Mary Salis was wrong, for her headstrong, passionate sister was ready to
do whatever she pleased, and what pleased her then was to obey the
summons contained in the note Dally Watlock delivered to her that
morning.
Her brother's face grew stern and hard as he walked on, to see from time
to time small footprints in the soft track, for a southerly wind and a
cloudy sky proclaimed it a hunting morning. No dry wind had hardened
the path, and Hartley Salis felt convinced that he knew his sister's
goal.
In half-an-hour he reached Red Cliff Wood, the great patch of ancient
oaks on the Candlish estate through which the best trout-stream in the
shire--the one which flowed through the Rectory meadows and down at the
bottom of the Manor House garden--meandered.
His path was along by the stream, which here and there showed upon its
bank the same traces of a pair of little feet, whose high-heeled boots
left deep imprints; and Hartley Salis grew more stern as he walked on
toward the depths of the wood, where the great mass of ruddy stone
cropped out to give its name to the place, and form, as it overhung the
stream, a glorious fernery, ever moist with the water that oozed from
the strata from foot to top.
A dozen yards farther and there was a low whinnying noise, which came
from a handsome sorrel hunter, secured by the bridle to a ragged old oak
bough.
Not an unpleasant picture in that glorious old mossy wood, but
sufficient to make Hartley Salis set his teeth, grip his stick tightly,
and stride rapidly on to a green path a little farther away, where
another picture met his gaze--to wit, his sister Leo with her back to
him, and that back encircled by a broad scarlet band, which, on closer
inspection, took the form of the arm of a well-built man in hunting-coat
and top-boots.
Hartley Salis walked swiftly toward the group, the soft, mossy ground
silencing his approach, till he trod upon a piece of rotten branch,
which broke with a loud crack.
The couple started apart and turned to face the intruder, when Leo
uttered a gasp of mingled shame and anger, and staggered back against a
tree, leaving her brother face to face with Tom Candlish of the Hall.
For a few moments neither spoke, and then as the young man in scarlet
got over his surprise, he half closed his dark eyes, and a mocking smile
curved his lip.
"So it has come to this," said the curate at last, speaking in a low
voice full of suppressed anger.
"Hallo, parson! You here? Coming to the meet?" said the young man,
half mockingly.
"After what has passed between us--"
"Oh, come, that'll do," cried the young man insolently. "Do you suppose
you have a right to begin preaching at me every time you see me?"
"Do you suppose, sir," cried the curate, still mastering his anger,
"that you, because your father was the great land-holder here, have a
right to persevere with what I have expressly forbidden?"
"Confound your insolence, sir! Don't speak to me like that. What the
deuce do you mean?"
"What do I mean, sir? I mean this--and I beg that you will not adopt
that bullying tone toward me."
"Bullying tone! You shall find something else besides a bullying tone
if you interfere with me;" and as the young man spoke he gave his
hunting-whip a flourish.
The curate's cheeks flushed, and his brow contracted with anger; but he
maintained his calmness as he continued:
"You asked me what I mean. I mean this: I, as their elder brother, and
a clergyman of the Church of England, occupy the post of guardian to my
two orphan sisters. They are happy in their life with me at the old
Rectory, and I naturally look with serious eyes at the man who tries to
tamper with that happiness. I should feel troubled if a gentleman came
to the house in a straightforward, honourable way, and said to me, `Sir,
I love one of your sisters; I ask your permission to visit at your
house; give sanction to the engagement:' but when--"
"Oh, if you are going to preach, I'm off. Finish it on Sunday."
The curate's colour grew deeper as he stepped before the young man, and
stopped his departure.
"I am not going to preach, sir; but I am going to make you hear what I
have to say."
"Make?"
"Yes, sir, make, in spite of your insults. You are the brother of the
chief man in this village, and I am only the curate; but you are to a
certain extent under me; and now you have driven me to it, I am, I
repeat, going to make you hear what I have to say."
"Oh, are you?" mockingly.
"Yes. I say, when instead of approaching my sister in an honourable
way, a man who is noted for his blackguardly conduct toward more than
one poor girl in this village--"
"Look here, parson, is this meant as an insult?"
"--Comes to my house, and is requested to cease his visits, and then
lays siege to the affections of one of my sisters in a cowardly,
contemptible, clandestine fashion, I say, that man is unworthy of the
treatment I should accord to a gentleman, and calls for that which I
would give to some low-lived cad."
"Here, I say," cried Tom Candlish fiercely; "do you mean to tell me I am
not your sister's equal?"
"I tell you, sir, that no one who makes himself the associate of betting
men, racecourse touts, and low-lived jockeys is the equal of the lady
you have named, while one who, in opposition to my wishes, insists upon
writing to the weak, foolish girl, and persuades her to meet him as you
have done, merits a sound castigation."
"Once more, do you mean to tell me, I am not your sister's equal?"
"I do; and no amount of repentance, sir, for your ill-deeds would make
you so."
"Look here!" cried the young fellow, "you've been talking to me like a
man sometimes, and then you've been dodging into your clerical jargon
again. I've listened to you pretty patiently, and have borne more than
I should from any one else because you are a parson; but you've gone too
far, and now it's my turn. If Leo--"
"Miss Leonora Salis, sir."
"If Leo tells me she won't have any more to say to me, I shall go; but
as for you--hark here. I shall write to her, I shall meet her, and I
shall ask her to meet me just as often as I please. Not her equal, I!
Why, you miserable, beggarly, hundred-a-year, threadbare curate, how
dare you address me as you do? Do you know who I am?"
"Yes: Tom Candlish, brother of Sir Luke Candlish, of Candlish Hall."
"Yes, sir, descendants of one of our finest English families."
"Descendants, sir," retorted the curate, "of a miserly, money-spinning
old scoundrel, who gave impecunious James the First so many hundred
pounds for a contemptible baronetcy, which has come down to one of as
disgraceful a pair as ever sat like a blight upon a pleasant English
village."
"You insolent hound!" roared Tom Candlish; "I'll ride over to May and
have you kicked out of your curacy."
"Do," said the curate.
"No, I won't, for Leo's sake. But, look here, master parson, don't you
interfere with me, or, by God, sir! I'll give you the most cursed
horsewhipping I ever gave man in my life. By George! if it wasn't for
your white neck-cloth and black coat, hang me. I'd do it now."
He extended one hand, as if to grasp the curate's collar, and raised his
hunting-whip menacingly; but in an instant it was whisked out of his
hand, and sent flying.
"You object to my white tie and black coat, eh, Tom Candlish?" said the
curate, rapidly throwing them off and across a neighbouring oak branch;
"there, then, for the time being they shall not afflict your eyes or put
me out of your reach. Now then, we are on equal terms. Strip off that
scarlet coat, you miserable popinjay."
"What do you mean?" cried Tom Candlish, turning mottled in the face.
"I mean, sir, that words are no use to such a scoundrel as you: that a
curate is also a man. In this case he is the lady's brother, and in
addition there are a score of insults to wipe away. Take off your
coat."
"What!" cried Tom Candlish, with a sneering laugh. "Look here--do you
know that I can fight?"
"I know you were in a blackguardly prize-fight, sir, in a ring where
your opponent was a sort of champion of the Bilston colliers."
"Yes, so put on your coat and go home while you're safe."
"And I know that I have not clenched my fist in anger, sir, since I left
Oxford, twelve years ago; but if you had beaten Tom Sayers it would not
move me now. One of us two does not leave this wood without a sound
thrashing, and, please goodness, that's going to be you."
The Reverend Hartley Salis, M.A., rapidly rolled up his shirt-sleeves
over his white arms; while it was observable that the nearly new scarlet
hunting-coat worn by handsome Tom Candlish, of Candlish Hall, came off
very slowly, possibly on account of its excellent fit.