There was but one thought in the minds of father and uncle at Brackley,
and that was to silence busy tongues, get Glynne sufficiently well to
move, and go right away abroad; and in Oldroyd they had a willing
coadjutor, and one who seemed not to have a thought beyond his
profession.
The major had been half mad, and ready to follow the bent of his
suspicions again and again; but robbery as well as outrage appeared to
have influenced the man who had escaped unseen, since the greater part
of the valuable jewels, including a diamond bracelet given by Marjorie
to the bride, were missing, and he felt that he was wrong.
Sir John prevailed.
"Jem," he said, "if I knew who it was I'd shoot him ike a dog--curse
him! No: I couldn't wait to fire, I'd strangle him; but I can't have
this published abroad if we can hush it up. I won't have my child
dragged into a witness box to give evidence against the devil who has
wrought us this ill. We must bear it, Jem, and wait."
"But, my dear Jack--"
"But, my dear Jem--I am her father. What would our darling wish if she
could speak to us--if we could speak to her upon what it would be best
to do?"
The major bowed his head, and as far as possible a veil was drawn over
the events of that night.
Rumour was pretty busy during the next month, during which period
several stories were afloat, but only one bore the stamp of truth--that,
out of despair some said, Captain Rolph obtained leave of absence, and
went off to Norway, shooting, while Mrs Rolph and her niece accompanied
him as far as Hull, and then continued their journey to Scarboro'.
That was perfectly true, Mrs Rolph having her hands pretty full with
Marjorie, who also turned ill having bad, nervous, hysterical fits, and
refusing absolutely to go outside The Warren door without having tight
hold of Mrs Rolph's arm; and even then she was constantly turning her
eyes wildly round as if in expectation of seeing someone start out from
behind bush or hedge.
"The shock to her system," Mrs Rolph used to say to herself, and she
became increasingly gentle toward the girl whose nerves had been
shattered by the affair at The Hall.
By this time the shutters were all closed at Brackley, for, after Sir
John had been severely blamed for not getting down some big physician
when Glynne's brain fever was at its worst, people came to the
conclusion that he knew what he was about, for if ever a clever
practitioner did settle down in a place, it was "Doctor" Oldroyd, who
had cured the young lady in a wonderfully short space of time. For the
month at its end found the Days in Italy, where Glynne had been
recommended to go on account of her health.
Oldroyd consequently was on the road to fame--that is the fame which
extended for a radius of six miles; but his pockets were very little the
heavier, and he still looked upon men who kept banking accounts with a
feeling akin to awe.
Change in the neighbourhood of Brackley extended no further. The
blunt-eyed, resident policeman, somehow never managed to come across the
poachers who made raids upon The Warren and upon Brackley during the
absence of their owners; while over at Lindham, the doctor learned from
old Mother Wattley, who grew more chatty and apparently younger, under
her skilful medical man's care, that Ben Hayle--`my son-in-law'--had
taken an acre of land, and was `goin' to make a fortun' there as a
florist; but when Oldroyd met the ex-keeper one day, and went over the
garden with him, it seemed improbable that it would even pay the rent.
"Better turn to your old business, Hayle," said Oldroyd.
"Easier said than done, sir," replied the man. "Old master gave me my
chance when I was a young fool, and liked to do a bit o' poaching,
believing honestly then that all birds were wild, and that I had as good
a right to them as anybody. But I soon found out the difference when I
had to rear them, and I served him honest, and Mrs Rolph too, all those
years, till she discharged me because of the captain's liking for my
Judith."
"But surely there were other places to be found by a man with a good
character."
"Didn't seem like it, sir. I tried till I was beat out, and then, in a
kind of despairing fit, I went out with some of the lads, and you know
what I got for my pains."
"Yes," said the doctor, "and it ought to be a lesson for you, Hayle."
"Yes, sir, it ought; but you see, once a man takes to that kind of work
it's hard to keep from it."
"But, my good fellow, you may be laid by the heels in gaol at any time.
I wondered you were not taken over that affair."
"So I should have been, if I'd had any other doctor, sir," said Hayle,
with a meaning smile, "and the police had been a little sharper. But
you didn't chatter, and our fellows didn't, and so I got off."
"But think, now; you, the father of a young girl like Miss Hayle, what
would her feelings be if you were sent to prison like that young
fellow--what's his name--was."
"Caleb Kent, sir?"
"Yes. What's become of him? I haven't seen him lately."
"Racketing about somewhere, sir. Me and him had a quarrel or two about
my Judith. He was always hanging after her; and it got so bad, at last,
that I promised him a charge o' shot in his jacket if he ever came anigh
our place again. He saw I meant it, sir, and he has left the poor girl
in peace."
"Well, I must be off, Hayle."
"Thankye for calling, sir. Been to see the old mother-in-law?"
"Yes; she keeps wonderfully well."
"You mean you keep her wonderfully well, sir. Poor old girl, she's not
a bad one in her way."
"No, and there's nothing the matter with her but old age."
"Hear that the missus is coming back to The Warren, sir?"
"Yes, and that the Brackley people are on their way too. Look here,
Hayle, shall I put in a word for you to Sir John?"
"No thankye, doctor, let me bide; things 'll come right in time. Think
there'll be a wedding at the Hall, now, sir? They tell me Miss Day's
got well and strong again."
"I've enough to do with my people when they want me, Hayle," said the
doctor, drily, "and I never interfere about their private matters; but,
as you ask me that question, I should say decidedly not."
The ex-keeper smiled, as if the doctor's words coincided with his own
thoughts, and he stood watching Oldroyd, as he rode off, getting a peep
at Judith seated by the window working hard as he went by, the girl's
face looking pale and waxen in the shade.
"Fretting a bit, by the look of her, and those dark rings," said
Oldroyd, as he rode away. "How much happier a place the world would be
if there were no marrying and giving in marriage--no making love at all.
Causes more worry, I think, than the drink."
Volume 3, Chapter XI.