IN THE BAY OF BISCAY
On the night on which Cicely Clinton was enjoying herself at the Court
Ball, the _Punjaub_ homeward bound from Australia _via_ Colombo and the
Suez Canal was steaming through the Bay of Biscay, which, on this night
of June had prepared a pleasant surprise for the _Punjaub's_ numerous
passengers by lying calm and still under a bright moon.
Two men were leaning over the side of the upper deck, watching the
phosphorescent gleam of the water as it slid past beneath them, and
talking as intimate friends. They were Ronald Mackenzie, the explorer,
returning home after his adventurous two years' expedition into the
wilds of Tibet, and Jim Graham, whose home was at Mountfield, three
miles away from Kencote, where the Clintons lived. They were not
intimate friends, in spite of appearances. They had joined the ship
together at Colombo, and found themselves occupying the same cabin. But
acquaintanceship ripens so fast on board ship that the most dissimilar
characters may adhere to one another for as long as a voyage lasts,
although they may never meet again afterwards, nor particularly wish to.
Mackenzie was a tall, ruggedly fashioned man, with greying hair and a
keen, bold face. Jim Graham was more slightly built. He had an open,
honest look; he was rather deliberate in speech, and apparently in
thought, for in conversation he would often pause before speaking, and
he sometimes ignored a question altogether, as if he had not heard it,
or had not understood it. There were those who called him stupid; but it
was usually said of him that he was slow and sure. He had a rather ugly
face, but it was that pleasant ugliness which, with a well-knit athletic
body, clear eyes and a tanned skin, is hardly distinguishable, in a man,
from good looks.
They were talking about London. "I can smell it and see it," said
Mackenzie. "I hope it will be raining when I get home. I like the wet
pavements, and the lights, and the jostling crowds. Lord! it will be
good to see it again. How I've pined for it, back there! But I'll be out
of it again in a month. It's no place for a man like me, except to get
back to every now and then."
"That's how most of us take it," said Jim, "unless we have to work
there. I'm glad I haven't to, though I enjoy it well enough for a week
or two, occasionally."
"Do you live in the country all the year round?"
"Yes."
Mackenzie threw him a glance which seemed to take him in from top to
toe. "What do you do?" he asked.
Jim Graham paused for a moment before replying. "I have a good deal to
do," he said. "I've got my place to look after."
"That doesn't take you all your time, does it?"
"It takes a good deal of it. And I'm on the bench."
"That means sending poor devils to prison for poaching your game, I
suppose."
"Not quite that," said Jim, without a smile.
"I suppose what it all does mean is that you live in a big country house
and shoot and hunt and fish to your heart's content, with just enough
work to keep you contented with yourself. By Jove, some men are lucky!
Do you know what my life has been?"
"I know you have been through many adventures and done big things," said
Jim courteously.
"Well, I'm obliged to you for putting it like that. Seems to me I didn't
put my idea of your life quite so nicely, eh?" He stood up and stretched
his tall figure, and laughed. "I'm a rough diamond," he said. "I don't
mind saying so, because it's plain enough for any one to see. I
sometimes envy people like you their easy manners; but I've got to be
content with my own; and after all, they have served my turn well
enough. Look at us two. I suppose I'm about ten years older than you,
but I had made my name when I was your age. You were born in a fine
country house."
"Not so very fine," said Jim.
"Well, pretty fine compared to the house I was born in, which was the
workhouse. You were educated at Eton and Christchurch, and all that sort
of thing----"
"I don't want to spoil any comparison you are going to make," said Jim,
"but I was at Winchester and New College."
"That will do," said Mackenzie. "I was dragged up at the workhouse
school till I was twelve. Then I ran away and sold papers in the
streets, and anything else that I could pick up a few coppers by--except
steal. I never did that. I always made up my mind I'd be a big man some
day, and--I'm glad I didn't steal."
"I didn't either, you know," said Jim, "although I'm not a big man, and
never shall be."
"Ah, that's where the likes of me scores. You've no call to ambition.
You have everything you can want provided for you."
"There have been one or two big men born as I was," said Jim. "But
please go on with your story. When did you go on your first journey?"
"When I was sixteen. I looked much older. I shipped before the mast and
went out to Australia, and home round Cape Horn. By Jove, I shan't
forget that. The devil was in the wind. We were five months coming home,
and nearly starved to death, and worked till we were as thin as hungry
cats. Then I shipped with the Boyle-Geering expedition--you know--North
Pole, and three years trying to get there. Then I tried a change of
climate and went to Central Africa with Freke. I was his servant, got
his bath, shaved him, brushed his clothes--he was always a bit of a
dandy, Freke, and lived like a gentleman, though I don't believe he was
any better than I was when he started; but he could fight too, and there
wasn't his equal with niggers. We had trouble that trip, and the men who
went out with him were a rotten lot. They'd found the money, or he
wouldn't have taken them. He knew a man when he saw one. When we came
home I was second in command.
"It was easy after that. I led that expedition through Uganda when I was
only twenty-five; and the rest--well, the rest I dare say you know."
"Yes, I know," said Jim. "You've done a lot."
"Not so bad, eh, for a workhouse brat?"
"Not so bad for anybody."
"I'm up top now. I used to envy lots of people. Now most people envy
me."
Jim was silent.
Mackenzie turned to him. "I suppose you've had a pretty easy time
travelling," he said. There was a suspicion of a sneer on his long thin
lips.
"Pretty easy," said Jim.
"Ah! Your sort of travelling is rather different from mine. If you had
been roughing it in Tibet for the last two years you would be pretty
glad to be getting back."
"I'm glad to be getting back as it is."
Mackenzie turned and leaned over the rail again. "Well, I don't know
that I don't envy you a bit after all," he said. "I've got no friends in
England. I'm not a man to make friends. The big-wigs will take me up
this time. I know that from what I've seen. I shall be a lion. I suppose
I shall be able to go anywhere I like. But there's nowhere I want to go
to particularly, when I've had enough of London. You've got your country
home. Lord, how I've thought of the English country, in summer time!
Thirsted for it. But it has to belong to you, in a way. I've a good mind
to buy a little place--I shall be able to afford it when my book comes
out. But I should want a wife to keep it warm for me. You're not
married, I suppose?"
"No."
"Going to be?"
Jim made no reply.
Mackenzie laughed. "Mustn't ask questions, I suppose," he said. "I'm a
rough diamond, Graham. Got no manners, you see. Never had any one to
teach 'em to me. I apologise."
"No need to," said Jim.
There was silence for a space. The great round moon shone down and
silvered the long ripples on the water.
"I don't mind answering your question," said Jim, looking out over the
sea. "There are some country neighbours of mine. One of the sons is my
chief pal. We were brought up together, more or less. He's going to
marry my sister. And--well, I hope I'm going to marry his."
His face changed a little, but Mackenzie, looking straight before him
did not notice it. "Sounds a capital arrangement," he said drily.
Jim flushed, and drew himself up. "Well, I think I'll be turning in," he
said.
Mackenzie faced him quickly. "Tell me all about it," he said. "How old
is she? You have known her all your life. When did you first find out
you wanted to marry her? When are you going to be married?"
Jim looked at him squarely. "You are taking liberties," he said.
Mackenzie laughed again--his harsh, unamused laugh. "All right," he
said. "One has to be as delicate as a fine lady talking to fellows like
you. It's not worth it. When you live like a savage half your life, you
sort of hunger after hearing about things like that--people living in
the country, falling in love and getting married, and going to church
every Sunday--all the simple, homely things. A man without all the
nonsense about good form and all that sort of thing--a man who'd done
things--he would know why you asked him, and he would know he couldn't
find anybody better to tell his little happy secrets to."
"Oh, well," said Jim, slightly mollified.
"I dare say you're right, though," said Mackenzie. "One doesn't blab to
every stranger. Even I don't, and I'm a rough diamond, as I've told
you."
"Yes, you've told me that."
"Is the fellow who is going to marry your sister a country gentleman,
too?"
"No. His father is. He's a younger son. He's a doctor."
"A doctor! Isn't that a funny thing for a country gentleman's son to
be?"
"I don't know that it is. He's a clever fellow. He went in for science
at Oxford, and got keen."
"That's good hearing. I like to hear of men getting keen about a real
job. You might tell me about him, if I'm not taking another liberty in
asking."
"Oh, look here, Mackenzie, I'm sorry I said that. I didn't understand
why you asked what you did."
"I've told you. I like to hear about everything that goes on in the
world. It isn't curiosity, and yet in a way it is. I'm curious about
everything that goes on--everywhere. It isn't impertinent curiosity,
anyway."
"I see that. I'll tell you about Walter Clinton. He's a good chap. His
father has a fine place next to mine. He's a rich man. His family has
been there since the beginning of all things. Walter is just my age.
We've always been a lot together."
"Is there a large family? What do his brothers do?"
"There's Dick, the eldest son. He's in the Guards. There's Humphrey in
the Foreign Office, and a younger son, a sailor. And--and there are
three girls--two of them are children--twins."
"Well, now, aren't I right in saying it's odd for a son in a family like
that to become a doctor?"
"Oh, well, I suppose in a way you are, though I can't see why he
shouldn't be. The fact is that they wanted to make a parson of
him--there's a rather good family living. But he wasn't taking any."
"Ah! I thought I knew something about your country gentry. Well, I
admire the doctor. Was there a row?"
"His father was rather annoyed. Perhaps it's not to be wondered at. His
half-brother is Rector at Kencote now, and when he dies they'll have to
give the living to a stranger. Of course they would rather have one of
the family."
"It's like a chapter in a book--one of the long, easy ones, all about
country life and the squire and the parson. I love 'em. And the doctor
is going to marry your sister. Can I give 'em a skin for a wedding
present?"
"I'm sure they would be gratified. You'd better come down and make their
acquaintance."
"I'll do that. I'd like to come and see you, Graham; and you mustn't
mind my roughness peeping out occasionally. I haven't had many chances
in life."
There was a pause, and then Jim said, "Walter Clinton's sister comes
next to him in the family. She's six or seven years younger. Of course,
I've known her ever since she was a baby. When I came back from Oxford
one summer vac., I found her almost grown up. She seemed quite different
somehow. I was always over there all the summer, or she was with my
sister. We fixed it up we would get married some day. They laughed at
us, and said we had better wait a few years; but of course they were
pleased, really, both my people and hers, though they thought it a bit
premature; she was only seventeen. When I went back to Oxford and
thought it over I said to myself it wasn't quite fair to tie her down at
that age. I would wait and see. So we fell back to what we had been
before."
He stopped suddenly. "Is that all?" asked Mackenzie in some surprise.
"It's all at present."
There was a long pause. "It's disappointing, somehow," said Mackenzie.
"I suppose I mustn't ask questions, but there are a lot I'd like to
ask."
"Oh, ask away. When the ice is once broken one can talk. It does one
good to talk sometimes."
"Women talk to each other about their love affairs. Men don't--not the
real ones--except on occasions."
"Well, we'll let this be an occasion, as you have started the subject."
He laughed lightly. "You've got a sort of power, Mackenzie. If any one
had told me yesterday that I should be talking to you to-night about a
thing I haven't mentioned to a soul for five years--except once or twice
to Walter Clinton--I should have stared at them. I'm not generally
supposed to be communicative."
"It's impersonal," said Mackenzie, "like telling things to a priest. I'm
not in the same world as you. Five years, is it? Well, now, what on
earth have you been doing ever since? She's not too young to marry now."
"No. I was at Oxford a year after what I told you of. Then I went for a
year to learn estate management on my uncle's property. When I came home
I thought I would fix it up with my father--he was alive then. He said,
wait a year longer. He was beginning to get ill, and I suppose he didn't
want to face the worry of making arrangements till he got better. But he
never got better, and within a year he died."
"And then you were your own master. That's two years ago, isn't it? And
here you are coming back from a year's trip round the world. You seem to
be pretty slow about things."
"One doesn't become one's own master immediately one succeeds to the
ownership of land. These death duties have altered all that. I shan't be
free for another year. Then I hope you will come to my wedding,
Mackenzie."
"Thanks. Didn't the young lady object to keeping it all hanging on for
so long?"
Jim did not reply for a moment. Then he said a little stiffly, "I wrote
to her from Oxford when I had thought things over. I thought it wasn't
fair to tie her up before I was ready to marry, and she so young."
"And that means that you have never allowed yourself to make love to her
since."
"Yes, it means that."
"And yet you have been in love with her all the time?"
"Yes."
"Well, it shows a greater amount of self-control than most people
possess--certainly a good deal more than I possess, I suppose you are
sure of her."
Jim did not reply to this, but he said presently, "If it wasn't for the
death duties I should have hoped to be married before this."
"I'll tell you what I don't understand," said Mackenzie. "I suppose you
live in much the same way as your father did before you."
"Yes. My mother lives with me, and my sister."
"Well, surely you _could_ get married if you wanted to. You've got your
house and everything, even if there isn't quite so much money to spend
for a bit. And as for ready money--it doesn't cost nothing to travel for
a year as you're doing."
"Oh, an uncle of mine paid for that," said Jim. "I got seedy after my
father's death. There was a lot of worry, and--and I was fond of the old
man. The doctors told me to go off. I'm all right now. As for the
rest--well, there are such things as jointures and dowries. No, I
couldn't marry, giving my wife and my mother and sister everything they
ought to have, before another year. Even then it will be a close thing;
I shall have to be careful."
They fell silent. The dark mass of the ship's hull beneath them slipped
on through the water, drawing ever nearer towards home. The moon climbed
still higher into the sky. "Well, we've had an interesting talk," said
Mackenzie, drawing himself up. "What you have told me is all so entirely
different from anything that would ever happen in my life. If I wanted
to marry a girl I should marry her, and let the money go hang. She'd
have to share and share. But I dare say when I want a thing I want it
for the moment a good deal more than you do; and, generally, I see that
I get it. Now I think I shall turn in. Give me ten minutes."
He went down to the cabin they both occupied. As he undressed he said to
himself, "Rather a triumph, drawing a story like that from a fellow like
that. And Lord, _what_ a story! He deserves to lose her. I should like
to hear her side of it."
Jim Graham smoked another cigarette, walking round the deck. He felt
vaguely dissatisfied with himself for having made a confidant of
Mackenzie, and at the same time relieved at having given vent to what he
had shut up for so long in the secret recesses of his mind.
A day or two later the two men parted at Tilbury. They had not again
mentioned the subject of their long conversation in the Bay of Biscay.