cold. + +Now he seized his lantern and began his search, trying to ascertain the +exact position of the portion of the cliff's edge where he and Lambert +the smith had been standing a while ago. + +It was not a difficult matter, nor was the search a long one. Soon he +saw a huddled mass lying in the sand. + +He went up to it and placed the lantern down upon a boulder. + +Horror had entirely left him. The crisis of terror at his own fell deed +had been terrible but brief. His was not a nature to shrink from +unpleasant sights, nor at such times do men have cause to recoil from +contact with the dead. + +In the murderer's heart there was no real remorse for the crime which +he had committed. + +"Bah! why did the fool get in my way?" was the first mental comment +which he made when he caught sight of Lambert's body. + +Then with a final shrug of the shoulders he dismissed pity, horror or +remorse, entirely from his thoughts. + +What he now did was to raise the smith's body from the ground and to +strip it of its clothing. 'Twas a grim task, on which his chroniclers +have never cared to dwell. His purpose was fixed. He had planned and +thought it all out minutely, and he was surely not the man to flinch at +the execution of a project once he had conceived it. + +The death of Adam Lambert should serve a double purpose: the silencing +of an avowed enemy and the wiping out of the personality of Prince Amede +d'Orleans. + +The latter was as important as the first. It would facilitate the +realizing of the fortune and, above all, clear the way for Sir +Marmaduke's future life. + +Therefore, however gruesome the task, which was necessary in order to +attain that great goal, the schemer accomplished it, with set teeth and +an unwavering hand. + +What he did do on that lonely fog-ridden beach and in the silence of +that dank and misty night, was to dress up the body of Adam Lambert, the +smith, in the fantastic clothing of Prince Amede d'Orleans: the red +cloth doublet, the lace collars and cuffs, the bunches of ribbon at knee +and waist, and the black silk shade over the left eye. All he omitted +were the perruque and the false mustache. + +Having accomplished this work, he himself donned the clothes of Adam +Lambert. + +This part of his task being done, he had to rest for a while. 'Tis no +easy matter to undress and redress an inert mass. + +The smith, dressed in the elaborate accouterments of the mysterious +French prince, now lay face upwards on the sand. + +The tide was rapidly setting in. In less than half an hour it would +reach this portion of the beach. + +Sir Marmaduke de Chavasse, however, had not yet accomplished all that he +meant to do. He knew that the sea-waves had a habit of returning that +which they took away. Therefore, his purpose was not fully accomplished +when he had dressed the dead smith in the clothes of the Orleans prince. +Else had he wished it, he could have consigned his victim to the tide. + +But Adam--dead--had now to play a part in the grim comedy which Sir +Marmaduke de Chavasse had designed for his own safety, and the more +assured success of all his frauds and plans. + +Therefore, after a brief rest, the murderer set to work again. A more +grim task yet! one from which of a truth more than one evil-doer would +recoil. + +Not so this bold schemer, this mad worshiper of money and of self. +Everything! anything for the safety of Sir Marmaduke de Chavasse, for +the peaceful possession of L500,000. + +Everything! Even the desecration of the dead! + +The murderer was powerful, and there is a strength which madness gives. +Heavy boulders pushed by vigorous arms had to help in the monstrous +deed! + +Heavy boulders thrown and rolled over the face of the dead, so as to +obliterate all identity! + +Nay! had a sound now disturbed the silence of this awesome night, surely +it had been the laughter of demons aghast at such a deed! + +The moon indeed hid her face, retreating once more behind the veils of +mist. The breeze itself was lulled and the fog gathered itself together +and wrapped the unavowable horrors of the night in a gray and ghoul-like +shroud. + +Madness lurked in the eyes of the sacrilegious murderer. Madness which +helped him not only to carry his grim task to the end, but, having +accomplished it, to see that it was well done. + +And his hand did not tremble, as he raised the lantern and looked down +on _that_ which had once been Adam Lambert, the smith. + +Nay, had those laughing demons looked on it, they would have veiled +their faces in awe! + +The gentle wavelets of the torpid tide were creeping round that thing in +red doublet and breeches, in high top boots, lace cuffs and collar. + +Sir Marmaduke looked down calmly upon his work, and did not even shudder +with horror. + +Madness had been upon him and had numbed his brain. + +But the elemental instinct of self-preservation whispered to him that +his work was well done. + +When the sea gave up the dead, only the clothes, the doublet, the +ribands, the lace, the black shade, mayhap, would reveal his identity, +as the mysterious French prince who for a brief while had lodged in a +cottage at Acol. + +But the face was unrecognizable. + + + + +PART IV + + + + +CHAPTER XXXIII + +THE DAY AFTER + + +The feeling which prevailed in Thanet with regard to the murder of the +mysterious foreigner on the sands of Epple Bay was chiefly one of sullen +resentment. + +Here was a man who had come from goodness knows where, whose strange +wanderings and secret appearances in the neighborhood had oft roused the +anger of the village folk, just as his fantastic clothes, his silken +doublet and befrilled shirt had excited their scorn; here was a man, I +say, who came from nowhere, and now he chose--the yokels of the +neighborhood declared it that he chose--to make his exit from the world +in as weird a manner as he had effected his entrance into this remote +and law-abiding little island. + +The farmhands and laborers who dwelt in the cottages dotted about around +St. Nicholas-at-Wade, Epple or Acol were really angry with the stranger +for allowing himself to be murdered on their shores. Thanet itself had +up to now enjoyed a fair reputation for orderliness and temperance, and +that one of her inhabitants should have been tempted to do away with +that interloping foreigner in such a violent manner was obviously the +fault of that foreigner himself. + +The watches had found him on the sands at low tide. One of them walking +along the brow of the cliff had seen the dark object lying prone amongst +the boulders, a black mass in the midst of the whiteness of the chalk. + +The whole thing was shocking, no doubt, gruesome in the extreme, but the +mystery which surrounded this strange death had roused ire rather than +horror. + +Of course the news had traveled slowly from cottage to cottage, although +Petty Constable Pyot, who resided at St. Nicholas, had immediately +apprised Squire Boatfield and Sir Marmaduke de Chavasse of the awesome +discovery made by the watches on the sands of Epple Bay. + +Squire Boatfield was major-general of the district and rode over from +Sarre directly he heard the news. The body in the meanwhile had been +placed under the shelter of one of the titanic caves which giant hands +have carved in the acclivities of the chalk. Squire Boatfield ordered it +to be removed. It was not fitting that birds of prey should be allowed +to peck at the dead, nor that some unusually high tide should once more +carry him out to sea, ere his murderer had been brought to justice. + +Therefore, the foreigner with the high-sounding name was conveyed by the +watches at the squire's bidding to the cottage of the Lamberts over at +Acol, the only place in Thanet which he had ever called his home. + +The old Quakeress, wrathful and sullen, had scarce understood what the +whole pother was about. She was hard of hearing, and Petty Constable +Pyot was at great pains to explain to her that by the major-general's +orders the body of the murdered man should be laid decently under +shelter, until such time as proper burial could be arranged for it. + +Fortunately before the small cortege bearing the gruesome burden had +arrived at the cottage, young Richard Lambert had succeeded in making +the old woman understand what was expected of her. + +Even then she flatly and obstinately refused to have the stranger +brought into her house. + +"He was a heathen," she declared emphatically, "his soul hath mayhap +gone to hell. His thoughts were evil, and God had him not in His +keeping. 'Tis not fit that the mortal hulk of a damned soul should +pollute the saintliness of mine own abode." + +Pyot thought that the old woman was raving, but Master Lambert very +peremptorily forbade him to interfere with her. The young man, though +quite calm, looked dangerous--so thought the petty constable--and +between them, the old Quakeress and the young student defied the +constables and the watches and barred the cottage to the entrance of the +dead. + +Unfortunately, the smith was from home. Pyot thought that the latter had +been more reasonable, that he would have understood the weight of +authority, and also of seemliness, which was of equally grave +importance. + +There was a good deal of parleying before it was finally decided to +place the body in the forge, which was a wooden lean-to, resting against +the north wall of the cottage. There was no direct access from the +cottage to the forge, and old Mistress Lambert seemed satisfied that the +foreigner should rest there, at any rate until the smith came home, +when, mayhap, he would decide otherwise. + +At the instance of the petty constable she even brought out a sheet, +which smelt sweetly of lavender, and gave it to the watchmen, so that +they might decently cover up the dead; she also gave them three elm +chairs on which to lay him down. + +Across those three chairs the body now lay, covered over with the +lavender-scented sheet, in the corner of the blacksmith's forge, over by +the furnace. A watchman stayed beside it, to ward off sacrilege: anyone +who desired could come, and could--if his nerves were strong +enough--view the body and state if, indeed, it was that of the foreigner +who all through last summer had haunted the woods and park of Acol. + +Of a truth there was no doubt at all as to the identity of the dead. His +fantastic clothes were unmistakable. Many there were who had seen him +wandering in the woods of nights, and several could swear to the black +silk shade and the broad-brimmed hat which the watchmen had found--high +and dry--on a chalk boulder close to where the body lay. + +Mistress Lambert had refused to look on the dead. 'Twas, of course, no +fit sight for females, and the constable had not insisted thereon: but +she knew the black silk shade again, and young Master Lambert had +caught sight of the murdered man's legs and feet, and had thereupon +recognized the breeches and the quaint boots with their overwide tops +filled with frills of lace. + +Master Hymn-of-Praise Busy, too, though unwilling to see a corpse, +thought it his duty to help the law in investigating this mysterious +crime. He had oft seen the foreigner of nights in the park, and never +doubted for a moment that the body which lay across the elm chairs in +the smith's forge was indeed that of the stranger. + +Squire Boatfield was now quite satisfied that the identity of the victim +was firmly established, and anon he did his best--being a humane man--to +obtain Christian burial for the stranger. After some demur, the parson +at Minster declared himself willing to do the pious deed. + +Heathen or not, 'twas not for Christian folk to pass judgment on him who +no longer now could give an explanation of his own mysterious doings, +and had of a truth carried his secrets with him in silence to the grave. + +Was it not strange that anyone should have risked the gallows for the +sake of putting out of the way a man who of a surety was not worth +powder or shot? + +And the nerve and strength which the murderer had shown! ... displacing +great boulders with which to batter in his victim's face so that not +even his own kith and kin could recognize that now! + + + + +CHAPTER XXXIV + +AFTERWARDS + + +Sir Marmaduke de Chavasse cursed the weather and cursed himself for +being a fool. + +He had started from Acol Court on horseback, riding an old nag, for the +roads were heavy with mud, and the short cut through the woods quite +impassable. + +The icy downpour beat against his face and lashed the poor mare's ears +and mane until she tossed her head about blindly and impatiently, scarce +heeding where she placed her feet. The rider's cloak was already soaked +through, and soon even his shirt clung dank and cold to his aching back; +the bridle was slippery with the wet, and his numbed fingers could +hardly feel its resistance as the mare went stumbling on her way. + +Beside horse and rider, Master Hymn-of-Praise Busy and Master Courage +Toogood walked ankle-deep in mud--one on each side of the mare, and +lantern in hand, for the shades of evening would have drawn in ere the +return journey could be undertaken. The two men had taken off their +shoes and stockings and had slung them over their shoulders, for 'twas +better to walk barefoot than to feel the icy moisture soaking through +leather and worsted. + +It was then close on two o'clock of an unusually bleak November +afternoon. The winds of Heaven, which of a truth do oft use the isle of +Thanet as a meeting place, wherein to discuss the mischief which they +severally intend to accomplish in sundry quarters later on, had been +exceptionally active this day. The southwesterly hurricane had brought, +a deluge of rain with it a couple of hours ago, then--satisfied with +this prowess--had handed the downpour over to his brother of the +northeast, who breathing on it with his icy breath, had soon converted +it into sleet: whereupon he turned his back on the mainland altogether, +and wandered out towards the ocean, determined to worry the deep-sea +fishermen who were out with their nets: but not before he had deputed +his brother of the northeast to marshal his army of snow-laden cloud on +the firmament. + +This the northeast, was over-ready to do, and in answer to his whim a +leaden, inky pall now lay over Thanet, whilst the gale continued its +mighty, wanton frolic, lashing the sleet against the tiny window-panes +of the cottage, or sending it down the chimneys, upon the burning logs +below, causing them to splutter and to hiss ere they changed their glow +to black and smoking embers. + +'Twere impossible to imagine a more discomforting atmosphere in which to +be abroad: yet Sir Marmaduke de Chavasse was trudging through the mire, +and getting wet to the skin, even when he might just as well be sitting +beside the fire in the withdrawing-room at the Court. + +He was on his way to the smith's forge at Acol and had ordered his +serving-men to accompany him thither: and of a truth neither of them +were loath to go. They cared naught about the weather, and the +excitement which centered round the Quakeress's cottage at Acol more +than counterbalanced the discomfort of a tramp through the mud. + +A rumor had reached the Court that the funeral of the murdered man +would, mayhap, take place this day, and Master Busy would not have +missed such an event for the world, not though the roads lay thick with +snow and the drifts rendered progress impossible to all save to the +keenest enthusiast. He for one was glad enough that his master had +seemed so unaccountably anxious for the company of his own serving men. +Sir Marmaduke had ever been overfond of wandering about the lonely woods +of Thanet alone. + +But since that gruesome murder on the beach forty-eight hours ago and +more, both the quality and the yokels preferred to venture abroad in +company. + +At the same time neither Master Busy nor young Courage Toogood could +imagine why Sir Marmaduke de Chavasse should endure such amazing +discomfort in order to attend the funeral of an obscure adventurer, who +of a truth was as naught to him. + +Nor, if the truth were known, could Sir Marmaduke himself have accounted +for his presence here on this lonely road, and on one of the most +dismal, bleak and unpleasant afternoons that had ever been experienced +in Thanet of late. + +He should at this moment have been on the other side of the North Sea. +The most elemental prudence should indeed have counseled an immediate +journey to Amsterdam and a prompt negotiation of all marketable +securities which Lady Sue Aldmarshe had placed in his hands. + +Yet twice twenty-four hours had gone by since that awful night, when, +having finally relinquished his victim to the embrace of the tide, he +had picked his way up the chalk cliffs and through the terror-haunted +woods to his own room in Acol Court. + +He should have left for abroad the next day, ere the news of the +discovery of a mysterious murder had reached the precincts of his own +park. But he had remained in England. Something seemed to have rooted +him to the spot, something to be holding him back whenever he was ready +to flee. + +At first it had been a mere desire to know. On the morning following his +crime he made a vigorous effort to rally his scattered senses, to walk, +to move, and to breathe as if nothing had happened, as if nothing lay +out there on the sands of Epple, high and dry now, for the tide would +have gone out. + +Whether he had slept or not since the moment when he had crept +stealthily into his own house, silently as the bird of prey when +returning to its nest--he could not have said. Undoubtedly he had +stripped off the dead man's clothes, the rough shirt and cord breeches +which had belonged to Lambert, the smith. Undoubtedly, too, he had made +a bundle of these things, hiding them in a dark recess at the bottom of +an old oak cupboard which stood in his room. With these clothes he had +placed the leather wallet which contained securities worth half a +million of solid money. + +All this he had done, preparatory to destroying the clothes by fire, and +to converting the securities into money abroad. After that he had thrown +himself on the bed, without thought, without sensations save those of +bodily ache and of numbing fatigue. + +Vaguely, as the morning roused him to consciousness, he realized that he +must leave for Dover as soon as may be and cross over to France by the +first packet available, or, better still, by boat specially chartered. +And yet, when anon he rose and dressed, he felt at once that he would +not go just yet; that he could not go until certain queries which had +formed in his brain had been answered by events. + +How soon would the watches find the body? Having found it, what would +they do? Would the body be immediately identified by the clothes upon +it? or would doubt on that score arise in the minds of the neighboring +folk? Would the disappearance of Adam Lambert be known at once and +commented upon in connection with the crime? + +Curiosity soon became an obsession; he wandered down into the hall where +the serving-wench was plying her duster. He searched her face, +wondering if she had heard the news. + +The mist of the night had yielded to an icy drizzle, but Sir Marmaduke +could not remain within. His footsteps guided him in the direction of +Acol, on towards Epple Bay. On the path which leads to the edge of the +cliffs he met the watches who were tramping on towards the beach. + +The men saluted him and went on their way, but he turned and fled as +quickly as he dared. + +In the afternoon Master Busy brought the news down from Prospect Inn. +The body of the man who had called himself a French prince had been +found murdered and shockingly mutilated on the sands at Epple. Sir +Marmaduke was vastly interested. He, usually so reserved and ill-humored +with his servants, had kept Hymn-of-Praise in close converse for nigh +upon an hour, asking many questions about the crime, about the petty +constables' action in the matter and the comments made by the village +folk. + +At the same time he gave strict injunctions to Master Busy not to +breathe a word of the gruesome subject to the ladies, nor yet to the +serving-wench; 'twas not a matter fit for women's ears. + +Sir Marmaduke then bade his butler push on as far as Acol, to glean +further information about the mysterious event. + +That evening he collected all the clothes which had belonged to Lambert, +the smith, and wrapping up the leather wallet with them which contained +the securities, he carried this bundle to the lonely pavilion on the +outskirts of the park. + +He was not yet ready to go abroad. + +Master Busy returned from his visit to Acol full of what he had seen. He +had been allowed to view the body, and to swear before Squire Boatfield +that he recognized the clothes as being those usually worn by the +mysterious foreigner who used to haunt the woods and park of Acol all +last summer. + +Hymn-of-Praise had his full meed of pleasure that evening, and the next +day, too, for Sir Marmaduke seemed never tired of hearing him recount +all the gossip which obtained at Acol and at St. Nicholas: the surmises +as to the motive of the horrible crime, the talk about the stranger and +his doings, the resentment caused by his weird demise, and the +conjectures as to what could have led a miscreant to do away with so +insignificant a personage. + +All that day--the second since the crime--Sir Marmaduke still lingered +in Thanet. Prudence whispered urgent counsels that he should go, and yet +he stayed, watching the progress of events with that same morbid and +tenacious curiosity. + +And now it was the thought of what folk would say when they heard that +Adam Lambert had disappeared, and was, of a truth, not returning home, +which kept Sir Marmaduke still lingering in England. + +That and the inexplicable enigma which ever confronts the searcher of +human motives: the overwhelming desire of the murderer to look once +again upon his victim. + +Master Busy had on that second morning brought home the news from Acol, +that Squire Boatfield had caused a rough deal coffin to be made by the +village carpenter at the expense of the county, and that mayhap the +stranger would be laid therein this very afternoon and conveyed down to +Minster, where he would be accorded Christian burial. + +Then Sir Marmaduke realized that it would be impossible for him to leave +England until after he had gazed once more on the dead body of the +smith. + +After that he would go. He would shake the sand of Thanet from his heels +forever. + +When he had learned all that he wished to know he would be free from the +present feeling of terrible obsession which paralyzed his movements to +the extent of endangering his own safely. + +He was bound to look upon his victim once again: an inexplicable and +titanic force compelled him to that. Mayhap, that same force would +enable him to keep his nerves under control when, presently, he should +be face to face with the dead. + +Face to face? ... Good God! ... + +Yet neither fear nor remorse haunted him. It was only curosity, and, at +one thought, a nameless horror! ... Not at the thought of murder ... +there he had no compunction, but at that of the terrible deed which from +instinct of self-protection had perforce to succeed the graver crime. + +The weight of those chalk boulders seemed still to weigh against the +muscles of his back. He felt that Sisyphus-like he was forever rolling, +rolling a gigantic stone which, failing of its purpose--recoiled on him, +rolling back down a precipitous incline, and crushing him beneath its +weight ... only to release him again ... to leave him free to endure the +same torture over and over again ... and yet again ... forever the same +weight ... forever the self-same, intolerable agony.... + + + + +CHAPTER XXXV + +THE SMITH'S FORGE + + +Up to the hour of his departure from Acol Court, Sir Marmaduke had been +convinced that neither his sister-in-law nor Lady Sue had heard of the +news which had set the whole of Thanet in commotion. Acol Court lies +very isolated, well off the main Canterbury Road, and just for two days +and a half Master Hymn-of-Praise Busy had contrived to hold his tongue. + +Most of the village gossips, too, met at the local public bars, and had +had up to now no time to wander as far as the Court, nor any reason to +do so, seeing that Master Busy was always to be found at Prospect Inn +and always ready to discuss the mystery in all its bearings, with anyone +who would share a pint of ale with him. + +Sir Marmaduke had taken jealous care only to meet the ladies at +meal-time, and under penalty of immediate dismissal had forbidden +Hymn-of-Praise to speak to the serving-wench of the all-absorbing topic. + +So far Master Busy had obeyed, but at the last moment, just before +starting for Acol village, Sir Marmaduke had caught sight of Mistress +Charity talking to the stableman in the yard. Something in the wench's +eyes told him--with absolute certainty that she had just heard of the +murder. + +That morbid and tenacious curiosity once more got hold of him. He would +have given all he possessed at this moment--the entire fruits of his +crime perhaps--to know what that ignorant girl thought of it all, and it +caused him acute, almost physical pain, to refrain from questioning her. + +There was enough of the sense of self-protection in him, however, to +check himself from betraying such extraordinary interest in the matter: +but he turned on his heel and went quickly back to the house. He wanted +to catch sight of Editha's face, if only for a moment; he wanted to see +for himself, then and there, if she had also heard the news. + +As he entered the hall, she was coming down the stairs. She had on her +cloak and hood as if preparing to go out. Their eyes met and he saw that +she knew. + +Knew what? He broke into a loud and fierce laugh as he met her wildly +questioning gaze. There was a look almost of madness in the hopeless +puzzlement of her expression. + +Of course Editha must be hopelessly puzzled. The very thought of her +vague conjecturings had caused him to laugh as maniacs laugh at times. + +The mysterious French prince had been found on the sands murdered and +mutilated.... But then ... + +Still laughing, Sir Marmaduke once more turned, running away from the +house now and never pausing until his foot had touched the stirrup and +his fingers were entangled in the damp mane of the mare. Even whilst he +settled himself into the saddle as comfortably as he could, the grim +humor of Editha's bewilderment caused him to laugh, within himself. + +The nag stepped slowly along in the mud at first, then broke into a +short trot. The two serving-men had started on ahead with their +lanterns; they would, of course, be walking all the way. + +The icy rain mingled with tiny flakes of snow was insufferably cutting +and paralyzing: yet Sir Marmaduke scarcely heeded it, until the mare +became unpleasantly uncertain in her gait. Once she stumbled and nearly +pitched her rider forward into the mud: whereupon, lashing into her, he +paid more heed to her doings. + +Once just past the crossroad toward St. Nicholas, he all but turned his +horse's head back towards Acol Court. It seemed as if he must find out +now at once whether Editha had spoken to Lady Sue and what the young +girl had done and said when she heard, in effect, that her husband had +been murdered. + +Nothing but the fear of missing the last look at the body of Adam +Lambert ere the lid of the coffin was nailed down stopped him from +returning homewards. + +Anon he came upon Busy and Toogood painfully trudging in the mire, and +singing lustily to keep themselves cheerful and warm. + +Sir Marmaduke drew the mare in, so as to keep pace with his men. On the +whole, the road had been more lonely than he liked and he was glad of +company. + +Outside the Lamberts' cottage a small crowd had collected. From the +crest of the hill the tiny bell of Acol church struck the hour of two. + +Squire Boatfield had ridden over from Sarre, and Sir Marmaduke--as he +dismounted--caught sight of the heels and crupper of the squire's +well-known cob. The little crowd had gathered in the immediate +neighborhood of the forge, and de Chavasse, from where he now stood, +could not see the entrance of the lean-to, only the blank side wall of +the shed, and the front of the Lamberts' cottage, the doors and windows +of which were hermetically closed. + +Up against the angle formed by the wall of the forge and that of the +cottage, the enterprising landlord of the local inn had erected a small +trestle table, from behind which he was dispensing spiced ale, and +bottled Spanish wines. + +Squire Boatfield was standing beside that improvised bar, and at sight +of Sir Marmaduke he put down the pewter mug which he was in the act of +conveying to his lips, and came forward to greet his friend. + +"What is the pother about this foreigner, eh, Boatfield?" queried de +Chavasse with gruff good-nature as he shook hands with the squire and +allowed himself to be led towards that tempting array of bottles and +mugs on the trestle table. + +The yokels who were assembled at the entrance of the forge turned to +gaze with some curiosity at the squire of Acol. De Chavasse was not +often seen even in this village: he seldom went beyond the boundary of +his own park. + +All the men touched their forelocks with deferential respect. Master +Jeremy Mounce humbly whispered a query as to what His Honor would +condescend to take. + +Sir Marmaduke desired a mug of buttered ale or of lamb's wool, which +Master Mounce soon held ready for him. He emptied the mug at one +draught. The spiced liquor went coursing through his body, and he felt +better and more sure of himself. He desired a second mug. + +"With more substance in it, Master Landlord," he said pleasantly. "Nay, +man! ye are not giving milk to children, but something warm to cheer a +man's inside." + +"I have a half bottle of brandy here, good Sir Marmaduke," suggested +Master Mounce with some diffidence, for brandy was an over-expensive +commodity which not many Kentish squires cared to afford. + +"Brandy, of course, good master!" quoth de Chavasse lustily, "brandy is +the nectar of the gods. Here!" he added, drawing a piece of gold from a +tiny pocket concealed in the lining of his doublet, "will this pay for +thy half-bottle of nectar." + +"Over well, good Sir Marmaduke," said Master Mounce, as he stooped to +the ground. From underneath the table he now drew forth a glass and a +bottle: the latter he uncorked with slow and deliberate care, and then +filled the glass with its contents, whilst Sir Marmaduke watched him +with impatient eyes. + +"Will you join me, squire?" asked de Chavasse, as he lifted the small +tumbler and gazed with marked appreciation at the glistening and +transparent liquid. + +"Nay, thanks," replied Boatfield with a laugh, "I care naught for these +foreign decoctions. Another mug, or even two, of buttered ale, good +landlord," he added, turning to Master Mounce. + +In the meanwhile petty constable Pyot had stood respectfully at +attention ready to relate for the hundredth time, mayhap, all that he +knew and all that he meant to know about the mysterious crime. + +Sir Marmaduke would of a surety ask many questions, for it was passing +strange that he had taken but little outward interest in the matter up +to now. + +"Well, Pyot," he now said, beckoning to the man to approach, "tell us +what you know. By Gad, 'tis not often we indulge in a genuine murder in +Thanet! Where was it done? Not on my land, I hope." + +"The watches found the body on the beach, your Honor," replied Pyot, +"the head was mutilated past all recognition ... the heavy chalk +boulders, your Honor ... and a determined maniac methinks, sir, who +wanted revenge against a personal enemy.... Else how to account for such +a brutal act? ..." + +"I suppose," quoth Sir Marmaduke lightly, as he sipped the brandy, +"that the identity of the man has been quite absolutely determined." + +"Aye! aye! your Honor," rejoined Pyot gravely, "the opinion of all those +who have seen the body is that it is that of a foreigner ... Prince of +Orleans he called himself, who has been lodging these past months at +this place here!" + +And the petty constable gave a quick nod in the direction of the +cottage. + +"Ah! I know but little about him," now said Sir Marmaduke, turning to +speak to Squire Boatfield, "although he lived here, on what is my own +property, and haunted my park, too ... so I've been told. There was a +good deal of talk about him among the wenches in the village." + +"Aye! I had heard all about that prince," said Squire Boatfield +meditatively, "lodging in this cottage ... 'twas passing strange." + +"He was a curious sort of man, your Honor," here interposed Pyot. "We +got what information about him we could, seeing that the smith is from +home, and that Mistress Lambert, his aunt, I think, is hard of hearing, +and gave us many crooked answers. But she told us that the stranger paid +for his lodging regularly, and would arrive at the cottage unawares of +an evening and stay part of the night ... then he would go off again at +cock-crow, and depart she knew not whither." + +The man paused in his narrative. Something apparently had caused Sir +Marmaduke to turn giddy. + +He tugged at his neckbands and his hand fell heavily against the +trestle-table. + +"Nay! 'tis nothing," he said with a harsh laugh as Master Mounce with an +ejaculation of deep concern ran round to him with a chair, whilst Squire +Boatfield quickly put out an arm as if he were afraid that his friend +would fall. "'Tis nothing," he repeated, "the tramp in the cold, then +this heady draught.... I am well I assure you." + +He drank half a glass of brandy at a draught, and now the hand which +replaced the glass upon the table had not the slightest tremor in it. + +"'Tis all vastly interesting," he remarked lightly. "Have you seen the +body, Boatfield?" + +"Aye! aye!" quoth the squire, speaking with obvious reluctance, for he +hated this gruesome subject. "'Tis no pleasant sight. And were I in your +shoes, de Chavasse, I would not go in there," and he nodded +significantly towards the forge. + +"Nay! 'tis my duty as a magistrate," said Sir Marmaduke airily. + +He had to steady himself against the table again for a moment or two, +ere he turned his back on the hospitable board, and started to walk +round towards the forge: no doubt the shaking of his knees was +attributable to the strong liquor which he had consumed. + +The little crowd parted and dispersed at his approach. The lean-to +wherein Adam Lambert was wont to do his work consisted of four walls, +one of which was that of the cottage, whilst the other immediately +facing it, had a wide opening which formed the only entrance to the +shed. A man standing in that entrance would have the furnace on his +left: and now in addition to that furnace also the three elm chairs, +whereon rested a rough deal case, without a lid, but partly covered with +a sheet. + +To anyone coming from the outside, this angle of the forge would always +seem weird and even mysterious even when the furnace was blazing and the +sparks flying from the anvil, beneath the smith's powerful blows, or +when--as at present--the fires were extinguished and this part of the +shed, innocent of windows, was in absolute darkness. + +Sir Marmaduke paused a moment under the lintel which dominated the broad +entrance. His eyes had some difficulty in penetrating the density which +seemed drawn across the place on his left like some ink-smeared and +opaque curtain. + +The men assembled outside, watched him from a distance with silent +respect. In these days the fact of a gentleman drinking more liquor than +was good for him was certes not to his discredit. + +The fact that Sir Marmaduke seemed to sway visibly on his legs, as he +thus stood for a moment outlined against the dark interior beyond, +roused no astonishment in the minds of those who saw him. + +Presently he turned deliberately to his left and the next moment his +figure was merged in the gloom. + +Round the angle of the wall Squire Boatfield was still standing, sipping +buttered ale. + +Less than two minutes later, Sir Marmaduke reappeared in the doorway. +His face was a curious color, and there were beads of perspiration on +his forehead, and as he came forward he would have fallen, had not one +of the men stepped quickly up to him and offered a steadying arm. But +there was nothing strange in that. + +The sight of that which lay in Adam Lambert's forge had unmanned a good +many ere this. + +"I am inclined to believe, my good Boatfield," quoth Sir Marmaduke, as +he went back to the trestle-table, and poured himself out another +half-glass full of brandy, "I am inclined to believe that when you +advised me not to go in there, you spoke words of wisdom which I had +done well to follow." + + + + +CHAPTER XXXVI + +THE GIRL-WIFE + + +But the effort of the past few moments had been almost more than +Marmaduke de Chavasse could bear. + +Anon when the church bell over at Acol began a slow and monotonous toll +he felt as if his every nerve must give way: as if he must laugh, laugh +loudly and long at the idiocy, the ignorance of all these people who +thought that they were confronted by an impenetrable mystery, whereas it +was all so simple ... so very, very simple. + +He had a curious feeling as if he must grip every one of these men here +by the throat and demand from each one separately an account of what he +thought and felt, what he surmised and what he guessed when standing +face to face with the weird enigma presented by that mutilated thing in +its rough deal case. He would have given worlds to know what his friend +Boatfield thought of it all, or what had been the petty constable's +conjectures. + +A haunting and devilish desire seized him to break open the skulls of +all these yokels and to look into their brains. Above all now the +silence of the cottage close to him had become unendurable torment. That +closed door, the tiny railing which surrounded the bit of front garden, +that little gate the latch of which he himself so oft had lifted, all +seemed to hold the key to some terrible mystery, the answer to some +fearful riddle which he felt would drive him mad if he could not hit +upon it now at once. + +The brandy had fired his veins: he no longer felt numb with the cold. A +passion of rage was seething in him, and he longed to attack with fists +and heels those curtained windows which now looked like eyes turned +mutely and inquiringly upon him. + +But there was enough sanity in him yet to prevent his doing anything +rash: an uncontrolled act might cause astonishment, suspicion mayhap, in +the minds of those who witnessed it. He made a violent effort to steady +himself even now, above all to steady his voice and to veil that excited +glitter which he knew must be apparent in his eyes. + +"Meseems that 'tis somewhat strange," he said quite calmly, even +lightly, to Squire Boatfield who seemed to be preparing to go, "that +these people--the Lamberts--who alone knew the ... the murdered man +intimately, should keep so persistently, so determinedly out of the +way." + +Even while the words escaped his mouth--certes involuntarily--he knew +that the most elementary prudence should have dictated silence on this +score, and at this juncture. The man was about to be buried, the +disappearance of the smith had passed off so far without comment. Peace, +the eternal peace of the grave, would soon descend on the weird events +which occupied everyone's mind for the present. + +What the old Quakeress thought and felt, what Richard--the +brother--feared and conjectured was easy for Sir Marmaduke to guess: for +him, but for no one else. To these others the silence of the cottage, +the absence of the Lamberts from this gathering was simple enough of +explanation, seeing that they themselves felt such bitter resentment +against the dead man. They quite felt with the old woman's sullenness, +her hatred of the foreigner who had disturbed the serenity of her life. + +Everyone else was willing to let her be, not to drag her and young +Lambert into the unpleasant vortex of these proceedings. Their home was +an abode of mourning: it was proper and seemly for them to remain +concealed and silent within their cottage; seemly, too, to have +curtained their windows and closed their doors. + +No one wished to disturb them; no one but Sir Marmaduke, and with him it +was once again that morbid access of curiosity, the passionate, intense +desire to know and to probe every tiny detail in connection with his own +crime. + +"The old woman Lambert should be made to identify the body, before it is +buried," he now repeated with angry emphasis, seeing that a look of +disapproval had crossed Squire Boatfield's pleasant face. + +"We are satisfied as to the man's identity," rejoined the squire +impatiently, "and the sight is not fit for women's eyes." + +"Nay, then she should be shown the clothes and effects.... And, if I +mistake not, there's Richard Lambert, my late secretary, has he laid +sworn information about the man?" + +"Yes, I believe so," said Boatfield with some hesitation. + +"Nay, Boatfield, an you are so reluctant to do your duty in this matter, +I'll speak to these people myself.... You are chief constable of the +district ... indeed, 'tis you should do it ... and in the meanwhile I +pray you, at least to give orders that the coffin be not nailed down." + +The kindly squire would have entered a further protest. He did not see +the necessity of confronting an old woman with the gruesome sight of a +mutilated corpse, nor did he perceive justifiable cause for further +formalities of identification. + +But Sir Marmaduke having spoken very peremptorily, had already turned on +his heel without waiting for his friend's protest, and was striding +across the patch of rough stubble, which bordered the railing round the +front of the cottage. Squire Boatfield reluctantly followed him. The +next moment de Chavasse had lifted the latch of the gate, crossed the +short flagged path and now knocked loudly against the front door. + +Apparently there was no desire for secrecy or rebellion on the part of +the dwellers of the cottage, for hardly had Sir Marmaduke's imperious +knock echoed against the timbered walls, than the door was opened from +within by Richard Lambert who, seeing the two gentlemen standing on the +threshold, stepped back immediately, allowing them to pass. + +The old Quakeress and Richard were seemingly not alone. Two ladies sat +in those same straight-backed chairs, wherein, some fifty hours ago Adam +Lambert and the French prince had agreed upon that fateful meeting on +the brow of the cliff. + +Sir Marmaduke's restless eyes took in at a glance every detail of that +little parlor, which he had known so intimately. The low lintel of the +door, which had always forced him to stoop as he entered, the central +table with the pewter candlesticks upon it, the elm chairs shining like +mirrors in response to the Quakeress' maddening passion for cleanliness. + +Everything was just as it had been those few hours ago, when last he had +picked up his broad-brimmed hat from the table and walked out of the +cottage into the night. Everything was the same as it had been when his +young girl-wife pushed a leather wallet across the table to him: the +wallet which contained the fortune that he had not yet dared to turn +fully to his own account. + +Aye! it was all just the same: for even at this moment as he stood there +in the room, Sue, pale and still, faced him from across the table. For a +moment he was silent, nor did anybody speak. Squire Boatfield felt +unaccountably embarrassed, certain that he was intruding, vaguely +wondering why the atmosphere in the cottage was so heavy and +oppressive. + +Behind him, Richard Lambert had quietly closed the front door; the old +woman stood in the background; the dusting-cloth which she had been +plying so vigorously had dropped out of her hand when the two gentlemen +had appeared in her little parlor so unexpectedly. + +Sir Marmaduke was the first to break the silence. + +"My dear Sue," he said curtly, "this is a strange place indeed wherein +to find your ladyship." + +He cast a sharp, inquiring glance at her, then at his sister-in-law, who +was still sitting by the hearth. + +"She insisted on coming," said Mistress de Chavasse with a shrug of the +shoulders, "and I had not the power to stop her; I thought it best, +therefore, to accompany her." + +She was wearing the cloak and hood which Sir Marmaduke had seen round +her shoulders when awhile ago he had met her in the hall of the Court. +Apparently she had started out with Sue in his immediate wake, and now +he had a distinct recollection that while the mare was slowly ambling +along, he had looked back once or twice and seen two dark figures +walking some fifty yards behind him on the road which he himself had +just traversed. + +At the moment he had imagined that they were some village folk, wending +their way towards Acol: now he was conscious of nerve-racking irritation +at the thought that if he had only turned the mare's head back toward +the Court--as he had at one time intended to do--he could have averted +this present meeting--it almost seemed like a confrontation--here, in +this cottage on the self-same spot, where thought of murder had first +struck upon his brain. + +There was something inexplicable, strangely puzzling now in Sue's +attitude. + +When de Chavasse had entered, she had risen from her chair and, as if +deliberately, had walked over to the spot where she had stood during +that momentous interview, when she relinquished her fortune entirely and +without protest, into the hands of the man whom she had married, and +whom she believed to be her lord. + +Her gaze now--calm and fixed, and withal vaguely searching--rested on +her guardian's face. The fixity of her look increased his nerve-tension. +The others, too, were regarding him with varying feelings which were +freely expressed in their eyes. Boatfield seemed upset and somewhat +resentful, the old woman sullen, despite the deference in her attitude, +Lambert defiant, wrathful, nay! full of an incipient desire to avenge +past wrongs. + +And dominating all, there was Editha's look of bewilderment, of +puzzledom in her face at a mystery whereat her senses were beginning to +reel, that mute questioning of the eyes, which speaks of turbulent +thoughts within. + +Sir Marmaduke uttered an exclamation of impatience. + +"You must return to the Court and at once," he said, avoiding Sue's +gaze and speaking directly to Editha, "the men are outside, with +lanterns. You'll have to walk quickly an you wish to reach home before +twilight." + +But even while he spoke, Sue--not heeding him--had turned to Squire +Boatfield. She went up to him, holding out her hands as if in +instinctive childlike appeal for protection, to a kindly man. + +"This mystery is horrible!" she murmured. + +Boatfield took her small hands in his, patting them gently the while, +desiring to soothe and comfort her, for she seemed deeply agitated and +there was a wild look of fear from time to time in her pale face. + +"Sir Marmaduke is right," said the squire gently, "this is indeed no +place for your ladyship. I did not see you arrive or I had at once +persuaded you to go." + +De Chavasse would again have interposed. He stooped and picked up Sue's +cloak which had fallen to the ground, and as he went up to her with the +obvious intention of replacing it around her shoulders, she checked him, +with a slight motion of her hand. + +"I only heard of this terrible crime an hour ago," she said, speaking +once more to Boatfield, "and as I methinks, am the only person in the +world who can throw light upon this awesome mystery, I thought it my +duty to come." + +"Of a truth 'twas brave of your ladyship," quoth the squire, feeling a +little bewildered at this strange announcement, "but surely ... you +did not know this man?" + +"If the rumor which hath reached me be correct," she replied quietly, +"then indeed did I know the murdered man intimately. Prince Amede +d'Orleans was my husband." + + + + +CHAPTER XXXVII + +THE OLD WOMAN + + +There was silence in the tiny cottage parlor as the young girl made this +extraordinary announcement in a firm if toneless voice, without +flinching and meeting with a sort of stubborn pride the five pairs of +eyes which were now riveted upon her. + +From outside came the hum of many voices, dull and subdued, like the +buzzing of a swarm of bees, and against the small window panes the +incessant patter of icy rain driven and lashed by the gale. Anon the +wind moaned in the wide chimney, ... it seemed like the loud sigh of the +Fates, satisfied at the tangle wrought by their relentless fingers in +the threads of all these lives. + +Sir Marmaduke, after a slight pause, had contrived to utter an +oath--indicative of the wrath he, as Lady Sue's guardian, should have +felt at her statement. Squire Boatfield frowned at the oath. He had +never liked de Chavasse and disapproved more than ever of the man's +attitude towards his womenkind now. + +The girl was in obvious, terrible distress: what she was feeling at this +moment when she was taking those around her into her confidence could be +as nothing compared to what she must have endured when she first heard +the news that her strange bridegroom had been murdered. + +The kindly squire, though admitting the guardian's wrath, thought that +its violent expression was certainly ill-timed. He allowed Sue to +recover herself, for the more calm was her attitude outwardly, the more +terrible must be the effort which she was making at self-control. + +Sue's eyes were fixed steadily upon her guardian, and Richard Lambert's +upon her. Both these young people who had carved their own Fate in the +very rock which now had shattered their lives, seemed to be searching +for something vague, unavowed and mysterious which instinct told them +was there, but which was so elusive, so intangible that the soul of each +recoiled, even whilst it tried to probe. + +Entirely against her will Sue--whilst she looked on her guardian--could +think of nothing save of that day in Dover, the lonely church, the +gloomy vestry, and that weird patter of the rain against the window +panes. + +She was not ashamed of what she had done, only of what she had felt for +him, whom she now believed to be dead; that she gave him her fortune was +nothing, she neither regretted nor cared about that. What, in the mind +of a young and romantic girl, was the value of a fortune squandered, +when that priceless treasure--her first love--had already been thrown +away? But now she would no longer judge the dead. The money which he had +filched from her, Fate and a murderous hand had quickly taken back from +him, crushing beneath those chalk boulders his many desires, his vast +ambitions, a worthless life and incomparable greed. + +Her love, which he had stolen ... that he could not give back: not that +ardent, whole-souled, enthusiastic love; not the romantic idealism, the +hero-worship, that veil of fantasy behind which first love is wont to +hide its ephemerality. But she would not now judge the dead. Her +romantic love lay buried in the lonely church at Dover, and she was +striving not to think even of its grave. + +Squire Boatfield's kindly voice recalled her to her immediate +surroundings and to the duty--self-imposed--which had brought her +thither. + +"My dear child," he said, speaking with unwonted solemnity, "if what you +have just stated be, alas! the truth, then indeed, you and you only can +throw some light on the terrible mystery which has been puzzling us all +... you may be the means which God hath chosen for bringing an evildoer +to justice.... Will you, therefore, try ... though it may be very +painful to you ... will you try and tell us everything that is in your +mind ... everything which may draw the finger of God and our poor eyes +to the miscreant who hath committed such an awful crime." + +"I fear me I have not much to tell," replied Sue simply, "but I feel +that it is my duty to suggest to the two magistrates here present what I +think was the motive which prompted this horrible crime." + +"You can suggest a motive for the crime?" interposed Sir Marmaduke, +striving to sneer, although his voice sounded quite toneless, for his +throat was parched and his tongue clove to the roof of his mouth, "by +Gad! 'twere vastly interesting to hear your ladyship's views." + +He tried to speak flippantly, at which Squire Boatfield frowned +deprecation. Lambert, without a word, had brought a chair near to Lady +Sue, and with a certain gentle authority, he forced her to sit down. + +"It was a crime, of that I feel sure," said Sue, "nathless, that can be +easily proven ... when ... when it has been discovered whether money and +securities contained in a wallet of leather have been found among Prince +Amede's effects." + +"Money and securities?" ejaculated Sir Marmaduke with a loud oath, which +he contrived to bring forth with the violence of genuine wrath, "Money +and securities? ... Forsooth, I trust ..." + +"My money and my securities, sir," she interposed with obvious hauteur, +"which I had last night and in this self-same room placed in the hands +of Prince Amede d'Orleans, my husband." + +She said this with conscious pride. Whatever change her feelings may +have undergone towards the man who had at one time been the embodiment +of her most cherished dreams, she would not let her sneering guardian +see that she had repented of her choice. + +Death had endowed her exiled prince with a dignity which had never been +his in life, and the veil of tragedy which now lay over the mysterious +stranger and his still more mysterious life, had called forth to its +uttermost the young wife's sense of loyalty to him. + +"Not your entire fortune, my dear, dear child, I hope ..." ejaculated +Squire Boatfield, more horror-struck this time than he had been when +first he had heard of the terrible murder. + +"The wallet contained my entire fortune," rejoined Sue calmly, "all that +Master Skyffington had placed in my hands on the day that my father +willed that it should be given me." + +"Such folly is nothing short of criminal," said Sir Marmaduke roughly, +"nathless, had not the gentleman been murdered that night he would have +shown Thanet and you a clean pair of heels, taking your money with him, +of course." + +"Aye! aye! but he was murdered," said Squire Boatfield firmly, "the +question only is by whom?" + +"Some footpad who haunts the cliffs," rejoined de Chavasse lightly, +"'tis simple enough." + +"Simple, mayhap ..." mused the squire, "yet ..." + +He paused a moment and once more silence fell on all those assembled in +the small cottage parlor. Sir Marmaduke felt as if every vein in his +body was gradually being turned to stone. + +The sense of expectancy was so overwhelming that it completely paralyzed +every other faculty within him, and Editha's searching eyes seemed like +a corroding acid touching an aching wound. Yet for the moment there was +no danger. He had so surrounded himself and his crimes with mystery that +it would take more than a country squire's slowly moving brain to draw +aside that weird and ghostlike curtain which hid his evil deeds. + +No! there was no danger--as yet! + +But he cursed himself for a fool and a coward, not to have gone +away--abroad--long ere such a possible confrontation threatened him. He +cursed himself for being here at all--and above all for having left the +smith's clothes and the leather wallet in that lonely pavilion in the +park. + +Squire Boatfield's kind eyes now rested on the old woman, who, awed and +silent--shut out by her infirmities from this strange drama which was +being enacted in her cottage--had stood calm and impassive by, trying to +read with that wonderful quickness of intuition which the poverty of one +sense gives to the others--what was going on round her, since she could +not hear. + +Her eyes--pale and dim, heavy-lidded and deeply-lined--rested often on +the face of Richard Lambert, who, leaning against the corner of the +hearth, had watched the proceedings silently and intently. When the +Quakeress's faded gaze met that of the young man, there was a quick and +anxious look which passed from her to him: a look of entreaty for +comfort, one of fear and of growing horror. + +"And so the exiled prince lodged in your cottage, mistress?" said +Squire Boatfield, after a while, turning to Mistress Lambert. + +The old woman's eyes wandered from Richard to the squire. The look of +fear in them vanished, giving place to good-natured placidity. She +shuffled forward, in the manner which had so oft irritated her lodger. + +"Eh? ... what?" she queried, approaching the squire, "I am somewhat hard +of hearing these times." + +"We were speaking of your lodger, mistress," rejoined Boatfield, raising +his voice, "harm hath come to him, you know." + +"Aye! aye!" she replied blandly, "harm hath come to our lodger.... Nay! +the Lord hath willed it so.... The stranger was queer in his ways.... I +don't wonder that harm hath come to him...." + +"You remember him well, mistress?--him and the clothes he used to wear?" +asked Squire Boatfield. + +"Oh, yes! I remember the clothes," she rejoined. "I saw them again on +the dead who now lieth in Adam's forge ... the same curious clothes of a +truth ... clothes the Lord would condemn as wantonness and vanity.... I +saw them again on the dead man," she reiterated garrulously, "the frills +and furbelows ... things the Lord hateth ... and which no Christian +should place upon his person ... yet the foreigner wore them ... he had +none other ... and went out with them on him that night that the Lord +sent him down into perdition...." + +"Did you see him go out that night, mistress?" asked the squire. + +"Eh? ... what? ..." + +"Did he go out alone?" + +The dimmed eyes of the old woman roamed restlessly from face to face. It +seemed as if that look of horror and of fear once more struggled to +appear within the pale orbs. Yet the squire looked on her with kindness, +and Lady Sue's tear-veiled eyes expressed boundless sympathy. Richard, +on the other hand, did not look at her, his gaze was riveted on Sir +Marmaduke de Chavasse with an intensity which caused the latter to meet +that look, trying to defy it, and then to flinch before its expression +of passionate wrath. + +"We wish to know where your nephew Adam is, mistress," now broke in de +Chavasse roughly, "the squire and I would wish to ask him a few +questions." + +Then as the Quakeress did not reply, he added almost savagely: + +"Why don't you answer, woman? Are ye still hard of hearing?" + +"Your pardon, Sir Marmaduke," interposed Lambert firmly, "my aunt is old +and feeble. She hath been much upset and over anxious ... seeing that my +brother Adam is still from home." + +Sir Marmaduke broke into a loud and prolonged laugh. + +"Ha! ha! ha! good master ... so I understand ... your brother is from +home ... whilst the wallet containing her ladyship's fortune has +disappeared along with him, eh?" + +"What are they saying, lad?" queried the old woman in her trembling +voice, "what are they saying? I am fearful lest there's something wrong +with Adam...." + +"Nay, nay, dear ... there's naught amiss," said Lambert soothingly, +"there's naught amiss...." + +Instinctively now Sue had risen. Sir Marmaduke's cruel laugh had grated +horribly on her ear, rousing an echo in her memory which she could not +understand but which caused her to encircle the trembling figure of the +old Quakeress with young, protecting arms. + +"Are Squire Boatfield and I to understand, Lambert," continued Sir +Marmaduke, speaking to the young man, "that your brother Adam has +unaccountably disappeared since the night on which the foreigner met +with his tragic fate? Nay, Boatfield," he added, turning to the squire, +as Lambert had remained silent, "methinks you, as chief magistrate, +should see your duty clearly. 'Tis a warrant you should sign and +quickly, too, ere a scoundrel slip through the noose of justice. I can +on the morrow to Dover, there to see the chief constable, but Pyot and +his men should not be idle the while." + +"What is he saying, my dear?" murmured Mistress Lambert, timorously, as +she clung with pathetic fervor to the young girl beside her, "what is +the trouble?" + +"Where is your nephew Adam?" said de Chavasse roughly. + +"I do not know," she retorted with amazing strength of voice, as she +gently but firmly disengaged herself from the restraining arms that +would have kept her back. "I do not know," she repeated, "what is it to +thee, where he is? Art accusing him perchance of doing away with that +foreign devil?" + +Her voice rose shrill and resonant, echoing in the low-ceilinged room; +her pale eyes, dimmed with many tears, with hard work, and harder piety +were fixed upon the man who had dared to accuse her lad. + +He tried not to flinch before that gaze, to keep up the air of mockery, +the sound of a sneer. Outside the murmur of voices had become somewhat +louder, the shuffling of bare feet on the flag-stones could now be +distinctly heard. + + + + +CHAPTER XXXVIII + +THE VOICE OF THE DEAD + + +The next moment a timid knock against the front door caused everyone to +start. A strange eerie feeling descended on the hearts of all, of +innocent and of guilty, of accuser and of defender. The knock seemed to +have come from spectral hands, for 'twas followed by no further sound. + +Then again the knock. + +Lambert went to the door and opened it. + +"Be the quality here?" queried a timid voice. + +"Squire Boatfield is here and Sir Marmaduke de Chavasse," replied +Lambert, "what is it, Mat? Come in." + +The squire had risen at sound of his name, and now went to the door, +glad enough to shake himself free from that awful oppression which hung +on the cottage like a weight of evil. + +"What is it, Mat?" he asked. + +A man in rough shirt and coarse breeches and with high boots reaching up +to the thigh was standing humbly in the doorway. He was bareheaded and +his lanky hair, wet with rain and glittering with icy moisture, was +blown about by the gale. At sight of the squire he touched his forelock. + +"The hour is getting late, squire," he said hesitatingly, "we carriers +be ready.... 'Tis an hour or more down to Minster ... walking with a +heavy burden I mean.... If your Honor would give the order, mayhap we +might nail down the coffin lid now and make a start." + +Marmaduke de Chavasse, too, had turned towards the doorway. Both men +looked out on the little crowd which had congregated beyond the little +gate. It was long past three o'clock now, and the heavy snow clouds +overhead obscured the scanty winter light, and precipitated the approach +of evening. In the gray twilight, a group of men could be seen standing +somewhat apart from the others. All were bareheaded, and all wore rough +shirts and breeches of coarse worsted, drab or brown in color, toning in +with the dull monochrome of the background. + +Between them in the muddy road stood the long deal coffin. The sheet +which covered it, rendered heavy with persistent wet, flapped dismally +against the wooden sides of the box. Overhead a group of rooks were +circling whilst uttering their monotonous call. + +A few women had joined their men-folk, attracted by the novelty of the +proceedings, yielding their momentary comfort to their feeling of +curiosity. They had drawn their kirtles over their heads and looked like +gigantic oval balls, gray or black, with small mud-stained feet peeping +out below. + +Sue had thrown an appealing look at Squire Boatfield, when she saw that +dismal cortege. Her husband, her prince! the descendant of the Bourbons, +the regenerator of France lying there--unrecognizable, horrible and +loathsome--in a rough wooden coffin hastily nailed together by a village +carpenter. + +She did not wish to look on him: and with mute eyes begged the squire to +spare her and to spare the old woman, who, through the doorway had +caught sight of the drabby little crowd, and of the deal box on the +ground. + +Lambert, too, at sight of the cortege had gone to the Quakeress, the +kind soul who had cared for him and his brother, two nameless lads, +without home save the one she had provided for them. He trusted in +Squire Boatfield's sense of humanity not to force this septuagenarian to +an effort of nerve and will altogether beyond her powers. + +Together the two young people were using gentle persuasion to get the +old woman to the back room, whence she could not see the dreary scene +now or presently, the slow winding of the dismal little procession down +the road which leads to Minster, and whence she could not hear that +weird flapping of the wet sheet against the side of the coffin, an echo +to the slow and muffled tolling of the church bell some little distance +away. + +But the old woman was obstinate. She struggled against the persuasion of +young arms. Things had been said in her cottage just now, which she must +hear more distinctly: vague accusations had been framed, a cruel and +sneering laugh had echoed through the house from whence one of her +lads--Adam--was absent. + +"No! no!" she said with quiet firmness, as Lambert urged her to +withdraw, "let be, lad ... let be ... ye cannot deceive the old woman +all of ye.... The Lord hath put wool in my ears, so I cannot hear ... +but my eyes are good.... I can see your faces.... I can read them.... +Speak man!" she said, as she suddenly disengaged herself from Richard's +restraining arms and walked deliberately up to Marmaduke de Chavasse, +"speak man.... Didst thou accuse Adam?" + +An involuntary "No!" escaped from the squire's kindly heart and lips. +But Sir Marmaduke shrugged his shoulders. + +The crisis which by his own acts, by his own cowardice, he himself had +precipitated, was here now. Fatality had overtaken him. Whether the +whole truth would come to light he did not know. Truly at this moment he +hardly cared. He did not feel as if he were himself, but another being +before whom stood another Sir Marmaduke de Chavasse, on whom he--a +specter, a ghoul, a dream figure--was about to pass judgment. + +He knew that he need do nothing now, for without his help or any effort +on his part, that morbid curiosity which had racked his brain for two +days would be fully satisfied. He would know absolutely now, exactly +what everyone thought of the mysterious French prince and of his +terrible fate on Epple sands. + +Thank Satan and all his hordes of devils that heavy chalk boulders had +done so complete a work of obliteration. + +But whilst he looked down with complete indifference on the old woman, +she looked about from one face to the other, trying to read what cruel +thoughts of Adam lurked behind those obvious expressions of sympathy. + +"So that foreign devil hath done mischief at last," she now said loudly, +her tremulous voice gaining in strength as she spoke, "the Lord would +not allow him to do it living ... so the devil hath helped him to it now +that he is dead.... But I tell you that Adam is innocent.... There was +no harm in the lad ... a little rough at times ... but no harm ... he'd +no father to bring him up ... and his mother was a wanton ... so there +was only the foolish old woman to look after the boys ... but there's no +harm in the lad ... there's no harm!" + +Her voice broke down now in a sob, her throat seemed choked, but with an +effort which seemed indeed amazing in one of her years, she controlled +her tears, and for a moment was silent. The gray twilight crept in +through the door of the cottage, where Mat, bareheaded and humble, still +waited for the order to go. + +Sir Marmaduke would have interrupted the old woman's talk ere this, but +his limbs were now completely paralyzed: he might have been made of +stone, so rigid did he feel himself to be: a marble image, or else a +specter, a shadow-figure that existed yet could not move. + +There was such passionate earnestness in the old woman's words that +everyone else remained dumb. Richard, whose heart was filled with dread, +who had endured agonies of anxiety since the disappearance of his +brother, had but one great desire, which was to spare to the kind soul a +knowledge which would mean death or worse to her. + +As for Editha de Chavasse, she was a mere spectator still: so puzzled, +so bewildered that she was quite convinced at this moment, that she must +be mad. She could not encounter Marmaduke's eyes, try how she might. The +look in his face horrified her less than it mystified her. She +alone--save the murderer himself--knew that the man who lay in that deal +coffin out there was not the mysterious foreigner who had never existed. + +But if not the stranger, then who was it, who was dead? and what had +Adam Lambert to do with the whole terrible deed? + +Sue once more tried to lead Mistress Lambert gently away, but she pushed +the young girl aside quite firmly: + +"Ye don't believe me?" she asked, looking from one face to the other, +"ye don't believe me, yet I tell ye all that Adam is innocent ... and +that the Lord will not allow the innocent to be unjustly condemned.... +Aye! He will e'en let the dead arise, I say, and proclaim the innocence +of my lad!" + +Her eyes--with dilated pupils and pale opaque rims--had the look of the +seer in them now; she gazed straight out before her into the rain-laden +air, and it seemed almost as if in it she could perceive visions of +avenging swords, of defending angels and accusing ghouls, that she could +hear whisperings of muffled voices and feel beckoning hands guiding her +to a world peopled by specters and evil beings that prey upon the dead. + +"Let me pass!" she said with amazing vigor, as Squire Boatfield, with +kindly concern, tried to bar her exit through the door, "let me pass I +say! the dead and I have questions to ask of one another." + +"This is madness!" broke in Marmaduke de Chavasse with an effort; "that +body is not a fit sight for a woman to look upon." + +He would have seized the Quakeress by the arm in order to force her +back, but Richard Lambert already stood between her and him. + +"Let no one dare to lay a hand on her," he said quietly. + +And the old woman escaping from all those who would have restrained her, +walked rapidly through the doorway and down the flagged path rendered +slippery with the sleet. The gale caught the white wings of her coif, +causing them to flutter about her ears, and freezing strands of her gray +locks which stood out now all round her head like a grizzled halo. + +She could scarcely advance, for the wind drove her kirtle about her lean +thighs, and her feet with the heavy tan shoes sank ankle deep in the +puddles formed by the water in the interstices of the flagstones. The +rain beat against her face, mingling with the tears which now flowed +freely down her cheeks. But she did not heed the discomfort nor yet the +cold, and she would not be restrained. + +The next moment she stood beside the rough wooden coffin and with a +steady hand had lifted the wet sheet, which continued to flap with dull, +mournful sound round the feet of the dead. + +The Quakeress looked down upon the figure stretched out here in +death--neither majestic nor peaceful, but horrible and weirdly +mysterious. She did not flinch at the sight. Resentment against the +foreigner dimmed her sense of horror. + +"So my fine prince," she said, whilst awed at the spectacle of this old +woman parleying with the dead, carriers and mourners had instinctively +moved a few steps away from her, "so thou wouldst harm my boy! ... Thou +always didst hate him ... thou with thy grand airs, and thy rough +ways.... Had the Lord allowed it, this hand of thine would ere now have +been raised against him ... as it oft was raised against the old woman +... whose infirmities should have rendered her sacred in thy sight." + +She stooped, and deliberately raised the murdered man's hand in hers, +and for one moment fixed her gaze upon it. For that one moment she was +silent, looking down at the rough fingers, the coarse nails, the +blistered palm. + +Then still holding the hand in hers, she looked up, then round at every +face which was turned fixedly upon her. Thus she encountered the eyes of +the men and women, present here only to witness an unwonted spectacle, +then those of the kindly squire, of Lady Sue, of Mistress de Chavasse, +and of her other lad--Richard--all of whom had instinctively followed +her down the short flagged path in the wake of her strange and prophetic +pilgrimage. + +Lastly her eyes met those of Marmaduke de Chavasse. Then she spoke +slowly in a low muffled voice, which gradually grew more loud and more +full of passionate strength. + +"Aye! the Lord is just," she said, "the Lord is great! It is the dead +which shall rise again and proclaim the innocence of the just, and the +guilt of the wicked." + +She paused a while, and stooped to kiss the marble-like hand which she +held tightly grasped in hers. + +"Adam!" she murmured, "Adam, my boy! ... my lad! ..." + +The men and women looked on, stupidly staring, not understanding yet, +what new tragedy had suddenly taken the place of the old. + +"Aunt, aunt dear," whispered Lambert, who had pushed his way forward, +and now put his arm round the old woman, for she had begun to sway, +"what is the matter, dear?" he repeated anxiously, "what does it mean?" + +And conquering his own sense of horror and repulsion, he tried to +disengage the cold and rigid hand of the dead from the trembling grasp +of the Quakeress. But she would not relinquish her hold, only she turned +and looked steadily at the young lad, whilst her voice rose firm and +harsh above the loud patter of the rain and the moaning of the wind +through the distant; trees. + +"It means, my lad," she said, "it means all of you ... that what I said +was true ... that Adam is innocent of crime ... for he lies here dead +... and the Lord will see that his death shall not remain unavenged." + +Once more she kissed the rough hand, beautiful now with that cold beauty +which the rigidity of death imparts; then she replaced it reverently, +silently, and fell upon her knees in the wet mud, beside the coffin. + + + + +CHAPTER XXXIX + +THE HOME-COMING OF ADAM LAMBERT + + +All heads were bent; none of the ignorant folk who stood around would +have dared even to look at the old woman kneeling beside that rough deal +box which contained the body of her lad. A reverent feeling had killed +all curiosity: bewilderment at the extraordinary and wholly unexpected +turn of events had been merged in a sense of respectful awe, which +rendered every mouth silent, and lowered every lid. + +Squire Boatfield, almost paralyzed with astonishment, had murmured half +stupidly: + +"Adam Lambert ... dead? ... I do not understand." + +He turned to Marmaduke de Chavasse as if vaguely, instinctively +expecting an answer to the terrible puzzle from him. + +De Chavasse's feet, over which he himself seemed to have no control, had +of a truth led him forward, so that he, too, stood not far from the old +woman now. He had watched her--silent and rigid,--conscious only of one +thing--a trivial matter certes--of Editha's inquiring eyes fixed +steadily upon him. + +Everything else had been merged in a kind of a dream. But the mute +question in those eyes was what concerned him. It seemed to represent +the satisfaction of that morbid curiosity which had been such a terrible +obsession during these past nerve-racking days. + +Editha, realizing the identity of the dead man, would there and then +know the entire truth. But Editha's fate was too closely linked to his +own to render her knowledge of that truth dangerous to de Chavasse: +therefore, with him it was merely a sense of profound satisfaction that +someone would henceforth share his secret with him. + +It is quite impossible to analyze the thoughts of the man who thus stood +by--a silent and almost impassive spectator--of a scene, wherein his +fate, his life, an awful retribution and deadly justice, were all +hanging in the balance. He was not mad, nor did he act with either +irrelevance or rashness. The sense of self-protection was still keen in +him ... violently keen ... although undoubtedly he, and he alone, was +responsible for the events which culminated in the present crisis. + +The whole aspect of affairs had changed from the moment that the real +identity of the dead had been established. Everyone here present would +regard this new mystery in an altogether different light to that by +which they had viewed the former weird problem; but still there need be +no danger to the murderer. + +Editha would know, of course, but no one else, and it would be vastly +curious anon to see what lady Sue would do. + +Therefore, Sir Marmaduke was chiefly conscious of Editha's presence, +and then only of Sue. + +"Some old woman's folly," he now said roughly, in response to Squire +Boatfield's mute inquiry, "awhile ago she identified the clothes as +having belonged to the foreign prince." + +"Aye, the clothes, de Chavasse," murmured the squire meditatively, "the +clothes, but not the man ... and 'twas you yourself who just now...." + +"Master Lambert should know his own brother," here came in a suppressed +murmur from one or two of the men, who respectful before the quality, +had now become too excited to keep altogether silent. + +"Of course I know my brother," retorted Richard Lambert boldly, "and can +but curse mine own cowardice in not defending him ere this." + +"What more lies are we to hear?" sneered de Chavasse, "surely, +Boatfield, this stupid scene hath lasted long enough." + +"Put my knowledge to the test, sir," rejoined Lambert. "My brother's arm +was scarred by a deep cut from shoulder to elbow, caused by the fall of +a sharp-bladed ax--'twas the right arm ... will you see, Sir Marmaduke, +or will you allow me to lay bare the right arm of this man ... to see if +I had lied? ..." + +Squire Boatfield, conquering his reluctance, had approached nearer to +the coffin; he, too, lifted the dead man's arm, as the old woman had +done just now, and he gazed down meditatively at the hand, which though +shapely, was obviously rough and toil-worn. Then, with a firm and +deliberate gesture, he undid the sleeve of the doublet and pushed it +back, baring the arm up to the shoulder. + +He looked at the lifeless flesh for a moment, there where a deep and +long scar stood out plainly between the elbow and shoulder like the +veining in a block of marble. Then he pulled the sleeve down again. + +"Neither you, nor Mistress Lambert have lied, master," he said simply. +"'Tis Adam Lambert who lies here ... murdered ... and if that be so," he +continued firmly, "then the man who put these clothes upon the body of +the smith is his murderer ... the foreigner who called himself Prince +Amede d'Orleans." + +"The husband of Lady Sue Aldmarshe," quoth Sir Marmaduke, breaking into +a loud laugh. + +The rain had momentarily ceased, although the gale, promising further +havoc, still continued that mournful swaying of the dead branches of the +trees. But a gentle drip-drip had replaced that incessant patter. The +humid atmosphere had long ago penetrated through rough shirts and +worsted breeches, causing the spectators of this weird tragedy to shiver +with the cold. + +The shades of evening had begun to gather in. It were useless now to +attempt to reach Minster before nightfall: nor presumably would the old +Quakeress thus have parted from the dead body of her lad. + +Richard Lambert had begged that the coffin might be taken into the +cottage. The old woman's co-religionists would help her to obtain for +Adam fitting and Christian burial. + +After Sir Marmaduke's sneering taunt no one had spoken. For these yokels +and their womenfolk the matter had passed altogether beyond their ken. +Bewildered, not understanding, above all more than half fearful, they +consulted one another vaguely and mutely with eyes and quaint expressive +gestures, wondering what had best be done. + +'Twas fortunate that the rain had ceased. One by one the women, still +holding their kirtles tightly round their shoulders, began to move away. +The deal box seemed to have reached a degree of mystery from which 'twas +best to keep at a distance. The men, too--those who had come as +spectators--were gradually edging away; some walked off with their +womenfolk, others hung back in groups of three or four discussing the +most hospitable place to which 'twere best to adjourn. + +All wore a strangely shamed expression of timidity--almost of +self-deprecation, as if apologetic for their presence here when the +quality had matters of such grave import to discuss. No one had really +understood Sir Marmaduke's sneering taunt, only they felt instinctively +that there were some secrets which it had been disrespectful even to +attempt to guess. + +Those who had been prepared to carry the coffin to Minster were the last +to hang back. Squire Boatfield was obviously giving some directions to +their foreman, Mat, who tugged at his forelock at intervals, indicating +that he was prepared to obey. The others stood aside waiting for +instructions. + +Thus the deal box remained on the ground, exactly opposite the tiny +wooden gate, strangely isolated and neglected-looking after the +dispersal of the interested crowd which had surrounded it awhile ago. It +seemed as if with the establishment of the real identity of the dead the +intensity of the excitement had vanished. The mysterious foreigner had a +small court round him; Adam Lambert, only his brother and the old +Quakeress. + +They remained beside the coffin, she kneeling with her head buried in +her wrinkled hands, he standing silent and passionately wrathful both +against one man and against destiny. He had almost screamed with horror +when de Chavasse thus brutally uttered Lady Sue's name: he had seen the +young girl almost sway on her feet, as she smothered the cry of agony +and horror which at her guardian's callous taunt had risen to her lips. + +He had seen and in his heart worshiped her for the heroic effort which +she made to remain outwardly calm, not to betray before a crowd the +agonizing horror, the awful fear and the burning shame which of a truth +would have crushed most women of her tender years. And because he saw +that she did not wish to betray one single thought or emotion, he did +not approach, nor attempt to show the overwhelming sympathy which he +felt. + +He knew that any word from him to her would only call forth more +malicious sneers from that strange man, who seemed to be pursuing Lady +Sue and also himself--Lambert--with a tenacious and incomprehensible +hatred. + +Richard remained, therefore, beside his dead brother's coffin, +supporting and anon gently raising the old woman from the ground. + +Mat--the foreman--had joined his comrades and after a word of +explanation, they once more gathered round the wooden box. Stooping to +their task, their sinews cracking under the effort, the perspiration +streaming from their foreheads, they raised the mortal remains of Adam +Lambert from the ground and hoisted the burden upon their shoulders. + +Then they turned into the tiny gate and slowly walked with it along the +little flagged path to the cottage. The men had to stoop as they crossed +the threshold, and the heavy box swayed above their powerful shoulders. + +The Quakeress and Richard followed, going within in the wake of the six +men. The parlor was then empty, and thus it was that Adam Lambert +finally came home. + +The others--Squire Boatfield and Mistress de Chavasse, Lady Sue and Sir +Marmaduke--had stood aside in the small fore-court, to enable the small +cortege to pass. Directly Richard Lambert and the old woman disappeared +within the gloom of the cottage interior, these four people--each +individually the prey of harrowing thoughts--once more turned their +steps towards the open road. + +There was nothing more to be done here at this cottage, where the veil +of mystery which had fallen over the gruesome murder had been so +unexpectedly lifted by a septuagenarian's hand. + + + + +CHAPTER XL + +EDITHA'S RETURN + + +Squire Boatfield was vastly perturbed. Never had his position as +magistrate seemed so onerous to him, nor his duties as major-general +quite so arduous. A vague and haunting fear had seized him, a fear +that--if he did do his duty, if he did continue his investigations of +the mysterious crime--he would learn something vastly horrible and +awesome, something he had best never know. + +He tried to take indifferent leave of the ladies, yet he quite dreaded +to meet Lady Sue's eyes. If all the misery, the terror which she must +feel, were expressed in them, then indeed, would her young face be a +heart-breaking sight for any man to see. + +He kissed the hand of Editha de Chavasse, and bowed in mute and +deferential sympathy to the young girl-wife, who of a truth had this day +quaffed at one draught the brimful cup of sorrow and of shame. + +An inexplicable instinct restrained him from taking de Chavasse's hand; +he was quite glad indeed that the latter seemingly absorbed in thoughts +was not heeding his going. + +The squire in his turn now passed out of the little gate. The evening +was drawing in over-rapidly now, and it would be a long and dismal ride +from here to Sarre. + +Fortunately he had two serving-men with him, each with a lantern. They +were now standing beside their master's cob, some few yards down the +road, which from this point leads in a straight course down to Sarre. + +Not far from the entrance to the forge, Boatfield saw petty-constable +Pyot in close converse with Master Hymn-of-Praise Busy, butler to Sir +Marmaduke. The man was talking with great volubility, and obvious +excitement, and Pyot was apparently torn between his scorn for the +narrator's garrulousness, and his fear of losing something of what the +talker had to say. + +At sight of Boatfield, Pyot unceremoniously left Master Busy standing, +open-mouthed, in the very midst of a voluble sentence, and approached +the squire, doffing his cap respectfully as he did so. + +"Will your Honor sign a warrant?" he asked. + +"A warrant? What warrant?" queried the worthy squire, who of a truth, +was falling from puzzlement to such absolute bewilderment that he felt +literally as if his head would burst with the weight of so much mystery +and with the knowledge of such dire infamy. + +"I think that the scoundrel is cleverer than we thought, your Honor," +continued the petty constable, "we must not allow him to escape." + +"I am quite bewildered," murmured the squire. "What is the warrant for?" + +"For the apprehension of the man whom the folk about here called the +Prince of Orleans. I can set the watches on the go this very night, nay! +they shall scour the countryside to some purpose--the murderer cannot be +very far, we know that he is dressed in the smith's clothes, we'll get +him soon enough, but he may have friends...." + +"Friends?" + +"He may have been a real prince, your Honor," said Pyot with a laugh, +which contradicted his own suggestion. + +"Aye! aye! ... Mayhap!" + +"He may have powerful friends ... or such as would resist the watches +... resist us, mayhap ... a warrant would be useful...." + +"Aye! aye! you are right, constable," said Boatfield, still a little +bewildered, "do you come along to Sarre with me, I'll give you a warrant +this very night. Have you a horse here?" + +"Nay, your Honor," rejoined the man, "an it please you, my going to +Sarre would delay matters and the watches could not start their search +this night." + +"Then what am I to do?" exclaimed the squire, somewhat impatient of the +whole thing now, longing to get away, and to forget, beside his own +comfortable fireside, all the harrowing excitement of this unforgettable +day. + +"Young Lambert is a bookworm, your Honor," suggested Pyot, who was keen +on the business, seeing that his zeal, if accompanied by success, would +surely mean promotion; "there'll be ink and paper in the cottage.... An +your Honor would but write a few words and sign them, something I could +show to a commanding officer, if perchance I needed the help of +soldiery, or to the chief constable resident at Dover, for methinks some +of us must push on that way ... your Honor must forgive ... we should be +blamed--punished, mayhap--if we allowed such a scoundrel to remain +unhung...." + +"As you will, man, as you will," sighed the worthy squire impatiently, +"but wait!" he added, as Pyot, overjoyed, had already turned towards the +cottage, "wait until Sir Marmaduke de Chavasse and the ladies have +gone." + +He called his serving-men to him and ordered them to start on their way +towards home, but to wait for him, with his cob, at the bend of the +road, just in the rear of the little church. + +Some instinct, for which he could not rightly have accounted, roused in +him the desire to keep his return to the cottage a secret from Sir +Marmaduke. Attended by Pyot, he followed his men down the road, and the +angle of the cottage soon hid him from view. + +De Chavasse in the meanwhile had ordered his own men to escort the +ladies home. Busy and Toogood lighted their lanterns, whilst Sue and +Editha, wrapping their cloaks and hoods closely round their heads and +shoulders, prepared to follow them. + +Anon the little procession began slowly to wind its way back towards +Acol Court. + +Sir Marmaduke lingered behind for a while, of set purpose: he had no +wish to walk beside either Editha or Lady Sue, so he took some time in +mounting his nag, which had been tethered in the rear of the forge. His +intention was to keep the men with the lanterns in sight, for--though +there were no dangerous footpads in Thanet--yet Sir Marmaduke's mood was +not one that courted isolation on a dark and lonely road. + +Therefore, just before he saw the dim lights of the lanterns +disappearing down the road, which at this point makes a sharp dip before +rising abruptly once more on the outskirts of the wood, Sir Marmaduke +finally put his foot in the stirrup and started to follow. + +The mare had scarce gone a few paces before he saw the figure of a woman +detaching itself from the little group on ahead, and then turning and +walking rapidly back towards the village. He could not immediately +distinguish which of the two ladies it was, for the figure was totally +hidden beneath the ample folds of cloak and hood, but soon as it +approached, he perceived that it was Editha. + +He would have stopped her by barring the way, he even thought of +dismounting, thinking mayhap that she had left something behind at the +cottage, and cursing his men for allowing her to return alone, but quick +as a flash of lightning she ran past him, dragging her hood closer over +her face as she ran. + +He hesitated for a few seconds, wondering what it all meant: he even +turned the mare's head round to see whither Editha was going. She had +already reached the railing and gate in front of the cottage; the next +moment she had lifted the latch, and Sir Marmaduke could see her blurred +outline, through the rising mist, walking quickly along the flagged +path, and then he heard her peremptory knock at the cottage door. + +He waited a while, musing, checking the mare, who longed to be getting +home. He fully expected to see Editha return within the next minute or +so, for--vaguely through the fast-gathering gloom--he had perceived that +someone had opened the door from within, a thin ray of yellowish light +falling on Editha's cloaked figure. Then she disappeared into the +cottage. + +On ahead the swaying lights of the lanterns were rapidly becoming more +and more indistinguishable in the distance. Apparently Editha's +departure from out the little group had not been noticed by the others. +The men were ahead, and Sue, mayhap, was too deeply absorbed in thought +to pay much heed as to what was going on round her. + +Sir Marmaduke still hesitated. Editha was not returning, and the cottage +door was once more closed. Courtesy demanded that he should wait so as +to escort her home. + +But the fact that she had gone back to the cottage, at risk of having to +walk back all alone and along a dark and dreary road, bore a weird +significance to this man's tortuous mind. Editha, troubled with a mass +of vague fears and horrible conjectures, had, mayhap, desired to have +them set at rest, or else to hear their final and terrible confirmation. + +In either case Marmaduke de Chavasse had no wish now for a slow amble +homewards in company with the one being in the world who knew him for +what he was. + +That thought and also the mad desire to get away at last, to cease with +this fateful procrastination and to fly from this country with the +golden booty, which he had gained at such awful risks, these caused him +finally to turn the mare's head towards home, leaving Editha to follow +as best she might, in the company of one of the serving-men whom he +would send back to meet her. + +The mare was ready to go. He spurred her to a sharp trot. Then having +joined the little group on ahead, he sent Master Courage Toogood back +with his lantern, with orders to inquire at the cottage for Mistress de +Chavasse and there to await her pleasure. + +He asked Lady Sue to mount behind him, but this she refused to do. So he +put his nag back to foot space, and thus the much-diminished little +party slowly walked back to Acol Court. + + + + +CHAPTER XLI + +THEIR NAME + + +What had prompted Editha de Chavasse to return thus alone to the +Quakeress's cottage, she herself could not exactly have told. + +It must have been a passionate and irresistible desire to heap certainty +upon a tangle of horrible surmises. + +With Adam Lambert lying dead--obviously murdered--and in the clothes +affected by de Chavasse when masquerading as the French hero, there +could be only one conclusion. But this to Editha--who throughout had +given a helping hand in the management of the monstrous comedy--was so +awful a solution of the puzzle that she could not but recoil from it, +and strive to deny it while she had one sane thought left in her madly +whirling brain. + +But though she fought against the conclusion with all her might, she did +not succeed in driving it from her thoughts: and through it all there +was a vein of uncertainty, that slender thread of hope that after all +she might be the prey of some awful delusion, which a word from someone +who really knew would anon easily dissipate. + +Someone who really knew? Nay! that someone could only be Marmaduke, and +of him she dared not ask questions. + +Mayhap that on the other hand the old woman and Richard Lambert knew +more than they had cared to say. Sue was indeed deeply absorbed in +thoughts, walking with head bent and eyes fixed on the ground like a +somnambulist. Editha, moved by unreasoning instinct, determined to see +the Quakeress again, also the man who now lay dead, hoping that from him +mayhap she might glean the real solution of that mystery which sooner or +later would undoubtedly drive her mad. + +Running rapidly past horse and rider, for she would not speak to +Marmaduke, she reached the cottage soon enough. + +In response to her knock, Master Lambert opened the door to her. + +The dim light of a couple of tallow candles flickered weirdly in the +draught. Editha looked around her in amazement, astonished that--like +herself--Squire Boatfield had also evidently retraced his steps and was +sitting now in one of the high-backed chairs beside the hearth, whilst +the old Quakeress stood not far from him, her attitude indicative of +obstinacy, even of defiance, in the face of a duty with which apparently +the squire had been charging her. + +At sight of Mistress de Chavasse, Boatfield rose. A look of annoyance +crossed his face, at thought that Editha's arrival had, mayhap, +endangered the success of his present purpose. Ink and paper were on the +table close to his elbow, and it was obvious that he had been +questioning the old woman very closely on a subject which she +apparently desired to keep secret from him. + +Mistress Lambert's attitude had also changed at sight of Editha, who +stood for a moment undecided on the threshold ere she ventured within. +The look of obstinacy died out of the wrinkled face; the eyes took on a +strange expression of sullen wrath. + +"Enter, my fine lady, I pray thee, enter," said the Quakeress; "art also +a party to these cross-questionings? ... art anxious to probe the +secrets which the old woman hath kept hidden within the walls of this +cottage?" + +She laughed, a low, chuckling laugh, mirthless and almost cruel, as she +surveyed Editha's cloaked figure and then the lady's scared and anxious +face. + +"Nay, I crave your pardon, mistress," said Editha, feeling oddly timid +before the strange personality of the Quakeress. "I would of a truth +desire to ask your help in ... in ... I would not intrude ... and I ..." + +"Nay! nay! prithee enter, fair mistress," rejoined Mistress Lambert +dryly. "Strange, that I should hear thy words so plainly.... Thy words +seem to find echo in my brain ... raising memories which thou hast +buried long ago.... Enter, I prithee, and sit thee down," she added, +shuffling towards the chair; "shut the door, Dick lad ... and ask this +fair mistress to sit.... The squire is asking many questions ... mayhap +that I'll answer them, now that she is here...." + +In obedience to the quaint peremptoriness of her manner, Richard had +closed the outer door, and drawn the chair forward, asking Mistress de +Chavasse to sit. Squire Boatfield, who was visibly embarrassed, was +still standing and tried to murmur some excuse, being obviously anxious +to curtail this interview and to postpone his further questionings. + +"I'll come some other time, mistress," he said with obvious nervousness. +"Mistress de Chavasse desires to speak with you, and I'll return later +on in the evening ... when you are alone...." + +"Nay! nay, man! ..." rejoined the Quakeress, "prithee, sit again ... the +evening is young yet ... and what I may tell thee now has something to +do with this fine lady here. Wilt question me again? I would mayhap +reply." + +She stood close to the table, one wrinkled hand resting upon it; the +guttering candles cast strange, fantastic lights on her old face, +surmounted with the winged coif, and weird shadows down one side of her +face. Editha, awed and subdued, gazed on her with a kind of fear, even +of horror. + +In a dark corner of the little room the straight outline of the long +deal box could only faintly be perceived in the gloom. Richard Lambert, +silent and oppressed, stood close beside it, his face in shadow, his +eyes fixed with a sense of inexplicable premonition on the face of +Editha de Chavasse. + +"Now, wilt question me again, man?" asked the old Quakeress, turning to +the squire, "the Lord hath willed that my ears be clear to-day. Wilt +question me? ... I'll hear thee ... and I'll give answer to thy +questions...." + +"Nay, mistress," replied the squire, pointing to the ink and the paper +on the table, "methought you would wish to see the murderer of your ... +your nephew ... swing on the gallows for his crime.... I would sign this +paper here ordering the murderer of the smith of Acol to be apprehended +as soon as found ... and to be brought forthwith before the magistrate +... there to give an account of his doings.... I asked you then to give +me the full Christian and surname of the man whom the neighborhood and I +myself thought was your nephew ... and to my surprise, you seemed to +hesitate and ..." + +"And I'll hesitate no longer," she interposed firmly. "Let the lad there +ask me his dead brother's name and I'll tell him.... I'll tell him ... +if he asks ..." + +"Justice must be done against Adam's murderer, dear mistress," said +Richard gently, for the old woman had paused and turned to him, +evidently waiting for him to speak. "My brother's real name, his +parentage, might explain the motive which led an evildoer to commit such +an appalling crime. Therefore, dear mistress, do I ask thee to tell us +my brother's name, and mine own." + +"'Tis well done, lad ... 'tis well done," she rejoined when Richard had +ceased speaking, and silence had fallen for awhile on that tiny cottage +parlor, "'tis well done," she reiterated. "The secret hath weighed +heavily upon my old shoulders these past few years, since thou and Adam +were no longer children.... But I swore to thy grandmother who died in +the Lord, that thou and Adam should never hear of thy mother's +wantonness and shame.... I swore it on her death-bed and I have kept my +oath ... but I am old now.... After this trouble, mine hour will surely +come.... I am prepared but I will not take thy secret, lad, with me into +my grave." + +She shuffled across to the old oak dresser which occupied one wall of +the little room. Two pairs of glowing eyes followed her every movement; +those of Richard Lambert, who seemed to see a vision of his destiny +faintly outlined--still blurred--but slowly unfolding itself in the +tangled web of fate; and then those of Editha, who even as the old woman +spoke had felt a tidal wave of long-forgotten memories sweeping right +over her senses. The look in the Quakeress's eyes, the words she +uttered--though still obscure and enigmatical--had already told her the +whole truth. As in a flash she saw before her, her youth and all its +follies, the gay life of thoughtlessness and pleasures, the cradles of +her children, the tiny boys who to the woman of fashion were but a +hindrance and a burden. + +She saw her own mother, rigid and dour, the counterpart of this same old +Puritan who had not hesitated to part two children from their mother for +over a score of years, any more than she hesitated now to fling insult +upon insult on the wretched woman who had more than paid her debt to +her own careless frivolity of long ago. + +"Thy brother's name was Henry Adam de Chavasse, and thine Michael +Richard de Chavasse, sons of Rowland de Chavasse, and of the wanton who +was his wife." + +The old woman had taken a packet of papers, yellow with age and stained +with many tears, from out a secret drawer of the old oak dresser. + +Her voice was no longer tremulous as it was wont to be, but firm and +dull, monotonous in tone like that of one who speaks whilst in a trance. +Squire Boatfield had uttered an exclamation of boundless astonishment. +Mechanically he took the packet of papers from the Quakeress's hand and +after an instant's hesitation, and in response to an appealing look from +Richard, he broke the string which held the documents together and +perused them one by one. + +But Editha, even as the last of the old woman's words ceased to echo in +the narrow room, had risen to her feet. Her heavy cloak glided off her +shoulders down upon the ground; her eyes, preternaturally large, glowing +and full of awe, were now fixed upon the young man--her son. + +"De Chavasse," she murmured, her brain whirling, her heart filled not +only with an awful terror, but also with a great and overwhelming joy. +"My sons ... then I am ..." + +But with a peremptory gesture the Quakeress had stopped the word in her +mouth. + +"Nay!" she said loudly, "do not pollute that sacred name by letting it +pass through thy lips. Women such as thou were not made for +motherhood.... Thy own mother knew that, when she took thy children from +thee and cursed thee on her death-bed for thy sins and for thy shame! +Thy sons were honest, God-fearing men, but 'tis no thanks to thee. Thou +alone hast heaped shame upon their dead father's name and hast contrived +to wreak ruin on the sons who knew thee not." + +The Quakeress paused a moment, her pale opaque eyes lighted with an +inward glow of wrath and of satisfied vengeance. She and her dead friend +and all their co-religionists had hated the woman, who, in defiance of +her own Puritanic upbringing, had cast aside her friends and her home in +order to throw herself in that vortex of pleasure, which her mother +considered evil and infamous. + +Together they had all rejoiced over this woman's subsequent humiliation, +her sorrow and longing for her children, the ceaseless search, the +ever-recurrent disappointments. Now the Quakeress's hour had come, hers +and that of the whole of the dour sect who had taken it upon itself to +punish and to avenge. + +Editha, shamed and miserable, not even daring now to approach her own +son and to beg for affection with a look, stood quite rigid and pale, +allowing the torrent of the old woman's pent-up hatred to fall upon her +and to crush her with its rough cruelty. + +Squire Boatfield would have interposed. He had glanced at the various +documents--the proofs of what the old woman had asserted--and was +satisfied that the horrible tale of what seemed to him unparalleled +cruelty was indeed true, and that the narrow bigotry of a community had +succeeded in performing that monstrous crime of parting this wretched +woman for twenty years from her sons. + +Vaguely in his mind, the kindly squire hoped that he--as +magistrate--could fitly punish this crime of child-stealing, and the +expression with which he now regarded the old Quakeress was certainly +not one of good-will. + +Mistress Lambert had, in the meanwhile, approached Editha. She now took +the younger woman's hand in hers and dragged her towards the coffin. + +"There lies one of thy sons," she said with the same relentless energy, +"the eldest, who should have been thy pride, murdered in a dark spot by +some skulking criminal.... Curse thee! ... curse thee, I say ... as thy +mother cursed thee on her death-bed ... curse thee now that retribution +has come at last!" + +Her words died away, as some mournful echo against these whitewashed +walls. + +For a moment she stood wrathful and defiant, upright and stern like a +justiciary between the dead son and the miserable woman, who of a truth +was suffering almost unendurable agony of mind and of heart. + +Then in the midst of the awesome silence that followed on that loudly +spoken curse, there was the sound of a firm footstep on the rough deal +floor, and the next moment Michael Richard de Chavasse was kneeling +beside his mother, and covering her icy cold hand with kisses. + +A heart-broken moan escaped her throat. She stooped and with trembling +lips gently touched the young head bent in simple love and uninquiring +reverence before her. + +Then without a word, without a look cast either at her cruel enemy, or +at the silent spectator of this terrible drama, she turned and ran +rapidly out of the room, out into the dark and dismal night. + +With a deep sigh of content, Mistress Lambert fell on her knees and +thence upon the floor. + +The old heart which had contained so much love and so much hatred, such +stern self-sacrifice and such deadly revenge, had ceased to beat, now +the worker's work was done. + + + + +CHAPTER XLII + +THE RETURN + + +Master Courage Toogood had long ago given up all thought of waiting for +the mistress. He had knocked repeatedly at the door of the cottage, from +behind the thick panels of which he had heard loud and--he +thought--angry voices, speaking words which he could not, however, quite +understand. + +No answer had come to his knocking and tired with the excitement of the +day, fearful, too, at the thought of the lonely walk which now awaited +him, he chose to believe that mayhap he had either misunderstood his +master's orders, or that Sir Marmaduke himself had been mistaken when he +thought the mistress back at the cottage. + +These surmises were vastly to Master Courage Toogood's liking, whose +name somewhat belied his timid personality. Swinging his lantern and +striving to keep up his spirits by the aid of a lusty song, he +resolutely turned his steps towards home. + +The whole landscape seemed filled with eeriness: the events of the day +had left their impress on this dark November night, causing the sighs of +the gale to seem more spectral and weird than usual, and the dim outline +of the trees with their branches turned away from the coastline, to +seem like unhappy spirits with thin, gaunt arms stretched dejectedly out +toward the unresponsive distance. + +Master Toogood tried not to think of ghosts, nor of the many stories of +pixies and goblins which are said to take a malicious pleasure in the +timorousness of mankind, but of a truth he nearly uttered a cry of +terror, and would have fallen on his knees in the mud, when a dark +object quite undistinguishable in the gloom suddenly loomed before him. + +Yet this was only the portly figure of Master Pyot, the petty constable, +who seemed to be mounting guard just outside the cottage, and who was +vastly amused at Toogood's pusillanimity. He entered into converse with +the young man--no doubt he, too, had been feeling somewhat lonely in the +midst of this darkness, which was peopled with unseen shadows. Master +Courage was ready enough to talk. He had acquired some of Master Busy's +eloquence on the subject of secret investigations, and the mystery which +had gained an intensity this afternoon, through the revelations of the +old Quakeress, was an all-engrossing one to all. + +The attention which Pyot vouchsafed to his narration greatly enhanced +Master Toogood's own delight therein, more especially as the petty +constable had, as if instinctively, measured his steps with those of the +younger man and was accompanying him on his way towards the Court. + +Courage told his attentive listener all about Master Busy's surmises and +his determination to probe the secrets of the mysterious crime, +which--to be quite truthful--the worthy butler with the hard toes had +scented long ere it was committed, seeing that he used to spend long +hours in vast discomfort in the forked branches of the old elms which +surrounded the pavilion at the boundary of the park. + +Toogood had no notion if Master Busy had ever discovered anything of +interest in the neighborhood of that pavilion, and he was quite, quite +sure that the saintly man had never dared to venture inside that archaic +building, which had the reputation of being haunted; still, he was +over-gratified to perceive that the petty constable was vastly +interested in his tale--in spite of these obvious defects in its +completeness--and that, moreover, Master Pyot showed no signs of turning +on his heel, but continued to trudge along the gloomy road in company +with Sir Marmaduke's youngest serving-man. + +Thus Editha, when she ran out of Mistress Lambert's cottage, her ears +ringing with the fanatic's curses, her heart breaking with the joy of +that reverent filial kiss imprinted upon her hands, found the road and +the precincts of the cottage entirely deserted. + +The night was pitch dark after the rain. Great heavy clouds still hung +above, and an icy blast caught her skirts as she lifted the latch of the +gate and turned into the open. + +But she cared little about the inclemency of the weather. She knew her +way about well enough and her mind was too full of terrible thoughts of +what was real, to yield to the subtle and feeble fears engendered by +imaginings of the supernatural. + +Nay! she would, mayhap, have welcomed the pixies and goblins who by +mischievous pranks had claimed her attention. They would, of a truth, +have diverted her mind from the contemplation of that awful and +monstrous deed accomplished by the man whom she would meet anon. + +If he whom the villagers had called Adam Lambert was her son, Henry Adam +de Chavasse, then Sir Marmaduke was the murderer of her child. All the +curses which the old Quakeress had so vengefully poured upon her were as +nothing compared with that awful, that terrible fact. + +Her son had been murdered ... her eldest son whom she had never known, +and she--involuntarily mayhap, compulsorily certes--had in a measure +helped to bring about those events which had culminated in that +appalling crime. + +She had known of Marmaduke's monstrous fraud on the confiding girl whom +he now so callously abandoned to her fate. She had known of it and +helped him towards its success by luring her other son Richard to that +vile gambling den where he had all but lost his honor, or else his +reason. + +This knowledge and the help she had given was the real curse upon her +now: a curse far more horrible and deadly than that which had driven +Cain forth into the wilderness. This knowledge and the help she had +given had stained her hands with the blood of her own child. + +No wonder that she sighed for ghouls and for shadowy monsters, +well-nigh longing for a sight of distorted faces, of ugly deformed +bodies, and loathsome shapes far less hideous than that specter of an +inhuman homicide which followed her along this dark road as she ran--ran +on--ran towards the home where dwelt the living monster of evil, the man +who had done the deed, which she had helped to accomplish. + +Complete darkness reigned all around her, she could not see a yard of +the road in front of her, but she went on blindly, guided by instinct, +led by that unseen shadow which was driving her on. All round her the +gale was moaning in the creaking branches of the trees, branches which +were like arms stretched forth in appeal towards the unattainable. + +Her progress was slow for she was walking in the very teeth of the +hurricane, and her shoes ever and anon remained glued to the slimy mud. +But the road was straight enough, she knew it well, and she felt neither +fatigue nor discomfort. + +Of Sue she did not think. The wrongs done to the defenseless girl were +as nothing to her compared with the irreparable--the wrongs done to her +sons, the living and the dead: for the one the foul dagger of an inhuman +assassin, for the other shame and disgrace. + +Sue was young. Sue would soon forget. The girl-wife would soon regain +her freedom.... But what of the mother who had on her soul the taint of +the murder of her child? + +The gate leading to the Court from the road was wide open: it had been +left so for her, no doubt, when Sir Marmaduke returned. The house itself +was dark, no light save one pierced the interstices of the ill-fitting +shutters. Editha paused a moment at the gate, looking at the house--a +great black mass, blacker than the surrounding gloom. That had been her +home for many years now, ever since her youth and sprightliness had +vanished, and she had had nowhere to go for shelter. It had been her +home ever since Richard, her youngest boy, had entered it, too, as a +dependent. + +Oh! what an immeasurable fool she had been, how she had been tricked and +fooled all these years by the man who two days ago had put a crown upon +his own infamy. He knew where the boys were, he helped to keep them away +from their mother, so as to filch from them their present, and above +all, future inheritance. How she loathed him now, and loathed herself +for having allowed him to drag her down. Aye! of a truth he had wronged +her worse even than he had wronged his brother's sons! + +She fixed her eyes steadily on the one light which alone pierced the +inky blackness of the solid mass of the house. It came from the little +withdrawing-room, which was on the left of this entrance to the hall; +but the place itself--beyond just that one tiny light--appeared quite +silent and deserted. Even from the stableyard on her right and from the +serving-men's quarters not a sound came to mingle with the weird +whisperings of the wind. + +Editha approached and stooping to the ground, she groped in the mud +until her hands encountered two or three pebbles. + +She picked them up, then going close to the house, she threw these +pebbles one by one against the half-closed shutter of the +withdrawing-room. + +The next moment, she heard the latch of the casement window being lifted +from within, and anon the rickety shutter flew back with a thin creaking +sound like that of an animal in pain. + +The upper part of Sir Marmaduke's figure appeared in the window +embrasure, like a dark and massive silhouette against the yellowish +light from within. He stooped forward, seeming to peer into the +darkness. + +"Is that you, Editha?" he queried presently. + +"Yes," she replied. "Open!" + +She then waited a moment or two, whilst he closed both the shutter and +the window, she standing the while on the stone step before the portico. +In the stillness she could hear him open the drawing-room door, then +cross the hall and finally unbolt the heavy outer door. + +She pushed past him over the threshold and went into the gloomy hall, +pitch dark save for the flickering light of the candle which he held. +She waited until he had re-closed the door, then she stood quite still, +confronting him, allowing him to look into her face, to read the +expression of her eyes. + +In order to do this he had raised the candle, his hand trembling +perceptibly, and the feeble light quivered in his grasp, illumining her +face at fitful intervals, creeping down her rigid shoulders and arms, as +far as her hands, which were tightly clenched. It danced upon his face +too, lighting it with weird gleams and fitful sparks, showing the wild +look in his eyes, the glitter almost of madness in the dilated pupils, +the dark iris sharply outlined against the glassy orbs. It licked the +trembling lips and distorted mouth, the drawn nostrils and dank hair, +almost alive with that nameless fear. + +"You would denounce me?" he murmured, and the cry--choked and +toneless--could scarce rise from the dry parched throat. + +"Yes!" she said. + +He uttered a violent curse. + +"You devil ... you ..." + +"You have time to go," she said calmly, "'tis a long while 'twixt now +and dawn." + +He understood. She only would denounce him if he stayed. She wished him +no evil, only desired him out of her sight. He tried to say something +flippant, something cruel and sneering, but she stopped him with a +peremptory gesture. + +"Go!" she said, "or I might forget everything save that you killed my +son." + +For a moment she thought that her life was in danger at his hands, so +awful in its baffled rage was the expression of his face when he +understood that indeed she knew everything. She even at that moment +longed that his cruel instincts should prompt him to kill her. He could +never succeed in hiding that crime and retributive justice would of a +surety overtake him then, without any help from her. + +No doubt he, too, thought of this as the weird flicker of the +candle-light showed him her unflinching face, for the next moment, with +another muttered curse, and a careless shrug of the shoulders, he turned +on his heel, and slowly went upstairs, candle in hand. + +Editha watched him until his massive figure was merged in the gloom of +the heavy oak stairway. Then she went into the withdrawing-room and +waited. + + + + +CHAPTER XLIII + +THE SANDS OF EPPLE + + +Five minutes later Sir Marmaduke de Chavasse, clad in thick dark doublet +and breeches and wearing a heavy cloak, once more descended the stairs +of Acol Court. He saw the light in the withdrawing-room and knew that +Editha was there, mutely watching his departure. + +But he did not care to speak to her again. His mind had been quickly +made up, nay! his actions in the immediate future should of a truth have +been accomplished two days ago, ere the meddlesomeness of women had +well-nigh jeopardized his own safety. + +All that he meant to do now was to go quickly to the pavilion, find the +leather wallet then return to his own stableyard, saddle one of his nags +and start forthwith for Dover. Eighteen miles would soon be covered, and +though the night was dark, the road was straight and broad. De Chavasse +knew it well, and had little fear of losing his way. + +With plenty of money in his purse, he would have no difficulty in +chartering a boat which, with a favorable tide on the morrow, should +soon take him over to France. + +All that he ought to have done two days ago! Of a truth, he had been a +cowardly fool. + +He did not cross the hall this time but went out through the +dining-room by the garden entrance. Not a glimmer of light came from +above, but as he descended the few stone steps he felt that a few soft +flakes of snow tossed by the hurricane were beginning to fall. Of course +he knew every inch of his own garden and park and had oft wandered about +on the further side of the ha-ha whilst indulging in lengthy +sweetly-spoken farewells with his love-sick Sue. + +Absorbed in the thoughts of his immediate future plans, he nevertheless +walked along cautiously, for the paths had become slippery with the +snow, which froze quickly even as it fell. + +He did not pause, however, for he wished to lose no time. If he was to +ride to Dover this night, he would have to go at foot-pace, for the road +would be like glass if this snow and ice continued. Moreover, he was +burning to feel that wallet once more between his fingers and to hear +the welcome sound of the crushing of crisp papers. + +He had plunged resolutely into the thickness of the wood. Here he could +have gone blindfolded, so oft had he trodden this path which leads under +the overhanging elms straight to the pavilion, walking with Sue's little +hand held tightly clasped in his own. + +The spiritual presence of the young girl seemed even now to pervade the +thicket, her sweet fragrance to fill the frost-laden air. + +Bah! he was not the man to indulge in retrospective fancy. The girl was +naught to him, and there was no sense of remorse in his soul for the +terrible wrongs which he had inflicted on her. All that he thought of +now was the wallet which contained the fortune. That which would forever +compensate him for the agony, the madness of the past two days. + +The bend behind that last group of elms should now reveal the outline of +the pavilion. Sir Marmaduke advanced more cautiously, for the trees here +were very close together. + +The next moment he had paused, crouching suddenly like a carnivorous +beast, balked of its prey. There of a truth was the pavilion, but on the +steps three men were standing, talking volubly and in whispers. Two of +these men carried stable lanterns, and were obviously guiding their +companion up to the door of the pavilion. + +The light of the lanterns illumined one face after another. De Chavasse +recognized his two serving-men, Busy and Toogood; the man who was with +them was petty-constable Pyot. Marmaduke with both hands clutching the +ivy which clung round the gnarled stem of an old elm, watched from out +the darkness what these three men were doing here, beside this pavilion, +which had always been so lonely and deserted. + +He could not distinguish what they said for they spoke in whispers and +the creaking branches groaning beneath the wind drowned every sound +which came from the direction of the pavilion and the listener on the +watch, straining his every sense in order to hear, dared not creep any +closer lest he be perceived. + +Anon, the three men examined the door of the pavilion, and shaking the +rusty bolts, found that they would not yield. But evidently they were of +set purpose, for the next moment all three put their shoulder to the +worm-eaten woodwork, and after the third vigorous effort the door +yielded to their assault. + +Men and lanterns disappeared within the pavilion. Sir Marmaduke heard an +ejaculation of surprise, then one of profound satisfaction. + +For the space of a few seconds he remained rooted to the spot. It almost +seemed to him as if with the knowledge that the wallet and the discarded +clothes of the smith had been found, with the certitude that this +discovery meant his own undoing probably, and in any case the final loss +of the fortune for which he had plotted and planned, lied and +masqueraded, killed a man and cheated a girl, that with the knowledge of +all this, death descended upon him: so cold did he feel, so unable was +he to make the slightest movement. + +But this numbness only lasted a few seconds. Obviously the three men +would return in a minute or so; equally obviously his own presence +here--if discovered--would mean certain ruin to him. Even while he was +making the effort to collect his scattered senses and to move from this +fateful and dangerous spot, he saw the three men reappear in the +doorway of the pavilion. + +The breeches and rough shirt of the smith hung over the arm of +Hymn-of-Praise Busy; the dark stain on the shirt was plainly visible by +the light of one of the lanterns. + +Petty constable Pyot had the leather wallet in his hand, and was peeping +down with grave curiosity at the bundle of papers which it contained. + +Then with infinite caution, Marmaduke de Chavasse worked his way between +the trees towards the old wall which encircled his park. The three men +obviously would be going back either to Acol Court, or mayhap, straight +to the village. + +Sir Marmaduke knew of a gap in the wall which it was quite easy to +climb, even in the dark; a path through the thicket at that point led +straight out towards the coast. + +He had struck that path from the road on the night when he met the smith +on the cliffs. + +The snow only penetrated in sparse flakes to the thicket here. Although +the branches of the trees were dead, they interlaced so closely overhead +that they formed ample protection against the wet. + +But the fury of the gale seemed terrific amongst these trees and the +groaning of the branches seemed like weird cries proceeding from hell. + +Anon, the midnight walker reached the open. Here a carpet of coarse +grass peeping through the thin layer of snow gave insecure foothold. He +stumbled as he pursued his way. He was walking in the teeth of the +northwesterly blast now and he could scarcely breathe, for the great +gusts caught his throat, causing him to choke. + +Still he walked resolutely on. Icy moisture clung to his hair, and to +his lips, and soon he could taste the brine in the air. The sound of the +breakers some ninety feet below mingled weirdly with the groans of the +wind. + +He knew the path well. Had he not trodden it three nights ago, on his +way to meet the smith? Already in the gloom he could distinguish the +broken line of the cliffs sharply defined against the gray density of +the horizon. + +As he drew nearer the roar of the breakers became almost deafening. A +heavy sea was rolling in on the breast of the tide. + +Still he walked along, towards the brow of the cliffs. Soon he could +distinguish the irregular heap of chalk against which Adam had stood, +whilst he had held the lantern in one hand and gripped the knife in the +other. + +The hurricane nearly swept him off his feet. He had much ado to steady +himself against that heap of chalk. The snow had covered his cloak and +his hat, and he liked to think that he, too, now--snow-covered--must +look like a monstrous chalk boulder, weird and motionless outlined +against the leaden grayness of the ocean beyond. + +The smith was not by his side now. There was no lantern, no paper, no +double-edged dagger. Down nearly a hundred feet below the smith had lain +until the turn of the tide. The man's eyes, becoming accustomed to the +gloom, could distinguish the points of the great boulders springing +boldly from out the sand. The surf as it broke all round and over them +was tipped with a phosphorescent light. + +The gale, in sheer wantonness, caught the midnight prowler's hat and +with a wild sound as of the detonation of a hundred guns, tossed it to +the waves below. The snow in a few moments had thrown a white pall over +the watcher's head. + +He could see quite clearly the tall boulder untouched by the tide, on +which he had placed the black silk shade that night, also the +broad-brimmed hat, so that these things should be found high and dry and +be easily recognizable. + +Some twenty feet further on was the smooth stretch of sand where had +lain the smith, after he had been dressed up in the fantastic clothes of +the mysterious French prince. + +Marmaduke de Chavasse gazed upon that spot. The breakers licked it now +and again, leaving behind them as they retreated a track of slimy foam, +which showed white in this strange gray gloom, rendered alive and moving +by the falling snow. + +The surf covered that stretch of sand more and more frequently now, and +retreated less and less far: the slimy foam floated now over an inky +pool; soon that too disappeared. The breakers sought other boulders +round which to play their titanic hide-and-seek. The tide had +completely hidden the place where Adam Lambert had lain. + +Then the watcher walked on--one step and then another--and then the one +beyond the edge as he stepped down, down into the abyss ninety feet +below. + + + + +THE EPILOGUE + + +The chronicles of the time tell us that the mysterious disappearance of +Sir Marmaduke de Chavasse was but a nine days' wonder in that great +world which lies beyond the boundaries of sea-girt Thanet. + +What Thanet thought of it all, the little island kept secret, hiding its +surmises in the thicket of her own archaic forests. + +Squire Boatfield did his best to wrap the disappearance of his whilom +friend in impenetrable veils of mystery. He was a humane and a kindly +man and feeling that the guilty had been amply punished, he set to work +to cheer and to rehabilitate the innocent. + +All of us who have read the memoirs of Editha de Chavasse, written when +she was a woman of nearly sixty, remember that she, too, has drawn a +thick curtain over the latter days of her brother-in-law's life. It is +to her pen that we owe the record of what happened subsequently. + +She tells us, for instance, how Master Skyffington, after sundry +interviews with my Lord Northallerton, had the honor of bringing to his +lordship's notice the young student--so long known as Richard +Lambert--who, of a truth, was sole heir to the earldom and to its +magnificent possessions and dependencies. + +From the memoirs of Editha de Chavasse we also know that Lady Sue +Aldmarshe, girl-wife and widow, did, after a period of mourning, marry +Michael Richard de Chavasse, sole surviving nephew and heir presumptive +of his lordship the Earl of Northallerton. + +But it is to the brush of Sir Peter Lely that we owe that exquisite +portrait of Sue, when she was Countess of Northallerton, the friend of +Queen Catherine, the acknowledged beauty at the Court of the +Restoration. + +It is a sweet face, whereon the half-obliterated lines of sorrow vie +with that look of supreme happiness which first crept into her eyes when +she realized that the dear and constant friend who had loved her so +dearly, was as true to her in his joy as he had been in those dark days +when a terrible crisis had well-nigh wrecked her life. + +Lord and Lady Northallerton did not often stay in London. The brilliance +of the Court had few attractions for them. Happiness came to them after +terrible sorrows. They liked to hide it and their great love in the calm +and mystery of forest-covered Thanet. + + +THE END + + + + + +End of Project Gutenberg's The Nest of the Sparrowhawk, by Baroness Orczy + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE NEST OF THE SPARROWHAWK *** + +***** This file should be named 12175.txt or 12175.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + https://www.gutenberg.org/1/2/1/7/12175/ + +Produced by Steven desJardins and Distributed Proofreaders + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. 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