THE LADY OF THE MANOR
Haverleigh's face did not continue to wear its sunny expression after he
left the American. He frowned and bit his moustache, and in the
annoyance of the moment spurred his horse full speed up the castle road.
Only when he was within the avenue and nearing the porch did he slacken
speed, for his mother--so he called her--might be looking out of some
window. If so, she would assuredly accuse him of ill-using his horse.
Mrs Gabriel rarely minced matters in her dealings with Leo. He was never
perfectly sure whether she loved or hated him.
Mindful of this, he rode gently round to the stables, and, after
throwing his reins to a groom, walked into the castle by a side door. As
he had been absent all the morning, he was not very sure of his
reception, and, moreover, he had eaten no luncheon. The butler informed
him that Mrs Gabriel had asked that he should be sent to her the moment
he returned. At once Leo sought her on the south terrace, where she was
walking in the hot June sunshine. He augured ill from her anxiety to see
him. A memory of his debts and other follies--pardonable
enough--burdened his conscience.
"Here I am, mother," he said as he walked on to the terrace, looking a
son of whom any woman would have been proud. Perhaps if he had really
been her son, instead of her nephew, Mrs Gabriel might have been more
lenient towards him. As it was she treated him almost as harshly as
Roger Ascham did Lady Jane Grey of unhappy memory.
"It is about time you were here," she said in her strong, stern voice.
"As you are so much in London, I think you might give me a few hours of
your time when you condescend to stay at the castle."
Leo threw himself wearily into a stone seat and played with his whip.
This was his usual greeting, and he knew that Mrs Gabriel would go on
finding fault and blaming him until she felt inclined to stop. His only
defence was to keep silent. He therefore stared gloomily on the pavement
and listened stolidly to her stormy speech. "No reverence for
women--after all I have done for you--clownish behaviour," etc.
Some wit had once compared Mrs Gabriel to Agnes de Montfort, that
unpleasant heroine of the Middle Ages. The comparison was a happy one,
for Mrs Gabriel was just such another tall, black-haired, iron-faced
Amazon. She could well have played the _rôle_ of heroine in holding the
castle against foes, and without doubt would have been delighted to
sustain a siege. The present days were too tame for her. She yearned for
the time when ladies were left in charge of the _donjon_ keep, while
their husbands went out to war. More than once she fancied that if she
had lived in those stirring times, she would have armed herself like
Britomart, and have gone a disguised knight-errant for the pleasure and
danger of the thing. As it was, she found a certain relief in the power
she exercised in Colester. Her will was law in the town, and her rule
quite feudal in its demand for absolute obedience.
Report said that the late John Gabriel had not been altogether sorry
when he departed this life. Undoubtedly he was more at rest in the quiet
graveyard near the chapel than he had ever been before. Mrs Gabriel
mourned him just as much as she thought proper. She had never professed
to love him, and had married him (as she calmly admitted) in order to
become mistress of the grand old castle. Besides, Gabriel had always
hampered her desire to rule, as he had sufficient of the old blood in
him to dislike being a cypher in his ancestral home. Consequently,
husband and wife quarrelled bitterly. Finally, he died, gladly enough,
and the Amazon had it all her own way. It was about two years after his
death that Leo came to live with her, and everyone was amazed that she
should behave so kindly towards the child of her dead brother, whom, as
it was well known, she hated thoroughly.
However, Leo came, and from the moment he entered the house she bullied
him. Spirited as the boy was, he could not hold his own against her
stern will and powers of wrathful speech. When he went to school and
college he felt as though he had escaped from gaol, and always returned
unwillingly to Colester. Mrs Gabriel called this ingratitude, and on
every occasion brought it to his mind. She did so now; but even this
could not induce Leo to speak. He declined to furnish fuel to her wrath
by argument or contradiction. This also was a fault, and Mrs Gabriel
mentioned it furiously.
"Can't you say something?" she cried, with a stamp. "Is it any use your
sitting there like a fool? What explanation have you for me?"
"To what?" asked Leo, wearily; the question had been asked so often.
"You have accused me of so many things."
"Then why do you do wrong? I am talking of those debts you have incurred
in London. You gave the list to me before you went out riding."
"I know, mother. I thought it best to avoid a scene. But it seems there
is no escape. When you have quite done perhaps you will let me speak?"
"You shall speak when I choose," rejoined Mrs Gabriel, fiercely. "All I
ask you now is, how comes it that your debts run up to three hundred
pounds? I allow you that income. You should make it do."
"Perhaps I have been a little foolish," began Leo, but she cut him
short.
"A little foolish, indeed! You have behaved like a fool, as you always
do. What right have you to be extravagant? Are you in a position to be
so? Have I not fed and clothed and educated you?"
"You have done everything that a charitable woman could have done."
"You mean that a _mother_ could have done. Had you been my own child--"
"You might have been kinder to me," finished the young man.
Mrs Gabriel stared aghast at this speech, and at last broke out
furiously, "Had you been my own child you would have been a stronger
man; not a weak fool squandering money, and defying your benefactress.
You ought to be ashamed of yourself."
"I am," replied Leo, bitterly, "ashamed that I have endured this
humiliating position for so long. I was only a child when you brought me
here, and had no voice in the matter. Yet, out of gratitude, I have
borne with your injustice, and--"
"Injustice!" broke in Mrs Gabriel. "What do you mean?"
"My meaning is not hard to gather, mother. You have never been just to
me, and the bread with which you have fed me has been bitter enough to
swallow. Do you think that I can go on listening to your angry words
without a protest? I cannot. My position is not of my own making, and
since you find me a burden and an ungrateful creature, the best thing
will be to put an end to the position."
"Indeed!" sneered the woman. "And how do you propose to do that? You are
quite unable to earn your own living."
"Oh, there is one way of doing that," replied Leo, grimly. "It does not
need much education to be a soldier."
"A soldier!" screamed Mrs Gabriel.
"Yes. I made inquiries while I was in London, as I knew very well what
welcome you would give me. It is my intention to volunteer for the war."
"You'll do nothing of the sort."
"I beg your pardon. I have made up my mind."
"Then I shall have nothing more to do with you."
"That is as you please, Mrs Gabriel. You are my aunt, and I suppose you
have the right to support me out of charity. At any rate, you have no
right to keep me here and taunt me all the time with my inability to
keep myself. Again I say that the position is none of my making.
However, I intend to relieve you of the burden of a useless man. Next
week I shall enlist. Then you will be well rid of me."
Mrs Gabriel gasped. "I forbid you!" she cried, with a stamp.
"I am afraid I must decline to accept the command," said Haverleigh,
with great coolness. "You have told me often enough that I am a beggar
and a loafer. You shall do so no longer. As to my debts, I shall see to
them myself. You need not pay them, nor need you continue my allowance.
I earn my own bread from this moment."
"How dare you, Leo? Do you not owe me something?"
"No! You have cancelled all obligation by the way in which you have
treated me. Everything you have done has been done grudgingly. If you
did not intend to behave as a woman should, why, in Heaven's name, did
you not leave me to be dependent on strangers? They could scarcely have
been more harsh to me than you have been. But this is the end of it. I
relieve you from this hour of the burden you complain of."
"Take care. I intended you to be my heir, and--"
"I decline to accept further favours at your hands," said Leo, proudly;
"for what you have done I thank you, but I do not care to accept an
inheritance as a favour. Now you know my intentions and I shall not
change them."
Mrs Gabriel raged for twenty minutes without making the least impression
on the young man. He was determined to put an end to the position, and
she found that she could not longer dominate him by her wrath. Then Mrs
Gabriel became aware that she had driven him like a rat into a corner,
and that, like a rat, he had turned to fight. For reasons best known to
herself she did not wish him to leave her. Forthwith she abandoned her
tyrannical attitude, and took refuge in the weakness of her sex.
Considering her boasting, this was ironical.
"It is cruel of you, Leo, to behave thus to a woman who loves you!"
Leo, leaning over the parapet, shrugged his shoulders and replied
without looking round. "That is just the point," he said. "You really do
not love me--no, not one little bit."
"I do. See how I have looked after you all these years."
"And made me feel that I was a pauper all the time," he retorted. "But
is it necessary to go over all the old ground? I have made up my mind."
"You shall not enlist."
"I tell you I shall."
The two faced one another, both pale and both defiant. It was a contest
of will, and the weaker would be sure to yield in the long run. Mrs
Gabriel quite expected that her adopted son would give in, as he had
often done before, but this time she found to her surprise that he
declined to move from his attitude of defiance. Seeing that she was
beaten, she suddenly calmed and proceeded to win the necessary victory
in another and more crafty way.
"Sit down, Leo," she said quietly. "It is time we had an explanation.
You are behaving very badly, and I must request you at least to listen
to me."
Haverleigh had been doing nothing else for nearly an hour, so this
speech was a trifle inconsistent. However, he could not be brutal, so
with another shrug he resumed his seat. All the same he was resolved in
his own mind that no argument she could use should make him alter the
course he had determined upon. Leo could be obstinate on occasions.
"I do everything I can for your good," said Mrs Gabriel in a complaining
tone, "yet you thwart me at every turn." Then she proceeded to recount
how she had sent him to Eton, to Oxford, how she had permitted him to go
to London and allowed him money, and how he had behaved foolishly. It
was at this point the young man interrupted her.
"I admit that I have been foolish, but that comes from want of
experience. You can't expect me to have an old head on young shoulders."
"Don't interrupt me, please," said Mrs Gabriel, sharply. "Now that you
have sown your wild oats, I want you to come here and take your position
as my heir. I am no longer so young as I was, and I need someone to help
me in administering the estate. Besides, I want you to marry."
Leo rose from his seat. "You wish me to marry," said he; then, after a
pause, he proceeded sarcastically, "And I suppose you have chosen me a
wife?"
"Just so," said Mrs Gabriel, coolly. "I want you to marry Miss Hale."
"Not if there was not another woman in the world!"
"That's all nonsense, Leo. She has a good dowry and she is an agreeable
girl. You _shall_ marry her."
"I don't love her," protested Leo.
"No matter; she loves you. Her brother told me so, and I am woman enough
to see that she is deeply attached to you."
"I won't marry her!" said Leo, doggedly. "I have a right to choose a
wife for myself, and Miss Hale is not my choice."
"Ah! Then what I have heard is true?"
"What have you heard?" he demanded, with a dangerous look in his blue
eyes. Mrs Gabriel was going too far.
"That you are in love with Sibyl Tempest."
"That is true. She is a beautiful and charming girl."
"And a beggar!" burst out Mrs Gabriel, savagely. "Her father has nothing
beyond his stipend, and that he spends on books. When he dies she will
be a beggar. If you married her she would bring you no dowry."
"She will bring me herself," replied Haverleigh, "and that is good
enough for me. I love Sybil with my whole soul."
"And how do you propose to keep her?" sneered Mrs Gabriel.
"Not as the heir to your property," said Leo, wrathfully. "In some way
or another I shall make my way in the world. Sybil is quite willing to
wait for me. We are engaged."
"Ha! You seem to have settled the whole matter."
"We have. And it will not be unsettled by anyone."
The young man looked so determined, there was such fire in his eye, such
a firmness about his closed mouth, that Mrs Gabriel felt that she was
beaten. For the moment she retreated gracefully, but by no means gave up
her point. By nagging at Leo she might be enabled to bring about things
as she wished. "Well, have it your own way," she said, rising. "I have
said my say, and you are behaving abominably."
"I am sorry you should think so, but I really cannot submit to this life
any longer. You quite understand that next week I go to London?"
"As you please." Mrs Gabriel was outwardly calm, but inwardly furious.
"I hope you have well considered what you are doing?"
"I have. My mind has been made up for some time."
"In that case, Leo, we may as well part good friends. I shall pay your
debts and fit you out. Now do not contradict me. If you have any feeling
of gratitude you will at least let me do this much."
Haverleigh did not like the proposition, as he felt that Mrs Gabriel was
preparing some snare into which he might blindly fall. However, as he
could not see his way to a refusal, and, moreover, was weary of this
bickering, he merely bowed. Mrs Gabriel had thus gained time, and in
some measure had secured the victory. It remained to her to make the
best use of it. She was determined that Leo should marry Edith Hale.
"Have you had luncheon, Leo?" she asked, changing the subject.
"No. But I am not hungry now."
"Nonsense. A big man like you. Come in and have something to eat at
once."
As a refusal would only have meant another outburst, Leo accepted the
inevitable, and moved towards the door with his mother. "By the way," he
said, "I met Mr Pratt down below. He intends to ask us to a
house-warming."
It might have been Leo's fancy, but he thought that Mrs Gabriel started
at the mention of the name. However, there was an emotion in her hard
voice as she replied, "I shall be rather glad to see the interior of his
house, Leo. It is said that he has the most beautiful things. Will he
ask us to dinner?"
"Yes. Hale and his sister are coming."
"Ah!" said Mrs Gabriel in gratified tones.
"And the vicar and his daughter. Also Raston, the curate."
"The church party," said Mrs Gabriel, disdainfully. She had no love for
Tempest, whom she regarded as half insane, nor for Sibyl, who was too
beautiful for womanly taste, nor for Raston, who had frequently fought
her on questions connected with parish affairs.
"By the way," said Leo, who had been meditating, "why has Mr Pratt
settled in these parts? I should think he found it dull."
Mrs Gabriel smiled contemptuously. "Mr Pratt is not a foolish young man
like someone I know," she said; "he does not find pleasure in the
follies of the Town. For my part, I think he is wise to settle here in
his old age. He is a delightful neighbour and a pleasant companion."
"He is all that," assented Leo, heartily. He liked Pratt. "You have
known him for many years, mother?"
"For ten or twelve," replied Mrs Gabriel, carelessly. "I met him in
Vienna, I think, and he called on me when I returned to London.
Afterwards he came down here and fell in love with the place. For years
he has been a rolling stone, but always said that when he settled down
he would come to Colester. He is liked, is he not, Leo?"
"He is more than liked. He is immensely popular--with our friends, if
not with the villagers. You have done a good deed in introducing him to
our dull parish."
"I don't think Mr Pratt, who has so many resources in himself, finds it
dull, my dear. However, I shall be glad to accept the invitation to his
dinner. I should like to see him married."
"Indeed! Have you chosen him a wife also?"
Mrs Gabriel laughed. "I thought he might take a fancy to Sibyl Tempest."
"Why, he's old enough to be her father. Besides--"
"Besides you love her," finished Mrs Gabriel, with a shrug. "Well, do
not get angry, Leo. I should like to see Mr Pratt marry Sybil and you
the husband of Edith Hale. Then everything would be right."
"I don't think so at all," commenced Haverleigh in vexed tones. "But
don't let us quarrel any more. I have the greatest regard for Pratt, but
I do not care to go the length of letting him marry the girl I love."
"You know very little of Mr Pratt," said Mrs Gabriel, looking suddenly
at the young man, "how, then, can you regard him so--"
"Oh, I have seen him often in Town," broke in Leo; "sometimes when I was
in difficulties and did not want to tell you Pratt helped me."
"With money?" asked Mrs Gabriel, sharply.
"Of course with money. But I paid him back."
Mrs Gabriel made no answer, but, rising suddenly, passed out of the
room, and left Leo eating his luncheon alone. Her usually calm face
looked disturbed and her hands were restless. Leo's information had
annoyed her.
"What does Pratt mean?" she asked herself. "Can't he leave the boy alone
after all these years? I wonder--" She broke off and pressed her hand to
her heart as though she there felt a cruel pain. Perhaps she did, but
Mrs Gabriel was not the woman to show it.