LORNA BOLIVICK'S HOME
For a moment I thought that Lorna Bolivick was somewhat annoyed at the
intense and searching look which Edgecumbe gave her. Her face flushed
somewhat, and a suggestion of anger flashed from her eyes. But this
was only for a moment; probably she remembered Edgecumbe's mental
condition, and made allowance accordingly.
Edgecumbe still continued to look at her steadily, and I noticed that
his eyes, which, except at the times when they were wistful, were quiet
and steadfast, now shone like coals of fire. I saw, too, that he was
unable to govern his lips, which were trembling visibly.
'Why do you look at me like that?' she said nervously; 'any one would
think you had seen me before somewhere.'
'I have,' he replied.
'Where?'
He hesitated a second, and then said, 'In my dreams,'--and then,
realizing that his behaviour, to say the least of it, was not ordinary,
he hurriedly went on, 'Please forgive me, Miss Bolivick, but I never
remember having spoken to a woman before.'
She looked at him in astonishment. I suppose the statement to her
seemed foolish and outrageous.
'It is quite true,' he went on earnestly; 'ever since I met Captain
Luscombe at Plymouth I have been in the Army, and I am afraid I have
not been a very sociable kind of character. I have lived with men all
that time, and have been somewhat of a hermit. Of course I have seen
women, in England and in France,' and he laughed nervously.
'But--but--no, I have never spoken to one.'
'And how do I strike you?'
'You seem like a being from another and a more beautiful world,' he
replied gravely. 'I don't know, though, the world as one sees it here
is very beautiful'; and he glanced quickly across the park away to the
moors in the distance, which the setting sun had lit up with a purple
glow.
At that moment Sir Thomas Bolivick, Lorna's father, came to the door,
and in a hearty West Country fashion gave us both a warm welcome.
'Awfully good of you to come, Captain Luscombe,' he said. 'Granville
has spoken so much about you, that I feel as though you were an old
friend. Nonsense, nonsense!'--this in reply to my apologies for
accepting the invitation. 'In times like these, we can't stand upon
ceremony. You are a friend of Granville's, and you are a British
soldier, that's enough for me. Whatever this war has done, it has
smashed up a lot of silly conventions, it has helped us to be more
natural, and when Lorna here told me about you, I wanted to see you.
You see, I have read reports of your speeches, and when I saw that you
were mentioned in the dispatches, I wanted to know you more than ever.
So let there be no nonsense about your being a stranger.'
Soon after, we were shown to our bedrooms, and after dressing for
dinner I went to Edgecumbe's room.
'I--I--had forgotten,' he gasped. 'How--long have I been here?'
'Twenty minutes. Aren't you going to put on your new togs?'
He looked at me like a man in a dream. 'I had forgotten everything,'
he said, 'except----'
'Except what? What's the matter, old fellow?'
'I have no business to be here. I ought not to have come. Who am
I?--what am I? Just a poor wreck without a memory.'
'A poor wreck without a memory!' I laughed. 'Don't be an ass, man.
Look at that ribbon on your new tunic! Think of all the flattering
things that have been said about you, and then talk about being a poor
wreck without a memory!'
'I am an old man before my time,' and his voice was unnatural as he
spoke. 'Look at my face, seamed and lined. I am here on sufferance,
here because you have been a friend to me. I have no name, no past,
and no--no future.'
'That's not like you, Edgecumbe,' I protested. 'You've always been a
jolly, optimistic beggar, and now you talk like an undertaker. Future!
why, you're a young fellow barely thirty. As for your name, you've
made one, my boy, and you'll make a bigger one yet, if I'm not
mistaken. You are a welcome guest here, too,--there is not the
slightest doubt about that.'
'Yes, but what have I?'
'Come now, get into those togs quick; we mustn't keep them waiting, you
know; it would not be courteous on our part, after all their kindness,
too.'
A sudden change swept across his face. 'You are right, Luscombe,' he
said; 'I'm ashamed of myself. After all---- I'll be ready in five
minutes. There's one thing about a soldier's togs, it doesn't take
long to put 'em on.'
It was a very quiet dinner party. The two Bolivick boys were away at
the front, and Lorna was the only one of the children at home. Sir
Thomas and Lady Bolivick were there, but beyond Norah Blackwater,
Edgecumbe and I were the only guests.
It was evident to me that Edgecumbe was an entire stranger to Norah
Blackwater. Her face did not move a muscle at his appearance; and
although he sat next to her at table, she seemed to find no interest in
his conversation. He was very quiet during dinner, and although Sir
Thomas tried to draw him out, and make him describe some of the scenes
through which he had passed, he was peculiarly reticent.
As I sat at the opposite side of the table, I was able to watch his
face closely, and I could not help being impressed by the fact that,
although he was very quiet, he was evidently under great excitement. I
saw, too, that sometimes for seconds together he, forgetful of Norah
Blackwater, would gaze steadily at Lorna Bolivick, as though she
fascinated him. I was afraid Sir Thomas did not like him, and as
presently the conversation led to our experiences at the front, I
determined that, although Edgecumbe might feel uncomfortable, I would
show the baronet the kind of man he really was.
'Talking about tight corners,' I said, 'I got out of one of the
tightest corners ever I was in, in a peculiar way.'
'Do tell us, Captain Luscombe,' cried Lorna, who had evidently been
uncomfortable under Edgecumbe's gaze. 'We have heard nothing about
your experiences, and I should like to hear something.'
'It's a story of how one Englishman took thirty Germans prisoners,' I
said with a laugh.
'One Englishman took thirty German prisoners!' cried the squire. 'Good
old English bull-dog! But how did he do it? Man, it's impossible!'
'Nothing is impossible to a man who keeps his head cool, and has a
ready wit,' was my answer. I thereupon, without mentioning Edgecumbe's
name, described how I had been taken prisoner, and how I found myself
in the German trenches.
'But how did you get out of such a hole as that?' cried the squire.
'As I told you,' I said, 'I found myself with my sergeant in a huge
dug-out with thirty Germans. Of course our position was apparently
hopeless. They had got us, and meant to keep us. I had been
unconscious for a long time owing to a nasty knock I had got, and
therefore I was tremendously surprised when I presently heard an
English voice talking to the Germans. Evidently another English
prisoner had been brought in.'
'Then you were three against thirty,' laughed the squire.
'Three against thirty if you will,' I replied, 'but only one in
reality. I was no good, and my sergeant had no other hope than to be
buried in a German prison. The new-comer, however, evidently meant
business. All the time the English guns were booming, and our
explosives were tearing the Boches' trenches to pieces. As it
happened, we were too deep for them to reach us, although the danger
was that we might be buried alive. That gave this chap, whose face I
could not see, his chance, and he began to tell the Germans what idiots
they were to stay there in imminent danger of death, when they could
get to safety. He described the jolly times which German prisoners had
in England, and of the absolute certainty of their being licked on the
battle-field. Of course at first the Germans laughed at him, but he
went on talking, and in a few minutes he had got every one of them to
surrender.'
'But that's impossible!' cried the squire.
'It's a fact,' I said. 'Never in my life had I realized the effect
which a cool, courageous man could have upon a crowd of men. Call it a
miracle if you like,--indeed I always shall think of it as a
miracle,--but without once losing his nerve, or once revealing the
slightest lack of confidence, he worked upon the fears and hopes of
those Boches in such a way that he persuaded them to follow him, and
give themselves up in a body as prisoners. It was one of the most
amusing things you ever saw in your life, to see this one man lead
those thirty Boches, while they held up their hands and cried
"Kamerad."'
'By George, sir!' said the squire, 'that's great, great, sir! No one
but an Englishman could do a thing like that. Ah, the old country is
the old country still! But who was he, an officer or a private?'
'A private,' I replied.
'And he rescued you, and took the whole thirty Huns as prisoners? By
Jove, I should like to know that man! Is he alive now?'
'Very much alive,' I laughed.
'Where is he, then?'
I nodded my head towards Edgecumbe, who all the time had been sitting
in silent protest.
But my story had done its work. The squire's apparent dislike was
over, and, acting upon the generous impulse of the moment, he started
to his feet and rushed to Edgecumbe's side.
'Give me your hand, sir,' he cried; 'I am proud to know you, proud to
have you sitting at my table!'
What Edgecumbe would have said, I do not know. He had been protesting
all the time as much as a man could protest with his eyes, and I knew
that like all men of his class he hated to have such deeds dragged into
the light of day, although I had done it with a set purpose. But as it
happened, there was no need for him to say anything. At that moment
the butler came behind Lady Bolivick's chair and spoke to her.
'Captain Springfield!' she cried, 'and Charlie Buller. Oh, I am so
glad. Charlie's evidently better, then. He wrote, telling me, when I
asked him to come over to-night, that he was afraid he wouldn't be well
enough.'
I do not know why it was, but at that moment I looked towards Lorna
Bolivick, and I saw her face flush with excitement. Evidently the
mention of the new-comers' names meant a great deal to her.
Then I looked at Edgecumbe, and I saw that he too had been watching her.