LESS THAN KIN.
Again is Nelly Carew sitting among the rocks in Porlock Bay, but the
tide is out now, and a broad sweep of wet sand stretches before her to a
low and level line of white that seems receding farther and farther
towards the chalk-bluffs of the distant Welsh coast. The faint moan of
the ebb is melancholy enough, and heavy clouds gathering down Channel,
against the wind, denote a coming storm, but gleams of sun are still
slanting athwart them in pale shafts of light, and there is a colour in
Nelly's cheek, a lustre in her eye, little in accordance with the dull
stagnation of slack water, the heavy atmosphere of a thunder-storm,
speaking rather of bright thoughts, tranquil happiness, the springtide
of health and youth and hope.
Keen observers might indeed detect a shade more colour than usual in the
soft cheeks, a deeper blue in the speaking eyes; but, when young women
sit by the sea, in pleasant company, such tokens are neither unusual nor
out of place.
And Nelly Carew is not alone. By the merest accident--for how could he
tell that this was her favourite haunt in the afternoon?--a gentleman,
with whom she had lately made acquaintance, happened to stroll in the
same direction as herself. Two lonely figures, breaking the solitude of
a wide level sea-board, if they have ever met before, cannot avoid each
other, without rudeness. A start--a stop--a bow--a little hesitation on
one side, a little blushing on the other, and John Garnet found himself
seated on a slab of rock at Nelly Carew's feet, looking dreamily out to
seaward, exceedingly well satisfied with his place.
The exploit and accompanying outrage, of which Galloping Jack must
henceforth bear the blame, had been thoroughly carried out. The warrants
were burnt, the attainted persons warned in time to escape. Some had
fled the country--all had taken precautions for their own safety; and,
thanks to Katerfelto's speed and endurance, so quickly had this been
done, so suddenly had the assailant of Marlborough Downs shown himself
in the market-place at Taunton, that, like Dick Turpin of immortal
memory, he might have proved an _alibi_ in any court of law, thanks to
the extraordinary powers of his steed. Many an honest West-country
gentleman made it an excuse for an extra glass now, that, after the
king's health (not specified by name), he must devote a bumper to
Galloping Jack and the good grey horse! But John Garnet was acute enough
to leave on the shoulders of that mysterious highwayman the whole burden
of guilt he had incurred in the eyes of justice. From his neighbours
over the border, in his own North country, he had learnt the wisdom of
an excellent maxim, "Jouk an' let the jaw gae bye!" In other words,
"Duck your head, and keep under shelter till the storm be past."
He might remain in hiding, he thought, among these western wilds till
the indignation of the Government had blown over, the hue and cry become
somewhat dulled. Then he hoped to get quietly on board a fishing-boat,
put out into the wide Atlantic, and so, working his way back again up
Channel, land in safety at some port on the coast of France. In the mean
time, all he had to do was to keep quiet, and leave the grey horse shut
up in the stable as much as possible. Casting about for a harbour of
refuge, he hit upon the little village of Porlock, a cluster of houses
embosomed in wooded hills, washed by silver waves, shut in from all the
world by moor and mountain, purple peak, and bare grey headland, clothed
in tropical vegetation, calm, beautiful, and secluded as the first
paradise of mankind. Here he thought he would be secure and tranquil.
Here he determined to take refuge for days and weeks, if only he could
endure the dull, cheerless monotony to which he must make up his mind.
That he should find a soul to speak to, he had never anticipated, much
less did he dream that here was his Fate, waiting for him with her soft
blue eyes, in this peaceful little hamlet, down by the Severn Sea.
For exercise of the good horse, he would ride Katerfelto on the sands at
midnight, but a man of his habits could not remain indoors all day. Soon
gathering courage from impunity, he would leave his humble lodgings
betimes to wander about the neighbourhood, drinking in its beauty,
making himself familiar with every winding coombe, darkling forest, and
stretching moorland for half-a-score of miles around.
Thus it fell out that, returning from one of these expeditions at
sunset, he overtook Nelly's grandfather, very infirm and feeble now,
toiling painfully down a steep incline towards his home.
John Garnet was essentially good-natured, with that good-nature which
springs from a good heart. In an instant he had offered the old man his
arm, and Nelly, who went out to meet him, was not a little surprised to
see her grandfather leaning on a straight-made, handsome young fellow,
in an embroidered waistcoat and laced hat, talking volubly, and to all
appearance much pleased with his new acquaintance.
If she thought the stranger good-looking (she declared afterwards she
never thought about it at all) be sure she did not admit so much, even
to herself, though conscious she was pleased--a feeling she attributed
to the improvement in her grandfather's spirits, and his obvious delight
in his new friend's society.
Old Carew, shut out for so many years from the conversation of such men
as himself, men of action and adventure, men of the busy world, felt
like the blind restored to sight, when he heard once more the familiar
tones, the familiar terms, that took him back a score of years at least.
It was pleasant to recognise the well-remembered trick of phrase and
gesture, that is not to be caught by imitation, nor purchased
second-hand. "The man's a gentleman," thought old Carew, "a _real_
gentleman; and how unlike Parson Gale!"
He bade him stay to supper of course. He opened in his honour one of the
dozen bottles of choice Rhine wine that had lasted as many years. He
chatted, he chuckled, he coughed and wheezed, and told his stories, and
fought his battles, and enjoyed his evening thoroughly, while Nelly sat
silent at her needle-work, grateful to the visitor who made grandfather
so happy.
John Garnet was a good listener, none the less perhaps that his
attention often wandered to the blue eyes in the corner of the room,
eyes that rarely met his own, and when they did were immediately cast
down; but he put in his exclamations of astonishment, admiration, and
approval at the right places, sympathising with the old man's memories,
gentle to his foibles, tolerant of his garrulity--and all honour to him
for it, say I.
You do not know what it is to live in the past, you young men who still
possess the illimitable inheritance of the future, an account that it
seems impossible to overdraw. Even the present is hardly good enough to
satisfy you, and you cheat yourselves out of no little happiness by
anticipating to-morrow, when you should be content with the enjoyment of
to-day. But wait a few years, wait till the to-morrows begin to look
scantier and scantier, while the yesterdays are counted by
thousands--wait till all that made the pride, the excitement, the
happiness of life, is an experience, and not a hope--till the good horse
has been forgotten by all but yourself--the true love has been cold in
her grave for years--the very laurels you have won are become withered
garlands, put away in some neglected hiding-place, only to be brought
out again when the mourners hang them round your tomb! Then you will
know the happiness of living once more, if only for an hour, if only
till the glass is empty, or the tobacco burnt to ashes, in the glowing,
thrilling memories of an imperishable past. Imperishable, for is it not,
in truth, the only reality? Imperishable, for it cleaves to us during
life. Imperishable, for we are taught to believe that it goes with us
into eternity.
You may make an old man happy at trifling cost, if you will only yield a
few minutes of patient attention, while he wanders back through its
well-remembered maze, and loses himself dreamily in the labyrinth we
call life.
Nelly never knew her grandfather so communicative. He talked till he was
thoroughly tired out. Marlborough, Prince Eugene, the vineyards of
France, the swamps of the low countries, London coffee-houses, foreign
theatres, dice, duelling, midnight revels, and the fierce joys of the
old roaring Mohock days--he had something to recall of each, and seemed
nothing loth to embark on his adventurous godless career once again.
But his voice grew weaker, his chin sank on his breast, the light in his
eye, that had flickered up in transient gleams, dimmed visibly, and the
guest resisting his host's quavering entreaties to remain, discreetly
took leave, thereby earning golden opinions of Nelly Carew. She opened
the door for him herself. She even condescended to shake hands, and
wished him good-night, with a grateful smile. Walking home to his
lodgings, through the balmy summer air, with slow and lingering steps,
John Garnet began to think that his term of retirement would be no such
dreary penance after all, that, under certain conditions, a man might do
worse than settle down to vegetate at Porlock for the rest of his life.
Had he forgotten Waif? No! he told himself. A thousand times, No! He was
grateful to her; he was interested in her; he pitied the girl from his
heart; but hers was not the whisper that seemed floating on the night
breeze in his ear, and it was a pair of blue eyes that peered at him out
of the twilight gloom whichever way he turned. Blue eyes, calm, deep,
and beautiful as the summer sky and the summer sea.
We ought to be ashamed of ourselves, but, alas! there is too much truth
in the adage, "We always believe our first love is our last, and our
last love our first!"
John Garnet was like the rest of mankind. Still, it had not come to that
yet.
So pleasant an introduction, and under such conditions, soon ripened
into something more than acquaintance. It was not long before John
Garnet and Nelly Carew became fast friends. They were surprised to find
how many tastes they had, how many sympathies and ideas, in common.
Sitting together on that bare ledge of rock amongst the sand, though a
week ago they had been utter strangers, each seemed to have known the
other for years.
When a man and his wife are silent while together, they have generally
quarrelled and are not going to make up; but when two young people of
opposite sexes, who have never broached the subject of matrimony, sit
together out-of-doors without opening their lips, there is strong
likelihood that they are progressing insensibly towards that holy state
in which they will have a legal right to hate each other as much as they
please!
It may be that she was the one who felt their silence most irksome, but
the girl broke it at last with the following feminine piece of
injustice:
"How dull you _must_ find it here, after the life you've been accustomed
to! I'm sure I wonder you don't have a fit of the spleen. I've heard
grandfather say he felt it dreadfully at first."
"Mistress Carew," he answered--while the blue eyes shot a reproachful
glance, that almost said, why don't you call me Nelly?--"Mistress Carew,
I am _not_ your grandfather!"
"You've been grave enough," she replied, with a little nervous laugh,
"this while past, to be anybody's grandfather. I've been wondering what
you could see down Channel yonder that seemed to take up all your
attention!"
This ought to have been encouraging. She was watching him, then,
following the direction of his eyes, trying to make out his thoughts.
Strange to say, John Garnet, usually so debonair and ready of speech,
seemed at a loss for a reply.
"I was wondering"--he hesitated and looked down, while Nelly, whose work
had been idly folded in her lap, began plying her needle very fast--"I
was wondering whether it could really be less than a week since I first
came to Porlock?"
She had been pondering the same marvel herself, but took care not to
express her astonishment.
"It's not--not at all the kind of place you expected, is it?"
Nelly thought it strange that her heart should beat, and her breath come
quick, in asking so simple a question.
He tried to catch her eye, but she steadily refused to look at him,
while he answered, "I thought it would be a prison and a purgatory. I
never dreamed it was to prove a Para--"
He stopped short without finishing the word, for she had grown deadly
pale, and her blue eyes, looking over his head at something beyond and
behind him, were dilated with actual fear. Turning in the same
direction, he could detect no more alarming object than a stout
square-built man, in a black riding suit, walking leisurely towards them
through the soft sand.
"Good-morrow, Mistress Carew," said Abner Gale's harsh voice, while the
scowl that accompanied his greeting gave it more the character of a ban
than a blessing. "They told me in the village I should find you here or
hereabouts, but I didn't think to see you so well attended. My service
to _you_, sir," scanning John Garnet from head to foot. "A warm day
this, but pleasant enough to be taking a young woman a walk by the
sea-shore."
There was something offensive in the man's tone and manner. At any other
time John Garnet would probably have resented his intrusion on the spot,
but his attention was now so entirely taken up with Nelly's
discomposure, that he failed to notice those indications of a wish to
brawl, which he was generally only too ready to indulge.
Parson Gale was indeed in the worst of humours. Only the night before he
had reached his home, and yet no sooner had he broken his morning fast,
than, after a visit to his Spanish pointer, a cursory glance at his
Irish pigs, but taking no thought whatever for his Devonshire parish, he
was in the saddle again to get a glimpse of Nelly Carew. Following the
devious tracks of Exmoor, with the instinct of the wild sheep, the wild
ponies, or the wilder red-deer, he threaded the coombe into Badgeworthy,
crossed its foaming waters at his accustomed ford, climbed and clattered
amongst the rocks, cantered freely over the heather, and paced down the
hill into Porlock like a man in a dream--for his whole mind was filled
with the fair face and the blue eyes that he had hungered to look on for
weeks. Though familiar with every acre of the forest and the moor, he
would never have reached his destination, but that his horse knew the
way as well as his master, having travelled it many a time of late.
It was characteristic of the man that he should not have ridden straight
to old Carew's cottage, and gone frankly in to see his friends. He
stabled his horse instead at a little farm on the outskirts of the
village, and hovered stealthily about its vicinity, hoping to meet some
one who would tell him how matters had been going on in his absence.
He did not remain long in suspense. Ere half an hour elapsed, a
shambling, ill-looking youth, wearing "poacher" written in every line of
his face as plain as print, slouched up and touched his hat, waiting
however to be questioned, with an awkward grin that denoted how his
natural insolence was kept in check by the Parson's quick temper and
reputation for physical prowess. "He be soon up, be wor Pa'yson," was
the verdict of his parishioners, "and main ready with his hands, right
or w'hrong."
"What, Ike!" said Mr. Gale, assuming a cordiality he did not feel, for
to do him justice he hated a poacher, especially in the vicinity of
deer; "not hanged yet, nor even sent to Botany Bay? What hast been doing
then these so many weeks? Has it been slack time with thee while I've
been away?"
"Much as usual, Pay'son," answered Ike, in the broadest dialect of West
Somerset, which it is needless to reproduce here. "It's you gentlefolk
that knows what change means. Frolics, too. There's not much of that for
poor chaps like us!"
"What, is there no news in the place, then?" asked the Parson. "Never a
fresh nag in Farmer Veal's stable? Never a strange face stopped to take
a drink of cider at the Wheat Sheaf or the Crown?"
Small as it was, Porlock boasted two beershops, and Ike was familiar
with both.
"There be one strange face," answered the latter, with a cunning leer;
"but it's little cider that gets inside of _he_--beer neither. The best
of wine in his glass, and the best of nags in his stable, gold lace on
his coat, fine linen on his back, a sword in his belt, and a warm
welcome from the likeliest lass in the West Country--that's what _he_
has. Folks like me must put up with a drink of cider, when they can get
it. I'm main thirsty now, Pa'yson."
"What do you mean?" asked Gale, in no little disquietude, but putting
silver, nevertheless, in the other's dirty hand.
"They say he do be a kinsman of Mistress Nelly, for sure," answered Ike.
"And it's like enough. They can't let him be, neither her nor the old
man, by day or night. I do know well he do be in and out of the house at
all hours, like a dog in a fair."
Roused beyond endurance, the Parson clenched his heavy riding-whip; and,
but that he bit his lip till the blood came, in an effort to control
himself, would have given his informant the full benefit of its weight.
Ike never knew how near he was having his head broke then and there.
"Do you mean that old Master Carew has a kinsman paying him a visit?" he
asked; and while he spoke Abner Gale wondered at the resolution with
which he kept down his wrath. "When did he come, lad? can ye tell, now?
And how soon is he going away?"
But Ike, whose fingers were itching to spend in drink the money he had
earned so easily, did not care to sustain farther cross-examination.
"Them sort comes and goes like the shadows on Brendon Moor," said he.
"It's you and me, Master Gale, no offence, as stands to it, blow high
blow low, like Dunkerry Beacon. I don't want to breed no mischief, and I
don't want to tell no lies. There's others can say more than me. My
service to you, Pa'yson, and thanking you kindly. If you've an odd job
for a poor chap, I'm to be heard of mostly at the Wheat Sheaf; and I'll
not forget to drink your honour's good health."
Thus speaking, Ike slunk off; and the Parson, with scowling brows,
proceeded to Nelly's favourite haunt by the sea-shore.
What a bright fresh morning it had been, when he heard the lark singing
on Exmoor a few short hours ago? Was it the gathering thunder-storm that
made the sky so dark, the air so stifling, now?
A woman's tact seldom fails her at need. Mistress Nelly's greeting was
just sufficiently cordial to soothe the Parson into decent behaviour,
without exceeding the limits of such kindly reception as seemed due to
her grandfather's friend. Ere John Garnet had ceased wondering what
there was in this new comer to move her so much, she had cleared her
brows, steadied her voice, and extended her hand with a pleasant smile.
At that moment, perhaps, the Parson knew for the first time, by the
jealousy she was capable of arousing, how fiercely he loved her. And it
may have been at the same moment that John Garnet discovered something
he had never realised before.
An ass between two bundles of hay has always been accepted as the
illustration of a false position. Surely a young lady with an admirer on
each hand, one of whom she knows she hates, while the other she dreads
to acknowledge she is beginning to like, must be equally at a loss on
which side to incline. What is she to say or leave unsaid? What is she
to do or leave undone? Nelly Carew wished John Garnet had never come,
wished he would go away; wished a spring-tide would flow in that moment,
and float the Parson bodily up to Bossington Point, down to Barnstaple
Bay, out into the wide Atlantic, where she might never set eyes on him
again! Succour came when most she wanted it. A few heavy drops, a gust
of wind, a flash, and a thunder-roll. In five minutes it was obvious
that unless they hastened back to the village, all three would be
drenched to the skin. With an imploring look at John Garnet, she made
him understand he was to leave her without asking why. How delightful
it was to feel that he caught her meaning at once, and obeyed! Then she
hurried the Parson to her grandfather's cottage, at a pace that admitted
of no explanation; and once over the threshold disappeared in her own
chamber, with that plea of headache (thunder always gave her a headache)
which must have been Eve's excuse when she did not want to work in the
garden with Adam.
Finding he was not likely to see her again, Abner Gale made but a short
visit. As he rode home across Exmoor, the sky was clear, the birds were
singing, the long rank grass sprang fresh and green from its recent
wetting, flags and rushes were dressed out with rain-drops glistening
like jewels in the afternoon sun. But the Parson rode slowly and
heavily, looking steadfastly between his horse's ears. Now and again he
shook his head, or bit his lip, or glared round him with a troubled
scowl, suggestive of annoyance and apprehension, as if he doubted there
was still thunder in the air.