ON THE ROAD.
Fox Crymes walked on toward Hall with Bessie. He could not well leave
her to take the rest of her course alone, after the old man, her father,
had ridden past, forgetting her, and leaving her to make her way home
without him. They therefore walked on together, speaking at intervals
and disconnectedly to each other. Bessie feeling the irksomeness of her
position, and he unwilling further to jeopardize his suit by pressing it
on her any more. He had said what was sufficient and he left the father
to use pressure to force her to comply with his wishes.
The two had not, however, proceeded more than a mile before they saw
Squire Cleverdon riding back to meet them. He had recalled his promise
before he reached home, and then remembered having passed two persons
whom he did not particularly observe, but whom he concluded were his
daughter and Fox.
The first impression he had received from Anthony's conduct was that he
put the offer from him altogether; and yet, on further consideration, he
persuaded himself that he had been mistaken. Had Anthony finally decided
to reject his offer, why had he not said so in words? The old man's
nature was coarse--he could not understand the struggles of a generous
mind and resistance to mean motives. Anthony had not spoken, because he
did not choose to speak before Julian, because he thought it seemly to
affect difficulty of persuasion, because he wanted time in which to
consider it, because--because--the father could find many reasons why
Anthony should not immediately close with the proposal.
The more the old Squire turned the matter over, the more obvious it
became to him that Anthony would do as he wished. It was inconceivable
to him that he should persist in a course of opposition to his best
interests. The boy was proud; but he had learned, by sore experience,
that pride brought to misery. He had tried his strength against his
father's--had shown what he could do; and now, if he gave way, he was
not humiliated. Why, in the Civil Wars, when Salcombe Castle was held by
Sir Edmund Fortescue for five months against the Roundheads, and held
after every other fort in the country had been taken or had surrendered;
and then, when starved into yielding, it was on the most honourable
terms, and Sir Edmund marched forth with all the honours of war, bearing
away with him the key of the castle he had so gallantly defended. This
was no disgrace to him, it was a proud act of which all Devon men would
speak with elation. Why then should not Anthony surrender? He should
march forth with flying colours, and it would be no blow to his
self-respect, no jar to his pride. The old man, having worked himself
into the conviction that his case was won, was full of elation, and,
with the petty spite of a mean mind, he resolved at once to show Fox he
had no longer need of him. Then it was that he remembered that Fox and
Bessie were to walk towards Hall till he caught them up, and he turned
his horse's head and rode back till he met them.
"Heigh, there!" shouted the old man; "how goes the suit, Tony Crymes?
Hast thou won her consent?" He paused for an answer.
"Her mother brought her naught," he continued, when Fox remained silent,
not well knowing what answer to make.
"That I know," said Fox; "but he who wins Bessie Cleverdon wins a
treasure."
"I am glad thou thinkest so. I hope that will satisfy thee. Come, Tony,
lend a hand to the maid's foot, and help her up on the pillion behind
me."
Fox obeyed; the dirty road had soiled Bessie's boot so that he could not
preserve a clean hand.
"Find her heavy, eh?" asked the Squire, in a mocking tone.
"Much gold and many acres stick to thy hand when thou puttest it forth
to her, eh?"
Fox looked questioningly at the old man. His tone was changed.
"Bessie will bring luck that will adhere to whatever hand holds her,"
said the young man.
"No doubt--no doubt," said the Squire. "You may walk at our side, and I
will have a word with thee. Come on to Hall if it give thee pleasure.
The road is well known to thee, thou hast trod it many a time of late. I
doubt but soon thou thinkest to set up thy home there, and not to have
to run to and fro as heretofore."
Fox looked again inquiringly and uneasily at the old man. He did not
understand this new style of banter.
"Thou hast helped Bessie now into pillion, and I suppose thou art
reckoning on the stuffing of the pad on to which thou thinkest her hand
will help thee up, eh?"
Fox, usually ready with a word, was uncertain how to meet these sallies,
and still remained silent.
The old man rode on, casting an occasional glance, full of cynicism, at
young Crymes, who walked at the side of the horse.
Fox would not return till he was enlightened on this change in his
manner; nor would he say much, resolving on silence as the best method
of forcing old Cleverdon to show what was in his mind.
"What dost say to Anthony coming home?" asked the Squire of his
daughter, turning his head over his shoulder.
"Anthony--is he really coming to Hall?" gasped Bessie, her heart leaping
with gladness.
"It will be a pleasure to thee to be able to retain the name of Crymes,"
sneered the Squire, turning to the walker. "A fine, ancient, gentle
name; thou did'st doubt about exchanging it for one less venerable--that
of Cleverdon, though of better sound, and the name that goes up, whilst
Crymes goes down?"
Anthony Crymes's colour changed; "I do not understand what you aim at,"
he said, in uncertain tone.
"Nay, there is naught hard to be understood in what I say. If Anthony
should come back to me, then there will be no need for Tony Crymes to
spend some forty guineas to obtain license to call himself Cleverdon."
"Then Anthony is coming back! Oh, father!" exclaimed Bessie, "this is
glad tidings." She disregarded all his hints and allusions to her
marriage with Fox.
"This it is--you, Bess, say you are pleased to hear it, and I am very
sure it will delight Tony Crymes. This it is--my Anthony has had the
offer made him by me that he shall return to Hall, and all be forgiven
and forgot that was between us."
"Oh, father, and you will receive Urith!"
"Not so fast, Bess. Anthony comes back, but never, never, will I suffer
that hussy to cross my threshold. I swore that when he married her, and
I will not go from my oath. No--Anthony returns, but not with that
creature--that beggar wench. He comes himself. He comes alone."
"He cannot, father; he cannot--she is his wife."
"She is, as his madness made it to be--she is his wife. But he is tired
of the folly; he repents it. He will be glad to be quit of her. He comes
back to me, and she remains in her beggary at Willsworthy."
"Never, father! never. Anthony could not have agreed to that."
"I tell thee he did; that is, he has almost agreed to it. He did not
close with the offer I made at once, but, for appearance sake, made some
difficulty--yet only for appearance sake. I have given him three days,
and in that time he will have let the matter be noised abroad, have
broken his intention to the girl, and have made himself ready to return
to me."
"Father!" said Bessie, in a voice choked with agitation, "I can never
regard--never think of Anthony again, in the old way, if he do this. He
must not leave his wife. He swore before God to hold to her in poverty
or in wealth till death, and thou wilt make him forswear himself?"
"His first duty he owes to me--nay, he owes it to himself, to return
from the evil ways in which he has gone. Heaven set him in Hall, and he
went against Heaven when he left it; now he is the prodigal that has
been among swine, but comes back to his father. That is Scripture--that
is the Word of God, and stands before all foolish words said in oath,
without weighing what they meant."
Fox Crymes caught the bridle, and stayed the horse.
"Is this jest, or is it earnest?" he asked, huskily.
"It is most serious and solemn earnest," answered the Squire.
"Then I insist on a word with thee, and I will hold the bridle till thou
dismount. I will not let thee go on till I have spoken alone with thee.
Let Bessie go forward, we must say somewhat together."
Squire Cleverdon had no whip, but he struck spurs into the flanks of his
horse; but Fox held the rein, and, though the beast plunged and kicked
out, he would not let it break away. Bessie was almost thrown off, and
in her danger threatened to drag her father with her.
"Nay, thou shalt not escape me," said Fox. "Dismount, Master Cleverdon,
and tell me plainly what this new matter is between thee and thy
graceless fool of a son, or I will make the horse fling thee into the
mud, and perhaps break thy neck."
The old man thought best to comply, and, growling, he dismounted. Then
Fox let go his hold of the rein, and bade Bessie ride forward beyond
earshot.
"What is the meaning of this?" asked Fox, who was livid with rage and
mortification, so livid, that the freckles on his face stood out as
black spots on the hide of a coach-dog. "It is ill to trifle with me.
You arranged all with me. I was to have your daughter, and succeed to
Hall, I was to take your name, and step into all the rights forfeited by
Anthony. You brought me face to face with Bessie at her aunt's, and then
sent me walking back toward Hall with her, to press my case. When all is
nearly over, then you turn round, cast me over, and reinstate that son
who has maltreated and half-blinded me, and make a mock of me for my
pains?"
"It is you who have trifled with me," retorted the Squire, with less
heat, but more bitterness. "You told me that you would urge my suit with
your sister; you brought me weekly accounts of how she was becoming more
disposed to think of me, you flattered and encouraged me, and all the
while you knew----"
"I knew what? I knew nothing, save that you are old, and she young."
"That is not it," said the Squire, peevishly, "that is not what I refer
to. You knew that she was encouraging my son, and that the old
attachment that subsisted before this hateful affair with Urith Malvine
had reasserted itself."
"It is false," answered Fox, furiously, "not content with making your
sport with me, you insult my sister."
"I suppose you will not dispute the testimony of my own eyes," sneered
old Cleverdon.
"And to what do they bear testimony?"
"To what I said. I entered the parlour where they were, she standing
over him, at the window; he seated, with his arms thrown about her neck,
kissing her, and above them on the glass, scrawled by his finger, their
initials woven together, with a true lover's knot."
Fox glared at him, in speechless wrath.
"Now--what say you to that?" asked the old man. "With such proceedings,
allowed, connived at in your house, I am to be lured on to offer myself
to your precious sister, and then to be laughed at, and scouted for my
folly--a folly into which you were drawing me."
"It is false"--that was all Fox could say, so disconcerted, so choked
was he with rage.
"It is not false. I have but just come from your house, and saw that,
and because I saw it, I made overtures to Anthony to return. It was
clear to me that all the fever of fancy for that hussy at Willsworthy
was dead as ashes. That the reputation of Julian will need looking to,
should he return to me, and be separate from Urith, is naught to me."
"He has enough to answer to me without this," gasped Fox. Then, by an
effort, he steadied his voice and resumed his usual manner. "Now," said
he, "let us have all brought into measure and rhyme between us. You tell
me that Anthony comes back to Hall and abandons his wife."
"Aye! That is my offer to him. Let him leave Willsworthy and return to
me, and all shall be forgiven. 'Tis a misfortune that he cannot be rid
of his wife, but the tie by law alone will remain. She shall never be
mentioned between us."
"And he agrees to this?"
"I have granted him three days to consider. In three days he gives me
his answer, but who can doubt what that answer will be? Is he not
wearied with his toy? Has he had good cheer at Willsworthy? Has he aught
there now to retain him?"
"And what about Bessie?"
"Oh! you are welcome to her, as I said before; but after my death Hall
will go to Anthony, only the reversion to thee and any child thou hast
by Bess. Should my Anthony survive Urith and marry again, then to his
son by his second wife, never--that I have ever maintained--never to any
child of his by Urith Malvine."
Fox laughed contemptuously.
"A poor prospect for Bess and her husband."
"A poor prospect, mayhap, but the only one on which they can look
through their windows when they set up house together."
"And what allowance will you make Bessie when she marries?"
"But a trifle--I cannot more."
"So her husband and she are to live on the expectation of succession
should they survive Anthony, and should Anthony not be remarried."
"That is all."
"But what if Anthony refuses your offer?"
"Then all remains as before. He will not refuse."
"I will hear that from his own mouth. Where is he?"
"I did not overtake him on the road. He had not yet left the town. I
doubt not he has gone to his Aunt Magdalen."
"One word more. Hold up your hand to Heaven and swear that he
dared--dared to put his arms round and kiss my sister! He--he--Anthony
Cleverdon!"
"I will do it! It is true!"
Fox remained in the midst of the road, and his hand convulsively caught
and played with his hunting-knife that hung to his belt. His red, thick
brows were knitted.
As old Cleverdon looked at his mottled face, he allowed to himself that
Bess would have bad taste to choose such an one wittingly; and that,
unwilling, it would take some compulsion to drive her to accept him.
"And, if Anthony does not come within three days, all remains as
heretofore?" again asked Fox, looking furtively up at the father, and
then letting his eyes fall again.
"Yes, all as heretofore. Should he dare to disappoint me in this, not a
thread from my coat, nor a grass-blade from my land, shall fall to him."
Fox waved his hand. "That will do," he said, and turned away.
He was at the junction of the road or track that led from Willsworthy
with the main highway along which Squire Cleverdon had been riding. He
remained at this point, waiting till the old man had remounted, and had
trotted away, with Bessie behind him. There he stood, still playing with
the handle of his hunting-knife, his red, lowering brows contracted over
his small eyes, watching till the riders disappeared over the hill. Then
he turned along the track-way that led to Willsworthy, with his head
down against the drizzling rain, which had come on again, after having
ceased for an hour; which came on again thick, blotting out the
scenery--all prospect within a hundred feet--as effectually as though
veils of white gauze had been let down out of the heavens, one behind
another.