CHARLES FAIRFIELD ALONE.
Charles Fairfield talked of sleeping. There was little chance of
that. He placed the candle on one of the two old oak cupboards, as they
were still called, which occupied corresponding niches in the
wainscoted wall, opposite the fireplace, and he threw himself at his
length on the sofa.
Tired enough for sleep he was; but who can stop the mill of anxious
thought into which imagination pours continually its proper grist? In
his tired head its wheels went turning, and its hammers beat with
monotonous pulsation and whirl--weariest and most wasting of fevers!
He turned his face, like the men of old, in his anguish, to the wall.
Then he tried the other side, wide awake, and literally staring, from
point to point, in the fear and fatigue of his vain ruminations. Then
up he sat, and flung his cloak on the floor, and then to the window he
went, and, opening the shutter, looked out on the moonlight, and the
peaceful trees that seemed bowed in slumber, and stood, hardly seeing
it--hardly thinking in his confused misery.
One hand in his pocket, the other against the window-case, to which
the stalworth good fellow, Harry, had leaned his shoulder in their
unpleasant dialogue and altercation. Harry, his chief stay, his
confidant and brother--dare he trust him now? If he might, where could
he find him? Better do his own work--better do it indifferently than
run a risk of treason. He did not quite know what to make of Harry.
So with desultory resolution he said to himself, “Now I’ll think in
earnest, for I’ve got but two hours to decide in.” There was a pretty
little German village, quite out of the ordinary route of tourists. He
remembered its rocks and hills, its ruined castle and forest scenery,
as if he had seen them but yesterday--the very place for Alice, with
her simple tastes and real enjoyment of nature. On that point, though
under present circumstances by short journeys, they should effect
their retreat.
In three hours’ time he would himself leave the Grange. In the
meantime he must define his plans exactly. He must write to Harry--he
must write to Alice, for he was quite clear he would not see her; and,
after all, he might have been making a great deal too much of this
odious affair, which, rightly managed, might easily end in smoke.
Pen, ink, and paper he found, and now to clear his head and fix his
attention. Luckily he had a hundred pounds in his pocket-book. Too
hard that out of his miserable pittance, scarcely five hundred pounds
a year, he should have to pay two hundred pounds to that woman, who
never gave him an easy week, and who seemed bent on ruining him if she
could. By the dull light of the mutton-fat with which Mildred had
furnished him he wrote this note--
“My darling little Woman,--
“You must make Dulcibella pack up your things. Tom will have a chaise
here at eleven o’clock. Drive to Wykeford and change horses there, and
go on to Lonsdale, where I will meet you _at last_. Then and there
your own, poor, loving Ry will tell you all his plans and reasons for
this sudden move. We must get away by easy stages, and baffle
possible pursuit, and then a quiet and comparatively happy interval
for my poor little fluttered bird. I live upon the hope of our
meeting. Out of reach of all trouble we shall soon be, and your poor
Ry happy, where only he can be happy, in your dear presence. I enclose
ten pounds. Pay _nothing and nobody_ at the Grange. Say I told you so.
You will reach Lonsdale, if you leave Carwell not later than eleven,
before five. Don’t delay to pack up any more than you actually want.
Leave all in charge of old Mildred, and we can easily write in a day
or two for anything we may want.
“Ever, my own idolized little woman,
“Your own poor adoring
“Ry.”
So this was finished, and now for Harry:
“My dear Harry,--
“How you must hate the sight of my hand. I never write but to trouble
you. But, as you will perceive, I am myself in trouble more than
enough to warrant my asking you again to aid me if it should lie in
your way. You will best judge if you can, and how you can. The fact is
that what you apprehended turns out to be too true. That person who,
however I may have been at one time to blame, has certainly no right
to charge me with want of generosity or consideration, seems to have
made up her mind to give me all the annoyance in her power. She is at
this moment _here_ at Carwell Grange. I was absent when she arrived,
and received timely notice, and perhaps ought to have turned about,
but I could not do that without ascertaining first exactly how matters
stood at Carwell. So I am here, without any one’s being aware of it
except old Mildred, who tells me that the person in question is under
the impression that it is _you_--and not _I_--who are married, and
that it is your wife who is residing in the house. As you have been no
party to this deception, pray let her continue to think so. I shall
leave this before daybreak, my visit not having exceeded four hours. I
leave a note for poor little Alice, telling her to follow me
to-morrow--I should say _this_ morning--to Lonsdale, where I shall
meet her; and thence we get on to London, and from London, my present
idea is, to make our way to some quiet little place on the Continent,
where I mean to stay quite concealed until circumstances alter for the
better. What I want you, and _beg_ of you to do for me at present, is
just this--to sell _everything_ at Carwell that is saleable--the
horse, the mule, the two donkeys, the carts, plough, &c., &c., in fact
everything out of doors; and let the farm to Mildred’s nephew, who
wanted to take it last year. It is, including the garden, nineteen
acres. I wish him to have it, provided he pays a fair rent, because I
think he would be kind to his aunt, old Mildred. He must stipulate to
give her her usual allowances of vegetables, milk, and all the rest
from the farm; and she shall have her room, and the kitchen, and her
£8 a year as usual. Do like a good old fellow see to this, and try to
turn all you can into money for me. I shall have miserably little to
begin with, and anything you can get together will be a lift to me. If
you write under cover to J. Dylke at the old place in Westminster, it
will be sure to reach me. I don’t know whether all this is
intelligible. You may guess how distracted I am and miserable. But
there is no use in describing. I ought to beg your pardon a thousand
times for asking you to take all the trouble involved in this request.
But, dear Harry, you will ask yourself who else on earth has the poor
devil to look to in an emergency but his brother? I know my good Harry
will remember how urgent the case is. Any advice you can spare me in
my solitary trouble will be most welcome. I think I have said
everything--at least all I can think of in this miserable hurry--I
feel so helpless. But you are a clever fellow, and always were--so
much cleverer than I, and know how to manage things. God bless you,
dear Harry, I know you won’t forget how pressed I am. You were always
prompt in my behalf, and I never so needed a friend like you--for
delay here might lead to the worst annoyances.
“Ever, dear Harry, your affectionate brother,
“Charles Fairfield.
“Carwell Grange.”
It was a relief to his mind when these letters were off it, and
something like the rude outline of a plan formed.
Very tired was Charles Fairfield when he had folded and addressed his
letters. No physical exertion exhausts like the monotonous pain of
anxiety. For many nights he had had no sleep, but those wearying
snatches of half-consciousness in which the same troublous current is
still running through the brain, and the wasted nerves of endurance
are still tasked. He sat now in his chair, the dim red light of the
candle at his elbow, the window shutter open before him, and the cold
serene light of the moon over the outer earth and sky.
Gazing on this, a weary sleep stole over his senses, and for a full
hour the worn-out man slept profoundly.
Into this slumber slowly wound a dream, of which he could afterwards
remember only that it was somehow horrible.
Dark and direful grew his slumber thus visited; and in a way that
accorded well with its terrors, he was awakened.