THE GRAND CRASH.
The funeral was over. Charles had waited with poor weeping Mary to see
the coffin carried away under the dark grim archway of the vault, and
had tried to comfort her who would not be comforted. And, when the last
wild wail of the organ had died away, and all the dark figures but they
two had withdrawn from the chapel, there stood those two poor orphans
alone together.
It was all over, and they began for the first time to realise it; they
began to feel what they lost. King Densil was dead, and King Cuthbert
reigned. When a prime minister dies, the world is shaken; when a county
member dies, the county is agitated, and the opposition electors, till
lately insignificant, rise suddenly into importance, and the possible
new members are suddenly great men. So, when a mere country gentleman
dies, the head of a great family dies, relations are changed entirely
between some score or two of persons. The dog of to-day is not the dog
of yesterday. Servants are agitated, and remember themselves of old
impertinences, and tremble. Farmers wonder what the new Squire's first
move will be. Perhaps even the old hound wonders whether he is to keep
his old place by the fire or no; and younger brothers bite their nails,
and wonder, too, about many things.
Charles wondered profoundly in his own room that afternoon, whither he
had retired after having dismissed Mary at her door with a kiss. In
spite of his grief, he wondered what was coming, and tried to persuade
himself that he didn't care. From this state of mind he was aroused by
William, who told him that Lord Segur was going, and Lord Saltire with
him, and that the latter wanted to speak to him.
Lord Saltire had his foot on the step of the carriage. "Charles, my dear
boy," he said, "the moment things are settled come to me at Segur
Castle. Lord Segur wants you to come and stay there while I am there."
Lord Segur, from the carriage, hoped Charles would come and see them at
once.
"And mind, you know," said Lord Saltire, "that you don't do anything
without consulting me. Let the little bird pack off to Lady Ascot's, and
help to blow up the grooms. Don't let her stay moping here. Now,
good-bye, my dear boy. I shall see you in a day or so."
And so the old man was gone. And, as Charles watched the carriage, he
saw the sleek grey head thrust from the window, and the great white hand
waved to him. He never forgot that glimpse of the grey head and the
white hand, and he never will.
A servant came up to him, and asked him, Would he see Mr. Ravenshoe in
the library? Charles answered Yes, but was in no hurry to go. So he
stood a little longer on the terrace, watching the bright sea, and the
gulls, and the distant island. Then he turned into the darkened house
again, and walked slowly towards the library door.
Some one else stood in the passage--it was William, with his hand on the
handle of the door.
"I waited for you, Master Charles," he said; "they have sent for me too.
Now you will hear something to your advantage."
"I care not," said Charles, and they went in.
Once, in lands far away, there was a sailor lad, a good-humoured,
good-looking, thoughtless fellow, who lived alongside of me, and with
whom I was always joking. We had a great liking for one another. I left
him at the shaft's mouth at two o'clock one summer's day, roaring with
laughter at a story I had told him; and at half-past five I was helping
to wind up the shattered corpse, which when alive had borne his name. A
flake of gravel had come down from the roof of the drive and killed him,
and his laughing and story-telling were over for ever. How terrible
these true stories are! Why do I tell this one? Because, whenever I
think of this poor lad's death, I find myself not thinking of the
ghastly thing that came swinging up out of the darkness into the summer
air, but of the poor fellow as he was the morning before. I try to think
how he looked, as leaning against the windlass with the forest behind
and the mountains beyond, and if, in word or look, he gave any sign of
his coming fate before he went gaily down into his tomb.
So it was with Charles Ravenshoe. He remembers part of the scene that
followed perfectly well; but he tries more than all to recall how
Cuthbert looked, and how Mackworth looked before the terrible words were
spoken. After it was all over he remembers, he tells me, every trifling
incident well. But his memory is a little gone about the first few
minutes which elapsed after he and William came into the room. He says
that Cuthbert was sitting at the table very pale, with his hands clasped
on the table before him, looking steadily at him without expression on
his face; and that Mackworth leant against the chimney-piece, and looked
keenly and curiously at him.
Charles went up silently and kissed his brother on the forehead.
Cuthbert neither moved nor spoke. Charles greeted Mackworth civilly, and
then leant against the chimney-piece by the side of him, and said what a
glorious day it was. William stood at a little distance, looking
uneasily from one to another.
Cuthbert broke silence. "I sent for you," he said.
"I am glad to come to you, Cuthbert, though I think you sent for me on
business, which I am not very well up to to-day."
"On business," said Cuthbert: "business which must be gone through with
to-day, though I expect it will kill me."
Charles, by some instinct (who knows what? it was nothing reasonable, he
says) moved rapidly towards William, and laid his hand on his shoulder.
I take it, that it arose from that curious gregarious feeling that men
have in times of terror. He could not have done better than to move
towards his truest friend, whatever it was.
"I should like to prepare you for what is to come," continued Cuthbert,
speaking calmly, with the most curious distinctness; "but that would be
useless. The blow would be equally severe whether you expect it or not.
You two who stand there were nursed at the same breast. That groom, on
whose shoulder you have your hand now, is my real brother. You are no
relation to me; you are the son of the faithful old servant whom we
buried to-day with my father."
Charles said, Ho! like a great sigh. William put his arm round him, and,
raising his finger, and looking into his face with his calm, honest
eyes, said with a smile--
"This was it then. We know it all now."
Charles burst out into a wild laugh, and said, "Father Mackworth's ace
of trumps! He has inherited a talent for melodrama from his blessed
mother. Stop. I beg your pardon, sir, for saying that; I said it in a
hurry. It was blackguardly. Let's have the proofs of this, and all that
sort of thing, and witnesses too, if you please. Father Mackworth, there
have been such things as prosecutions for conspiracy. I have Lord
Saltire and Lord Ascot at my back. You have made a desperate cast, sir.
My astonishment is that you have allowed your hatred for me to outrun
your discretion so far. This matter will cost some money before it is
settled."
Father Mackworth smiled, and Charles passed him, and rang the bell. Then
he went back to William and took his arm.
"Fetch the Fathers Tiernay here immediately," said Charles to the
servant who answered the bell.
In a few minutes the worthy priests were in the room. The group was not
altered. Father Mackworth still leant against the mantel-piece, Charles
and William stood together, and Cuthbert sat pale and calm with his
hands clasped together.
Father Tiernay looked at the disturbed group and became uneasy. "Would
it not be better to defer the settlement of any family disagreements to
another day? On such a solemn occasion----"
"The ice is broken, Father Tiernay," said Charles. "Cuthbert, tell him
what you have told me."
Cuthbert, clasping his hands together, did so, in a low, quiet voice.
"There," said Charles, turning to Father Tiernay, "what do you think of
that?"
"I am so astounded and shocked, that I don't know what to say," said
Father Tiernay; "your mind must be abused, my dear sir. The likeness
between yourself and Mr. Charles is so great that I cannot believe it.
Mackworth, what have you to say to this?"
"Look at William, who is standing beside Charles," said the priest,
quietly, "and tell me which of those two is most like Cuthbert."
"Charles and William are very much alike, certainly," said Tiernay;
"but----"
"Do you remember James Horton, Tiernay?" said Mackworth.
"Surely."
"Did you ever notice the likeness between him and Densil Ravenshoe?"
"I have noticed it, certainly; especially one night. One night I went to
his cottage last autumn. Yes--well?"
"James Horton was Densil Ravenshoe's half-brother. He was the
illegitimate son of Petre."
"Good God."
"And the man whom you call Charles Ravenshoe, whom I call Charles
Horton, is his son."
Charles was looking eagerly from one to the other, bewildered.
"Ask him, Father Tiernay," he said, "what proofs he has. Perhaps he will
tell us."
"You hear what Mr. Charles says, Mackworth. I address you because you
have spoken last. You must surely have strong proofs for such an
astounding statement."
"I have his mother's handwriting," said Father Mackworth.
"My mother's, sir," said Charles, flushing up, and advancing a pace
towards him.
"You forget who your mother was," said Mackworth. "Your mother was
Norah, James Horton's wife. She confessed to me the wicked fraud she
practised, and has committed that confession to paper. I hold it. You
have not a point of ground to stand on. Fifty Lord Saltires could not
help you one jot. You must submit. You have been living in luxury and
receiving an expensive education when you should have been cleaning out
the stable. So far from being overwhelmed at this, you should consider
how terribly the balance is against you."
He spoke with such awful convincing calmness that Charles's heart died
away within him. He knew the man.
"Cuthbert," he said, "you are a gentleman. Is this true?"
"God knows how terribly true it is," said Cuthbert, quietly. Then there
was a silence, broken by Charles in a strange thick voice, the like of
which none there had heard before.
"I want to sit down somewhere. I want some drink. Will, my own boy, take
this d----d thing from round my neck? I can't see; where is there a
chair? Oh, God!"
He fell heavily against William, looking deadly white, without sense or
power. And Cuthbert looked up at the priest, and said, in a low voice--
"You have killed him."
Little by little he came round again, and rose on his feet, looking
round him as a buck or stag looks when run to soil, and is watching to
see which dog will come, with a piteous wild look, despairing and yet
defiant. There was a dead silence.
"Are we to be allowed to see this paper?" said Charles, at length.
Father Mackworth immediately handed it to him, and he read it. It was
completely conclusive. He saw that there was not a loophole to creep out
of. The two Tiernays read it, and shook their heads. William read it and
turned pale. And then they all stood staring blankly at one another.
"You see, sir," said Father Mackworth, "that there are two courses open
to you. Either, on the one hand, to acquiesce in the truth of this
paper; or, on the other, to accuse me in a court of justice of
conspiracy and fraud. If you were to be successful in the latter course,
I should be transported out of your way, and the matter would end so.
But any practical man would tell you, and you would see in your calmer
moments, that no lawyer would undertake your case. What say you, Father
Tiernay?"
"I cannot see what case he has, poor dear," said Father Tiernay.
"Mackworth," he added, suddenly.
Father Mackworth met his eye with a steady stare, and Tiernay saw there
was no hope of explanation there.
"On the other hand," continued Father Mackworth, "if this new state of
things is quietly submitted to (as it must be ultimately, whether
quietly or otherwise you yourself will decide), I am authorised to say
that the very handsomest provision will be made for you, and that, to
all intents and purposes, your prospects in the world will not suffer in
the least degree. I am right in saying so, I believe, Mr. Ravenshoe?"
"You are perfectly right, sir," said Cuthbert in a quiet, passionless
voice. "My intention is to make a provision of three hundred a year for
this gentleman, whom, till the last few days, I believed to be my
brother. Less than twenty-four hours ago, Charles, I offered Father
Mackworth ten thousand pounds for this paper, with a view to destroy it.
I would, for your sake, Charles, have committed an act of villainy which
would have entailed a life's remorse, and have robbed William, my own
brother, of his succession. You see what a poor weak rogue I am, and
what a criminal I might become with a little temptation. Father
Mackworth did his duty and refused me. I tell you this to show you that
he is, at all events, sincere enough in his conviction of the truth of
this."
"You acted like yourself, Cuthbert. Like one who would risk body and
soul for one you loved."
He paused; but they waited for him to speak again. And very calmly, in a
very low voice, he continued--
"It is time that this scene should end. No one's interest will be served
by continuing it. I want to say a very few words, and I want them to be
considered as the words, as it were, of a dying man; for no one here
present will see me again till the day when I come back to claim a right
to the name I have been bearing so long--and that day will be never."
Another pause. He moistened his lips, which were dry and cracked, and
then went on--
"Here is the paper, Father Mackworth; and may the Lord of Heaven be
judge between us if that paper be not true!"
Father Mackworth took it, and, looking him steadily in the face,
repeated his words, and Charles's heart sank lower yet as he watched
him, and felt that hope was dead.
"May the Lord of Heaven be judge between us two, Charles, if that paper
be not true! Amen."
"I utterly refuse," Charles continued, "the assistance which Mr.
Ravenshoe has so nobly offered. I go forth alone into the world to make
my own way, or to be forgotten. Cuthbert and William, you will be sorry
for a time, but not for long. You will think of me sometimes of dark
winter nights when the wind blows, won't you? I shall never write to
you, and shall never return here any more. Worse things than this have
happened to men, and they have not died."
All this was said with perfect self-possession, and without a failure in
the voice. It was magnificent despair. Father Tiernay, looking at
William's face, saw there a sort of sarcastic smile, which puzzled him
amazingly.
"I had better," said Charles, "make my will. I should like William to
ride my horse Monté. He has thrown a curb, sir, as you know" he said,
turning to William; "but he will serve you well, and I know you will be
gentle with him."
William gave a short, dry laugh.
"I should have liked to take my terrier away with me, but I think I had
better not. I want to have nothing with me to remind me of this place.
My greyhound and the pointers I know you will take care of. It would
please me to think that William had moved into my room, and had taken
possession of all my guns, and fishing-rods, and so on. There is a
double-barrelled gun left at Venables', in St. Aldate's, at Oxford, for
repairs. It ought to be fetched away.
"Now, sir," he said, turning to Cuthbert, "I should like to say a few
words about money matters. I owe about £150 at Oxford. It was a great
deal more at one time, but I have been more careful lately. I have the
bills upstairs. If that could be paid----"
"To the utmost farthing, my dear Charles," said Cuthbert; "but----"
"Hush!" said Charles, "I have five-and-twenty pounds by me. May I keep
that?"
"I will write you a check for five hundred. I shall move your
resolution, Charles," said Cuthbert.
"Never, so help me God!" said Charles; "it only remains to say good-bye.
I leave this room without a hard thought towards any one in it. I am at
peace with all the world. Father Mackworth, I beg your forgiveness. I
have been often rude and brutal to you. I suppose that you always meant
kindly to me. Good-bye."
He shook hands with Mackworth, then with the Tiernays; then he offered
his hand to William, who took it smiling; and, lastly, he went up to
Cuthbert, and kissed him on the cheek, and then walked out of the door
into the hall.
William, as he was going, turned as though to speak to Cuthbert, but
Cuthbert had risen, and he paused a moment.
Cuthbert had risen, and stood looking wildly about him; then he said,
"Oh, my God, he is gone!" And then he broke through them, and ran out
into the hall, crying, "Charles, Charles, come back. Only one more word,
Charles." And then they saw Charles pause, and Cuthbert kneel down
before him, calling him his own dear brother, and saying he would die
for him. And then Father Tiernay hastily shut the library door, and left
those two wild hearts out in the old hall together alone.
Father Tiernay came back to William, and took both his hands. "What are
you going to do?" he said.
"I am going to follow him wherever he goes," said William. "I am never
going to leave him again. If he goes to the world's end, I will be with
him."
"Brave fellow!" said Tiernay. "If he goes from here, and is lost sight
of, we may never see him again. If you go with him, you may change his
resolution."
"That I shall never do," said William; "I know him too well. But I'll
save him from what I am frightened to think of. I will go to him now. I
shall see you again directly; but I must go to him."
He passed out into the hall. Cuthbert was standing alone, and Charles
was gone.