CECIL RECEIVES HIS CONGÉ.
Sir Piers' indignation with Cecil Falconer for presuming to address
his ward in the language of love was very great, and he was in the
act of 'nursing his wrath to keep it warm,' and studying how to
circumvent one whom he deemed only a well-accredited adventurer, when
next afternoon the latter, all unaware of _how_ the general had been
schooled to view him, was ushered into the library, where the former
was idling over the preceding evening's _War-Office Gazette_. 'It is
easier to conceive than describe,' says Oliver Goldsmith, 'the
complicated sensations which are felt from the pain of a recent
injury and the pleasure of approaching vengeance.' The two were
suddenly face to face!
But Sir Piers, a courteous soldier and gentleman of the old school,
though smarting and indignant, was resolved, that whatever turn the
conversation took, he neither forgot their relative positions of host
and visitor, or as officers in her Majesty's service.
He felt himself, however, on the horns of a dilemma. He had no
precise right, he thought, to act on Hew's painful information in any
way, obtained, as it was, from a source so subordinate; and he could
not, without some distinct reason, forbid his recently welcome guest
to visit his house, though he was resolved to tell old Tunley to
strike his name off the visitors' list. Unaware of all the mischief
that was brewing, Falconer advanced cordially towards the old
general, who rose and gave him his hand, if not very frankly, and
said, stiffly:
'Captain Falconer, I congratulate you on your promotion, sir; I hope
it will prove an incentive to future good conduct and _esprit de
corps_; but avoid cards, sir--avoid cards!'
Ignorant of how the speaker viewed him as a gambler, almost an
adventurer and man of obscure birth, all as alleged by Hew, Falconer
was alike surprised by this pointed remark and rather indignant at
the tone in which it was said, and the general bearing adopted by Sir
Piers.
He now inquired for the ladies, and was snappishly told that 'they
were well, sir--well;' but whether at home or not, Sir Piers did not
condescend to say; so Falconer almost held his breath at every sound,
expecting Mary to enter the room; but he hoped in vain, for never
even once did a light footstep or the rustle of a dress announce her
vicinity. However, he had barely seated himself, when Sir Piers, as
if reading his very thoughts, said bluntly:
'I wished to see you, sir, on a subject that has recently come to my
knowledge. You have been addressing Miss Montgomerie in terms which
no honourable man would do, without the full permission of those who
are nearest and dearest to her, and have thus her welfare and her
future at heart.'
Falconer, who felt painfully that in tone, bearing, and expression of
eye, Sir Piers was now very unlike the hearty and hospitable veteran
who welcomed him to Eaglescraig, said, with a somewhat faltering
voice:
'All who have the happiness to know Miss Montgomerie will ever have
her welfare and happiness at heart, Sir Piers.'
'Am I right in asserting what I do, Captain Falconer?' asked the
latter, ignoring his remark.
'Before being borne away by my feelings, and permitting myself to
address your grand-niece----'
'And ward. Yes, sir--well?'
'I ought, doubtless, to have obtained your sanction----'
'Or sought for it--well, sir--well?'
'And have satisfied you as to--as to----'
'Your means and position?' interrupted the old man, impatiently.
'Yes, Sir Piers,' said Falconer, taking up his hat, which he
relinquished.
'By the way, it has never occurred to me to ask you fully and
distinctly who you are--but now I seem to have some right to do so?'
said Sir Piers, as all Hew's promptings came to memory.
'Who I am?' exclaimed Falconer, partially cresting up his head, yet
colouring too evidently with mental pain, as the keen eyes of his
questioner could see.
'Yes, sir.'
'I am, as you know, Captain Cecil Falconer, of the Cameronian
regiment,' he replied, somewhat haughtily.
'Anything more?'
'In what way?'
'Family--antecedents. The devil! do you think that I would permit a
nameless stranger to address Miss Montgomerie as you have done?'
'I am not rich, certainly--the reverse rather.'
'I don't care an _anna_ for that, as we say in India; but as regards
family----'
'Suffice it that I am utterly alone in the world,' interrupted Cecil,
with a cadence in his voice that made the general feel some pity for
him, though not inclined to yield an inch, for his words seemed to
corroborate all that Hew had alleged or inferred. 'When my poor
mother died, I seemed, for a time, to lose the last link that bound
me to the world. To her I owe education, position, the commission I
hold--everything!'
And now, when he spoke of his mother, his voice grew soft and
infinitely tender, and a subdued light shone in his averted eyes--the
light of love and a great reverence.
'And your father?' said the general, in a softer voice.
'I can remember but faintly: he died when I was very young. My
mother never ceased to sorrow for him, and yet I fear, at times, that
her marriage had not been a happy one, or that he had not deserved
one so brilliant and talented as she was.'
'Oho!' thought the general; 'this refers to the musical world,
evidently. Hew is right, after all.'
'It was selfish of me, perhaps, to leave her to be a soldier, for she
was alone in life; but it was inspired by love for her, and to gain
her esteem, that I worked so hard to become worthy of her, and rise
in all that might promote me in my profession. In the School of
Musketry at Hythe, in signalling and telegraphy, at the School of
Engineering in Chatham, I won first-class certificates, and laid
them, like a happy school-boy, in her lap. Since then I have passed
out, one of the first, from the Staff College; and if I went to
India----'
'Ah yes; go to India, sir, that is the place!' said the general,
soothed a little and almost forgetting the 'cards.' 'But our
conversation has wandered from the subject that introduced it,' he
resumed, 'pulling himself together,' and resolved to be cool and
determined, and for Hew's sake to end for ever this love-affair. 'In
addition to what I said, sir, I have to add, that an honourable man
should not make advances to an heiress--I mean if he is poor--and, in
my time, all the Cameronians were men of honour!'
Falconer thought that a Cameronian might still very well make love to
a pretty girl with a long purse, and not forfeit that commodity which
the general so unpleasantly emphasised; but an emotion of
hopelessness began to creep into his heart, and he rose from his
seat, though reluctant to withdraw: yet the interview was fated to
have an abrupt and harsh _finale_.
'Captain Falconer,' said Sir Piers, after a little pause, 'Miss
Montgomerie has never disobeyed me since she came to my house an
orphan; since she was a little child that stood upon my knee and
nestled her face in my neck, begging me to tell her the same story
over and over again--often an Indian yarn of snakes, tigers, and what
not--and I know that she won't disobey me now.'
'I hope not, Sir Piers, so far as I am concerned.'
'I am averse to long and vague engagements, and have made up my mind
to terminate hers by a speedy marriage with her _fiancé_, Hew
Montgomerie, my heir of entail, as you know. They must marry at
once, or--or----'
'Or what, Sir Piers?' asked Falconer in a low voice.
'She loses every shilling of her fortune by marriage with another.'
'Gladly--oh, how gladly!--would I take her penniless; but I shall not
be guilty of injustice towards her; she would be permitted to choose
for herself. God help us!' said Falconer, in a very broken voice.
'Good Sir Piers, let me see her once again, I implore you, just for
five minutes,' he added, scarcely aware of what he was saying.
'Better not, better not, sir; it is useless,' said the general,
growing stern; 'much mischief may be done in five minutes. Once and
for ever, sir, let this folly end! I brought you most unwisely to my
house, and you used your time there in seeking to detach the
affections of my ward, Miss Montgomerie, from her affianced husband.
Of the good taste that inspired such a line of secret conduct, I say
nothing; but I repeat, that this scheme on your part (I speak not of
folly on hers, for I hope she has been guilty of none) must end; and
I have the honour to wish you--good-morning.'
He rang the bell, and with a heart swollen by many emotions, Falconer
bowed and quitted the room. As he did so, there was in his face an
expression of painful humiliation mingled with reproach, that
powerfully brought back another and an almost similar scene, when he
had expelled from Eaglescraig his son Piers, and when kindly old John
Balderstone strove--but in vain--to effect a reconciliation between
them.
His cool dismissal by the general, and the curious questions of the
latter, made Cecil's blood boil with indignation. Had he only known
all, it might have proved a bad business for the bones of Mr. Hew
Montgomerie.
Despite the injunction laid upon him, the moth could not be kept from
the candle. A fortnight had passed since the general's ukase had
gone forth, and yet almost daily, by accident, design, or tacit
understanding, Cecil and Mary met, and had the joy of lingering in
each other's society, and riveting still closer the links of love
that bound them to each other, but not without a dread of being
watched or discovered by Hew, whose favourite haunts, however, lay
far apart from theirs.
The spacious gardens, the parks, the hills, the half-empty West-end
squares and crescents, the picture-galleries and promenades, afforded
many facilities for such, apparently unpremeditated, meetings as
theirs, and to Mary it seemed as if she had only now commenced to
live, and as if all her past life had only been leading up to this,
the end of which she, happily, could not then foresee.
As for Cecil, the very demon of restlessness seemed to have taken
possession of him. Save when on duty, the Cameronians never saw him,
and he was never happy save when, if not with Mary, searching for her
in those lounges where; in the limited circle of the Modern
Athens--the City of Idlers--everyone is almost sure to meet everybody
else.
But he had one special annoyance to contend with. All the regiment
knew that he had been the general's special guest at Eaglescraig, and
deemed it strange that at all his dinners and dances given to them
now, _he_ was never present. Why was this? All deemed it 'deuced
odd,' and Cecil writhed under their surmises, some of which were
repeated to him by Leslie Fotheringhame and Dick Freeport, and a
sentiment of defiance became engendered in his mind.
And it was with fresh annoyance that on parade some morning, or at
mess in the evening, he heard some heedless fellow extolling the rare
beauty of the general's ward, and mingling the praises thereof with
the extreme appreciation of his wines and the culinary efforts of his
_chef_; and somewhat of a crisis was put upon this, when Sir Piers
dined with the regiment, 'in full fig,' and wearing all his medals,
on the anniversary of its embodiment, the 19th April, 1689, and
treated Falconer with a coldness of bearing that was but too apparent
to all; thus rousing a kind of resentment in his heart, and a greater
inclination to defy him in the matter of his now secret engagement
with Mary, for such it formally was: but then, how about the terrible
power Sir Piers held over her in virtue of her father's eccentric
will!