The past was a sleep, and her life began.
BROWNING.
"Oh, indeed I think you must be mistaken," said Mr. Cranmer. "It can't
be murder--it must be a sunstroke, or a fit."
"Queer sunstroke, to wait till five o'clock in the evening to strike,
and queer fit to break a man's arm," said Jane, with some warmth. "I've
seen apoplexy, sir, and I've seen epilepsy, and I've seen many and many
a sunstroke; I know 'em when I see 'em. This here isn't nothing of that
sort."
Claud approached, hastily cramming an eyeglass in one eye, and, stooping
over the wounded man, without further ado pulled open his flannel shirt
and laid a hand over his heart. His face grew grave.
"We must have help for him quickly," he said, in an alert, decided tone,
which did not seem to match his dilletante exterior. "Where is the
nearest place to run to?"
"Poole is quite close--the farmhouse yonder--I thought Miss Elaine had
gone there," said Jane.
He just touched the arm which lay powerless, the coat-sleeve soaked in
blood, and shook his head.
"You're right enough--it's no fit; it's a brutal assault," he said. "A
robbery, I suppose. I'll run to the farm--who'll show me the way?"
"I--I can run fast!" cried Elaine, who seemed to have pinned her faith
on Mr. Cranmer.
They scrambled down through the gap in the hedge, and ran breathlessly
across the Waste. It was hard to believe that the animated, emotional
creature whose feet seemed to fly over the uneven ground was the same as
the dull, spiritless girl who had trailed the tip of her parasol along
unwillingly in the dust such a short time back.
"Do you know the people--at--the--farm?" panted Claud, who was not in
training.
"Oh, yes. Mind the bog--don't get over the stile, it's broken--come
through the gap. There's Clara come back from the milking. Clara! Clara!
call your father, call the men, quick! Something most dreadful has
happened!"
These ominous words, pronounced at the top of the shrill young voice,
filled the farmyard as if by magic. The men and girls, the boys, the
farmer and his wife, all rushed out of doors, and great indeed was their
astonishment to see Miss Brabourne arrive on the scene with a perfectly
strange gentleman as her escort. It was well that some one was at hand
who could tell the story more coherently than poor Elaine, who by this
time was quite at the end of her powers.
No sooner did Mr. Battishill comprehend what was wanted than his fastest
horse was saddled and his son was galloping for a doctor, while the
farm-laborers pulled down a hurdle, and, spreading a blanket over it,
proceeded briskly to the scene of the disaster, accompanied by the
farmer himself.
Mrs. Battishill urged Elaine to stay with her, but, though white and
almost speechless, the girl vehemently refused--she must go back and see
what had happened.
Claud Cranmer took her hand as if she had been a little girl, and she
clasped his vehemently with both hers.
"Oh, do you think he will die?" she whispered hoarsely.
"I hope not; he looks a big strong fellow. It will depend, I should
think, on whether or not his skull is broken. He is not a friend of
yours, is he?"
"Oh, no, I never saw him in my life before. They say he is staying in
the village."
"You will be dreadfully tired after this," he said, sympathetically.
"Oh, it, does not matter in the least. I am never tired; I never have
anything to tire me. You don't really think his skull is broken, do
you?"
"If the man that struck him could break the bone of his arm in two, I'm
afraid it looks bad for the poor chap. It's a most ghastly thing, 'pon
my word. I never heard of such an outrage! Broad daylight in a little
country place like this! It's horrible to think of."
But he was not thinking wholly of Allonby and his mysterious fate; he
was marvelling at the utter unconsciousness of the girl who walked
beside him, her hand confidingly clasped in his. He had never met a girl
so vilely dressed--never seen even a housemaid who wore such astounding
boots; but this Miss Brabourne was evidently not in the least aware of
how far her toilette came short of the requirements of an exacting
society. In spite of the urgency of the moment, by the time they arrived
back at the scene of action, he was lost in a speculation as to how long
it would take this anomaly in the way of girlhood, if suddenly
transported into the midst of fashionable London, to discover her own
latent capabilities.
Lady Mabel had not been idle in their absence. She had slit Allonby's
coat-sleeve, pulled his jointed mahl-stick to pieces, and contrived an
impromptu splint for the broken arm therewith. She was supporting his
head in her lap, and bathing it with the contents of her vinaigrette.
The wounded man's eyes were open, and he was moving his head uneasily
and slowly, groaning deeply every now and then. It was plain that he was
quite unconscious of his surroundings, and that he suffered much.
Elaine crept up with a fixed stare of wonder, and crouched down on the
grass near. His eyes fell on her a moment,--they were big, honest, hazel
eyes,--and the girl shivered and shrank, turning crimson as she met his
gaze, though it was vacant and wild, and wandered off elsewhere in
another second.
"Oh, if he would not groan so! Oh, how he suffers; he is going to die,"
she cried, mournfully.
Jane came up and drew her away, as the men assembled round the prostrate
figure, and lifted it on to the hurdle, Mr. Cranmer carefully supporting
the head, which was laid on a soft shawl of Lady Mabel's.
All the sky was scarlet and rose, and all the fields tinged with the
same hue, as the small procession started to carry the sufferer with as
little jolting as possible. The sun caught the windows of Poole and made
them flare like torches.
Among the crushed grass where Allonby had lain was a dark wet stain. How
sad the easel looked, with its picture just begun! The palette had
fallen face downwards, the brushes were scattered hither and thither.
Lady Mabel began to collect them, and to pack them into the open
color-box.
"Come, Miss Elaine, dear, we must run home. Your aunts will be sending
out to see after us," said Jane, nervously re-tying her bonnet strings.
"I cannot walk a step," said the girl, who was seated on the grass, as
white as marble. "You must go and tell them so--go and leave me."
"Miss Elaine, my dear!" cried Jane, totally at a loss. Elaine was
usually perfectly obedient.
"I will drive Miss Brabourne home," said Lady Mabel, coming forward.
"She is quite over-wrought. I should like to see her aunts, for I am
nearly sure my husband knew Colonel Brabourne. Claud, what are you going
to do?"
Her brother jerked his glass suddenly out of his eye and turned towards
them; he had been apparently contemplating the distance with an
abstracted air.
"Is there an inn in your village?" he asked of Jane.
"Yes, sir."
"Could we stay the night there?"
"Dear heart, sir, no, this lady couldn't. It's very rough, clean, and
they're decent folks, but just a village public, sir. This poor young
man was staying there, they say. I make no doubt but Mrs. Clapp'll be
wondering after him."
"What do you want to do, Claud?" said his sister.
"I want to investigate this highway robbery a little," he answered. "It
is interesting to me--very. I should have liked to have Goodman with me;
so I thought, if there was any accommodation at the village, you might
drive on, put up, and send Goodman back to rejoin me here."
"And let him find you also lying by the wayside with a broken head?"
said Lady Mabel.
He smiled.
"Not likely to attempt two such outrages in the same spot, on the same
evening," he said. "No. I'll tell you what I will do: I must go up to
the farm and see to this poor fellow. He may have friends who should be
telegraphed to. I'll get a bed here for the night, if you will give me
my bag out of the carriage; you must drive through the village, stop at
the inn to let the good folks know what has become of their lodger, and
then on to the Stanton hotel as we planned. The farmer shall lend me a
trap to-morrow, and I'll join you."
"You think of everything," said his sister, admiringly, "but, Claud, I
wonder if these people know anything of nursing--I am so uneasy till the
doctor has delivered his verdict--is there a nurse in the village that I
could send up, I wonder?"
"There's a very good nurse in the village," said Jane Gollop, "the
Misses Willoughby let her have a cottage rent free, and all her milk,
and eggs, and butter from their own farm. We pass her cottage, if you
please, 'm."
"Very good. Tell Mrs. Battishill I shall send her up," said Lady Mabel,
getting into the carriage. "It is so light now, we shall get to Stanton
before dark, don't you think so, Goodman?"
"Yes, my lady. It's not dark at nine o'clock now."
"No, no. Take care of yourself, Claud."
Her brother nodded, then turned to lift Elaine from the grass, where she
sat motionless, staring at the road where the lifeless form of Allonby
had been carried.
"Come," said Mr. Cranmer, gently.
"It's all over now," sighed Elaine.
"What is over?" he asked.
"What happened. Nothing ever happens in Edge Combe. This is the first
thing that ever happened to me in my life, now it is over."
"Miss Elaine, my dear, don't stay talking," cried Jane, in a fright. She
thought her charge was light-headed with the excitement she had gone
through. The girl said no more, but submitted to be put into the
carriage with Lady Mabel, and sank down with a sigh into the corner,
turning her face away from that fateful patch of roadside grass. Goodman
helped Jane gallantly to a seat beside him. Claud lingered, with his
hands resting on the top of the carriage door, his eyes on Elaine's
face.
"You do look pale," he said, "a lily maid indeed."
The rich color flew to her face as he had hoped it would, but he could
see by the look in her eyes that she had not understood his allusion in
the least.
"Breathes there a girl within the four seas who has not read the Idylls
of the King?" he pondered, wondering. Then, just as the carriage was
starting, he cried out,
"Hi! Goodman! One thing more--as you go through the village, send me up
the constable."